The New York Times has decided to tell the truth about Obamacare now that it has passed, running another story today about a gentleman that doesn’t make much money and doesn’t buy health insurance. Of course they would never run such a story when it mattered, like before the health care reform bill became law, because that would have infuriated the unions. Knocking Obamacare now is done without risk. It is the law, and pointing out the many problems with the legislation now can only give the publication a centrist look and feel. The same thing is occurring with President Obama bringing civil charges against Goldman Sachs while holding onto a nearly one million contribution they gave him. Goldman could care less about a civil penalty, and if they need to be the bad guy for a while, so be it. It means nothing, just like the NYT bashing health care. https://higginscompanies.com/faq/19-2/
The article brings to light a real life example of the downside of forced enrollment in a health insurance plan. They talk about a middle-aged fellow who has not had medical insurance in many years, works for a small company, and makes about $25,000 a year. He is the perfect candidate for a tax subsidized health insurance policy. Under Obamacare it is calculated that the government will pay about $2800 a year toward the cost of his health insurance, and he will pay about $1800, or 6% of his income. But this middle-aged fellow says that he would not buy the insurance, $150 a month is something he could not afford, and would opt to pay the maximum $695 fine instead of spending $1800 a year for his portion of the health insurance premiums. He will buy the insurance if and when he has a claim, and drop it once the claim is paid. He says that $150 a month is a lot of money to spend on a, ‘maybe.” Maybe he will get sick, maybe he won’t, but $150 a month is a fact.
Whether this gentleman lives in Idaho or Arizona, the end result will be the same. Premiums will skyrocket, insurance companies will fail, and you and I will pay dearly.
I’ll say it again, it does not matter how much of the premium is covered by a subsidy, if it’s cheaper to pay the fine than buy the insurance, the majority will pay the fine… in other words, the beginning of the end.
Michael Higgins
602.405.8769
An Arizona health insurance broker.