health insurance - Obama care cost questions

[Skippy918]

I just got my cobra info. It's 1000 per month for family coverage. I hope I get a new job before I actually need the coverage.

 

[Patch'sD]

The ACA was sold as health insurance for all at a lower affordable cost and the average family would save $ 1500 per year. That was stated in 2009 when the battle in Washington was raging. States like California and NY already many of the provisions ACA already in place. So increases were small or in some case reductions happened. But there was very little done to reduce costs so the increases kept on coming. Since 2010 my portion of my healthcare insurance cost has almost doubled. I am in HMO with no deductibles just co pays $20/$40/$100 (Primary Care, Specialist, ER Visit) Hospital Coverage is 100% Covered. My Portion of the $ 2,000 per month cost is about 60% and is the biggest deduction from my paycheck.

The ACA was the biggest lie sold to the American public. Health Insurance companies did not make wild profits, Very little has been returned through the restrictions that have been placed on companies via the ACA. It took a broken expensive system, expanded it to about 10 Million more people, and the tax payers fund it.

 

[longboard55]

I don't think they will be sending you a check, the saving is in medical inflation which is down 60%. The US government between medicaid, medicare, va benefits and gove employees spends a huge amount on medical care, so reduced costs save a bundle

Annual US Medical Care Inflation Rate
Last Month 2.2%
Last Year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.0%
Last 5 Years 3.0%
Last 10 Years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.5%
Last 20 Years 3.7%

 

[ez]

This may sound like a stupid question but, what happens to people that dont have health insurance but need to be hospitalized, operated on, or treated for cancer or something, historically and currently if anyone knows.

 

[wilkeliza]

This may sound like a stupid question but, what happens to people that dont have health insurance but need to be hospitalized, operated on, or treated for cancer or something, historically and currently if anyone knows.

It honestly depends. If you go to an ER they can not turn you away. However if you need to be operated on or treated for cancer etc you may have to pay the entire price and some locations may refuse service if you can not pay. Some people use to go to an emergency room for this sole purpose because if you go and they admit you they can not deny services due to lack of pay. Now say you have an ingrown town nail and need out patient surgery a provider may turn you away if you can not pay.

 

[Patch'sD]

I don't think they will be sending you a check, the saving is in medical inflation which is down 60%. The US government between medicaid, medicare, va benefits and gove employees spends a huge amount on medical care, so reduced costs save a bundle

Annual US Medical Care Inflation Rate
Last Month 2.2%
Last Year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.0%
Last 5 Years 3.0%
Last 10 Years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.5%
Last 20 Years 3.7%

According to your data reduction started well before the ACA.

 

[CPanther95]

My wife and I have a group plan through our company with BCBS (we each have our own individual plan). Premiums have been steadily climbing and were going to jump from $2875 to $3100/month this year.

We're finally dropping our grandfathered status and switching to a comparable Obamacare plan and our premiums are dropping to $1525/month. So while there's a lot - a whole lot - about Obamacare that is horrible, from a personal standpoint I'd like to thank you all for your tax contributions that are saving me almost $19,000 a year.

 

[Patch'sD]

I think you read "incarcerate over 100,000 Japanese Americans (internment camps)" as "incinerate over 100,000 Japanese".

Yes I did and I edited it. Thank You

 

[ariel71]

Wow. Harboring some bad feelings there. The American people were told that the ACA would save $1,500 per year. That has not happened and never will. Nobody has even brought up about the death panels.

(I am sorry I saw the word incarcerate as incinerate so my initial response was wrong and I deleted that portion of it.)

As we can see today, a hands off policy in the middle east doesn't work to well. I don't believe that congress or the administration lied about the weapons of Mass Destruction. Bad information from Spies and the Iraq government.

No bad feelings. I just think saying the ACA is "the biggest lie told to the American people" is plain ol' dumb. We'll have to agree to disagree on how wise it is to spend trillions on "bad information from spies". But that's me.

