That Moment…
By Mitch Berg
…when you realize we would have seen better to this nation’s healthcare by giving every single American $50,000 to spend on it.
She also “the War on Poverty”.
11 Responses to “That Moment…”
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March 26th, 2015 at 8:13 am
I was underemployed last year, so needed to purchase my own insurance, and would easily have qualified for a subsidy. Unfortunately MNSure’s web site doesn’t work on my computer (how much did they spend on that thing?). So I decided to just purchase my own insurance from United Health and get the tax benefit. Turned out that was better as the place I needed to go for a checkup doesn’t take MNSure.
Then I find out that you can’t get the tax credit unless you purchase your insurance through MNSure’s unworkable web site. So that state gov’t is forcing you to go through them to inflate their numbers.
But hey, at least we have declared war on the Little Sisters of the Poor.
March 26th, 2015 at 8:15 am
Al Frankin was the 60th vote that allowed Obamacare to go through.
Al Frankin wants the gov’t to control the internet.
Thank you Minneapolis for “finding” enough votes to elect Crazy Al.
March 26th, 2015 at 9:35 am
Just think if the TARP funds had been divvied up amongst the population instead of going into the bankers’ vaults. Of course then a candybar would be $12.
March 26th, 2015 at 9:36 am
For $50K you could have purchased the best private insurance on the planet – for life! – and never have had to pay a single dollar beyond that out of pocket. But providing affordable care was never the goal of the Affordable Care Act.
March 26th, 2015 at 11:43 am
I remember buying a good high deductible policy in 2012 for $800/month for my family of eight. Mayo took it, which is what matters around here. So if you, per JPA’s comment, got $50k/person in an annuity…..OK, I’m going to be blunt here. My family could pretty much not only get medical care for life, but be set for life, on “our share.” Granted, we’ve got mostly “Chevy” or “GMC” tastes for everything but beer and coffee, but that’s how much of a waste the Health Insurance Deform Act is.
March 27th, 2015 at 3:32 pm
That is $50,000 over ten years which comes out to $5,000 per year or $416.66 per month.
March 27th, 2015 at 3:37 pm
Also pace the linked article the projected cost is going down.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/03/09/obamacares-cost-is-falling-as-fewer-receive-coverage-under-health-care-law-cbo-says/
I suspect the article generates the illusion of an increasing cost by comparing the projected 10 year cost in 2010, which included several years before the subsidies kicked in, vs the current ten year projection, which does not have any years without subsidies.
March 27th, 2015 at 3:39 pm
Using your math, Rick, that’s ten years of pretty decent private health insurance – and given that my scenario involves the private market, prices would drop to meet the money available.
And that isnt’ counting what people spend on their own.
March 27th, 2015 at 4:23 pm
I would tend to agree that giving people up front cash as opposed to advanced premium tax credits, would likely be better. But aside from expanded Medicaid, how would your solution be more “private market” than the ACA? Under the ACA, plans purchased through the exchange are private market plans.
March 27th, 2015 at 5:02 pm
Rick, given the level of regulation by the HIDA (Health Insurance Deform Act, let’s call the “ACA” by an accurate name, OK?), claiming that the plans on the exchange (#1 is called “Medicaid”, by the way) are “free market” is really less than honest, to be totally blunt about the matter.
Reality here is that HIDA does exactly the opposite of what we want to do; give people the incentive to move away from dependency, and give people an incentive to manage their own health. Driving people into Medicaid while increasing the amount of what insurance must cover, which HIDA does, is exactly wrong.
March 30th, 2015 at 10:40 am
Prior to the ACA private insurance plans were also heavily regulated. In MN, the major new regulations is guaranteed issue.Without it people won’t be able to buy insurance no matter how much you give them.
Prior to the ACA, people who made too much or had too many assets, lost their Medicaid or MNCare public insurance. There probably was a group of people who were discouraged from working because they would immediately lose their public health care. After the ACA, if they earn more, they now have the option of a sliding scale subsidized private plan on the exchange. By eliminating the sharp cliff for MA/MNCare, the ACA actually provided more incentive to work/earn more.