Thanks for exposing these parasites. You are all we have to fight their evil.

Ummm.... wouldn't most of these students be under 26 years of age and therefore be still covered under their parent's insurance?

@2 Assuming their parents HAVE insurance...

@3 their parents are required to obtain insurance via the ACA

Waiting for Kinison to tell us it's not the Koch's fault...

Next they'll be setting up booths in elementary schools telling kids it's stupid to learn to read.

@4 Yes, or pay a fine. Speeding is also illegal, many people do it and get away with it.

@6 - Well look at Mister Fancy here. I suppose you don't have Slog comments read to you and don't dictate your comments through a literate interpreter.

A blueprint for an upcoming tailgate calls for games such as beer pong and cornhole, free Taco Bell and beer.

Yeah, can't imagine anyone needing health care after that.

Also, a game called "cornhole?"

@10: Not nearly as fun as it sounds, I am afraid.

Shouldn't all students at Virginia Tech be served by their on campus health facilities. It appears at quick glance that the plan is much like the one we had at MIT when I was a student.

http://www.healthcenter.vt.edu/

Regardless, the penalty for not carrying insurance is designed to help fund emergency services for those who don't carry insurance.

Ultimately it is in the insurance companies best interests to get young people enrolled. This is the group whose premiums are most likely to go wasted. The Koch's should run up against the marketing departments of big pharma soon enough.

Beer is the beer of the people.

Hey, Sgt Doom?
One obstacle of your own making to being taken seriously here is your petty and insulting tone. Calling Strangers names is stupid and makes you sound unhinged.

Of course, you are unhinged, which is also an obstacle to your being taken seriously here.

When I was in college full time, my college required me to sign up for its health insurance program or to prove I had health insurance from another provider. Is that not standard, or have things really changed that much in 15 years?

Frankly, I'm sure there's an even eviler story about the Koch brothers just around the corner. Something about hiring urban youths to kick puppies into traffic while burying spent plutonium next to the groundwater reservoirs located behind the very housing projects the urban youths live in.

@7- really not following your logic here. Some parents may try to get by without health insurance and pay the fine, (and screw their <26 yo kids in the process). But most will jump on if they are previously uninsured, and if they can already afford to send their kids to college, they probably already have insurance through their work or other means. That means their kids are *covered.* The students can't really "opt-out" unless they went to their parents and begged to be taken off of the family insurance plan.

Bullshit headline and story.

Now, it did take 30 seconds to find this information, so I guess this can be excused given the journalistic standards here, but the effort is aimed at helping young healthy people not get ripped off while still being insured.

http://optout.org/faqs/

The point being, your average Millennial can pay the Obamacare fine, buy a 'non-exchange-approved' insurance plan that protects them from the locusts 'n' brimstone scenarios above, and still come out way ahead financially.

But of course getting that information out might impede yet another transfer of wealth from relatively poor and healthy young people to relatively older sick and better off people, so why let them know there's an alternative?

Don’t be sheep. Again. Still.

@18: cricket poison.

Smithers: shall we send out for Chinese sir?
Burns: no, those people are all gristle.

When they get cancer or have some severe accident - it'd be interesting to sue the Koch brothers for their healthcare expenses.

Kesh @17, when I was in college full-time, health care at the clinic on campus was covered as a part of tuition. But that was 40+ years ago — things really have changed since then.

@20 bullshit comment. You can't really think that pulling info from a Koch brothers backed, right-wing, "non-partisan" website is the way to defend your POV on this. Please don't waste our time.

@22: Or they could make an insurance claim against their non-Obamacare-approved, non-ripoff policy.

Sounds nuts, I know.

@24: Yes, adverse risk selection and basic economics are a right wing conspiracy.

Baaaaaa! Baaaaaaa!

The point being, your average Millennial can pay the Obamacare fine, buy a 'non-exchange-approved' insurance plan that protects them from the locusts 'n' brimstone scenarios above, and still come out way ahead financially.

Oh. golly, let's see your math on that.

And don't leave out the data on who the "average" millennial is and what they can and can't afford.

Gee. It's amazing that the Obama administration did't find that glaring flaw in RomneyCare.

But you saw right through them. I, mean, providing you can supply some sort of actual data that I'm sure you have handy. Right?

@20,

You think your average underemployed Millennial is going to come out ahead when buying their own catastrophic policy (i.e. doesn't pay for shit) without the government subsidy and while paying the IRS fine? I underestimated you. You are much, much stupider than I originally thought.

@19 I'm merely saying that I can imagine the instance where some college student's parents do not have insurance, ACA or not, penalty or not.
And so that counters your point that any/all college students would be covered on the parents' policies.

