Politics

[Wild Bill]

7.1 million. Boom.

Confident they'll make payments, huh?

 

[NDFan4Life]

7.1 million. Boom.

And you trust everything the government tells you?

SMDH

 

[Ndaccountant]

7.1 million. Boom.

Quite frankly the number means very little. The real number is the % increase for premiums this fall. If the aca works, that number should be very low. We shall see.

 

[Buster Bluth]

Oh really? And at what % does Buster believe welfare and social programs are unacceptable in the federal budget?

I think that depends on the economic conditions if the day. The majority of people who do receive welfare are employed, what does that tell you?

Let's touch base on November 5, 2014 and see how "dead" the GOP is. Dems can't defend obamacare, many think Repubs will hold House and take the Senate. Looking at 2016, Rand Paul got a standing ovation recently at the camous of Berkeley.

Pendulums swing back amd forth...

The Republicans have won one general election popular vote in my lifetime.

1992: Democrat
1996: Democrat
2000: Democrat
2004: Republican
2008: Democrat
2012: Democrat

I'd say they have a problem.

I'll probably vite for Rand Paul too, but don't kid yourself he is not the Republican base and plenty think he'll lose the nomination if they get Jeb BUSH to run.

 

[chicago51]

Confident they'll make payments, huh?

Maybe not. Although I fail to see any significance if the number falls to 6.8 million instead of the 7.1 million. Not when you consider every else that gained access by staying on their parents plan or through Medicaid expansion.

And you trust everything the government tells you?

SMDH

A lot of the data comes from individual states and from the private insurers. Not saying the White House couldn't manipulate the data a little but they are kind of limited to what they can do in this case.

 

[chicago51]

Seeing how their residents are already paying taxes for it not taking basically a gift to expand Medicaid makes the some of these Republicans sociopaths at least in my eyes.

Pro life my rear end. Go read Matthew 25:31-45. Not saying the Democratic Party doesn't have policies that are un Christian but certainly nothing on the scale that supposedly Christian party has. I would like someone to justify how some these governors and state legislatures can justify the blood on their hands by denying hard working Americans life saving Medicaid.

More on Medicaid:

This was written by a friend of mine (news of the death came this weekend). Posted with permission.

I was aware of Charlene's predicament with not being able to get meds or see a doc with her heart condition -- Kathleen (the writer) did a fundraiser to get her meds a while back. Now she's doing a GoFundMe for her funeral.

This is so horrific, and predictable. And preventable. And the result of Republicans in their insane crusade against Obama using the people of Florida as sacrificial lambs. And I just can't even begin to imagine all the other millions of people in Florida who aren't covered, and how many will also die or suffer permanent disability or lose their homes… the list just goes on and on.

Kathleen Voss Woolrich: A Loss Of Life, Caused By Partisan Politics – The Denial Of Obamacare

An unedited story told by a fellow Floridian. The consequences of Florida’s modern day partisan politics. A call to vote for change.

March 24, 2014

By: Kathleen Voss Woolrich

“Born in Pennsylvania to a warm family, Charlene moved to Florida when she was 18 years old. She worked at fast food joints and Disney, cleaned houses and babysat, but through the years found herself as a single mother with 3 kids. She had heart issues that needed to be managed. Her teeth needed to be fixed and constantly had infections, but Charlene never complained. She made $11,000 dollars last year – babysitting other peoples’ children and cleaning other peoples’ houses. She proudly paid her property taxes in February and took care of her little trailer, which she owned and took all three kids to school.

But, Charlene had no health insurance. Charlene was unable to get Obamacare, because she made too little to get the subsidies to purchase health insurance. She had no dental insurance. Her teeth hurt her at night and had so many cavities, but could not find a way to get the decay in her teeth fixed. She was denied medicaid and when she went to get Obamcare she was told she could not get subsidies.

So she went to the emergency room 2012. She had heart issues and was told to get on medicine and be monitored. But, had no health insurance to do so. 2012 Obama won and we all were so sure… NOW Charlene would have health insurance. But the Republican Party of Florida and Rick Scott turned down medicaid expansion. In December Charlene went to the emergency room with abcesses in her legs. Her teeth hurt her constantly. Charlene never complained. She took her two older kids to school each day and reported for work at her various jobs. Recently she began selling vaccuum cleaners in addition to the babysitting and house cleaning. She took antibiotics. She got her healthcare at Florida hospital emergency rooms.

