Obama..Like the man, hate the plan

I have been kind of sort of following this Obama care thing for awhile. My initial thought on this was “Great, finally a plan to get Americans covered medically that will put us in the same human bracket as other countries.”

But as the saying goes, sometimes you can’t see the forest for the trees, only in my case I was seeing the forest and forgot about the trees completely.

So over the last couple of days I have done my political duty as a blogger and did the research. Suddenly I had the urge to go buy a chainsaw and start cutting down the trees…one at a time.

Lets break this down into simple points of understanding…

• Americans will be expected to have health insurance coverage by January 1st or pay a federal penalty (along with all of your medical bills).
• You can get that insurance through your standard means: Employer coverage, government based coverage (medicaid), schooling coverage, medicare or (coming soon to the state you live in) an Obamacare insurance exchange.
• If you choose to avoid getting health insurance, the government has the right to fine you (that is the term used) $95 per adult (a little less per child) or 1% of your income, whichever is higher. This rate will increase annually.

Sounds easy, right? Go to your employer and say “hey…when insurance coverage comes around, sign me up.” Done and over with.

Wrong.

Not all employers offer health coverage to employees that are part time. There are currently 27.4 million part time workers. MOST employers are finding that if they hire more part time workers, they can avoid the additional cost to their bottom line to insure their workers. I know of one company with a crystal  clear track record of helping communities by offering items for resale. Its a win win for them as they employ people in the community but do not offer their employees insurance at all and make it clear they will only hire part time.

In my own case, my employer offers health insurance for employees who average over 30 hours a week. However, there are stipulations to the cost. You have to reach a certain level of training in order to have the weekly payments reduced enough to afford it. Naturally I signed on last year, although it took me almost two years to reach that point that the rates dropped. I will be signing up again this fall when it comes around. I have yet to use the insurance as I am in good strong health.

Medicare and Medicaid have their own hurdles, but if you qualify, its a good alternative.

The nitty gritty of it…what will Obamacare cost non-insured individuals who choose not to pick up insurance through privatized means?

A lot more then you would expect.

I wanted to come up with a simple break down of numbers that are easy to digest and put it into perspective…

If my son, who is a healthy 22 year old non-smoking, non-drinking male, were to drop his health insurance through our employer, and decide to pick up Obamacare through one of the exchanges, he would be paying 85% more a month for less coverage, less freedom of choice in medical care, and less choices health wise because Obamacare has less doctors under its enrollment. Further more, the Obamacare policy restricts what is allowed to be done. Meaning if you need a procedure, the government has to decide if you really need it. Plainly put…the numbers do not lie. He pays $16 a week for health, dental, and eye coverage. That’s $64 a month. On Obamacare [in Illinois], he would be paying $120 a month.

Oh, and they also have restricted enrollment times just as the average employer does (let that sink in a minute…..)

There are enrollment periods just as there is for an employer.

Let me say that one more time….YOU WILL PAY INTO GOVERNMENT INSURANCE DURING SPECIFIC ENROLLMENT PERIODS JUST AS YOU DO EMPLOYERS.

Read that statement as “The government will attach a number to your head just as they do to their government workers, you will be paying federal income tax to live here and then be paying a higher amount for partial insurance coverage that is controlled by the government.”

Now normally I am all for government guidance and control. I do not mind the laws. I do not mind paying taxes. Those taxes go for things like protection of my rights as an American by the men and women of the armed services.

But this one steps over the boundaries.

Lets couple that (for a minute) with the hot mess already on the table.

We are struggling to stay out of war with Syria. We still have not brought our men and women back from Afghanistan. We still have an average rate of 7.4% unemployment in our country. The Post Office can barely keep the lights on and lose more money every day (oh…and as of this morning are considering another postal rate hike). We can not figure out a way to control guns in a manner that makes both sides happy (I wonder if Obamacare covers mental health care…). Oh and the government budget is a mere 5 days from collapsing (while my own budget collapsed some time ago, but I still have to make it work).

So why would we WANT this new Obamacare to pass? I do not know about other average American households, but I can assure you that I cannot squeeze out another dime from my checkbook to give to the government for something that restricts my choices. I cannot afford to pay 85% more for 85% less coverage. I cannot afford to become an “employee” of the Obama government.

I am happy that at this point I have a job that appreciates me enough to offer me health insurance at a rate that is within reason.

I have said it before and I will say it again. I like Obama. I voted him into office. I like how he approaches problems. However, I do not like this plan. There is not one part of the plan that makes sense to me from an economic stand point, nor from a health stand point.

Obama….Like the man, hate the plan.