For many people, coverage bought through an exchange would cost far more than their phone bill. But for many others, Vice President Kerry is probably right - and those others are among the people they're still trying to reach, people for whom coverage (considering the premium assistance, of course) would be affordable but who might not realize that it would be. As for the deductible, yeah some of the plans have fairly high deductibles. But, again, for many people the effective deductible would be far less because of the cost-sharing subsidies that are available in addition to the premium assistance. For people with lower incomes, the annual out-of-pocket maximum is even less than the cap that's in place for everyone else (which is $6+ thousand for individuals and $12+ thousand for families). And even if the deductible is high, having coverage can be of benefit for some (if the coverage itself is affordable) because it protects against something bad happening (or them being diagnosed with something bad) that results in their creating huge amounts of financial liability - that liability is capped far below what it could otherwise be. Further, for a lot of stuff there is no deductible - qualifying plans have to cover it without additional charge to the person covered.
Anyway... take a single person earning about $18,000 per year. Their share of the monthly bill for coverage would be about $60. And their maximum out-of-pocket expenditures for the year would be a little over $2,000 - so, no matter what health care they might need that year, they wouldn't pay more than that $2,000 or so (plus their premium payments). Is that affordable? It's a whole lot more affordable, even in that worse case, than 10 or 20 or 50 thousand dollars in medical bills. And because of the actuarial value adjustments that have to be made on their policies based on their income level, the chances they'd be spending even that $2,000 are significantly reduced. They may only have to, so long as nothing major happens, spend far less.
A young couple with 2 young children where only one parent works and makes about $36,000 per year? Their monthly premium would be about $120, and their maximum out-of-pocket costs - for the entire family - would be a little over $4,000 per year. Yes, a whole lot of people make much more money than that and their coverage wouldn't be nearly as cheap. But the people I'm describing are among the people they are trying to get the word out to - trying to make them aware of what is available. There are fairly affordable options for them.
Of course, we are collectively paying for those options - we're picking up the rest of the tab. I'm not a supporter of ObamaCare, I haven't been since before it was passed. But for many it does make coverage available, and not at the really high cost that you suggest.
