I'm not taking any sides on obamacare, but I thought this could relate to a lot of regional first officers.

"For instance, a 27 year old living in Dallas making $25,000 could pay as little as $74 a month for the cheapest "bronze" plan after subsidies, according to the Department of Health and human services"

I know a lot of work places charge $125-225 for a single person. Health insurance is a big factor in your paycheck deductions. I think it would be a good idea to list your employer, paycheck deduction per month, and if that's single or family. You can add your deductible too, but I'm sure most young regional pilots choose the higher one with lower costs.

 

Most of the employer provided insurance at the airlines is way better than the bronze plan. The younger FO may want to get away from a bronze. You never know what could happen.

 

The whole thing is a scam. The eventual (and it's happening already) goal is to get employers to dump their plans and push employees into the exchanges. The end result being exactly what the republicans said... single payer socialized medicine which has failed just about everywhere, and where is hasn't yet failed, service is greatly reduced, research is all but non-existant, and review boards decide who gets treatment.

The problem with our system is there was no competition. You did not have the option to select a different insurance vendor, you were locked into the one selected by your employer, or the very few who were approved to provide coverage in your state. Remove the government over regulation, and allow competition and the rates woudl eventually come down. Same as the auto insurance industry.... and for that matter, the same for our own industry.
Lock out competition and the rates will skyrocket. It always does.

 

Care to cite where the single payer system has failed?

 

Impossible, medical care is not something one can "shop" for. If you need a kidney transplant, it's not like you can decide "hmm, I'll wait a few months because these prices are too high, maybe if we all hold out they'll start competing and drop the prices"...Other non-critical services can have competition, but it doesn't work with medical care.

 

QX has two plans I chose the lower deductible and it runs me a little less than $6 bucks a month for just me.

 

There is actually a huge difference in pricing for various procedures at different medical facilities. Some places hospitals and medical centers are already making their pricing readily available. If this were mandated countrywide, it would have an effect of making pricing for medical care much more competitive.