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Obamacare: Does Buying Health Insurance Make Sense for You?
Townhall.com ^ | November 2, 2013 | Political Calculations

Posted on 11/02/2013 6:45:49 AM PDT by Kaslin

et's suppose for a moment that you actually could buy health insurance through Obamacare's state and federal government-run exchanges. How high would your health care expenses have to be to really justify buying that kind of insurance?

Healthcare.gov site down - Source: http://issa.house.gov/district-blog/2013/10/8-cats-who-called-1-800-obamacare-but-still-couldnt-get-healthcare-3/

Previously, when we asked if you even need health insurance, we identified a number of situations where having health insurance would be most beneficial to you (Sean Parnell adds to that discussion here). All the scenarios came down to one basic reality: buying health insurance is most worth doing when you can reasonably expect to have high health care expenses in the next year.

So today, we're going to identify the level of health expenses you would have to have before you could obtain the maximum benefit of having health insurance - when you reach your annual limit for out-of-pocket expenses! This is the level at which all your major health care expenses beyond that point would be paid for through your insurance coverage.

Just enter or select the appropriate data in our tool below, and we'll give you better information than you could ever hope to get from the dysfunctional Healthcare.gov web site! Please click here to access a working version of this tool!

Note: Per President Obama's choice to deny consumers the protection of an out-of-pocket limit for insured health care expenses in 2014, you may want to enter a very large number like $1 million for this figure. The other figures may apply in 2015, unless President Obama once again chooses to favor the interests of his crony insurance corporations over consumers.

Also, this particular tool is focused on what you actually pay for your consumption of health care services, but it doesn't consider what you pay in health insurance premiums. You'll want to add your annual out-of-pocket expenses for these to the total above to get a good sense of what you're really going to be paying out in the name of health care.

Finally, if you know you're going to have the expenses, you may find it more beneficial to opt for a higher level plan. We tried it using data for a 27-year old non-smoker in Chicago for Humana's Connect Bronze (Deductible $6,300, Out-of-Pocket Limit $6,300, Monthly Premium $190.49), Connect Silver (Deductible $4,600, Out-of-Pocket Limit $6,300, Monthly Premium $216.03) and Connect Gold (Deductible $2,500, Out-of-Pocket Limit $5,000, Monthly Premium $248.74) plans.

Nerdwallet: Obamacare Death Spiral

Here, using the same $7,500 in expected health care expenses, the Bronze plan required our hypothetical 27 year-old pay for 84% ($6,300) of those costs out of pocket, the Silver plan required they pay for 72.9% ($5,470), while the Gold plan held the out-of-pocket cost down to 46.7% ($3,500). These figures all assume that the annual out-of-pocket limit specified for each plan would apply and not be overruled by President Obama's waiver of those limits for health insurance providers.

Adding in the annual costs of each metal plan's unsubsidized premiums, the Bronze plan imposed the highest cost of $8,585.88, the Silver plan was the next highest at $8,062.36 and the Gold plan was the least costly at $6,484.88. What this result suggests is that people who expect to incur large health care costs in the next year will very likely opt for more generous levels of coverage when they do buy health insurance on the Obamacare exchanges.

Meanwhile, for people who don't expect to consume much health care, they would benefit by paying much less for a plan that provides less generous coverage, even though they might face a huge cost gap before they would have any real benefit in having health insurance. Assuming they don't choose to save even more money by not buying any health insurance at all and are willing to take a pass on the very small savingsassociated with Obamacare's health insurance subsidy tax credit.

That's really a recipe for sticking insurers with higher costs imposed by the most ravenous health care consumers without any offsetting revenue to cover those costs from insuring healthier individuals. They will have to respond by increasing their premiums or increasing the deductibles and restrictions on their policies to compensate, making them even less desirable to buy, except only for those who expect to have high health care expenses.

And that's the death spiral that awaits health insurance consumers and insurers in 2015 and beyond - even if consumers actually could buy health insurance through Obamacare's state and federal government-run exchanges today.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Editorial; Government
KEYWORDS: brilliant; deathspiral; insurance; obamacare
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1 posted on 11/02/2013 6:45:49 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

Nullification is best #repealObamacre strategy.


