OT... For anyone that received subsidies for Obamacare last year, ....

[Penn Tiger]

Just repeal the whole thing like it never existed. Drop the state lines on where to insure. Pass medical savings account. Pass tort reform. Reduce the age limit on stay at home kids. Allow co-ops. Allow for pre existing conditions but got to put some limits on. Get the government out of the insurance business as much as possible. Allow folks to choose any doctor they want. And fees must be posted like fair housing.

 

[UNSWERVINGLY]

I'm 47 and my wife is 56. I am diabetic, and she has lupus. She requires monthly injections that run $6000/month. She lost her job after having been diagnosed and for a couple of years was ininsurable. I understand many people's displeasure with the ACA, but it literally saved her life. We qualify for a subsidy (barely) and are currently paying $500/month for the two of us. I selfishly am very happy that the ACA is still the law.

Lots of people like you out there. Higher income people don't get help and mostly have weaker plans. Also - the lowest income people got left out in the cold on ObamaCare. The plan was for the States to expand Medicaid to cover those folks - as the poster called "indigent males". Most states however, didn't expand Medicaid so those people got no help and no insurance.

I'm a far right winger. And I've been an agent for 30 years.

The "idea" of insurance in concept - is that EVERYone puts money in the pot, so that when YOU have a claim, there's money there to pay it. Smart people called actuaries figure out how much we pay in. Those are called premiums.

The problem is that not EVERYone is paying in. And we've become so damn entitled that EVERYone isn't going to pay in, unless we're made to. Because we now know that the hospital isn't going to turn people away if they don't have money or insurance.

Insurance doesn't work if people aren't paying a share. It also does not work when something called "adverse selection" happens. That's basically when the unhealthy or sick people buy insurance, but the healthy people don't.

So how can this be fixed???

I say that it can't - as long as people are given almost as a full access to health care at the hospital even without insurance coverage. And it also can't be fixed when people don't put in money or when adverse selection happens.

Soooooo - as much as my right wing soul hurts to ask this - would universal coverage for everyone be the only real solution? Some kind of basic plan and people who want better coverage could buy a supplemental policy. This way if rates are based on 100% of the population participating, premiums should drop dramatically, and should be somewhat stable.

The birds nest this would open would be the total government control over health care, which of course is one of the main pillars of communism. Then the limited coverage for terminally ill people, death panels, minimalizing research on new drugs & cures, investment in becoming great medical professionals, etc. After all - capitalism drives most of these things and when the government is in charge... well they usually don't do nearly as well as the private sector.

Bottom line - it's a broken mess.

 

[whitesixmile]

Are you referring to Obama or Trump? Bc honestly both did but the republicans were smart enough to pull out.

They pulled out because they didn't have a vote just like Trump didn't have a dam plan like he preached and tweeted he had for the whole election.

 

[PlayTimesOver]

I pay $400/month for my family. Me, wife, child. Low deductible ($1000), tiny copays...feels good.

 

[OrangeForever]

The current iteration of the GOP is worse than ISIS. I look forward to seeing their undoing in the coming months

 

[saber8689]

It's sad when all you care about is how much you are paying for insurance and use that as a guide for the success of the ACA.

It failed because critical parts of it lost in courts. Not expanding medicare or enforcing the mandate broke the law...both of which were pushed by largely conservative states, yet it's Obama's failure?

Competition won't work. Health care isn't a free market business...it's a human right in a developed society.

Everyone's gotta have it and everyone deserves it.

Truly what Republicans believe is if you can't afford Healthcare you have no right to have it, but they can't ever come say it publicly because of the backlash they would get.

 

[Howard's Jock]

I pay $400/month for my family. Me, wife, child. Low deductible ($1000), tiny copays...feels good.

i dont get rustled very often, but im rustled now since i pay quadruple that

 

[PlayTimesOver]

It's sad when all you care about is how much you are paying for insurance and use that as a guide for the success of the ACA.

It failed because critical parts of it lost in courts. Not expanding medicare or enforcing the mandate broke the law...both of which were pushed by largely conservative states, yet it's Obama's failure?

Competition won't work. Health care isn't a free market business...it's a human right in a developed society.

Everyone's gotta have it and everyone deserves it.

