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I read some various blogs, some of them ER doc blogs. Once you read those, it becomes readily apparent who is abusing the ERs. They have some people who will literally come in every single day and at times, multiple times a day. They tend to be primarily homeless and primarily drug users. Let's be realistic. These people are not going to get mandated insurance or even Medicaid. So, the problem remains unsolved.
Medicaid patients are mostly those who abuse the system, not the ones who don't have any insurance.
The reason is simple - medicaid is usually not taken by the majority of doctors and it is easier to go to the ER than to drive 50 miles or wait 6 months for an appointment.
Illegals abuse ER mostly in the states where they are the majority of the population in the area.
If they are not the majority, they use urgent clinics and walk-in clinics for routine and ER only for the emergency.
Homeless and drug abusers use ERs as shelters - true, but they are not the main problem - statistically.
Where I live the ER of the main hospital was given a silent nod that they do not have to always provide the top-notch treatment, and so they do. Same was "nodded" to the police - they do not bring homeless to the ER now, just leave them if they found them overdosed.
Somewhat inhumane, but...
you think that working on new insurance policies is a work completed overnight?
you, probably, do, as does all the incompetent left, that is why thier website which had more than half of billion dollars spent on it is not working
Insurers were NOT selling non-compliant plans for 2014
Their plans were MUCH BETTER than this crap under obamacare.
they prepared the plans for 2014 to be compliant with this crap and that is why they cancelled the previous policies, which were much, much, much better than this.
They can not simply return to the previous policies - they do not exist anymore
Kaiser reports that the average employee contribution to their employer's group healthcare cost is $ 4,565 in 2013. That's an 89% increase in the cost of contribution since 2003 and had nothing to do with ACA.
Where is the average Joe going to come up with an average cost of $18,000 a year for comparable insurance? The cost of insurance is not likely to decline because the cost of healthcare/medical inflation continues to increase 7-8% each year.
ACA was designed to be the least disruptive way to introduce a mild reform of U.S. healthcare. The more people insured and taking advantage of routine preventative services, the better the long term outcomes. Catching a cancer in the early stage is less costly to treat and significantly increases the survival rate. Those without insurance or the means to pay cash, usually do without preventative care and in doing so put themselves and their families into a more uncertain position.
You say it was the least disruptive way but that was nothing more than theory and conjecture. One of the issues is the comprehensive nature of the insurance required which is frankly one of the reasons it costs so much to to cover all of these high risk people (which we all get to pay for now).
They could have had just basic catastrophic as required elements and most individual policies would have been qualified. That's the argument, right? That the uninsured have a way of getting medical care for hospitalization and major illness? It would not have been fantastic insurance but it would have kept people out of bankruptcy and would have solved the issue with these so-called junk policies. Then people would not have had their policies cancelled for something like maternity which has always been a rider on individual insurance policies. Makes me think the addition of maternity was intentional in order to force these cancellations. I think the Obama administration tried to pull a fast one, so sure that the people would simply lie down and take it. Such hubris. So least disruptive? Hardly. Especially with the way they decided to implement this already flawed law.
I have read this before. There are also articles out there that say Romney was never in favor of a mandate or healthcare or gun control but did not fight it. He had the experience to know he was not going to win and let it go.
Romney and Obama share some similar traits in that neither is especially social or willing to work with the opposition, unless absolutely necessary. They both seem to trend a tad paranoid, too. I do think Romney's business experience , good, bad and ugly, better positioned him to surround himself with better people than Obama has done.
Medicaid patients are mostly those who abuse the system, not the ones who don't have any insurance.
The reason is simple - medicaid is usually not taken by the majority of doctors and it is easier to go to the ER than to drive 50 miles or wait 6 months for an appointment.
Illegals abuse ER mostly in the states where they are the majority of the population in the area.
If they are not the majority, they use urgent clinics and walk-in clinics for routine and ER only for the emergency.
Homeless and drug abusers use ERs as shelters - true, but they are not the main problem - statistically.
Where I live the ER of the main hospital was given a silent nod that they do not have to always provide the top-notch treatment, and so they do. Same was "nodded" to the police - they do not bring homeless to the ER now, just leave them if they found them overdosed.
