ObamaCrapCare Is Very Crappy For Smokers. They Get The Special Right To Pay Twice To Four Times The Cost Of Non Puffers

Smokers Slammed With Sky-High Premiums Under Obamacare

By Robert Gehl on November 25, 2013 Subscribe to Robert Gehl's Feed

One of the features touted by Obamacare was coverage for “pre-existing conditions.” But it turns out all pre-existing conditions are not the same.

Drug addicts, alcoholics and the obese – all of whom have higher medical costs are not penalized for their condition, but if you’re a smoker: watch out. Your premiums can skyrocket – up to thousands of dollars more than a similar non-smoker’s premium.

Both the American Cancer Society and the American Lung Association – staunch anti-smoking advocates – are against the so-called “tobacco penalty” because it is driving smokers out of the health insurance marketplace, leaving them uninsured and unable to pay for potentially expensive care.

The Lung Association’s Jennifer Singleterry told Fox News that rather than quit smoking, tobacco users will simply not purchase the pricey insurance.

down”Tobacco surcharges are not proven to help tobacco users quit and there are major concerns that they will prevent people from getting health care coverage,” she said. “Charging tobacco users more in health insurance premiums, sometimes thousands of dollars more, studies have shown, will price smokers out of the market,” says Singleterry.

Under Obamacare, smokers can be penalized up to 50 percent more than non-smokers for the same coverage, Fox News is reporting.

The nonpartisan Institute for Health Polict Solutions gave three scenarios for smokers looking for coverage under Obamacare:

1. The premium for a young, non-smoker earning roughly the minimum wage will cost $708. The same policy for a smoker would cost $3,308, or up to 400 percent more.

2. Before subsidies, a non-smoker who is 59 or older would also pay $708 for a “silver” or mid-level policy. However, a smoker of the same age would pay $5,908.

3. In a worst-case scenario, an older couple who smokes could be “literally impoverished” by ObamaCare premiums, said the report. That couple could pay an $11,352 health care premium, or one-half their annual income of $23,000. By comparison, a non-smoking person over 59 years old would pay 90 percent less, or just $952 after federal subsidies.