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I'm the opposite. I couldn't WAIT to sign up for Obamacare.
I have a complex pre-existing condition. But I was tied to a job I was tired of, and STUCK in, with a one-hour commute each way. ONLY because of health insurance. My job wouldn't let me transfer to a location closer to me, because it's harder to fill positions where I was.
As soon as Obamacare took effect, I purchased a policy, quit my job, and took two part-time jobs - one with the geriatric population in the day, and with the pediatric population in the evening.
The insurance is on-par with what I had with my former FT job. And I'm much happier career-wise, with a shorter commute and more flexible schedule. So it has worked out for me.
SAME! Only I didn't quit my job. However, Obamacare has freed Americans from staying with jobs that we don't particularly enjoy - or hate.
We can move now and not worry about "lapses in coverage".
So if you are diagnosed with leukemia tomorrow, your church is willing to shoulder the $1 million dollar medical burden AND help keep you afloat due to lost wages?
In my synagogue, we'd wish you well and offer support in the form of food and comfort, but point out that you were IRRESPONSIBLE for not taking advantage of the opportunities available to you. That's a horrible burden you are putting on the families in your church.
If I were diagnosed with leukemia tomorrow, I'd not say one word. Just like the broken knee I've been working on for 4 weeks now. They have no idea or they'd try to send me to the hospital (which is too late, the patella is fused back together now.
And yes, if someone were to contract something like that, we'd just take care of them if they asked. NO questions asked.
Yeah, Obamacare is terrible. I just bought a Platinum, $0 deductible insurance plan with no subsidy, for $275/mo. My previous coverage was a $5,000 deductible policy for $225/mo.
If I were diagnosed with leukemia tomorrow, I'd not say one word. Just like the broken knee I've been working on for 4 weeks now. They have no idea or they'd try to send me to the hospital (which is too late, the patella is fused back together now.
And yes, if someone were to contract something like that, we'd just take care of them if they asked. NO questions asked.
So they'd know at your funeral that you were too irresponsible to secure health insurance when it is possible and available to you. You wouldn't have 4 weeks to putz around - you'd be dead by then. Hopefully they would pity you enough to help pay for a funeral and perhaps help take care of your kids, if you had them.
It's easy to think these things won't happen to you. So did I. Thank goodness when I was denied health insurance on the private market due to preexisting conditions when I was 22, I had the foresight to know that even as a young person, I needed health insurance so I took a low paying job 1000 miles away that offered benefits. 4 months later, stage IV cancer. With the ACA, you have no excuse.
So they'd know at your funeral that you were too irresponsible to secure health insurance when it is possible and available to you. You wouldn't have 4 weeks to putz around - you'd be dead by then. Hopefully they would pity you enough to help pay for a funeral and perhaps help take care of your kids, if you had them.
It's easy to think these things won't happen to you. So did I. Thank goodness when I was denied health insurance on the private market due to preexisting conditions when I was 22, I had the foresight to know that even as a young person, I needed health insurance so I took a low paying job 1000 miles away that offered benefits. 4 months later, stage IV cancer. With the ACA, you have no excuse.
I actually have cancer...melanoma that once was looked at, I was warned and cest la vis (nine years ago).
I was responsible enough to care for other people's children instead of having "my own" (they're all mine), so no worries there...I'm worth more dead than alive so it would only benefit the church (monetarily) if I died...of course, they'd have to find someone else to work in the nursery every other week.
I'm not a young person, I'm not an old person. I'm in between. I'm not interested in living this life one more second than I have to.
Taking something just because it's available doesn't make it right. I took a stand against something that will destroy the middle class in this country...a lot of us have.
Last edited by DeannaC; 03-30-2014 at 08:58 AM..
Reason: syntax
Because this one insurance requirement requires a portion of the people that are forced to pay for it: to subsidize the costs of a percentage of those covered that are not and will not have to pay for it.
When I pay for homeowner's insurance, part of the money I am paying does not get re-directed towards buying homes and insuring those that do not own homes and/or have homeowner's insurance.
When I pay for auto insurance, the amount paid is not based on my income and none of the premium is used to cover other people that are driving but do not pay for insurance. It also does not fund the purchasing of vehicles for those that do not currently own one.
As a contract employee - the purchasing of liability insurance does not include an amount that is used to pay for liability insurance for other contract employees that do not have coverage.
That's the problem with it -- in order for many millions to get completely FREE health care, no copays, no deductibles of any kind, many others have to pay an incredible amount for health care they don't even use.
What if you or your child are diagnosed with leukemia tomorrow? That's $1 million dollars for the two years of chemotherapy needed - more if you require a bone marrow/stem cell transplant. Do you have that in the bank, ready to self insure?
