Obama's HHS also boasted that 286,000 people became newly eligible for subsidies in 2017 because of that year's 25% premium hike.If you're in group 2, you're in both groups. Higher taxes and massive price increases, plus you get to be thrown off your plan every year because this-or-that regulation has changed.
In ObamaCare-land, higher prices are good.
That does leave one nagging question. If enrollees aren't paying for those massive premium hikes, who is? Two groups ignored by ObamaCare aficionados:
1) Taxpayers. Even before the massive 2018 rate hikes were announced, the Congressional Budget Office projected that the taxpayer cost of ObamaCare's subsidies will climb 32% next year. From 2015 to 2018, the annual cost of these subsidies will have more than doubled.
2) Millions who aren't eligible for ObamaCare subsidies. According to industry analysts, about 44% of the individual market isn't eligible for any ObamaCare subsidies.... That means they face the full brunt of those double-digit rate hikes. This isn't Trump's fault, by the way. Huge annual premium hikes have been an ongoing problem since ObamaCare launched.
Happy "Open Enrollment"
It turns out that these giant rate hikes are considered desirable by the Obamacare folks. The more the second-highest-priced Silver Plan costs, the bigger the subsidies they are authorized to issue.
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I'm not sure whether any of these people have figured this out yet, but total subsidy payment are capped at a percentage of the GDP... and it isn't going to be long before they hit that percentage, and subsidies no longer cover all but 8% of income or whatever the figure is. What are people supposed to do then?
Also, don't forget that it's dangerous to accept a subsidy if your income is irregular at all. The subsidies are computed based on your guess about next year's income (and sanity checked against the year before last, so good luck if your income has suddenly dropped). You are supposed to "notify the Marketplace" if your income changes, which I suppose means notifying them every month for people in that position. If you guess too low, you get to repay thousands of dollars. People were puzzling over why some percentage don't have a subsidy even though their income was below the threshold and I had to enlighten them.
Dennninger, over at the Market Ticker wonders why anyone would work, if they can reduce their cash flow requirements with regard to mortgage, property tax etc. Apparently the subsidies are getting so large that in the 15-20k income level the insurance plan is free with no deductible.
His comments http://market-ticker.org/
Dennninger, over at the Market Ticker wonders why anyone would work, if they can reduce their cash flow requirements with regard to mortgage, property tax etc. Apparently the subsidies are getting so large that in the 15-20k income level the insurance plan is free with no deductible.
I believe that is called a perverse incentive.
Or in the case of ObamaCare, intended behavior.
Or in the case of the media, "Unexpected!"
"Unexpected" doesn't quite apply to the media, Cassandra, because IIRC the media was suggesting this course of action back when the ACA first hit and people saw the premium increases for the first year. "Just reduce your income to get subsidies!" It can work, too, especially if you have assets (those aren't taken into account for subsidies). You can reduce MAGI by putting your income into retirement accounts or HSAs, too.
All I know is that, at this point, fully 40% of my income goes either to government-mandated health insurance or taxes. I'm about ready for that to stop, but it just gets worse every year.
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