Comment: Much to the Obamacare-Grubers’ chagrin, about 60% of the “stupid American[s]” Prof. Jonathan Gruber intended to penalize into buying Obamacare, aren’t buying it. Many have carefully calculated that the Freedom Tax (a.k.a. Obamacare penalty) is a lot cheaper than paying a bundle for lower-quality Obamacare insurance, only to get essentially no insurance anyhow. It seems that Americans aren’t as stupid as Prof. Gruber thought…
“Many holdouts have made their decisions after meticulously comparing the cost of insurance premiums and deductibles with paying for doctor appointments, lab tests and prescriptions themselves. For some healthy people, the combined cost of premiums and deductibles, which can exceed $10,000, makes the penalty seem a better deal.“
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“Susan Reardon, 61, of Kalamazoo, Mich., said she was leaning toward going uninsured this year. She calculated that she would have to spend more than $12,000, including premiums of nearly $500 a month and a $6,850 deductible, to get anything beyond preventive benefits from the cheapest exchange plan available to her.”
“Ms. Reardon, whose husband is old enough to be covered by Medicare, said she would rather pay out of pocket for the drugs she takes for fibromyalgia and the handful of doctor appointments she tends to need each year.”
[...]
“As for the tax penalty, which could approach $1,500 for her?”
““Come and get me,” Ms. Reardon said.“
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“For Tim Fescoe, a visual effects artist in Culver City, Calif., the problem with his health plan was that it seemed too bare-boned. That plan from Covered California, his state exchange, cost $455 a month for himself and his wife in 2014. But they dropped the plan, which had a $6,000 deductible for each spouse, and went uninsured last year.”
“It literally covered zero medical expenses,” Mr. Fescoe said. “
Many See I.R.S. Penalties as More Affordable Than Insurance
By ABBY GOODNOUGH