New York Times: ObamaCare Transfers Benefits from “Wealthy White Seniors” to Minorities

racism-anyway-sign

I’m surprised it took liberals this long to play the ObamaCare race card, but now the race card is fully in play at no less an outfit than the New York Times.

In addition, the Affordable Care Act can be construed as a transfer of benefits from Medicare, which serves an overwhelmingly white population of the elderly – 77 percent of recipients are white — to Obamacare, which will serve a population that is 54.7 percent minority.  Over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the Affordable Care Act cuts $455 billion from the Medicare budget in order to help pay for Obamacare.

Those who think that a critical mass of white voters has moved past its resistance to programs shifting tax dollars and other resources from the middle class to poorer minorities merely need to look at the election of 2010, which demonstrated how readily this resistance can be used politically. The passage of the A.C.A. that year forced such issues to the fore, and Republicans swept the House and state houses across the country. The program’s current difficulties have the clear potential to replay events of 2010 in 2014 and possibly 2016.

Ironically the means vs age argument has become commonplace among some conservatives inveighing against “entitlements”. But age is a far more legitimate place for a social safety net than subsidizing generations of people who choose not to work and not to achieve.

More to the point, trying to prop up the ObamaCare disaster by blaming racist old white people (the ones Oprah recently wished would die) for trying to deny benefits to minorities topples the whole premise of ObamaCare into the welfare gutter.

And that would kill it faster than anything else.

If the millions of people being kicked off their health plans come to understand that it’s happening in order to subsidize welfare voters, then it’s game over for Obama and the Dems. And the polls may be partly reflecting that turn.

ObamaCare was sold as a way to help

1. Young people

2. People with pre-existing conditions

3. The uninsured

Young people have gotten screwed. So have the uninsured. That leaves the pre-existings. About 1.5 million. Maybe. And trashing the health plans of 93 million people to provide health care to 1.5 million people doesn’t make much sense in the Greater Good ratio.

That 54.7 percent number reveals some of the real problem. ObamaCare is another welfare state program. But the numbers reveal another little wrinkle to the tale.

able 1: Uninsured Rates by Age, Race/Ethnicity and Household Income
Percent of the Total Population Percent of the Uninsured2 Uninsured Rate3
Age Under 19 25.4% 15.7% 9.7%
19-25 9.7% 17.0% 27.7%
26-34 12.0% 21.1% 27.5%
35-44 12.9% 17.3% 21.0%
45-64 26.5% 27.5% 16.3%
65 and older 13.4% 1.4% 1.7%
Race/Ethnicity White, Non-Hispanic 64.3% 45.3% 11.1%
Black 13.1% 16.1% 19.5%
Asian 5.3% 5.6% 16.8%
Hispanic (any race) 17.3% 33.0% 30.1%
Household Income Less than $25,000 19.0% 30.7% 25.4%
$25,000-$49,999 23.3% 31.8% 21.5%
$50,000-$74,999 18.5% 18.1% 15.4%
$75,000 more 39.2% 19.3% 7.8%

The uninsured numbers among blacks are not that disproportionately high. On the other hand among Hispanics they’re double. White people are the only group proportionately likely to have health insurance. But that may also be a function of age ratios.

  • ReasonOverStupidity

    My “minority” cousin lost his health insurance because of Obama”care!”
    Thanks, Obama!

  • ReasonOverStupidity

    My “minority” cousin lost his health insurance because of Obama”care!”
    Thanks, Obama!

  • tagalog

    If 54.7% of the people enrolled in Obamacare are members of minority groups, aren’t they a majority? How racist of them! Divest them at once!!

  • tagalog

    If 54.7% of the people enrolled in Obamacare are members of minority groups, aren’t they a majority? How racist of them! Divest them at once!!

  • Habbgun

    I’m glad they are resorting to this because now we are getting somewhere! Right now they are focusing on the policies themselves. This is the strange belief that somehow if we both have health insurance policies we are magically equal. We are not. Insurance is a risk pool against a catastrophic event. The whole point of insurance is that if we spread risk over a certain amount of people in advance. The catastrophic event that is likely to happen to at least one of us is now affordable to whom it happens to. To subsidize something that was in existence because we can’t individually afford a disaster is insane. Now we’ve substantially increase the amount people with access to the same amount of actual funds or actually less after the greater administrative costs are factored in. Not only can you not keep your policy, not only can you not keep your doctor you won’t have access to the same level of treatment. You won’t get to keep your healthcare either. The money isn’t there to pay for it.

  • Habbgun

    I’m glad they are resorting to this because now we are getting somewhere! Right now they are focusing on the policies themselves. This is the strange belief that somehow if we both have health insurance policies we are magically equal. We are not. Insurance is a risk pool against a catastrophic event. The whole point of insurance is that if we spread risk over a certain amount of people in advance. The catastrophic event that is likely to happen to at least one of us is now affordable to whom it happens to. To subsidize something that was in existence because we can’t individually afford a disaster is insane. Now we’ve substantially increase the amount people with access to the same amount of actual funds or actually less after the greater administrative costs are factored in. Not only can you not keep your policy, not only can you not keep your doctor you won’t have access to the same level of treatment. You won’t get to keep your healthcare either. The money isn’t there to pay for it.

