That, unfortunately, has less to do with ACA, and more to do with our terrible/inefficient healthcare system. It was going this way before ACA.
Anyone surprised at how badly Pelosi cucked Donald yesterday?
- Thread starter ticket2ride04
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After reading some of these posts, I'm realizing how great my benefits are at BofA. I already thought they were good, but some of the prices and situations you guys are talking about is making me extremely thankful.
Yeah, but not at this rate. I don't think anyone is going to try to convince you that the insurance system was good before the ACA, but it's worse now than ever before.
Ok. I'm not disputing that because I don't know enough about insurance to. But it was too coincidental that my coverage went from ok to shit right after the ACA was enacted. So you'll have to excuse me if I want to take shots at it and Obama for pushing it.
This is why I like my finance degree. I'll be able to get a job with a solid group insurance plan. I'll never have to deal with the ACA again.
I get that. 15 years ago, 20% increases didn’t hurt too much because premiums were low. But like compounding interest, it caught up. It’s much more complex than ACA and Republicans have done a lot to make it fail. Despite that, BCBS just lowered premiums for the first time in their history. @Raising Heel knows much more than I, however.
It's not like that everywhere. I worked at Wells Fargo before and their insurance sucked. It was basically two expensive high deductible plans.
I hated BBT but we had some bad ass bennies. Great insurance, nice 401k match, and even a pension.
High deductible isn't a realistic option given my health. I think my deductible now is around $2k and I usually hit that within the first few months of the year.
Ya that makes sense. I'm just trying to make hay while the sun's shining. Once I inevitably need to spend more on healthcare, I'll switch my plan to a higher premium, low deductible, option.
Because suggesting health insurance policies change due to coincidence is even dumber than the first part of your poast. I was doing you a favor.
You're right, I do. Those feelings are entirely based on people offering ignorant and sometimes flat-out stupid opinions on a subject they know next to nothing about. This causes me feelings of frustration, anger, disbelief, and sometimes laughter.
Oh this should be good. Tell me, how do healthcare providers get subsidized by the US government?
I don't disagree with this. Insurance has inserted itself into the patient/provider relationship, carved out a profit for itself, burdened providers with cumbersome regulations, and created a confusing labyrinth for people seeking care. There's a reason some doctors have stopped accepting insurance entirely and instead allowed their patients to make a modest monthly payment in exchange for basic services like wellness visits, etc.
Wut?! The point was that there could have been another issue and that the timing was coincidental. How did you not get that?
Yawn. You're obviously super pro-ACA, even throughout all its failures, which were easy to spot before it even became law. I have to wonder what your strong connection to the ACA is? There has to be something that makes you ignore what is actually going on.
I hear about this happening more and more. I also read an article the other day talking about how healthcare providers are talking about going in another completely different career direction, due to the insurance industry.
Besides the subsidies given to people in order to be able to afford the product? Or maybe about the ability of the government to bail out insurance companies if they wish? That was one of the big issues about the Trump/Republican plan when he first took office. They wanted to expand the opportunities for potential bailouts to the insurance companies.
Hark gets it. I've said many times before that sweeping legislation like the ACA has winners and losers. Some people who had never had health insurance before are now able to get it for next to nothing. Other people saw their premiums spike to unreasonable levels.
Part of the reason for the spikes is that insurance actuaries had no historical experience to determine the correct premiums for all the new entrants into the health insurance risk pool. Some of those new entrants were young and healthy, while others were very sick and expensive to care for. The constant efforts to undermine the ACA have further destabilized the market. What would YOU do if you were working for a health insurer and trying to determine premiums? You'd aim high, naturally. Even then several insurers lost a tremendous amount of money on their ACA business in the early years.
Now that we're several years out from implementation, the markets are starting to stabilize and risk pools are becoming predictable. That's one of the reasons you're finally starting to see decreases in premiums from notable insurers like BCBSNC. You're also seeing the effects of shared savings programs implemented under the ACA, which rewards both providers and insurers for decreasing the costs of health care. When the costs of providing care decrease, the costs of health insurance decrease as well. Shared savings programs also come with medical loss ratios, where the insurer has to spend a certain portion of the premium dollar on the provision of care rather than administrative expenses.
