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oosted by starry-eyed young Americans who embraced his "hope and change" message, Barack Obama ascended to the presidency in 2008 — and was re-elected in 2012. This might have made the idealistic young people who clung to his lofty rhetoric feel good — and maybe Obama really did advance their progressive social agenda. But from an economic standpoint, their support was highly ironic. They have been largely rewarded with high unemployment rates — and long-term policies that transfer wealth from the young to the old.
Consider, for instance, the Affordable Care Act. It is not exactly a win for the young and healthy.
Contingencies, the magazine of the actuarial profession, recently looked at how the Affordable Care Act would affect various age cohorts. According to their study, premiums for younger, healthier individuals may well spike by more than 40 percent.
A little-known provision in the law, called the Adjusted Community Rating, all but guaranteed it would turn out this way.
Here is an oversimplified — but fair — illustration of what this provision means: Let's say a 64-year-old man pays $800 a month for health insurance, and his 27-year-old neighbor pays $100. Collectively, an insurance company gets $900 to insure them both.
But according to the Affordable Care Act, health insurance premiums must fall within a ratio of 3:1 for adults. So assuming the insurance company still seeks to collect $900 a month to cover both neighbors, the older man would now pay just $675, while his younger neighbor would be charged $225.
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