Friday Nite Check In

Not sure who or what got into this patch of Amanita Mascaria..., I assure you it was not me.

Nobody has touched these..., yet.

The weather has been rainy and windy and we had about a five hour power outage Thursday evening..., so I didn't have much to do..., so I came up with this little rant...,

I have written a bit about “healthcare” and “healthcare insurance” in the past and that seems to be what the major problem is regarding the “government shutdown”.  It is hard to determine just exactly what the issue is…, it depends on if a Democrat or a Republican is telling their side of the story…, and there is even disagreement within members of the same party.  As I understand it, the main issue is the expiration of the extra government subsidies that were enacted as a temporary measure to help folks meet the Obamacare (also known as the Affordable Care Act) insurance premiums during the COVID-19 lockdowns that prevented non-essential workers from getting a paycheck.

That being said…, the first thing I would like to point out is that the Affordable Care Act is a complete misnomer.  It is really the Unaffordable Care Act…, as the insurance premiums are already massively subsidized because “healthcare insurance” had become so extremely expensive that many folks had been forced to drop their “coverage” due to the expense of the “insurance”.  And since insurance companies can’t stay in business without paying customers…, many would soon be going broke if something wasn’t done.  Instead of enacting a Medicare for all type plan…, we got a mandatory Obamacare plan and everyone was required to have some form of “healthcare insurance”…, either private or employer sponsored plans…, or Obamacare…, which was supposed to be Affordable Cafe.

It was never affordable for many people from the start…, so low income folks were subsidized so that maybe they could afford a plan so they wouldn’t be monetarily penalized for lacking “healthcare  insurance”.  Obama and the Democrats sold this as “helping out” low income folks…, but in reality it was a give away to the insurance companies to keep them solvent.  That became obvious after the Republicans tried about 50 times to repeal the Unaffordable Care Act while the Democrats held sway in the Congress…, but as soon as the Republicans held sway a few years later they kept the plan in place instead of repealing it like they insisted on doing when they didn’t have the power to do so.

We have basically the same little game going on with this government shutdown over the expiring temporary extra subsidies.  The Democrats say they are trying to help out folks because the insurance premiums are too high…, but they are really trying to make sure the insurance companies will get paid the sky high premiums with taxpayer money.  The Republicans aren’t worried about the insurance companies not getting paid…, due to the Unaffordable Care Act everyone is going to have to buy the plans or be monetarily penalized for not doing so.  The fact is…, it is not so much the expiration of the subsidies that is raising the cost of the premiums…, as it is the rising cost of medical care itself.  

Yeah…, the Unaffordable Care Act was a sham scam from the start…, and the medical healthcare industry is in dire need of a major overhaul…, and dissolving the medical healthcare insurance companies is just a basic first step in that process.  Yes…, everyone should be entitled to healthcare…, nearly every modern industrialized nation provides it for its citizens…, with the sole exception of the United States of America.  Single payer healthcare (ie,  Medicare) for all is just the first step in the healthcare overhaul…, but a very important one.

If you want to know the details of the predicament we are in…, here is a link you should check out.

https://www.crfb.org/blogs/understanding-aca-subsidy-discussion

“A couple of quick quotes, “ACA subsidies are primarily paid directly to insurers…”  My question is why are we tax payers giving money to insurance companies so they can skim huge profits before paying the medical bills?  Wouldn’t it make far more sense to pay the medical bills directly and cut out the insurance company profits?

Another quote, “The gross federal cost of these subsidies and related spending grew from $18 billion in 2014…, to $50 billion in 2018, $53 billion in 2020, $92 billion in 2023, and an estimated $138 billion in 2025.”  Anybody but me see a problem here?

The chart below goes a long way toward explaining what’s going on here.

Portion of Premiums Paid by Enrollees and the Federal Government, for an Illustrative Family of Four with a 2026 Premium of $2,000 per Month

	Original Subsidies			Enhanced Subsidies
Income Level	Beneficiary Premium	Government Subsidy		Beneficiary Premium	Government Subsidy
150% of FPL	$168 (8%)	$1,832 (92%)		$0 (0%)	$2,000 (100%)
250% of FPL	$565 (28%)	$1,435 (72%)		$268 (13%)	$1,732 (87%)
350% of FPL	$933 (47%)	$1,067 (53%)		$680 (34%)	$1,320 (66%)
450% of FPL	$2,000 (100%)	$0 (0%)		$849 (42%)	$1,151 (58%)
550% of FPL	$2,000 (100%)	$0 (0%)		$1,253 (63%)	$747 (37%)
650% of FPL	$2,000 (100%)	$0 (0%)		$1,480 (74%)	$520 (26%)

Source: CRFB estimates.

A little explanation…, FPL is Federal Poverty Level…, projected to be $33,740 of Gross Income.  So for folks who were eligible for the original subsides, those under 150% ($50,610) would have to return to paying $168 premium if the enhanced subsides expire.  Those under 250% ($84,350) would lose a $297 enhanced subside.  Those in the 350% ($118,900) would lose $253 enhanced subside.  

The last three categories weren’t eligible for subsidies prior to the enhanced subsides…, and it appears to me that the enhanced subsides in the bunch was more of a gift to the insurance companies to gain more customers than it was to help folks with between $151,830 and $219,310 incomes.

Yes…, the enhanced subsides should expire as planned…, and an overhaul of medical industry should be a major priority.  I repeat what I said above..., Yes…, everyone should be entitled to healthcare…, nearly every modern industrialized nation provides it for its citizens…, with the sole exception of the United States of America.  Single payer healthcare (ie,  Medicare) for all is just the first step in the healthcare overhaul…, but a very important one.