The Future of Obamacare

Someone commented here earlier on that I should be worried over Republican threats to repeal Obamacare. That's a valid concern since my Anthem/Blue Cross health policy comes through Obamacare and, yes, I was concerned. For good reason since I have a chronic and serious illness requiring frequent medical consultation and considerable cost.

This Time magazine article explains the likely Republican moves with Obamacare and, as they've pointed out, it's not a complete shutdown of OC but "repeal and replace" or "repeal and delay". In either case it doesn't appear changes would take place immediately. As the article explains:

"The repeal-and-delay approach would repeal Obamacare as soon as possible, giving Republicans a symbolic victory. But it would delay the effective dates of key aspects of the repeal for a number of years. That way, consumers would not lose coverage abruptly, and lawmakers would not bear the political fallout of constituents’ outrage before the 2018 Congressional midterm elections. Under this scenario, the current system would continue largely as-is for a few years until a replacement plan is passed."

 " The repeal-and-replace route, by contrast, would see Congress repeal Obamacare and pass a replacement bill soon thereafter. At his news conference on Wednesday, Trump spoke in favor of this approach, saying that an Obamacare replacement would come nearly simultaneously with repeal."

What would those replacements look like?

" The proposals would generally favor younger consumers over older consumers—the former would likely pay less for coverage than they currently do, while the latter would pay more. Insurers would also be able to charge women more than men for coverage, a practice that the Affordable Care Act banned. Replacement plans would generally be less friendly toward people with pre-existing conditions."

So, it might be a little worse for people like me. I'll likely pay more, but my premiums have been going up anyway. My main concern is how much costs go up. But it's better than nothing and does put my mind at ease a bit. It looks like for now I just stay the course:

“Consumers should take the [incoming] administration at its word that there will be no interruption, and go about their business,” says Dan Mendelson, president of Avalere Health, a health-care consulting firm based in Washington."

I've been fairly content with my Obamacare plan. Even if I wasn't, some libertarians, like to poke fun at those of us on government subsidized health insurance. I have no beef with it, my own case aside. You do what you have to do, and I've reminded my fellow libertarians that LP Presidential candidate, the late Harry Browne, recommended subsidized accounts of private health insurance- which is what Obamacare is- as a way deal with the health insurance issue. Regardless, I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth.