Monday, October 4, 2010

Obamacare won't be free

To be honest, I really don't understand how anyone could have thought that signing up for "Obamacare" would be free. Particularly for people with pre-existing conditions. Yes, you can sign up, but your premiums per month will be $400-$500. But to tell the truth, that's nothing, compared to how much you'd have to pay if you had no insurance.

Anyway, this is what Rush had to say about it today:
Story #4: AP Finds Obamacare Not Living Up to Expectations

RUSH: How about that preexisting condition for you health care? Boy, it's not looking good out there. You want to keep your doctor? You can't, and now this. This is by Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar of the Associated Press: "It's a centerpiece of President Barack Obama's health care remake, a lifeline available right now to vulnerable people whose medical problems have made them uninsurable. But the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan started this summer isn't living up to expectations. Enrollment lags in many parts of the country. People who could benefit may not be able to afford the premiums. Some state officials who run their own 'high-risk pools' have pointed out potential problems. ... California, which has money for about 20,000 people, has received fewer than 450 applications, according to a state official. The program in Texas had enrolled about 200 by early September, an official in that state said. In Wisconsin, Goldman said they've received fewer than 300 applications so far, with room for about 8,000 people in the program. That's not how it was supposed to work." These programs were supposed to be completely full.

"Government economists projected as recently as April that 375,000 people would gain coverage this year, and they questioned whether $5 billion allocated to the program would be enough. ... 'The federal risk pool has definitely provided critical access, in some cases lifesaving access, to health insurance,' said Amie Goldman, chair of a national association of state high-risk insurance pools. 'That said, enrollment so far is lower than we would have expected.'" And you know why? Because it turns out it isn't free. People are showing up and they believed that getting insurance for preexisting conditions now was going to be permitted. Of course it really isn't insurance. It's welfare. If we're going to be honest about terminology, if you don't have any coverage and all of a sudden you come down with a disease and then you go get insurance what you're buying is not insurance. You're buying welfare. And even at that, people can't afford the premiums of Obamacare on these preexisting condition plans. Yeah, it was supposed to be free.

Toward the end of the story it explains why all of this under-enrollment. You have to go down to the end of the story: "Premiums may be out of reach. In many states, people in their 40s and 50s face monthly premiums ranging from $400 to $600 and higher," when they thought it was going to be free. Don't laugh. They did. A lot of people thought all of this was going to be free. Enrolling their kids up to age 26, thought it was going to be free. This is how the Democrats promoted it, just like free houses, except this one's on fire. Exactly right. They let it be assumed that this was going to be paid for by a couple millionaires. Obama's out there saying the average premium is gonna go down $2500 a year. Nobody will be denied coverage. You'll be able to keep your own doctor. Nobody will be denied coverage except if you deny yourself because all of a sudden you can't afford what you thought was going to be free.

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