Ace:
A question I actually do not know the answer to. (I don’t know the answer to many questions, this is just one of a long list.)
But it does seem to me that Something Bad is going to happen, because Obama called upon his Bottomless Well of Executive Power to delay the Employer Mandate unilaterally, fearing political fall-out for the 2014 elections should millions upon millions of previously-covered workers be dumped into the exchanges.
Will this happen? I don’t know. But here’s what I do know: Obama sufficiently feared this possibility to violate the Constitution and delay his own beloved pet boondoggle to avoid the possibility of it.
Right now we are talking about the millions and millions of people in the individual insurance market. They are getting screwed. But as a percentage of the country, this is a small number of people — I think the fraction is something like 8% or so.
Caveat: I just made that up. But it’s low.
We should be talking about What Happens Next. And critics of ObamaCare have some good authority to speak about What Happens Next, given that they already predicted What Already Happened.
The individual-market Losers are the canaries in the coalmine for tens of millions more likely losers.
I would like Obama and his Minions to be questioned closely about what they predict will happen next. I want them on the record as to their new promises about “if you like your plan, you can keep your plan” as regards employer-paid coverage.
Let’s face it: If 90% of the country thinks, probably wrongly, that only 10% of the country is getting screwed, they will probably just shrug it off and say “Sucks to be them.” All of these anecdotes about people getting screwed will not move the general public.
Only worries about What Comes Next, regarding themselves, will agitate them for the 2014 elections.
Honestly I don’t know if the disruption in the employer markets will be as bad. I think it will be bad, but not as bad — for one thing, I think employer-provided insurance already includes a bit of subsidization for sick workers– in as much as the employer buys coverage for an undefined group, which might include very sick people — the risks then are already pooled, at least to some extent. But only to some extent, because the sickest of all people probably do not work, and thus do not ever enter the employer coverage pools.
Employer coverage is also generally decent, and thus won’t be muchaffected by increased demands for coverage. But it will be affected somewhat, and when ObamaCare demands that a business give its employees, effectively, a $1,000 or $3,000 annual raise in the form of a health care policy that covers previously uncovered things (and also steals money to subsidize the uninsurable), many companies may balk and simply stop providing insurance altogether.
It has been affecting Employer coverage from even before it was passed. When it began clear that the Democrats were going to force this legislation through, and once the President declared he would sign it (before the Democratically controlled congress had even finished writing it,) many corporations began altering the coverage they provided to employees. From my own personal experience; During this time period, our family’s employer health coverage changed four times, and we had to change our providers thrice.
Obamacare Is Radically Changing The Individual Insurance Market — And That’s A Very Good Thing
Here is why Obamacare’s minimum standards were written in the first place and what kind of policies they’re seeking to regulate.
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/10/29/2850701/coverage-good-thing/
With my company, health insurance was mandatory. You could only opt out with proof that you were covered by another plan (a spouse’s, retired military…)
That was how they kept our rates relatively low, by forcing the young and healthy employees to buy insurance along with the older and infirm.
With Obamacare, employer provided health insurance costs will go up, and you will have no choice but to pay the price, or give up the company owner’s job.*
* I never call it “my job” or “your job”. All jobs belong to the people providing them. Union propaganda** notwithstanding.
** My spell checker highlighted the word “propaganda”. One of the suggested correct spellings was “Democrat talking points”. Go figure.
I cannot stand to think of the word ‘PENALTY’on a grand scale as the obamacare,
correct me if you can find a same word applye by any previous PRESIDENTS OF this USA, ONLY IN PRISON BUT NEVER IN THE FREE AMERICA, SHOULD PENALTY BE APPLYED,
never before has the people been taken away their rights from the CONSTITUTION,
the BILL OF RIGHTS, and the COMMERCE CLAUSE,
so that word “PENALTY ” IS UN AMERICAN AND SHOULD NEVER BE USE TO THREATEN A PEOPLE,
WHEN SO MANY AMERICANS who have left their lives so to protect the freedom of the people,
NO PENALTY SHOULD EVER BE APPLY HERE IN AMERICA, NO LAWS SHOULD BE FORCE UNTO AMERICANS WHICH ARE FOLLOWED WITH PENALTY,
THIS AMERICA IS NOT A LIKE OF FOREIGN COUNTRIES, AND THEIR LAWS SHOULD NEVER BE BROUGHT HERE IN THIS FREE COUNTRY EVER,
MAY GOD BLESS AND PROTECT AMERICANS,
AND AMERICA WHICH IS THE SOLID PILLAR OF THE GLOBE,
SUSTAINED SOLIDLY BY THE BLOOD
OF HER BRAVEST WARRIORS,
one more thought just hit me,
how easyer would it have been to leave the healthcare to the private insurances businesses,
and ask them to show their ceiling costs and abide by it,
no need for throwing the federal weigth on them,
and it would benefit the market of AMERICA, AT 100/CENT
DON’T YOU OBAMA SEEK TO HELP THE PEOPLE TO GET GOOD JOBS,
IN A CAPITALIST COUNTRY AS THIS ONE WHICH HAS DEMONSTRATED TO BE SUCCESSFUL
BEFORE THIS GOVERNMENT CAME TO OVERCROWD THE GOVERNMENT WITH THE UNIONYZE JOBS THAT SHOULD HAVE NEVER BEEN ACCEPTED IN PUBLIC GOVERNMENT JOBS
DID YOU FORGET WHO PAY YOUR BILLS,
YA THE PEOPLE PAY,
@ilovebeeswarzone: Well said as always!! America will come to realize that ALL health insurance policies will be impacted adversely thanks to the disaster known as 0bamacare!! I say no more delays in either individual or company mandates!! No more delays!! Come 2014 election cycle.