Americans have found a way to make the Affordable Care Act nearly affordable — but it means skirting the individual mandate:
Sales of short-term health insurance are up sharply since the health law’s major provisions took effect in 2014, according to insurance agencies. New sales figures show the temporary policies, traditionally sold to consumers who are trying to fill coverage gaps for a few months, have continued their surge recently—even though people who buy them face mounting financial penalties because the coverage doesn’t meet the ACA’s standards.
Robin Herman, the 34-year-old owner of a marketing firm in San Francisco, bought a short-term policy in December. The monthly cost of her short-term coverage, plus conventional ACA-compliant plans for her two children, is roughly one-quarter of what she would have paid for conventional health plans covering all three of them, she says.
“This is saving me a ton of money for the year,” she said, despite the penalty. Plans that comply with the health law’s rules cost more than her old pre-ACA policy and are “just not affordable,” she said.
This is the story of a woman who needs insurance for herself and her family, but simply can’t afford to pay for all the unneeded coverage mandated by ♡bamaCare!!!’s endless diktats. So she complies as well as she can for her kids, but buys nothing better than short-term coverage for herself — and she risks the wrath of the IRS if she gets caught.
We’re turning into a nation of lawbreakers. Over health insurance.
That Means It’s Working™
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