ObamaCare’s exchanges are, as critics predicted, in trouble, with the enrollee pool heavily skewed toward the old and the ill. One reason for that, insurers say, is that average Americans — who tend to find ways to foil the best-laid plans of congressmen and presidents — have discovered how to obtain exchange coverage just when they need it and, if possible, without paying for it.
It’s not hard to figure out why the young and the healthy are avoiding the exchanges. Exchange health plans are expensive, particularly for those ineligible for subsidies, and they keep getting more costly every year. According to Freedom Partners, a free-market-oriented nonprofit, individual-market premiums will rise this year in 49 states, with 28 states facing double-digit hikes.
A significant contributor to these rate increases is the number of sick, and therefore costly, enrollees. Under the Affordable Care Act...
