Another Sad Cancellation Story — Happening to Fervent ObamaCare Supporters
I have to say, I’m having a hard time feeling sorry for people like this. I’ll save my sympathy for the people who opposed this trainwreck and are getting screwed anyway. Anyway, when lefties get the short end of the stick, I guess it’s news. So here you go:
The couple — Lee, 60, and JoEllen, 59 — have been paying $550 a month for their health coverage — a plan that offers solid coverage, not one of the skimpy plans Obama has criticized. But recently, Kaiser informed them the plan would be canceled at the end of the year because it did not meet the requirements of the Affordable Care Act. The couple would need to find another one. The cost would be around double what they pay now, but the benefits would be worse.
“From all of the sob stories I’ve heard and read, ours is the most extreme,” Lee told me in an email last week.
I’ve been skeptical about media stories featuring those who claimed they would be worse off because their insurance policies were being canceled on account of the ACA. In many cases, it turns out, the consumers could have found cheaper coverage through the new health insurance marketplaces, or their plans weren’t very good to begin with. Some didn’t know they could qualify for subsidies that would lower their insurance premiums.
So I tried to find flaws in what Hammack told me. I couldn’t find any.
- The couple’s existing Kaiser plan was a good one.
- Their new options were indeed more expensive, and the benefits didn’t seem any better.
- They do not qualify for premium subsidies because they make more than four times the federal poverty level, though Hammack says not by much.
Of course, there is the more fundamental question of who gets to decide which plan is “better” for you: the government, or you? But bypassing that niggling little question of personal autonomy and freedom, it turns out that many folks aren’t getting “better” plans . . . even under the central planners’ view. They are, simply, getting hosed.
The Obama supporters’ plan? Make less money.
So what is Hammack going to do? If his income were to fall below four times the federal poverty level, or about $62,000 for a family of two, he would qualify for subsidies that could lower his premium cost to as low as zero. If he makes even one dollar more, he gets nothing.
That’s what he’s leaning toward — lowering his salary or shifting more money toward a retirement account and applying for a subsidy.
We’ve discussed the idea of a sudden cliff before, and some have expressed skepticism about the notion that the cliff is that sudden. But this story provides further evidence that, at least for older folks, the cliff is absolutely precipitous. Apparently, there is a point above which you get zilch, and below which you get thousands of dollars. Gee, do you think that will create an incentive for people to avoid being productive and making a single dollar above that cutoff?
P.S. Charles Ornstein, the reporter, favorably links a Michael Hiltzik piece purporting to “debunk” one well-known example of a cancellation where someone got hosed. There is an excellent piece that I didn’t have time to link when it came out, which took Hiltzik apart on this exact issue. (Thanks, M. Scott Eiland!) And Hugh Hewitt slapped Hiltzik around some too, on the radio. (Entertaining transcript here.) It was all good stuff, and the links are worth following.
ungrateful whores
you just wait til one of em gets knocked up then they’ll be praising the obamacares to the high heavens
you’ll see
obamacare rocks!
happyfeet (8ce051) — 11/6/2013 @ 8:37 pmThe comments to the cited article are hilarious. The website had to close comments, apparently because there were too many “wrong” comments, along the lines of “eat it, liberals” or “choke on Obamacare and die”, etc. etc. Comments which I condemn, because I am not a racist, etc. etc.
orcadrvr (2977be) — 11/6/2013 @ 8:59 pmAlso, I renounce myself.
Putting money in a retirement account does not help. Modified Adjusted Gross Income adds those contributions back in, and MAGI is what they use to determine subsidies.
Probably the only good way to play games with this is to 1) be self-employed; 2) be near enough to the limit that your self-employed health insurance deduction (which is NOT added back into the MAGI) gets you under the subsidy level. Given the ages of these two, they’d get at least half of the silver plan cost back as a tax credit if they get the MAGI under $62K.
And in fact, if this works for you, or if it gets you very close, you should probably bump up to the platinum plan. You get to deduct the whole cost so long as you wait for the tax credit (which is NOT income).
By going to the platinum plan you may increase your subsidy (lower MAGI) and your ongoing costs will be lower still since you no longer have any deductible and the copays are tiny.
