Obamacare Exchanges Slated to Open Tomorrow

Tomorrow, Tuesday, October 1 will be the day the new Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) health exchanges go into effect, as you can see at  Healthcare.gov.  People who do not have employer-provided health insurance, are not on Medicare, Medicaid or military medical care will be able to get  competitive coverage at reasonable rates.

Most purchasers of moderate means will get tax subsidies to help pay for their policies.  This will include individuals who make up to $45,960 and families of four who make up to $94,200.  A family of six will get help up to an income of $126,000.   After tax breaks, the costs will be bargains.  In Pennsylvania, for instance, a 27-year-old earning $25,000, choosing a mid-level silver plan which  covers about 70 percent of medical costs, would pay $145 a month after their tax break assistance. A family of four with two children under the age of 18 that earned $50,000 a year would pay $282 per month after tax breaks for the same silver plan. 

As President Obama has been saying in recent days, people will be able to get health insurance protection for about the same cost as their cell phone bills.  These bargains are possible due to the exchanges, which will allow people to compare the offerings of the various insurers in their states directly across the board from each other on the exchange web sites.  The provision that at least 80% of premium revenues must then be spent on health care by the providers, and the requirements of what must be provided in each level of the plans also helps make sure that services provided are adequate and readily comparable for all competitors at each level.  Upper-income Americans have had some taxes raised to help pay for the subsidies, as shown at this IRS site. 

The relative simplicity and economy of the coverage will provide an attractive option for folks looking to protect themselves against the medical vicissitudes of life.  Though the enrollment begins October 1, people will have until March 31 to secure their coverage or they will have to pay a fine.

As I write this the Republican effort in the House of Representatives to tie the overall U.S. budget to the repeal or postponement of the health care roll out is still underway.  There is no way the Democratic Senate or President Obama will go along with this, so the result of GOP stubbornness on this, if they persist, can only be a government shutdown.  The reason for their frantic eagerness to try to gut the law was revealed by Ted Cruz, the Texas Republican who has been leading the fight to kill Obamacare.  He said, "Once they taste the sugar of subsidized health care we'll never get rid of it."  Indeed.  Once people can afford to take their kids to the doctor they won't want to give that up.  Yes, that certainly makes sense to me.  What doesn't is why anybody would think that's a bad thing.