On March 21st, she was supposed to come see me – on my first day off, in a while. She was excited about seeing my daughter who she had raised since she was 3. The kids were all going to play together. She had only 2 short appointments in Osceola County, to show the vaccum to customers. At about 4 pm, that afternoon, I got a message from her niece that she had died at the customers house. They rushed her to Poinciana Medical Center and worked on her. They could not bring my best friend back. She died. She was 32.

You see, the main argument Republicans use is that its some lazy person who needs medicaid expansion. That, those of us living without healthcare or dental care are lazy. But my friend, a single beautiful mother, worked 3 jobs. She paid taxes. She paid her house taxes. And now she’s dead.

Please think of Charlene when you decide who you are going to vote for in August and December. Please vote democrat. Please vote for people who want people like Charlene and me to have healthcare – to have a fighting chance.

I am burying my best friend soon, because of Rick Scott and Will Weatherford. I am buring my best friend, because of the policies of the Republican Party. I am burying my best friend, because had medicaid expansion passed her needs would have been met. She is one of the 7 people who will die each day, because the Florida House of Represenatives Republicans and Tea Party decided that we are not worth living. We are not worth healthcare. We were not worth medicaid expansion.

Please vote for Charlene.

Please help get the Republicans out and expand medicaid. I’ll never have her back. I’ll never see my friend again. I’ll never have another day with her, because of the Republican House of Representatives. Please, for Charlene and for me, register to vote and promise to vote against Rick Scott and any Florida Republican who runs. They need to know we know. We know who they hurt and we see what they are doing to the poor of Florida.”

– Charlene Dill 1981 to 2014
Charlene Dill was murdered by Rick Scott, FL republicans RE Medicaid funding ("donut hole" death) - Democratic Underground

 

[RDU Irish]

Kathleen Voss Woolrich is so compassionate she did nothing to help get this person the care she needed? I could pick apart about a dozen deeper issues in this anecdotal piece that don't add up but I won't get trolled into that line of conversation.

More concisely, a couple of free clinics would go a long way to solve this problem (as if they don't already exist) without disrupting the entire healthcare industry.

 

[Cackalacky]

Kathleen Voss Woolrich is so compassionate she did nothing to help get this person the care she needed? I could pick apart about a dozen deeper issues in this anecdotal piece that don't add up but I won't get trolled into that line of conversation.

More concisely, a couple of free clinics would go a long way to solve this problem (as if they don't already exist) without disrupting the entire healthcare industry.

I was aware of Charlene's predicament with not being able to get meds or see a doc with her heart condition -- Kathleen (the writer) did a fundraiser to get her meds a while back. Now she's doing a GoFundMe for her funeral.

This is so horrific, and predictable. And preventable. And the result of Republicans in their insane crusade against Obama using the people of Florida as sacrificial lambs. And I just can't even begin to imagine all the other millions of people in Florida who aren't covered, and how many will also die or suffer permanent disability or lose their homes… the list just goes on and on.

Sounds like she tried and probably was not enough to fully help. My biggest problem is the last part of that:

I am burying my best friend soon, because of Rick Scott and Will Weatherford. I am buring my best friend, because of the policies of the Republican Party. I am burying my best friend, because had medicaid expansion passed her needs would have been met. She is one of the 7 people who will die each day, because the Florida House of Represenatives Republicans and Tea Party decided that we are not worth living. We are not worth healthcare. We were not worth medicaid expansion.

Please vote for Charlene.

Please help get the Republicans out and expand medicaid. I’ll never have her back. I’ll never see my friend again. I’ll never have another day with her, because of the Republican House of Representatives. Please, for Charlene and for me, register to vote and promise to vote against Rick Scott and any Florida Republican who runs. They need to know we know. We know who they hurt and we see what they are doing to the poor of Florida.”