Truly what Republicans believe is if you can't afford Healthcare you have no right to have it, but they can't ever come say it publicly because of the backlash they would get.

I'm a republican and I don't believe this. Nor do any of my friends or family that are majority republicans.

 

[PlayTimesOver]

i dont get rustled very often, but im rustled now since i pay quadruple that

I work for a pretty large private hospital system. Biggest perk I get. Especially now. My old company, I was paying $1200 for 3 of us.

 

[Edistoplayer]

You assume a lot bud! How do you know she has complained. She has not! I have. She doesn't have Obama care, either. Didn't qualify and had to buy on open market. Where does your military quip come from? I am a civilian with BC/BS from work. Heard of that? Work with insurance.

But if you think it is fair for two old sick folks to get BC/BS for $300 a month combined and low deductible while the best a hard working healthy 30 year old can do is $500 a month with a high deductible then you are nuts. And I don't believe you are. Still don't know where the military quip comes from? Neither of us qualifies for that.
Now it is a fair question as to which is unfair: My low rate through work or her high rate via open market. Mine is way too cheap if my risks are considered.

Nothing in life is fair. We live in a capitalistic nation were everything we do in our life's is for a profit. That includes health insurance unfortunately.

You said you had tricare which means you retired or are current military. That's the only way I know you can get it. If your daughter is making 100k a year that's less than 7% of her income which isn't a bad deal even with the deductible.

So if she join the military she would pay 25 bucks a month with no deductibles. Pretty sure she would rather have the100k over d&MN near free health care for the coins the military pays.Thats why I brought it up. It's all about choices.

 

[tigertommy1]

The big insurance companies are going to let this fail. It is coming. Almost all will pull out of the exchanges, leaving few (or no) good quality choices for consumers.

What then? I am of the opinion this was the Trump plan all along. Let it fail - start over

Right now the voices of those helped by Obamacare are the loudest. In November it was the voice of those who had been harmed, most financially. Be interesting to see whose voice is louder in 2018 mid terms.

 

[TigerDMD]

If you've ever spent time in countries with universal healthcare - you may change your tune. Just because it's free, reduced or everyone has "access" doesn't mean you wont actually die before your available appointment in several months to 1/2 a year. Just like whoever mentioned the Medicaid expansion above - it's completely useless. The government enrolled millions of additional people to state Medicaid plans which by the way made up a large part of the ACA enrollment figures. In SC, much of the Medicaid enrollment was for adults - guess what - it pays for hardly anything, pays about 30-50 cents on the dollar of providers regular fees and generally no one accepts it at their offices. The sad part is that lots of these patients and many other uninsured or under insured low income folks are the most unhealthy and sickly patients walking around and I may catch some
Grief for this, but in a high percentage of cases, it's because of their own life choices. From my experience, there's lots of fraud and waste in Govt managed healthcare and the ones that are working hard with decent jobs, but can't afford health care also aren't eligible for Medicaid. They've made Govt assistance in all forms an incentive to sit on you butt and do nothing. I don't know what the answer to all of this is, but I do know that universal healthcare or anything else run or mandated by the govt isn't either. I'm also one that doesn't believe healthcare is a right for everyone, it's something that must be paid for to be fully appreciated. If you don't pay for or contribute in some capacity to something, I personally don't believe you value it or appreciate it and don't make choices in your life based on cause and effect. Lots of outcomes in healthcare could be prevented with better choices and preventative care - it shouldn't be a surprise that rich and poor, with good insurance or Medicaid don't take advantage of often free yearly preventative type stuff. Just my .02 from dealing with all of this over the years.

 

[NorthGATiger]

I am glad too, compared to the Republican plan. And you are a great example of why it is good. But the ACA doesn't cover the indigent. So we still don't have universal coverage. Even in states with with expanded Medicaid many are left out. Just being American should give basic coverage, I believe. And self employed single young adults pay way too much. Almost impossible to get a subsidy.

Health Insurance is not a right. I am glad that you see that self employed single young adults pay to much but that number could only significantly increase if we went to a universal health care system.

 

[nmerritt11]

The big insurance companies are going to let this fail. It is coming. Almost all will pull out of the exchanges, leaving few (or no) good quality choices for consumers.

