Still Unsure about MNSure

 

 

"Trying to understand the nuances in ObamaCare is like trying to understand MNSure while standing on your head..."

There was a great article on the news the other day. Since I have been somewhat sidelined by an early summer bug this week, I have had the chance to watch more news than I usually do. The article talked about the number of people who received "sticker shock" this year when they had their taxes done. And it all had to do with our "good friend", ObamaCare. Or in this state, the evil offspring of ObamaCare, MNSure.

So what happened? First off, nobody on the face of this planet can make things more complicated than the government. And that is with simple things. They took ObamaCare and doubled down, tripled down, or whatever down on how confusing the average law is. In short, ObamaCare is a mess. It is a Rubik's Cube with tens of thousands of pages of regulations attached. And people responsible to ferret out all the confusion and nonsense with this mess is the IRS. Oh joy.

Here is the issue. Some people who signed up for a lower (subsidized) rate on their insurance based on income, did it wrong. Some maybe intentionally, most probably not. Many became lost in the "bureaucratic bubble". So when they went to their tax preparer to find out how much of a refund they will get, they received a tax bill instead. Some got a bill for $700. All because of this unwanted mess called ObamaCare.

What I find amusing is every time someone with courage gets up on the floor of the US House or Senate and declares we need to scrap this mess and start all over, that person is looked upon with the same distain that Captain Bligh had for Fletcher Christian. The same holds true locally with our MNSure. Rather than try to do major surgery on this thing, or better yet just euthanize it, the proponents of ObamaCare (and its evil offspring MNSure) are going to ride this pony right into the ground.

So a few years into this new medical program, what have we learned? The good news. More people are getting insured. The bad news. There were zero cost containment features built into this bill. Nobody is getting it for "free". Like entitlements before it, ObamaCare is ready to be a huge budget buster for our nation and state. And people who are not getting subsidized premiums are paying more than before ObamaCare. For many, quite a bit more. 

If I were the President and wanted a "signature" piece of legislation to define my legacy, I sure would not want this one. However, this is only one of many things this Administration does which I do not and cannot understand.