– Charlene Dill 1981 to 2014
Charlene Dill was murdered by Rick Scott, FL republicans RE Medicaid funding ("donut hole" death) - Democratic Underground

While the heart of the piece is real, I do not like this overt and excessive appeal to emotion. This does nothing but provide fodder for news reels. The donut hole is real as SC is also refusing expansion of coverage but the ACA was written in a manner that allows it to occur. I loathe Rick Scott and he is one of the most despicable public figures in Florida, but even this is a bit overboard.

 

[Polish Leppy 22]

7.1 million. Boom.

Let's assume that the number is 7.1 million and they ALL pay (my ass). What was the big magical number of uninsured Americans we heard from Democrats pre obamacare??

I remember...47 million. Over and over and over again. So why the gap? If 47 million were uninsured in 2008, wouldn't 47 million be scratching and clawing to sign up for new plans on healthcare.gov???

 

[Ndaccountant]

Seeing how their residents are already paying taxes for it not taking basically a gift to expand Medicaid makes the some of these Republicans sociopaths at least in my eyes.

Pro life my rear end. Go read Matthew 25:31-45. Not saying the Democratic Party doesn't have policies that are un Christian but certainly nothing on the scale that supposedly Christian party has. I would like someone to justify how some these governors and state legislatures can justify the blood on their hands by denying hard working Americans life saving Medicaid.

More on Medicaid:

I think people have been focused on expanding the coverage, but what about the people that previously had Medicaid? Is the ACA good for them?

The program was designed to help the poor. By changing who can qualify, there could be as many as 20 million more people added to the system over time. With reimbursement rates that are, on average, 60% of Medicare (and is below cost of care), where are the doctors going to come from to offer the care? You will now have the poor who were previously enrolled now competing for services with 20 million more people. Personally, I think it is a raw deal for poor who previously had Medicaid.

Next, the federal match for Medicaid expansion is 100% right now, but will decline to 90% by 2020. Where is the other 10% going to come from? If states already have a budget crunch, what will happen by 2020?

Making matters worse on the funding side, when the Supreme Court ruled that states can opt out of the expansion, they also said if they opt in the program essentially becomes part of the old Medicaid program. What that effectively means, is that if states want to roll back the expansion if/when costs rise, they will not be able to. Thus, it puts a huge amount of financial risks on the states.

There are other risks as well, but I don't have the time to go into them right now.

 

[GoIrish41]

Let's assume that the number is 7.1 million and they ALL pay (my ass). What was the big magical number of uninsured Americans we heard from Democrats pre obamacare??

I remember...47 million. Over and over and over again. So why the gap? If 47 million were uninsured in 2008, wouldn't 47 million be scratching and clawing to sign up for new plans on healthcare.gov???

When asked prior to the enrollment period what success would look like for Obamacare, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said that it be when about 7 million people signed up in the next six months. That in and of itself is not as important as the fact that GOP detractors seized on that number. When the implementation of the enrollment period stumbled over the first month, I heard Rebublicans repeat that 7 million number time and time again. There is no way the Dems would sign that many people up and that was proof positive that the law was broken and ineffective. They repeated the number and repeated the number until anyone who was interested knew that HHS Secretary set the bar. When it really looked like there was no way that many people would sign up, the GOP used it as a club to beat Obama with. They, in effect, accepted the challenge when it looked like there was no way they could lose the argument.

Fast forward six months and we hear the announcement that 7.1 million Americans have signed up. Nobody said that 47 million would sign up in the first open enrollment. The government estimate was always 7 million. And even with a long, painful, and publically humiliating delay, they surpassed that goal. Now, all of the republicans who railed against the law and its sloppy implementation are faced with the reality that they underestimated the nation's appetite for Obamacare. A Washington Post poll a couple of days before implementation actually showed that more Americans were for the ACA than against it (48% to 47% I think), once again disproving the GOP talking point that "most Americans don't want the law." There are still those who will seek disparage the law, which is fine, even though they look increasingly foolish in doing so. They say things like, the 7.1 million doesn't matter, that it will bring costs down is the real measuring stick, or worse yet they deny the number of enrollees, even though it would be political suicide for the Dems to fabricate the number. At the end of the day, from a political perspective the GOP must admit that they, once again, got beat on an issue. Obama wins!!!! America's uninsured win!!!!!! The haters lose. Deal with it!

