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Tully Mars · 11-07-2009, 10:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Martian

I was sort of wondering that myself. The only figure I see is 2.5%. I suppose if you make $600 000 per year that could be relevant, but if that's the case I think you can probably afford it.

Well if you follow the link to the GOP scare tactic site it does indeed claim you'll be forced to pay for 15,000 policy by 2016. To prove it they link to a CBO page that states-

Quote:

This letter responds to questions about the subsidies that enrollees would receive for premiums
and cost sharing and the amounts that they would have to pay, on average, if they purchased a
relatively low cost plan in the new insurance exchanges to be established under H.R. 3962, the
Affordable Health Care for America Act, as introduced in the House of Representatives on
October 29, 2009. The analysis reflects the preliminary analysis of that bill that the
Congressional Budget Office (CBO), in conjunction with the staff of the Joint Committee on
Taxation (JCT), released last week.
Subsidies and Payments at Different Income Levels Under H.R. 3962
The enclosed table focuses on enrollees who purchase a “reference” plan (the premiums for
which equal the average of the three lowest-cost “basic” plans, as defined in the bill), because
federal subsidies would be tied to that average. Such a plan would have an actuarial value of
70 percent, which represents the average share of costs for covered benefits that would be paid
by the plan. Although premiums under H.R. 3962 would vary by geographic area to reflect
differences in average spending for health care and would also vary by age, the table shows the
approximate national average for that lower-cost reference plan—about $5,300 for single
policies and about $15,000 for family policies in 2016. Enrollees could purchase a more
expensive plan or more extensive coverage for an additional, unsubsidized premium—and CBO
anticipates that many enrollees would do that, so the average premiums actually paid in the
exchanges would be higher (although average cost-sharing amounts could be lower than those
shown in the table). The figures are presented for 2016 in order to illustrate the likely situation
after the proposed changes in insurance markets were fully implemented. (A downside of that
approach is that the figures are harder to compare with those observed in 2009.)
Under the House bill, the maximum share of income that enrollees would have to pay for the
reference plan in 2013 would range from 1.5 percent for those with income less than or equal to
133 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) to 12 percent for those with income equal to
400 percent of the FPL. (People with income below 150 percent of the FPL, however, would
generally be eligible for Medicaid and thus ineligible for subsidies within the exchanges.) After
2013, those income-based caps would all be indexed so that the share of the premiums that
enrollees (in each income band) paid would be maintained over time. As a result, the incomebased
caps would gradually become higher over time; for example, they are estimated to range
from about 1.6 percent to about 12.8 percent in 2016. Enrollees with income below 350 percent

Which mentions 15k but doesn't state that's going to be the cost to a family. Pretty standard GOP tactic... when the facts aren't on your side scare the crap out of people. Either that or claim it will lead to gay marriage.