Monday, April 21, 2014

Is the Affordable Care Act really affordable?

They call it the Affordable Care Act. Some simply refer to it as Obamacare. Regardless,  is the idea it's afordable true, or is it a lie.

Consider that it is not affordable for people making minimum wage.  It is not affordable by most young people starting out in life.  It is not affordable for many retired folks living on a single income.

Consider that the cheapest plan available is $400 a month.  I couldn't even afford that, and I have a good job. So the only way most people can afford it is to receive a subsidy, which means your neighbor is paying for it.  It means I'm paying for your healthcare. Or, it means you're paying for mine.

Some people will say: "Your neighbor is not paying for it, the government is paying for it."  But these people don't realize that hard working people like you and me, people who work hard to support our families, are making sacrifices to pay for it.  We are paying more taxes.  We are taking home less money. That means we have less money to buy food and clothing, and we have less money to pay for college.

And, we also have less money to purchase material items like stereos, computers, cable TV, the Internet, snowmobiles, etc.  So the entire U.S. economic system suffers as a result.

To qualify for a subsidy, you have to earn no more than 400% of the federal poverty level. A family of four can qualify for a subsidy, I think, if your family income's $87,000. So I would, if I didn't have a job that offers it, qualify for a subsidy.  I would be a slave to you.

It's not affordable.  If you have to get a subsidy to afford it, it's not affordable, it just isn't.  In fact, it's welfare.  If you receive a subsidy to pay for your healthcare, you are receiving welfare.

I'm not saying welfare is bad, and I'm not judging those who have no choice but to receive it.  I'm just saying that if you have to receive a subsidy to pay for healthcare, chances are you are going on welfare because the government is forcing you to do it.

Those of us who are receiving healthcare as benefits, we are paying for it with a rise in our premiums.  In fact, premiums for most people have doubled since Obamacare passed.  Many people have lost, or are going to lose, their health insurance plans because of Obamacare.  Copays for prescriptions is doubling, even tripling.

If statistics are correct, three out of four people signing up for Obamacare (that's 75%) received subsidies, that means the cost of Obamacare will be even more than anticipated.

hacer.com notes that it's also not affordable on a national scale: "A nearly 100-page analysis from the government’s official revenue estimators at Congress’ Joint Committee on Taxation pegs the price tag at over $1 trillion, almost twice the nearly $570 billion suggested when the law was passed by legislative trickery three years ago."

Actually, the price tag is now up to $2 trillion.

If the price of Obamacare goes up, surely they will find some way of getting this money from us.  They will raise our premiums, or they will take more of our well earned, hard earned, money.  They will take it from our families.  They will take it from our friends.  They will keep taking it until there is none left, and the entire program falls in and on itself, dragging down with it the entire nation.

In fact, many have, or will, lose their full time jobs because, in order for businesses not to have to purchase healthcare for their workers, they have to be under 50 workers.  So if they are at 49, one person will not be hired.  If a company is at 49, there is no incentive to expand the business, because doing so would mean paying out more for healthcare, or paying a tax that might put the company in the red.  If the company is at 55 workers, it means six people will lose their jobs.

For those people no longer working, or who cannot find work, because of Obamacare, it is in no way affordable. In fact, I think we can see here, that the Affordable Care Act is, in fact, is not affordable at all. Those who say it is might just be telling a lie.

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