Somewhat inhumane, but...
Yes, this is the system that some people want us to expand and have for all Americans? The reimbursement rates are ridiculously low and that's why doctors can't afford to take Medicaid patients.
The truth is that the people who abuse the ER now will continue to do so in the future even with Obamacare. So how did Obamacare fix this problem? It doesn't.
if the obamacare would affect only those on the individual plans market - then the ones in the employer policies won't be affected, and they are, extremely and not to the good side.
Same is the LIE that the vast majority of plans before were crappy ones. A LIE. some were, but those being cancelled now - were good plans, much better than the ones offered NOW under this crap obamacare.
These cancer patients are extremely "happy" with obamacare :
All I ask is that you drop the pretense that you are a moderate with no partisan inclinations. We know this not to be true from your posts. Can we at least ask you to be honest for once?
I am what I am.
Read my views on immigration reform and the death penalty, sometime.
Going back to the 80's the conservative Heritage Foundation advocated for a mandate and that healthcare was a human right. That position held for 20+ years before the Murdoch and Koch money influenced their positions on things that matter.
To the original OP,
The ACA is NOT FOR PEOPLE WHO ALREADY HAVE INSURANCE.
Does everyone understand that?
Why is it so difficult for people to grasp that idea?
It is for working people WHO DON"T HAVE HEALTH INSURANCE.
If you have insurance, you don't qualify for the ACA.
I don't know how many times people have to hear this until they get it
through their heads.
LET ME GIVE you an example of junk insurance, the policies they are now
cancelling,
My daughter was hired this year working for a BIG supermarket here in
SOUTH Carolina, and after 90 days she was eliglble for Health Insurance.
She would pay 300 a month for a plan and the benefits were this,
the plan would pay 2,000.00 for any one hospital stay, there was a I
10,000 deductable for doctor visits, and no prescription benefits.
THAT IS JUNK INSURANCE. She makes 10 an hr and pays 300 a month for
that? Now do you understand what junk insurance is?
Her BIG company had to upgrade her health insurance due to the ACA law
because it was a junk insurance policy. Now she has a wonderful health plan
under BCBS.
So, if you have health insurance that you like, and I'M NOT GOING TO HAVE
TO BAIL the hospital out if you get sick and can't pay your hospital bill, you keep it.
You do know if you have junk insurance and don't pay your hospital bill that I PAY FOR
it? The taxpayers pay for people who don't have insurance and can't pay their bills.
That is why the AFA was enacted, to take the burden off of the hospitals being left
holding the bag for uninsured people.
True for now, but for those with insurance through their employers the big date is 1/1/14. If your plan is not ACA compliant at that time, your policy will be cancelled. The CBO has estimated 40 percent of people who get employer based health insurance will lose it.
I am what I am.
Read my views on immigration reform and the death penalty, sometime.
Going back to the 80's the conservative Heritage Foundation advocated for a mandate and that healthcare was a human right. That position held for 20+ years before the Murdoch and Koch money influenced their positions on things that matter.
Honestly, who cares? The American public looked at the law Obamacare and knew it was a bad plan. They loudly and emphatically told their Representatives they did not want this law. Republicans listened to their constituents and voted against this debacle. So who cares what a think tank came up with 30 years ago? Did all of you on the left think we would honestly support a law such as Obamacare simply because the Heritage Foundation once thought this was the way to go 30 years ago? Well, I can attest we did not.
Yes, this is the system that some people want us to expand and have for all Americans? The reimbursement rates are ridiculously low and that's why doctors can't afford to take Medicaid patients.
The truth is that the people who abuse the ER now will continue to do so in the future even with Obamacare. So how did Obamacare fix this problem? It doesn't.
Of course. This was already proven by the results of romneycare, where the ER visits increased 25% after it was started.
The purpose of the law was NOT to curtail costs, was NOT to provide insurance to those who don't have it - what is the purpose of the insurance if nobody takes it( NH situation), but was solely to sell out the middle class to the big businesses which insurance companies are.
as demorats ALWAYS do - they sell the middle class to the big pockets, which flourish under democrat administrations.
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