Obamacare and Creative Destruction

     For fifteen million Americans that utilize private health insurance, challenges with Obamacare are incredibly frustrating. The anxieties and frustrations expressed over this massive shift in health insurance is due to its difficulty in transitioning into a functional institution, and especially with the difficulty of transitions in the private sector of health insurance.
     These frustrations are aggravated by misunderstandings, as well; Obama frequently said that Americans who were satisfied with their plans would not have to change their plans. It seems now that Obama only meant this in reference to people whose health insturance was provided through their employer, Medicare, or Medicaid. It is likely that Obama was trying to divert these fears of creative destruction in order to gain support for Obamacare.

      Initial understandings claimed that policies which were in effect since March 23, 2010 were originally expected to be grandfathered in without any changes, but later the Department of Health and Human Services elaborated further that if any part of a health insurance policy was changed since that date, it would not be grandfathered in (any change such as to co-pay, deductible, benefits, etc.).  Estimates claim that "because of normal turnover in the individual insurance market, “40 to 67 percent” of customers will not be able to keep their policy," NBC reports.
      Policies that don't match standards will have to be dropped; old policies are being dropped for new ones and two million Americans that previously used private health insurance have been notified that they will have to change their plan, The Atlantic reports. It is quite obvious that the massive reconstruction and shifts within the health insurance market is ultimately what is driving the fear and anger of many Americans. The plan is intended to greatly increase health insurance of the masses in the long term, but for many Americans it is completely undesirable in the short term.