The Iraq war made ObamaCare possible

Obama’s Two Americas

Schadenfreude on March 21, 2013 at 4:10 PM

Make no mistake, the federal government will step in and create new insurance markets in the 26 mostly red states declining to run their own. Just like the state-run markets in mostly Democratic-led states, the feds will start signing up customers Oct. 1 for coverage effective Jan. 1. But they need a broad cross-section of people, or else the pool will be stuck with what the government calls the “sick and worried” — the costliest patients.

Insurance markets, or exchanges, are one prong of Obama’s law, providing subsidized private coverage for middle-class households who currently can’t get their own. The other major piece is a Medicaid expansion to serve more low-income people. And at least 13 states have already indicated they will not agree to that.

“It could look like two or three different countries,” said Robert Blendon, a Harvard School of Public Health professor who studies public opinion on health care. “The political culture of a state is going to play an important role in getting millions of people to voluntarily sign up.”

Good luck, fools.

Schadenfreude on March 21, 2013 at 4:18 PM

This is the clusterfark Obama and Roberts shoved down your throats.

The government sees three main groups of potential customers for the new insurance markets, he said.

There’s the “active sick and worried,” people who are uninsured or have pre-existing medical conditions. Under the law, insurers will no longer be able to turn the sick away.

There’s the healthy and young. “They feel invincible, they don’t feel a need for health insurance,” said Cohen.

Finally, there’s the passive and unengaged. “For these people, a significant education effort needs to happen,” he said.

To keep premiums affordable, the government will need to sign up lots of people from the last two groups to balance those in poor health, who will have a strong motivation to join.

The official heading consumer outreach for the rollout, Julie Bataille, acknowledges the challenge but says she’s confident.

“This is a really an enormous opportunity for us to change the conversation around health care and help individuals understand the benefits they can get,” she said.

Schadenfreude on March 21, 2013 at 4:22 PM