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Omg... I was not saying the housing mess was a result of Obamacare. I was stating that we had already been through a difficult relo because of the housing mess and that now we were going to have to pay for coverage of everyone else's healthcare.
Look, the facts are already there, layoffs are already in place, facilities are closing. It is already happening.
Of course I don't know EVERYTHING that goes on throughout my husband's industry, but I worked in the biomed industry for a few years, I understand slightly what is happening to our medical sector.
That part you have correct, it's just that with the ACA Law, you will have to pay less for that than you do now.
Well, they may not be talking about it, they are thinking about it....
If I'm sure of anything, I'm sure of that. One did say, "We're going to have to learn a new set of rules now". They know the rules for the insurance companies they accept.
I copied & pasted this from another thread I posted in... Obamacare has it's positives I believe, but I am struggling with this election as a whole for selfish reasons...
I have always been a Democrat, I supported ( note PAST tense) Obama and thought he would do good for our country.
For the 1st time since I was 18 years old , I am possibly thinking of votiing for the other side.
My husband is employed as an engineer in the Pharma/Medical Device industry and many people do not realize the impact Obamacare is going to have on the entire Medical sector.
How do people think it is going to get paid for?
I will tell you. They are taxing all medical device,medical supply & Pharma companies, to death.Literally. If the complete reform happens, these companies will be forced to pay millions of extra $ in taxes to help cover the cost to insure every American.
What this means is, many,many layoffs for these companies because they can't afford the extra costs to them in taxes, but also to cover the rise in healthcare ins. For their employees.
My husband's company has already announced they will be closing an R&D facility because they can't afford to keep it open, they have cut out all bonuses and any pay raises in anticipation of this happening.
I realize there are many that are worse off, and this is where I struggle with my decisions, but enough is enough quite honestly.
We have just been through a horrible relocation where we lost so much money on our home because of all the foreclosures that were in our previous area and we held 2 mortgages for 22 months while so many others walked away and were ALLOWED to do so with no consequences! We were continually told by the banks when we looked into trying to get a modification that a)" we can't help you, your husbands salary is too high, you don't need our help" and b) " You have never defaulted on a payment so you won't get a modification" moral of the story; Don't do the responsible thing because you won't get any help, be irresponsible, default on your responsibility to pay your mortgage, we will help you.
Now, my husband, who works hard ( just like all of you) and travels frequently and is away from his family for weeks sometimes, is in jeopardy of loosing his job , all to help other people?
How is that fair? Is the government going to bail out the Medical Sector? I think not. But, let's bail out the auto industry with tax payers money and then have the audacity to give out a bonus to them this past Winter because their profits are up!
Not only will Obamacare cost these companies so much money and force salary decreases and layoffs, it will at some point, have an impact on our overall quality of healthcare, because Dr's are going to have to foot part of the bill too. That means reduction in hospital & medicalmoffice staff , which is obvious what that will do for us as patients.
If these Medical supply & Device companies are going to have to pay higher taxes, you can bet they will pass that cost over to the buyers of these supplies & devices, right? which means, they may have to sacrifice quality....
It is all one big circle and while I believe that every American has the right to affordable healthcare, why should everyone else have to pay for it?
Unfortunately, this election, I am thinking about what is best for MY family and not what is best for EVERYONE else.
It seems, that if you are a blue collar worker ( no offense meant, it is the facts), you will get the help you need. However, if you are a white collar,professional, you don't need any help and oh, btw, you can help everyone else...
Everyone needs to pray because, if you get sick and need immediate attention in the Emergency, if you think the waits are outrageous now, wait until the hospitals start feeling the impact and have to work with reduced staff on reduced salaries. That will be a great combination for quality healthcare.
I sympathize with your concerns, but they are misguided because they are predicated on our inability to get a clear message out on what's at stake with health care in this country.
The layoffs and closures your husband's industry is suffering right now are because of current health care costs and policies. They're suffering now because of policies in place now, with a broken system that is inefficient and ineffective. The full Patient Protection Act doesn't go into effect until 2014. No one is closing up shop in anticipation of what might happen in more than a year. No one.
Paul Ryan used to talk about health care with the admonition that we need a program that is "patient focused." The problem for him became the fact that he couldn't distinguish a Republican idea of "patient focused" from the already patient focused Patient Protection Act, so you'll notice neither he nor Mitt Romney are campaigning against it anymore.
