Here at National Review you read the top 10 unfolding Obamacare disasters. It is unimaginable that there is not going to be a massive revolt against such a deeply flawed scheme. Americans are going to be flabbergasted by the cost and huge deductibles in the plans offered. And the brutish financial picture looks like the good news in comparison to identity theft risk. A sample below:
1. Deductible shock: When consumers finally do get onto the Healthcare.gov website, they are in for a new kind of sticker shock. Avik Roy of the Manhattan Institute has exposed the high cost of Obamacare premiums — the next price shock will be the whopping cost of the deductibles.
A Chicago Tribune analysis showed that 21 of the 22 lowest-priced plans offered for Cook County residents on the Illinois exchange have annual deductibles of more than $4,000 for an individual and $8,000 for family coverage. (Deductibles are the money consumers must spend on health care before most insurance benefits kick in.)
This policy design is a direct result of the law’s instructions about the percentage of average health costs that insurance must cover (60 percent for Bronze, up to 90 percent for Platinum plans). The result: Americans who choose the relatively lower monthly premiums, probably in part to avoid rate shock, will be faced with huge deductibles.
2. Will people pay? When people see they have to pay several hundred dollars a month for a plan with this huge deductible, will they pay the premiums? Many will find it hard to fit the cost into already-strained family budgets.
The Congressional Budget Office expects 7 million people to enroll in health insurance through the exchanges by 2014, and it needs about 2.7 million of them to be “young healthies” who will enroll, and pay premiums that are higher than their age or health status would warrant because of the law’s regulations. Enough Americans may enroll, but will they keep up with their premiums month after month? A key date will be April 1, when people who enroll by December will be dropped from their plans if they haven’t paid the premiums. If they default, they will be forced to pay the penalty.
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