Posted on 11/10/2013 9:21:31 AM PST by Kaslin
In order for the Affordable Healthcare Plan to "work," millions of healthy young people need to enroll in the exchanges in order to defray the cost of older less healthy people. If younger Americans do not become paying contributors into the health exchanges, we will enter what many call "the death spiral" with skyrocketing premiums. As the health insurance companies are not able to defray the higher costs of caring for the old onto the "young invincibles," history will be left with another failed attempt at socialized medicine.
Are young people going to sign up and pay double the current rates to become paying contributors into this system? Most critics point out that young people are not likely to sign up because of increased costs. What is the incentive to pay into a system that would accept them if they have an accident or get sick since there are no longer pre-existing condition roadblocks? One ironic and unintended consequence now coming to light is many young people are discovering that they don't have to pay into the system at all but can get free or heavily subsidized insurance via Medicaid.
For example, a friend of mine in Colorado, a 27-year-old healthy young married man, was forced onto the exchanges when the Obamacare portal opened. He began shopping for plans and was stunned to see the minimum plan premiums have tripled from the previous plan he was on. Earning about $21,000 a year, he is not able to afford even the most basic plan. As he scrolled down to the bottom of the screen and entered his income, he was shocked to discover that he was now eligible for Medicaid. That's right, a strong healthy 27 year old male is now eligible under the new law for government subsidized health insurance. He could not resist a free offer for health care and is now enrolled in Medicaid. He was previously a content customer paying for a private health care plan but now has been "forced" into a free plan which raises the question where is the money coming from to subsidize his "free" plan? Furthermore, will he find a primary care doctor who is able to see him on short notice?
It's ironic that the young healthy people Obamacare needs to enroll could actually make the structure weaker instead of stronger since many young people in their 20's and 30's who are married with kids are earning wages that are low enough to qualify for Medicaid. As more people go onto Medicaid, it will be harder and harder to find doctors who will accept Medicaid patients due to low reimbursements. Socialized medicine is well known for the long waits to see doctors. These patients who cannot find primary care doctors will simply go emergency rooms for their care just like the pre-Obamacare system. Thus, another irony is revealed as we could end up back to square one with overloaded emergency rooms filled with non-paying patients.
Indeed, early results are showing this is exactly what individual states are reporting. Most states are showing that 65-90% of all new enrollees are going into Medicaid. Who is going to pay for all this? Are we just kicking more cans down the road for my generation to deal with? Eventually, these cans are going to pile up in my generation's backyard due to the careless policies of big government politicians who are focused on just getting re-elected instead of trying to leave the next generation better off. My Colorado friend and millions like him would rather pay into the best medical care system in the world rather than get "free" health care from an inferior socialized based system of medicine involving long waits to see doctors and bureaucrats in Washington making health care decisions "for the greater good."
Whether or not the Obamacare system can remain solvent with so many new enrollees into Medicaid is just one problem. The longer term problem behind this massive disaster of Medicaid expansion is that we are now "hooking" our youth onto continued government assistance. My Colorado friend never asked for "free" health insurance but now as he and millions like him will soon be forced into Medicaid, they are more likely to grow dependent on the government. Our country cannot afford a generation that expects to have their healthcare, education, and lifestyle subsidized by the government. Obamacare only accelerates and bankrolls this entitlement culture amongst our nation's youth as the younger generation becomes both fiscally and psychologically more dependent on its nanny government to take care of them.
Some conservative analysts think this dependency is the ultimate purpose of Obamacare. Perhaps all this upheaval is not about health care but rather political power; namely, increasing the power of the liberal politicians responsible for these big government entitlement programs. As more people come to depend on the generosity of big government, these dependent voters will feel compelled to vote to keep their "nannies" in power. Obamacare is manufacturing voters who will be "voting for a living" reflecting the old adage that "once a hand is extended it's not likely to be pulled back again."
Modern democracy cannot function if we have more people in the cart than pulling the cart. Unfortunately, Obamacare only strengthens the entitlement state and forces the creation of a powerful voting block of "cart occupants" instead of "cart pullers." Eventually, the weight of debt being piled up into an increasingly socialized health care system will stop this cart dead in its tracks leaving both cart pullers and occupants without the superior health care system we've grown accustomed to and can no longer take for granted. Already, we are seeing the unintended consequences of big government interference in the marketplace. The rollout of the exchanges has been a disaster and the reality is that millions more people are now losing their health insurance than gaining new insurance, thus defeating the purpose of Obamacare. Trying to help the 15% of the population of uninsured gain affordable insurance was a worthy goal, but does it make sense to ruin the health care system of the 85% to try and get insurance to those 15%? Free market concepts such as allowing insurance companies to compete across state lines would have brought health insurance rates down and brought quality of care up due to increased competition.
