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For the life of me, I cannot understand why politicians keep saying they will "repeal" Obamacare. IMO, that is a bad statement to make. I have yet to hear a viable plan from any of them to replace it. If they actually had a better plan, I can see them saying something like "We will replace the ACA with a new & improved plan that will do blah, blah, blah". However, there are people who are currently using Obamacare, for better or worse, and just to say they are going to repeal it and leave it at that, it's like "yeah, and then what? Then what am I going to do?"
Besides being a horrible political move, I think it is just downright disingenuous. You can't just yank away health insurance coverage from people and a system years in the making and leave it at that.
But the people who want ObamaCare repealed pretty strongly believe that everybody should stand up proud and straight and pay for their own health care. Simply as that.
Well it's a terrible law that is going to reduce overall longevity and health of Americans.But repealing it only to replace with some other govt managed fiasco is a terrible idea.
Repeal and get govt out of our health care all together.
What civilized country on earth keeps government out of all heath care?
For the life of me, I cannot understand why politicians keep saying they will "repeal" Obamacare. IMO, that is a bad statement to make. I have yet to hear a viable plan from any of them to replace it. If they actually had a better plan, I can see them saying something like "We will replace the ACA with a new & improved plan that will do blah, blah, blah". However, there are people who are currently using Obamacare, for better or worse, and just to say they are going to repeal it and leave it at that, it's like "yeah, and then what? Then what am I going to do?"
Besides being a horrible political move, I think it is just downright disingenuous. You can't just yank away health insurance coverage from people and a system years in the making and leave it at that.
Imagine all those millions of people who would get their old insurance plans back at lower prices with far superior coverage and benefits though? That's the one thing supporters of the ACA like yourself seem to constantly miss is that millions of Americans lost their health insurance because of the ACA. Millions more than those who got health care but couldn't afford it previously. All those millions who lost their health care plans, were then without coverage and forced to sign up with the ACA. Now, they can pretend they helped those people and count them in the statistics of new signups, but if they hadn't enacted the ACA those millions of signups wouldn't have lost their cheaper and superior plans in the first place. Never forget that the insurance corporations gave 8:1 more to Obama than McCain because they wanted the ACA passed. They also spent millions lobbying for the ACA on Obama's watch. If that doesn't raise a red flag in your mind, then there's no hope for you.
Nonsense, the problem was CREATED by health insurance and government action/interference. And no problem can be fixed by just adding more of the ,"cause".
Before the Grand invention of soup to nuts healthcare "insurance", people paid for the majority of what is now included in insurance, out of pocket. Back then " insurance" was called ,"hospitalization", which covered illness/injury requiring a hospital visit only, and not doctor"s office visits for colds, aches, pains and erectile disfunction (not that erectile problems aren't important, I just don't want to pay for yours). Consequently, given no insurance to cover that stuff, costs had to remain at levels for which the average person could afford ...
Then came the all inclusive "insurance" which was a deliberately designed scam to feed the healthcare industry and satisfy it's voracious appetite for money, by creating large pools of funds to be tapped by the healthcare industry at higher and higher levels that no individual could afford to pay out of pocket. The result is the obnoxiously absurd levels we see today, which, BTW, has increased at multiple times the rate of inflation, and dramatically outpacing any other industry in existence. Add to this fraud, a god damned mandate, and no other result could have ever been a possibility other than costs shooting through the roof.
Insurance is the reason why a relatively simple procedure that should cost $2,000, and affordable ... Now costs $35,000.
And for all you big advocates of the industry who constantly tout the Magnificent accomplishments of modern medicine ... Houston, we have a problem ... if the industry was doing such a great job, we the people would be getting "Weller" not "sicker" and the costs would be going down, not exploding.
But that was not part of the plan. We are seeing EXACTLY what the industry did have planned.
Nonsense. Total annual spending in the US for health care is $3.2 trillion. That is what is paid for doctors, hospitals, drugs, clinics, rehabilitation, nursing homes, etc. That cost is independent of who or how it is paid - it is the amount billed to the patient. Since there are 320 million people in the USA, that comes out to about $10,000 per person per year in annual spending on healthcare. That figure has nothing to do with how it is paid for (through insurance, by the government, or by an individual). That figure has not changed much since ACA came into existence.
