Obamacare: Pay More, Get More, Subsidize Other People
A friend of mine who is in her 60s -- well passed the age at which she could have had children -- snorted to me that she will now have pregnancy covered under Obamacare.

Ross Douhat writes in The New York Times about how it's working out for others:

Take the exchange in my native state, Connecticut. There the "more expensive" part of the new regime is readily apparent. If you look at Connecticut insurance prices for 2013 -- that is, pre-Obamacare -- on the online clearinghouse eHealthInsurance, monthly premiums for a 30-year-old in good health can start below $100, and under $300 for a healthy 60-year-old.

On the state's new Obamacare-compliant health care exchange, by contrast, nothing is that cheap. The lowest priced ("bronze") plan for a 30-year-old Connecticut resident has premiums starting at $224 a month; for a 60-year-old, the cheapest plan starts at $537.

These premium increases, however, don't tell the whole story, because there are subsidies, which the Connecticut exchange helpfully calculates as well. If our hypothetical 30-year-old makes $30,000 a year, for instance, he or she would be eligible for credits that lower the actual cost of the cheapest plan to $115 a month. A hypothetical 60-year-old making $30,000 would see the cost of the cheapest bronze plan fall to zero. Over all, the premium increases only really bite as subsidies phase out -- at incomes above $45,000, or about $62,000 for a family of four.

They bite, in part, because insurance companies now have to take customers with pre-existing conditions, which drives everyone's rates up. But they also bite because buyers are getting more insurance than the older system's cheapest plans offered.

Take those low-cost 2013 plans I mentioned above. A typical one -- teased at $269 a month for a nonsmoking 60-year-old Connecticut man -- comes with a $5,000 deductible, an annual out-of-pocket limit of $12,500, and all kinds of copays and coverage restrictions.

With some grandfathered exceptions, Obamacare makes those kinds of plans illegal. The out-of-pocket limit for individuals is capped at $6,500 a year, preventive services are fully covered, and various "essential benefits" as well.

If we ever get beyond the follies of HealthCare.gov, the politics of the rollout will probably be defined by how (and how vocally) middle-class Americans just above the subsidy threshold react to this "pay more, get more, subsidize other people" deal.

Some of them will be buying for the first time, spurred by the mandate's penalties; many others will be shopping for a new plan because their previous ones no longer meet Obamacare's requirements. Will they be grateful for more comprehensive coverage, even though it's being forced on them and has higher premiums attached? Or will they feel they were misled by the president's "if you like your insurance plan, you will keep it" rhetoric, and drive a further backlash against the law in 2014 and beyond?

How MAGI works for self-employed people also confuses me. And frankly, I really don't want other people to pay for my health care through a subsidy or to now have the price increased by 13.6 percent (after I already downgraded it last year to save money). I also don't want to buy health care on the exchange. I want to do as Obama promised we could -- keep the doctor and the health insurance we have. Unfortunately, now I will be paying for lots of other people's care along with services I don't want or need.

Here's MAGI from a supposed Obamacare facts site:

Why Does MAGI Matter? Modified Adjusted Gross Income is a measure used by the IRS to determine if a taxpayer is eligible to use certain deductions, credits, or retirement plans. "Modified Adjusted Gross Income" (not "Adjusted Gross Income") will be used in determining eligibility for your health insurance tax credits. The IRS phases out the tax credit as your income increases. By adding MAGI factors back to your AGI, the IRS determines how much you really earned. Beginning in 2014, your MAGI determines whether you will be eligible for premium tax credits on the new Health Insurance Marketplaces

What is Adjusted Gross Income?
Generally, your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) is your household's income less various adjustments. Adjusted Gross Income is calculated before the itemized or standard deductions, exemptions and credits are taken into account.

What is Modified Adjusted Gross Income?
Generally, your Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI) is the total of your house hold's Adjusted Gross Income and any tax-exempt interest income you may have (these are the amounts on lines 37 and 8b of IRS from 1040).

Can someone please direct me to the nearest time machine?