Under ObamaCare, It's Quit Smoking or Pay the ... - Big Health Report

Smokers who thought they were getting a sweet deal from ObamaCare may want to think twice before lighting up again. According to the Associated Press, one of the many well-concealed provisions of the bill that then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Congress had to pass ?so that you can find out what?s in it? could make health insurance cost up to 50 percent more for Americans with cigarette habits ? especially longstanding ones.

The law, known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, was ? as its name implies ? ostensibly designed to make health insurance affordable to Americans. It prohibits insurers from turning down or charging more to individuals with pre-existing conditions and even certain conditions (such as obesity) that increase the risk of health problems.

However, the one condition that the law does not protect from high insurance rates is nicotine addiction ? despite the fact that smoking is associated with a number of serious health problems including heart disease and lung cancer. In fact, it specifically permits insurers to charge higher rates to older smokers than to nonsmokers or even younger smokers. Under the law, older adults in general may be charged up to triple what younger ones are charged (which could end up harming the young by hiking their rates). Smokers may, in addition, be charged up to 50 percent more than nonsmokers for their coverage, but younger smokers may be hit with a lesser penalty than older ones. Plus, the subsidies the government provides to offset the cost of insurance purchased on the individual market cannot be applied to the smoking penalty.

Just how expensive could insurance for older smokers become under ObamaCare? The AP ran the numbers:

Take a hypothetical 60-year-old smoker making $35,000 a year. Estimated premiums for coverage in the new private health insurance markets under Obama?s law would total $10,172. That person would be eligible for a tax credit that brings the cost down to $3,325.

But the smoking penalty could add $5,086 to the cost. And since federal tax credits can?t be used to offset the penalty, the smoker?s total cost for health insurance would be $8,411, or 24 percent of income. That?s considered unaffordable under the federal law. The numbers were estimated using the online Kaiser Health Reform Subsidy Calculator.

?The effect of the smoking (penalty) allowed under the law would be that lower-income smokers could not afford health insurance,? said Richard Curtis, president of the Institute for Health Policy Solutions, a nonpartisan research group that called attention to the issue with a study about the potential impact in California.

These rules apply only to those buying insurance on the individual market. Those obtaining coverage through their employers can escape the penalty ?by joining smoking cessation programs,? says the AP. There is no way to avoid the potential for the penalty altogether, which should not be surprising since the law practically demands that everyone kick the habit or be subjected to ?behavior modification.?

In so decreeing, the federal government took on no small task. About 20 percent of American adults smoke. ?That share,? writes the AP, ?is higher among lower-income people, who also are more likely to work in jobs that don?t come with health insurance and would therefore depend on the new federal health care law.?

Post Continues on thenewamerican.com

---

Source: http://bighealthreport.com/6684/under-obamacare-its-quit-smoking-or-pay-the-price-literally/

norco rand paul detained asexual jim carrey san francisco chronicle kourtney kardashian pregnant kourtney kardashian pregnant