The Affordable Care Act.
- Thread starter prlyles
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My friend was enrolled in it. She was paying $64 a month. She had major surgery a few weeks ago (thought it was cancer, but turned out to be benign). Her first notice was that her premium was going up by $100 per month in January. Now, she finds out the insurance company is going out of business entirely. She has to get a new one.
The ACA is sh*t. It was always going to be and will continue to be a failure.
The ACA is sh*t. It was always going to be and will continue to be a failure.
I think there are plenty of anecdotes about people who have been negatively impacted by the ACA. I think there are plenty of anecdotes about people who have been positively impacted by the ACA. I think people latch onto the ones that support their biases, which will make this thread exactly as productive as every other one we've had about the ACA.
Put me down as negatively impacted. I'm 46. Last year, my BCBS premium went up around 33% and for 2016, it's going up another 22%. I've had nothing beyond an annual physical and am in good health-don't smoke, etc... My wife has state employee insurance and two years ago, it was cheaper for me to get coverage on my own than to add me to her policy (we have no kids.) Now, that might actually be the cheaper route.
The Affordable Care act in a vacuum is an excellent concept. Sadly, socialism in a vacuum is also an excellent concept. We all know how socialism works out though. Where the ACA falls short is in the meat and potatoes of the whole thing. They are completely short sighted in that healthcare is completely privatized and based on capitalism. There needs to be regulation as far as costs, but not to include care inclusion.
Oh no, you can certainly keep it. Where it fell short though was the insurance provider's modifications to account for the massive influx of ACA policies.
Can you clarify this statement? About a third of all Americans are covered by Medicare, Medicaid, or another form of public health insurance. Not sure what you mean.
There is a theory out there .....one that I happen to subscribe to..is that obammy and his fellow socialists PLANNED this enormous pile of dung to FAIL. The reason being that those EVIL awful terrible insurance companies will HAVE TO price EVERYONE OUT of their policies to pay for all this coverage they do NOT need or want.
Of course the INSURANCE companies will be blamed because well they are GREEDY and put profits before people blah blah blah...... the usual BS/lies that these Socialists used to sell this crap to begin with
When all this is priced too high and no one can" afford the Affordable care ACT" what happens ?????? VOILA !!! SINGLE PAYER with the GOVERNMENT in complete control of the whole thing
Think it cannot or will not happen???? Look where we are now... we are clearly on a path to MUCH MUCH higher premiums and deductibles.
All courtesy of Obammy and the democrat party.
Of course the INSURANCE companies will be blamed because well they are GREEDY and put profits before people blah blah blah...... the usual BS/lies that these Socialists used to sell this crap to begin with
When all this is priced too high and no one can" afford the Affordable care ACT" what happens ?????? VOILA !!! SINGLE PAYER with the GOVERNMENT in complete control of the whole thing
Think it cannot or will not happen???? Look where we are now... we are clearly on a path to MUCH MUCH higher premiums and deductibles.
All courtesy of Obammy and the democrat party.
The problem is, as it always was, that the ACA depends on young, healthy people to sign up to mitigate the risk of older and sicker people. Not surprisingly, healthy younger people aren't signing up. It probably has to do with the crappy economy that offers few good jobs to this demographic.
Bottom line is that the ACA made way too many assumptions when constructing the model.
My uncle, who is a flaming liberal and my dad, who is not, recently had this exchange which came up when discussing health insurance.
Uncle "that damn ACA costs so much that I have had to go without insurance for 8 months and I have one more month to go before Medicare"
Dad "didn't you vote for Obama?"
Uncle "yes"
Dad "Both times?"
Uncle "yes"
Dad "then I have no sympathy for you"
Bottom line is that the ACA made way too many assumptions when constructing the model.
My uncle, who is a flaming liberal and my dad, who is not, recently had this exchange which came up when discussing health insurance.
Uncle "that damn ACA costs so much that I have had to go without insurance for 8 months and I have one more month to go before Medicare"
Dad "didn't you vote for Obama?"
Uncle "yes"
Dad "Both times?"
Uncle "yes"
Dad "then I have no sympathy for you"
Yes, but the ACA does not take into account Medicare, Medicaid, or some iteration. The people without insurance (the ones the ACA were supposed to help) were the target captures for the ACA.
