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The Spectacle Blog
I don’t know about you, but I think this health reform stuff is going to be GREAT!
I currently have a pretty good deal. I’m 62 years old with high blood pressure and cholesterol. I pay $322/month ($3,864 a year) for an HSA qualifying policy with a $2,500 deductible.
I know I won’t be able to keep that coverage after reform goes through, but that’s okay. I won’t need it any more.
You see, insurance companies will no longer be allowed to consider my pre-existing conditions in giving me coverage. They won’t even be able to raise my premiums much because of my age. Even though I’m a couch potato, they will have to charge me no more than twice what they charge a 25-year old marathon runner!
But it gets even better. I will be able to drop my coverage completely and save myself almost $4,000 a year, knowing that if I ever get sick and need services, I can sign-up and get coverage immediately. Not only that, but I will be able to sign-up, get the service I need, and drop the coverage the next month.
Oh. sure, there will be a “penalty” for not being covered. But so what? The penalty is only $75 a year, going up to $750 eventually. Let’s see. On one hand I can keep paying $4,000 a year for my current coverage. On the other hand, I can pay the $75 fine for not having coverage and put $3,925 in the bank.
This is so cool! Thank you, Mr. Obama!
View all comments (15) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by Greg Scandlen
http://spectator.org/blog/2009/12/19/thank-you-mr-obama
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Pecos Pete| 12.19.09 @ 5:13PM
The law of unintended consequences is always hiding behind a bush.
The American people ain't dumb (well, for the most part ... there is always Liberal Reader). We will use all of the tools they give us to reduce the cost of the national health care boondoggle as it applies to individuals.
And then, when they start closing loopholes, more loopholes are created. Could be we'll see the National Health Care Police on our doorsteps soon.
Becky| 12.19.09 @ 8:51PM
My thoughts exactly. We also will be smart to drop the insurance we pay for and wait until we need insurance. IT is pretty cool, isn't it?
Pete2| 12.19.09 @ 10:57PM
Yeah, sounds real nice don't it? Where you going to find a doctor though? they won't be able to stay in pactice because of the low wages Obamacare is going to pay them nor will the medical companies keep up with technology due to lack of funds.
Franklin| 12.20.09 @ 8:00AM
There is always a pooper in the party. Here I was planning on saving gobs of money to pay my other taxes, then someone drops the reality bomb - doctor shortages.
Oh, but I think I have that one covered. I'll ask my current doctor to write out an Rx for anti-biotics, steroids, tamaflu, and whatever else I MAY need. Then I'll treat myself when needed!
See, that would work, huh?
Greg Scandlen| 12.20.09 @ 8:19AM
The Docs who are good will drop out of this idiot system just like I have. I will now have cash and they will have time on their hands. I bet we could work something out. Why, it almost sounds like a real market.
Oldefarte| 12.20.09 @ 11:13AM
Greg, I applaud your sarcasm, but I also know that you are excluding from your consideration the fact that the American taxpayers' explosion of income taxes [and other] that Obama/Democrats will eventually proclamate in order to pay for your/everyone's so-termed CHEAP health insurance premiums will completely negate any/all of said CHEAPNESS!!!!!
Richard Baker| 12.20.09 @ 11:54AM
Oldefarte:
Then the time for Paul Revere's call of "To Arms" to be answered is approaching. Sounds excessive? The Crown in DC has the same mindset as the Crown in the 1770s possessed. Keep your powder dry.
Jeff Perren | 12.20.09 @ 12:53PM
Very droll, but no doubt the author knows a thing or two he's leaving out.
Things like the fact that when the price of a service no longer covers the cost of delivering it, it tends to disappear.
Things like the fact that when a large number can get the discounted price he describes, the demand will skyrocket, leading to even more shortages.
Things like, not least, the fact that health insurance executives and health care providers who come quickly to realize they have become slaves in a socialist scheme will simply fade away, leading to even less health care services available.
That doesn't even touch on the ballooning costs to the Feds of offering these nearly free lunches.
In short, in every way, this legislation will become a complete disaster in short order. But then, no doubt the author of this piece knows all that. Good luck getting those 'free' treatments!
Jim Hlavac | 12.20.09 @ 6:20PM
The number of doctors will certainly not decrease. The numbers willing to work for peanuts will increase, true. But the total number of trained doctors on the day the bill passes will still be there - they cannot "undoctor" themselves. They will know what they know, and when they knew it.
What will come is the black market in doctoring. Up will surface back alley EKGs, and hidden attic mammograms, and underground clinics galore. There will be an antibiotics and antiviral illegal market soon enough. There are more than enough savvy drug cartel folks to take on a new product line.
No, in fact, by removing what we have left in free market medical care they will perversely create just that: a free market in medical care.
The ingenuity of man, and his desires, cannot be stilled by mere law alone. It takes a repressive police force. And what cop will tell his wife "sorry honey, you don't need no stinkin' mammogram!"
No, free markets are coming in a way wholly unappreciated.
FormerAmbulanceChaser| 12.20.09 @ 10:01PM
@Richard Baker: Please be careful with your comments.... YES, there are scum-elements in DC who would LOVE to create a watch-list of persons like you and I. We need US on THIS SIDE of the prison fence when our guy gets on the horse for the midnight ride ( ... or in this tech age, sends out that mass e-mail, more likely, huh ?? )
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Motown Mike| 12.21.09 @ 9:21AM
Yes, Jim Hlavac, the free market will work. I picture it a different way. Eventually, we will see "hospital ships" working just outside U.S. territorial waters. Fast boats or even helicopters will whisk Americans to these ships for surgeries they are denied under the government health systems. Risks will be managed by offshore insurance companies; much will be paid in cash. When the U. S. government clamps down on the fast boats and helicopters, the ships will move to the Gulf of Mexico and we'll access them from Mexico. Eventually, someone will see that the ships are too expensive to operate so Cuba will expand its tourism medical services to serve U. S. patients (after, of course, the Democrats lift the embargo, which will be happening soon). The much-touted Cuban health care is mainly for tourists and top officials, not regular folks. With American dollars coming into Cuba, we ironically will be going to a communist nation for world-class health care.
Pingback| 12.21.09 @ 11:54AM
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