STUMP » Articles » Obamacare Watch: 4 Feb 2014 — Consultants Say Obamacare is Affordable…If You Ignore All Those Other Costs » 3 February 2014, 17:17

So here is the “news”. A consulting group says the exchanges are cheaper than employer coverage:

For PPACA naysayers who believe the law is actually inflating costs for health plans, there’s a new report that says otherwise.

Premiums for health plans offered on the exchanges under PPACA are comparable to — and often times lower than — similar employer-based coverage, an analysis by consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers has found.

Researchers analyzed the national average premium for workers ($6,119) and compared it to the median and lowest rates for comparable coverage on the exchanges.

The median 2014 premium for an exchange plan with coverage similar to that of the average employer-sponsored plan was $5,844, and the cost on the exchange for the cheapest equivalent plan was $4,885.

“Across the board, at every level, average exchange premiums are lower than this year’s average premiums for employer-sponsored coverage,” the report states.

One average is lower than another average? CASE CLOSED.

Except this is just as bogus as the “Women earn 77% of what men do” info nugget. Because you’re not comparing the same coverages:

Though the new PwC report finds that the exchanges are a good deal for consumers, it did not address deductibles and out-of-pocket costs, which have been part of the debate about increasing costs under the law.

Researchers also warned that the pricing under the exchanges could change substantially in the future.

Let’s be serious for a moment.

No person gives a crap if a consultant says that the exchange premiums are less than the employer-paid premiums, even if it were true.

They care what $$ is coming out of their own, personal pockets.

People getting shoved off of employer coverage and having to pay for all the premiums themselves, even with some subsidies, and then finding out they not only have to pay thousands more per year for health insurance (that used to be covered by employers), then they have deductibles that are $5K. Per year.

I am up in the top 10% (I think) for income, and I think $5K is a substantial amount of money.

There are a variety of reasons that the employer-paid coverage is more expensive than Obamacare individual policies, but a huge reason is that the Obamacare deductibles are THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS MORE.

You are not comparing the same products, in other words.

PwC should’ve known better. Who the heck are they kissing up to?

Therefore, OBAMACARE MUST BE DESTROYED.