 

[chicago51]

Democracy is officially up for sale in the United States.

Supreme Court lifts ban on aggregate campaign donations

Not that Democratic Party doesn't have rich donors but they don't give nearly as much as the Republican donors do so I pretty much think this is the beginning of the end of the Democratic Party long term at least from economic populist standpoint. On environmental and social issues there should be enough donor power to support those causes but not for economic populism.

I don't the Democrats having a congressional majority for the foreseeable future.

 

[Irish Houstonian]

Let's assume that the number is 7.1 million and they ALL pay (my ass). What was the big magical number of uninsured Americans we heard from Democrats pre obamacare??

I remember...47 million. Over and over and over again. So why the gap? If 47 million were uninsured in 2008, wouldn't 47 million be scratching and clawing to sign up for new plans on healthcare.gov???

FYI, only 1/3 of the 7 million who've signed up were previously uninsured.

 

[GoIrish41]

FYI, only 1/3 of the 7 million who've signed up were previously uninsured.

also fyi. the 7.1 million is new policies and the coverage will be extended to many more people than that number, including all of those under 25 who can now stay on their parents plans.

 

[Cackalacky]

Democracy is officially up for sale in the United States.

Supreme Court lifts ban on aggregate campaign donations

Not that Democratic Party doesn't have rich donors but they don't give nearly as much as the Republican donors do so I pretty much think this is the beginning of the end of the Democratic Party long term at least from economic populist standpoint. On environmental and social issues there should be enough donor power to support those causes but not for economic populism.

I don't the Democrats having a congressional majority for the foreseeable future.

So donating millions of dollars to candidates is not quid pro quo? Oh man.... How fucked up.

Wolf-PAC.com. Go ahead and check it out. It's the only way the populace has left to get money out of politics. This will pretty much ensure the rich buy every possible race.

Goodbye Democracy...we hardly knew you.

 

[connor_in]

Quick question: For months the administration has been nearly impossible to pin down and given foggy generalizations as to the numbers that had signed up for "Obamacare" (and none for "paid"). However, in the last few days, even amidst an incredible last minute surge, they have given extrodinarily explicit numbers for sign ups (but still incredibly foggy to non-answers on "paid").

So the question is...why are people putting so much unquestioning faith in this number?

(After that question is tackled, then comes the question of how many paid...see IH's reference to the RAND study. And the ultimate follow up question, how many of those that have signed up and paid -and are therefore actually covered- were part of the formerly 30-40 million uninsured people when this bill had to be passed by only one party without it being read?)

 

[Wild Bill]

also fyi. the 7.1 million is new policies and the coverage will be extended to many more people than that number, including all of those under 25 who can now stay on their parents plans.

You're assuming the "new" policies are covering people who were uninsured prior to the ACA. I suspect a large portion of these people simply changed their policy. My employee group policy increased 20%. It isn't affordable for some of my colleagues so they dropped the coverage and purchased a cheaper, shittier plan from Blue Cross. They aren't entitled to a tax deduction on their premium b/c it's not a group policy, so the net effect is paying pre-ACA premiums with shittier coverage.

 

[ACamp1900]

You're assuming the "new" policies are covering people who were uninsured prior to the ACA. I suspect a large portion of these people simply changed their policy. My employee group group policy increased 20%. It isn't affordable for some of my colleagues so they dropped the coverage and purchased a cheaper, shittier plan from Blue Cross. They aren't entitled to a tax deduction on their premium b/c it's not a group policy, so the net effect is paying pre-ACA premiums with shittier coverage.

Stupid details man,... and they don't matter... people don't matter... none of your silly post matters... what matters is Obama 'wins' and gets to take a victory lap.

 

[chicago51]

So donating millions of dollars to candidates is not quid pro quo? Oh man.... How fucked up.

Wolf-PAC.com. Go ahead and check it out. It's the only way the populace has left to get money out of politics. This will pretty much ensure the rich buy every possible race.

Goodbye Democracy...we hardly knew you.

Yea I'll say it again money is not free speech it is property.

