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Location: East Central Pennsylvania/ Chicago for 6yrs.
2,535 posts, read 3,278,040 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NickB1967
Exactly.
This is also why nonsense like covering *birth control* on medical insurance, or other items that are routine and minor expenses on insurance, which are better paid for in cash and over the counter, will prove disastrous for the insurance system.
Insurance is for *major financial catastrophe*. Birth Control Pills, per month less than nearly all cell phone bills, are not a major financial catastrophe. Getting Breast Cancer--or hit by a truck--IS a major financial catastrophe.
What would your car insurance cost if oil changes were *required* to be covered by it? And what would the oil changes cost, without price competition and with a 3rd party paying for them? The answer is a hell of a lot more, both times.
Back in the 80s 90s, before HMO's came on the seen and the EXCLUSION, DEDUCTIBLE AND CO-PAYS started. If you had insurance? ALL WAS PAID. Now we ARGUE OVER BIRTH CONTROL PILLS? (For non moral or religions reasons ) Which are cheap anyway??? My one co-pay for a doctors visit is probably more?
OBAMACARE DID'T START-- deductibles co-pays or all my exclusions and THE 30% THAT I HAVE TO PAY FOR PROCEDURES???
ANOTHER THING-- I had NO SAY in what insurance me employer gives me the option to buy a choice of others?. They chose ALL FOR ME. I merely have a option 1 or option 2 to choose. One for basically non-smokers on decent health. I also had to get a blood test for it. My Employer does pay a potion of my premium for just me, not family.
OF COURSE, IF I SAID TO THEM? I RATHER SOMETHING ELSE? THEY CAN SAY GO SEE OBAMACARE now. The day is about here? You want all paid ( like my 80s insurance ). You need a supplemental plan for your supplemental insurance??
i have a gold plan , i am paying 5k less a year for my wife and i then i did prior for health insurance and i get zero subsidy and i live in nyc. i like our new plan.
I agree and have a similar situation. I like and am thankful for the ACA.
There is a difference here. Remember that auto insurance doesn't cover breakdowns. You blow an engine in the car, you're not filing a claim with auto insurance. So, you never change your oil, you blow the engine.. Your insurance company doesn't care. They're not paying for that.
Actually, you *Can* buy warranty (i.e., breakdown) insurance on your vehicle, even older ones. I get offers by mail for same all the time.
But otherwise, your point is taken: some preventative maintenance of the body could be covered by insurance, so they aren't hit with the massive catastropic failure payout later on.
Back in the 80s 90s, before HMO's came on the seen and the EXCLUSION, DEDUCTIBLE AND CO-PAYS started. If you had insurance? ALL WAS PAID. Now we ARGUE OVER BIRTH CONTROL PILLS? (For non moral or religions reasons ) Which are cheap anyway??? My one co-pay for a doctors visit is probably more?
OBAMACARE DID'T START-- deductibles co-pays or all my exclusions and THE 30% THAT I HAVE TO PAY FOR PROCEDURES???
ANOTHER THING-- I had NO SAY in what insurance me employer gives me the option to buy a choice of others?. They chose ALL FOR ME. I merely have a option 1 or option 2 to choose. One for basically non-smokers on decent health. I also had to get a blood test for it. My Employer does pay a potion of my premium for just me, not family.
OF COURSE, IF I SAID TO THEM? I RATHER SOMETHING ELSE? THEY CAN SAY GO SEE OBAMACARE now. The day is about here? You want all paid ( like my 80s insurance ). You need a supplemental plan for your supplemental insurance??
Actually *all* was not paid. The 80% rule applied.
Take a hypothetical situation. A 55 year old man is living in Los Angeles or San Francisco, he is able to earn $60,000/yr. works for a small company that does not offer health. He makes way too much money (over 400% of the poverty level) to qualify for any discount but $60k/yr is not a whole lot of money in LA. I see that even the Bronze plan is in the neighborhood of $450/month, is someone who makes $60k/yr mandated to spend $450/mo. on health insurance? The alternative is to pay the penalty but that's $1500 with nothing to show for it.
And with health insurance increasing at a rate of 10-15% annually what is going to happen in 5-10 years?
This idea sucks! The whole idea was cost control of health care and insurance and that is clearly not happening. The insurance is still ridiculously expensive.. and those that earn over $45k are required to buy it themselves and those under well, the taxpayer will cover it. LOL! What was expected is that insurance and health care become *AFFORDABLE* not subsidize and mandate purchase of ridiculously expensive and overpriced products and services.
Mandating someone who makes $60k in a super high cost area to buy $6000 worth of insurance yearly is asinine. As it is people can't get by or save for the future with escalating costs and stagnating wages... is this ridiculous requirement even feasible long term?
Well... the alternative.......
Do other nations pay 10% in 'Medicare taxes' for their single-payer systems? $6,000 / year on his salary is 10%. Did the rest of the world figure it out?
Quote:
Originally Posted by k374
And with health insurance increasing at a rate of 10-15% annually what is going to happen in 5-10 years?
Health insurance is not increasing 10-15% annually. It has been less than 2% in recent years.
