Only 0.6% under 65 will lose insurance and pay more under Obamacare.

[ErikJ]

Last edited Wed Nov 27, 2013, 05:31 PM - Edit history (1)

I had a crazy Neocon tell me 100 million people were going to lose their health insurance under Obamacare! Here's the facts

Only .6% of people under age 65 are at risk of losing individual insurance plan AND pay higher premiums under Obamacare.

If canceled, not even 1% will pay more for Obamacare: Study

Just a "tiny fraction" of Americans stand to lose their current health insurance plan and pay more for coverage under Obamacare, a new study said Thursday as concern over canceled policies remained a pressing issue for the White House.

The analysis found that only 0.6 percent of people under age 65 are at risk of losing their individual plan and having to pay higher premiums for coverage approved by the Affordable Care Act, according to Families USA, the consumer health advocacy group that issued the study.

Acknowledging that the study was an effort to counter a steady stream of bad publicity for the administration about canceled policies, Families USA Executive Director Ron Pollack added that 1.5 million people possibly losing insurance and paying more for new coverage is "not trivial."

But, he said, "it's important to keep a perspective ... that number is a tiny fraction of the 65 million nonelderly people with pre-existing conditions who will get coverage under the Affordable Care Act."
......................
http://www.cnbc.com/id/101218418

[krawhitham]

1. K&R

[truedelphi]

2. However, since premiums = based on the age of the insured, it makes it terrifically

Hard for Americans over fifty to find work.

Unless an individual has a job title that is hard to replicate (neurosurgeon, hedge fund manager, etc,) the applicant will find themselves being told that the postition is filled.

Employers are not going to hire someone that costs them 50% to 150% more if younger workers are available.

[former9thward]

3. The study ignores people losing insurance in the employer market.

That is where most policies are. Employers got a one year waiver so they are no cancellations in that market now. But there will be next year in the fall.

[doc03]

4. That's still like 2 million people n/t

[Motown_Johnny]

7. More like 1.6 million, and even that is not accurate as far as cancellations go.

Did you bother to read any of the study?


http://www.familiesusa.org/ACA-individual-market/


^snip^


Public debate around the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has focused recently on recipients of private, individual (non-group) insurance whose health plans are being terminated and who fear they may need to pay more for new coverage. Families USA’s new report and accompanying infographic offers a new perspective on this issue: The individual market covers 5.7 percent of the non-elderly population—a small slice of all insured Americans. Our analysis shows how, under the ACA, only 0.6 percent of Americans under age 65 will be at risk of losing their current individual market plan and will not be income-eligible for financial assistance that will make their new insurance plan more affordable. Even among this 0.6 percent, some have insurers who will not or cannot cancel their plans. Others will decide that they are better off with higher-value plans in the new insurance marketplaces.

Our analysis explains how the overwhelming majority of people in the individual market will obtain more affordable coverage under the health care law because they will be income-eligible for financial assistance to help pay for comprehensive insurance at a lower cost. Individuals with household incomes that do not exceed four times the federal poverty level ($94,200 for a family of four in 2013)1 are income-eligible for either premium tax credit subsidies to buy coverage in the new health insurance marketplaces2 or Medicaid, which charges no premiums for most enrollees.3

Our analysis also estimates the number of consumers who will become eligible for new financial help that will make premiums more affordable, and it looks at the percentage of people in the individual market who stay in that market for more than one year, a portion of whom historically may have had an offer to keep the same plan in this market.

[thesquanderer]

8. Yes, to the extent that 1.5 million is like 2 million. ;-)

...guess you didn't read the entire OP!

But as they said, 1.5 million people is not trivial. It's certainly enough for rightwingers to be able to find more as many more people as they want to use as "examples" of how it's not working.

It's also a bit more of a problem than the figures indicate at first glance. It may only be .6%, but as the linked article explains, "Families USA's finding of 0.6 percent was based on data showing that only 5.7 percent of the nonelderly population have individual—as opposed to group—health coverage" meaning that we're only talking 5.7% of the insurance pool in the first place. So the figure of .6%, being more than 10% of 5.7%, indicates that more than 10% of the currently individually-insured people who are transitioning to ACA will end up paying more, which sure sounds worse than .6%.

[LWolf]

5. I lose my current health insurance plan and pay more every October.

It happened before the ACA. The increases grew larger after the ACA was passed. It will continue to happen. Every October. I'm not paying for "Obamacare," which doesn't even exist. I'm not paying for the ACA. I'm paying for health insurance, and it costs more every year, whether or not I use it.

Pollack is right. It's not trivial. He's also skirting the real point for those 65 million he's referencing. "Coverage" is not care. "Coverage" is insurance. Having insurance doesn't mean that one can afford care, which comes with additional costs AFTER paying for the insurance.

[ErikJ]

9. Single-payer option will help

the deductible will probably be zero. It starts on the Vermont exchange in 2016.

[LWolf]

10. And for those of us who live in one of the other 49 states, it doesn't.

I'm excited to see Vermont leading the way, but most of us don't live there.

[loudsue]

6. I just posted a thread about this.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024102401#post2

It's pretty frustrating.