ObamaCare: Democrats Promise Throwing $36 Billion at Health Insurance Companies Will Work This Time

Michael F. CannonHouse Democrats are proposing a  temporary but massive $34 billion increase in subsidies for ObamaCare plans. The proposal would offer its largest subsidies to high‐​income earners. It would offer more subsidies on behalf of men than women. It would cover few previously uninsured individuals, and at a very high cost. Perhaps worst of all, in the name of “affordability,” it would push health care prices and health insurance premiums even higher.ObamaCare currently issues premium subsidies for Exchange plans on behalf of enrollees who earn between 100 –400 percent of thefederal poverty level. In English, that ’s individuals earning $12,880-$51,520 and families of four earning $26,500-$106,000. (In states that have implemented ObamaCare’s Medicaid expansion, premium subsidies for Exchange plans begin at 138 percent of the federal poverty level: $17,774 for individuals and $36,570 for families of four. ) Enrollees at the low end of this scale get the largest subsidies. Subsidiesdecline as income rises and then disappear at 400 percent of the federal poverty level. An individual earning $52,000 or a  family of four earning $106,001 must faceObamaCare ’s inflated premiums on their own. I  say ObamaCare issues premium subsidies “on behalf of” enrollees rather than “to” enrollees because the enrollee never sees that money. The IRS takes the money out of workers’ paychecks (yes, even the “refundable tax credit part”) and sends it dire...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs