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Oh yes, I'm just dying to have Aetna or Blue Cross run a cost/benefit analysis on whether paying for someone's dialysis is profitable in the long run.
What the hell are you even talking about?
Quote:
Originally Posted by cruitr
You didn't get paid for 3 years?
Keep reading. I already answered that question. Feel free to give a few years of your life in the military - then you, too, can be rewarded with sub par VA care. Hurray!
Thanks. Yes, and there's a big "cliff" at which point the subsidies disappear. I think it's at around $48,000 or so, so if you earn $47,000, you might pay $200 a month with subsidies, and if you earn $49,000, you lose the subsidies and are on the hook for the full grand a month!
It was such a poorly designed scheme. The person earning $47,000 is financially much better off than the person earning a few thousand more. Anyone at the level would be well advised to reject any raise, or it will cost them.
Opinion: Nice job. You nailed it..................
I got the news today, and it was a good thing I was sitting down when I opened the envelope.
The premium for the "budget" plan I have (otherwise known as the bronze plan) will be $977 a month. That's nearly $1,000 a month for the cheapest plan available, which carries a deductible of nearly $7,000. That means that I, with a straight middle-class income, will be on the hook for almost $20,000 in medical costs (if my year is bad). Boy, do I long for the pre-Obamacare days just a few years ago when I paid a few hundred a month at most for a real plan that covered medical expenses!
Basically, as has been discussed before, Obama "arranged" for middle earners to pay exorbitant premiums for what is essentially a catastrophic plan in order to have insurance companies provide the costs for every sneeze and cough for low(er) earners.
I'd call having the "Affordable" Care Act result in unaffordable premiums for plans with ridiculous premiums more than merely a "flaw" for those of us suffering under it.
You just KNOW that a law is bad when the only when to survive it is to try and earn less money.
No two countries do Universal Healthcare the same.
The entire world is challenged by medical inflation.
Healthcare insurance is compulsory in Switzerland and generally speaking most comply.
There is no public option for insurance. They rely entirely on private insurers. They mandate insurers cannot profit off basic plans and insurers cannot discriminate by age or medical conditions. The healthy 22 year old pays the same premium as a sickly 88 year old.
Employers are not involved in healthcare insurance. There is no equivalent of US Medicare for seniors.
Private insurers profit off the sale of supplementary plans that help pay for that which the basic plan does not.
The Swiss presently cap premiums at 10% of income. The rest is subsidized. Maybe this is a better approach than a hard income cut- off.
Most hospitals in Switzerland are public- very different than the US.
They are being especially challenged by the costs of prescription medications. Reportedly, generic meds cost twice as much in Switzerland than in most EU countries. This causes people to acquire meds outside the country and smuggle.
It’s a curious thing that the masses everywhere are pissed about the ever increasing cost of healthcare, thus premiums. There is no such thing as free market healthcare anywhere.
I can't face reading any more. I got almost halfway through. There is so much misunderstanding.
First, you can't actually get "Obamacare." That's a convenient target for talking points. "Obamacare" refers to the mandated coverage we get through our insurance, whether that is provided by an employer, purchased as an individual, or purchased through the ACA Marketplace.
That leads to my second point--insurance costs are free market. Unless one qualifies for Medicaid or Medicare, insurance policies are like shopping retail. And insurance is controlled at the state level. The ACA mandates particular coverage, so those are the same state to state, but other things & costs are not managed by the ACA, because...
Third, the teeth of the ACA that would have controlled costs for basic coverage were removed. And in some cases, reaction from the Right made it so that coverage would cost more for some workers. In my state, a law was passed that says some employers cannot pay more than 80% of a policy, and it would cover ALL contributions toward health coverage. My employer used to cover most of our premiums & then would deposit a certain amount into an HSA to cover some additional items. Can't do it anymore. And for us to have "affordable" coverage, each member of my family has a $500 deductible to meet. AND, they can throw drugs off of our formulary at a whim.
Now, it looks like there are those that would like us to go back to the days of excluding pre-existing conditions, which the ACA has prevented.
So, if you want to blame someone for the cost of your insurance policy, look to your insurance company. THEY set the rates. THEY lobbied HARD to block the ACA. It's the free market, baby.
The ACA was never perfect but it has helped millions and it was a start. I don't understand why this administration constantly complains about it instead of refining it and making it better.
There is no such thing as perfect healthcare anywhere. No two countries operate their Universal Healthcare the same way. What they have in common is a mandate for insurance, a compliant population, subsidy for low/ no income and caps on out of pocket. Some countries rely entirely on pubic insurance. A few countries rely on private insurance. Most are a mixed bag. Some countries require employers to contribute to the cost and some do not.
All annually tweak and periodically reform their healthcare systems.
In contrast, improvements to the ACA were not done because of politics.
It's not enough they want to siphon money from us, they also want exclusive determination of what constitutes a new so-called 'disease' that merits it.
Who is “ they”.
States, not the Federal Government, have primary responsibility for regulating insurers. No two states have the same regulations. This includes which medications must be covered by insurance.
I can't face reading any more. I got almost halfway through. There is so much misunderstanding.
First, you can't actually get "Obamacare." That's a convenient target for talking points. "Obamacare" refers to the mandated coverage we get through our insurance, whether that is provided by an employer, purchased as an individual, or purchased through the ACA Marketplace.
That leads to my second point--insurance costs are free market. Unless one qualifies for Medicaid or Medicare, insurance policies are like shopping retail. And insurance is controlled at the state level. The ACA mandates particular coverage, so those are the same state to state, but other things & costs are not managed by the ACA, because...
Third, the teeth of the ACA that would have controlled costs for basic coverage were removed. And in some cases, reaction from the Right made it so that coverage would cost more for some workers. In my state, a law was passed that says some employers cannot pay more than 80% of a policy, and it would cover ALL contributions toward health coverage. My employer used to cover most of our premiums & then would deposit a certain amount into an HSA to cover some additional items. Can't do it anymore. And for us to have "affordable" coverage, each member of my family has a $500 deductible to meet. AND, they can throw drugs off of our formulary at a whim.
Now, it looks like there are those that would like us to go back to the days of excluding pre-existing conditions, which the ACA has prevented.
So, if you want to blame someone for the cost of your insurance policy, look to your insurance company. THEY set the rates. THEY lobbied HARD to block the ACA. It's the free market, baby.
Mandates on employers and mandates on what constitutes coverage are not "free market" anything.
Quote:
Originally Posted by leebeemi
Now, it looks like there are those that would like us to go back to the days of excluding pre-existing conditions, which the ACA has prevented.
So, if you want to blame someone for the cost of your insurance policy,....
Then ACA is not insurance, is it. It's a mandate and a tax. Insurance policies are voluntary, ACA isn't.
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