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New Health Law Frustrates Many in Middle Class
New York Times ^ | December 20, 2013 | KATIE THOMAS, REED ABELSON and JO CRAVEN McGINTY

Posted on 12/21/2013 8:13:05 AM PST by reaganaut1

An analysis by The New York Times shows the cost of premiums for people who just miss qualifying for subsidies varies widely across the country and rises rapidly for people in their 50s and 60s. In some places, prices can quickly approach 20 percent of a person’s income.

Experts consider health insurance unaffordable once it exceeds 10 percent of annual income. By that measure, a 50-year-old making $50,000 a year, or just above the qualifying limit for assistance, would find the cheapest available plan to be unaffordable in more than 170 counties around the country, ranging from Anchorage to Jackson, Miss.

A 60-year-old living in Polk County, in northwestern Wisconsin, and earning $50,000 a year, for example, would have to spend more than 19 percent of his income, or $9,801 annually, to buy one of the cheapest plans available there. A person earning $45,000 would qualify for subsidies and would pay about 5 percent of his income, or $2,228, for an inexpensive plan.

In Oklahoma City, a 60-year-old earning $50,000 could buy one of the cheapest plans for about 6.6 percent of his income, or about $3,279 a year with no subsidy. If he earned $45,000, with the benefit of a subsidy, he would spend about $2,425.

While the number of people who just miss qualifying for subsidies is unclear, many of them have made their frustration known, helping fuel criticism of the law in recent weeks. Like the Chapmans, hundreds of thousands of people have received notices that their existing plans are being canceled and that they must now pay more for new coverage.

In an effort to address that frustration, the Obama administration announced on Thursday that it would permit people whose plans had been canceled to buy bare-bones catastrophic plans, which are less expensive

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


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1 posted on 12/21/2013 8:13:05 AM PST by reaganaut1
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To: reaganaut1

Ya’think, beeyotch?


2 posted on 12/21/2013 8:14:31 AM PST by Mamzelle
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To: reaganaut1

Twelve thousand a year, not including the out-of-pocket is more than twice what I ever spent on a mortgage. It’s a nice new car every two years. All this money for reduced choice and a lesser level of care? What a deal.

Liberals are trying to gen up support for Hillary Clinton or Elizabeth Warren. Both would do the same or worse than Obama. We’re living in an insane world that has lost all sense of perspective.


3 posted on 12/21/2013 8:18:07 AM PST by Gen.Blather
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To: Mamzelle
Well, it costs a lot of money to support the lifestyles of the promiscuous, immoral, drug addicted and other ObaMao constituencies. We're just supposed to roll over and take it because he won the election.
4 posted on 12/21/2013 8:18:58 AM PST by Vigilanteman (Obama: Fake black man. Fake Messiah. Fake American. How many fakes can you fit in one Zer0?)
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To: reaganaut1

Hopefully, the Republicans won’t say they will try to “fix it” instead of repeal it, as they usually do with these Socialistic programs.


5 posted on 12/21/2013 8:19:48 AM PST by Oatka (This is America. Assimilate or evaporate.)
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To: reaganaut1

Just the hint of this was enough to cause massive backlash in 1993-1994. I can’t believe what people are voting for and putting up with.

We’ve changed so much in 20 years. It is frightening to think where we will be in 20 more.


6 posted on 12/21/2013 8:25:00 AM PST by TheGipperWasRight
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To: Gen.Blather
We’re living in an insane world that has lost all sense of perspective.

Ah, but at least we now have gay marriage on demand, and we don't have to worry about seeing the bearded face of a benighted backwoodsman on the merchandise at Cracker Barrel.

7 posted on 12/21/2013 8:26:58 AM PST by madprof98
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To: reaganaut1

I’d like to see this mandated on registered democrats only since they want it so bad.


8 posted on 12/21/2013 8:31:33 AM PST by maddog55
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To: reaganaut1

Don’t let up until they actually cry uncle.


9 posted on 12/21/2013 8:32:51 AM PST by GEC (Obamacare is the #MostEpicFailEver)
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To: GEC
When Republicans promise to rip it out by the roots, they'll get my contribution. Not until.
10 posted on 12/21/2013 8:45:01 AM PST by Eric in the Ozarks ("Say Not the Struggle Naught Availeth.")
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To: reaganaut1

I despise these crappy little smartass minds.


11 posted on 12/21/2013 8:46:34 AM PST by dforest
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To: reaganaut1

Something we knew … this was going to hit the middle class hard.


12 posted on 12/21/2013 8:48:11 AM PST by BunnySlippers (I LOVE BULL MARKETS . . .)
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To: reaganaut1

“Frustrated” isn’t the word I would use. More like “ready to vote from the rooftops.”


13 posted on 12/21/2013 8:55:21 AM PST by Disambiguator
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To: reaganaut1

If your you cannot find a premium that will cost less than 8% of your income, you are no longer mandated to purchase insurance.

The mandate is INVALIDATED if you cannot find an Obamacare approved premium anywhere that is less than 8% if your income.


14 posted on 12/21/2013 9:11:44 AM PST by Lorianne (fedgov, taxporkmoney)
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To: reaganaut1

The “bare bones plans” that he’s huckstering now sound suspiciously like the “junk, sub-standard plans” that he and his cult were blasting two weeks ago. What an absolute flop he is as a president. Can he even blow his nose by himself?


15 posted on 12/21/2013 9:30:05 AM PST by txrefugee
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To: reaganaut1

uh huh

no mention of the co-pays and deductibles?

how stoopid do these writters think we ar?


16 posted on 12/21/2013 9:39:01 AM PST by silverleaf (Age takes a toll: Please have exact change)
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To: reaganaut1

It won’t be expensive for me, because it will be a cold day in hell before I ever purchase insurance from the government.


17 posted on 12/21/2013 9:42:12 AM PST by OneVike (I'm just a Christian waiting to go home)
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To: madprof98
We’re living in an insane world that has lost all sense of perspective.

Actually, you are experiencing a perspective that has been carefully crafted by the mainstream media for the Democrat Party. The media is our real enemy.

18 posted on 12/21/2013 9:44:13 AM PST by Senator_Blutarski
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To: reaganaut1
The headline of this article itself is nothing more than pure leftist propaganda.

This is not a "new law" we're talking about here. The laughably-named "Affordable Care Act" was passed by Congress and signed into law in March of 2010 -- almost four years ago.

19 posted on 12/21/2013 9:48:30 AM PST by Alberta's Child ("I've never seen such a conclave of minstrels in my life.")
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To: reaganaut1

I’ve seen many disturbing trends since the economy collapsed in 2007; the most recent one is a number of neighbors starting to use clotheslines to dry clothes. I feel like I’m back in the 1970s again...


20 posted on 12/21/2013 10:09:03 AM PST by kearnyirish2 (Affirmative action is economic war against white males (and therefore white families).)
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