Obamacare's Bite

[Proud Tiger 4,261]

Wages not keeping up with premiums

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/03/24/health-insurance-premiums-rising-faster-than-wages.html?intcmp=hpbt1

[TitanTiger 20,708]

Wages not keeping up with premiums

http://www.foxnews.c...ml?intcmp=hpbt1

They haven't been keeping up with premiums for a long time, even before Obamacare.

[AURaptor 1,137]

Wages not keeping up with premiums

http://www.foxnews.c...ml?intcmp=hpbt1

They haven't been keeping up with premiums for a long time, even before Obamacare.

O-Care is taking twice as much out of my pocket and I'm getting no more benefit.

[TitanTiger 20,708]

Wages not keeping up with premiums

http://www.foxnews.c...ml?intcmp=hpbt1

They haven't been keeping up with premiums for a long time, even before Obamacare.

O-Care is taking twice as much out of my pocket and I'm getting no more benefit.

I'm not getting anymore benefit either, outside of the lifetime cap going away and the fact that if was without insurance for a bit and contracted a serious health issue, I couldn't be denied coverage for a pre-existing condition. A close friend of mine who has been battling cancer and other health issues for years doesn't have to live in abject fear that their benefits will run out, or that if one premium payment is late that they'll lose coverage and be unable to get it again anywhere.

Plus, my health insurance doubled in the 5 years preceding Obamacare as well and I didn't get any of those benefits during that time.

[Proud Tiger 4,261]

I've had my own insurance for years. Didn't need Obamacare but if it helped others on balance so be it. But now I am having to pay a $760 penalty due to Obamacare when they didn't pay a dime of my premiums.

[AURaptor 1,137]

Plus, my health insurance doubled in the 5 years preceding Obamacare as well and I didn't get any of those benefits during that time.

My HC doubled in ONE year, not 5, thanks entirely to ObamaCare.

Private sector is 5 x better.

[TitanTiger 20,708]

Plus, my health insurance doubled in the 5 years preceding Obamacare as well and I didn't get any of those benefits during that time.

My HC doubled in ONE year, not 5, thanks entirely to ObamaCare.

Private sector is 5 x better.

Mine didn't. Anecdotes do not equal evidence.

And your insurance is still private-sector. The public option got shot down, remember?

[Grumps 3,706]

Wages not keeping up with premiums

http://www.foxnews.c...ml?intcmp=hpbt1

They haven't been keeping up with premiums for a long time, even before Obamacare.

O-Care is taking twice as much out of my pocket and I'm getting no more benefit.

I'm not getting anymore benefit either, outside of the lifetime cap going away and the fact that if was without insurance for a bit and contracted a serious health issue, I couldn't be denied coverage for a pre-existing condition. A close friend of mine who has been battling cancer and other health issues for years doesn't have to live in abject fear that their benefits will run out, or that if one premium payment is late that they'll lose coverage and be unable to get it again anywhere.

Plus, my health insurance doubled in the 5 years preceding Obamacare as well and I didn't get any of those benefits during that time.

I will never understand how a conservative can think it is a good thing to require an insurance company to disregard pre-existing conditions. It makes more sense for the government just to pay for the insurance for sick people than it does to force an insurance company to absorb the cost.

[AuburnEagle79 2,171]

Obama care is a tricky situation. In theory, it is an excellent idea. Many parts to it are reasonable. The idea that individuals with no access can have insurance and could take the burden off of ERs because they can finally have a private physician is nice. People with pre-existing conditions being able to not be denied is nice. The next president doesn't need to abolish it, but just modify it to address its pros and cons, just like any other successful program. And please no single payer system.

[TitanTiger 20,708]

Wages not keeping up with premiums

http://www.foxnews.c...ml?intcmp=hpbt1

They haven't been keeping up with premiums for a long time, even before Obamacare.

O-Care is taking twice as much out of my pocket and I'm getting no more benefit.

I'm not getting anymore benefit either, outside of the lifetime cap going away and the fact that if was without insurance for a bit and contracted a serious health issue, I couldn't be denied coverage for a pre-existing condition. A close friend of mine who has been battling cancer and other health issues for years doesn't have to live in abject fear that their benefits will run out, or that if one premium payment is late that they'll lose coverage and be unable to get it again anywhere.

Plus, my health insurance doubled in the 5 years preceding Obamacare as well and I didn't get any of those benefits during that time.

