Sarah Kliff, a very ObamaCare-friendly journalist who has moved from the Washington Post to Vox, is scratching her head that that eighty-two percent of the voters in a particular Kentucky county went for Donald Trump, despite a sixty percent decline in the number of uninsured after ObamaCare.
The county is Whitley County, named for a hero of the War of 1812, and Kliff begins her article describing Kathy Oller, who signed up perhaps thousands for ObamaCare (she even dressed up as a cat one Halloween, and if that doesn't make you want an ObamaCare policy, I don't know what would).
Strangely, Oller voted for Trump. Kliff notes:
Many expressed frustration that Obamacare plans cost way too much, that premiums and deductibles had spiraled out of control. And part of their anger was wrapped up in the idea that other people were getting even better, even cheaper benefits — and those other people did not deserve the help.
Got that? They are just jealous because other peole might have gotten better deals.
Kliff does admit that premiums increased twenty-two percent nationally this year, but quickly adds that this is before premium subsidies kicked in (subsidies may lower the costs for eighty percent of enrollees, as Kliff writes, but it should be noted, in passing, that the money has to come from somewhere).
Kliff also mentions higher deductibles but doesn't seem to recognize that the rising costs of premiums coupled with the similarly rising level of deductibles means insurance in name only; it might not help a client obtain good and affordable medical care. It's nice to have a card in your wallet that says you are insured–but, if your premiums and deductible are too high, it is almost meaningless.
Oller tells Kliff:
“I like being able to give people good news, but it’s not always good news with Healthcare.gov, with the amount that premiums went up and the larger deductibles,” she says.
. . .
Oller renewed 59-year-old Ruby Atkins’s Obamacare coverage just after lunchtime on a Tuesday. Atkins and her husband received a $708 monthly tax credit, which would cover most of their premium. But they would still need to contribute $244 each month — and face a $6,000 deductible.
Atkins said she had insurance before the Affordable Care Act that was significantly more affordable, with $5 copays and no deductible at all. She said she paid only $200 or $300 each month without a subsidy.
We have the answer to Ms. Kliff's riddle: people did not allow ObamaCare to sway their votes for the Democrat because the system hasn't worked that well. Kliff never quite finds her way to this realization.
Oh, yes, and Kliff finally turns on Oller:
Atkins felt like this happened a lot to her: that she and her husband have worked most their lives but don’t seem to get nearly as much help as the poorer people she knows. She told a story about when she used to work as a school secretary: “They had a Christmas program. Some of the area programs would talk to teachers, and ask for a list of their poorest kids and get them clothes and toys and stuff. They’re not the ones who need help. They’re the ones getting the welfare and food stamps. I’m the one who is the working poor.”
Oller, the enrollment worker, expressed similar ideas the day we met.
“I really think Medicaid is good, but I’m really having a problem with the people that don’t want to work,” she said. “Us middle-class people are really, really upset about having to work constantly, and then these people are not responsible.”
Atkins' attitude is ungracious, but why is it relevant to this story?
Possibly because it portrays people who aren't cheerleaders for ObamaCare as the sort of ingrates who don't want to give socks to homeless people. Kliff adds that Oller had once been a Medicaid recipient but thought it was okay because, "I worked all my life, so I know I paid into it."
I am guessing that cultural issues also played a part in Whitley County's overwhelming vote for Trump. It's just the sort of place where transgender bathrooms and concerts with Lady Gaga aren't as popular as in Hillary Territory.