Even the New York Times is now admitting that Obamacare is unaffordable.
ACA? ObamaCare Not So Affordable « Commentary Magazine
....
There are Americans who are, as the Times points out, grateful to get any kind of insurance at all and will suffer with ObamaCare’s costs due to its allowing those with pre-existing conditions to be covered. But the numbers of those who are benefiting from the new health-care regime appear to be heavily outnumbered by those who are being either inconvenienced or gouged by the Affordable Care Act. That’s why the expectation that once it is implemented it will be popular appears to be based on some faulty assumptions. As the ranks of the ObamaCare losers grows, the burden of “affordable care” that turns out to be not so affordable is turning the ACA into an albatross sinking President Obama’s second term.
When the NYT backs off from a democrat's Big Lie, that lie might actually be in trouble.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/09/u...r-costs-can-be-high.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all&
WASHINGTON — But as consumers dig into the details, they are finding that the deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs are often much higher than what is typical in employer-sponsored health plans.
For policies offered in the federal exchange, as in many states, the annual deductible often tops $5,000 for an individual and $10,000 for a couple.
Insurers devised the new policies on the assumption that consumers would pick a plan based mainly on price, as reflected in the premium. But insurance plans with lower premiums generally have higher deductibles.
In El Paso, Tex., for example, for a husband and wife both age 35, one of the cheapest plans on the federal exchange, offered by Blue Cross and Blue Shield, has a premium less than $300 a month, but the annual deductible is more than $12,000. For a 45-year-old couple seeking insurance on the federal exchange in Saginaw, Mich., a policy with a premium of $515 a month has a deductible of $10,000.
In Santa Cruz, Calif., where the exchange is run by the state, Robert Aaron, a self-employed 56-year-old engineer, said he was looking for a low-cost plan. The best one he could find had a premium of $488 a month. But the annual deductible was $5,000, and that, he said, “sounds really high.”
By contrast, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, the average deductible in employer-sponsored health plans is $1,135.
“Deductibles for many plans in the insurance exchanges are pretty high,” said Stan Dorn, a health policy expert at the Urban Institute. “These plans are more generous than what’s prevalent in the current individual insurance market, but significantly less generous than most employer-sponsored insurance.”
Caroline F. Pearson, a vice president of Avalere Health, a consulting company that has analyzed hundreds of plans, said: “The premiums are lower than expected, but consumers on the exchange will often face high deductibles and high co-payments for medical services and prescription drugs before they reach the cap on out-of-pocket costs,” $6,350 for an individual and $12,700 for a family.
Those limits provide significant protection, even though those sums are substantial for most consumers. In addition, the federal website, HealthCare.gov, informs people that they may qualify for subsidies to reduce their out-of-pocket costs if their household income is below 250 percent of the federal poverty level, meaning that it is less than $28,725 for an individual or $48,825 for a family of three.
These “cost-sharing reductions” are available for a specific kind of midlevel plan known as a silver plan. People with lower incomes can get more help with out-of-pocket costs, but only if they choose silver plans.
Plans in the marketplace are separated into four categories — bronze, silver, gold and platinum — indicating the generosity of coverage, or the share of costs paid by insurance for an average enrollee.
Many people buying insurance on the federal and state exchanges are expected to qualify for subsidies. But in the first month, for reasons that are not clear, only 30 percent qualified. The others must pay the full premium and will be subject to the full deductible.
A study by Jon R. Gabel and colleagues at NORC, a research organization affiliated with the University of Chicago, found that 65 percent of employees in group health plans had higher-value coverage that would be classified as gold or platinum under the Affordable Care Act.
At the same time, most policies in the exchanges are more generous than what people have been buying for themselves in the individual insurance market. Mr. Gabel found that 84 percent of policyholders in the individual market had coverage that was less than or equivalent to the bronze level.
James T. O’Connor, an actuary at Milliman, an employee benefit consulting firm, said: “Larger employers generally have more generous coverage than small employers, and small group plans, on average, are richer than what people can typically buy with their own money in the new health insurance exchanges.”
Mark A. York, a 60-year-old freelance writer in Hailey, Idaho, said he began shopping after he received a letter saying that his current insurance policy would be canceled because it did not meet the requirements of the health care law. In the exchange, he said, he found policies with premiums similar to what he is now paying, $440 a month, but “the deductibles were so high — $4,000 to $6,000 a year — that it defeats the purpose of having insurance.”
Brian H. Snoddy, 35, of Palmyra, Va., said his wife and two children had a policy with a $330 premium and a $2,500 deductible, but it is being canceled. For new plans with comparable coverage on the federal exchange, he said, “the deductibles are way higher, $5,000 or $6,000.”
For visits to a medical specialist, many plans on the federal exchange require co-payments of $50 to $75 or more.
“Nearly six in 10 uninsured Americans can pay less than $100 a month for coverage in the health insurance marketplace,” Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services, has said.
Kellye Norris, 53, of Dallas said that after trying for more than a month, she completed an application on the federal exchange and enrolled in a Cigna plan with a premium of about $500 a month and no subsidies.
“My deductible is nearly $3,000, which is ridiculously high, in my opinion,” Ms. Norris said. “But as someone with pre-existing conditions, I’m grateful to be able to buy insurance at all.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I copied the majority of the story because I don't know if the NYT is one of the papers that only let you view so many free articles a month.