LA Times: Middle class gets Obamacare sticker shock

[pnwmom]

114. Facts aren't being tossed aside. Lies are being tossed aside.

As Paul Krugman said, these kind of apples to oranges comparisons are "fraudulent."

The woman described in the article is pregnant and now, for $140 a month more, she will have a policy in which all prenatal visits are free; and her labor and delivery and any other costs will be covered like any other medical condition. She won't have to worry about reaching any annual or lifetime limit if she or her baby develops a serious condition, and she won't have to worry that her newborn in the NICU already has a "preexisting condition" that will bar the baby from any individual coverage.

When women like this go uninsured and can't afford to pay their hospital bills, the rest of us end up taking the slack. And even if that weren't the case, it would be stupid for this lawyer to turn down medical insurance that will actually SAVE her money overall, because the prenatal visits will be free. And they should be free, because they can help to keep her baby healthy and detect problems before they become much more expensive.


http://www.vanityfair.com/online/eichenwald/2013/10/truth-obamacare-already-insured

I’m not sure if the folks pushing this line are trying to deceive their listeners or actually don’t understand the impact of what they are suggesting. Here is reality, spelled out simply in a report issued by the Task Force on Access to Health Care in Texas, which is composed of major health-care providers, businesspeople, medical economists, and other experts—folks who, unlike politicians, actually know what they are talking about when it comes to this topic. It states:

The uninsured are often unable to pay for medical services they receive. These expenses are passed on to others through higher medical fees and insurance premiums.Since many uninsured and underinsured individuals obtain primary care at emergency rooms, they risk overburdening of the local trauma system. This impacts the finances and ability of emergency rooms to handle trauma. The overuse of an emergency department can even lead to increased local taxes.

In other words, when people complain that they don’t want to be subsidizing “freeloaders” through Obamacare, they don’t understand that they are already paying for the care of the uninsured. And these are not small amounts. In fact, since emergency rooms are the most expensive forms of front-line care, the cost is very high, far more than the cost of a visit to a doctor’s office.


SNIP

And once again it is the citizens of states most opposed to Obamacare who are refusing expansions of Medicaid who are taking the biggest shellacking: Texas residents are paying $2,786 more in premiums for family policies provided through employers. Montana, $2,190. Alaska, $2,248. Idaho, $2,152. North Carolina, $1,828. The other states I mention also take big hits—New Mexico, West Virginia, and Oklahoma residents are all paying about $3,000 more for premiums on employee-provided policies.