Are
you young or near the poverty line, and afraid you won't be able to afford
health insurance under ObamaCare? No problem. Don't buy it. Pay the penalty
instead and save yourself hundreds of dollars, or more.
About
3.7 million people between the ages of 18 and 34 will save at least $500 next
year if they do not buy health insurance through the ObamaCare exchanges. Of
those, more than 3 million will save over $1,000 per year, according to a study
by the National Center for Public Policy Research,
As
reported by the Washington Free Beacon, healthcare policy analyst
David Hogberg contends that while the law has put in place two primary
incentives to encourage people to buy insurance - subsidies and the individual
mandate - these are not enough to make the subsidies economically worthwhile for
many young people.
The
report highlights yet another serious flaw in Barack Obama's healthcare plan; it
needs the participation of younger healthier people to offset the cost of older
less healthy people. (There's that wealth redistribution thing again.)
Therefore, if the exchanges are unable to attract enough younger, premium-paying
people, the cost of insurance through the exchanges could skyrocket for older
people - leading to the collapse of the exchanges.
Another
group who may benefit from forgoing the mandatory purchase of health insurance
and paying the penalty includes anyone even close to the poverty line. The
report found that the $500 or greater savings for an 18-year-old starts at 163%
of the poverty line ($18,729) and 178% for a 30-year-old. ($34,763; family of
3). Moreover, in 2016, the level will rise to closer to 300%.
While
no one should be without health insurance, facts are facts - and a buck is a
buck. Budgets are tight for tens of millions of Americans. Unfortunately, other
than car insurance, insurance isn't high on the list of "must haves." While the
subsidy may cover most of the cost of basic health insurance ("Bronze Plan")
under the exchanges, it's a good bet that tens of millions of Americans will
simply opt out. Besides, many of them already do.
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