I will never understand how a conservative can think it is a good thing to require an insurance company to disregard pre-existing conditions. It makes more sense for the government just to pay for the insurance for sick people than it does to force an insurance company to absorb the cost.

It comes from a fundamental difference how healthcare is viewed. I look at our situation, how prosperous this country is, the fact that most of the time when you're talking about serious illnesses like cancer and other conditions that they are no fault of the person who has them, and that the #1 cause of personal bankruptcy in this country is medical bills and say that this is an untenable state of affairs. It's inexcusable that people would have to face being denied coverage and have to be drained absolutely bone dry or just die. It's inexcusable that anyone should have to choose between paying for treatment or prescription drugs or putting food on the table, or paying the rent.

Overall, I am conservative. But I'm not a slave to a political philosophy. Or better stated: I can adhere to a basic framework while still reserving the right to depart from it where I think it is deficient. On many matters I'm as conservative as ever, but over the years on other matters I've adopted more of a "what works" mentality. So if a more liberal idea seems to be the better path on something, then let's do that. If the Republicans have a better idea on something else, do that. If a more moderate take on something seems to be the best option, let's go for that. Whose camp it came from matters little to me.

But I do agree with your last sentence. I think eventually we'll end up with some sort of single-payer type of system. Hopefully if we do, we can improve upon the other systems that have been around for a while in Canada, Britain, Germany and places like that. We have a large body of history to analyze and see if we can make it work better. But I guess I'm of the mind now that decent healthcare shouldn't be a luxury.

[AUcivE09 582]

In order for this to work you have to trust the government to use your money properly. I dont trust either side to do that - because we have a large body of proof.

I would also like to correct the statement "let the government pay for it". The government pays for nothing.

The most obvious problem with this is you need at least equal money coming in as you have going out. I feel for cancer patients - I have watched the devastating results of cancer in my own family. This goes well beyond caring for cancer patients. BCBS use to offer a basic insurance for ~$80 per month. You could not go to the doctor with the sniffles - but it covered major medical. It seems to me that the better idea would be to subsidize that cost for those who couldn't afford $80/month and at least give them some assurance they wont die rather than give the same care to everyone at a cost that has doubled my premiums and increased out of pocket expenses fairly dramatically in some cases like from $100 to $350 for ER visits. My wife had 3 of these visits with complication during her pregnancy with our son, and she is pregnant with our second now.

We should have started by handing out the equivalent of a working used car rather than saying everything MUST be equal. Having to pull $1000 out of pocket on top of the $2000 for child birth isnt going to break me, but man its tough. I only had to pay ~$300 for the birth of our son pre-obamacare. Big difference between $600 and $3000.

[AUcivE09 582]

As for the OP - the selling point on the ACA, way back when, was that premiums had risen 10-15% over about a 10 year period and we needed to stop that. My premiums have gone up around 38% over the past year with more increases likely coming. I agree that people should have care even with pre-existing conditions and we could do something to help those less fortunate out - but this has been a disaster all seemingly just to keep a campaign promise passed by executive order.

[cptau 169]

We are being forced by the government to buy private health insurance coverage that are ACA compliant, but some of that coverage you will never need. Paying for child dental care and OB/GYN services when you are adult male is an example. It's suppose to keep the prices overall lower (cost sharing) and also cover people with chronic major medical conditions. ACA has real problems as it has not addressed the cost side of medical care and pharmaceutical prices are not even in scope.

It seems as though there is a shell game going on with the government forcing insurance companies to cancel ACA non compliant private plans, allowing some people access to subsidized polices with deductible so high they are not usable, and increasing the number of people on Medicaid. However if you are very ill and previously uninsurable, you can get private insurance coverage now. The overall number of uninsured people is still way too high

I'll be using Medicare in a year or so. Medicare has deductibles and ongoing premiums that must be paid to the government to obtain the coverage, so even as we have been paying for it all our working careers, it's not free. Just about everyone will have to buy a private Medi-Gap plan to cover the deductibles or go on a private comprehensive plan with maximum deductibles. And the pharmaceutical problem still has not been resolved.

[AURaptor 1,137]

And your insurance is still private-sector.

The govt came in and DICKtated to the private sector that it had to obey the new rules, period.

This is designed to fail, and the " cure " will be 100% total govt control. Don't believe me ? Obama himself said this very plan, before he was elected.

People prefer to believe the lie, even when they know the truth. Unfrakingbelievable.

" We may not get there immediately.

[TitanTiger 20,708]

And your insurance is still private-sector.

