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this is true, and always has been, but there are far less expensive ways to gettruly affordable health insurance to the masses, without a super bloated government program that loads up on regulations and cost and still doesnt get everyone under the umbrella of insurance.
Obamacare removes choice from the marketplace. If you want a high deductible plan you used to be able to get one, but now the max out of pocket is around $6K. All of the cheaper plans are going to disappear. My plan is $80, but next year a comparable plan is $202; it's $138 for double my deductible.
ETA: I can get plans starting at $40-$50/month for a higher deductible and those plans might be suitable for some people, but those plans will no longer be offered.
ACA established a baseline for healthcare insurance. In doing so, the sub prime health care insurance policies that were being sold became obsolete. When one compares pre and post ACA costs one also needs to compare pre and post benefits. It's not apples to apples.
Just curious, what's the maximum out of pocket and lifetime deductible on your current policy?
What would you have done if you had been diagnosed with a nasty and your policy not renewed because you now has a preexisting condition and no other insurer would accept you?
A Cancer diagnosis could end up costing $1 million in treatments, over time, with no guarantee of outcome.
It was optional and you paid additional premium to have it.
Now it's not optional and everyone pays the additional premium, even guys.
The risk and cost of pregnancy is mutualized the same as it is under group policies.
Men, especially younger men, are far more likely to be involved in a serious auto accident. Despite all but one state requiring mandatory minimum auto insurance, the minimum amount of required insurance is a drop in the bucket compared to the medical costs associated with a serious accident.
Should First Responders determine if the 29 year old man pinned in his mangled car first determine if he carries adequate insurance to pay for the medical attention he will require before they use the jaws of life to extract him from the wreckage?
Should First Responders and all hospital and rehabilitative staff be required to save him on a pro bono basis because he chose to not take responsibility for his own healthcare insurance?
ACA established a baseline for healthcare insurance. In doing so, the sub prime health care insurance policies that were being sold became obsolete. When one compares pre and post ACA costs one also needs to compare pre and post benefits. It's not apples to apples.
Just curious, what's the maximum out of pocket and lifetime deductible on your current policy?
What would you have done if you had been diagnosed with a nasty and your policy not renewed because you now has a preexisting condition and no other insurer would accept you?
A Cancer diagnosis could end up costing $1 million in treatments, over time, with no guarantee of outcome.
That's a good point. People, in comparing prices aren't comparing what they got in benefits.
I agree with you on having dedicated medical panels for med mal cases. But $200K average premium? I'd say not typical. Of course as an internist I'm low risk, but as a typical doc I pay around $15K a year.
IMO tort reforms should be pursued as we docs have tried for many years. But I don't see tort reforms as lowering overall HC costs much in the long run. Worthwhile indeed, but may be only good for a few percent here and there. For instance it would do little for me and my practice.
Obstetricians and gynecologists have been the ones who paid amongst the highest rates, ranging from $85,000 to as much as $200,000, dependent on the number of patients. I have read a doctor in internal medicine pays an average of $20,000 per year.
My Ob/GYN gave up her private OB practice after 25 years because of the high cost of malpractice and eventually agreed to sell her practice to her affiliated hospital. This allowed her to once again practice OB and not be on call 24/7 as she was while in private practice.
It is increasingly common for MDs, especially in high risk specialties, to become employees instead of business owners/operators. When they do, they are covered under group mal practice policies maintained by their employers.
I will demand a repeal of the ACA when ALL of the diabetic fatso lardos with hardened arteries in flyover country stop eating Twinkies and supersized chili cheese fries hot dogs and get off the couches in their trailers to exercise.
25 million people in the U.S. are diagnosed with Diabetes. It's unlikely most of them live in trailer parks.
It is considered an epidemic in NYC where as many as 1/8th of the population has been diagnosed with diabetes and is growing at twice the national rate. NYC has a lower rate of obesity per capita than many metropolitan areas. The highest concentrations of obesity tend to be southern cities where more people ride in cars than walk.
Genetics, ethnicity ( white people have a substantially higher risk of diabetes1 ), weather and breast feeding are considered factors contributing to diabetes 1.
Genetics, ethnicity (black people have a substantially higher risk of diabetes 2) weather and most importantly obesity are factors of Diabetes 2.
Make that Insurance Companies. They wrote that in. Can't make money if the healthy people all sign up for cheap high deductible plans.
Those so called high deductible private plans also tended to have relatively low annual/lifetime caps and gave the insurer the right to decline to renew your policy if you developed a preexisting condition. In some states, the insurer was not allowed to drop you but could refuse to cover anything related to the diagnosed condition or subsequent complications.
Most folk who are diagnosed with something nasty were at one time, healthy. Too bad one can't opt into healthcare insurance, only when if they need it, eh.
The insurance companies lobbied against the ACA. The American Hospital Association on the other hand...
Some healthcare insurers lobbied against ACA because their "not worth the paper" policies became obsolete with the implementation of the ACA baseline of coverage.
The AHA was none too fond of some of the provisions within ACA that limited Medicare payments, for example patients readmitted within X days of discharge for the same condition.
Wait till the November/December corporate provided insurance renewal gets into full swing. Those people already covered are going to get the shock of their lives when premiums triple or quadruple, and deductible/copay amounts triple or quadruple.
How would you like for the plan being offered you is 40% of your current net pay? And the deductible is equal to or greater than your yearly AGI? And that's BEFORE ANY insurance coverage kicks in - and then you will be taxed on any coverage dollars you receive.
Such people would automatically become eligible for the state exchange and potential subsidy.
Many employers, especially retail and food services, loved to tout that they offered their employees subsidized healthcare insurance. Many of these policies were not worth the paper they were written on.
Deductibles were high. Caps on out of pocket expenses were high. And lifetime caps were ridiculously low.
Such policies no longer qualify for the ACA baseline.
It is necessary to compare and contrast benefits and cost to get a complete picture.
I think this is my biggest single frustration with the whole public discussion, that people who don't really know how the law works and what it does keep complaining about it anyway.
Most people do not understand insurance. And some of them are elected officials.
Most people do not understand there are 50 politically appointed insurance commissions making insurance law and no two states have the same laws.
The Federal government did a lousy job of attempting to educated people capable of being educated about ACA.
Misinformation filled the void.
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