One of the ways Obamacare is to be funded is the excise tax on any medical device over $100. Now...anyone that has worked in device sales or the medical or biotech industry will surely know that literally EVERY device with exception to some hoses will be over 100 dollars. This added cost is causing a delay in hiring staff right now and has caused quite a few layoffs of sales staff at Stryker and some larger firms. On top of lost sales positions, the costs of the higher devices are going to be passed down through the cost of medical services and subsequently into insurance premiums.
As far as the national health care system being on the right course prior to Obamacare, I don't believe that was the case at all. Our healthcare system is fractured heavily with fraud being one of the biggest causes of price hikes. It works the same way in the auto insurance industy (which I work in as an independent actuary). Pricing models in both industries are impacted by heavy and lite fraud offsets. Now...medicaid and medicare have the largest amount of medical fraud and those are the areas that are managed exclusively by the government. Now...obviously correlation isn't always causation but the figures speak for themselves. I'm not saying that the government shouldn't be involved in some capacity as an intermediary for price gouging but Obamacare basically throws the baby out with the bathwater. We need some substantial reform, but I don't have the answer on how to do it.
First, allow me to share a friend's plea:
I do not love Obama. I wish there was a way a third party candidate could win, but they cannot. So, I will go to the booth on Tuesday and vote for Obama. It is not just a vote for him. It is a vote for FREEDOM. It is a vote for EQUALITY for people with disabilities this year. Romney's supposed healthcare plans can and will RUIN my life if he is able to pass them in Congress. I cannot afford to be without a wheelchair (privatizing Medicare virtually guarantees this will happen) or the ability to get out of bed, shower, brush my hair, teeth and other ADLs (activities of daily living). I will lose those if he chooses to cut federal funding to Medicaid. I have jobs. I go to school. I save taxpayers money by not being in a nursing home (something that is bound to happen to many in my situation if Medicaid funding is cut). I may even lose my house if Ash loses her job due to the Medicaid cuts. Romney has the ability to destroy my life, so voting for a third party candidate just ensures that Obama has one less vote in favor of him. Please consider voting FOR disability rights and FOR my future not to be compromised. Please consider voting Obama so I can LIVE life and be FREE!
Secondly, your assertions about fraud being more prevalent in Medicare than in the private sector is not only incorrect, but ignores several key facts: 1) Con artists will be con artists and try to rip off any system, government run or privately run, and 2) We can investigate and punish con artists working the Medicare system so that it keeps costs down for participants. The private insurance industry has no incentive to suss out the fraudsters and kick them out of the system, which increases the cost of everyone's private insurance to cover the losses they incur because of the ongoing fraud.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NYMD67
Sure, this articles states companies can make provisions,etc... Yep, they can. They can make devices with lesser quality substances and therefore produce a product that might work-yes, but , will it provide the QUALITY that patients need & deserve?
Think about it, where do you people think the extra $$ is going to come from to cover these taxes??
From us, you, me, your parents,your siblings,etc...
It is just ridiculous that people can't see that...
You assume the worst of your field — that they would compromise quality? I don't think that's the case.
As for where the money will come from, it will come from the narrowing of current price-gouging policies that allow private insurers to spend our health care premiums on enormous CEO pay and benefits, advertising, and other non-medical-related expenditures. The Patient Protection Act forces insurers to spend at least 85 percent of our premiums on actual health care instead of overhead; so now our premiums will pay your husband's medical device firm instead of paying Aetna's CEO. I don't know about you, but I kind of prefer that model.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NYMD67
Omg... I was not saying the housing mess was a result of Obamacare. I was stating that we had already been through a difficult relo because of the housing mess and that now we were going to have to pay for coverage of everyone else's healthcare.
Look, the facts are already there, layoffs are already in place, facilities are closing. It is already happening.
Of course I don't know EVERYTHING that goes on throughout my husband's industry, but I worked in the biomed industry for a few years, I understand slightly what is happening to our medical sector.
You've been paying for coverage for everyone else's health care for your entire life. With the Patient Protection Act in place, all those previously uninsured individuals and corporations who shirked their responsibilities and didn't get coverage until they had a medical emergency, will now be paying into the system for their own coverage. That, coupled with the directive that your premium dollars have to be spent on your health care, means you will not be paying for everyone else's insurance under the PPACA like you have been all along.
As for where the money will come from, it will come from the narrowing of current price-gouging policies that allow private insurers to spend our health care premiums on enormous CEO pay and benefits, advertising, and other non-medical-related expenditures. The Patient Protection Act forces insurers to spend at least 85 percent of our premiums on actual health care instead of overhead; so now our premiums will pay your husband's medical device firm instead of paying Aetna's CEO. I don't know about you, but I kind of prefer that model. You've been paying for coverage for everyone else's health care for your entire life. With the Patient Protection Act in place, all those previously uninsured individuals and corporations who shirked their responsibilities and didn't get coverage until they had a medical emergency, will now be paying into the system for their own coverage. That, coupled with the directive that your premium dollars have to be spent on your health care, means you will not be paying for everyone else's insurance under the PPACA like you have been all along.
