So Much For Affordable Health Insurance Under Obamacare | The ...

Memories

Obamacare?s official title should have been the Unaffordable Care Act, because it?s going to price quite a few people out of the health insurance market. Rather than having less costly catastrophic coverage plans, the law mandates that we all go out and buy the plans that cover everything from Viagara to birth control. Low wage workers will be the hardest hit.

It?s called the Affordable Care Act, but President Barack Obama?s health care law may turn out to be unaffordable for many low-wage workers, including employees at big chain restaurants, retail stores and hotels.

That might seem strange since the law requires medium-sized and large employers to offer ?affordable? coverage or face fines.

But what?s reasonable? Because of a wrinkle in the law, companies can meet their legal obligations by offering policies that would be too expensive for many low-wage workers. For the employee, it?s like a mirage ? attractive but out of reach.

The company can get off the hook, say corporate consultants and policy experts, but the employee could still face a federal requirement to get health insurance.

Many are expected to remain uninsured, possibly risking fines. That?s due to another provision: the law says workers with an offer of ?affordable? workplace coverage aren?t entitled to new tax credits for private insurance, which could be a better deal for those on the lower rungs of the middle class.

Some supporters of the law are disappointed.

Aw, they?re disappointed. How sad for them. They should have done their homework in the first place. It?s not like there wasn?t plenty of warning about what this law was going to do.

For the low wage workers who didn?t support this crap sandwich, I have nothing but sympathy. This is their new reality:

The law is complicated, but essentially companies with 50 or more full-time workers are required to offer coverage that meets certain basic standards and costs no more than 9.5 percent of an employee?s income. Failure to do so means fines for the employer. (Full-time work is defined as 30 or more hours a week, on average.)

But do the math from the worker?s side: For an employee making $21,000 a year, 9.5 percent of their income could mean premiums as high as $1,995 and the insurance would still be considered affordable.

Even a premium of $1,000 ? close to the current average for employee-only coverage ? could be unaffordable for someone stretching earnings in the low $20,000?s.

With such a small income, ?there is just not any left over for health insurance,? said Shannon Demaree, head of actuarial services for the Lockton Benefit Group. ?What the government is requiring employers to do isn?t really something their low-paid employees want.? (Read More)

So much for free health care, which I?m sure is what many supporters thought they were going to get. Ah well, they?re probably the same people who thought they were going to get a transparent government that doesn?t snoop on their phone calls and emails, too. So much for hope and change.

Source: http://lonelyconservative.com/2013/06/so-much-for-affordable-health-insurance-under-obamacare/

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