Conservatives Bent on Talking Young People (18-34) Out of Signing Up For Health Insurance Through the Exchanges in October.

Conservatives Bent on Talking Young People (18-34) Out of Signing Up For Health Insurance Through the Exchanges in October.

 I received an e-mail from HuffPost Hill on August 16, 2013 which mentioned a publication (#652) http://www.nationalcenter.org/NPA652.html  from National Policy Analysis, which is a publication of The National Center for Public Policy Research. The paragraph in the e-mail I was immediately drawn to had a heading of "A SHINING MOMENT IN THE CAMPAIGN TO RESCUE AMERICA FROM OBAMACARE" which stated that  a conservative think tank said "Young people would save a lot of money by not buying health insurance through Obamacare exchanges this fall," because premiums are more expensive than the new tax penalties for not signing up.

CBS News reports that for the health care law to work, 2.7 million people known as “young invincibles” – young adults between the ages of 18 and 35 – need to enroll. What is so bad about 2.7 million young invincibles signing up for health insurance through the exchanges? The National Policy Analysis publication by David Hogberg, Ph.D. shows this example:

Haley Townsend is a pleasant 22-year-old woman working at a shop in Washington, D.C.'s Union Station. Like many her age, she is uninsured.

While she sees some value in insurance, she claims she doesn't need it right now.

"Overall, I'm pretty healthy," she said. "The only thing I need to see the doctor about are the glasses I wear." 

Haley currently earns about $18,100 annually. She's also going through divorce proceedings that have put her into considerable debt. 

"Right now, a lot of my paycheck goes toward paying that off," she said. Thus, financially she has little room for error and no room to pick up a major new expense like health insurance. Yet due to ObamaCare, in 2014 Haley is expected to purchase health insurance through the Washington D.C. "exchange"—known as the Health Benefit Exchange Authority—or pay a fine of $95.

If Haley buys health insurance through Washington D.C.'s exchange, she'll be eligible for a subsidy of about $1,329 under ObamaCare to help her pay for insurance. If she puts that toward the lowest-cost Bronze plan on the exchange, about $1,541, then she'll only have to pay about $212 out-of-pocket for health insurance. 

That may not seem like much, but for Haley that $212 represents about 14 percent of one of her monthly paychecks before taxes. If she instead pays the $95 fine, then she'll save $117. "I could easily use that money for groceries or transportation," she said.

Let's look this example and how it really works out. The publication says that 18-34 year old people have an average of 2.7 physician visits per year, well, last time I checked, a single office visit to a doctor's office costs $100 for an uninsured person. Does Haley really have a savings of $117? If an 18-34 year old experiences even a minor illness, or injury, how much will it cost them? What with labs, x-rays or whatever they may require for a simple virus or fall, a single incident could cost hundreds if not thousands of dollars.

David Hogberg says that his study finds that over 3.7 million single individuals aged 18-34 without children will save at least $500 by declining insurance and paying the fine in 2014. Over 3 million individuals will save at least $1,000. I certainly question the data in this study, do you?

The study then goes on to show how their "subsidy calculators" come up with the figures of over 3.7 million single individuals aged 18-34 without children will save at least $500 by declining insurance and paying the fine in 2014. Over 3 million individuals will save at least $1,000. No where does it mention that a single illness or injury (remembering that the study itself does admit the 18-34 year old people average 2.7 doctor visits per year) will cost hundreds if not thousands of dollars for the uninsured.

All the while if the "young invincibles" do sign up with the exchanges we will lower healthcare costs overall. We will have 30 million people who can't afford health insurance with health plans which will significantly lower costs by not having people use emergency rooms as their primary care physician, and receive preventive medicine which everybody, even the insurance companies know is cheaper in the long run.

Let's work at getting our representatives in congress and the senate to start looking out for us. Let's explain to every 18-34 year old why signing up for the exchanges this October is the best thing for them and all of America! Tell your representatives you don't pay them $174,000/yr and more to vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act (a law) 40 times. Are the republicans afraid that a healthcare bill that was enacted by a Republican Governor, upheld by a Republican Supreme Court, is saving Republican lives?