Poll: Americans Concerned About High-Deductible Insurance Plans | 4 Million Workers Leaving Workplace Due To Obamacare

A new AP poll shows Americans’ certainly aren’t as confident in Democrats’ expensive and far-reaching changes to the health care system as liberal writers are. According to the AP, “The survey found the biggest financial worries among people with so-called high-deductible plans that require patients to pay a big chunk of their medical bills each year before insurance kicks in. Such plans already represented a growing share of employer-sponsored coverage. Now, they're also the mainstay of the new health insurance exchanges created by Obama's law.”

But the poll suggests that people aren’t so fond of what they’re getting from their health insurance. “Edward Frank of Reynoldsville, Pennsylvania, said he bought a plan with a $6,000 deductible last year through HealthCare.gov. That's in the high range, since deductibles for popular silver plans on the insurance exchanges average about $3,100 — still a lot. ‘Unless you get desperately ill and in the hospital for weeks, it's going to cost you more to have this plan and pay the premiums than to pay the bill just outright,’ said Frank, who ended up paying $4,000 of his own money for treatment of shoulder pain. ‘The deductibles are so high, you don't get much of anything out of it,’ said Frank, who is in 50s and looking for a new job. . . . Sandra Chapman, a warehouse worker from Memphis, said she had to go without cholesterol medication last year because of issues with her prescription coverage. Instead of taking pills, she changed her diet. ‘They only cover certain stuff and, I don't know, the rules change all the time,’ said Chapman, in her early 30s.”

The AP story notes, “Only about half of those surveyed said they had a strong understanding of what their plans cover. Consumers sometimes pick health insurance based on the monthly premium alone. But low-premium plans have higher deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs. . . . In another potentially troublesome finding for the White House, the poll found signs of dissatisfaction among people who changed plans in the last year, as the president's health overhaul went into full effect. Plan-switchers who said they are paying more outnumbered those who are paying less by 45 percent to 29 percent.”

More Controversy Hits Oregon, California Obamacare Exchanges
Meanwhile, some of the state health care exchanges, especially in states run by Democrats that enthusiastically embraced them, continue to suffer from problems and questionable handling by state officials.

The Oregonian reports, “A consultant's long-awaited report on the state's health insurance exchange was considered so sensitive that Cover Oregon officials asked him not to turn it in, The Oregonian has learned. The story becomes yet another example of the secrecy that has often cloaked the troubled exchange due to high legal and political stakes.

“Gov. John Kitzhaber [D] recruited high-profile business consultant Clyde Hamstreet to take the reins of Cover Oregon last April, at the height of the health care exchange's chaotic technological failure. Hamstreet's firm left the project in September after getting paid more than $600,000. But documents and interviews show that officials asked him not to deliver the written report he was contractually bound to produce, apparently thinking it would then remain a secret. . . .

“Invoices submitted by Hamstreet show that he and his employees worked on the ‘Hamstreet report’ repeatedly at a cost of up to $300 per hour. They completed a written draft in late August. But exchange officials asked Hamstreet not to deliver the written report, said Cover Oregon executive director Aaron Patnode on Thursday. . . . Instead, Hamstreet was asked to deliver his report orally on Sept. 29. Only Patnode was present. Participating via conference call were Kitzhaber aide Sean Kolmer, two Cover Oregon board members and Fred Boss, second-in-command to Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum. . . .

“The state's handling of the Hamstreet report is just the latest example of secrecy around the exchange. Lawmakers and Cover Oregon board members have repeatedly complained that key reports or issues were not disclosed until after the fact. One former top administrator in May said the exchange had been turned into a ‘propaganda ministry.’”

And to the south in California, the AP reports, “California's health insurance exchange has awarded $184 million in contracts without the competitive bidding and oversight that is standard practice across state government, including deals that sent millions of dollars to a firm whose employees have long-standing ties to the agency's executive director.

“Covered California's no-bid contracts were for a variety of services, ranging from public relations to paying for ergonomic adjustments to work stations, according to an Associated Press review of contracting records obtained through the state Public Records Act.

“Several of those contracts worth a total of $4.2 million went to a consulting firm, The Tori Group, whose founder has strong professional ties to agency Executive Director Peter Lee, while others were awarded to a subsidiary of a health care company he once headed.”

4 Million Workers Will Leave The Workplace Due To Obamacare. 
On October 7, The Mercatus Center predicted, “The ACA’s employment taxes create strong incentives to work less. The health subsidies’ structure will put millions in a position in which working part time (29 hours or fewer, as defined by the ACA) will yield more disposable income than working their normal full-time schedule. The reduction in weekly employment due to these ACA disincentives is estimated to be about 3 percent, or about 4 million fewer full-time-equivalent workers. This is the aggregate result of the law’s employment disincentives, and is nearly double the impact most recently estimated by the Congressional Budget Office.”

Key Findings of the report: Much of the ACA’s tax effect resembles unemployment insurance: both encourage layoffs and discourage people from returning to work. The ACA’s overall impact on employment, however, will arguably be larger than that of any single piece of legislation since World War II.

• The ACA’s employment taxes create strong incentives to work less. The health subsidies’ structure will put millions in a position in which working part time (29 hours or fewer, as defined by the ACA) will yield more disposable income than working their normal full-time schedule.
• The reduction in weekly employment due to these ACA disincentives is estimated to be about 3 percent, or about 4 million fewer full-time-equivalent workers. This is the aggregate result of the law’s employment disincentives, and is nearly double the impact most recently estimated by the Congressional Budget Office.
• Nearly half of American workers will be affected by at least one of the ACA’s employment taxes—and this does not account for the indirect effect on others as the labor market adjusts.
• The ACA will push more women than men into part-time work. Because a greater percentage of women work just above 30 hours per week, it is women who will be more likely to drop to part-time work as defined by the ACA.

---

Tags: IPolls, concerns, high-deductible insurance plans, More Controversy, Oregon, California, Obamacare Exchanges, 4 Milion Workers, leave workplace, Obamacare, The Mercatus Center, infographic To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!