Y'all do some interesting math.
I had asked for an example of someone paying three-fourths of his/her/their income (that's 75%) for insurance, and I got a quote from Mitt Romney where he mentioned $10,000 worth of insurance and how attractive it would be to someone making $25,000 to $35,000 a year. At the low end, that would be forty percent, not seventy-five.
Admittedly, forty percent is a whopping big slice out of anyone's income, but it doesn't approach the seventy-five percent Virginia cited earlier. And lest you think I'm just nit-picking, I want to remind you that this percentage was given as a reason to vote for the man who led the charge for government-guaranteed health insurance.
I know the kinds of calculations y'all are doing because I've done them. And so have millions of others. You're special, but you're not that special. This is called "life." In life, often we must choose one of multiple options. Do we got out to eat or stay in and put those dollars into our mortgage or retirement or college savings for our kids? Do we buy a house we can afford as long as nothing major breaks, or do we buy one with a lower price but in a less attractive neighborhood and a lower expected resale value? Does one partner stay at home with the kids and maybe get a part-time job, or do both work and force us to spend money on child care?
I've understand your difficulties because I've experienced them. But no one in the government owes me a living, either then or now. I'm responsible for my own life choices, just as we all, ultimately, are responsible.
Obamacare takes some of those choices away from us. And younger, healthier people generally need fewer healthcare resources than older people (late 40's to late 50's), but that works out overall because older people generally make more money than their younger counterparts. Taking an equal percentage from each person creates an imbalance between the individual cost and the individual benefit.
The system as it stood before 2010 was badly damaged and needed a major overhaul if not a complete replacement. But we don't need to replace an aging car with a Stanley Steamer, no matter how shiny it is or how convincing the salespeople are. We're already hearing about companies who are either cutting back on employee's work hours to pull them below the full-time threshold (Papa John's Pizza) or restaurants whose owners have announced that they will pass the added costs on to the customers (Denny's). Many more are making these hard choices without announcing their intentions to the world, and it's going to have an even more chilling effect on the US economy.
The Dow Jones Industrial average has dropped more than a thousand points since the results of the election were announced. All of the major networks are carrying stories about companies which are hunkering down to try to weather the economic storm they see coming on January 2nd. To top it all off, the most expensive provisions of Obamacare don't kick in until January 2014. Something has to change.
And it's going to be painful for all of us.
