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CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – Governor Tony Evers office warns us of a big spike in health insurance premiums for those on Obamacare. So the governor argues that the government shutdown is a fight worth having. Veterans care and foodshare will have to wait.
All of this is curious to me.
When Obamacare was passed in 2010 we were told that healthcare premiums would go down, not up. There would be a robust healthcare marketplace, with various insurance companies competing for our business. We were told that there would be an assigned risk pool for those who were sick, and subsidies to help pay the premiums for the poor.
Well that’s not exactly how it worked out. Many insurance companies have dropped out of Obamacare. The assigned risk and welfare pools are unprofitable. Many people on Obamacare have only one insurance provider to choose from.
Many people on Obamacare have the 60-40 bronze plan. It’s the most affordable. Silver plans, where the insured only has to pay 20-percent, are much more expensive. Most states didn’t allow only 60-percent coverage until Obamacare. And many poorer families would be better off without their bronze policies. Imagine they have a $20,000 hospital bill – their share would be $8,000. Don’t have it? You’re bankrupt, the same as you would be if you didn’t have insurance at all… and you would have saved $500 or $600 a month in premiums.
There is something else to remember about Obamacare. It passed in Congress without a single Republican vote. It was muscled through on raw political power under reconciliation in the Senate. There are no Republican fingerprints on any of this.
It took 15 years to reach the end of the line for Obamacare. The only way it can keep going is with huge infusions of taxpayer cash. We can call it what it is: a spectacular, obvious failure.
Chris Conley
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