http://www.latimes.com/...
Because I live in Orange County it often occurs to me to subscribe to the LA Times. Then they publish something like this, on the digital front page, and the notion melts away.
Middle class gets Obamacare sticker shock
Hmmmm, seems like I've been hearing just the opposite. Have things suddenly gone bad for the very successful exchange that's been rolling out so smoothly in California? How could that be? Let's take a gander.
Who is this author - Chad Terhune? Hey, didn't he write for the Wall Street Journal? Why yes - he most certainly did. Well, well, well.
The very title of the article starts off with a lie. I'm middle class and most of the folks I work with and associate with are middle class. Nary a peep form any of them about Obamacare raising their rates. Know why? That's because the vast majority of the middle class are covered through their employer. They're gainfully employed. That's why they're middle class.
But Chad says:
Thousands of Californians are discovering what Obamacare will cost them — and many don't like what they see.
Just who are these thousands?
...experts say sharp price increases for individual policies have the greatest potential to erode public support for President Obama's signature legislation.
Ahh, the individual policy holders.
Chad follows that with a quote from an expert:
"This is when the actual sticker shock comes into play for people," said Gerald Kominski, director of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. "There are winners and losers under the Affordable Care Act."
Hmmm, strange quote from a fellow that said, on Fox Business News just days earlier:
"Ultimately, either your insurer is going to lower your premium, or you're going to keep getting this end-of-year 'bonus,'" Kominski says. "Either way, we're better off."
Yes - that's Fox Business News.
http://www.foxbusiness.com/...
Wait - it gets better...
Now comes the anecdotal evidence so treasured by the anti-ObamaCare propagandists.
Poor Jennifer Harris, an attorney living in Fullerton, CA. She and her spouse only bring in $80,000 a year. She had coverage for $98 a month. Now it's going to skyrocket to $238 a month. OMG! What will she do?
Hey... wait a minute. Ninety eight dollars a month? That's a scam insurance policy. A con. Something meant only for the dumbest of the dumb.
In California, where auto insurance is also mandatory, there are certain minimum standards in place to keep out these phony insurance policies that don't really cover anything. That way the rest of us don't wind up covering for folks stupid enough to sign up for these phony policies - like Jennifer. (Note to self: never hire Jennifer Harris as an attorney).
In addition, $238 a month to cover a couple, with a pregnancy, is a great deal. Some insurance policies would have denied her coverage before ObamaCare. Yet there sits Jennifer - unable to comprehend it all. Whew - that's Orange County for ya.
Let's move on:
Pam Kehaly, president of Anthem Blue Cross in California, said she received a recent letter from a young woman complaining about a 50% rate hike related to the healthcare law.
"She said, 'I was all for Obamacare until I found out I was paying for it,'" Kehaly said.
Yes - somebody said something to Pam, the President of Blue Cross in California. You just know Pam's word is as good as gold. Lord almighty!
The article meanders along variously quoting others -
Patrick Johnston, president of the California Assn. of Health Plans - yes another insurance industry shill.
A couple more anecdotes and stories.
And then, buried under all the crap is a quote from Peter Lee, executive director of Covered California. Lee points out that:
some rate hikes will be partially offset by smaller deductibles and lower limits on out-of-pocket medical expenses in the new plans
Yeah - one of the hallmarks of the phony coverage plans touted by folks like Jennifer is astronomical deductibles and sky-high out-of-pocket medical expenses. But, ya know - $98 dollars a month! It's all good!
To see this kind of crap on the front page of the LA Times is really sad. Did the Koch brothers already buy them?