The Other Options of Obamacare

Congress is concerned that young, healthy people may try to avoid high preiumums of the Affordable Care Act and instead opt for options like the penalty, which is less costly than the price of double premiums. Forbes reports:

The Democrats who dreamed up, wrote and rammed through ObamaCare are getting worried that millions of Americans, especially the young and healthy, will refuse coverage under the program. Democrats are right to be concerned, but that doesn’t necessarily mean people will remain uninsured. They may opt for a less-comprehensive and much more affordable policy instead.

Many of us in the health policy world warned Democrats that ObamaCare created a number of perverse economic incentives. In most cases they simply refused to listen. Now that the actuaries have started weighing in on the cost of coverage (here and here), pointing out that some young, healthy people could see their premiums more than double, ObamaCare backers are worried that millions of Americans will game the system. That is, remain uninsured until they need coverage and then sign up.

Of course, our health insurance solons decided to put in a penalty (or is it a tax?) for being uninsured to try to encourage people to get in the system and stay in. But the penalties are much less than the cost of coverage, especially in the first few years. And thanks to President Obama’s demand that his law ignore actuarial principles that have existed for hundreds of years, people can get coverage even if they have a medical condition.

Read the full story here: http://onforb.es/19yYRqj