I went to a young adult cancer conference today and gave a friend a ride home. In the car, we were discussing how much our respective treatments for Hodgkin's lymphoma and ALL cost. From diagnosis to the end of my 6 months of chemo, my treatment cost $250,000 and 3 years later is up to $500,000 due to scans and treatment for long term side effects. She is finishing her year of chemo tomorrow (which has cost over $500,000 - over $36,000 for EACH chemo infusion) and then will begin a year of maintenance chemo which will likely be another $500,000. Those figures include weekly doctors appointments (and the weekly blood work that goes along with it), medications, intermittent hospital visits for infections, fevers, and other complications during treatment.
She just had her 22nd birthday and I'm 26. **** happens.
And sometimes it happens so fast, you can't do anything to mitigate the damages. Could I have left the country for 6 months for treatment? Theoretically, though I had to work full time to pay for what my insurance didn't cover. With ALL, she walked into the ER because she was really short of breath and had to start her year of chemo THAT NIGHT. Good luck waiting until the next open enrollment period. If either of us had to wait for open enrollment periods, we'd be dead.
Very, very, very few people could self-insure for instances like ours. Do you really feel confident it won't be you, your spouse, or your child? Because no one in either my nor my friend's biological families had cancer. We were young. We were healthy. And then we got sick in the blink of an eye.
What really needs to happen is the costs should go down. Why does it now cost nearly $10,000 for a normal uncomplicated vaginal birth?
First I want to say that I'm a Democrat and like President Obama very much.
BUT - I cannot tolerate being FORCED to give free money to the insurance megaliths by participating in the Affordable Care Act. I've always saved for and paid for health care with my own money, and want to continue to do so.
I've been waiting and thinking. Then my local paper published the following regarding the fine for not participating. It's only $95 or 1% of your taxable income!
So why would anyone even WANT to participate unless you need to feed off the federal trough? For me the fine will be less than $400. Compare that to shelling out about $6500 a year for NOTHING, and having to pay a $10,000 deductible on top of that if anything major were to happen to me. And that doesn't even include anything for optical or dental care!
I've been wondering how they're going to hunt down and identify all of us who don't have insurance, anyway. Will they force doctors and hospitals to rat us out?
Anyway, I see no reason to sign up for health insurance per the "Affordable Care Act". Are any of you out there joining me in my act of civil disobedience?
"The Obamacare penalty amount for individuals not having health insurance is small at first. The fines for not having Obamacare, however, will rise sharply as the years go on. The penalty amount for 2014 is whichever is greater: $95 or 1% of your income.
Also, you must add an additional $95 per adult and $47.50 per child, up to $285 per family. The fine increases in 2015 to $325 per adult or 2% of family income. In 2016 and beyond, the Individual Mandate penalty amount goes up to $695 per adult or 2.5% of family income."
There was a real good article in our paper this morning from "The Record" in Hackensack, NJ that I can't find online.
The enforcement will be for your to claim that you don't have coverage on your tax returns and if you cannot say you have coverage, the penalty will be accessed. The penalty is only going to continue to go up. True, premiums will be more $, but then you will have coverage for your potential catastrophic financial losses. I believe the only reason people are opting TO pay the penalty is because they haven't had to pay yet.
Pushing out the deadline is not that new or special, when you lose coverage per HIPAA, you generally have 90 days to secure coverage anyway, it's the least they can do with all the problems the govt website has had.
From what I'm reading the only way to game the system is to structure your payroll tax so you don't get refunds. It would be my guess that this loophole will be closed up in a couple years.
"Hospitals and drs aren't going to "demand" money from those who cannot pay for treatment. "
--Unless less you are indigent- YES THEY DO!
"The ER by law has to treat a patient. This has zilch to do with ACA. My brother worked as an ER surgeon in NYC and yes, those treated from other countries, i.e. illegals, were still treated. bcs its the law. And they weren't hounded by "collection agencies". LOL."
--Does your brother work in Billing? If not how would he know. If there is money to be recouped, "hounding" WILL occur
I hope OP doesn't age, lives in an oxygen bubble and never goes out. Then perhaps he won't need the coverage he isn't buying. Something tells me that fast forward a couple years OP may have a different perspective.
That's the problem with it -- in order for many millions to get completely FREE health care, no copays, no deductibles of any kind, many others have to pay an incredible amount for health care they don't even use.
Though I believe health care delivery and insurance is entirely out of whack. That's how all insurance works!
What really needs to happen is the costs should go down. Why does it now cost nearly $10,000 for a normal uncomplicated vaginal birth?
Costs are so high because there is a titanic system to milk. And as the system grew, the corporate "health care" industry milkers created a demand far above and beyond that which is reasonable and necessary....by tapping into the fears of the gullible.
Obamacare not only does nothing about costs - it criminalizes opting out of the very system that has created this nightmare and protects and perpetuates it by law. It is the equivalent of fighting a fire with kerosene.
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