What does a low-income healthcare plan currently look like, and what will it look like without the individual mandate? In dollars, I mean - I have no frame of reference for this. The biggest healthcare talking point for the upcoming elections here in the Netherlands is whether the government-set deductible of €385 should go down or not. Plans here are mandatory and between 80 and 120 euros per month, with partial or full reductions if you're below certain income thresholds.
I became unemployed in 2007. There was no available healthcare coverage for self-employed people in Washington State until 2012. So the plan was "you have no plan." If you're truly low income, there's medicare. You have to make less than $20k a year to qualify in Washington State. In 2011 we were able to buy healthcare in CA. For me and my wife, mid '30s, with a $10k deductible and effectively nothing covered, coverage was $350 a month. Then Obamacare happened and that plan got blown away (it was one of the good ones) and the plan became $800 a month. I talked to a guy who runs a bicycle shop. For him, his wife and his two kids, his $10k deductible was $2500 a month. That's with Obamacare. Prior to that, no coverage was conceivably available to him. We have something called COBRA, which means "lost your job? You can keep buying your insurance at what it costs, minus the subsidies we're providing your employer." Through my union, my coverage is $600 a year. Through COBRA, my coverage is $1800 a month. That's what's lost in these discussions - "affordable healthcare" is $30k a year for a family of four. Prior to the ACA, "affordable healthcare" was "hope you don't get sick or injured."
I really just can't fathom dealing with such an onerous burden, universal in its effect (everyone visits a hospital), that's asymmetrical in its informational distribution, without the government to coordinate and help. We helped cover Texan farmers in the hill country when the topsoil blew away a century ago. Texas. I don't think it's unfair to say the Republican stance on healthcare is fuck poor people, if god wanted them to be healthy he would've made them rich.
Holy shieet, $30k? Kids are "on their parent's plan" here until 18 years old, meaning that the parent doesn't pay extra. My parents have never paid more than €2500 per year for our family of four back when I still lived there. As a student, I get €85 for my €95 plan (no dental though) from the IRS. Welfare state, man. Doesn't kill me that's for sure.