Living In A Vacuum

So the Republicans passed a semi-replacement of ObamaCare and the press is full of stories of controversy, inadequacy and people losing their health care. I have to admit that I only read a few of them. When I did, I wasn't reading for details, but for a sense of the narrative. What I found didn't surprise me save for its completeness.

The stories lacked any sense of context. It's as if ObamaCare was just cruising along and sick children were being given lollipops by smiling nurses who cheerfully treated them for scabies, croup or dropsy, whatever their sad case might be. With bouquets of daisies on their bedside tables, the hopelessly charming little moppets were saying, "Mommy, this medicine tastes yucky!" to which their transgendered caregiver would reply, "Now you must take the medicine, dear, it will make you all better. After you take it, I'll tell you a story." "Mommy, make it the one about the kind bureaucrat who brought the orphans milk!"

Or something like that.

Meanwhile, the reality of the situation was quite different. ObamaCare was collapsing in on itself as insurers ditched one market after another. Premiums and deductibles had reached insane levels.

Deductibles for individuals enrolled in the lowest-priced Obamacare health plans will average more than $6,000 in 2017, the first time that threshold has been cracked in the three years that Affordable Care Act marketplaces have been in business...

Families enrolled in bronze plans will have average deductibles of $12,393, according to the study by the consumer insurance comparison site HealthPocket...

HealthPocket also found that that average premiums, or monthly payments, for bronze plans nationwide will increase 21 percent next year for people who earn too much to qualify for Obamacare subsidies. A 40-year-old unsubsidized bronze plan customer would pay $350.23 each month for their health coverage, compared to $289.88 per month this year.

A $12,000 deductible isn't a health insurance for anything other than catastrophes. Add that to $4000 or so of annual premiums and you're out a whopping $16,000 a year before the thing starts to pay off in earnest.

That reality was completely ignored in the stories I read. It was as if the Republicans passed the bill for no reason other than to kill Americans. Which is exactly what many editorials said in so many words. One that I read this morning actually swore vengeance on the Republicans. It was like something out of war propaganda.

This is insane. This isn't a news media, this is a party organ. Which, I guess, we already knew. Thank God fewer and fewer people trust these swine.

Update: Here's a typical response to the bill.

This guy is no pipsqueak. He has 337,000 followers.