CBS News has learned more than two million Americans have been told they cannot renew their current insurance policies -- more than triple the number of people said to be buying insurance under the new Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare.
Think about that. One month in to the ACA implementation, and 2 million people are now uninsured. Keep in mind that this is not an "unintended consequence". Evidence that NBC News unearthed is that the administration expected somewhere between 40% and 67% - or more - of individual policy holders to have their current policies cancelled this year.
Four sources deeply involved in the Affordable Care Act tell NBC NEWS that 50 to 75 percent of the 14 million consumers who buy their insurance individually can expect to receive a “cancellation” letter or the equivalent over the next year because their existing policies don’t meet the standards mandated by the new health care law.
So 7 to 10 million people will be uninsured this year, thanks to Obamacare. How... unfortunate.
Or not. As the Washington Post points out,
If you dig into the regulations (go to page 34560), you will see that HHS wrote them extremely tight. One provision says that if co-payment increases by more than $5, plus medical cost of inflation, then the plan can no longer be grandfathered. (With last year’s inflation rate of 4 percent, that means the co-pay could not increase by more than $5.20.) Another provision says the co-insurance rate could not be increased at all above the level it was on March 23, 2010.
So, yeah. Has there been any significant change in your co-pay or overall policy cost in the past 3 years? Keep your eye out for your cancellation notice. Oh, and if your current policy doesn't include maternity coverage, even if you're a single male who will never, ever, ever need that coverage? The Magic Eight Ball says there's a notice in your future, too! Thinking about getting married? Significant change, dude. Lose your insurance policy. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200.
Now, I want to remind you that the employer mandate was delayed for a year. There are an estimated 170 million people in the US who are covered by employer-sponsored health insurance.
That means that starting in late 2014, when the employer mandate kicks in, we can expect somewhere between 85 and 120 million more people to get those cancellation notices.
That is not a blip. That is not a glitch.
That is an order of magnitude change.
That is close to half the freaking country... and it is completely intentional.
"If you like your health-care plan, you’ll be able to keep your health-care plan, period."
... until we decide you can't, peon.
Update: Well, isn't that interesting. Minutes after I post my simple analysis, I see that Reason has unearthed very similar figures from that bastion of right-wing Teabaggery, the Department of Health and Human Services.
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