Obamacare's Most Crowd-Pleasing Parts Are Actually the Most Disastrous
I've had my share of criticism of Obamacare - well, maybe more than my share - but now we're beginning to find out even the parts of the law people seem to like are just creating new problems.
Take the part that would let kids stay on their parent's health plan until age 26. Despite what the administration thinks, that coverage isn't free.
According to the Department of Health and Human Services, the cost is as much as $3,400 per kid each year.
Insurers just pass that back onto the companies giving their employees benefits. What's the outcome?
Employers stop offering it.
One of the largest union-administered health insurance funds is now dropping dependent coverage for 30,000 employees. That's thousands of children that are losing insurance, all thanks to Obamacare's "expanded coverage."
So maybe the college-age kids should turn to their schools' student health plans, but that's turning into another disaster.
Colleges across the country are giving up their student health plans.
They've calculated the higher levels of coverage required by Obamacare would increase the cost of premiums by as much as a thousand percent.
And students at some Catholic universities are losing all their insurance because the schools have a moral objection to the requirement they offer contraceptive coverage.
Think you can just buy an individual plan for your kid? Think again.
The ban on discriminating against children with pre-existing conditions has been driving insurers out of the market.
Insurers in 20 states have given up offering child-only insurance plans.
So government regulations meant to protect kids are now punishing them.
And what about the promise that insurance would be cheaper?
The Cato Institute calculates Obamacare has already added 2%-3% to premium prices, and we're just starting to see these policies go into effect.
It's only going to get a lot worse. In the next four years, individuals will see their premiums go up 19% to 30%.
This estimate doesn't come from opponents of the law.
This is the updated projection from the MIT economist who designed the law.
Talk about unintended consequences.
The common thread in all of these Obamacare disasters is they're the result of the President promising us something for nothing.
But there's no such thing as a free lunch.
Someone has to pay, and it's us.
The rising cost of health care is one of the country's biggest problems, but it should be obvious making insurance more expensive isn't a solution.It’s just a bigger problem.