So, to sum up the morning’s developments in Obamacare, it may end up shutting down firehouses, the website isn’t fixed and folks may think they’re signed up for Medicaid when they aren’t, and about 5 million people whose plans were canceled are finding they hate the new options. Here’s one Washington-state resident realizing just how bad his new deal under Obamacare will be:
Obama’s claim that those with unsubsidized individual policies will get a better deal is false, and we need a long-term fix.
I am in that 5 percent. Checking the Washington state health-insurance exchange, I found I am among millions who are getting a much worse deal — much higher premiums with higher deductibles and less choice of doctors, and ineligible for the Affordable Care Act tax credit.
My current premium is $278 per month with a $3,500 deductible. My Blue Shield insurer is canceling this policy and not offering any policies on the state health-insurance exchange. The least expensive off-exchange policy it now offers is $545 per month, roughly double what I pay now, with a $5,000 in-network and $10,000 out-of-network deductible.
On the Washington state exchange, the least expensive option, in the bronze category, is $433 per month, a 56 percent increase. But this policy is from a no-name insurer that few of my providers will accept. The only Blue Cross and Blue Shield provider on the exchange offers a bronze policy for $492 per month — a 77 percent increase.
What does the extra $214 per month offer? A lot less than I have now. My deductible would rise to $5,000 for in-network providers and $10,000 for out-of-network providers, and the number of providers in network would decline.
. . . and here’s the cherry on top, the perfect bit of news to close out the week:
The head of Colorado’s state health exchange has asked for an end-of-the-year raise and bonus even though the website has enrolled fewer than half the people who were supposed to purchase health insurance through December.
Other than that, smooth sailing for Obamacare.