SRPC: “Applying for Health Care – More Complex than Taxes”
March 21, 2013
This Saturday marks three years since Democrats passed their widely unpopular health care law. Since then, over 20,000 pages of regulations have been issued, and more Americans are uncertain and anxious about how the law will affect them.
Over the next nine months, families and employers must make important decisions about their health care coverage. Supporters of the President’s health care law promised that choosing a health insurance plan would be as easy as shopping online.
The Administration recently gave the American people a “sneak peak” at a draft of the health care law’s benefit application. The document is an eye-popping 21 pages long. After reviewing the application, the Associated Press warned last week that applying for Obamacare is going to be more complicated than compiling a tax return. For those who choose to complete the application online, never fear – there is a 12 minute YouTube demonstration designed to answer all your questions.
Multiple Washington agencies – including the Department of Health and Human Services and the IRS – must dissect each application. Only then, after trying to track down and provide information that is not readily available to most Americans, consumers will find this is just the first step to determine if they even qualify for a taxpayer subsidy. The next step is choosing a government-approved health insurance plan. That requires – you guessed it – filling out more paperwork.
Even those who simply want to buy individual insurance, and know they will not qualify for a subsidy, must complete the forms – just in case. In the end, the process to buy individual insurance will be infinitely more complex and time consuming. Applications for citizenship, passports, even a bank charter, are all shorter than the Administration’s Obamacare application. Ronald Reagan said it best: “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”
Health Care Headlines
The Washington Post: “Can You Get Obamacare? This Insanely Complicated Chart Will Tell You” Consumer advocates and reader’s of the paper’s Wonkblog had similar questions: Why on earth would the federal government create such a complex form to obtain a public benefit? You don’t have to spend much time with the chart to get that, it’s really not simple at all.
The Washington Times: “The Obamacare Application” An editorial notes that the IRS must now defer to the Department of Health and Human Services as the chief goblin of the American taxpayer. The task of signing up for mandatory health insurance will soon rival the notorious Form 1040 for complexity and anxiety.
The Hill: “The public doesn’t understand health law” Three years after it became law, Democrats have made almost no progress explaining the Affordable Care Act to the public. The latest monthly tracking poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation shows dramatic confusion over what is and isn’t included in the law, as well as deep uncertainty over its effects.
The Washington Post: “Are People Getting $3 in Medicare Benefits for Every $1 in Taxes?” The Post “fact checker” conceded that the ratio of benefits to tax contributions is indeed 3:1. A single man with an average wage of $44,600 who turns 65 in 2030, for instance, would pay $90,000 in lifetime Medicare taxes and receive $311,000 in Medicare benefits.
Politico: “Obamacare to hit home on Hill” During debate over the law in 2009, Republicans insisted that if members of Congress were going to put their fellow Americans into health care exchanges, they and their staffs should be in there, too.
Source: Senate Republican Policy Committee, Health Care Policy Update, 3/21/13