EDITORIALS ObamaCare Is Failing Exactly The Way Critics Said It Would

[The Nature Boy 7,659]

http://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/obamacare-is-failing-exactly-the-way-critics-said-it-would/

[smilesammich 10,727]

obamacare is so turrible. hiya, can you afford your premiums? do you think these dudes can?

[Teddy B 17,252]

From NB's link:

Who could have envisioned such problems? Not ObamaCare backers. They were endlessly promising that the law would create vibrant, highly competitive markets that would lower the cost of insurance.

Critics, however, were spot on. They said that, despite the individual mandate, ObamaCare wouldn't attract enough young and healthy people to keep premiums down.

The Heritage Foundation, for example, said that under ObamaCare, "many under age 35 will opt out of buying insurance altogether, choosing to pay the penalty instead." That's just what has happened.

Critics predicted sharp hikes in premiums and big increases in medical claims. That's what's happened.

Critics said people would game the system, waiting until they got sick to buy insurance, then canceling it once the bills were paid, because of the law's "guaranteed issue" mandate. That's happening, too. In fact, administration officials are trying to tighten the rules to mitigate this problem.

I agree with the bolded part. I also thought the penalty was far too low to get young people to want to sign up for the plan. The fix is to make the penalty more than what it costs for the insurance. I'd still rather have a single payer plan, but fixing the penalty problems with the ACA aren't that difficult.

[yuna628 9,680]

From NB's link:

I agree with the bolded part. I also thought the penalty was far too low to get young people to want to sign up for the plan. The fix is to make the penalty more than what it costs for the insurance. I'd still rather have a single payer plan, but fixing the penalty problems with the ACA aren't that difficult.

The penalty should be high, yes. BUT, that does not lower the cost of premiums at all. If the penalty is raised but premiums never lower, the problem will not be solved.

[Teddy B 17,252]

The penalty should be high, yes. BUT, that does not lower the cost of premiums at all. If the penalty is raised but premiums never lower, the problem will not be solved.

The reason why the premiums remain high is because not enough people are paying into the system. The overall cost of healthcare since the ACA was put in place is down by percentage based on the previous years before the ACA. The whole ACA plan was based on the young and healthy buying in. It is failing because they are not.

[Boiler 45,651]

More complicated than that. Certainly expecting one group to pay much more than their risk exposure is does not usually work that well.

Quite possible for example to mandate Auto Insurance on a similar basis, say deny your vehicle type as a rating factor.