According to eHealth, Obamacare will be Unaffordable for Middle Class in 94 Percent of Major Cities
Health insurance under Obamacare is a disaster.
The average cost for a family plan under the regime is already around $19,000 a year (or as much as a new car every year). Not only this, but Obamacare has been in a death spiral for years now. Unfortunately, new evidence reveals that this collapse will continue well into 2018.
A study released today by eHealth suggests that many families in the United States’ major cities will not have access to affordable healthcare by 2018. From the report (emphasis added):
In preparing its analysis, eHealth reviewed the lowest-price 2017 plan available for families of three comprised of two adults age 35 and one child. The same family model was analyzed using data from Healthcare.gov in 40 cities, data from eHealth.com in 9 cities not utilizing Healthcare.gov, and data from the New York state exchange for New York City.
After applying a relatively modest annual rate increase of 10% to 2017 rates to project 2018 rates, eHealth discovered the following:
- In 47 of 50 cities surveyed, the lowest-priced plan would be officially unaffordable under Obamacare affordability standards for families earning 401% of the federal poverty level (about $82,000 per year in the contiguous US, making them ineligible for Obamacare subsidies).
- Among these, the average three-person household would need to earn an additional $28,939 per year before the lowest-cost plan becomes affordable according to Obamacare rules.
That’s right; by Obamacare’s own affordability standards a good chunk of the middle class will have unaffordable health insurance by 2018.
Under the Affordable Care Act, health insurance becomes unaffordable when the lowest-cost plan costs greater than 8.16% of a household’s gross income. In 47 out of 50 cities across the country, this definition will apply to many in the middle class.
Additionally, three-person households in this income bracket would have to make almost $29,000 additional income on average so that the lowest-cost plan becomes affordable.
This, in part, is why conservatives have consistently taken Obamacare to task for unfairly penalizing the middle-class. This wide gap in affordable coverage and available subsidies effectively makes it less beneficial to make more money past a certain point. It also incentivizes people to remain poor, since if your income goes above a certain threshold, your coverage is effectively cut off.
Aside from the increased regulatory burden on an already broken healthcare system, Obamacare has been on a sharp decline. It was one of the biggest issues in the 2016 campaign because it had wide-sweeping, deleterious effects.
This is why CNN actually put on a town hall debate earlier this year putting Progressive “Democratic Socialist” Senator Bernie Sanders up against Constitutionalist Conservative Senator Ted Cruz in a debate on healthcare reform.
You can watch the debate here (I recommend that you do).
It’s no wonder why Ted Cruz easily dismantled Sanders.
Insurance premiums in Maryland alone have doubled over the last four years. A different study actually showed that by next year, 16 of 21 major cities will have double digit increases in healthcare insurance premiums because of Obamacare.
The Affordable Care Act was a poorly crafted piece of legislation that was rammed through when there was a Democratic majority in Congress. There’s a reason why there hasn’t been one since it was passed.