    • Veracious_one

      Don’t pay for your government Obamacare and Obama will sic the IRS on your you know what….

  • glpage

    It kind of looks like reducing Medicare to fund Obamacare is an attempt to stop rewarding those who produced and start rewarding the non-producers.

  • glpage

    It kind of looks like reducing Medicare to fund Obamacare is an attempt to stop rewarding those who produced and start rewarding the non-producers.

    • objectivefactsmatter

      That’s fundamentally what socialism is all about.

  • Veracious_one

    Don’t pay for your government Obamacare and Obama will sic the IRS on your you know what….

  • objectivefactsmatter

    Simple formula: Communism and socialism solve all problems. Any resistance to communism or socialism can be characterized as creating these problems or “reacting” in ways that impede solving the problems.

    Now you can decrypt many bogus accusations from deranged leftists. By the way, notice any similarities between leftist thought and certain peaceful religions?

  • objectivefactsmatter

    That’s fundamentally what socialism is all about.

  • objectivefactsmatter

    Simple formula: Communism and socialism solve all problems. Any resistance to communism or socialism can be characterized as creating these problems or “reacting” in ways that impede solving the problems.

    Now you can decrypt many bogus accusations from deranged leftists. By the way, notice any similarities between leftist thought and certain peaceful religions?

  • dusel1

    This USA has evolved in to a contest between:
    the brain-dead Obama voters (A.K.A. the takers)
    Vs.
    the moralistic patriots (A.K.A. the givers).

  • dusel1

    This USA has evolved in to a contest between:
    the brain-dead Obama voters (A.K.A. the takers)
    Vs.
    the moralistic patriots (A.K.A. the givers).

  • OVERTAXEDCITIZEN

    I WISH SOMEBODY WOULD TELL US STUPID AMERICAN TAXPAYERS…………….WHO HAVE PAID THEIR TAXES FOR OVER 60 YEARS…….wHO IS RECEIVING MY TAX DOLLARS THAT i DONATED THROUGH MY PAYROLL DEDUCTIONS FOR THE LAST 65 YEARS ? i THINK AMERICANS…..ARE GETTING A LITTLE FED UP WITH ALL THE CHICAGO LIKE ……CORRUPTION IN THE WHITE HOUSE AND CONGRESS ? LETS BEGIN BY BALANCING OUR BUDGET AND THEN SHOW IT TO ALL OF AMERICA,HA ! ,OF COURSE THAT WILL NEVER HAPPEN ,HA ! ITS A SHAME~ .ESPECIALLY FOR THE HONEST(BUT STUPID) TAXPAYERS WHO OBVISEOUSLY ARE BEING FORCED TO PAY FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT PUT TAX DOLLARS INTO THE TREASURY ,IN THE FIRST PLACE !! hOW DUMB CAN WHITE PEOPLE BE ,HA !..OBAMA AND HIS CHICAGO (PALS) WILL TAKE YOUR HARD EARNED TAXES AND GIVE THEM TO PEOPLE WHO DID NOT CONTRIBUTE AS MUCH TAX MONIES AS YOU DID. DOES THAT SOUND HONEST OR THE RIGHT THING TO DO ,HA ? AMERICA WILL SOON BECOME A 2ND MAYBE EVEN 3RD CLASS COUNTRY AND WILL BE PLACED BEHIND CHINA,INDIA ,JAPAN,AND MALAYSIA. REPLACE THE WHITE HOUSE,CONGRESS AND THE SUPREME COURT WITH A COMPUTER SYSTEM ! jUST THINK OF THE TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS WE COULD SAVE,HA! HAVE CITIZENS VOTE ON BILLS VIA THEIR pcS ! BUT MAKE SURE EVERYONE HAS A PC TO USE,OF COURSE. AMERICA’S GLORY DAYS ARE GONE ! aGAIN ALL i ASK IS WHO IS PAYING FOR OBAMACARE AND WHY IS THE MEDICARE SYSTEM GOING TO BE DRAINED AND OBAMACARE ENTITLED TO MEDICARE FUNDS IN THE FUTURE ? WILL THE QUALITY OF MEDICAL CARE IN THE USA BE WORSE OR INFERIOR THAN IT IS NOW ?……oNLY TIME WILL TELL US THE TRUTH ! wHAT OTHER FREEDOMS WILL US TAXPAYERS BE BILLED FOR OR LOSE ? AGAIN, ONLY TIME WILL TELL US. GOOD LUCK MY FELLOW SUCKERS WHO BELIEVED IN OBAMA’S LIES . WILL HE HAVE TO LIE AGAIN TO SAVE HIS PARTY ? YES,TIME WILL TELL US. HOPE YOU ENJOY PAYING MORE FOR YOUR HEALTH INSURANCE NEXT YEAR . YOU CAN THANK OBAMACARE FOR THAT !