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Yup... Requiring everyone to purchase a product, and fining them for non compliance is really sticking it to those health insurance companies
But why don't you educate us... How did this terrible abomination of a bill address the out of control costs of healthcare in America? Affordable care act... Could they have selected an any less fitting name?
Insurance companies can no longer deny or drop you due to a preexisting condition.
Insurance companies can no longer sell substandard policies which expose patients to unaffordable medical bills. All healthcare plans must provide minimum coverage standards for everyone. No more lifetime caps. No more gaps in what is covered and what is not covered.....no one can reasonably expect what they will or won't use when it comes to their health so better to just cover everything to eliminate surprises down the road.
Mandatory requirement to purchase insurance will now substantially reduce unnecessary ER visits (where they are required by law to treat all incoming patients) and bad debt write-offs by hospitals. Those that can't pay due to lack of insurance jack up the premiums for the insured to cover their losses. Health care costs will be contained long-term. People with insurance are also more likely to visit a doctor at the first sign of a health problem, which is less costly than waiting for it to develop into something more serious and costly. These will also reduce health care costs long-term.
Tax penalty for non-compliance; either choose to insure yourself or pay the fine. You're not invincible, your bones break just like everyone else so I don't want to hear how "young and healthy" you are and how you don't need it. Accidents or being diagnosed with cancer does not discriminate. Get insured or pay the fine.
De-link health care access to employment. Employers can no longer be relied upon to provide steady and stable employment. Losing your job can mean losing your health benefits. Now, instead of the "Hope you Don't Lose Your job, Fall Ill, and Die" plan touted by conservatives, the healthcare exchanges will give people an opportunity to purchase a quality plan independently. Entrepreneurship will likely increase as people who couldn't afford to risk losing their employer health plan will be willing to take the plunge.
So while the implementation has been messy, I do believe in the long run the ACA is a great step forward for the country and its citizens.
You write, "As automation, robotics, and offshoring accelerates in the future and further destroy more jobs, the government should look into instituting an unconditional basic income like they are proposing in Switzerland." Where will your money come from?
"Greek Companies Unable To Pay Taxes Explode From 182K To Over Half A Million In One Month"
"There was a silver lining: with virtually nobody working officially, as unknown amounts have shifted to the gray economy, the taxpayer debt have plunged. Why? Simply because if one doesn't officially make money, a luxury corporations can't afford, one doesn't officially have to pay any taxes, hence no taxpayer debts.
Surprisingly, the opposite trend is apparent in taxpayer debts, as debtors numbered 2.8 million at the end of August, a figure which fell to 2.59 million at end-September. In total, they owe 22.6 billion euros.
A ministry source pointed to the improvement in debt collection, as total receipts in the year to end-September amounted to 2.13 billion euros, up by 35 percent year-on-year.
September revenues grew by 37.2 percent from September 2012, which the general secretary for public revenues, Haris Theoharis, attributes to “the high level of collection of past years’ debts.”
Good luck collecting in current year debts when the unemployment hits fresh record highs, and thus the base of taxpaying individuals craters.
As for corporations, our best advice is for Greece to tax the bankruptcy process. That's the only way the dying country can possibly collect any "owed" funds from what is left of the country's once thriving businesses.
But at least the Greek economic skeleton still has its precious euro.
Insurance companies can no longer deny or drop you due to a preexisting condition.
Insurance companies can no longer sell substandard policies which expose patients to unaffordable medical bills. All healthcare plans must provide minimum coverage standards for everyone. No more lifetime caps. No more gaps in what is covered and what is not covered.....no one can reasonably expect what they will or won't use when it comes to their health so better to just cover everything to eliminate surprises down the road.
Mandatory requirement to purchase insurance will now substantially reduce unnecessary ER visits (where they are required by law to treat all incoming patients) and bad debt write-offs by hospitals. Those that can't pay due to lack of insurance jack up the premiums for the insured to cover their losses. Health care costs will be contained long-term. People with insurance are also more likely to visit a doctor at the first sign of a health problem, which is less costly than waiting for it to develop into something more serious and costly. These will also reduce health care costs long-term.
