Fasten your seat belts. The ObamaCare train wreck is hurtling down the track and heading straight for every American. The website debacle is the least of our problems, writes JLF’s health and human services analyst Katherine Restrepo in her new analysis of what’s ahead.

The National Center for Public Policy reports that, in two-thirds of the states, subsidies do not extend beyond 300 percent of the federal poverty level for individuals from 18 to 34 years old,” Restrepo said. “In fact, subsidies greatly diminish for individuals in this age group making more than $25,000 a year. In North Carolina, subsidies would end at $35,504 for a 34-year-old.”

This factor could lead to fewer young adults, so-called “young invincibles,” choosing to sign up for health insurance, Restrepo said. “That’s a major problem for Obamacare, which depends on these young invincibles to help cover costs for older, sicker people and balance the risk pool.”

Federal budget sequestration has placed limits on another source of premium assistance subsidies, Restrepo said. “Individuals earning less than 250 percent of the federal poverty level are eligible for these additional subsidies, but the federal budget sequester scales back those subsidies by 7.2 percent.”

Restrepo’s report shows Obamacare already has had significant impacts on North Carolinians. “Through mid-November, 43 percent of Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina’s 375,000 individual policyholders were told they would not be allowed to renew their existing health plans, and almost 160,000 consumers received health insurance cancellation letters,” she said. “At the same time, only 1,662 North Carolinians were able to complete the enrollment process through the state’s new federal health insurance exchange.”

President Obama’s recent announcement of a one-year reprieve for canceled individual-market policies added another wrinkle to North Carolina’s situation, Restrepo said. “Even with this one-year change, the long-term implications for North Carolinians are unclear.”