@28 No. He has the math, I'm sure.

It's the new Teabagger Phantom Math where every equation ends with:

"I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU EGG HEADS SAY! I FELL IT'S TRUE... So SHUDDUP, Stupid Liberals!"

I'm sure he the explicit data to disprove the fact that the leading cause of injury and death (and subsequent bankruptcy) among young Americans between the ages 18-30 is auto accidents - because that never happens in Teabagger land.

Teabaggers only get injured from Muslim-Comunist-Inurgent-Invisible-Ninja attacks. That and Stealth-configured grizzly bears.

@ 26, either your link goes to a partisan site, which is fair to dismiss, or it goes to a nonpartisan site.

Which is it?

@17 When I was at school (2007-2009) at UW I was not required to have health insurance. UW offered its students coverage for ~$250 per quarter. Now that seems like a steal but at the time it was a lot of money to me. Not sure what it's like at other schools.

Anyone who's curious about what will exempt you from the "Individual Shared Responsibility" payment on your 2014 tax return should read this:

http://www.irs.gov/uac/Questions-and-Ans…

As I understand it, Individual insurance plans don't need to be purchased through the marketplace, but must meet some minimum requirements. I doubt insurance companies will continue to offer any plans that do not meet those requirements, but they can certainly offer different plans within the marketplace and without.

However to get the "Premium Tax Credit" you do need to purchase through the marketplace. And in many states with less progressive insurance regulations than ours there was effectively no individual plans offered so the marketplace is the first time some individuals have been able to buy insurance.

http://www.irs.gov/uac/The-Premium-Tax-C…

Speaking of insurance...eyecare is expensive!

I have vision insurance...which doesn't seem to do that much versus what I pay monthly for it. I skipped going to the eye doctor last year so I just went in for eyeglasses and new contacts. I went to the "cheap" America's Best which is a preferred provider.

The insurance covers both the eyeglasses and contacts exam, or some part of it -- however, not all the extra exams like field of vision. I have really bad vision so I have to get the lightweight glass or I'd have Coke bottle bottoms falling off my nose.

When all was said and done, it still cost me over $600 for the whole kit. This is in addition to insurance costs of over $100 a year! If they ever give us Obamacare or Republicancare or something-Care it should cover more for vision.

Oh, and I always thought I would some day get Lazik. Nope, the guy said that's only for distance OR near but not both like I need. Not only that, but he said Lazik doesn't even fix what they now think is the problem with bad eyesight -- a muscle in the back of the eye that focuses it (not the cornea as they had thought).

I remember seeing shows where they told you to fix your vision by doing eye exercises...looking up, down, focusing near and far. I always thought it was bunk, but maybe they were right!!!

@35: And you're still a myopic idiot.

#36

Hey if you think global warming is myth, that's your right.

@31: The point of including that link was to use the actual source to check into what Paul wrote - namely, that this is an effort to encourage young people to be uninsured so that everyone can "pick up their tab." As the link says, whether you choose to read it or not, the point is to encourage those same people to shop around.

Doing so is not difficult (if you can get the healthcare.gov site to generate a quote, if you’re in one of those states) - just fire up ehealthinsurance.com to compare. If the healthcare.gov site is a better deal - FANTASTIC - buy it. Obamacare wins.

The only reason to oppose this would be if you wanted to, you know, milk uninformed young people out of more of their money.

@30:

Well, technically that may be somewhat true - unless getting hit by a mobility scooter falls into the same category as "vehicular accidents".

@38 Man. I was so sure you were gonna hit it out of the park, there Boring Dad.

But, you know, rather than make us do the work (or re-do it, since in my case I've done a fair bit of studying on the matter as a small business owner) one would think with such firm statements you'd be able to recite the proof of your assertions off the top of your head. But no.

One must be strict about debate, and I can tell you appreciate rigor. So you know that the obligation is on you and you alone to "prove your work." Which you have not done. And continually fail to do in all these threads.

So I will then assert the following with equal rigor to yours, since apparently just shouting second-hand aphorisms are enough for you, then THIS will blow your mind:

You are wrong and don't know what the fuck your talking about. Wrong. Wrong-ity-wrong-wrong.

The ACA insurance exchanges, despite the billion dollar sabotage campaign by you and your extremists teabagger friends, are cheaper on average than the private alternative - it all depends on competition state to state and if you factor in the current inflation rate of private plans. As competition and sign-up increases, it will get cheaper over time (which is key).

