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Health insurance was not "Only a few hundred dollars a month" for a family before Obamacare. It has been a mess since AT LEAST the Hillarycare days of 1994.
Neither side is willing to do anything to the cost side since both parties of congress are owned by big pharma, big hospitals big...
Still waiting on the all upside plan Trump promised on his campaign.
Our healthcare system is a mess. If we didn't get ObamaCare we were going to get RomneyCare instead that was waiting in the wings.
Trump can't do it by himself. He needs congress to work with him. We know how thats working out. If Trump said the sky is blue, Congress would block it.
Trump can't do it by himself. He needs congress to work with him. We know how thats working out. If Trump said the sky is blue, Congress would block it.
What is Trump's plan again? I must have missed it.
What is the GOP plan again? Going back to a system which did not pay for anything?
No. I'm in that grey area where I have too much income to qualify for subsidies, yet not enough for it not to make a difference.
The people who were really screwed over by Obamacare are those in the moderate range. In what world can someone grossing $50,000 (not me, but someone in that range doesn't qualify for subsidies, either) be categorized as having "health insurance" and be on the hook for $20,000 in expenses/premiums a year?
Everyone that does not get the subsidy is paying for those that do. It was a terrible idea from the get go because it didn't address the real problem of total cost.
We have Medishare so we are paying $400/mo instead of $2000/mo.
Everyone that does not get the subsidy is paying for those that do. It was a terrible idea from the get go because it didn't address the real problem of total cost.
We have Medishare so we are paying $400/mo instead of $2000/mo.
I had no idea what Medishare is. Here is the link:
The ACA covers Colonoscopies when it is a preventative as opposed to a diagnostic test.
The actual screening is covered. The variable costs include the Bowel Prep Kit, Anesthesia and Pathology, if necessary. Depend on your plan.
I am aware of a few people who forego Anesthesia, not because of cost. Rather, they do not want to be put under.
This is truly an eye-opener for me!! I admit that at age 66 (and my husband is 63), that we have been so spoiled when it comes to medical insurance and costs due to good health (knock wood) and my husband being in engineering, where good benefits are expected! I honestly had no idea just how terrible that U.S. health insurance now is until I started reading this thread, so thank you, Rachel, and everyone else for posting!!!
So, I do NOT want to derail this thread -- but it makes me wonder when my husband retires next year, whether to go to an ACA plan or COBRA? Yes, I know COBRA would be a fortune, but OMG, if an ACA plan doesn't even cover diagnostic tests after the deductible is met (??), it makes me wonder what else it doesn't cover?
And, btw, to whomever made the comment about not taking a chance of going without insurance because a serious car accident or a cancer diagnosis could mean bankruptcy for many middle-class people, that is spot on! The reason that insurance companies have gotten away with charging whatever rates they want is because of that fear -- and, yes, I do think that is outrageous!
And one final (?) note: I personally think that healthcare costs should be the No. 1 focus of politicians until costs are brought down. My personal opinion is that, short of nuclear war, there is no other issue now that is more important to most Americans.
No, I'm saying that's the only set of people I know who are on Obamacare..and are obviously clueless about it. Everyone else is through employer or retired. So I'm saying I don't know who the millions of Obamacare folks are.
Anyone who doesn't get it through work. Some are self-employed as I am, some are seasonal workers, some are WalMart employees where they make so little that it's cheaper to get ObamaCare than pay the employee contribution, some are non-union construction workers as they often have several employers a year and want to keep coverage.
I mean, there's something like 15 million self employed people so it's no surprise. Some of them are side gigs and they have regular jobs with benefits, some are married and get insurance through a spouse. But many aren't. Most people on Obamacare are low to moderate income.
Cross that 400 percent of FPL though and it blows. I'm at around 350 percent of what I used to pay preACA for inferior coverage. Not a huge Kaiser fan but since the previous three insurers all up and left at least I can be relatively sure that Kaiser won't. So much for the you can keep your insurancile lie.
Of course there are upsides to pre-existing conditions. If you're under 400 percent of FPL you obviously don't care how much the insurance costs. If it goes up 60 percent one year, as mine did, no big deal. It just means a larger welfare payment and same cost to you. That's the issue though. Most markets there's 1 or 2 insurers so no competition. Most customers they can just set any rates the insurance commissioners will sign off on who don't care because it's federal money.
There was a little publicized "gag order" embedded in Obamacare which forbid - forbid!! - pharmacies to tell customers of cheaper options than going through their insurance policies. The insurers were FORCING their customers to make drug claims, which tells me that they, the insurance company, were making money when a customer put forward a claim. (Why else wouldn't they be happy for you to go elsewhere)? Obama, tied at the hip to the insurance companies, permitted the gag order.
Trump pushed through a new law that made this gag orders illegal. As a result, the medicine I'm on that cost me more than $450 (that's the cost AFTER the insurance company's coverage....oye) during Obama is now reduced by more than half - to $190.
You don't see this publicized by the media, though, because it would make Trump look good.
The “ gag order” was a provision embedded in SOME commercial contracts between SOME pharmacies and SOME Pharma Benefit Managers in SOME states that permitted these legacy clauses, which predate Obamacare.
States, not the Federal Government, continue to have primary responsibility for regulating insurers and Benefit Managers.
Half the states had already independently banned such clauses when Congress took up a Federal Ban it passed with near unanimous support.
Comparing medical care of 1960 to that of today is not apples to apples. Think of all the facilities, specialization, equipment, drugs, etc. In 1960, you got sick it was two aspirin and call me in the morning. Most serious illnesses had no effective treatments at all. The R&D costs alone since then are staggering. Now, I'm not arguing that we need to look to control costs, but let's not pretend that medical care now is the same thing it was 60 years ago - or that it should be priced the same.
What should outrage us more is when comparing the costs in other nations that have successful health care systems to our own, such as Canada and Germany.
I agree with you! However, in 1960, most people did not expect to live very long and get such treatment because it did not exist. People accepted the fact that people died from disease and injuries that can be cured today -- they usually viewed a diagnosis of cancer as a death sentence (and it often still is today, too!), and if someone had a major heart attack and survived, they accepted the fact it was probably just a matter of time (usually less than a year, I think) until they had another one that was fatal.
Personally, if I could, I would sign up for an insurance plan that would have a $250,000 lifetime "cap" for major medical treatment and surgeries (with a significant deductible of say, $10,000 per year) and where I would pay the entire cost for routine or "small problem" doctor visits IF that would mean at least a 50% reduction in my insurance premiums.
(But, then, I do not want any kind of life-saving measures if I am ever diagnosed with anything that would require hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of treatment -- but from what I have read on various threads, I realize that most people would not want for themselves! I do realize that someone who is half my age and has at least one child would almost definitely feel very differently about this!)
Last edited by katharsis; 10-17-2019 at 07:23 AM..
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