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End the Obamacare Prohibition
“Pssst… hey, lady! You wanna plan with a moderate deductible?”
When the government tries to ban a product people want, they’ll often go to great lengths to get it. That’s true for morally dubious products like drugs, but it’s also true for … short-term, selective, limited, family health insurance plans. Via the WSJ, more and more people are exploiting loopholes in Obamacare — and risking the tax penalties for doing so — to purchase exactly the kind of policies that the ACA promised to do away with:
Robin Herman, the 34-year-old owner of a marketing firm in San Francisco, bought a short-term policy in December. The monthly cost of her short-term coverage, plus conventional ACA-compliant plans for her two children, is roughly one-quarter of what she would have paid for conventional health plans covering all three of them, she says. “This is saving me a ton of money for the year,” she said, despite the penalty. Plans that comply with the health law’s rules cost more than her old pre-ACA policy and are “just not affordable,” she said.
Ms. Herman’s new policy, like many short-term plans, doesn’t cover pre-existing conditions, a limitation no longer allowed in full health coverage. Ms. Herman’s plan also caps total benefits at $1 million, another feature prohibited in ACA plans. It doesn’t cover most prescription drugs. To get the plan, Ms. Herman had to qualify as healthy by answering a questionnaire. ACA plans are sold to every consumer regardless of health status.
There are a dozen wonkish ways a Republican could tackle this, but the simple moral approach may be the most effective: Who the hell does the government think it is telling Ms. Herman that she should be penalized for buying the kind of insurance she thinks best serves the interests of her family?
If I were Ted Cruz, I’d put her on speed dial.
Published in Domestic Policy
I have very little faith in the Republicans to actually do anything meaningful to undo Obamacare, regardless of who is President or how much of a Congressional majority the GOP has.
So how will the administration put pressure on providers not to accept these plans if they cannot prevent their sale?
That’s been the point from the start: the government shouldn’t be dictating our insurance coverage! If people can figure out how to get around the stupid restrictions and take care of their families with decent coverage for their families that they can afford, more power to them.
I have done exactly this for 2 years now. It takes quite a bit of work to find the policies but they are out there.
What you are missing Tom is that if the government allows people to buy these policies without penalty they will and then how will people pay in more to insurance companies to cover all the mandates imposed on insurance providers?
I thought $1,000,000 was supposed to be a lot of money. Isn’t that 1/6th of a Steve Austin? Maybe hospitals are charging too much or governments are forcing hospitals to charge too much.
What percentage of people are going to need $1,000,000 of coverage without pre-existing conditions before the age of say 65?
Be involved in a single major car accident and you’ll find out. Also, with some kinds of insurance, the cost of additional coverage isn’t necessarily in scale with the cost of lower coverage, simply because the company’s exposure, just like yours, is less – but never zero. See the previous sentence. So what’s your risk tolerance?
Tom,
The RNC should do a commercial. I’ve mentioned this before. Here is the script.
Husband & Wife sitting at the kitchen table doing bills.
Wife picks up an old folder and a receipt for their health insurance from 2012 falls out.
Wife says, “look at this, honey, we were paying only $575.00 for our health plan in 2012. We’re up to $1,250 now. She hands him the receipt.
He looks at the receipt and says, ” Yeah and we were going to Dr. Smith like we had been for 20 years. He wasn’t on the new plan we had to take.” He hands the bill back to her.
She takes another look and says, “Wow, our deductible was half what it is now.”
They look at each other. Fade out to a blank screen with these words on it.
THANKS OBAMA.
Regards,
Jim
From a relative of mine, I know that treatment for lymphoma which he has, cost in the neighborhood of $1.6 million. This sounds expensive but I suspect any cancer treatments are in this ballpark.
There is a database of costs which can be downloaded here. It looks like anything involving sepsis or bowel surgery can be $500k or more pretty easily.
That being said, it is exactly because the costs are hidden from the consumer (and largely the provider) that the costs are so high.
I second everything here – the government is acting true to form -1. Not listening to the people and knowing what’s best for them instead and 2. making things more difficult and expensive than need be. This is part of the frustration factor that is driving this election. We cannot even afford the cheapest gov. healthcare policy – the premiums are too high – so private is all we can do, and it covers nothing – it’s only benefit (other than having insurance if something sends you to the hospital) is that it negotiates the rate for service – still all out of pocket. So bad!
Why can’t we go back to private companies having to compete for your business, which will drive down costs, and keep Obamacare for those that want it? I know for a fact that because of this situation, many are foregoing yearly exams and tests that they were getting otherwise – doesn’t this defeat the purpose?
