I'm Getting F'd By Obamacare

This is a bad idea. I know it is. And let me start off by saying this is not a political post, even though it will quickly devolve into a bomb-throwing inferno in the comments section. But my Tweet about my rising healthcare costs for next year, through Obamacare, generated quite a bit of discussion, so I figured… why not get some page views out of it to help subsidize my family’s FUCKING $1,422 PER MONTH HEALTHCARE PLAN(!!!).

I was intrigued last week by reports that Obamacare health plans could see increases of around 20% in PA next year. I was more intrigued by a news report last night that they could go up as much as 50% next year. So, this morning, I decided to check.

I currently have an Independence Blue Cross PPO Gold plan (a good plan) for me, my wife, and son. My wife and I are 33, my son is 10 months old. Non-smokers, yada yada yada. We’re currently paying $1,087 per month. That same plan, next year, is estimated to cost us $1,422 per month– an increase of 30%! That is a mortgage for some people. Are you fucking kidding me? No, apparently you are not:

Previously, we were covered through my wife’s work and had outstanding insurance that cost, with child, less than half of what we are currently paying. She left her job this year so, in August, we switched to the healthcare marketplace, knowing that costs would go up. Before we were married in 2014, I had a comparable individual plan that ran me about $140-$160 per month and went up roughly 7% per year. That same plan would cost about $400-$500 today.

What are the alternatives? There are none. The only options available to me through Healthcare.gov are through Independence Blue Cross. We can step down a tier to Silver or – worse – Bronze, the latter of which costs only $720 but comes with a $14,000 deductible.

This is from the New York Times:

Because what is happening varies around the country, it’s hard to generalize about whether Obamacare is “working” everywhere. But the combination of insurer exits and sharp price increases is a sign that the markets are in trouble in at least a few parts of the country. There are many places where customers have only one insurer offering plans and where prices have risen sharply. That’s a bad sign for a system built around choice and market competition.

My Twitter mentions are an absolute mess, running the gamut from Trump supporters using my Tweet to make a point about how shitty Obamacare is and how little would change if Hillary wins, to left-wing zealots telling me to go fuck myself and that my premiums would’ve gone up even more if it wasn’t for Obamacare. Except… that’s probably not the case. Generally speaking, yes, healthcare costs would’ve gone up at a similar rate (according to various studies) as Obamacare, but that’s if you are among the 80% of people who qualify for a subsidy or have a preexisting condition, for which you can’t be charged extra under Obamacare. Which means those costs get passed along to us.

This is a classic conservative-liberal argument– pay more to support others, or worry about your own damn self. I’ll gladly pay a little extra to balance things out and make sure everyone who wants coverage is able to get it. But there’s a limit. Paying $1,400 per month is obscene. Not to mention that my out-of-pocket max will go up $1,000 and some co-pays will increase. If you’re looking for a reason people are even considering voting for Trump (I still can’t bring myself to do it)– this is it. Whether or not his plan would actually fix this mess is unclear, but his constant hammering on Obamacare is what appeals to people like… me. Suddenly it makes sense why he chose Pennsylvania to give his big healthcare speech yesterday, just as all the other chucklefucks were seeing their new healthcare premiums and falling out of their chairs like I did. How does this make sense? Being self-employed, I can’t deduct these healthcare costs as a business expense. I can’t deduct the costs as an individual. [UPDATE: A reader emailed to say that I can take a deduction– I didn’t know that because this is the first year using a marketplace plan.] And then I effectively get taxed again on my premium to cover the costs of everyone else. And don’t even get me started on the self-employment tax, which covers social security and medicaid and requires me to pay both the employee portion of the tax and the employer portion, only the latter of which can be deducted as a business expense.

I’m not gonna get into which candidate would be better for this particular situation, nor debate the options for affordable healthcare. I’ll leave that to smarter people. But I just wanted to share a real-life scenario that shows just how fucked the current system is. Oh, and also as an ad to buy a Carson City or Bang shirt, which will be packed by my ACA-compliant wife: