Why do the poor and uninsured refuse to sign up for Obamacare? [View all]

[Redfairen]

We can all remember that the ACA was sold to us as the healthcare solution for the 50 million people who were previously uninsured. We're now getting somewhat close to the end of the signup period. By all accounts, the number of people enrolled to date is but a tiny percentage of that 50 million. Why have so many of the disadvantaged not rushed to claim their benefits?

I've just happened across an editorial which had a comment about this state of affairs. It was published near the end of January and I discovered it only belatedly, so forgive me if it's slightly out of date. The following paragraph laid it out.

"Now, as February draws near, things don't look much better. Far fewer than half the number needed by March 31 have signed up. And, as it turns out, most of the people signing up for Obamacare aren't the uninsured for whom it was supposedly enacted, but people who were previously insured (many of whom lost their previous insurance because of Obamacare's new requirements). "At most," writes Bloomberg's Megan McArdle, "they've signed up 15% of the uninsured that they were expecting to enroll. ... Where are the uninsured? Did hardly any of them want coverage beginning Jan. 1?" It looks that way."

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2014/01/26/obamacare-numbers-health-exchanges-insurance-obama-column/4913341/


Perhaps the answer is simple. Perhaps the threat of a tax penalty is no incentive to sign up when you already cannot afford to pay your bills. The ACA will give you a hefty subsidy but no matter which plan you choose you have to find the extra money to pay that last small percentage of the premium.

What if you just don't have that money? Those suffering that kind of financial hardship would most likely be paying little or no taxes to the federal government and probably receiving a refund. Therefore, a tax penalty would be no incentive to sign up.

I'm probably not the first person to make this suggestion. That said, we're somewhat late in the game here and the lackluster enrollment numbers are looming large. Who is going to face facts and speak the truth out loud?

We need single payer more than ever.