The ultimate irony of the unintended consequences of big government is now becoming apparent as the young people needed to sustain Obamacare could actually hasten its demise. In the end, Obamacare is just another reason why the tombstone of liberalism will read, "Here lie the good intentions that could not be translated into good public policy."
Obama is the creepy guy in the van giving out candy to your kids.
Yes
1. They were unemployed
2. They thought it cost too much, compared to their other priorities.
3. They were irresponsible and apathetic.
So what has changed with Obamacare.
1. More of them are unemployed.
2. It costs substantially more.
3. They are even more irresponsible and apathetic.
Will Young People Really Be Pulling the Obamacare Cart?Only until they are old enough for the ObamaCare Death Panels
Some see the chaos of Obamacare as paving the way for single payer, full blown socialized medicine.
They could be right. In a perfect political world, there is no way the voters would reward the Democrat party, which brought us Obamacare, by voting for more Democrat presidents and congressmen so they can “fix” the Obamacare mess they created in the first place.
But, sad to say, with growing numbers of people voting due to “identity politics”, such as how almost all black people vote Democrat, it doesn’t matter what these politicians do when in power. They will get re-elected anyway.
Candy? More like crack cocaine.
Not if they're smart.
Unfortunately, smart or not, they're ignorant...and there lies the problem.
That's EXACTLY what it is ..and has been the strategy since the very beginning. Total control of one-sixth of the nation's economy.
This is all part of the Grand Plan.
The New Normal.
They should not sign up, declare enough dependents to have nothing withheld and not file or pay income tax.
Yes, they have been saddled with a hugh debt, but, they were stupid enough to think they could solve it with a snake Oil salesman.
Bookmark
Obama would never have been elected as president without the overwhelming vote of the younger generation.
Now, as thanks for their support, he has sentenced them to slave for Obamacare their entire lives.
But they will die happy knowing they made it possible for Sandra Fluke to have all the free condoms she could use.
I maintain that pretty much any young person who wants to be insured already is. Before Obamacare, insurance for young people was pretty cheap. (except for the pre-existing condition people, who could have been dealt with without this monstrosity)
Ironically, it's Sandra Fluck (that's Fluck with an ell) who plans to save the day for Obamacare.
Fluck (with an ell) is in charge of ObamaCare's Government-Approved Orgasms---she advised Obama to rework the mandate to lure in young enrollees:
The newly-named "Obamacare For The Fully Fornicating" will offer:
<><> (1) Private "Orgasmic Conditioning" sessions ----"a handy way to get an uptick of young enrollees," said serial fornicator, Sandra Fluck (with an ell).
<><> (2) Vaginal rejuvenations----Obamacare is offering surgeons board-certified in vaginal rejuvenations (aka "The Wrigley Procedure"--- doubles the pleasure, doubles the fun--lasts longer, too). "
Sandra Fluck helpfully warned: "There's a teeny tiny chance that the unthinkable could happen when a vagina is rejuvenated (lined w/ guar gum). So doctors board certified in castration and penile extraction techniques are on-call 24/7----and Obamacare covers all procedures," Fluck added.
No, they'll go on MedicAid. That's the BIG lie of the Democrats, the reality the people will face as they lose their private "substandard plans."
See new tag line
I don’t know the salary limits of Medicaid, but it appears from this article that most young people would qualify and pay nothing. Would a young person do that or pay a large amount for a regular policy? Of course they are going into Medicaid or they will get none and pay the modest “fine”, “tax” or whatever one wants to call it, once a year. It makes sense to go into no cost Medicaid. That will take more money than people are paying in, so the whole thing collapses or prices of plans soar to pay for these who get it free. When people don’t have enough money to pay for a policy, they won’t have any because they make too much for Medicaid.
This is a great number of cards perilously stacked up until they fall from the weight. THIS CANNOT WORK.
The economics never worked. You cannot add a huge federal administrative bureaucracy with over 100 new agencies to the existing medical system plus 30 million new recipients, plus expensive new benefits, and reduce costs.
Obamacare is all about redistribution of wealth to favored groups with political power.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
