Covered California Rate Increase 12.5% for 2018 (Freedom: automobile, island, millionaires)

[CaliRestoration]

So why are they raising rates?

Originally Posted by CA4Now

The bottom line is premium increases in the range of 16% to 30%.

[CA4Now]

Originally Posted by CaliRestoration

So why are they raising rates?

Read the article from which the quotation was taken.

It's a for-profit industry, right? Gotta make money off the backs of sick people.

[CaliRestoration]

Originally Posted by CA4Now

Read the article from which the quotation was taken.

It's a for-profit industry, right? Gotta make money off the backs of sick people.

Uh, you mean the article you posted which said...

a background increase in medical costs of 7% across the board

Sounds like as a free market business they are facing increased cost, and LESS FORCED participation which is decreasing their user pool.

Why did you leave out that part? That doesn't sound like simple profit seeking.

[CA4Now]

Originally Posted by CaliRestoration

Why did you leave out that part?

"Leave out"? It's part of the estimated increase for Trumpcare '19. And not only is it stated right there in the L.A. Times article, it's detailed in the report embedded in the article.

[CA4Now]

Some reminders of life before Obamacare:

What health care and health insurance was like before Obamacare | Charlotte Observer

[CaliRestoration]

Originally Posted by CA4Now

"Leave out"? It's part of the estimated increase for Trumpcare '19. And not only is it stated right there in the L.A. Times article, it's detailed in the report embedded in the article.

There is no TrumpCare, that's a made up fantasy term. The only thing Trump changed was getting rid of the individual mandate.

What you're seeing is OBAMACare when people aren't forced to buy it.

[CA4Now]

"The pitchforks are changing hands. In 2009, it was Democratic members of Congress supporting health-care reform who were set upon by outraged constituents. When they passed the Affordable Care Act anyway, it cost their party control of Congress in the 2010 midterm elections. House Republicans subsequently voted more than fifty times to repeal or cripple the A.C.A. Nineteen Republican-led states spurned the offer of federal funds to expand Medicaid coverage. In January, Donald Trump’s first act as President was to order government agencies to avoid implementing, as much as is legally possible, what has become known as Obamacare.

But Obamacare, it turns out, has done a lot of good. It guarantees that people with pre-ëxisting health conditions cannot be rejected by insurers or charged more than others. It has reduced the number of uninsured people by twenty million. It has increased access to primary care, specialty care, surgery, medicines, and treatment for chronic conditions. Patients are less likely to skip needed care because of the cost. As a result, according to studies conducted at Harvard, the A.C.A. is saving tens of thousands of lives each year."

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2...e-vs-obamacare

[CA4Now]

Originally Posted by CaliRestoration

There is no TrumpCare, that's a made up fantasy term. The only thing Trump changed was getting rid of the individual mandate.

What you're seeing is OBAMACare when people aren't forced to buy it.

Trump removed one of the three principles on which Obamacare was built: the individual mandate, to enforce personal responsibility for healthcare costs. Without it, the ACA can’t function the way it was designed. Trump broke it; it’s his now.

[CaliRestoration]

Originally Posted by CA4Now

Trump removed one of the three principles on which Obamacare was built: the individual mandate, to enforce personal responsibility for healthcare costs. Without it, the ACA can’t function the way it was designed. Trump broke it; it’s his now.

Trump fixed it. Now people have a choice. It's called freedom.

The very fact that ACA needed to force people to buy it shows that it had no market in the first place, hence the rising costs to keep it going.

[CaliRestoration]

Our system is a mess because of how insurance companies and medical providers interact, not capitalism.

Doctors over treat and over bill because there is no price transparency. Pharmaceutical companies overcharge for drugs knowing insurance companies will pay. They both rely on the fact that nobody complains when they see the bill because they aren't paying it, it's all covered by the insurance.

To truly fix healthcare, the solution is not to FORCE people to buy it. The solution is greater information transparency.

Giving our healthcare system to the government is the opposite direction we want to go. Has anyone seen the VA and the mess it is in? Why would you want our entire healthcare system subject to that inefficiency?

You want to lower prices? You want more accessible healthcare? Let the invisible hand do its job. Create an environment for competition, and free choice. In the end you will get a much better product.

But what do I know, I'm only a multi-millionaire who cashed out YUGE following those principals in my business career.