Americans have very confusing views about government spending on health insurance. For example, it is common to hear how unaffordable health insurance has become and the shame over receiving a government subsidy to help pay for it, from the same person. It's impossible for me to understand the logic of it is unaffordable but I wish I could afford to pay for it anyway mentality.

This kind of mentality may be okay when considering a smartphone purchase but is downright crazy when discussing health insurance and health care purchases. So when Bill Clinton said the other day,

'...the people that are getting killed in this deal are small-business people and individuals who make just a little too much to get any of these subsidies. Why? Because they're not organized, they don't have any bargaining power with insurance companies, and they're getting whacked. So you've got this crazy system where all of a sudden, 25 million more people have health care, and then the people that are out there busting it — sometimes 60 hours a week — wind up with their premiums doubled and their coverage cut in half. It's the craziest thing in the world."

he forgot to blame the crazies that find receiving subsidies for individually purchased health insurance shameful.

Don't get me wrong, I completely agree with Clinton about how people like me have been mistreated by this law and continue to be ignored by this Administration. But let's also call out the subsidy receivers who could care less about the subsidy non-receivers. It may just be a classic case of I got mine, you get yours but for some, it's about equating subsidies with looking poor. CRAZY!

We All Need A Health Insurance Subsidy

Open enrollment season for employer-sponsored group health plans, the healthcare exchanges and Medicare has already or soon will start. Most of the people covered by these plans can expect some type of monthly premium increase. Fortunately for most of them, they will receive a federal government subsidy to help pay for their insurance. (Yes, private, employer-provided group health insurance plans receive a government tax subsidy too.) But as Bill Clinton pointed out, millions will be stuck paying whatever health insurers decide to charge them. They are not eligible for a government premium subsidy and that's the real shame.

People who are ashamed of receiving health care subsidies need to understand the real reason why they are needed—the price of insurance is too high for everyone. And to the people in the Administration that think that the estimated 10 million people not receiving subsidies can continue or will continue to pay for high price insurance, you’re wrong. As a recent article by Shentella Sherman in afro.com makes clear, black millennials who make too much to qualify for a subsidy are foregoing health insurance because they don’t see the value for the price.

I agree with Bill Clinton that hardworking people are being taken advantage of by insurance companies and ignored by politicians. I don’t agree with his proposal to put more people into subsidy buckets like Medicaid and Medicare. We need one subsidy for everyone and a reduction in health insurance and health care prices.

Tags: Subsidies, healthcare exchanges