Since insurance is a way to pool costs so that everyone pays the average, you should expect your premiums to be about $10,000 per year. And that is pretty near what I am paying at the moment and pretty near what many plans costs under ACA.
Insurance companies add to that cost because they are the one who pool together everyone and pay the providers for the health care. For that they add on 10% or so. Basically they are a conduit for paying medical bills and they skim some off the top.
If you want to lower the cost of health care, you have to lower that $3.2 trillion figure. That figure has nothing to do with insurance companies and has everything to do with the fact that health care has gotten to be a very lucrative business. The mark-up for drugs, saline, artificial joints, etc is astronomical. Hospitals all used to be non-profit. Most of them now are for-profit.
And yes, while we are at it we should get rid of insurance companies and eliminate that 10% surcharge we all pay. But don't kid yourself that insurance companies are the reason our national healthcare bill is $3.2 trillion.
Cool. So a family of five pays $50,000?
In the absence of insurance, doctors could charge what people could pay and not a dime more.
Cool. So a family of five pays $50,000?
In the absence of insurance, doctors could charge what people could pay and not a dime more.
And in the absence of insurance, there would be plenty of people in the US who would and could pay the bill not matter what it was, but there would also be millions who would never be able to afford any health care. Most of us don't want to live in a country like that.
Imagine all those millions of people who would get their old insurance plans back at lower prices with far superior coverage and benefits though? That's the one thing supporters of the ACA like yourself seem to constantly miss is that millions of Americans lost their health insurance because of the ACA. Millions more than those who got health care but couldn't afford it previously. All those millions who lost their health care plans, were then without coverage and forced to sign up with the ACA.
These super cheap pre-ACA plans were a joke. There hasn't been such a thing as 'cheap healthcare' in the US in decades. My neighbor had one of those wonderful plans and when she couldn't keep it after the ACA became law she was running around with her hair on fire complaining to everyone who would listen that the ACA was robbing her and she wanted to keep her old policy.
Finally a doctor who lived in the neighborhood asked to see her policy. Oh, it was just great low co-pays etc and for only $300 a month. The only problem was that the maximum annual amount the policy would pay was $10,000. You can't even cover breaking an arm for 10k anymore what would have happened if she had a heart attack or got cancer.
Go read your old policy, look at what the annual and lifetime limits were, check the physician networks, see if it covers lab testing and x-rays, pre-existing conditions and under what conditions they could cancel you. If those policies had been any good the ACA never would have come into existence, they could have simply subsidized those policies and expanded medicaid, but they were about as worthless as a $3 bill
And in the absence of insurance, there would be plenty of people in the US who would and could pay the bill not matter what it was, but there would also be millions who would never be able to afford any health care. Most of us don't want to live in a country like that.
Wait, are you suggesting doctors only do it for the money?
Of course you could afford care because it would be priced accordingly. Millions of women spend more per month on non-essential care like hair and nails and salons than they do on healthcare.
Millions of men spend more each month on non-essential therapy like beer and sports tickets and fast cars than they do on real healthcare.
Wait, are you suggesting doctors only do it for the money?
Of course you could afford care because it would be priced accordingly. Millions of women spend more per month on non-essential care like hair and nails and salons than they do on healthcare. Millions of men spend more each month on non-essential therapy like beer and sports tickets and fast cars than they do on real healthcare. It's simply a matter of priorities.
Are you claiming that Doctors are going to willingly accept less money for their services than they have to? 67% of households in the US earn over 100k. That is plenty of patients for doctors to build a practice around. If those people can and will pay $150 for an office visit what the heck makes you think that Doctors will drop their office visit to $30 so that the 33% who earns less than that could see a doctor? If that were the case we never would have needed health insurance, would we?
I think they should do away with it and go back to the way things were. Maybe slight changes to make it easier but back to the way it used to be!
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