I will check out Wolf-Pac.com. Personally I recommend MoveToAmend.org

MoveToAmend.org might be even bigger they have gotten 500 local governments to sign onto their Amendment and have hundreds of thousands who have signed their petition.

FYI, only 1/3 of the 7 million who've signed up were previously uninsured.

This is actual about right. I heard 2-2.5 million of the 7.1 million where likely uninsured. Plus 3 million young adults staying on their parents plans. Plus 4.5 million from Medicaid expansion. The number I heard was on the conservative side 9 million to upwards of over 10 so it seems about right in terms of uninsured gaining coverage.

Quick question: For months the administration has been nearly impossible to pin down and given foggy generalizations as to the numbers that had signed up for "Obamacare" (and none for "paid"). However, in the last few days, even amidst an incredible last minute surge, they have given extrodinarily explicit numbers for sign ups (but still incredibly foggy to non-answers on "paid").

So the question is...why are people putting so much unquestioning faith in this number?

(After that question is tackled, then comes the question of how many paid...see IH's reference to the RAND study. And the ultimate follow up question, how many of those that have signed up and paid -and are therefore actually covered- were part of the formerly 30-40 million uninsured people when this bill had to be passed by only one party without it being read?)

I'm going to try seriously answer the question about why we don't know how many paid just yet.

It is vague because payments are not due immediately after one sign up. A little less than half of the total signed up in March (I think we had just over 4 million at the end of Feb) and their payment probably are not due till sometime in April. Maybe some providers required payment on April 1st but more than likely the due date is in the middle of the month.

I turned 26 in December so I needed to get coverage starting in January. I couldn't go insured as it was a school requirement. I wasn't working back in December because of my internship so I didn't qualify for subsidies and I didn't want Medicaid; plus I have money saved from last job so I could afford a basic plan. So rather than mess with website I found a plan I liked that and was affordable by itself and went directly to the insurance company. So I brought a plan on the marketplace but I'm not one of the 7 million since I didn't go through healthcare.gov.

That being said even though I signed up in early December. I didn't pay my first premium till January 15. So based on my experience must of the folks from the late March rush won't pay till mid April.

 

[Cackalacky]

Wolf-PAC is also trying to get a constitutional convention going at the state level. It's in the works in all 50 states. Vermont is moving ahead quickly without.

 

[connor_in]

Yea I'll say it again money is not free speech it is property.

I will check out Wolf-Pac.com. Personally I recommend MoveToAmend.org

MoveToAmend.org might be even bigger they have gotten 500 local governments to sign onto their Amendment and have hundreds of thousands who have signed their petition.



This is actual about right. I heard 2-2.5 million of the 7.1 million where likely uninsured. Plus 3 million young adults staying on their parents plans. Plus 4.5 million from Medicaid expansion. The number I heard was on the conservative side 9 million to upwards of over 10 so it seems about right in terms of uninsured gaining coverage.



I'm going to try seriously answer the question about why we don't know how many paid just yet.

It is vague because payments are not due immediately after one sign up. A little less than half of the total signed up in March (I think we had just over 4 million at the end of Feb) and their payment probably are not due till sometime in April. Maybe some providers required payment on April 1st but more than likely the due date is in the middle of the month.

I turned 26 in December so I needed to get coverage starting in January. I couldn't go insured as it was a school requirement. I wasn't working back in December because of my internship so I didn't qualify for subsidies and I didn't want Medicaid; plus I have money saved from last job so I could afford a basic plan. So rather than mess with website I found a plan I liked that and was affordable by itself and went directly to the insurance company. So I brought a plan on the marketplace but I'm not one of the 7 million since I didn't go through healthcare.gov.

That being said even though I signed up in early December. I didn't pay my first premium till January 15. So based on my experience must of the folks from the late March rush won't pay till mid April.

I appreciate your trying to answer, but that part is understood. The first question to be answered though is why the faith in the 7.1M count when even just the signup amounts were not given with anywhere near that clarity over the last 6 months

 

[chicago51]

You're assuming the "new" policies are covering people who were uninsured prior to the ACA. I suspect a large portion of these people simply changed their policy. My employee group group policy increased 20%. It isn't affordable for some of my colleagues so they dropped the coverage and purchased a cheaper, shittier plan from Blue Cross. They aren't entitled to a tax deduction on their premium b/c it's not a group policy, so the net effect is paying pre-ACA premiums with shittier coverage.

