Was that Insurance, Policy, Coverage, or Payment ?

Real story. October 2017. Samuel lives in Florida. He was laid off from his job, but was capable enough to start his own consulting business. That’s what he’s supposed to do in America. Strike out on his own, and make it work!

But there is a serious financial problem for this family. Self-employed, he’s now under the Obama healthcare mandate to buy his own insurance. Married, with one 20 year old son, he was able to find a policy. It cost $1800 per month (that’s $21,600 per year). Add in a $3000 deductible, and that’s $24,600 every year before his policy issues the first dollar of coverage. And it’s Federal Law that he must buy this product. That is insane! Yet, there’s more. He just got the renewal notice for 2018. The premium is going up to $3200 per month – $38,400 per year.

People who like Obamacare quote over and over that “more people are covered by health care now.”  In a Talmudic way, that is true.  But it’s a lie.  What person, who is too poor to buy insurance, can afford $20,000-$30,000 per year?!  Let alone the poor, there is no way a normal middle-class person can throw $38,400 PER YEAR at this problem.  And the truth is, health care doesn’t cost that much.  Look at some of the faith-based cost sharing programs that are coming alive.  They pay only direct costs of doctors and hospitals you choose with small (less than 10%) overhead.  And they cost about 1/10 the cost quoted to Samuel, so I know that most of a Obamacare mandated costs are wasted.

How is individual entrepreneurship ever supposed to work under these conditions? Answer is – it’s not. By training, I am an engineer and I understand feedback loops. I see the closed loop problem is that this health care plan will drive people to pay what they cannot sustain until they’re too “poor” to do so and enter the ranks of people the government subsidizes. And so it goes. A never ending effect that government programs drive more people onto government programs. And the causal politicians believe this is all fair.

Tax Fairness Fuzziness

Fairness and Equality and the Common Good

…except the politicians also vote themselves coverage and payments better than everybody else better because they believe they are sacrificing more to serve the public. Uggh..