Those who argued that ObamaCare was a looming public policy disaster are being vindicated almost daily as Americans confront sticker shock over the legislation’s most expensive components.

According to the Columbus Dispatch, a new study from the Society of Actuaries found that,

The cost of health care for Ohioans who buy individual coverage directly from insurers is projected in one study to soar by more than 80 percent by 2017 under the federal health-care overhaul. That would be the largest percentage increase among all states, according to a report released this week by the Society of Actuaries, a national group of financial-risk analysts.

Overall, the same study found that premiums are expected to rise approximately 32 percent nationally.

While this study focused on the individual market, not the employer-based market where many individuals and families obtain coverage, it still raises concern about the veracity of ObamaCare’s promise of affordable health care for all Americans and the longer term implications of ObamaCare’s implementation.

There remains a high likelihood that many healthy young adults will opt to pay the “tax” associated with ObamaCare rather than availing themselves of employer, much less individual, insurance coverage. In fact, for nearly all healthy young adults, that is the more prudent financial decision because they will be able to procure coverage during enrollment periods after a diagnosis based upon ObamaCare’s requirement that insurers provide coverage for those with pre-existing conditions. Over time, this probability will lead to many older and sicker individuals being relegated to insurance pools that will further reinforce the upward trend in premiums.

As scholar Walter Mead mentions in his blog,

As we’ve noted before, there’s nothing stopping the young and healthy from paying the penalty instead of the premiums and waiting until they’ve incurred serious medical costs to jump into the insurance market. Remember that under Obamacare pre-existing conditions don’t disqualify you from coverage. As older people and those with greater need for services increasingly dominate insurance pools, premiums will rise.

Do you suppose Nancy Pelosi now regrets her infamous statement? “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.”

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