Via iOTW
~ The quenching drink amid the aridity of Liberal “ism’s” ~
This optical imagery, and accompanying narrative juxtaposition, is exceptionally well created. It clearly solidifies not only what is afore us, but what will soon begin the significant awakening.
After a recent discussion with a dear friend within the actuarial industry he helped me to understand what the horizon looks like.
5% of the entire population drive a full 50% of all healthcare expenditures.
It’s not the fault of those within the 5%, many have conditions and afflictions that just require massive amounts of healthcare use. Subsequently that group drives half of the total costs expended annually by the health insurance industry.
In free markets Health Insurers worked diligently to identify those high-use participants and formulate insurance coverage’s that offset their participation (withdrawals) with larger groups who do not use as much.
Those in the ‘little use’ categories have always carried the upside down burden of increasing premium costs as a result of being stuck into plans containing high-risk users. That is, for all intents and purposes, what has historically driven up premium rates for the group as a collective.
Half of all the currently insured under non-Obamacare healthcare insurance pay more in premiums annually than they actually use in healthcare itself. They pay, in premiums, more than they use in actual coverage.
If the 5% high-user’s were an individual group all unto themselves, their cost for insurance coverage would be jaw-droppingly staggering to witness. Consequently the low frequency users could see lower premium prices as they present a lower risk.
Such is the case with auto-insurance where good drivers (low users) can join groups of likeminded good drivers and retain exceptionally low auto insurance costs. But, due to the nature of health insurance, and regulation forbidding such a practice of division, this has never been possible with healthcare.
The 5% high users will, as an aggregate, see much lower premium costs under Obamacare than they would in a free market because their user risk, their usage, is now *not* a factor of consideration. Subsequently the other 95% who scale from moderate use to almost no use will see higher aggregate prices.
Once again it is the average, the median, or the middle class – who will suffer with increased actual and realized costs.
The Obama Administration, and the legacy media, will highlight the stories from the 5% who benefit. Why? Because they are a.) the highest users; b.) the easiest to identify; and c.) their stories and afflictions are heartbreaking.
Meanwhile they will ignore the middle 50% who see their premium prices jump dramatically, while pointing to the top 20% who are easily able to afford higher prices.
It’s a weird dichotomy where the top 20% are ridiculed in campaign elections, yet heralded as the visual personification of being unaffected tools when the positioning demands.