Deductible

Suddenly everyone has become aware of the high deductibles in Obamacare. All of the emphasis has been on premiums (monthly cost) and the out of pocket cost per year has been ignored, that is, until a person wants to use the insurance and suddenly discovers they can’t afford it. Here is something I wrote in 2013. Current speculation says that those signing up for Obamacare may pay more or less. The estimated 15 million currently uninsured, mostly young people, will pay more. Those who are on Medicaid, families earning less than $32,000 will pay nothing. Other low income families earning less than $94,000 will receive help on a sliding scale. Families with income above $94,000 and individuals earning more than $46,000 will pay more. All the plans have higher deductibles. Obamacare has four plans, the least expensive is Bronze , next Silver, next Gold and last Platinum. The average Bronze Plan has a deductible of over $5,000 which is four times higher than a typical company sponsored plan. This will cause some problems. I spent many years explaining insurance to people and many who buy on line will look to premiums and be caught off guard by the high deductible which they will likely discover when they have their first claim. I can hear them now! How can you call this insurance if I have to pay the first $5,000? This will be especially true for people who have not had insurance in the past. This will also come as a shock to the 50 million people who are on Medicaid. To add insult to injury many companies who now sponsor plans will begin to dump their employees onto Obamacare and most of the time the plan will not be as good. I predict a lot of unhappy people down the road. By the time they fight their way through the online sign up they will be as the old song says, mad as hell.