Note this does not work for young people, because the subsidies are only for old farts. Shoulda voted for Romney.
Kevin M (bf8ad7) — 11/6/2013 @ 9:38 pmKevin M., damn … the NSA gave you my tax return didn’t they?
SPQR (768505) — 11/6/2013 @ 9:41 pmThey gave me every Republican’s return. It just takes a SASE.
Kevin M (bf8ad7) — 11/6/2013 @ 9:47 pmThat’s good, Kevin M.
SPQR (768505) — 11/6/2013 @ 9:50 pmSure, go for the subsidy, libs. A unicorn will lead us to the baskets of golden coins to pay for it all!
I think you are right about the retirement deduction. That’s a no go–probably cuz only a rich, white person has a retirement account.
You talk though as if you think this law will not be repealed. I think there are death throes for 404Care.
Patricia (be0117) — 11/6/2013 @ 10:17 pmIn order for Obamacare to work, people have to sign up on the exchanges. It’s disgraceful for any Obama supporter to not cancel whatever insurance they have and rush to sign up for ACA.
Sure, it may cost them more, and the coverage may not be as good, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that they are actively supporting Obama’s signature legislation, and if they just sit back and keep their existing insurnace they’re no better than a Republican hostage-taker.
malclave (1db6c5) — 11/6/2013 @ 10:18 pmI was reading an article about the collapse of Venezuelan healthcare system (it’s Cuban mercenary healthcare).
This part about a woman who has breast cancer reminded me of our current state here in the US:
“Gonzalez says she adored Chavez for his anti-poverty programs, always voted for him and constantly applied for government benefits, though she never received any.”
Just sub “Obama” for “Chavez”
steveg (794291) — 11/6/2013 @ 10:59 pmAs you point out in the first sentence of your post, P, it certainly can’t be a “sad” cancellation story when it happens to “fervent ObamaCare supporters,” it is merely the chickens coming home to roost. Mr. Hammack and Ms. Brothers should be excited about getting to pay to help subsidize their fellow citizen, who otherwise wouldn’t have access to health care. Sure, it may be a waste for them to pay for pregnancy & maternity coverage, and since they don’t smoke and only drink “lightly” they probably don’t need to pay for substance abuse coverage, but rest assured they are helping to pick up the tab for someone who needs those various services, just as good collectivists are taught to do. Obama should just pin a “Hero of the Motherland” medal on both of their chests to get them to shut up and get with the program.
And with regards to the “consumer advocate” who suggests that the government figure out a way to help subsidize people like Hammack & Brothers: just how much is ObamaCare going to cost once everybody gets a partial subsidy? Ain’t gonna happen, so say hello to British-style rationing of health services.
JVW (709bc7) — 11/6/2013 @ 11:21 pmThe comments to the cited article are hilarious. The website had to close comments, apparently because there were too many “wrong” comments, along the lines of “eat it, liberals” or “choke on Obamacare and die”, etc. etc. Comments which I condemn, because I am not a racist, etc. etc.
Holy moly, you are absolutely right, the comments are simply awesome! I strongly suggest that anyone who loathes the very idea of ObamaCare spend 10 minutes reading them; it will brighten your day.
JVW (709bc7) — 11/6/2013 @ 11:26 pm3. Happy we are to hear, authoritatively, that they are wooed, screwed and tattooed.
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 11/7/2013 @ 1:09 amSometime in January, when it is still impossible to sign up for this mess and the new date for the website fix is March, there will be a move to repeal. It will fail only because Obama will veto it, and then the Republicans will gut the thing, leaving not much more than the name and some regulation of the preexisting conditions thing and a one-year patch of the by-now-fubar private market.
Or maybe Obama will start a war with Iran and we’ll look back on these times as the good old days.
Kevin M (bf8ad7) — 11/7/2013 @ 1:14 amUnicorns have pointy horns:
http://news.yahoo.com/obamacare-memos-reveal-chaos-confusion-october-rollout-173502279–abc-news-politics.html
narciso (3fec35) — 11/7/2013 @ 4:17 amI wonder if people will ever learn there’s no such thing as a “free lunch.”
