Thousands of Californians are discovering what Obamacare will cost them — and many don’t like what they see.
These middle-class consumers are staring at hefty increases on their insurance bills as the overhaul remakes the healthcare market. Their rates are rising in large part to help offset the higher costs of covering sicker, poorer people who have been shut out of the system for years.
Fullerton resident Jennifer Harris thought she had a great deal, paying $98 a month for an individual plan through Health Net Inc. She got a rude surprise this month when the company said it would cancel her policy at the end of this year. Her current plan does not conform with the new federal rules, which require more generous levels of coverage.
Now Harris, a self-employed lawyer, must shop for replacement insurance. The cheapest plan she has found will cost her $238 a month. She and her husband don’t qualify for federal premium subsidies because they earn too much money, about $80,000 a year combined.
“It doesn’t seem right to make the middle class pay so much more in order to give health insurance to everybody else,” said Harris, who is three months pregnant. “This increase is simply not affordable.”
Some health insurance gets pricier as Obamacare rolls out – latimes.com
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hV-05TLiiLU]
Reblogged this on U.S. Constitutional Free Press.
The first year costs are nothing to what it will be in 2 or 3 years when we have immigration “reform”.
A friend of mine who is unfortunate enough to live on the edge of LA, finds that his premiums will Triple. As he used to work in the health-care industry, I figure he ought to know.
There is no such thing as a free lunch. All lunches must be and will be paid for. The longer you wait to pay for them, the more costly they become.
The price for the free lunch of health care is your life, your liberty, your pursuit of happiness, and everything you own and earn.
We the People once understood these things. Today, enough voters believe in Santa Claus that the rest of us have been sold into slavery for the price of a bowl of week old oatmeal. It is past time to say NO! in a way that cannot be evaded.
And those that get a free lunch are going to find that their healthcare is horrible, like a boxed lunch with week old vegetables kind of reeking. Bad. And the rest of us, we are going to be forcibly told, at tremendous expense no less, to share those putrid veggies with the free lunchers. The Dems really pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes: “if you like your plan, you can keep it (bull), except it will be much less expensive (bull). and you can keep your doctor (bull).”
They projected that costs would be $900 billion in a decade by counting only 6 of the 10 years, but that has now been raised to $2.7 trillion I hear, and then the next decade, with the country flush with new illegals and the like, with a burgeoning older population now dependent on Obamacare, with a full decade count the costs may be who knows $8 trillion? That’s nearly double are current federal budget.
The plan should have been named the Unaffordable Badhealthcare Act of the Democrats.” UBAD.
Reblogged this on The Firewall.
Why is this surprising anyone? Honest question.
Primarily ideological blindness. And the fact that most people don’t consider second and third – order effects. There are also a disheartening number of people who still think that government has a warehouse full of money somewhere, and if those evil Republicans would just get out of the way, Barack “The Fighter” Obama could dispense largess to everyone.
In a way, I’m almost glad to see the current debacle, in the hope that some people will finally gain some understanding of basic economics. Hopeful, but given the human capacity for self-delusion, not encouraged.
I have to say I was surprised the coverage on the exchanges is so bad. My premiums have almost doubled in the last couple years due to the phase in of the mandates. So I looked at what was available in case I might be able to get something for a lot less. I had expected them to offer worse coverage but for much lower cost.
It turns out that not only is my current coverage better for about the same cost as a bronze plan, but the plans on the exchange cost more than what is available directly from the same providers. Of course you have to qualify off the exchange. There are also much cheaper plans available from insurers who are not on the exchanges.
Basically, if they wanted to have hardly anyone sign up, that’s what they’ve designed. Which is pretty surprising.
Make no mistake about it, the Affordable Care Act is the biggest cock-up in government since Watergate. Now some may say that running $17 trillion in the red is bigger, I say to them just go to the Website and fact-check it for your selves. The Republicans think they know this but I know that they do not. I fact my very dear friend Gov. Chris Christie assures me that this is so.
So, let me be perfectly clear on this, the Affordable Care Act is not just going to screw-up your health care, it’s also going to ruin the insurance industry, and future generations. You, your loved ones, your grand-children and great-great-grand children will live in penury if you allow me to do this.
B.O.
P.S. I’m on a golf tour now, if your really need me contact me through twitter #OBMoron.
A lawyer and spouse in CA that only makes $80K/year? This lawyer presently only pays $100/month for health care insurance? The rate of $240/month is considered by her to be too much on a $80K yearly family income? There are people that are paying nearly that much for a family each 2 week pay period and have a lower income.
A lawyer and spouse who are apparently double income with no kids expects the rest of America to subsidize their health care insurance? We’ve got problems?
I think they expected to be left alone.(not subsidized).. You can easily be homeless in SanFrancisco with an 80K/year salary.
That’s a throw away story. They picked a lawyer in a household with a combined income of $80k because it is not a very heart wrenching story. But they’ve now checked the box on being “journalists.”
The real problem will be those a bit lower on the income scale, with children, who will see even higher dollar increases. There’s not going to be $2,500 in savings for a family of 4. Unless that family of 4 gets maybe $3k or $4k of subsidies.
Usually these supposed random people and stories are provided to ‘journalists’ directly by the Democrat party or one of their satellite groups like ACORN. I think that you have the right take on this. The journos had to address some of the criticisms of O-care, but they didn’t want to demonstrate a really bad case.
I think this is the best quote in the article-
{Pam Kehaly, president of Anthem Blue Cross in California, said she received a recent letter from a young woman complaining about a 50% rate hike related to the healthcare law. “She said, ‘I was all for Obamacare until I found out I was paying for it,'” Kehaly said.}
And there you have it.
Why don’t they implement a program like “Adopt-A-Highway”?
HealthCare.gov should provide you with the name (or names) of the other people that you are paying health insurance costs for. That way you would have the chance to bond with them – maybe give them a call once in a while and check on how things are going – or get together for a coffee every few months. Maybe you could also send them a parcel of food stamps at Christmas time. Who knows where this could end?
I am 64, single, net $55,000 year, live in the “outskirts of greater Los Angeles” and work in the healthcare industry. Up until 2 years ago I had health insurance through my employers, albeit at increasingly higher shared costs for the employee. Then the office broke up and I was uninsured. I looked into individual coverage and found that the minimum monthly premium was $400. No affordable then. Not affordable now. Six months ago I was able to get a “minimal indemnity plan” which is under $200 a month but bare bones – no diagnostic tests, no surgery. I recently checked out “CoveredCalifornia”, entered my age, net income, and zip code and found that I now can get insurance for only $475.00 a month. What the heck? I thought this was the AFFORDABLE healthcare act. What happened President Obama’s (whom I voted for as I had hoped for a change) promise of “this will cost less than your cell phone bill?”