Tax penalty for non-compliance; either choose to insure yourself or pay the fine. You're not invincible, your bones break just like everyone else so I don't want to hear how "young and healthy" you are and how you don't need it. Accidents or being diagnosed with cancer does not discriminate. Get insured or pay the fine.
De-link health care access to employment. Employers can no longer be relied upon to provide steady and stable employment. Losing your job can mean losing your health benefits. Now, instead of the "Hope you Don't Lose Your job, Fall Ill, and Die" plan touted by conservatives, the healthcare exchanges will give people an opportunity to purchase a quality plan independently. Entrepreneurship will likely increase as people who couldn't afford to risk losing their employer health plan will be willing to take the plunge.
So while the implementation has been messy, I do believe in the long run the ACA is a great step forward for the country and its citizens.
The young and healthy subsidizing the old and sick. Tons of people saw their "inadequate" health insurance policies terminated. Good luck finding the same bargain in this new environment. And I need maternity care now?
Health insurance companies got a big helping hand thanks to Obummer. The customer is getting hosed. There was no shake up in the competition. They are still free to overcharge for their "service". The cost of health care is free to balloon, just like before.
This bill did absolutely nothing good for the average American.
Except for those at the top, wages can't continue to increase because they have not been increasing for many years now. Just possibly this is because the minimum wage hasn't been increased at anything like the rate of inflation.
This is a cogent point. If the "minimum wage" has been below the rate of inflation, then it has actually shrunk, not grown. Employers today are actually getting less expensive labor at the bottom end than they did decades ago.
The young and healthy subsidizing the old and sick. Tons of people saw their "inadequate" health insurance policies terminated. Good luck finding the same bargain in this new environment. And I need maternity care now?
Health insurance companies got a big helping hand thanks to Obummer. The customer is getting hosed. There was no shake up in the competition. They are still free to overcharge for their "service". The cost of health care is free to balloon, just like before.
This bill did absolutely nothing good for the average American.
Wait. I thought Obamacare was "socialized medicine." Are you saying that private corporations are profiting from it?
This is a cogent point. If the "minimum wage" has been below the rate of inflation, then it has actually shrunk, not grown. Employers today are actually getting less expensive labor at the bottom end than they did decades ago.
Shhhhh. People dont talk about inflation when trying to skew the facts.
These jobs are typically very low skilled and were meant for people seeking temporary income. The problem is more and more people are turning to this on a permanent basis, sometimes to support families over the long term. If they stay on these jobs for a long time, there will be less opportunity for others who really need them to enter the workforce or support temporary but urgent needs.
And you think everyone CHOOSES to make these permanent?
And you think everyone CHOOSES to make these permanent?
I've said this in other thread before:
The Boomer Generation was the recipient of an absolutely unique even in American history. After WWII, all of America's economic competition in the world had been devastated, while US industries had been expanded to peak capacity. Plus the cheap resources of the old European colonial empires were up for grabs. The entire world was a desperate market and the US was poised to be the only economic superpower.
But the rest of the world caught up in the 70s. The Boomer Generation enjoyed an economic bubble that will never happen again.
Because of that, no lesson can be taken from the Boomer Generation. Whatever worked for Boomers cannot be presumed to be "real world" anymore. Forget about it. If your father was able to get a bachelor's degree in Sociology and walk right out into a corporate job that would progress him to a middle manager...forget about it. That doesn't happen anymore. None of the Boomer experience applies anymore.
Not even for Boomers...those of us who find ourselves back in the job market with our Sociology and Poli Sci degrees are no better off than kids right out of school...our "experience" equates to "age," so it hurts us as much as it helps us.
They would say that yet in Britain, the minmum wage in USA's dollar been $10 for a while. By the time people still fighting to get the America's minmum wage higher than the $7.25 it is, Britain will already be way higher. I found it interesting that the jobs here in America that pay lower wages, those same jobs abroad in other European countries the wages is higher than ours. I know of two people one living here in America still struggling while their sibling living in Europe doing much better. The economy is rough all around the world but here, we're almost like a third world country with the very low minimum wage that barely pay the rent in a month living in NYC. Many people now are living with room mates or family members to save money since they can not afford to rent a decent studio apartment let alone one bedroom in the city especially when utility bills is not included in rent.
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