As ObamaCare co-ops close and people lose ObamaCare subsidies while getting hit with sky-rocketing premiums, the New York Times has noticed that the deductibles associated with ObamaCare make the plans useless to many people.

The NYT reports:

Obama administration officials, urging people to sign up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, have trumpeted the low premiums available on the law’s new marketplaces. But for many consumers, the sticker shock is coming not on the front end, when they purchase the plans, but on the back end when they get sick: sky-high deductibles that are leaving some newly insured feeling nearly as vulnerable as they were before they had coverage. “The deductible, $3,000 a year, makes it impossible to actually go to the doctor,” said David R. Reines, 60, of Jefferson Township, N.J., a former hardware salesman with chronic knee pain. “We have insurance, but can’t afford to use it.”

While we’ve been told that ObamaCare will slow the increase in the cost of health insurance, we can now see that the slowed increase is due to the decrease in the number of people who can afford to see a doctor. Because of the high deductibles, many people are choosing not to purchase health insurance at all.

Watch:

The NYT continues:

Alexis C. Phillips, 29, of Houston, is the kind of consumer federal officials would like to enroll this fall. But after reviewing the available plans, she said, she concluded: “The deductibles are ridiculously high. I will never be able to go over the deductible unless something catastrophic happened to me. I’m better off not purchasing that insurance and saving the money in case something bad happens.” . . . . Mr. Fanning, the North Texan, said he and his wife had a policy with a monthly premium of about $500 and an annual deductible of about $10,000 after taking account of financial assistance. Their income is about $32,000 a year. The Fannings dropped the policy in July after he had a one-night hospital stay and she had tests for kidney problems, and the bills started to roll in. Josie Gibb of Albuquerque pays about $400 a month in premiums, after subsidies, for a silver-level insurance plan with a deductible of $6,000. “The deductible,” she said, “is so high that I have to pay for everything all year — visits with a gynecologist, a dermatologist, all blood work, all tests. ”

Those who choose not to carry health insurance will be receiving a nifty letter from the IRS about their “shared responsibility” payment. Even with that figured in, many consumers feel they are better off without health insurance because, in the words of Josie Gibb, “it’s really just a catastrophic policy.”

Watch this report on people who elect to pay the ObamaCare penalty (or tax):

As more and more people determine that it’s not in their financial interest to pay soaring premiums for insurance they can’t afford to use because of high deductibles, premiums and deductibles will continue to rise to make up for those dropping out of the health insurance market . . . and around it goes again.

The result is likely be a flood of middle class people in our nation’s emergency rooms. USA Today reports that “many doctors contend it’s only a matter of time before the middle class begins crowding ERs. They say putting off care can be dangerous, exponentially more costly and, if it continues and spreads, can threaten the health of the nation.”



