OBAMACARNAGE (CONT.)

Ken Berwitz

Obamaadministration officials, urging people to sign up for health insurance under the AffordableCare Act, have trumpeted the low premiums available on the law’s newmarketplaces.

But for manyconsumers, the sticker shock is coming not on the front end, when they purchasethe plans, but on the back end when they get sick: sky-high deductibles thatare leaving some newly insured feeling nearly as vulnerable as they were beforethey had coverage.

“The deductible,$3,000 a year, makes it impossible to actually go to the doctor,” said David R.Reines, 60, of Jefferson Township, N.J., a former hardware salesman withchronic knee pain. “We have insurance, but can\’tafford to use it.”

In many states, morethan half the plans offered for sale through HealthCare.gov, the federal onlinemarketplace, have a deductible of $3,000 or more, a New York Times review hasfound. Those deductibles are causing concern among Democrats – and someRepublican detractors of the health law, who once pushed high-deductible healthplans in the belief that consumers would be more cost-conscious if they hadmore of a financial stake or skin in the game.

“We could not affordthe deductible,” said Kevin Fanning, 59, who lives in North Texas, near WichitaFalls. “Basically I was paying for insurance I could not afford to use.”

He dropped his policy.

Once you add in several hundred dollars per month for your plan premium,a rate that may or may not be lower than it used to be and add in a $3,000 ormore deductible, the average individual could be paying over $5,000 out ofpocket in a year before their “affordable” insurance kicks in. This is true foremployer sponsored plans as well.