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I have friends in Nevada who owned a doggie day care and dog training center, they put everything they had in it. This was pre ACA, they didn't have much money for anything else but bought a health insurance plan that they thought would meet their needs. The man got very ill and was in the ICU for almost 3 months, their insurance plan had an annual cap of $50,000. The medical bills were over $500,000. They liquidated everything to pay the bill, sold their business and still had a $300,000 balance. They ended up filing bankruptcy and moving into their motorhome which they parked on his brother's property. Getting sick should never devastate lives like that. With the ACA their max out of pocket would be around $12 k something they could have managed to pay without losing everything they owned.
Not if any of the services provided were performed by/at an out of network Dr or facility. Of course, this means you're screwed if you travel anywhere at all outside your network area and get sick or injured. There is no cap on out of network Obamacare plan health care costs. The exact same scenario you just described can still also happen under Obamacare.
It ceased being a free market system when Obamacare got signed.
It's now government regulated and mandated.
If it was a "free market system" then we'd still have our old plans available.
It wasn't a free market system BEFORE Obamacare got signed. Every state had regulations and mandates. And if the insurance companies saw an opportunity to get more money from the market at the cost of your old plans, they wouldn't be available. Medicine/Insurance for profit is the problem, not the solution.
Putting everyone on Medicare won't fix it. We don't have the funding.
Everyone could take the $1trillion they spend on private healthcare now, spend half of that on taxes to fund expanded Medicare, and pocket the other half.
Quote:
Originally Posted by HappyTexan
If it was a "free market system" then we'd still have our old plans available.
Unless insurance companies dumped or modified the plans because they weren't profitable enough, as they regularly did well before Obamacare.
P.S. A free market is usually defined as informed buyers and sellers freely agreeing on a price with full consent. There has never been, and could never be, a free market health care system.
Quote:
Originally Posted by eqttrdr
if you have to pay a penalty if you choose to opt out of something "optional" is that really freedom of choice?
If your life depends on receiving a service, can there be any true freedom of choice?
It wasn't a free market system BEFORE Obamacare got signed. Every state had regulations and mandates. And if the insurance companies saw an opportunity to get more money from the market at the cost of your old plans, they wouldn't be available. Medicine/Insurance for profit is the problem, not the solution.
Free enough that you could by a catastrophic plan for very little that covered hospital stays.
Free enough that healthy students in college could buy just enough coverage to see them through emergencies. (That's the type of plan I had in college).
It was free enough that people had choices of coverage for the premiums paid.
Now..it's Bronze or bust.
The key piece of "free market" .
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_market
"...the laws and forces of supply and demand are free from any intervention by a government, price-setting monopoly, or other authority. "
Everyone could take the $1trillion they spend on private healthcare now, spend half of that on taxes to fund expanded Medicare, and pocket the other half.
Would you guarantee that my supposed health care tax would equal only half what I spend on medical care each year? If so, I'd take that deal. It would be significantly less than what I have to pay (premium + deductible) for an Obamacare plan now.
Everyone could take the $1trillion they spend on private healthcare now, spend half of that on taxes to fund expanded Medicare, and pocket the other half.
Unless insurance companies dumped or modified the plans because they weren't profitable enough, as they regularly did well before Obamacare.
P.S. A free market is usually defined as informed buyers and sellers freely agreeing on a price with full consent. There has never been, and could never be, a free market health care system.
If your life depends on receiving a service, can there be any true freedom of choice?
There's a lot more to "free market" than price.
Obamacare killed any and all alternatives when they defined what minimum coverage was for all Americans.
Why does a 65 year old man have to pay for maternity coverage, pediatric coverage, pediatric dental ?
The "choice" was removed from both Americans and Insurance companies.
Free enough that you could by a catastrophic plan for very little that covered hospital stays.
Free enough that healthy students in college could buy just enough coverage to see them through emergencies. (That's the type of plan I had in college).
It was free enough that people had choices of coverage for the premiums paid.
Now..it's Bronze or bust.
The key piece of "free market" .
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_market
"...the laws and forces of supply and demand are free from any intervention by a government, price-setting monopoly, or other authority. "
I think you are looking through rose-colored glasses at the "good old days".
Because medical pricing isn't transparent, and because the negotiations between insurers and medical providers aren't transparent, the principles of a free market never operated in the health care industry. Moreover, insurance plans, whether for your home, car, or healthcare, tend to very non-transparent. Which is why people's claims were denied so frequently, and an entire legal industry was spawned to help consumers navigate insurance claims.
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