What then? I am of the opinion this was the Trump plan all along. Let it fail - start over

Right now the voices of those helped by Obamacare are the loudest. In November it was the voice of those who had been harmed, most financially. Be interesting to see whose voice is louder in 2018 mid terms.

With the way insurance companies are moving out of states, refusing to work in certain hospital networks, and dropping older policies and making them unavailable it is already failing and it's gonna get worse.

Sad reality is it's going to be really bad. My policy is going to be unavailable after this year and I am scared shitless...the policy I have now has already doubled and I am scared that's gonna happen again. Sucks

 

[santee]

Lots of people like you out there. Higher income people don't get help and mostly have weaker plans. Also - the lowest income people got left out in the cold on ObamaCare. The plan was for the States to expand Medicaid to cover those folks - as the poster called "indigent males". Most states however, didn't expand Medicaid so those people got no help and no insurance.

I'm a far right winger. And I've been an agent for 30 years.

The "idea" of insurance in concept - is that EVERYone puts money in the pot, so that when YOU have a claim, there's money there to pay it. Smart people called actuaries figure out how much we pay in. Those are called premiums.

The problem is that not EVERYone is paying in. And we've become so damn entitled that EVERYone isn't going to pay in, unless we're made to. Because we now know that the hospital isn't going to turn people away if they don't have money or insurance.

Insurance doesn't work if people aren't paying a share. It also does not work when something called "adverse selection" happens. That's basically when the unhealthy or sick people buy insurance, but the healthy people don't.

So how can this be fixed???

I say that it can't - as long as people are given almost as a full access to health care at the hospital even without insurance coverage. And it also can't be fixed when people don't put in money or when adverse selection happens.

Soooooo - as much as my right wing soul hurts to ask this - would universal coverage for everyone be the only real solution? Some kind of basic plan and people who want better coverage could buy a supplemental policy. This way if rates are based on 100% of the population participating, premiums should drop dramatically, and should be somewhat stable.

The birds nest this would open would be the total government control over health care, which of course is one of the main pillars of communism. Then the limited coverage for terminally ill people, death panels, minimalizing research on new drugs & cures, investment in becoming great medical professionals, etc. After all - capitalism drives most of these things and when the government is in charge... well they usually don't do nearly as well as the private sector.

Bottom line - it's a broken mess.

Insurance companies are as big a problem as the government......just different reasons.....insurance companies are crooks and gov is inept.....LMAO at. Actuaries calculations......figure what you need and add 4 billion a year profit

 

[CU_TrialLawyer]

Just received a surprise from my Accountant.... I have to pay back those subsidies this year along with the income taxes. Homer Pyle couldn't say it better.... surprise, surprise, surprise.

@tigerGUY Weren't you the guy who posted about not having insurance and an orthopedic injury?

So do you have insurance or not?

Are you being a freeloader and living off Uncle Sam and taking subsidies?

 

[cyclotiger]

I know I am going to catch hell for this but I'm curious. If the ACA had been called Kennedy-Care instead of ObamaCare would it make a difference? The ACA was birthed by Ted Kennedy and raised by Obama. If I recall the Kennedy endorsement of Obama is what got him elected. The endorsement came as the result of Obama promising to get the ACA done when elected. That's why he pushed for it so hard relentlessly.
Go ahead. I'm ready for my beating now.

 

[IcelandTiger]

The big insurance companies are going to let this fail. It is coming. Almost all will pull out of the exchanges, leaving few (or no) good quality choices for consumers.

What then? I am of the opinion this was the Trump plan all along. Let it fail - start over

Right now the voices of those helped by Obamacare are the loudest. In November it was the voice of those who had been harmed, most financially. Be interesting to see whose voice is louder in 2018 mid terms.

Yep

Obamacare is going so well and all

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/14/...t-of-obamacares-insurance-exchanges.html?_r=0

 

[ClemsonGuy99]

Yeah. ACA is literally a ticking time bomb. If Trump touches it and tries to diffuse it and it explodes then it will be his fault. Just let that bad boy blow up in Obamas face.

Then why didn't he just do that in the first place instead of trying to push through the crappy replacement? I thought he had this amazing, fantastic plan to replace ObamaCare? What happened to that? I'm no fan of the ACA but this sounds like spin to me.

