One of the “gets” for Obama and the Democrats during the Health Care debate and vote is the ability for parents to keep their children on their insurance plans until those turn 27. A 26-year-old adult child can be carried on his parent’s insurance plan.
I guess this is to help that kid during the transition from high school to college to work place. During those years, kids often find themselves broke; or very close. The college years can be tough, money hard to come by. As such, they may be some of the most vulnerable in the nation. We should only find it within ourselves to allow this legislation to pass.
So it did.
And guess what happened? The price of a premium went UP by nearly 1% point. It now costs $3,380 for each dependent on the plan.
In addition to foisting on young Master Johnny the fact that while he is a man, we’ll continue to treat him like a child, the family has to pay north of $3k to give him self maturity issues.
But here’s where I fail to see the whole point of the law:
- Why in the WORLD would I buy insurance anymore when I know that I can not be denied coverage for any pre-existing condition? Serious. If my 26-year-old man-child gets sick, just get him an insurance plan at that point. And then drop it when he’s better.
- Okay, okay. Let’s say for some silly reason I am going to purchase my man-child totally unnecessary insurance, why why why would I spend $3,380 when I could, in effect, do the same thing [heck, even better] by purchasing him a $50 a month catastrophe policy? Think it through. I can buy a policy that carries a 5k deductible. The first year I save $2,700. I put it all in an HSA in effect saving me about 2k in taxes. Then next year, I do the same thing. I know have $5,400 in my HSA which totally covers my deductible. I now have a rock solid health insurance plan. I have saved enough money to cover my deductible and the rest will be covered by the plan. I am banking with my HSA, saving tax money AND being able to use it for aspirin, glasses, contacts, toothpaste and all sorts of other good stuff. The money is mine to use and gain interest.
Sadly, this bill only served to punish Leftist babies. In the past, such unfortunate babies born to Leftists had a chance of breaking away from their Leftist leanings when they hit 40 or so. But now, this bill will keep them poorer longer, extend their childhood until they are almost 30 rendering any chance of a clean break from their Leftist upbringing until they are near 50 or 60.
The Democrats didn’t make life better for anyone. What they did was guarantee a Democrat voter for life.
So…let me see if I understand this correctly. You’re complaining about paying a 1% increase to keep your kid within the healthcare system for 5 more years? Even if the rest of your analysis held water, I’d have to scratch my head pretty hard about your sense of a fair price for keeping your offspring healthy.
But your analysis really is (swiss) cheesy. First of all, the benefits to a person of being a fully-fledged participant in the healthcare system go light years beyond mere coverage for catastrophes. There are plenty of sub-catastrophic healthcare needs which can impact materially on the life expectancy, well-being and overall health of a young person. Symptoms which might not seem worth paying out-of-pocket for a visit to check can indicate serious illnesses such as various cancers (leukemia springs to mind, but lymphomas and carcinomas also initially present with sub-catastrophic symptoms. By the time things become unambiguously bad, Junior is dead man walking. And don’t get me started on schizophrenia, depression and other mental illnesses which are markedly less debilitating when caught early. Regular checkups and access to preventative care and diagnostic tests — even if they’re only rule-out tests — are meaningful. Your math — and, apparently, your protective instincts for your offspring — fails that test.
But the most disturbing thing about your post is the cavalier manner with which you kick around the idea of gaming the system. I thought conservatives were the self-appointed guardians of morality and Christian values. Where in hell are your scruples, man?
Shared risk pools may suffer from the fact that the ill-informed can liken them to socialism or some highly-distorted definition of fascism, but at their core they’re a mechanism establishing a floor on the health of the community as a whole. No man is an island, as much as we’d all like to think of ourselves as The Marlboro Man (who died of cancer, y the way) or Chuck Norris. Gamers — let’s be accurate and call them cheaters — are pretty despicable, in my opinion. I suppose I should give you credit for being upfront about your amorality, but one of the primary effects of being morally bankrupt is that people lose that compass entirely. So I suspect that you just don’t understand how cynical and devoid of any sense of personal responsibility your logic seems to people who value fair play.
Which is just sad.
You’re complaining about paying a 1% increase to keep your kid within the healthcare system for 5 more years?
No. I’m complaining about the claim that keeping you child on your healthcare is a benefit. In reality it’s not’ it’s much more expensive.
There are plenty of sub-catastrophic healthcare needs which can impact materially on the life expectancy, well-being and overall health of a young person.
Two points:
1. Even paying out of pocket for these services in dramatically less expensive than paying the premium for a full on policy.
2. The level of instance at this age are vanishingly small.
Your math — and, apparently, your protective instincts for your offspring — fails that test.
My math is this:
Rather than pay $3,380 for a policy for someone who won’t get sick I’m gonna pay $50 a month as insurance. This will come to $600 a year. With the savings, nearly $2700, I’ll invest in an HSA, saving nearly $1300 after taxes, and be able to keep and invest that amount. In less than two years I’ll have the 5k to cover the deductible. Problem solved.
But the most disturbing thing about your post is the cavalier manner with which you kick around the idea of gaming the system.
The world is made of people who pursue their own self interests. Independent of what I would or would not do, people are going to game the system. For example, I didn’t buy a house I couldn’t afford, even as the bank threw me loans that I KNEW were unsustainable. However, many many other independent actors took those loans.
It’s most important to remember and consider incentives.
I thought conservatives were the self-appointed guardians of morality and Christian values. Where in hell are your scruples, man?
I am Christian. I just don’t think I should legislate my charity onto you. Or yours onto me.
but one of the primary effects of being morally bankrupt is that people lose that compass entirely.
I agree. Which is why I try not to act in such a manner. But again, we are talking about creating incentives. This healthcare abomination is going to be taken advantage of in the same manner that people won’t get up the effort to go to work because they are receiving food stamps and unemployment benefits.
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