Memo to Liberal Democrats: Re Obamacare

That Obamacare thing you wanted.   It's about to go BOOM:

In the new final rules published Wednesday, IRS set in law the rules for implementing the penalty Americans must pay if they fail to obey Obamacare's mandate to buy insurance.

To help illustrate these rules, the IRS presented examples of different situations families might find themselves in.

In the examples, the IRS assumes that families of five who are uninsured would need to pay an average of $20,000 per year to purchase a Bronze plan in 2016.

Using the conditions laid out in the regulations, the IRS calculates that a family earning $120,000 per year that did not buy insurance would need to pay a "penalty" (a word the IRS still uses despite the Supreme Court ruling that it is in fact a "tax") of $2,400 in 2016.

Hmmmm... I can buy the lowest crappiest tier of healthcare plan for my family from the Obamcare healthcare exchanges for $20,000.   (Note: the Silver, Gold and Platinum plans would be higher.)  

Or.... I can pay a "penalty" of $2,400 for not having healthcare.

Then, when someone in my family needs healthcare in an amount less than $20,000, I can pay out of pocket from the money I'm not spending on health insurance.  

And, if I ever need healthcare in excess of $20,000 (an unlikely scenario... essentially what "catastrophic" insurance is for), I can go get insurance because Obamacare says they can't turn me down for pre-existing conditions!

Let me put you some knowledge, libs... in Economics 101 they call that "moral hazard."   You could look it up.   It's not a new concept.  

I am the most boring man in America, law-abiding, money-saving, hard-working (sort of), stick-in-the-mud, suburban white professional 50-something male, etc.   If I am seriously thinking of gaming the system in this way, then it's doomed.