For me, it's not really about "having to apologize" to anyone, personally. But, I do feel a certain sense of remorse. I can say that I'm certainly not proud of what they were fighting to maintain as a social norm. I'm sorry that had to endure that war, but I'm glad their "side" lost the war! Do you think the descendants of the SS are proud of their ancestors? Do you think, knowing what they would come to know, that they'd want the Nazis to to have won World War II? They don't owe me an apology, or even Jews who descend from those murdered in the Holocaust. But, if they feel revenge or empowered, or that their ancestors were actually "right" in their thinking and actions, then the tragedy can happen again... and, probably will, somewhere, somehow.
My present-day perspective is based more on empathy for those who experienced it. I do my best to have empathy for ALL of them. Because, Everything, in some respect, is all happening right now. The bombs and bullets and dead bodies are no longer being counted, but the event plays a role in how I understand my entire present-day world view.
I do agree with some of this, but I have one question that nobody ever seems to be able to answer. What efforts to destabalize the ACA have actually succeeded? I ask this because I hear a lot of Republican rattling their sabers about the ACA, but they never really do anything about it.
You said the government subsidized providers. Now you're talking about subsidizing customers. These are not the same thing.
You said the government subsidized providers. Now you're talking about subsidizing insurers. These are not the same thing.
If the customers don't get subsidized, then they can't buy the plans. So, the government is also subsidizing the providers. What good is your product if nobody can afford it?
This is some serious backpeddling. You're suggesting that providers rely on ACA customers, which is complete nonsense. Providers' bottoms lines were doing just fine before the ACA.
Firms are always trying to increase revenue. The subsidies to consumers are helping the providers, yes or no?
- Repeal of the individual mandate
- Reduction of outreach efforts to encourage enrollment
- Cutting or eliminating funding for healthcare navigators
- Allowing state waivers of Medicaid rules
- Allowing insurance plans exempt from providing essential health benefits (association health plans and short-term health plans)
- Threats to end cost-sharing reduction payments to insurers
- Multiple lawsuits over the constitutionality of the ACA, including a request to strike down consumer protections for pre-existing conditions
- CMS proposing changes to a technical insurance formula that would raise premiums for ACA customers
a) This is not the same thing as the government subsidizing providers. You're twisting yourself like a pretzel to avoid simply admitting you were wrong.
b) Fee schedules for ACA patients are well below what providers are paid for patients with commercial insurance, making them largely unprofitable.
My issue with BCBS is customer care. Costs have skyrocketed and service has dwindled. Sometimes I think they have an algorithm or something that automatically rejects certain requests no matter how necessary. For example last year I was having issues with my neck. BCBS denied an MRI until I did 6 weeks of PT. After 6 weeks my neck was worse. Got the MRI and I have degenerative disc C2,C3,C4. 2 options, pain management or fusion. BCBS said if I had 3 positive results from nerve blocks I could get a RFA(they go in and fry the nerves basically). 3 positive nerve blocks later they fricken deny the RFA. It was their fricken protocol we followed. Now the doc is pretty sure I have a torn rotator cuff, MRI to check, hell no, PT first. My deductibles have gotten outrageous and patient care is terrible and this has gotten much worse since the ACA. I don't think it's coincidence. I think they figure if they deny treatment enough times you will just go away.
I'm not posting in this thread because I don't know enough about healthcare. Some should follow my lead.
They aren't directly subsidizing them, but they are indirectly subsidizing them. It's like the government subsidizing Tesla by offering consumers money to buy Telsa cars. You're skewing the playing field and the taxpayers are paying for it.
@UNC71-00 is on vacation. He just texted me the strangest message to pass along to the board. It reads "Clean up on aisle 4"If this is true, I'm wonding why you ever post?
I'm not unsympathetic to your situation. This really sucks, and I hope you're able to get some relief. However, stories like yours have been around as long as health insurance has existed. There are literally dozens of variables that could've affected their policies. You're angry and looking for someone to blame, so your political leaning predispose you to blame the ACA. That's fine. It's likely the culprit for your premium increases, but I think you're way off base about the rest.
