Another Obamacare Testimonial

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Jay

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In my inbox:


Check this testimonial out -
I'm a 54 year old consulting engineer and make between $60,000 and $125,000 per year, depending on how hard I work and whether or not there are work projects out there for me.

My girlfriend is 61 and makes about $18,000 per year, working as a part-time mail clerk.

For me, making $60,000 a year, under ObamaCare, the cheapest, lowest grade policy I can buy, which also happens to impose a $5,000 deductible, costs $482 per month.

For my girlfriend, the same exact policy, same deductible, costs $1 per month. That's right, $1 per month. I'm not making this up.

Don't believe me? Just go to www.coveredca.gov , the ObamaCare website for California and enter the parameters I've mentioned above and see for yourself. By the way, my zip code is 93940. You'll need to enter that.

So OK, clearly ObamaCare is a scheme that involves putting the cost burden of healthcare onto the middle and upper-income wage earners. But there's a lot more to it. Stick with me.

And before I make my next points, I'd like you to think about something:

I live in Monterey County, in Central California. We have a large land mass but just 426,000 residents - about the population of Colorado Springs or the city of Omaha.

But we do have a large Hispanic population, including a large number of illegal aliens, and to serve this group we have Natividad Medical Center, a massive, Federally subsidized county medical complex that takes up an area about one-third the size of the Chrysler Corporation automobile assembly plant in Belvedere, Illinois (see Google Earth View). Natividad has state-of-the-art operating rooms, Computed Tomography and Magnetic Resonance Imaging, fully equipped, 24 hour emergency room, and much more. If you have no insurance, if you've been in a drive-by shooting or have overdosed on crack cocaine, this is where you go. And it's essentially free, because almost everyone who ends up in the ER is uninsured.

Last year, 2,735 babies were born at Natividad. 32% of these were born to out-of-wedlock teenage mothers, 93% of which were Hispanic. Less than 20% could demonstrate proof of citizenship, and 71% listed their native language as Spanish. Of these 876 births, only 40 were covered under [any kind of] private health insurance. The taxpayers paid for the other 836. And in case you were wondering about the entire population - all 2,735 births - less than 24% involved insured coverage or even partial payment on behalf of the patient to the hospital in exchange for services. Keep this in mind as we move forward.

Now consider this:

If I want to upgrade my policy to a low-deductible premium policy, such as what I had with my last employer, my cost is $886 per month. But my girlfriend can upgrade her policy to the very same level, for just $4 per month. That's right, $4 per month. $48 per year for a zero-deductible, premium healthcare policy - the kind of thing you get when you work at IBM (except of course, IBM employees pay an average of $170 per month out of pocket for their coverage).

I mean, it's bad enough that I will be forced to subsidize the ObamaCare scheme in the first place. But even if I agreed with the basic scheme, which of course I do not, I would never agree to subsidize premium policies. If I have to pay $482 a month for a budget policy, I sure as hell do not want the guy I'm subsidizing to get a better policy, for less that 1% of what I have to fork out each month for a low-end policy.
Why must I pay $482 per month for something the other guy gets for a dollar? And why should the other guy get to buy an $886 policy for $4 a month? Think about this: I have to pay $10,632 a year for the same thing that the other guy can get for $48. $10,000 of net income is 60 days of full time work as an engineer. $48 is something I could could pay for collecting aluminum cans and plastic bottles, one day a month.

Are you with me on this? Are you starting to get an idea what ObamaCare is really about?

ObamaCare is not about dealing with inequities in the healthcare system. That's just the cover story. The real story is that it is a massive, political power grab. Do you think anyone who can insure himself with a premium policy for $4 a month will vote for anyone but the political party that provides him such a deal? ObamaCare is about enabling, subsizdizing, and expanding the Left's political power base, at taxpayer expense. Why would I vote for anyone but a Democrat if I can have babies for $4 a month? For that matter, why would I go to college or strive for a better job or income if it means I have to pay real money for healthcare coverage? Heck, why study engineering when I can be a schlub for $20K per year and buy a new F-150 with all the money I'm saving?

And think about those $4-a-month babies - think in terms of propagation models. Think of just how many babies will be born to irresponsible, under-educated mothers. Will we get a new crop of brain surgeons and particle physicists from the dollar baby club, or will we need more cops, criminal courts and prisons? One thing you can be certain of: At $4 a month, they'll multiply, and multiply, and multiply.

ObamaCare: It's all about political power.
 
That is just the beginning of the problem. Wait until EVERYONE starts seeing doctors and you can't get in for weeks. Politicians don't have to use it, nor some businesses. There are problems that need fixed, I just think that it was "fixed" poorly and too fast, by people that didn't know what they were doing.
 
That is just the beginning of the problem. Wait until EVERYONE starts seeing doctors and you can't get in for weeks. Politicians don't have to use it, nor some businesses. There are problems that need fixed, I just think that it was "fixed" poorly and too fast, by people that didn't know what they were doing.

They are trying to move towards socialized medicine. This wasn't designed to be a fix, it was designed to fuck up the system we had beyond repair.

Also.. Obamacare wasn't the first step by a long shot. The feds have gradually been ruining the system we had for a long time. There has been a long series of fuck ups.
 
They are trying to move towards socialized medicine. This wasn't designed to be a fix, it was designed to fuck up the system we had beyond repair.

Also.. Obamacare wasn't the first step by a long shot. The feds have gradually been ruining the system we had for a long time. There has been a long series of fuck ups.

I agree with that. It would surprise me if it didn't go to a single payer in the next 10-15 years.
 
I am still trying to come to terms with this disaster. My firm will have to figure out if we will pay the fines or try and avoid this thing by using a PEO to be able to continue to operate as a going concern. Our attorneys are still working the issue, but we haven't had any good news from them, only bad news. It seems the penalties might just put us out of business. We may be forced to significantly down-size and cut back a hell of a lot of employees.

Last year we were under the 50 employee cap, but this year [coming up] we're going to have well over a hundred, placing us deep in to the requirement zone. We simply cannot afford it at these margins.
 
I am still trying to come to terms with this disaster. My firm will have to figure out if we will pay the fines or try and avoid this thing by using a PEO to be able to continue to operate as a going concern. Our attorneys are still working the issue, but we haven't had any good news from them, only bad news. It seems the penalties might just put us out of business. We may be forced to significantly down-size and cut back a hell of a lot of employees.

Last year we were under the 50 employee cap, but this year [coming up] we're going to have well over a hundred, placing us deep in to the requirement zone. We simply cannot afford it at these margins.

This very reason is why you see a large number of 49 employee companies in countries such as France. Instead of one 80 employee company, you simply control two 40 employee companies.
 
This very reason is why you see a large number of 49 employee companies in countries such as France. Instead of one 80 employee company, you simply control two 40 employee companies.

then you lump your debt onto and asset strip one of em ........

There just doesnt seem to be any sense in being an employer, yet the Fed is charged with the task of maintaining full employment.

In the end theres only one employer and only one source of money )-:
 
This very reason is why you see a large number of 49 employee companies in countries such as France. Instead of one 80 employee company, you simply control two 40 employee companies.

Yup. I thought that was a neat way around things. I think there are some good things that we should take from European business, but a lot of bad things as well.
 
Breaking an 80 into two 40s raises business costs somewhat, but those additional costs are more than offset by the costs of the regulatory bullshit avoided. As is normal, government imposed costs force restructuring and in the long run lessen the total amount that the government is able to collect in taxes. If a business constantly shot themselves in the foot that way, they would go belly up fast.
 
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