Obamacare

One of the selling points for Obamacare, was that it got rid of the preexisting conditions clause in insurance policies. During WW 2 inflation was rising rapidly and FDR froze wages. Companies could no longer compete for the best employees with wages so they offered health insurance as an incentive. This led to company sponsored healthcare as a regular part of the employment contract. This benefit was continued after the war because congress declared the cost of healthcare to the company was tax deductible. This led to a problem. If a person got sick and lost their job they lost their health insurance and because they were sick they could not get new health insurance. They could continue with their plan after leaving the company but they had to pay the full cost and with being out of work this posed a big problem. With Obamacare this problem was solved. Many people choose not to purchase health insurance until they get sick and then they sign up for Obamacare. There is a danger here because you can only purchase Obamacare during special enrollment times which occur about 3 months out of the year but many still have no choice. But! You qualify for special enrollment times if you lose your health coverage (had to quit because you were sick) or because of moving, getting married, having a baby. Postponing the purchase of healthcare by healthy people should have been anticipated but it was ignored to promote the passage of Obamacare and since then the cost have risen above projections. The healthy people were to purchase Obamacare and help spread the cost but they chose instead to wait until they got sick and thus negatively effected the cost. Today there are 27 million people without health insurance and they are mostly low income minorities. They will attempt to get insurance when they get sick. Just five years ago, annual spending on Obamacare subsidies was $57 billion. In 2024, annual spending on Obamacare subsidies is projected to more than double to $125 billion.Jun 24, 2024