That is the message the National Center for Public Policy Research is trying to tell in a “research” “brief” that is dripping in bad faith or crap analysis. I’ll get to that part later, but now let’s look at the part where a woman is blaming Obamacare for making her insurable in her tale of Obamacare woe:
Pam Hopmann, age 63, lives in Chesterfield, Missouri….For years, Pam was covered under her husband’s employer-based plan. When he retired, she stayed on his plan for an additional 18 months via a federal law known as “COBRA.” That ran out in January of 2013…..When she looked for coverage on the individual market, she was unable to get a policy because of a congenital heart condition. [my emphasis]
She was able to get coverage through the temporary Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP) created under ObamaCare for people who are high risk. She paid about $400 a month in premiums and had a $1,000 deductible, which she found reasonable….
But in September of 2013, she received a notice that her PCIP plan would be cancelled at the end of the year.
“My husband and I started trying to sign up for insurance on the exchange….
She ended up choosing a gold plan, a “$10 Copay PPO” policy from Coventry Health Care. She qualifies for a monthly subsidy, but even with that she is still paying a higher premium of $544 a month. She also has a higher deductible of $1,750.
So unpacking this Ms. Hopmann had a pre-exisiting condition. She was uninsurable on the underwritten individual insurance market as no insurance company was willing to take her on medical risk. For nine months, she was in a high risk bridge program funded by PPACA, and then went onto the Exchange where she was able to get significantly subsidized insurance without having to pass through medical underwriting. Her Exchange plan is slightly worse than her high risk plan. And for that she is pissed off.
At the individual level, this makes sense. She had something good and she lost it. It does not matter that this was the program design. It does not matter the House GOP was unwilling to increase funding for high risk pools even at the opportunity of gutting a significant chunk of the Exchanges. It does not matter that in the counterfactual universe of no PPACA, she is uninsurable as no insurer who is not state mandated to take all comers/act as insurer of last resort is going to write a policy for a 63 year old with a cardiac condition. It does not matter. She had something good and now has something less good.
Now if the wingnut welfare landing pad NCPPR was interested in arguing that Exchange subsidies should be significantly richer so Platinum level benefits are the default, this story could be made in good faith. That is not the argument they are making. The NCPPR is arguing that this woman is getting screwed by Obamacare despite the fact that in a non-PPACA world, she is uninsurable until she limps across the line for Medicare in two years.
And worst of all, this is not even the biggest piece of bullshit that they are throwing into the public discourse.
“I’m now insurable, fuck you Obamacare?”Post + Comments (42)