Obamacare Cartoon

A not so funny cartoon about Obamacare. Apparently economists have side line jobs as fiction writers.

Let's look at some of the fantasy in this cartoon.

The cartoonist claims the current system is unfair without explaining why. Every form of insurance charges a premium based on risk factors. If health insurance is unfair, then so is life insurance, home owners insurance, auto insurance, etc.

Mr. Gruber also claims Obamacare will make health insurance "affordable" and then later claims Romneycare "cut health insurance premiums in half".

Really?

Massachusetts has some of the highest health insurance premiums in the country.

The cartoon claims carriers will no longer be able to deny coverage based on medical conditions, which is true. Of course Obamacare already imposed that restriction on children under the age of 19 and we know how well that has worked.

In addition to the disappearance of "child only" health insurance plans in most states rates for children's health insurance have doubled in many cases and when a child is considered extremely high risk their premiums can be as much as 5x standard rates.

He claims the Exchanges will control health care costs.

How so?

The Exchange is simply a market place where policies are sold in much the same way you can do right now through online marketing sites.

The Exchange has no impact at all on health care costs.

A laughable moment comes when cartoonist Gruber claims the Exchange will force carriers to compete for your business.

I don't know if this guy was asleep in class when they covered competitive markets but the government exchanges are no different from those that already exist . . . except they will be run by the government, not private enterprise.

He also claims Obamacare makes Medicare more affordable by closing the donut hole in prescription drug plans.

Pure fantasy.

Closing the donut hole may make prescription drugs more affordable but it increases Part D premiums. That is what you call rearranging the deck chairs.

Hope you enjoyed the cartoon, but there is nothing funny about it, unless you want to laugh at the ignorance of the cartoonist.