I'm an independent and i went into this with an open mind. Heres my situation. Fam of 4. I did not have health cov cause it was too expensive and my kids were eligible for health choice. But i was quoted between 3 and 4 hundred a mo for me and my wife. When aca happened my kids were no longer eligible for health choice. The first year my plan for 4 of us was 975/mo. About 800 was covered by tax. This year it went up to 1250 with $700 covered by tax credit. But NOONE EXCEPT THE ER ACCEPTS THE INSURANCE! I called about a dozen offices here and the only plan they accept is bcbs gold or premium or whatever the most expensive one is! ($1500/mo)
That doesn't square with your comment that "healthcare is completely privatized." And the ACA absolutely takes into account Medicaid, as it allows states to choose whether to increase Medicaid eligibility limits (Medicaid expansion). Medicaid expansion has inarguably been one of the most contentious tenets of the ACA.
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This puts it all in to perspective. Only weeks after leaving office on January 20, 2017, former President Barack Obama discovers a leak under his sink, so he calls Troy the Plumber to come out and fix it. Troy drives to President Obama's new house, which is located in a very exclusive, gated community near Chicago, where all the residents have a net income of way more than $250,000 per year. Troy arrives and takes his tools into the house. He is led to the guest bathroom that contains the leaky pipe under the sink. Troy assesses the problem and tells Obama that it's an easy repair, that will take less than 10 minutes. Obama asks Troy how much it will cost. Troy checks his rate chart and says, "$9,500." "What?! $9,500?!" Obama asks, stunned, "But you said it's an easy repair. Michelle will kill me if I pay a plumber that much!" Troy says, "Yes, but what I do is charge those who make more than $250,000 per year a much higher amount so I can fix the plumbing of poorer people for free. This has always been my philosophy. As a matter of fact, I lobbied the Democrat Congress, who passed this philosophy into law. Now all plumbers must do business this way. It's known as the 'Affordable Plumbing Act of 2014'. I'm surprised you haven't heard of it." In spite of that, Obama tells Troy there's no way he's paying that much for a small plumbing repair, so Troy leaves. Obama spends the next hour flipping through the phone book calling for another plumber, but he finds that all other plumbing businesses in the area have gone out of business. Not wanting to pay Troy's price, Obama does nothing and the leak goes un-repaired for several more days. A week later the leak is so bad President Obama has had to put a bucket under the sink. Michelle is not happy as she has Oprah and guests arriving the next morning. The bucket fills up quickly and has to be emptied every hour, and there's a risk the room will flood, so Obama calls Troy and pleads with him to return. Troy goes back to Obama's house, looks at the leaky pipe, checks his new rate chart and says, "Let's see, this will now cost you $21,000." Obama quickly fires back, "What? A few days ago you told me it would cost $9,500!" Troy explains, "Well, because of the 'Affordable Plumbing Act,' a lot of wealthier people are learning how to maintain and take care of their own plumbing, so there are fewer payers in the plumbing exchanges. As a result, the price I have to charge wealthy people like you keeps rising. Not only that, but for some reason the demand for plumbing work by those who get it for free has skyrocketed! There's a long waiting list of those who need repairs, but the amount we get doesn't cover our costs, especially paperwork and record-keeping. This unfortunately has put a lot of my fellow plumbers out of business, they're not being replaced, and nobody is going into the plumbing business because they know they can't make any money at it. I'm hurting too, all thanks to greedy rich people like you who won't pay their 'fair share'. On the other hand, why didn't you buy plumbing insurance last December? If you had bought plumbing insurance available under the 'Affordable Plumbing Act,' all this would have been covered by your policy." "You mean I wouldn't have to pay anything to have you fix my plumbing problem?" asks Obama. "Well, not exactly," replies Troy. "You would have had to buy the insurance before the deadline, which has passed now. And, because you're rich, you would have had to pay $34,000 in premiums, which would have given you a 'silver' plan, and then, since this would have been your first repair, you would have to pay up to the $21,000 deductible, and anything over that would have a $7,500 co-pay, and then there's the mandatory maintenance program, which is covered up to 17.5%, so there are some costs involved. Nothing is for free." "WHAT?!" exclaims Obama. "Why so much for a puny sink leak?!" With a bland look, Troy replies, "Well, paperwork, mostly, like I said. And the internal cost of the program itself. You don't think a program of this complexity and scope can run itself, do you? Besides, there are millions of folks with lower incomes than you, even many in the 'middle class', who qualify for subsidies that people like you must support. That's why they call it the 'Affordable Plumbing Act'! Only people who don't make much money can get it. If you want affordable plumbing, you'll have to give away most of what you have accumulated and cut your and Michelle's income by about 90%. Then you can qualify to GET your 'Fair Share' instead of GIVING it." "But who would pass a crazy act like the 'Affordable Plumbing Act'?!" exclaims the exasperated Obama. After a sigh, Troy replies, "Congress ... because they didn't read it." This will help you understand Obamacare .... And here you have it, the 'Affordable Plumbing Act of 2014'.
