Obamacare is the biggest assault ever on the middle class.
If not radically altered or repealed, it will diminish lifestyles and increase the financial struggles of average individuals and families. Combined with other costly government meddling in the economy, it will destroy the concept of an American middle.
Incomes that over the past decade have barely kept pace with inflation will not absorb the surging cost of health insurance that will come for many, if not most people, on Jan. 1.
We’re painfully familiar with Obamacare’s impact on the individual insurance market. Those who buy their own insurance are seeing policies canceled and replaced with ones costing two to three times as much. President Barack Obama’s fake fix won’t provide much relief.
But Obamacare’s pain is spread much broader. Those with employer-provided insurance are also getting stung. Policies that previously asked for manageable contributions from employees will now carry either much higher monthly premiums or outrageous deductibles and co-pays, or both. Out-of-pocket costs are leaping to an average $5,000 to $6,000 annually for individuals, and $10,000 to $12,000 for families.
That means a young, middle class couple that decides to have a baby will come home with both an infant and a $10,000 bill for delivery and related care. Maybe it’s a good thing Obamacare mandates contraception coverage. Only the poor and the rich will be able to afford to have babies.
These middle-class workers with employer-provided policies likely won’t be eligible for government health insurance subsidies. Many will face the unsavory reality that they may be better off not working.
Obamacare was sold as a path to making America healthier by giving everyone insurance coverage. But what good is insurance you can’t afford to use? How many people will put off recommended tests and treatments because they don’t have the money to pay the deductible?
This is what it looks like when government tries to create a more perfect society by intervening in the private economy and taking away consumer choice. And it’s just the latest example. Government regulations cost the economy $1.75 trillion a year, according to the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
That shows up in higher costs for food because ethanol mandates make corn more expensive, for utility bills because EPA regulations restrict the burning of cheap coal, for automobiles because relentless hikes in emissions and mileage standards require ultra-expensive technology.
What those regulations don’t do is increase average earnings. While middle class buying power is dwindling, middle class paychecks are standing still because policies such as Obamacare and the war on coal and oil depress hiring and drive down the demand for workers.
The left blames globalization and greedy CEOs for the plight of the middle class. But nothing has hurt middle America more than the government trying to help it.
From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20131124/OPINION01/311240006#ixzz2lc3YjVKG
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