Does Obamacare cover chronic confusion?

The last couple months have been nothing but chaos in regard to the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Recent issues covered by the media have only added to this confusion. It is important for young people to at least understand why they are of such value to the ACA, and also try to sort through the bias of the media.

Even though many are unclear of all of the details of the ACA, they were recently hit with the reality of required health insurance. Obama guaranteed coverage from preferred insurance companies to people, but that was a lie. Millions were slapped by Obama’s lie when they received cancellation notices last week, according to USA Today.

More confusion arose with the president’s latest “fix” regarding the ACA, which stated that people can keep their insurance plans for up to a year if it complies with the act. However, it is unclear because it depends on individuals’ current insurance and the state they reside in. The media continues to generalize everyone’s situation when it really depends on the individual.

For example Mike Kreidler, Washington state’s insurance commissioner, recently released a statement rejecting Obama’s proposed solution for Washingtonians, according to the Washington Post.

Students aren’t immune. Some smaller universities have caused big problems for students. Last week, Bowie State University dropped 3,000 students from its health insurance program due to incompatibility with the ACA, according to NBC Washington.

The School’s website states, “Due to new requirements of the Affordable Care Act, which will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2014, the cost of insurance for domestic students will increase to approximately $1800 per year.”  

According to the Huffington Post, Obama received 60 percent of the youth vote in the 2012 election; the same youth who are now suffering under their choice’s seminal piece of legislation.

It’s worth observing the reason young people were so fast to jump on the Obama train. The progressive policies he stood for were appealing to young people who weren’t concerned with their current healthcare. So yes, they can smoke their weed (in some states), but they don’t realize how they are being exploited by the new act. The ACA forces people to have health insurance even though young and healthy individuals will not utilize all the services it offers.   

Generally speaking, young and healthy individuals don’t often seek much medical attention. Services under the act include access to preventive measures such as blood pressure and cholesterol screening as well as a variety of immunizations, according to the government’s healthcare website.  All of these procedures cost money, and while it’s great to have the option to prevent diseases, it’s unlikely a healthy 22-year-old college senior is overly concerned with their cholesterol.

“The plan is for the insurance companies to offset those losses with profits on young and healthy people,” said Forbes contributor Jeffrey Dorfman. This is what young adults should at least understand.

Insurance companies are using confusion to their benefit and largely targeting younger people. According to The LA Times, “18 to 34-year-olds, that demographic group courted relentlessly by television advertisers and presidential candidates, are needed in the insurance exchanges to offset, with their youth and health, the pool of older and sicker Americans expected to sign up.”

While it’s a nice idea that everyone will have health insurance, there will be people that don’t take care of themselves that young people will be paying for.  This isn’t to say it won’t be a godsend for those that truly need health insurance. It’s just up to an individual to decide if they are OK with having the same healthcare as someone who leads a riskier lifestyle.

With all the cluttered information, it’s important to try to find out the objective facts of how this new system works. Financial author Dave Ramsey said that no one is exempt from the math. The least we can do is try to understand it without getting fired up by what our preferred news outlet is telling us to think.

“You start to think you can just yell loud enough and math doesn’t matter,” Ramsey said.

Whether you like it or not, everyone now has to have insurance. Well, almost everyone, “…46 percent of Americans pay no federal income tax, the rest of us support you on all the things that the federal government does,” Ramsey said.

So whether we are confused by it or not, love it or hate it, the Affordable Care Act is happening. It is important, specifically for young adults, to understand how they are a functional part of the healthcare program.

It seems like Obama has now spurned the young voter-base he once fought so hard to appeal to.

-Alyssa Reynolds is a senior communication major from Ferndale. She can be contacted at 335-2290 or by [email protected]. The opinions expressed in this Column are not necessarily those of the staff of The Daily Evergreen or those of Student Publications.