2 posted on 11/02/2013 6:56:50 AM PDT by LALALAW (one of the asses who's sick of our "ruling" classes)
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To: Kaslin

Was ObamaCare offered in Dachau?


3 posted on 11/02/2013 7:07:56 AM PDT by ExTexasRedhead
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To: Kaslin

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10990 allows the government to take over all modes of transportation and control of highways and seaports.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10995 allows the government to seize and control the communication media.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10997 allows the government to take over all electrical power, gas, petroleum, fuels and minerals.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10998 allows the government to take over all food resources and farms.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11000 allows the government to mobilize civilians into work brigades under government supervision.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11001 allows the government to take over all health, education and welfare functions.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11002 designates the registration of all persons. Postmaster General to operate a national registration

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11003 allows the government to take over all airports and aircraft, including commercial aircraft.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11004 allows the Housing and Finance Authority to relocate communities, build new housing with public funds, designate areas to be abandoned, and establish new locations for populations.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11005 allows the government to take over railroads, inland waterways and public storage facilities.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11049 assigns emergency preparedness function to federal departments and agencies, consolidating 21 operative Executive Orders issued over a fifteen year period.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11051 specifies the responsibility of the Office of Emergency Planning and gives authorization to put all Executive Orders into effect in times of increased international tensions and economic or financial crisis.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11310 grants authority to the Department of Justice to enforce the plans set out in Executive Orders, to institute industrial support, to establish judicial and legislative liaison, to control all aliens, to operate penal and correctional institutions, and to advise and assist the President

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11921 allows the Federal Emergency Preparedness Agency to
develop plans to establish control over the mechanisms of production and distribution, of energy sources, wages, salaries, credit and the flow of money in U.S. financial institution in any undefined national emergency. It also provides that when a state of emergency is declared by the President, Congress cannot review the action for six months.

And you though you were protected by the Bill of Rights? Well, yes, if Congress ever chose to review and nullify any of these orders -but they don’t so they stand as the law of the land.


4 posted on 11/02/2013 7:10:20 AM PDT by hosepipe (This propaganda has been edited to include some fully orbed hyperbole..)
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To: Kaslin

Someone has to support the bloated ObamaCare bureaucracy Obama created to provide thousands upon thousands of busywork jobs for democrat voters.


5 posted on 11/02/2013 7:11:13 AM PDT by Iron Munro (When a killer screams 'Allahu Akbar' you don't need to be mystified about a motive.)
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To: Kaslin
So people on medicare and federal employees are not covered by obamacare so how many people are out of the system and well covered?
6 posted on 11/02/2013 7:19:06 AM PDT by mountainlion (Live well for those that did not make it back.)
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To: Iron Munro

I have a 59 yr old cousin who actually IS one of the working poor. I plugged her numbers into the CoveredCa site. Her premiums would be totally subsidized except for $1 per mnth. But!!! She would have a $5k deductible that she could never in her life come up with. So she would pay $1 a mnth for a policy she would never use and the insurance company would collect the subsidy from the feds for a policy they would never have to pay out on.


7 posted on 11/02/2013 7:19:25 AM PDT by sheana
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To: Kaslin
DemicratCare is not designed to be insurance ; it never was designed for that , otherwise it would work !!
The real purpose is to subject all Americans to the Fed so as to get to 'single-payer ' insurance, that is why enforcement is left to the less-than-confidential IRS.
Also , sign up is by politically leftist organizations for existing Medicaid programs , and voter registration !!
It's not about insurance ( and never was) , it's all about building up the voter base for future elections ,
and leveling the financial field through breach of confidentiality where everyone has access to your financial and health history.
8 posted on 11/02/2013 7:22:16 AM PDT by Tilted Irish Kilt (Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm. -- James Madison)
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To: sheana

Obamacare is a scam to fleece even more money from the people while enrolling them as a citizen in the NWO. The insurance aspect is just a cover. I bet the pockets of politicians that helped screw the American people over are overflowing with kickbacks.