This isn't meant to be a partisan response.

I agree and believe alot of this post.

There are many reasons why premiums are going besides the ACA. I'm not confirming nor denying the ACA causing your rates to spike.

The ACA did raise cost because it did require certain things to be covered that where not covered some perhaps where unnecessary. Which is a fair complaint.

In your case isn't your employer at least responsible for a minor share of the blame. For one the employer mandate was delayed. Secondly couldn't they have just contributed a slightly larger share of the cost? The requirement if the mandate was in effect the premium had to 9.5% of one's income. Couldn't they give them a raise or contribute a bit more to so the numbers worked?

Isn't also fair to ask why the insurance company raised the cost?

The ACA though shouldn't be used as a cop out for all premium increases when as a whole their hasn't been a difference in premium growth relative to pre ACA days. Cost went up but if you look the early 2000s, the 70s and the 80s it isn't way off the charts.

Maybe the emphasis on preventive care and having a greater % of the population insured thus healthier will help in the long run but the ACA did nothing to raise nor decrease health care cost in the short term. At least the evidence doesn't indicate as such.

The ACA did nothing to reform a health care system where 31 cents of every dollar is wasted to paper work, administration cost, and bureaucracy. Some of this is inevitable but the number in other countries is around 10-12 cents per dollar.

First off much of healthcare is not a competitive marketplace. Nor is it any semblance of a free competitive market as doctors are gate keepers even with PPOs albeit to a smaller extent than HMOs. There is some solid argument for why doctors should be gate keepers, although for some things I tend to disagree with that premise.

Private insurance is a big part of the problem. I know people point out profit is only 7%-9% sometimes that doesn't count CEO salaries and administration workers. The fact is total administration cost for private insurers as a whole is 20%, Medicare is 3%. We still waste a bit more than 3% in Medicare and 20% for private insurance because of provider fraud which occurs more with Medicare and I'll get to.

Excessive drug patent laws which I admit is not area of my expertise is a problem.

Provider abuse and fraud by billing for unnecessary treatments and even treatments not done is a huge issue. It probably means less money for me going forward but I can see the argument of putting doctors as well as PTs like myself, OTs, speech, counselors, nutritionist, and others on salary as opposed to a fee for service. Going to a salary based system would require them to what is in the patient's best interest and do all these extra treatments. There is arguments against this to and I do agree with some of the logic so I go back and forth.

Of course the reason why providers over bill and do excessive treatments and procedures is because so much gets denied. At best 50% of what is billed to the insurance company actually gets reimbursed. Sometimes in worse case it is more like 30%.

Note writing on treatments has become like rocket science, at least I think so. It isn't so much what you do it is how you phrase it. All medical practices have practice acts (in fact we reduced cost alot in the 90s because of provider practice acts) and I tend to think providers should be paid for treatments within the practice act for a particular condition. So I think we need to do something about making sure paying providers for what they should be doing and doing something about abuse and fraud by providers for stuff they shouldn't be doing. If that means paying by salary instead of fee for service so be it. I think so sort of outcome incentive payment would be ideal but it is so hard implement and quantifiable and/or justifiably measure in some cases.

There is just a whole lot of waste and inefficiencies in health care and the ACA really didn't fix any of it. Quite frankly it is going to be hard because the corporate masters of both parties don't want to change these inefficiencies because doctors, insurance companies, hospital administration, the health care industrial complex all make big bucks off these inefficiencies. Heck the job a had for 7 years in managed care billing and collecting office for a hospital was in a department solely created solely on this inefficiency.

 

[Wild Bill]

Stupid details man,... and they don't matter... people don't matter... none of your silly post matters... what matters is Obama 'wins' and gets to take a victory lap.

That, and middle class suburban 20 somethings can chase dreams while enjoying insurance benefits at the expense of their parents, society or both.

 

[GoIrish41]

Quick question: For months the administration has been nearly impossible to pin down and given foggy generalizations as to the numbers that had signed up for "Obamacare" (and none for "paid"). However, in the last few days, even amidst an incredible last minute surge, they have given extrodinarily explicit numbers for sign ups (but still incredibly foggy to non-answers on "paid").

