Chicago Tribune: If
you’ve tried to sign up online for health coverage under the problem-plagued
Obamacare exchange, our sympathies. Many people have tried to create accounts
and shop for insurance under the new law. Few have succeeded. Those that have
enrolled have found that the system is prone to mistakes. Some applications
have been sent to the wrong insurance company.
Wait. It gets worse. Those who have managed to browse the
marketplace have often been hit by sticker shock. Take Adam Weldzius, a nurse
practitioner and single father from Carpentersville. He sought the same level
of coverage on the exchange as he and his 7-year-old daughter have now, with
the same insurer and the same network of doctors and hospitals. At best,
Weldzius found, his monthly premium of $233 would more than double. If he chose
a plan priced at the same level, the annual deductible would be $12,700, more
than three times his current $3,500 deductible.
“I believe everybody should be able to have health
insurance, but at the same time, I’m being penalized. And for what?” Weldzius
told the Tribune’s Peter Frost. “For someone who’s always had insurance, who’s
always taken care of myself, now I have to change my plan?”
. . . . . . . . . . . There is a growing mountain of evidence
that Obamacare has fundamental problems in design and implementation. . . . . . . .
The administration can do one thing — apparently on its own
— to spare many Americans. It can delay the requirement that everyone buy
insurance by March 31 or pay a penalty. Federal officials already have granted
a one-year reprieve to the mandate that most employers provide insurance to
their workers or pay a penalty. The administration cut a sweet deal for
Congress and its staffers, who will continue to get generous federal subsidies.
It has allowed any number of carve-outs for special pleaders.
A delay in the individual mandate would not be a special
favor to American consumers. It’s a matter of fairness.
A one-year hiatus would give everyone a chance to take a
hard look at the pricing of these plans, to see if consumers could get more
affordable options without sacrificing coverage.
There are more problems. People who have individual
insurance coverage are finding that Obama’s oft-repeated promise — “if you like
your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan” — is just not true.
They are being told by insurers that their existing plans expire on Dec. 31 and
they must choose new coverage. They’re learning that insurers managed to offer
lower-cost plans by narrowing the networks of hospitals and doctors . . . . . . . (and you will want to read the full article at the hyperlink above. You should know that all italics and text highlights are my ~ blog editor).