The govt came in and DICKtated to the private sector that it had to obey the new rules, period.

This is designed to fail, and the " cure " will be 100% total govt control. Don't believe me ? Obama himself said this very plan, before he was elected.

People prefer to believe the lie, even when they know the truth. Unfrakingbelievable.

" We may not get there immediately.

The government was dictating to the private insurers things they had to obey before. It's not like there was all this benevolent private insurance without any government interference or regulation and suddenly Obamacare changed everything.

[AURaptor 1,137]

Yes, ObamaCare did change everything.

How can you even think it didn't ? It's made our HC a complete train wreck.

[AU_Tiger_88 417]

And your insurance is still private-sector.

The govt came in and DICKtated to the private sector that it had to obey the new rules, period.

This is designed to fail, and the " cure " will be 100% total govt control. Don't believe me ? Obama himself said this very plan, before he was elected.

People prefer to believe the lie, even when they know the truth. Unfrakingbelievable.

" We may not get there immediately.

The government was dictating to the private insurers things they had to obey before. It's not like there was all this benevolent private insurance without any government interference or regulation and suddenly Obamacare changed everything.

more on the state level vice the federal level. There are still many problems in my opinion on how this law has been carried out. They haven't instituted the taxes yet on the cadillac plan or on the small business owners but don't you find it interesting that someone may work for someone who doesn't provide insurance who was supposed to be taxed on it because it was in the law but congress has delayed that implementation that the worker is the one being penalized because they still feel that paying into obamacare cost them more than what they get out of it?

The cadillac plans also have been delayed on being taxed. Now is that fair to the people who decided that their insurance options aren't as good as they had or they have lost their jobs and can't afford it? But still congress pushes that out year after year. And obama lets them without calling them out on it.

So to me this obama care crap is more about getting the insurance companies making more and more money than it is about providing healthcare to those who were never covered.

If this was about covering those who were never covered, it would have been cheaper to have the congress pass law that said can't be turned down because of pre-existing conditions, no caps on disease coverage, and then paid for those few million that are uninsured to get a basic policy for catastrophic care. Much cheaper overall....

[cptau 169]

And your insurance is still private-sector.

The govt came in and DICKtated to the private sector that it had to obey the new rules, period.

This is designed to fail, and the " cure " will be 100% total govt control. Don't believe me ? Obama himself said this very plan, before he was elected.

People prefer to believe the lie, even when they know the truth. Unfrakingbelievable.

" We may not get there immediately.

The government was dictating to the private insurers things they had to obey before. It's not like there was all this benevolent private insurance without any government interference or regulation and suddenly Obamacare changed everything.

more on the state level vice the federal level. There are still many problems in my opinion on how this law has been carried out. They haven't instituted the taxes yet on the cadillac plan or on the small business owners but don't you find it interesting that someone may work for someone who doesn't provide insurance who was supposed to be taxed on it because it was in the law but congress has delayed that implementation that the worker is the one being penalized because they still feel that paying into obamacare cost them more than what they get out of it?

The cadillac plans also have been delayed on being taxed. Now is that fair to the people who decided that their insurance options aren't as good as they had or they have lost their jobs and can't afford it? But still congress pushes that out year after year. And obama lets them without calling them out on it.

So to me this obama care crap is more about getting the insurance companies making more and more money than it is about providing healthcare to those who were never covered.

If this was about covering those who were never covered, it would have been cheaper to have the congress pass law that said can't be turned down because of pre-existing conditions, no caps on disease coverage, and then paid for those few million that are uninsured to get a basic policy for catastrophic care. Much cheaper overall....

The government basically gave the insurance companies cover. In the past if one insurance company agreed to cover uninsurable people with major cost conditions, then their policy rates had to go up to cover the added costs. Then their healthier policy holders would just move to lower cost insurance companies not providing coverage to the uninsurable. The government fixed that by regulating the coverage and protecting the insurance companies. Everyone is covered, everyone pays more, and the insurance companies keep making money.

The government would have been better off to allow those without insurance to enter Medicaid, but demand those that than can contribute some payment amount. However that completes with the private insurance companies and growing Medicaid puts the US on track to single payer further cutting out private insurance. That said Medicaid has significant problems now.

[alexava 6,974]

The insurance companies are still winning I guess. I think this has been a failure. I haven't felt it myself but I know people self employed or retired but not Medicare age that are being hit hard. It seems to have made it worse rather than affordable.