Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Prioritize with my priorities

Hot Air brought attention to this interview with President Obama, giving budgeting advise to those shopping for Obamacare policies.
He doesn't directly say to cancel your phone or cable - but implies health insurance should be a priority.
Just in case.
Even if the math doesn't add up most years.
Let’s take a look at that $300 a month, too. Assuming that we’re talking about a family of four, that would force the family to spend $3,600 a year. While that might be money well spent in the case of catastrophe, it’s a bad investment on several levels otherwise. If both kids break a bone, it might run them $500 each to get treated, or perhaps even a thousand each if they go to an emergency room. If they get the flu, perhaps another $200 each for a doctor visit. Throw in wellness checks for everyone at $250 each, and we’re talking about $3400 in medical care, $200 less than their premiums.
But wait! In most plans of that cost, the family will have to spend thousands of dollars in deductibles first for everything but the wellness checks — so the only benefit will be covering the $1000 those cost. In this example, the family that normally would have spent $3400 out of pocket in that year will now spend $5,800.
If catastrophic hospital stays are the concern, focus on that. Not the high premiums and high deductibles for everyday life - which mean cutting back on what makes everyday enjoyable.

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