Obamacare and you

[grumbler]

I think we need to ban derspiess from using the " " smiley.  They're so obnoxious when abused so frequently in such a way.

It just doesn't mean what he thinks it means.

[derspiess]

One that's not decisively on the right or left.

Then I am not sure what your complaint is.  The US has no parties that are "decisively" on the left.  All of your parties are on the right of the spectrum compared to the politics of other countries.  The Democrates are just less right than the Republicans and therefore by definition the more centrist of the two parties.

Democrats are center-left and the GOP is center-right.

[derspiess]

I think we need to ban derspiess from using the " " smiley.  They're so obnoxious when abused so frequently in such a way.

You know that only encourages me, right?

[Phillip V]

The Young Avoid New Health Plans

'Insurers say the early buyers of health coverage on the nation's troubled new websites are older than expected so far, raising early concerns about the economics of the insurance marketplaces.

If the trend continues, an older, more expensive set of customers could drive up prices for everyone, the insurers say, by forcing them to spread their costs around. "We need a broad range of people to make this work, and we're not seeing that right now," said Heather Thiltgen of Medical Mutual of Ohio, the state's largest insurer by individual customers. "We're seeing the population skewing older."
...
The law bars insurers from charging sicker customers higher rates, and limits the amount they can charge older people compared with younger ones. It offers new subsidies to help cover premiums available to many lower-income applicants. Insurers are relying on a steady stream of younger, healthier enrollees to offset medical bills of older, sicker customers.'

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303661404579178231174626314

[Ideologue]

It would probably help if young people had any means to pay for health insurance, like, you know, jobs.

[Valmy]

It would probably help if young people had any means to pay for health insurance, like, you know, jobs.

They should all start their own businesses.

[Syt]

It would probably help if young people had any means to pay for health insurance, like, you know, jobs.

They're not looking hard enough. They could probably sign up for two or three jobs at fast food joints.

[Berkut]

It would probably help if young people had any means to pay for health insurance, like, you know, jobs.

They're not looking hard enough. They could probably sign up for two or three jobs at fast food joints.

You say that like it is some kind of rhetorical slam dunk.

But you are in fact exactly right. If you have a job that doesn't pay you enough, getting a second one is probably a good idea. Why is that such a difficult concept?

Of course, me and my silver spoon have no idea what we are talking about.

[Ideologue]

Working in a fast food restaurant full time, let alone 60 hours a week, generates less utility than death, so why not commit suicide?  Then you don't need health insurance.

[Sheilbh]

A centrist party to me suggests one that overlaps the center on both sides.  To me that does not describe the Democratic Party.  They are center-left, with a left wing that makes noise and must be appeased, usually through rhetoric rather than policy.

I think because less and less people care about certain social issues, like the gays, it's easier to see the pro-business, corporatey wing of the Democrats as pretty centre-right. What the centre right's disagreement be with Cuomo, Quinn (and perhaps Clinton) really disagree? Maybe, occasionally, rhetoric at most?

All the Blue Dogs got pushed to the curb in the first midterm.

Isn't that just a nature of the centre changing? My understanding of Blue Dog would be fiscally conservative, but also hawkish in foreign policy and socially conservative. I'd suggest that since the end of the Cold War the public's moved a long way on the last two. Does a constellation of views from Southern Democrats thirty years ago really describe the centre now?

By contrast there's 50 'New Democrats' (a la New Labour) who are associated with the DLC and broadly identify as fiscally conservative, pro-business but normally quite liberal on social issues, like the gays. I'd argue that's a better reflection of the centre now than the blue dogs.

[Syt]

But you are in fact exactly right. If you have a job that doesn't pay you enough, getting a second one is probably a good idea. Why is that such a difficult concept?

I don't disagree. I just don't find this to be an ideal situation - in the past, low qualified people (and little prospects of educating themselves due to lack of ability or talent) could e.g. find decent jobs in manufacturing or construction that would allow them a modest existence. With a lot of these jobs either requiring better education/training or being moved offshore, these people slip even further down the pole.

Unfortunately I don't see a magic bullet solution to improving their situation.

[Berkut]

Open enrollment starting in a few weeks.

Employee contribution towards our health care plan at work for myself+family is going from $250/month for 2013 to $171/month for 2014.

[Admiral Yi]

Question for DGuller:

I was thinking about state level competition, and the barriers to entry created by the cost of submitting plans to insurance commisionaers for approval.

Any chance of that disappearing now due to Obamacare?

[Valmy]

It would probably help if young people had any means to pay for health insurance, like, you know, jobs.

They're not looking hard enough. They could probably sign up for two or three jobs at fast food joints.

That is not so easy in some parts of the country.  My cousin in College was trying to find a job like that, working at a fast food joint or waiting tables or something and that took her awhile.  Getting two or three might be challenging depending upon where you live.

[DGuller]

Question for DGuller:

I was thinking about state level competition, and the barriers to entry created by the cost of submitting plans to insurance commisionaers for approval.

Any chance of that disappearing now due to Obamacare?

Your guess is as good as mine.  State-based insurance regulation seems to be a bit of an anachronism these days, but it has a lot of powerful supporters, and some debatable advantages.  I'm not at all confident about predicting the future of regulation for property/casualty insurance that I specialize in, much less health insurance.