Obamacare Exchange: A New York State of Maintenance

[sinkspur]

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner

Obamacare Exchange: A New York State of Maintenance

By  Deroy Murdock
October 2, 2013 9:50 AM



After news accounts of the Obamacare exchanges crashing on launch from coast to coast yesterday, I logged on this morning to see if the situation had improved. The federal website, healthcare.gov opened smoothly enough, with colorful photos and attractive, if complex graphics. “The Health Insurance Marketplace is Open!” it chirped with glee. It instructed me to indicate the state in which I live. I selected New York from a pull-down menu. I expected to see a photo of the Statue of Liberty, Niagara Falls, or perhaps Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat.
 

Instead, this popped up on my computer screen:



 

 

The “Site unavailable” tab was not exactly promising, nor were the words: “We apologize for the inconvenience, the Marketplace is undergoing maintenance. Please try again later.”

Mind you, this is how things looked on Day Two of Obamacare, and at 6:30 a.m. Demand should have been low at this time, when night owls like me finally get to sleep and normal human beings arise to face the new day. It seems entirely possible that these techno-headaches will multiply in a few hours, as New Yorkers chug down their caffeine, quaff Five-Hour Energy Drinks, and log on to the cleverly named New York State of Health website to try again to learn more about America’s new experiment in government medicine.

Arizona, Florida, Texas, and 22 other states have resisted Obamacare, and basically told Obama that if he wants exchanges in their jurisdictions, he can go ahead and erect them. In contrast, New York and its liberal-Democrat-dominated state government designed its exchange website with enthusiasm and a collectivist sense of purpose. So, if this is as good as Obamacare gets in a cooperative, pro-socialized-medicine state, imagine how things will unfold in places where state officials actively drag their feet on Obamacare implementation.

After just two days, Obamacare already resembles the wheezing, unresponsive, morbidly obese monster about which Republicans and free marketeers have warned consistently for three and a half years.

[sinkspur]

From Obamacare Facebook page.

"I actually made it through this morning at 8:00 A.M. I have a preexisting condition (Type 1 Diabetes) and my income base was 45K-55K annually I chose tier 2 "Silver Plan" and my monthly premiums came out to $597.00 with $13,988 yearly deductible!!! There is NO POSSIBLE way that I can afford this so I "opt-out" and chose to continue along with no insurance. I received an email tonight at 5:00 P.M. informing me that my fine would be $4,037 and could be attached to my yearly income tax return. Then you make it to the "REPERCUSSIONS PORTION" for "non-payment" of yearly fine. First, your drivers license will be suspended until paid, and if you go 24 consecutive months with "Non-Payment" and you happen to be a home owner, you will have a federal tax lien placed on your home. You can agree to give your bank information so that they can easy "Automatically withdraw" your "penalties" weekly, bi-weekly or monthly! This by no means is "Free" or even "Affordable.""

[sinkspur]

The subsidies are meant to be catnip to the poor schlubs signing up on the exchanges, but all they affect is the monthly premium.

Deductibles are the killer to most families, and silver plan deductibles are running on average $4,000-5,000 with only 70% coverage.  And many of those who've never had insurance don't realize that the deductible is YEARLY, not a one time thing.  Healthy families will never meet their deductible.