Due to contradictory requirements, government computers get confused when trying to enforce the smoker’s provision in Obamacare.
The anti-smoking provision allows insurers to charge as much as 50% more to those who use tobacco products.
To lure in younger consumers, insurers were expected to penalize them less and hit older smokers with the full penalty. This will lead to situations where an older smoker could have premiums more than three times those of younger consumers.
Another provision in the law does not allow premiums for any consumer to be more than three times those of any others.
When older smoker premiums are submitted to the system, it rejects them. The system has to enforce all provisions of the law – which is impossible to do and have everyone covered by health insurance.
While the government tries to work out it’s glitch, which will take upwards of a whole year, insurance companies will have to create their own solutions. Whether they decide to apply a 20-25% smoker’s penalty across the board regardless of age or hit younger smokers with a much heavier penalty remains to be seen.
Imagine how much fun this will all be when beef consumption, sodas, alcohol and other things become 50% premium risks? Premiums may “necessarily skyrocket” as we speed on our way to a single-payer, fully government-run healthcare system.
