The Rising Costs that will be Introduced by Obamacare

I spent a good 30 to 40 minutes looking for a commentary that I agreed with. One of particular interest that caught my eye was an article written within the Austin American Statesmen by Arlene Wohlgemuth. The article, "High price tag of Obama health care is predictable," written on February 17, 2013 basically sums up the predictions on how much the insurance premium prices will rise. 

Wohlgemuth is a Republican who has served in the Texas House of Representatives within the 74th and 78th Texas Legistlatures. She now serves the Texas Public Policy as well as the Center for Heath Care Policy. Being involved in such departments, she is quite knowledgeable in both the political and healthcare world. She's not filling the article with negative statements but rather backs up each and every statement with numbers/statistics. She speaks to her audience of middle class citizens who can't afford their healthcare premiums to double within the next coming year with a direct and to the point attitude. She does not sugar coat the facts which is very appreciated among many. 

The penalty for noncompliance with the individual mandate is far less than what the cost of insurance is likely to be. A single 35-year-old making $25,000 a year in 2014, for example, would have to pay more than $1,700 out-of-pocket toward a premium (that’s after getting a federal subsidy through one of the Obamacare exchanges). 

If that person is healthy and simply chooses not to spend money on health insurance, they only pay a $250 fine. 

For someone who makes less than $25,000 a year currently, $1700 to $2000 coming out of my pocket for health insurance will just make me cringe. I, like many others, would even contemplate foregoing health insurance altogether. More even so if I'm rarely sick. The money will basically be spent for nothing! That's a big chunk of change that I will more than likely not be able to afford. However, I also do not believe a family of four with a household income of $120,000 will want to pay 1/6 of their annual income solely on health insurance as well. It's definitely going to take a toll on every class of individual. 

From all the articles read and the discussions listened to, I have a very negative point of view in regards to Obamacare, and quite frankly Wohlgemuth just added on to the negativity. I definitely understand the reasoning behind making such a system, but will it work as President Obama wants it to, or only lead to failure?

*I tried to find a picture that would depict the monetary troubles after Obamacare law's provisions are officially implemented but most of the images found when simply searching "Obamacare" within Google were very... rude! That's got to say something about how much negativity is aimed towards Obamacare even before it's officially implemented.*

Texas Vs. California?

Our most recent participation topic was on Texas Exceptionalism and I do believe I found an article from the Austin American Stateman titled, Perry heads to California on job poaching trip, by Jonathan Tilove. This, in my opinion, is the perfect article to basically back up the idea of not only "Texas Exceptionalism" but rather any state in general. While many of us do believe Texas to be the best, I'm sure many living in California believe the same about California. 

This particular article addresses a Texas Vs. California mindset. Is California better than Texas or perhaps vice versa? It's absolutely crazy the negative attitude those quoted within the article have towards the "other" state. One of my favorite quotes:

It’s a cry for help. Perry can’t create jobs, he can only steal them from other states. His campaign for the Republican presidential nomination was a joke. His beloved Dallas Cowboys haven’t been in the Super Bowl since 1996.

I'm truly hoping this was not meant to be serious. Really? The Dallas Cowboys is an argument in regards to which is the better state? It starts with the mocking but it only gets more intense as the article goes on. 

Check out a state that ranks dead last in the percent of its population with high school diplomas. Come check out a state that is last in mental health expenditures and workers’ compensation coverage. Come check out a state that ranks first in the number of executions, first in the number of uninsured, first in the amount of carbon dioxide emitted and first in the amount of toxic chemicals released into water.

This hurts my Texan heart.

Overall, it's a great article to read on how Texas is looked at from an economic view and ultimately within the eyes of politicians from California. In my opinion, and this may be just because I'm not a politician, but I believe they should be thinking about the well being of the United States as a whole, not about who's better than who. Just my two cents!