So RedDiaperBaby and Jeemo, what say you now about Obamacare costs? Start groveling with abject apologies - Granite Grok

So RedDiaperBaby and Jeemo, what say you now about Obamacare costs? Start groveling with abject apologies

So commenters RedDiaperBaby and Jeemo Glewton didn’t believe my reporting on a couple of acquaintances of mine lamenting on the extremely high cost of their Obamacare plans as this year’s version is soaring in price (“So he works simply to pay his Obamacare bill? A “Have” paying for the “Have-Nots”).  Jeemo outright called me a liar as if I was just making stuff up. Both Progressives belittled both poor souls with arguments that they should go and become employees instead of owning their own businesses or just go “bare” and eat the penalty (right – Progressives showing their true sense of “compassion” for those that must suffer the failings of Progressive policies) or other ways of getting around my main point – the Affordable Care Act is absolutely not affordable if you are not being subsidized by taxpayers.

Well, here’s more of what I brought up.  I guess “Jeemo” is just going to call the NY Times liars as well, eh? Jeemo and RDB, just look at the costs being reported – they are STAGGERING (Emphasis mine, reformatted):

Middle-Class Families Confront Soaring Health Insurance Costs

Consumers here at first did not believe the health insurance premiums they saw when they went shopping for coverage this month on HealthCare.gov. Only five plans were available, and for a family of four with parents in their mid-30s, the cheapest plan went typically for more than $2,400 a month, nearly $30,000 a year.

Right in the range that I had talked about in my earlier post.  Once again, what say you, Jeemo and RedDiaperBaby?  Am I still lying? Or are you that far into the “Progressive policies can never be wrong” tank that you still won’t believe yer lyin’ eyes?

With the deadline for a decision less than a month away, consumers are desperately weighing their options, dismayed at the choices they have under the Affordable Care Act and convinced that political forces in Washington are toying with their health and well-being. “I believe in the Affordable Care Act; it worked for me under the Obama administration,” said Sara Stovall, 40, who does customer-support work for a small software company. “But it’s not working as it was supposed to. It’s being sabotaged, and I feel like a pawn.”

Oh, but it IS working as planned and written. Even as the Obama Administration simply ignored the law with multiple proclamations and Executive Orders combined with the “Secretary shall” regulations, this was doomed to fail and is doing EXACTLY what we said it would do – fail.  And then be used as the on-ramp to single payer.  Once again, govt screwing up something and then uproariously declare that only govt can fix it (now that govt broke it worse than Humpty Dumpty).  And no sabotage, and the Dems have been screaming, has been needed.  This is collapsing all on its own.

And here is a GREAT line – showing how bad it is (that line from Glenn Reynolds comes to mind: “they’ll make beggars of us all because we’ll be easier to control”):

Ms. Stovall said she might try to reduce her hours and income, so her family could qualify for subsidies on offer to poorer families to help pay for premiums.

Do less so that she can become MORE dependent on Government?  Is that really any way to live and be aspirational? Hey, it isn’t The Man keeping you down, it’s your own Government oppressing your aspirational outlook!  Really, forcing someone to make less – is that The Proper Role of Government?  And yet another example of Government intrusion and forcing behaviors that otherwise would not be needed if it just would stay out of the private sector:

…And even though he does not need an assistant for his work as a developer of mobile apps, Ian Dixon, 38, said he might hire an employee just so he could buy health insurance as a small business, at a cost far below what he and his family would have to pay on their own. “If one word captures all this, it’s ‘helpless,”’ Mr. Dixon said. “There’s rage and anger and all that stuff in there, too. Any reasonable person would agree that this should not be happening. And there’s no one to go talk to about it. There’s no hope that this is going to get fixed.”

And Obamacare IS working – and for exactly (and ONLY exactly) those that the Saul Alinsky philosophy care about – the “Have-Nots”:

The situation here in Charlottesville is an extreme example of a pattern that can be seen in other places around the country. The Affordable Care Act is working fairly well for people who receive subsidies in the form of tax credits, said Doug Gray, the executive director of the Virginia Association of Health Plans, which represents insurers. But for many others, especially many middle-class families, he said, “the premium is outrageous, and it’s unaffordable.