So the question is...why are people putting so much unquestioning faith in this number?

(After that question is tackled, then comes the question of how many paid...see IH's reference to the RAND study. And the ultimate follow up question, how many of those that have signed up and paid -and are therefore actually covered- were part of the formerly 30-40 million uninsured people when this bill had to be passed by only one party without it being read?)

I suspect that the administration had the numbers all along and did not share them. Why? Politics. Why provide ammo to the opponent. As far as the number who paid, those who don't pay won't have coverage.

 

[GoIrish41]

That, and middle class suburban 20 somethings can chase dreams while enjoying insurance benefits at the expense of their parents, society or both.

Isn't that a good thing? Going to school, getting started in a job, picking up a trade. That's what young people do and this gives them the freedom to do that without the pressure of not being covered hanging over their heads. Especially today when employers are looking for ways NOT to offer benefits like health plans to new employees (employees in general really).

 

[BobD]

In a couple years, When private Health insurance premiums stop increasing as fast as they have over the last ten, (and they will) then everyone will relax a bit.

We'd kick some health care ass if we could get everyone focused on making this better instead of just for or against.

 

[Irish Houstonian]

also fyi. the 7.1 million is new policies and the coverage will be extended to many more people than that number, including all of those under 25 who can now stay on their parents plans.

Good point. Of those 1/3 previously uninsured, some of them will be parents of early twenty-somethings. And some of those twenty-somethings will be people who want to join their parents' plans (assuming their parents can, or want, to pay for it). And some of those twenty-somethings will be people who would have been denied eligibility based on age, but are now able to get coverage.

If you ask me, by 2024 this will be the best $2.3 Trillion dollars we've ever spent.

 

[Wild Bill]

I agree and believe alot of this post.

There are many reasons why premiums are going besides the ACA.

The ACA did raise cost because it did require certain things to be covered that where not covered some perhaps where unnecessary. Which is a fair complaint.

In your case isn't your employer at least responsible for a minor share of the blame. For one the employer mandate was delayed. Secondly couldn't they have just contributed a slightly larger share of the cost? The requirement if the mandate was in effect the premium had to 9.5% of one's income. Couldn't they give them a raise or contribute a bit more to so the numbers worked?

Isn't also fair to ask why the insurance company raised the cost?

To be clear, I don't know why the premium was increased. I only assume it was tied to the ACA, at least in part, b/c it has been the largest increase I've experienced in my five years here.

My employer doesn't contribute to our insurance - employees pay 100%. I won't get into details but in anticipation of the mandate, employees took huge pay cuts. Boss man needs some cash to pay the penalty and it's not coming out of his own ass. The terminations will start once the mandate takes effect.

I don't blame my boss. If I built a company I wouldn't want the feds dictating my employees' compensation packages.

 

[Ndaccountant]

In a couple years, When private Health insurance premiums stop increasing as fast as they have over the last ten, (and they will) then everyone will relax a bit.

We'd kick some health care ass if we could get everyone focused on making this better instead of just for or against.

Well, people are focusing on what happens to them, not the whole. It's hard for people to digest a situation depicted above where they have to downgrade health plans to keep their overall premiums flat. Telling someone that their family coverage has to change given the new law tends to bring out emotions. People will do whatever they can to protect their family, no matter what that is. I cannot blame anyone that feels that way.

I think over time, this will change as people that are teens or younger today will not know anything but the ACA when they are older. But the old timers will still be strongly opinioned.

 

[BobD]

Well, people are focusing on what happens to them, not the whole. It's hard for people to digest a situation depicted above where they have to downgrade health plans to keep their overall premiums flat. Telling someone that their family coverage has to change given the new law tends to bring out emotions. People will do whatever they can to protect their family, no matter what that is. I cannot blame anyone that feels that way.

I think over time, this will change as people that are teens or younger today will not know anything but the ACA when they are older. But the old timers will still be strongly opinioned.

In our country it takes sacrifice to do anything, that's why my hopes of a bright economic future for the US aren't so high.