Another Obamacare 'unintended consequence'
Here's a new one for you; you can't get subsidized Obamacare insurance if you qualify for your spouse's group insurance plan.
One Oregon mother says that she is unable to afford health insurance for her and her 18-month-old son because it's too expensive.
Kate Holly, 33, tells KOIN-TV that she originally championed President Barack Obama's signature health care law because she thought it would help people in her situation.
"I've been a cheerleader for the Affordable Care Act since I heard about it and I assumed that it was designed for people in my situation," Holly, a freelance yoga instructor, told KOIN. "I was planning on using the Affordable Care Act and I had done the online calculator in advance to make sure I was going to be able to afford it."
Holly's husband works for a non-profit organization that pays for his health care, but the couple is unable to afford to have her and their son covered under his plan. And she's been told their combined income is too much to qualify for a subsidized health care plan under Cover Oregon.
"It wasn't until I started the process and got an agent that I started hearing from them I wasn't going to qualify for subsidies because I qualify on my husband's insurance," she told KOIN.
Holly is hoping things work out but she doesn't know if she will have health care for her and her son.
"I guess I'm hoping that I will find out there's a way around this, but I don't know yet," Holly told KOIN.
Caught between the devil of Obamacare and the deep blue sea of bureaucratic stupidity. And her husband can't drop his group insurance and receive a subsidy for his family on the exchanges because he has a qualifying health insurance plan available through work. I suppose he could lie about his coverge as that Texas navigator recommended to James O'Keefe. Who's going to know? The government isn't concerned about people cheating the system so maybe that's an option after all.
No doubt we will be informed, as we were about those had their plans canceled, that the number of people who fall through this particular crack is small but the overall effect of the law is fabulous.
I'm, sure that makes Mrs. Holly feel a lot better.