“We share their pain,” Michael M. Dudley, the president and chief executive of Optima Health, said of his Virginia customers now shopping for policies on the health law’s online exchange. “The rate increases are very high. We can’t minimize that because it’s a fact.”

Well of COURSE, when somebody is paying for you, it’s great!  Hey, no worries – I won’t see much of the bill.  It is a permanent Discount City time and nary a concern for those really paying the bill.  And just like my two acquaintances, the combination of the premiums and deductible make it unusable; they just as well just throw $1 bills into the wind for all the good it does them.  Look at this STAGGERING cost (again, median income in the US is around $32,000):

The Dixon family, which includes two girls ages 1 and 3, has been paying $988 a month this year for insurance provided by Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield. But Anthem plans will not be available in Charlottesville next year. The company told customers that uncertainty in the insurance market “does not provide the clarity and confidence we need to offer affordable coverage to our members.”

The online federal marketplace, HealthCare.gov, recommended another plan for Mr. Dixon in 2018. The new plan, offered by Optima Health, has premiums of $3,158 a month — about $37,900 a year — and an annual deductible of $9,200. Alternatively, Mr. Dixon could pick a lower-cost plan offered by Optima with premiums of about $2,500 a month, or $30,000 a year. But the deductible would be much higher. The Dixons would need to spend $14,400 a year for certain health care services before Optima would begin to pay.

So Jeemo, so RedDiaperBaby, are you going to offer to ante up $48,900 for the first policy or $4,400 for the “cheaper” one?  Go ahead, I’m waiting for your excuses to roll off your keyboards as you both become Obamacare apologists once again.  And in your outpouring of “compassion”, what will you do for this next case?

The Stovalls are facing similar mathematics.

Our premiums will triple to $3,000 a month, with a $12,000 deductible, and that is far, far out of reach for us,” Ms. Stovall said after researching the options for her family of four on HealthCare.gov. “We are not asking for free health insurance. All we want is a reasonable chance to buy it.”

I’m betting that is a multiple of what used to be a family’s most highest cost – their mortgage.  Yet, Jeemo and RedDiaperBaby just sniff at what is probably a terrifying situation for both families.  And here’s another – EXACTLY at the premium level my acquaintances are seeing:

Optima, a division of Sentara Healthcare, invited customers to share their personal stories on its Facebook page, and they obliged, with a fusillade of plaintive and sardonic comments. Bill Stanford, who works for a floor-covering business in Virginia Beach, said, “Optima Health Care just raised my premium from an absurd $1,767 a month to an obscene $2820.09 per month,” which is more than the mortgage payments on his home for a family of four.

 

 

And it doesn’t stop there:

She and her husband, both self-employed, expect to pay premiums of $32,000 a year for the cheapest Optima plan available to their family in 2018. That is two and a half times what they now pay Anthem. And the annual deductible, $14,400, will be four times as high.

But I’m betting this still isn’t enough for Jeemo and RedDiaperBaby – I’m betting their comments will be along the lines of either “suck it up” or “just die”.  Neither of them will really address the hardship these families are facing due to Progressive Government policies.  Remember, not ONE Republican voted for this – this is ALL on Progressives.

And once again, the poke in the eye:

Jill A. Hanken, a health lawyer at the Virginia Poverty Law Center, said, “People who qualify for premium tax credits are finding very affordable plans with low premiums, and those consumers are quite pleased.” But she added: “For people don’t qualify for tax credits, the cost of plans has truly skyrocketed. They can’t afford or don’t want to pay the high premiums.”

When someone else is subsidizing you, it’s always a fine ride.  Obama and the Democrats carried out Alinsky’s vision – reversing the positions of the Have-Nots and the Haves.

But did it really solve a problem? Not really – it simply just changed who was who.  The Have-Nots now Have and those that had enough to be self-reliant and paying their own way have been forced to become the new Have-Nots and paying a tremendous prices for the privilege for that change in economic status.

Is this really The Proper Role of Government (as if I really have to ask the question)?

 

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