It is a settled matter.

http://aspe.hhs.gov/health/reports/2013/…

http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2013pres/0…

It's great news. First, they're wasting their money. If you could get the kids to do what you want by spending a few bucks on a party, we'd still have the Zune.*

The message here is that the Kochs accept the premise of Obamacare and know that it works. They know it will succeed if people act rationally in their own self interest. Which they will. C.f., the Zune.* This isn't a battle over whether Obamacare will work any more. It's a mop up operation running on a dwindling supply of pure spite.

* What's a Zune? Ask your parents.

Boring Dad pretty outed himself as off his medication by calling people sheep. Other tell-take signs: Educate yourself! Open your eyes (sheeple!)

@35 eye care and dental care have long been separated from health care in the US. They're barely insurance at all. Basically your buying a cleaning, in the case of dental plans, and a non-biological lens replacement plan. Most don't "insure" shit, they are a high cost savings plans, as in deposit your money here and we will profit from it and maybe give you some of it back plan.

Why we don't sweep eye and dental care under the health care umbrella idk but we don't. btw, run the numbers you'd be better off taking your eye and dental insurance money and paying it into a tax preferenced medical savings plan. But those have a spend or vanish clause.

Republicans are fighting to save a health care system that is the most dysfunctional in the world.

@40: First of all, the contraction of "you are" is "you're," not "your." Example: "You're telling me your small business consists of tutoring people in English language skills and formal logic?"

Second, if I correctly understand your word salad, you're (<--see?) claiming my assertion is wrong? The assertion that the headline and story are bullshit? The actual article referenced by the author refutes his own claim - the group that funds the Zune parties is not encouraging anyone to go uninsured.

Third, you conclude your lecture with a couple of links that 100% provide absolutely no evidence for your own assertion. They do not address Exchange-approved plans vs. non-Exchange plans. At all.

Keep on baa-ing, you are without doubt a business super genius with this quality research you're conducted.

@44:

That's "quality research YOU'VE conducted", NOT "you're conducted".

For fuck's sake BDiB, if you're going to obsess about someone else's bad grammar, at least make an attempt to correct your own.

Otherwise, you just look like a fucking moron...

I love it when morons like Boring Dad show up to prove everyone wrong, and simply prove to everyone that they do not know what the ACA is, or what it does.

Beginning plan year 2014 THERE WILL BE NO MAGICAL "NON-OBAMACARE APPROVED" PLANS.

A big part of the ACA is regulations on what ALL health insurance providers must cover. I do not know where idiots like Seattleblues and Boring Dad get this idea that there are secret insurance plans they can get to "opt-out" of the ACA. Christ, at least try to undersand the basic underpinnings of the law.

The exchanges are just a specific set of plans that follow the exact same regulations all plans offer, the bulk of which is simply the removal of dollar/frequency visits on preventative services, women's preventative health services, and forcing companies to cover people with pre-existing conditions, and not drop them for no reason.

In actual practice there are no "exchange approved plans" and "non-exchange approved plans." They all have to follow the same laws as set forth by the ACA. The only difference would be eligibility for a subsidy. Anyone who pretends this is not the case is a moron or liar, or perhaps both.

@44 I provided as much proof as you have. That was the point, you genetic recessive non-contributing cretin.

The burden is on YOU, not me. You've boldly proclaimed these assertions for the last two weeks. And yet you come up dry.

And don't pretend you even went to the links. If you had read them thoroughly you'd understand how much cheaper the exchanges were than even the Obama administration predicted and will get cheaper as more people sign up. that's what they were there for.

But again you don't bring any facts to the table at all. You've done nothing to prove your case but strawman or run and hide when confronted. Much like your teabagger libertarian friends in Congress.

Go ahead. Show us YOUR work, aptly-named Boring. Show us your math.

We won't hold our collective breath.

@35, you start out with somewhat of a point. Most vision insurance sucks for anyone who needs something stronger than drugstore reading glasses. I carried it for a few years when I legit couldn't afford my glasses (about 3x more expensive than the insurance) and just dealt with the mid-range lenses they covered which were still thick but not the end of the world.

But you're wrong partially about Lasik. Yes, they can only correct near or distance, not both. Some people opt to have one eye done for each, while others get one or the other fixed (usually the one that's worse or distance, so they can just use reading glasses on occasion). But it's not *all* about the muscles. They certainly have an impact on the clarity of your vision, but it's temporary, and you will get your "true" vision back within a few hours of straining the muscles. You certainly can't improve your vision permanently with just exercises. When I laid down on the Lasik table, I couldn't see my hand in front of my face, when I sat up, I could read the clock across the room, after 20+ years of dependency on glasses. When I strain my eyes, my vision gets fuzzy, but it clears up within a few hours of stopping whatever caused the strain. Two totally different things, one permanent (misshapen cornea) one temporary (muscle strain/fatigue from looking at something at the same distance for too long).