A New Father At Age 66 Says ObamaCare Is "Not Insurance"; Cher Was Correct -- "60 Is The New 30"

I've been blogging the $12,000 annual deductible since "the beginning." Now Bloomberg spells it out in language that is hard to miss. 

Headline story at Yahoo!Finance today: Obamacare deductibles 26% higher make cheap rates a risk. Bloomberg is reporting:

Americans seeking cheap insurance on the Obamacare health exchanges may be in for sticker shock if they get sick next year, as consumers trade lower premiums for out-of-pocket costs that can top $6,000 a person.

That's as far as most people will read. Of the people that even see the article. 

Expenses for some policies can reach $6,350 for a single person and $12,700 per family, the most allowed by the health-care law, according to a survey by HealthPocket Inc. of seven states, including California and Ohio. That’s 26 percent higher than the average deductible in the seven states, and a scenario likely repeated across the country, said Kev Coleman, head of research and data at Sunnyvale, California-based HealthPocket. 

Private employers have been raising deductibles and co-pays for years to help control costs on health coverage for their workers. Now insurers are using the tactic to lower premiums on the government-run exchanges. While that has allowed President Barack Obama to tout the affordability of plans, it poses a choice: Do consumers gamble they won’t face a major medical bill, or boost monthly premiums just in case?

“If you have to pay $5,000 upfront” when illness hits, “you might as well not have any insurance at all,” said Larry Saphire, 82, of West Orange, New Jersey, who shopped for coverage for his wife and two children, ages 16 and 21. “That’s not insurance.”

On California’s state-run exchange site, the standard low-premium “bronze” plan carries a $5,000 deductible per person, a $60 co-pay to see a doctor and a 30 percent fee, known as coinsurance, on hospital care. In Rhode Island, Blue Cross Blue Shield’s bronze plan has a $5,800 deductible while Missouri’s U.S.-run exchange offers plans by Anthem Blue Cross with the maximum-allowable $6,350 in out-of-pocket costs.

He is 82 years old. His youngest child, 16, means he was a new father at age ... 66.  And a first-time father (in this marriage) at age ... 61. One can start taking social security at age 62; full social security benefits at around 66. Cher was correct: 60 is the new 30.