Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Critics of Obamacare say it is redistribution. Okay, so if we repeal Obamacare, we go back to the pre-Obamacare redistribution.
Where were all the redistribution-hating conservatives for 70 years before Obamacare?
It's only called redistribution when it goes down the class scale, when it goes up the class scale (like unregulated for profit health care) it's called compensation.
People who could not afford it would be subsidized. If everyone had insurance the risk pool would be huge and full of healthy people that would bring premiums way down, especially if cost cutting measures such as controls on RX med prices were put into place. I believe in universal coverage but I don't think that single payer is the best way to go about it. Many countries use an insurance based system but they all include a mandate, government controls and subsidies so it is affordable.
I'm guessing that for most of the people with Obamacare "affordability" issues can afford the subsidized monthly premium but cannot afford the deductible / out of pocket max, I know I certainly could not afford to pay $3,000 a year out of pocket. What happens to people who have insurance but find they can't afford the deductibles?
I'm guessing that for most of the people with Obamacare "affordability" issues can afford the subsidized monthly premium but cannot afford the deductible / out of pocket max, I know I certainly could not afford to pay $3,000 a year out of pocket. What happens to people who have insurance but find they can't afford the deductibles?
I had 4 months in the workforce to save money before my stage IV cancer diagnosis. Now I'll live 50-60+ years beyond the diagnosis with a higher cost of living as a baseline due to my extra health needs.
I didn't get cancer because I was irresponsible. I wouldn't struggle to pay higher premiums for the rest of my life because I'm lazy. I am earning a master's degree in a well-paid field, despite some lingering cognitive impairment (primarily memory) from chemo, while working full time. I have won national awards, given major talks, and hold leadership roles in both professional and advocacy contexts. And while I network and work my tush off, I can only imagine what my premiums could look like as someone who survived metastatic cancer, has damaged lungs from chemo, and is at risk for heart and kidney issues down the line thanks to my treatment.
People with chronic health issues often have a harder time maintaining employment, not to mention have their education and careers disrupted, due to the very illness that may now cost them even more money. I was lucky - I was already above average in most facets of my professional and academic life. I've fallen into a whole lot of lucky situations to stay afloat. Not everyone has that benefit - particularly with more ongoing or reoccurring acute health crises.
There but by the grace of G-d go I.
This
Unless you have gone through a chronic illness or know someone who has you have no clue the difficulty that these people face.
I'm guessing that for most of the people with Obamacare "affordability" issues can afford the subsidized monthly premium but cannot afford the deductible / out of pocket max, I know I certainly could not afford to pay $3,000 a year out of pocket. What happens to people who have insurance but find they can't afford the deductibles?
Depending on income, Obamcare subsidizes the out of pocket portion as well. Republicans have taken that to the courts and it will be gone in Trumpcare.
Government should not be picking winners and losers, nor should government be redistributing income upward.
With HC we first have to decide if we as a society desire to help those in need.
And if so, then the path is very different than typical business.
Because the potential 'winners' of HC supports and subsidies are actually the 'losers'.
The poor, elderly and those with pre-exisiting.
Typical business and free enterprise cannot profitably tread here. Thus we end up with central directed and administered HC programs and supports. Mainly distributing downward.
That is why it is absolutely essential that healthcare be 100% dependent on the free market. Government stifles competitive pricing on services that are way overpriced.
No, that won't work because medical care is not and probably can't be made a market in which customers have the information to make rationale choices of providers and services.
Insurance companies want to ensure healthy people use they pay the premium and use a lot less in services that they pay for; they are the cash cows in the picture.
Sick people may individually pay higher premiums, but they consume much, much more in healthcare services - more than they pay for.
This is why insurance companies, when allowed to do so, are happy to take money from healthy people and then find every legal technicality to deny claims of the sick people.
This is also why any idiot can tell you that a mandate for health insurance makes a lot of sense. Else you end up with just the sick and the economics of the whole things becomes unviable.
If you're going to handle health care through insurance, then, yes, the mandate becomes necessary.
That's how insurance works. As I said before, insurance is not a public service, it's a for-profit business.
No, that won't work because medical care is not and probably can't be made a market in which customers have the information to make rationale choices of providers and services.
Many times they can for the more simple, cheap, less risky and easy rashes, coughs,colds, aches and pains. Also some more routine and non-emergent surgeries, testings and treatments.
But the above is not where the very acute, complex, complicated and chronic expensive medicine/surgery lies. And these are the big risks and where the big money lies.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
