In response to recent posts I have have made on Obamacare and housing, reader “Judson” chimed in with some interesting comments on both housing and Obamacare.
Judson made the decision to opt out of the ACA and pay the Obamacare penalty. Let’s tune in to his reasons why.
Judson writes ….
Hello Mish
I am a millennial who couldn’t care less about a house. Honestly it irks my chain seeing my parents property taxes rise each year when house prices themselves have been stale. My mother tried to renegotiate taxes based on the value of the home to no avail.
So now there are these 2 prices: One what the county says the house is worth and another what the house would actually sell for.
I’m on IBR (which is an income based student repayment) and the whole student loan will be forgiven after 20 years assuming my income stays as low as it is now.
I did my taxes the other day and the fee on the Obama plan hit hard, but it’s still cheaper than the policies on the exchange. I have no choice but to take the penalty.
Judson
Fatal Flaws Exposed
Please consider a few pertinent snips from Getting Set to Pick Up the Pieces of ObamaCare’s Collapse
Six years of ObamaCare have taught the nation lessons that Republicans should not ignore.
Keep it short: Don’t give us another 2,572-page “comprehensive” health bill that lawmakers vote on without reading first.
What Congress passes, Congress must live by: Under the Affordable Care Act, members of Congress and their staffs get lavish subsidies — as much as $12,000 a year — to pay their ObamaCare premiums. Nobody else in America earning close to $174,000 a year (a member’s base pay) qualifies for a subsidy.
Don’t try to sell health plans to chronically ill people and healthy people for the same price: That’s like trying to feed a Chihuahua and a Great Dane on the same budget.
Five percent of the population with chronic illnesses consumes roughly 50 percent of health care. When plans are priced the same for everyone, the sick rush to buy and the healthy refuse, because it’s a bad deal. That’s what drove healthy people out of the insurance market in New York two decades ago, and it’s doing the same thing nationwide now.
Doomed to Fail
That last paragraph explains why Obamacare was doomed to fail all along. Judson wisely opted out as did many low risk persons.
Those who opted in, especially those who did so recently, drove costs sky high.
Now insurers want higher premiums or they will opt out as well. For details, please see United Health Will Dump Obamacare Offerings in 29 of 34 States: Death of Obamacare?
This was all easily predictable in advance. Many people, including me, predicted this outcome. The more cynical suggest this was done on purpose, rather than out of sheer stupidity.
Either way, one of the the most galling aspects of Obamacare is the deal Congress cut for itself.
Given that deal, how badly did Republicans really want to kill the beast?
For more on this story, please consider How Five Republicans Let Congress Keep Its Fraudulent Obamacare Subsidies.
Please read that story. ACA does not apply to Congress because Congress is considered a “small business” with just 45 people.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