 

[yeti24]

If you've ever spent time in countries with universal healthcare - you may change your tune. Just because it's free, reduced or everyone has "access" doesn't mean you wont actually die before your available appointment in several months to 1/2 a year. Just like whoever mentioned the Medicaid expansion above - it's completely useless. The government enrolled millions of additional people to state Medicaid plans which by the way made up a large part of the ACA enrollment figures. In SC, much of the Medicaid enrollment was for adults - guess what - it pays for hardly anything, pays about 30-50 cents on the dollar of providers regular fees and generally no one accepts it at their offices. The sad part is that lots of these patients and many other uninsured or under insured low income folks are the most unhealthy and sickly patients walking around and I may catch some
Grief for this, but in a high percentage of cases, it's because of their own life choices. From my experience, there's lots of fraud and waste in Govt managed healthcare and the ones that are working hard with decent jobs, but can't afford health care also aren't eligible for Medicaid. They've made Govt assistance in all forms an incentive to sit on you butt and do nothing. I don't know what the answer to all of this is, but I do know that universal healthcare or anything else run or mandated by the govt isn't either. I'm also one that doesn't believe healthcare is a right for everyone, it's something that must be paid for to be fully appreciated. If you don't pay for or contribute in some capacity to something, I personally don't believe you value it or appreciate it and don't make choices in your life based on cause and effect. Lots of outcomes in healthcare could be prevented with better choices and preventative care - it shouldn't be a surprise that rich and poor, with good insurance or Medicaid don't take advantage of often free yearly preventative type stuff. Just my .02 from dealing with all of this over the years.

Agreed. Been over in UK for a while for work and there is Nationalized healthcare here (NHS). Every day there are front page stories or lead news program stories about the absolute failures of this nationalized program from service/budget perspective. Too many people, especially the aging population, and not enough revenue/taxes for services to provide any kind of dec not care. The experts suspect the program will totally collapse in the next 5 years. Interesting to see what they do with that.

Informative and short link below to countries with some form of gov't sponsored healthcare.

https://truecostblog.com/2009/08/09/countries-with-universal-healthcare-by-date/

 

[yeti24]

Then why didn't he just do that in the first place instead of trying to push through the crappy replacement? I thought he had this amazing, fantastic plan to replace ObamaCare? What happened to that? I'm no fan of the ACA but this sounds like spin to me.

The problem is there never really was any chance to repeal and replace until the current system explodes - and do so with just "Republican" votes. Too complicated an issue as the two extremes of the "Republican" party, which is really just a group of people who dislike the democrats, to ever agree on a bill. Too many differing views on how to solve. Biggest problem is that very few really view this in the the lens of a $20Tn national debt. Everyone loves their "freebies" too much to care. When the the cows come back to the barn one day so many will claim they never saw the Nat'l debt crisis coming. Cognitive Dissonance....

 

[goclem2000]

It's sad when all you care about is how much you are paying for insurance and use that as a guide for the success of the ACA.

It failed because critical parts of it lost in courts. Not expanding medicare or enforcing the mandate broke the law...both of which were pushed by largely conservative states, yet it's Obama's failure?

Competition won't work. Health care isn't a free market business...it's a human right in a developed society.

Everyone's gotta have it and everyone deserves it.

Truly what Republicans believe is if you can't afford Healthcare you have no right to have it, but they can't ever come say it publicly because of the backlash they would get.

Sorry, i'm just not completely cool with you deciding what I need. I'll be the one to decide if i need something and when to get it. I'll also take responsibility for whatever consequences come with it.

 

[tigertommy1]

Whatever the future holds for insurance and/or care, some type of system needs to be put in place to FORCE people to make better lifestyle choices. Nation must get healthier.

No matter whether the healthy are subsidizing the unhealthy thru higher taxes or higher insurance and medical costs, health care for bad choices is going to financially damage US even more.

Said it in other threads: bad drivers pay more; claims on your homeowners raise rates, etc. Because other people make poor choices is a tough pill to swallow as a reason me and my family have skyrocketing health insurance.

