Obamacare Health Insurance Premium Increases Stun Californians

Obamacare sticker shock has found its way to the San Francisco Bay area.

For example, Obama voter Cindy Vinson faces an $1,800 a year premium increase for her own medical policy, while Tom Waschura, another of the president’s supporters, will have to pay about $10,000 more for family health coverage, according to the San Jose Mercury-News. Neither apparently have a preexisting health condition, nor do they quality for an Obamacare tax credit

No fan of GOP House Speaker John Boehner about the way he’s handling the impasse with the Democrat-controlled Senate over the government shutdown and Obamacare, Waschura now looks at things a little differently. “I was laughing at Boehner — until the mail came today.. I really don’t like the Republican tactics, but at least now I can understand why they are so pissed about this. When you take $10,000 out of my family’s pocket each year, that’s otherwise disposable income or retirement savings that will not be going into our local economy.”

Vinson explained that “Of course, I want people to have health care. I just didn’t realize I would be the one who was going to pay for it personally.”

According to the Mercury-News, “1.9 million people buy plans on the open market, according to officials with Covered California, the state’s new health insurance exchange. And many of them are steaming mad.”

Obamacare, a.k.a. the Affordable Care Act, forces health insurance policies to cover 10 so-called essential benefits which rules out may high-deductible, cafeteria plans that many Americans prefer and forces consumers to get coverage that they neither want or need. For the past year, insurance companies have warned of premium increases associated with the implementation of Obamacare.

Sharp premium increases have also been reported in North Carolina, according to the Charlotte Observer. “[Those] who purchase insurance individually, and not through employer-sponsored group plans, are finding that the Affordable Care Act may be unaffordable for their families.”

During an August 2009 town hall meeting, President Obama promised that “If you like your healthcare plan, you can keep your healthcare plan.”

Consumer are also encountering difficulty accessing the healthcare.gov website, where some taxpayer-subsidized plans may be available.

In an ongoing series of polls, Obamacare continues to be very unpopular with the American people.

Although the Obama administration postponed the employer mandate (but not the individual mandate) for one year, many firms around the country have still put their hiring plans on the back burner, or have decided to downgrade workers into part-time status, to avoid the Obamacare mandate entirely that applies to companies with 50 or more full-time workers. Obamacare currently defines full-time work as 30 or more hours per week. Some employers have already shifted their part-time workforce into Obamacare exchanges or private exchanges. Various large employers have already reached the conclusion that it might be more cost-effective to drop employee health coverage completely even for full-time workers and pay the Obamacare employer penalty instead when it kicks in.