Healthcare Insurance Does Not Mean You Will Get Healthcare

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We had to pass the bill (ObamaCare) on March 23, 2010 & we had to fund it on October 17, 2013 to continue finding out what is in it - to paraphrase Pelosi.

 

Click here to hear National Review's John Fund appearing with James Taranto & Scottie Nell Hughes on Lou Dobbs FBN TV program present the following ObamaCare specifics that may not go down easily even with an unsuspecting apathetic public.

 

1.  Washington state became the fourth state to get its own insurance exchange up & running.  So far 13,000 people in Washington state have signed up for healthcare insurance & 80% of them qualify for Medicaid.  This is another indication that the young, affluent, healthy, low insurance risk people needed to fund & sustain ObamaCare & distribute & dilute the insurance risk of the high insurance risk people entitled to subsidies under ObamaCare are not signing up.  Two & one half million young people 18 to 35 are needed to participate in the program by March 31 for it to statistically work.

 

2.  In signing your income tax return (Form 1040) next April 15 you are confirming that you had signed up by March 31 for healthcare insurance suitable to the government.  The IRS administrative paperwork requires you to prove you had coverage by February 15 or you will be fined.  See the problem here? – well BO's administration finally did on Wednesday when they clarified the matter by saying the March 31 deadline would control.  Just hope the IRS gets the memo.

 

People who have successfully signed up for insurance on the exchanges are reporting deductibles of over $4,000 for individuals & $8,000 for families before coverage of 60% for a bronze category plan starts & 90% coverage for a platinum plan starts.  This is reminiscent of Medicare where you need supplemental insurance to cover the 20% Medicare doesn't cover – in other words with government insurance you need additional insurance to cover what isn't covered – medical expenses that could bankrupt the majority of families if incurred.

 

It is estimated that over 80% of those buying insurance on the exchanges will qualify for government subsidies in the form of tax credits & that people with incomes up to 250% of the poverty level will qualify for cost sharing subsidies that will reduce their deductibles.  It is the taxpayer who is doing the cost sharing.

 

The graph above shows the projected shortage of doctors. 

 

ObamaCare is not insurance – it is the regulation of the insurance business.  Healthcare insurance does not mean you will get healthcare.

 

Although ObamaCare has tormented us for four years on a national level please remember that the states have had their fingers in healthcare insurance for years as evidenced by my letter below published in the WSJ on December 20, 2007.

 

Dear Editor,

 

With regard to the part of Merrill Mathews excellent op-ed entitled "A Health-Insurance Solution" please recognize that there is another side concerning states mandating what an insurance plan must cover.

As a resident of NJ I could not buy the private catastrophic health insurance policy issued in another state that fit my needs because the policy I preferred was considered inadequate by the NJ legislature.  I had to wait three additional years to retire with coverage under my employer's retiree policy that was suitable to the legislature thereby cheating me out of three years of early retirement.