Obama Apologizes to Those of us Losing Our Great Health Insurance Plans
On Wednesday, President Obama sat down with NBC and issued what amounts to a blanket apology to people like me who had very good health insurance plans which will be canceled as a part of ACA/ObamaCare next year (plans that he has called “substandard”). Apology accepted. And Obama also deserves a heartfelt attaboy for stepping up and admitting that this thing isn’t perfect and that it’s gonna hurt some folks. This is a good start.
He also goes on to say, effectively, that he and his staff working as hard and fast as they can to fix this. That’s great to hear, too, though I’d be very curious to learn more about what he means by that.
As I best understand it, plans like mine have to go away so that my family can be put into a group with a variety of people, including those previously uninsurable. If they don’t bring me, a “low risk” person (and family) into that plan then how do they expect to lower the premiums for the previously “high risk” people?
After all it’s just math, not magic.
Still, I’ll be following with a watchful eye and an open mind. I have nothing to lose — I’ll find my best path through the new system as I always have, and right now that means starting sometime next year my premiums will nearly double. We’ll see how that comes to pass. The next six weeks will be very interesting.
December 6th, 2013 at 1:51 pm
Dave,
Does you "open mind" leave you "open" to considering it ok for Obama, by fiat, to alter laws passed by Congress and signed by him in ways that are clearly in violaion of his oath and constitutional duty to "faithfully execute" the laws of the land if it’s "for the greater good?" Because delaying the mandates for various businesses and unions is exactly that. Telling insurance companies it’s ok to go ahead and re-award their now illegal health plans (like the one you had) is exactly that.
Also, you speak here of understanding that you paying a little more for insurance so that the previously uninsured can now be covered is just math, and I presume you feel good about yourself for that small sacrifice. Tell me, please, how do you feel about the fact that there’s going to be yet another increase in your rate when the rule that the Obama administration just drafted exempting the unions from the tax on their "cadillac" plans.
The government is in the business of picking winners and losers now. You were a loser when your health plan was cancelled. You were a loser when your rates went up, becasue of simple math, because you’re low risk and others aren’t. You’re a loser now with the union "bail-out" the administration just passed. You’re a loser since the statistics now clearly show that a WAY higher percentage of people are going onto the Medicaid roles than originally projected, so your rates are going to have to go up to account for that. Frankly, that’s only a small handful of the ways that "unintended" consequnces of the ACA are ticking your rates up and up and up compared to your original calculus. Where’s your breaking point?