Three Key Questions For Obamacare's Rollout

Three Key Questions For Obamacare's Rollout

I read this article and thought it was a good article mostly free from partisan bias about how obamacare is starting to shape up around the country. The article says that when looking at the success of obamacare, we need to ask ourselves three questions and analyze the results of those questions. So here are the questions:

Is it driving up the cost of insurance?

But a critical problem is emerging with the exchanges. The health law imposes a battery of new regulations, mandates, taxes and fees upon the individual-insurance market. According to research conducted by my colleagues and me at the Manhattan Institute and published at Forbes.com, many will see their rates double or even triple under the law. Healthier and younger individuals will face the steepest hikes.

The White House argues that subsidies will protect most people from these rate increases. But our interactive map (Google “Obamacare cost map“) shows that, on average, one’s income must be 40% below the median in order to save money on premiums.

Not looking good so far. Rates doubling and tripling? Say it ain't so! As far as subsidies go, I don't qualify for one and insurance calculators are telling me I'm going to have a $200/mo payment with a $5000 deductible. That's not healthcare I can take advantage of. That's just a monthly bill that I have to pay where I receive a service in return that I can't utilize. Heck at least with government mandated car insurance, I can use that when my car breaks down even if the deductible is high since they don't go above $1000 (my current car loan doesn't let it get above $500).

Are young and healthy people signing up?

But if you’re healthy and/or young today, you don’t have a preexisting condition. So doubling the cost of your insurance might not seem like such a great deal. And the success of the exchanges depends on the willingness of these healthier individuals to pay more for coverage in order to reduce the costs of other people who are sick.

We’ll know how this has all played out by the end of March, when the exchanges’ initial open enrollment period ends. The CBO has predicted that 7 million Americans will sign up for coverage on the exchanges by then. If the actual figure ends up being lower, or comprises a sicker population, exchange premiums will increase further, making it even harder for some healthy individuals to gain coverage.

Well I happen to be one of the people the second question is talking about. I'm 28 and healthy. As i mentioned earlier, my health insurance would provide no benefit for me because I'd be unable to afford the deductible. This is on top of the fact that it would break my already strained budget.

Relying on young, healthy people to pay for the sick is ludicrous. Young people traditionally don't have high incomes. It takes many years of hard work in your industry before you start pulling down a decent paycheck. So why does this law insist on putting more strain on people's budgets that are already strained?

Are employers dropping coverage and moving workers into the ACA exchanges?

Large employers don’t appear to be dropping coverage. Instead companies like Walgreen are using outside vendors to set up private insurance exchanges, in which workers are given a defined contribution–say, $5,000 per year–to shop for coverage from a number of company-sponsored options.

Well here is some positive news for once. If you work for a large corporation, chances are that you get to keep your company offered health insurance or assistance for health care. Let's move on.

What we do know is that it appears small employers with close to 50 full-time employees are shifting many of their workers to part-time status in order to avoid being forced by Obamacare to pay for their health coverage.

Now we are back to the bad news again. Small businesses are going to be the ones most affected by this law and sure enough they are scaling back hours on people to keep from having to provide health care. Say what you want about the employers, but they need to stay in business and if that means scaling back hours or laying people off to avoid providing health care, then they will. This means that the employees effected will have even LESS money to pay for their budget. The budget that is going to get a new bill added to it in the way of Obamacare (even subsidized plans still tend to require you to pay a monthly few).

Well, there you have it. These are three good questions to ask to gauge the success of Obamacare. Right now, it isn't looking so good for this bill. We should revisit these questions in a few months to see how things are working out then.

#1. Yes (in most cases)

#2. Yes and No (It needs 100% compliance just to make speadsheets balance)

#3. Yes. (Wherever possible, it seems)

Where do I get my little check for time in the survery?

Here's the fourth key question that Forbes forgot to ask. Why isn't anyone complaining about insurance companies jacking up their rates for no reason?

reply to post by buster2010


No reason? I would have thought it was due to this thing called supply and demand. With government mandated insurance, government has artificially jacked up demand by forcing everyone to get insurance. Last I checked when demand increases, supply decreases, and price increases. Seems like simple economics to me. You can apply all the voodoo (Keynesian) economics you want to this bill, but supply and demand rules all and many economists forget that.

ETA: Also your question is a question to address the effects of Obamacare, not so much a question to ask how Obamacare is doing. There is a key difference there.

Krazysh0t
reply to post by buster2010

 

No reason? I would have thought it was due to this thing called supply and demand. With government mandated insurance, government has artificially jacked up demand by forcing everyone to get insurance. Last I checked when demand increases, supply decreases, and price increases. Seems like simple economics to me. You can apply all the voodoo (Keynesian) economics you want to this bill, but supply and demand rules all and many economists forget that.

ETA: Also your question is a question to address the effects of Obamacare, not so much a question to ask how Obamacare is doing. There is a key difference there.

edit on 11-10-2013 by Krazysh0t because: (no reason given)

No the the government didn't jack anything up. With all the new revenue that will be coming in thanks to Obamacare there was no reason to raise rates. Even with the new taxes and regs the insurance companies have they will be reaping untold profits.

It's a new program so there will be problems at first that is to be expected. And how can anyone ask how Obamacare is doing when it just started and a government shutdown is going on. When it is running and funded is the time to ask that question.

reply to post by buster2010


Yes the government jacked demand up. They are forcing the American public to now buy health insurance. This means that more people will be seeking and buying health insurance than before. This is an increase in demand. Do you not understand simple economics? This is why I called Keynesian Economics voodoo economics in my previous post, because of the economics that you spouted off in your post that I am replying to. Everything you said contradicts supply and demand.

Also, why can't we analyze how Obamacare is doing? Shouldn't we get a gauge to see if it is working as soon as possible? That way if the bill is failing we can abort it before it becomes a huge issue. Why wait until the bill is deeply entrenched in our system before analyzing its success? It becomes much harder to fix or remove things when it is deeply entrenched.

reply to post by Krazysh0t

I'm going to have a $200/mo payment with a $5000 deductible. That's not healthcare I can take advantage of. That's just a monthly bill that I have to pay where I receive a service in return that I can't utilize.

Actually there is one area where you will be able to take advantaged of your new super health plan. That's if you have a catastrophic accident or illness.

If you get hit by a bus and don't die they can rush you to the emergency room. They'll see you have coverage and provide assistance. When you hobble out you'll be making payments for the next couple years on the deductible.

All this assuming some bureaucrat panel doesn't find it inefficient and let you die.

reply to post by Bassago


But I could already do that by going to any emergency room and the hospital being required by law not to turn me away. Sure I'd accrue large amounts of debt in the process, but it's not like I could afford the $5000 the insurance asks for either so it's just a question of what the balance on my debt will be when I default and ultimately file for bankruptcy.