Look at the Tri-Cities - most of the jobs that are there are low wage, no benefit jobs that don't offer insurance. You have a subsidy. Great. I was making less than $12/hr back there, and the $140 roughly that I was paying for the bronze plan was a real budget stretcher at the wage.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Emigrations
It would be, but what if you do get sick? You're royally screwed.
I had pneumonia last April and had a Humana plan at $100/month. I was out $600 between the office visit and the meds. The bronze plan was about equal to the Humana plan I had. I had insurance, but it was essentially catastrophic coverage. Paying $600 for a bronchitis visit is awful when you're making a little less than $12/hr.
I had pneumonia again this spring, but with better insurance and making $25/hr. I was out a grand total of $46.
Maybe I am not getting your point? You find the premiums too burdensome, but want the protection?
This seems illogical to me. Or are you saying you are happy with your plan?
But.. Regardless of that. I disagree with it because it's BS.. It's junk. It's a half-assed compromise that just sucks. Take your pick.. Either leave things alone or pull the trigger and go socialized medicine. I'm one of the minority of republican-ish leaning people who don't have a problem with a single-payer system.. So long as the government is kept the hell out of it. How you accomplish that, I don't necessarily know, but..
I certainly don't want politicians deciding what treatments are available.. Cover conventional therapies.. Supplemental insurance available for experimental treatments or other things that might not be covered Birth control, for example.. And the reason I say that is because there's no way in hell you're passing a law in this country that allows birth control to be handed out like that.. Not because I'm opposed to it. I'm just a realist in knowing that it won't happen. So, compromise.. Out that goes. Same with abortion. It's fine, it's legal, but it's not covered in this mystical system. Supplemental for long-term care, such as nursing home care.
Payment.. Payroll deduction.. If you're unemployed.. It comes out of your unemployment. If you're on disability, it comes out of your disability payment. If you're on welfare, it comes out of welfare. Social Security.. You pay as well. Obviously.. Those people would pay a lower percentage than those who are working, but.. Everyone pays in. Someone with 6 kids pays a higher rate than someone without kids.
Then the problem just becomes.. How to kick the politicians/politics out of the decisions so far as what is covered. And keep the politicians out of it.
interesting rant and probably resonates with a large segment of the populace. Yet, it seems a bid for status quo, since it offer no solutions.
The politicians were out of it for the past fifty years and here we are. Spiraling costs, high numbers of folks with no insurance simply rolling the dice and no end in sight.
Were the hospitals and insurance companies doing anything to contain costs besides refusing to insure people with pre-existing conditions and denying coverage and passing on increased costs to consumers?
The issues regarding birth control are coming from a small segment of zealots IMO and not from politicians in general. Other than that, I do not see much government intervention in treatment.
Last edited by shaker281; 10-03-2014 at 12:47 AM..
Last year we had a standard BCBS 80/20 plan. Our deductible was $500, max out of pocket of $4,500, and we paid $20 office copays. Prescriptions were $10. Premium for 4 people were $190 every two weeks. We paid $4,940 per year in premiums.
This year, were forced to choose between three options pretty much exactly like the Obamacare options. We now have a $4,500 deductible with a $12,500 max out of pocket with no copays. The premium is only $56 every two weeks. So at the end of the year it will cost us $1,456 per year in premiums.
So in theory we saved almost $3,500 a year in premiums right?
The problem lies with actually using the insurance. Before, a set of x-rays or something similar would take care of meeting the deductible. I had to have an emergency sinus surgery earlier this year and we have paid to date over $6,500 out of pocket because of it.
This new plan has cost me an extra $3,000 this year, and it started July 1.
So maybe for those in a dream world who never have to use the plan like it, but for those of us "normal" folk (especially with kids), this is pretty painful to the pocket.
It sounds to me like you chose a lower priced plan to save premium dollars and really needed a more robust plan with lower out-of-pocket limits. Not really sure that has anything to do with AHCA. Had you not had any claims you would be ahead $3500 and happy? It is very important a person choose the right plan for their individual circumstances.
I have not seen any significant change in my companies health care offerings or premiums and I just signed up for 2015 benefits. Another year older and my family coverage went up $10 a month, just like the past 10 years.
The ACA will bankrupt those who have to pay an extraordinary deductible amount every year. I don't care what kind of insurance you have, if you pay monthly premiums on top of a huge deductible, you don't really have insurance at all if it's more than you can afford.
I would say that if you choose a policy that has a high deductible or huge out-of-pocket limits and have a catastrophic illness, your poor choice may bankrupt you.
As far as I know there is still nothing preventing any individual from buying any policy they need. One needn't rely on an exchange.
Not having any insurance has bankrupt many people too!
Every other state is having massive premium increases
THe fact is if you are not in the 5% of sick people your premiums will increase
The main problem with Obamacare is that it will cause prices to increase overall because there are no price controls and no competition.
Its a total disaster like all the government programs that are promoted as "free" benefits. Nothing is free and costs in these schemes skyrocket
Yet, I am surprised that the vast number of responders here are reporting no ill effects (pun intended) or some improvement. And they do not all live in NYC.
When "Obamacare" was first proposed it's detractors painted some very grim "sky is falling" scenarios. Some of the same folks forecast 6 years ago we would be in dire economic straits right now and that never transpired.
We shall see how this all plays out.
Last edited by shaker281; 10-03-2014 at 12:50 AM..
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