{"id":3963,"date":"2017-12-11T17:24:20","date_gmt":"2017-12-11T17:24:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/socialcoldstreams.wordpress.com\/?p=3963"},"modified":"2025-01-17T03:34:19","modified_gmt":"2025-01-17T03:34:19","slug":"full-text-of-the-comment-that-was-shadow-banned-by-oregonian-newspaper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coldstreams.com\/social\/2017\/12\/11\/full-text-of-the-comment-that-was-shadow-banned-by-oregonian-newspaper\/","title":{"rendered":"Full text of the comment that was shadow banned by Oregonian newspaper"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The next morning, my comment remains shadow banned by the Oregonian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is the description of the shadow ban, from last night with a screen capture of how the ban appears.<\/a> (This link goes to the old WordPress.com website for this blog: https:\/\/socialcoldstreams.wordpress.com\/2017\/12\/11\/i-was-shadow-banned-by-oregonian-censorship-a-powerful-form-of-propaganda\/<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here, I present the full text of the shadow banned comment plus the supplementary information for how I obtained the facts presented in the comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Here are actual price quotes from HealthCare.gov.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first quotes are for a 64 year old married couple earning pre-tax income of $65,000 per year, which is above the subsidy cut off level, hence, no subsidies. These quotes are for the least cost benchmark Silver plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asheville, NC – $34,344 per year + $14,000 deductible
\nBaker City, OR and Burns, OR – $28,344 + $5,000 deductible
\nBirmingham, AL – $30,732 + $10,000 deductible
\nBozeman, MT – $38,956 + $11,400 deductible
\nBreckenridge, CO – $29,099 + $9,000 deductible
\nCharlottesville, VA – $56,998 + $9,000 deductible
\nFlagstaff, AZ – Flagstaff, AZ – $34,824 + $8,000 deductible (this is LESS than last year’s $36,000)
\nHomer, AK – $40,320 + $9,000 deductible (LESS than last year’s $48,000)
\nLaramie, WY – $49,164 + $5,000 deductible
\nMedway, ME – $$34,571 + $6,7000 deductible<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are some quotes for a family of 5, a married 53 year old couple with 3 dependents age 21, 18 and 15.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Charlottesville, VA – $64,836 + $9,200 deductible
\nLaramie, WY – $55,943 + $5,000 deductible
\nWinnemucca, NV – $34,903 + $13,600 deductible<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some may be surprised that a person earning $65,000 per year may have $30,000 to $55,000 per year in insurance premiums – and not receive a subsidy. This occurs because the ACA determines the subsidy cut off level by the regional poverty income level – it has nothing to do with the insurance premiums actually paid in the market. Consequently, the married couples in Charlottesville VA and Laramie WY are told to spend more than their after tax income on health insurance + deductible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note – rates are nearly flat from age 21 to age 40. At age 43, rate curves turn sharply upward and rise extremely rapidly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ACA and the IRS define “Coverage considered unaffordable” as the least cost Bronze plan costing more than 8.13% of your modified adjusted gross income. To illustrate, if your family’s least cost bronze premium were $8,130 per year, if you earn less than $100,000 you are exempt from the individual mandate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using a real example, the married 64 year old couple in Baker City or Burns OR is exempt if they earn less than $348,634 per year in income.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Actual rate quotes from across the country show that by the ACA’s own definitions, many families in their 30s, most families in their 40s, and essentially everyone over 50 is exempt from the individual mandate at this time rendering political arguments over the mandate as entirely moot. The ACA itself has already repealed the mandate. (And it doesn’t matter, as the Frean\/Gruber paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine, in October 2016, found that the individual mandate has had no discernible impact on sign ups. For those that don’t know, Jonathan Gruber was considered the co-architect of the ACA as its design is based on his 20+ years of health policy research.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sadly, we have not seen the above information in many news articles as coverage has been woefully inadequate, primarily covering benefits and rarely to never discussing actual problems and how they might realistically be resolved.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Supplementary Information<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

All price quotes are from the U.S. government run web site healthcare.gov.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following information was used in obtaining the price quotes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n