 

[tallulahtiger30319]

I'm paying over 19,000 a year, and that is before any kind doctor bill.
Obama is / was just a dumb ass for starting the Obamacare, even Bill Clinton said
it was fuc#&$ up.

It was never about taking care of people.

 

[dbjork6317]

There is but one way to solve all of these issues. It's called a Single payer system.

 

[nmerritt11]

Whatever the future holds for insurance and/or care, some type of system needs to be put in place to FORCE people to make better lifestyle choices. Nation must get healthier.

No matter whether the healthy are subsidizing the unhealthy thru higher taxes or higher insurance and medical costs, health care for bad choices is going to financially damage US even more.

Said it in other threads: bad drivers pay more; claims on your homeowners raise rates, etc. Because other people make poor choices is a tough pill to swallow as a reason me and my family have skyrocketing health insurance.

100% agree! Health incentives should be rewarded

 

[nmerritt11]

Another thing that was/is a disaster that most of the United State has never even heard about unless you are in the industry and effected by it is competitive bids.

It has hurt a lot of good small business' and half the people that won bids, bid it at rates that cannot be sustained and services cannot be provided. It has been a nightmare especially on the Nutrician side of things...people bid just to bid and has created a nightmare in the home health, long term care part B, and DME profitability/operations.

It was a horrible idea that has really altered the industry in those competitive bid areas. Just awful, frustrating, and no one completely understands it. The larger companies that have somewhat figured it out have just gobbled up the smaller companies who can't get the same volume contracts. The smaller companies have been forced to sell, operate with Skelton staff, or close their doors. Another decision that absolutely helped larger companies and killed smaller ones that operated in those areas

 

[tigerman92]

I know I am going to catch hell for this but I'm curious. If the ACA had been called Kennedy-Care instead of ObamaCare would it make a difference? The ACA was birthed by Ted Kennedy and raised by Obama. If I recall the Kennedy endorsement of Obama is what got him elected. The endorsement came as the result of Obama promising to get the ACA done when elected. That's why he pushed for it so hard relentlessly.
Go ahead. I'm ready for my beating now.

It does not matter what it is called or who birthed it. The government has no business running Healthcare. Politicians continue to do whatever it takes to get themselves elected/re-elected instead of what is best for the people. You can't continue to promise things that can't be funded. The private sector will be the most cost effective and efficient system. There will still be issues, but it won't be as widespread as what we are about to witness. The ACA is quickly crumbling and needs to be repealed.

 

[IcelandTiger]

There is but one way to solve all of these issues. It's called a Single payer system.

Medicare for all sounds great

 

[TheCheif]

...and this is the year it dies a miserable death, whether congress agrees on a replacement or not.

It can be fixed(made better) if both parties work together. One party can't fix it. It will not die, but we will, maybe from sticker shock(the costs).

 

[CarolsBabyDaddy]

It can be fixed(made better) if both parties work together. One party can't fix it. It will not die, but we will, maybe from sticker shock(the costs).

It will die. It was a terrible idea pushed through at the end of a presidency by a man desperate to have some sort of legacy.

Their approach was basically if it is successul then we will finally get a win and if it fails then its someone elses problem

 

[Buzzards Roost]

Nothing in life is fair. We live in a capitalistic nation were everything we do in our life's is for a profit. That includes health insurance unfortunately.

You said you had tricare which means you retired or are current military. That's the only way I know you can get it. If your daughter is making 100k a year that's less than 7% of her income which isn't a bad deal even with the deductible.

So if she join the military she would pay 25 bucks a month with no deductibles. Pretty sure she would rather have the100k over d&MN near free health care for the coins the military pays.Thats why I brought it up. It's all about choices.

I have Tricare but it is secondary since I still work and have other insurance. Retired Navy. So it helps with my rare copay. Yeah she could enlist as a 30 year old Seaman. If she didn't enjoy her career so much I would encourage it. She is a defense industry consultant. Better not join anything but Navy. I feel good that one out of my five joined up.

I still think the self employed should be able to buy group policies. That may be the only part of the Ryan plan I liked.

 

[Da Swami]

Roughly 1000/month for my family of 4. 5k deductible. Couple years ago it was about 700/month.

As many in here say in jest, but I say with conviction, "thanks Obama".