Jim (72cbc5) — 11/7/2013 @ 5:36 amThe comments at the link are good. I’ll adopt this one:
“From all of the sob stories I’ve heard and read, ours is the most extreme,” Lee told me in an email last week.
Of course it is, Lee. Cuz you’re a typical self-important liberal who thinks the world revolves around you. Perhaps you didn’t read the Wall Street Journal Editorial the other day about cancer patient losing her plan. WAAAAAAAAAAAH!! Selfish little b***ches.
nk (dbc370) — 11/7/2013 @ 6:31 amhttp://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2013/11/06/sebelius-bombshell-employer-based-plans-will-face-same-grandfathering-caveats-as-lost-plans-n1740097
narciso (3fec35) — 11/7/2013 @ 6:35 amDon’t worry. As soon as all journalists receive their Obama approved training, these types of stories will stop:
“The Society of American Business Editors and Writers (SABEW) is once again teaming up with a private U.S. foundation known as the Commonwealth Fund. The Fund, a self-described ‘progressive’ organization, is currently led by David Blumenthal, former senior health adviser to the Obama campaign. The group makes little to no secret of their support for Obama’s universal health care plan.
The Commonwealth Fund’s relationship with an organization that deals with supposedly objective journalists is a rather cozy one, offering specialized teletraining to reporters at the SABEW, as well as thousands of dollars in grants for meetings designed to train reporters on how to properly cover the Affordable Care Act.”
http://www.freedomworks.org/blog/grusbf5/reporters-to-receive-specialized-training-on-how-t
Walter Cronanty (d16f1a) — 11/7/2013 @ 6:43 amThis part about a woman who has breast cancer reminded me of our current state here in the US:
“Gonzalez says she adored Chavez for his anti-poverty programs, always voted for him and constantly applied for government benefits, though she never received any.”
That’s a very important scenario to keep in mind, because far too many people not just in a country like Venezuela but also right here in the US think and respond exactly like that woman. She is fairly typical of a huge majority of people in most urban areas and, a bit less, in various blue states throughout America.
France is full of people like her, and even though they’ve been ailing from Euro-sclerosis for a few decades, and even under their previous semi-right-leaning president never received enough reform or shock treatment, they nonetheless made a bad situation worse by voting into office an out-and-out ultra-liberal in 2012. Only now are they starting to say “mon Dieu!”
Since the nonsense of liberal (and lazy, naive or greedy) biases in humans is fairly universal, I don’t know how we’ll be able to avoid the same fate. IOW, the specter of us being a cross between Mexico and France, etc, probably is our future.
Mark (58ea35) — 11/7/2013 @ 7:09 amWhy Obama Shouldn’t Worry About His Lousy Poll Numbers
That’s your National Soros Radio propaganda slut tax dollars at twerk today.
happyfeet (8ce051) — 11/7/2013 @ 7:30 am“From all of the sob stories I’ve heard and read, ours is the most extreme..”
Seems like the standard story to me. How is it extreme?
Amazed_476 (6c3b43) — 11/7/2013 @ 7:58 amSee Folks, when something bad happens to a liberal as a direct result of what the liberal did it’s always wrong. And personal. My response is “You bought the BS, you own the BS, get out your checkbook and pay for the BS.”
glenn (647d76) — 11/7/2013 @ 8:14 amAnd typically the couple in question wants special treatment because they are the “good people”.
glenn (647d76) — 11/7/2013 @ 8:20 amNo word on their religious affliation?
http://www.breitbart.com/InstaBlog/2013/11/07/Poison-Immune-Mutant-Super-Rats-Spreading-Across-UK
Pieces.
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 11/7/2013 @ 8:26 amAnd typically the couple in question wants special treatment because they are the “good people”.
We should tax those evil rich bastards more so that this doesn’t happen.
Kevin M (bf8ad7) — 11/7/2013 @ 9:12 amWhere Great Britain used to be is a constant source of jokes, gary. It’s a joke itself. What do they consider a safe, environmentally friendly, “regular poison”? (Not that I approve of poison baits of any kind for vertebrates.)
nk (dbc370) — 11/7/2013 @ 9:33 am