I just had dinner with a friend of mine who was forced under the ACA to give up a decent insurance coverage that he had had for some time because "that package no longer exists". His monthly payment under obummercare is over $900/month and he just received notification that it is going up by $319/month for 2016. And that is with a $5000 deductible each for all four of his family members and it only covers 50% of any costs beyond that. Talk about a screwing. This is what happens when the government "takes care of the people".
No you certainly CANNOT keep your plan ...in many NC counties (including the Triangle) the insurance companies have comepletly canned a few of the most popular plans and have moved folks onto new, more expensive, smaller network plans. I'm a licensed Health insurance Agent, I'm trained and re-trained on the ACA , know it very well...for the most part it is and has been a mess since day one and FEW folks are benefitting from it on a premium/coverage basis.
This is how the game is played with healthcare and everything else the Left touches...
in Obammy care's instance they pass this gigantic, monstrous pile of dung, 2300 pages of Left wing control and Socialist rules,that Nanny Pelosi says we have to PASS before we know what is in it)
They FORCE the insurance companies to install all new premiums and coverage that many do NOT want or need...premiums are jacked up thru the roof and so too deductibles . Plans are eliminated doctors eliminated, group plans destroyed.
and THEN those EVIL EVIL EVIL Insurance companies will be blamed for their greed and cost overruns. They will be blamed by>>> THE DEMOCRATS and the Socialist left who PASSED this garbage against the will of the American people. the next stop is Single payer Government controlled Health Care, a Socialists wet dream and coming soon to YOUR house.
The best way to defeat this is to defeat Queen Hillary and get someone in the White House who will get us out of this left Wing democrat disaster
in Obammy care's instance they pass this gigantic, monstrous pile of dung, 2300 pages of Left wing control and Socialist rules,that Nanny Pelosi says we have to PASS before we know what is in it)
They FORCE the insurance companies to install all new premiums and coverage that many do NOT want or need...premiums are jacked up thru the roof and so too deductibles . Plans are eliminated doctors eliminated, group plans destroyed.
and THEN those EVIL EVIL EVIL Insurance companies will be blamed for their greed and cost overruns. They will be blamed by>>> THE DEMOCRATS and the Socialist left who PASSED this garbage against the will of the American people. the next stop is Single payer Government controlled Health Care, a Socialists wet dream and coming soon to YOUR house.
The best way to defeat this is to defeat Queen Hillary and get someone in the White House who will get us out of this left Wing democrat disaster
My humor eluded you. That was Obama's biggest selling point and it was a total lie.
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You're obviously not looking because they're easy to find. My response was about as valid as a question that looks like you had an aneurism while you typed it. Considering it was a snarky (and probably rhetorical) question, you shouldn't be surprised when you receive a response in kind.
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There are actually positive anecdotes about the ACA? Please show us some. I would be fascinated to see them....
All the people getting it for free, which we are all paying for, probably have positive things to say about it.
They're probably talking about it on their Obamaphones while we're all working. That's why we can't find the stories.
They're probably talking about it on their Obamaphones while we're all working. That's why we can't find the stories.
Is Google broken?
Only Medicaid and CHIP beneficiaries are eligible for free insurance. Everyone purchasing individual plans through the healthcare exchanges has to pay a premium.
The input from the anti-ACA crowd in this thread has been legendary. Congratulations, you guys. To summarize so far:
1) There are no instances in which an individual has benefitted from the ACA.
2) The ACA has had no impact on Medicare or Medicaid.
3) The ACA does nothing to address cost containment.
The ignorance on this topic is absolutely in mind-numbing. Please let me know if there are any other priceless insights I should add to the list. I might have to bookmark this thread so I can re-post it every time a discussion about the ACA comes up.
1) There are no instances in which an individual has benefitted from the ACA.
2) The ACA has had no impact on Medicare or Medicaid.
3) The ACA does nothing to address cost containment.
The ignorance on this topic is absolutely in mind-numbing. Please let me know if there are any other priceless insights I should add to the list. I might have to bookmark this thread so I can re-post it every time a discussion about the ACA comes up.
I would love to know your real life experience with ACA. While I have read some positive things about the legislation, no one I personally know has been better off with it. Would love to get past the condescending smartest guy in the room comments and actually hear why you think this is such a wonderful piece of legislation.
He actually works in upper level healthcare finance and knows more than the rest of us combined about this topic.
I just jump in because I know how much it agitates him.