Patient protection and affordable healthcare act slow the growth of premiums for the first time in decades. Premiums been going up for roughly 40 years at a 10% clip. PP&ACA has a mechanism to dictate insurance companies surcharge. Under Free market healthcare your premiums would be unaffordable.

 

[CarolsBabyDaddy]

Patient protection and affordable healthcare act slow the growth of premiums for the first time in decades. Premiums been going up for roughly 40 years at a 10% clip. PP&ACA has a mechanism to dictate insurance companies surcharge. Under Free market healthcare your premiums would be unaffordable.

If its so great then why do you refer to it as ACA and not Obamacare?

Also, how much do you pay for your health insurance? You know everyone doesnt pay the same

 

[Da Swami]

If its so great then why do you refer to it as ACA and not Obamacare?

Also, how much do you pay for your health insurance? You know everyone doesnt pay the same

Gamecocksucker I have been consistent you should be off this board first and foremost. Obamacare is a name for the uninformed like Trumpcare. It is good for TV and politics hence this post. I have had employer Insurance that was under GM @ $0 to the investment firm that purchase us and raise it to $50/$90/$135 to my current ACA plan $104 a month with dependents $200/$850. ACA is income based. My facility closed. My new job offer has insurance at $12 or $23 a week no matter your status. I also remember being single in the 90s with no insurance and the er hook me up.

 

[Buzzards Roost]

Patient protection and affordable healthcare act slow the growth of premiums for the first time in decades. Premiums been going up for roughly 40 years at a 10% clip. PP&ACA has a mechanism to dictate insurance companies surcharge. Under Free market healthcare your premiums would be unaffordable.

Need group rates for all, like let all plumbers band together. The common theme on the board is that middle class folks buying their own pay out the wazoo. Middle class folks on a group plan at work do okay.

 

[CarolsBabyDaddy]

Gamecocksucker I have been consistent you should be off this board first and foremost. Obamacare is a name for the uninformed like Trumpcare. It is good for TV and politics hence this post. I have had employer Insurance that was under GM @ $0 to the investment firm that purchase us and raise it to $50/$90/$135 to my current ACA plan $104 a month with dependents $200/$850. ACA is income based. My facility closed. My new job offer has insurance at $12 or $23 a week no matter your status. I also remember being single in the 90s with no insurance and the er hook me up.

Oh sorry man. I didny realize you were poor

 

[Edistoplayer]

I have Tricare but it is secondary since I still work and have other insurance. Retired Navy. So it helps with my rare copay. Yeah she could enlist as a 30 year old Seaman. If she didn't enjoy her career so much I would encourage it. She is a defense industry consultant. Better not join anything but Navy. I feel good that one out of my five joined up.

I still think the self employed should be able to buy group policies. That may be the only part of the Ryan plan I liked.

Thanks you for serving. Did 8 years army. But I understand where your coming from. The ACA helps more people in need than the one Ryan proposed. I don't have a fight in it as it wouldn't affect me either way.

Just think it helps to look out for the poor. Being born poor shouldnt be a pre-existing illness. Everyone deserve healthcare in my opinion rather they can afford it or not. Some just have to pay more but it's still affordable for them.

 

[UNSWERVINGLY]

Need group rates for all, like let all plumbers band together. The common theme on the board is that middle class folks buying their own pay out the wazoo. Middle class folks on a group plan at work do okay.

Association plans don't work. They've never worked but for 2-3-4 years and they blow up. People sign up for coverage if the rates are lower. Usually the rates are lower initially, then claims start hitting and rates start sliding up. Then the healthy people get rates better outside the association. Said association plan rates implode because there's no one left on the plan but bad risks. It's called adverse selection.

I've seen this happen over & over.

 

[1Clemson]

I think it actually showed great strength to pull it off the table. Had Obama had Trumps foresight then we would never be in this situation in the first place.

No Strength Shown, just recognition that it was going to flame out and cost a bunch of seats in the next election. Notice who got the blame - hard conservatives from strong conservative districts. If the blame would have been on the Tuesday group or other moderates, the loss to the Republican Party in 2018 would have flipped the House. Republicans have never been unified on any healthcare measure (when it really counted) and never will. Just stop propping the ACA up and it will take care of itself.