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That was also part of Obama care under both Private Health Plans and Medicare. Will people now have to meet a deductible and have co-pays for procedures like a Mammogram or Colonoscropy? No free vaccinations? Forget birth control or pap tests.
All I have heard is that Ryan wants to keep the pre-existing conditions and children covered under 26. Everything else goes away?
Then will they still be "free" if I pay my premiums???
A wise friend once pointed out to me that there is no way to pay for all the medical care that people in the US want. It would take every penny of the gross domestic product and more. We have to decide what we we are willing to pay for and what should be available perhaps as riders for those willing to pay more.
First dollar coverage - the things that people want without having to pay a copay or deductible - is expensive. That is one of the things that has driven premiums higher and higher. It's like expecting your automobile insurance to pay for gasoline, tires, and all maintenance.
The idea was that by making some preventive services available with no out of pocket costs that people would be more likely to have them done and avoid problems down the road that would cost the insurance system more money. However, the folks that provide those services and the people who do the tests want to be paid. You can either pay a higher premium for them or you can pay with deductibles and co-payments, but you will pay for them, one way or another. The real hooker with Obamacare is that deductibles skyrocketed, meaning many people never met their deductibles and were just paying out of pocket for most outpatient care and paying higher premiums. The "free" stuff was trivial in the overall scheme of things.
I am old enough to remember when insurance was "hospitalization" insurance and people were admitted to the hospital to have "tests" done so insurance would cover it. Eventually it made more sense not to do such things as a hospital inpatient. Then more and more procedures that in the past were done with a several day hospital stay were moved to outpatient status, too. That also makes sense.
I think the patient must have skin in the game. Co-payments reduce the number of office visits for trivial things, like colds, which rarely need physician care. Deductibles and premiums need to be affordable. Right now for many people they are not. "Free" is just a buzzword.
It's not Ryan that wants to keep the pre-existing clause and keeping children up to age 26 on parents' policy. Ryan wants to repeal it 100%. It's Trump that wants to keep those 2 things.
Neither has mentioned wanting to keep the "free" preventative visits. This means they likely will go away even if the above 2 mentioned items stay.
There's no telling what the final outcome will be.
Then will they still be "free" if I pay my premiums???
They were "free" because many people's premiums were higher.
(I used to pay quite a bit for a mammogram. Now they are "free" but my premium is MUCH higher than what I used to pay out of pocket for the mammogram.)
exactly....all this speculation is just a waste of time.
Not a total waste of time. Some people will delay retirement if they are planning to retire prior to ave 65 when Medicare kicks in. They would delay retirement until a decision is made about repeal/replace.
With Obamacare today, if you retired early at least you could purchase health insurance and not worry about getting cancelled insurance if you get sick and then get a pre-existing condition where no insurance will cover you.
I am wondering if I will have to work a job with benefits in order to have access to health insurance(rather than retire early), if the pre-existing condition isn't retained. I really really don't want to work until age 65 and have enough money to live on during early retirement. But I don't want to risk being without health insurance and then, for example, at age 60 some big unexpected health issue occurs such as kidney failure and the need for a transplant or cancer with major costs for chemo and surgery. Without insurance, either you cannot get medical care(and die) or if you have savings you could be forced to use all savings to pay for big medical bills IF you have enough savings set aside. Neither of these options are decent.
I have all my fingers and toes crossed that the pre-existing conditions clause is kept intact. My high dollar job can go to someone else and I can retire with satisfaction that I can buy health insurance until age 65.
I would much rather pay out of pocket for routine office visits, pap smears, etc. in exchange for lower premiums and a plan that covers the things that are truly out of reach such as hospitalizations, surgery, etc. It will be interesting to see what happens with Obamacare. Trump is a wildcard. I have no idea how things will play out.
I am already seeing sob stories in the media about people distraught over the possibility of losing their insurance. Republicans will not be able to completely repeal ACA because the public won't support it. Americans will be more sympathetic to that cancer survivor than to insurance companies. If they appear to be too callous; the public will be angry in 2018.
Reforms are needed but unless they address the root of the problem in US health insurance, it won't be fixed. We really need to end employer based primary health insurance. I'm not saying single payer but this system of people being upon work for such an essential product has to end. No other insurance product is sold this way. Health insurance adds so much cost to the American employer that they have problems competing in the marketplace.
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