In the perfect world, you would be correct. However, let's look at the reality. Considering that a) the first year penalty for not having health insurance will be $95, and b) insurance companies are required to cover pre-existing conditions, along with the cost of insurance premiums being exorbitantly high, how many people are going to forego health insurance until/unless they actually need it? Considering that Obamacare places no cap on insurance premiums, don't you think that Insurers are going to raise premiums in order to offset the cost of these "emergency buyers"?
As for the 85% rule, all that does is give the Insurance Companies yet another reason to raise premiums. After all, the CEOs aren't going to willingly give up their bonuses, so they'll have to figure out some way for those bonuses and "administrative costs" to be covered. By the simple application of rudimentary math, it's easy to figure out that if current administrative costs account for 40% of premiums, capping administrative costs at 15% while still paying outrageous salaries and bonuses to executives will lead to a drastic increase in the amount that Americans pay for health care.
In the perfect world, you would be correct. However, let's look at the reality. Considering that a) the first year penalty for not having health insurance will be $95, and b) insurance companies are required to cover pre-existing conditions, along with the cost of insurance premiums being exorbitantly high, how many people are going to forego health insurance until/unless they actually need it? Considering that Obamacare places no cap on insurance premiums, don't you think that Insurers are going to raise premiums in order to offset the cost of these "emergency buyers"?
As for the 85% rule, all that does is give the Insurance Companies yet another reason to raise premiums. After all, the CEOs aren't going to willingly give up their bonuses, so they'll have to figure out some way for those bonuses and "administrative costs" to be covered. By the simple application of rudimentary math, it's easy to figure out that if current administrative costs account for 40% of premiums, capping administrative costs at 15% while still paying outrageous salaries and bonuses to executives will lead to a drastic increase in the amount that Americans pay for health care.
You would think all that would be true, but it isn't turning out to be so, even in our less-than-perfect world.
In fact, many insurance companies have already lowered premiums to meet the PPA's 80/20 requirement, and those that haven't are refunding the difference to policy holders!
Note to self: Don't post on political forum when children are in room, you forget things.
My previous post was supposed to have a bit more in it, apparently my train of thought slightly derailed.
The third leg of the argument I previously posted is the following:
With Medicare payments to providers being cut in order to support Obamacare, the doctors who are still going to accept Medicare patients will have to find some way to offset the cost of providing nearly free care for those patients. This will be covered by increasing fees for patients with other insurance policies, which is going to contribute to a greater cost for the Insurance Companies. Needless to say, they aren't going to eat this cost, so it will, of course, be passed on to the consumers, who are now forced to buy insurance, no matter what the cost is.
In short, what it comes down to is that by endorsing Obamacare, you are effectively placing regulation of a profit-driven industry into the hands of a government that spends $600 for a toilet seat. Considering that our government wouldn't know what a profit was if it smacked them in the face, I don't see them as being the best solution for a regulatory body.
You would think all that would be true, but it isn't turning out to be so, even in our less-than-perfect world.
In fact, many insurance companies have already lowered premiums to meet the PPA's 80/20 requirement, and those that haven't are refunding the difference to policy holders!
The full effects of Obamacare have not hit yet. What the insurance companies are doing now is in no way indicative of what they will do once the PPA is fully in place. Considering that the Insurance Companies endorse Obamacare, I find it highly unlikely that it will affect their profit margin in a negative way. Remember, we are now going to be consumers by force, so no matter what they charge we will have to pay it. I am in no way convinced that multi-billion dollar corporations won't figure out a way to make the numbers look good while reaping massive profits.
The full effects of Obamacare have not hit yet. What the insurance companies are doing now is in no way indicative of what they will do once the PPA is fully in place. Considering that the Insurance Companies endorse Obamacare, I find it highly unlikely that it will affect their profit margin in a negative way. Remember, we are now going to be consumers by force, so no matter what they charge we will have to pay it. I am in no way convinced that multi-billion dollar corporations won't figure out a way to make the numbers look good while reaping massive profits.
I wish you were right about that. It would make it easier to throw them out of the equation and get to a single payer system that we need. Unfortunately, we will have to wait for that to happen. The public will eventually demand it, most want it now.
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