Obamacare's Christmas in April Surprise

The rocket surgeons in DC finally figured out people really don't want to buy health insurance at Christmas, so they are considering moving open enrollment to another time.

Say April, when you get your tax refund.

What better use of money (that you willfully loaned the government interest free) than using it to buy a brand new health insurance policy?

The methodology is interesting in and of itself — the authors looked at Google query data to see when people searched for certain terms, including health insurance. Previous studies have used Google query data, too. 

 It found that during the winter holiday season — which is typically open enrollment season for health insurance — people searched for terms such as "payday loan" and "cash advance" that indicated they needed financial help. People did not search for health care information in the middle of winter, when they had other financial stressors.

USA Today

Maybe the folks looking for payday loans are the same ones lined up at tax prep offices in early February. These are also the ones that pay loan shark fee's for the tax refund RAL (refund anticipation loan).

According to a 2014 report by the Urban Institute, 75 percent Americans receive a tax refund, and the average amount is $3,000.

Don't you just know those folks are going to turn around and fork over $3 grand to an insurance company?

Further proof the folks in DC are out of touch.

And you thought the former first lady who claimed to be dead broke after living in public housing for 8 years who was out of touch.