You said in your post that "there was very little done to reduce costs". The money we spend on end-of-life care is astronomical. The ACA originally had a provision to reimburse physicians for discussing end-of-life matters with Medicare patients, in part because it can help address those costs. That had to be scrapped because they were turned into "death panels". Those actual words were used to describe something that should be a matter of course for everyone. We're all going to die and at some point we do need to start having some rational discussions about the cost associated with preventing that.

That is the kind of politicizing (and it can be on both sides) that happens when anyone tries to have a discussion about health care costs. So yes, the ACA couldn't do much to reduce costs because god forbid we actually have the hard conversations necessary to try to address costs - malpractice reform, standardized and transparent quality measures, end-of-life decision making, industry profits, cost of pharmaceuticals, etc.

To just petulantly say "they promised me $1500 and I didn't get it" (and you don't list a source, so I'm not fact checking) is really simplistic for an extremely complex environment. Perhaps the ACA has saved you $1500 in the form of slowed increases on what your costs would have been had the ACA not happened.

 

[Planogirl]

The biggest problem is the high cost of healthcare. It blows my mind when I see the "actual" prices for tests and simple bandaids. And drugs. Yes, research is needed but the prices are insane regardless of healthcare plan.

 

[IDoDis]

This may sound like a stupid question but, what happens to people that dont have health insurance but need to be hospitalized, operated on, or treated for cancer or something, historically and currently if anyone knows.

My brother was diagnosed with an incurable cancer 2 years ago. Six months before his diagnosis, he had lost his job due to foot nerve pain from diabetes and was surviving on unemployment benefits, but had lost his health insurance. He had the cancer several months before the diagnosis because he didn't go to see a doctor due to not having insurance.

When he was diagnosed with cancer, a social worker helped him sign up for Medicaid. We live in a Medicaid expansion state, so anyone that meets the low income or no income criteria can get free medical care and doesn't have to pay for insurance through the Affordable Care Act. My brother's chemo and all other treatments (diabetes) were covered. He received exceptional care through one of the top-rated cancer centers in the country. His cancer has been in remission for 17 months and his blood levels show no diabetes anymore. He recently had all of his teeth pulled and got false teeth with no expense on his part. Without that medical care he would not be with us today. He went through hell and back. I'm thankful he was able to get the medical care he needed and pray that his cancer stays in remission for a long time.

 

[Patch'sD]

No bad feelings. I just think saying the ACA is "the biggest lie told to the American people" is plain ol' dumb. We'll have to agree to disagree on how wise it is to spend trillions on "bad information from spies". But that's me.

You said in your post that "there was very little done to reduce costs". The money we spend on end-of-life care is astronomical. The ACA originally had a provision to reimburse physicians for discussing end-of-life matters with Medicare patients, in part because it can help address those costs. That had to be scrapped because they were turned into "death panels". Those actual words were used to describe something that should be a matter of course for everyone. We're all going to die and at some point we do need to start having some rational discussions about the cost associated with preventing that.

That is the kind of politicizing (and it can be on both sides) that happens when anyone tries to have a discussion about health care costs. So yes, the ACA couldn't do much to reduce costs because god forbid we actually have the hard conversations necessary to try to address costs - malpractice reform, standardized and transparent quality measures, end-of-life decision making, industry profits, cost of pharmaceuticals, etc.

To just petulantly say "they promised me $1500 and I didn't get it" (and you don't list a source, so I'm not fact checking) is really simplistic for an extremely complex environment. Perhaps the ACA has saved you $1500 in the form of slowed increases on what your costs would have been had the ACA not happened.

I am sorry let me correct myself, it was $2,500 per year and it was promised at least 19 times by the current occupant of the White House. As far as the hard conversations about end of life, That is a decision that the individual makes not a doctor and not the federal government. Yes there is a lot more to do to reduce costs. but the crafters of the ACA left them out, just took the American taxpayer's money and spread it around. And of course you can leave the Middle East alone and look what happens.

 

[RedHatDisney]

The biggest problem is the obscene profits for health insurance companies and their ceos!

The lie about "receiving treatment" in an er is awful. A family member, several years ago (prior to ACA) had bout with a terrible cancer. No insurance, MONTHLY co-pays of $650.00 (A MONTY) at county hospital (covered by family members) and he was treated. The er simply told him he had a bowel obstruction of some kind and he needed to see his pcp. Some er treatment, right?