9 posted on 11/02/2013 7:27:17 AM PDT by jsanders2001
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To: Kaslin
All the scenarios came down to one basic reality: buying health insurance is most worth doing when you can reasonably expect to have high health care expenses in the next year.

That's true of any insurance. If I could predict when my house would burn down then I could hold off on home insurance until just before then. If I could predict when my car would be stolen then I could defer auto insurance until the day before. And if I could predict when I might have an accidental fall or develop a serious illness then I could forget about health insurance until a it happens. So tell me, how do I do that?

10 posted on 11/02/2013 7:31:40 AM PDT by DoodleDawg
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To: hosepipe
And you though you were protected by the Bill of Rights

You are aware that none of those executive orders were issued by Obama? His begin at 13489. All those listed were issued by JFK and LBJ.

11 posted on 11/02/2013 7:37:38 AM PDT by DoodleDawg
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To: Kaslin
Obamacare: Does Buying Health Insurance Make Sense for You?

Resistance to tyranny does.

12 posted on 11/02/2013 7:40:46 AM PDT by Caipirabob (Communists... Socialists... Democrats...Traitors... Who can tell the difference?)
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To: DoodleDawg

Doesn’t really matter when you can’t be refused.

Furthermore, insurance isn’t going to matter much when there are no doctors because they quit and hospitals shut down, because no one is able to pay their deductible thus causing the insurance to not pay its share.

This is going to destroy the entire medical industry.


13 posted on 11/02/2013 7:42:39 AM PDT by chris37 (Heartless.)
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To: Kaslin
For various reasons, I insure four automobiles. Around ten years ago, I changed my deductible amount to $1,000. This saved me about $1,000 per year in insurance cost. In this last decade, I have used the insurance once, costing me an extra $1,000. I obviously have saved $9,000 over this time.

Under Obamacare for car insurance, options such as this would be unavailable to me. I would be paying the high rate, just so some guy that crashes his car every year could pay a lower rate. This is the "one size fits all" plan for statist government.

14 posted on 11/02/2013 7:45:29 AM PDT by norwaypinesavage (Galileo: In science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of one individual)
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To: Kaslin
The way Obamacare was sold, e.g. "If you like your insurance you can keep it. Period.", is a perfect example of this legal term:
fraud in the inducement n. the use of deceit or trick to cause someone to act to his/her disadvantage, such as signing an agreement or deeding away real property. The heart of this type of fraud is misleading the other party as to the facts upon which he/she will base his/her decision to act. Example: "there will be tax advantages to you if you let me take title to your property," or "you don't have to read the rest of the contract--it is just routine legal language" but actually includes a balloon payment. (See: fraud, extrinsic fraud)

15 posted on 11/02/2013 7:52:05 AM PDT by mc5cents (Pray for America)
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To: mc5cents

The difference is, only the ignorant bought it hook line and sinker


16 posted on 11/02/2013 8:05:00 AM PDT by Kaslin (He needed the ignorant to reelect him, and he got them. Now we all have to pay the consequenses)
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To: mountainlion

I wouldn’t want to be covered by 0bamacare


17 posted on 11/02/2013 8:07:08 AM PDT by Kaslin (He needed the ignorant to reelect him, and he got them. Now we all have to pay the consequenses)
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To: Kaslin
Marketplace? what MARKETPLACE...

the Marketplace is not a Cafeteria in a Prison Camp!!

I contend that use of the term Marketplace....was in and of itself a less than throroughly clever case of newspeak propaganda as well as a naive overreach.


18 posted on 11/02/2013 8:16:00 AM PDT by MeshugeMikey ( Visit http://icantenroll.com/ In Glitch We Trust....;o})
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To: Kaslin

19 posted on 11/02/2013 9:19:59 AM PDT by Travis McGee (www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: sheana
There is actually a second subsidy for your cousin.

ObamaCare will pay part or all of her deductible.

Are you thinking the same thing I am?

Why bother to make her purchase a policy at $1 per month?

Just send her straight to Medicaid and send both subsidies straight to Medicaid!

20 posted on 11/02/2013 11:00:14 PM PDT by zeestephen
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