I’m an independent contractor and our policy more than doubled 2+ years ago when it was forced to become ACA-compliant.
For two adults and five kids:
I had shoulder surgery to repair a dislocation after the policy became ACA-compliant. Total cost was $21,000 and I paid $18,000 out of pocket.
My personal experience with Obamacare and the Republicans’ unwillingness to do anything meaningful about fixing it is the single biggest factor in the GOP’s loss of absolutely all credibility to me.
I have precisely zero good will for the GOP until it actually starts doing something meaningful. I have zero patience for talk, ideology, or principles until I start seeing some results that actually impact me personally.
PS. Yes, yes, yes…I know about “we need a filibuster-proof majority…”.
Here’s an anecdote about how the game is played these days…
My 3-year-old had an ER visit for what turned out to be something very minor, thank goodness. My wife didn’t have our insurance information so she called it in the next day.
1 week later: Receive a bill for $3500, that includes a note that says, “Since you don’t have health insurance there are some options…”. My wife confirms that she gave the hospital our insurance information. I wait for the bill to be processed by insurance just in case they might pay it.
3 weeks later: Receive a letter that says, “Since you don’t have health insurance, here is your revised bill…$700.” I paid that [CoC] the same day.
My take-away is to prolong paying medical bills as long as possible in order to not be taken for a sucker.
After two years of ACA-compliant policies, we’ve switched over to one of the cost-sharing ministries that got loopholed in Obamacare.
I’ve always been a self-employed too. I think my month bill during the Bush administration ranged from $53.64 to $98.70. Apparently my plan was Obamacare approved when the musical chairs stopped. I guess I was just lucky with both that and my health. I think I might have changed my plan once or twice over 10 years ago, but I’ve been afraid to do anything during the Obama administration.
Looking at my records, I think it has taken 7 years for my monthly bill to double. The person who sold my health insurance to me passed about two years ago.
“Let’s be careful out there.” — Sergeant Phil Esterhaus
The thing that irks me most about ACA-compliance is the “one-size-fits-all” mentality that Rob Long often brings up on the podcast. Our original plan fit our unique situation, and consequently I felt I was receiving value for the money spent and the risk I was willing to assume. For example, we chose:
Paying for ACA-compliant insurance annoyed me most not because I was paying more for it, but because I was paying for stuff I didn’t need.
If the GOP had any [CoC] – which they don’t – they would have insisted on implementing the individual mandates on time instead of delaying the effects of Obamacare.
So I am wondering is Obamacare an unemployment tax on the jobless? I am not paying for medical insurance right now because I don’t have a job. So am I going to get taxed because I choose to spend my money wisely and not blow a few hundred dollars a month on something I don’t need right now? (if I needed it I could get it because I can have a pre-existing condition) I need to look it up but it would not shock me if I have to pay the tax.
The billing practices of Emergency room visits are a scam as far as I am concerned. That is about the only medical services I think that should be regulated and have pricing limitations. They are so exploitative for something you often don’t have a choice on to price shop because the hospital has a temporary monopoly over you. $3000 dollars for a doctor seeing you 15 mins to put 4 stitches in and a nurses spends maybe another 20 minds with you? That is exploitative to the core. High paid lawyers don’t even get paid that much per hour.
Dave – that is terrible! It’s like you get financially punished on top of being ill or injured – outrageous – This is a serious kick in the pants for new entrepreneurs, small business and the self-employed. Hope you are better.
The usual route of coercion is the state licensing boards. I think in the very near future, you will see state boards telling docs they have to accept X % of medicaid patients or the docs will not have their license renewed. Most docs aren’t going to move to another state, especially if most or all states follow suit with similar rules.
Believe me, Brent, I’m not missing that. ;)
This whole thing was such a Machiavellian boondoggle from the get-go.
Because our friends and neighbors decided to elect Barack Obama twice.
Tom & Brent,
Oh what a tangled web we weave when we first decide to circumvent the free market. (doesn’t rhyme but you get the idea) How much easier a 1-page tax form for a simple tax credit. If you want to help then help and get it over with. Other than that, increase the competitiveness of the insurance market.
Almost everyone in the country would have had greater access to healthcare at lower cost and the economy would have employed many more people who then wouldn’t need the help.
Meanwhile, wait times at emergency rooms have gone up not down like Obama predicted. Gee, I wonder what that means? Whatever it is it’s not good.
Regards,
Jim
Which purpose? Better, more affordable health care for everyone? Or the Democrat objectives?