{"id":7287,"date":"2014-01-30T05:57:23","date_gmt":"2014-01-30T09:57:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ncdata.wpengine.com\/?p=7287"},"modified":"2017-09-28T12:40:06","modified_gmt":"2017-09-28T16:40:06","slug":"success-stories-of-obamacare-exchange-show-why-it-will-fail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2014\/01\/30\/success-stories-of-obamacare-exchange-show-why-it-will-fail\/","title":{"rendered":"Success Stories Of ObamaCare Exchange Show Why It Will Fail"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Health Care Blog at the Health and Human Services website routinely recounts the experiences of people signing up for health insurance on the ObamaCare exchanges. But what HHS often considers a \u201csuccess story\u201d is in fact an example of why the exchanges are likely to fail. \u00a0For example<\/a>:<\/p>\n

One of the most important benefits of the Affordable Care Act is that insurance companies will no longer be able to turn you down or charge you more because you have a pre-existing condition.<\/p>\n

This is good news for Americans like Diane, an attorney from Michigan. Recently, Diane enrolled for coverage using\u00a0HealthCare.gov\u00a0after going without insurance for over six years. Her pre-existing condition made\u00a0 finding a quality, affordable health insurance plan nearly impossible<\/p>\n

\"Hill

Hill Air Force Base 2004 Air Show<\/p><\/div>\n

As many critics have warned, the rules governing the ObamaCare exchanges like community rating and guaranteed issue\u00a0would make the exchanges more attractive\u00a0to folks who were older and sicker and less attractive to the young and healthy. \u00a0The leads to a \u201cdeath spiral\u201d or, as the case may be with ObamaCare exchanges, a bailout<\/a> for the insurance companies and then a death spiral. \u00a0The story of Diane suggests that this process is in the beginning stages.<\/p>\n

The HHS blog has quite a few similar examples. \u00a0There\u2019s Jacob<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Before the passage of the Affordable Care Act Jacob, a father of three from Arkansas, was forced to shop around for a high-risk insurance plan.<\/p>\n

Jacob\u2019s pre-existing condition also forced his three children and wife to be on a separate health insurance. When the family included Jacob in his plan, they were denied coverage. That\u2019s not all, says Jacob:<\/p>\n

\u201cEven with my wife and kids on a separate plan, one of my sons is charged extra because he had trouble gaining weight after he was born.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s Noelle<\/a>:<\/p>\n

When soccer is your passion, not being able to hold down food because of an esophagus condition called Esophagitis is a roadblock.<\/p>\n

\u201cI struggled a lot with the condition these last 5 years, living without health insurance. Solids and liquids don\u2019t go down easily, and throwing up a lot makes it very hard to get the nutrition I need as an athlete.<\/p>\n

My employer doesn\u2019t offer health insurance, and I\u2019ve tried to get coverage through the individual market and couldn\u2019t because I was either denied coverage or would have to pay 4 or $500 a month, way out of my price range.\u201d<\/p>\n

And James<\/a>:<\/p>\n

For James, a 29 year old in Pensacola, FL, a normal week involves hunting, welding, fishing, and before January 1st<\/sup>, worrying about his lack of health insurance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always been able to afford health insurance\u2014they just wouldn\u2019t cover me, because I\u2019m a diagnosed diabetic. Being without health insurance was terrifying because you could be bankrupted by someone else not paying attention on the road. Or what if something bad happened in the shop?\u201d<\/p>\n

Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, James was able to enroll in coverage without worrying about his pre-existing condition.<\/p>\n

People who are costly to insure and some getting premiums well below what they\u2019d get on a less regulated market\u2014in the long run, there is only one way this ends.<\/p>\n

Of course, that depends on whether these examples are representative of many of the people signing up on the exchanges. \u00a0Surely, a few anecdotes do not add up to data.<\/p>\n

For that, let\u2019s turn to the most recent enrollment report<\/a>. \u00a0Or, rather, let\u2019s turn to Spencer Cowan\u2019s recent analysis<\/a> of the enrollment report. \u00a0 At the Weekly Standard, Cowan explains why the choice of plans that exchange enrollees are making is indicative of trouble to come. \u00a0He notes that the silver-level plans<\/p>\n

which represent 60 percent of all plans sold to date through the Obamacare exchanges.\u00a0 In fact, the silver-level plans are three times more popular than the cheaper bronze-level plans and sixty times more popular than the cheapest catastrophic-level plans, which are available only to enrollees under 30 years old.<\/p>\n

Why would someone opt for a silver-level plan over a cheaper bronze or catastrophic-level plan?\u00a0The most plausible explanation is that the enrollee anticipates incurring significant medical expenses over the coming year, which is to say that he\u2019s not healthy.<\/p>\n

Cowan goes on to explain why they would choose silver over the even more generous gold- and platinum-level plans. \u00a0In short, though, the evidence suggests the exchanges are creating exactly the type of insurance pool that is headed for a death spiral.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Health Care Blog at the Health and Human Services website routinely recounts the experiences of people signing up for health insurance on the ObamaCare exchanges. But what HHS often considers a \u201csuccess story\u201d is in fact an example of why the exchanges are likely…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[74,24],"tags":[77],"yoast_head":"\nSuccess Stories Of ObamaCare Exchange Show Why It Will Fail - The National Center<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2014\/01\/30\/success-stories-of-obamacare-exchange-show-why-it-will-fail\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"David Hogberg\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2014\/01\/30\/success-stories-of-obamacare-exchange-show-why-it-will-fail\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2014\/01\/30\/success-stories-of-obamacare-exchange-show-why-it-will-fail\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"David Hogberg\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/#\/schema\/person\/cca707c3813b36233b7ecbebd8f785c2\"},\"headline\":\"Success Stories Of ObamaCare Exchange Show Why It Will Fail\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-01-30T09:57:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-09-28T16:40:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2014\/01\/30\/success-stories-of-obamacare-exchange-show-why-it-will-fail\/\"},\"wordCount\":773,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2014\/01\/30\/success-stories-of-obamacare-exchange-show-why-it-will-fail\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/DeathSpiral-4-200x300.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"ConservativeBlog.org\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Blog\",\"Health\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2014\/01\/30\/success-stories-of-obamacare-exchange-show-why-it-will-fail\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2014\/01\/30\/success-stories-of-obamacare-exchange-show-why-it-will-fail\/\",\"name\":\"Success Stories Of ObamaCare Exchange Show Why It Will Fail - 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