The Affordable Care Act Steamroller

This time last year (for those of you outside the northern hemisphere and not on the Julian Calendar, that was autumn of 2012), and following passage into law of the Affordable Care Act or so-called Obamacare, I received a notice from my health insurance provider that in response to federally mandated reforms my premium was going to effectively double - I say effectively because the higher rate would have ended up a handful of percentage points under fully doubling. For the record, most years prior to 2012, I received an annual notice  - as I am sure most of you had also - announcing a marginal increase in rate but with the option of maintaining the current rate if I opted to increase my deductible.  Some years it made sense to increase the deductible and in those cases I would opt for that, and in some years it did not and thus would I simply accept the marginal rate increase.  In 2012, I was informed that I had maxed-out my deductible ceiling and, ergo, the increase - the doubling - of my premium.  That higher rate for 2013 would have made my health insurance unaffordable.  Thanks to the intrepid assistance of my neighborhood insurance agent, I enrolled into a Health Savings Account, or HSA, which became available to the American public after being signed into law by President George Dubya Bush.  This HSA program lowered my insurance premium to less than half of what it otherwise was going to be increased, had I not pursued other alternatives.  If, like me, you spend most of your free time studying box scores and not researching health insurance, you may not be aware that an HSA is a tax-advantaged medical savings account - fully funded by the individual - which in effect is similar to a Roth I.R.A.  Since January of this year (2013; or 2556 on the Buddhist calendar), I have been making contributions into my HSA, have had opportunity to use my HSA to pay for health care/perscriptions, and been absolutely satisfied with the dynamics and nature of my HSA.

This week I received notice from my health insurance provider that my plan is being discontinued "because it doesn't meet all the requirements of the new health care reform laws (also called the Affordable Care Act)."

First, no matter what you've heard, if you like your doctor or your health care plan, you can keep it. - President Obama

Additionally, my health insurance provider has offered to automatically enroll me into a new, ACA-compliant plan which offers a premium almost exactly double that of my current premium.  For those of you scoring at home or even if you're alone [credit: Keith Olbermann], that is twice in two years that the advent of so-called Obamacare has caused my premium to effectively double.  Twice, in two years, my health insurance plan has doubled into unaffordability.  

Where is the "affordable" in the Affordable Care Act?  Where is the keeping of my existing plan?  True, the option for me to keep my original, pre-2012, plan did factually exist, notwithstanding the premium increase, but who even knows if that plan exists today as it may also have been decreed non-compliant with the ACA. 

As yet, my intrepid neighborhood insurance agent - still doggedly on the case - has yet to uncover a more affordable private alternative.  Of course, if ultimately I cannot find (or qualify for) another - more affordable - plan either with or without my current health insurance provider, other options are on the table.  I could chose to not have health insurance and pay the annual jizya "penalty" (and regardless of Chief Justice John Roberts' errant judicial formulations, it is unconstitutional to force Americans to purchase any good or private service.  That, however, is a lost argument about the Individual Mandate from another time and place).  Show of hands; Who here thinks that, long-term, the penalty will be lower or equal to the spiraling cost of insurance premiums?  Didn't think so.  The other option, as explained in my notice this week, is to enroll into a "plan on the government-run Health Insurance Marketplace (also called the 'exchange')" for which I might also - not also, but certainly - be "eligible for a government subsidy."  That subsidy is YOUR money.  Show of hands;  Who here thinks that, long-term (or short-term), that government subsidy won't be a compulsory aspect of participation in the "exchange." 

I am a hard-working real live nephew of my Uncle Sam.  I do not want your subsidy.  I do not want any handout.  I am and have been content to pay my own way and to keep my existing plan.  The President and, if you vote for the Democratic Party then also your party, have been LYING about every aspect of the Affordable Care Act.  This fact is not news to those of us in The Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy [credit: Hilary Clinton].  Among so much else, the ACA does not lower the cost of health care/insurance.  It does not make health insurance affordable.  It does not permit you to keep your plan, your doctor.  The President and his legion of radical Left-Wing anti-American crypto-communist extremists are bent on destroying The American Way.

The ACA isn't about the nature of health care and its costs and absolutely it is not about freedom.  It's about control.

Additional reading;  Forbes.com: "Double Down"