 

[ariel71]

I am sorry let me correct myself, it was $2,500 per year and it was promised at least 19 times by the current occupant of the White House. As far as the hard conversations about end of life, That is a decision that the individual makes not a doctor and not the federal government. Yes there is a lot more to do to reduce costs. but the crafters of the ACA left them out, just took the American taxpayer's money and spread it around. And of course you can leave the Middle East alone and look what happens.

Now it's $2,500. And if that's true, so what? It still hardly equates to the biggest lie ever told. We also have "Read my lips, no new taxes". If I go back through the last hundred years, I'm sure I could post many campaign promises that never materialized.

Since logic appears to be at issue...

1. How does reimbursing a physician for appointment time for end-of-life discussions equate to the "federal government being involved in the decision"? What actual decision are we talking about? I guess we shouldn't reimburse doctors for any appointments to address health matters. Or for surgery? Does that mean the federal government is there in the operating room? Do you realize that this has nothing to do with euthanasia?

2. How does a statement saying we invaded Iraq under false pretenses turn into "we should leave the middle east alone"? It doesn't follow. For one, we have hardly left the middle east alone, and two, I'm willing to bet we would have had much more success, and the crucial support of our allies, had we focused on Afghanistan. But this has gone beyond this thread, so I'll leave it there.

You'll never be able to physically measure the individual impact of the ACA because we'll never know what premiums, costs, and coverage would have been without it. However, if you or your family ever end up with a pre-existing condition, are out of work, hit what would have been a lifetime cap, need behavioral health services, have an adult child needing coverage, or would have tried to get maternity coverage under an individual plan, the effect might be more evident.

 

[longboard55]

Yes there were many lies told about ACA, they swore it was nationalized health care like Canada, it would ruin the economy, it would cost us jobs, it would raise the deficit, all the doctors will quit, it will double costs, it was the worst program ever, it would double premium insurance costs, 50 million have lost their insurance . Even this year they were telling us premiums were going up 40%, (real number turned out to be 4) There has never been a program so maligned that has done so well. Sorry it has not worked for you, it has helped 18 million.

 

[TLSnell1981]

Yes there were many lies told about ACA, they swore it was nationalized health care like Canada, it would ruin the economy, it would cost us jobs, it would raise the deficit, all the doctors will quit, it will double costs, it was the worst program ever, it would double premium insurance costs, 50 million have lost their insurance . Even this year they were telling us premiums were going up 40%, (real number turned out to be 4) There has never been a program so maligned that has done so well. Sorry it has not worked for you, it has helped 18 million.

Lies? It has cost jobs, many doctors have left and/or do not participate, premiums/coinsurance/copays/deductibles increased costs, and quality of care has decreased. And, it hasn't been fully implemented.

Once again...insurance and healthcare are not synonymous.

 

[longboard55]

Unemployment has not gone up under ACA it has gone down dramatically, as far as quality of care this chart says it all. And if you think you can good healthcare without insurance think again, or maybe you are a billionaire and do not need insurance.

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhis/earlyrelease/earlyrelease201509_03.pdf

 

[RedHatDisney]

It's not too difficult to figure out pp's sources for information.

 

[smadath]

This article is from 2013, but it summarizes cost trends for the first few years fairly well:

http://news.investors.com/082313-668492-health-premiums-climbed-obama-promised-cut.htm

 

[TLSnell1981]

Unemployment has not gone up under ACA it has gone down dramatically, as far as quality of care this chart says it all. And if you think you can good healthcare without insurance think again, or maybe you are a billionaire and do not need insurance.

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhis/earlyrelease/earlyrelease201509_03.pdf

Unemployment/underemployment and those no longer on the rolls are a whole different subject. The job situation in the U.S. Is quite bad. I'm not a billionaire, nor do I play one on the DIS I have insurance, that has increased significantly, OOP much higher with less choice.

It's a bit surprising to some, who now have insurance, that it may basically cover nothing. Also, it's can be quite difficult to find a provider and/or get an appointment. I KNOW insurance and healthcare are NOT the same thing. No need to think again.