Facts about an Obamacare repeal - Things the average citizen doesn't know

[bripat9643]

My daughter just had knee surgery, which was re-scheduled four (4) times. She ended up having it during finals week at school, which caused all kinds of shit. The surgeon apologized profusely and sheepishly said he hoped the "system" would be fixed soon. I asked him, "ACA?", and he nodded yes. Oh well. Who knows, if the ACA stays, maybe they'll iron out these "bugs".

Aside from "you can keep your plan / your doctor", your point about deductibles may be the biggest killer of the plan. Obviously, first, it's really hurting people. But also, I have a friend who is an administrator at a hospital here, and he says non-payment of deductibles is killing them. They're now starting to require payment of 75% of the deductible before services will be performed, which I learned personally.

This is a mess, as we knew it would be. The predictable result of an important issue becoming politicized.

You mean as opposed to what a finely tuned machine it was before then?

I'm little dubious about your story, as you don't explain HOW the 'system' caused 'delays'.

Yup...the ACA has become the scapegoat of the insurance companies. Insurance companies have always been douche bags, people. The ACA didn't change that, it just gave them more customers to be douchey about and it gave them something to hide their douchiness behind.

We need a Public Option NOW!

One thing that has become obvious in the last few months is that the people who put the ACA together are douche bags.

 

[Mad_Cabbie]

Very good and informative points in the OP.

Others would do well heeding your example. Nice job.

 

[g5000]

My daughter just had knee surgery, which was re-scheduled four (4) times. She ended up having it during finals week at school, which caused all kinds of shit. The surgeon apologized profusely and sheepishly said he hoped the "system" would be fixed soon. I asked him, "ACA?", and he nodded yes. Oh well. Who knows, if the ACA stays, maybe they'll iron out these "bugs".

Aside from "you can keep your plan / your doctor", your point about deductibles may be the biggest killer of the plan. Obviously, first, it's really hurting people. But also, I have a friend who is an administrator at a hospital here, and he says non-payment of deductibles is killing them. They're now starting to require payment of 75% of the deductible before services will be performed, which I learned personally.

This is a mess, as we knew it would be. The predictable result of an important issue becoming politicized.

You mean as opposed to what a finely tuned machine it was before then?

I'm little dubious about your story, as you don't explain HOW the 'system' caused 'delays'.

Yup...the ACA has become the scapegoat of the insurance companies. Insurance companies have always been douche bags, people. The ACA didn't change that, it just gave them more customers to be douchey about and it gave them something to hide their douchiness behind.

We need a Public Option NOW!

One thing that has become obvious in the last few months is that the people who put the ACA together are douche bags.

They certainly are douchebags, but so are the people in the GOP who decided to abdicate on health care reform. The Democrats telegraphed for decades what they would do if given half a chance, and the GOP left the door completely open to them.

What was the GOP's response to the Democrat's plan?

"tl/dr lol".

 

[Mac1958]

My daughter just had knee surgery, which was re-scheduled four (4) times. She ended up having it during finals week at school, which caused all kinds of shit. The surgeon apologized profusely and sheepishly said he hoped the "system" would be fixed soon. I asked him, "ACA?", and he nodded yes. Oh well. Who knows, if the ACA stays, maybe they'll iron out these "bugs".

Aside from "you can keep your plan / your doctor", your point about deductibles may be the biggest killer of the plan. Obviously, first, it's really hurting people. But also, I have a friend who is an administrator at a hospital here, and he says non-payment of deductibles is killing them. They're now starting to require payment of 75% of the deductible before services will be performed, which I learned personally.

This is a mess, as we knew it would be. The predictable result of an important issue becoming politicized.

You mean as opposed to what a finely tuned machine it was before then?

I'm little dubious about your story, as you don't explain HOW the 'system' caused 'delays'.

Of course you would be dubious. Partisan ideologues automatically assume that everyone else is as intellectually dishonest as they are.

There is actually more to the story, how a specialist she was scheduled to see stopped taking our insurance in between the time the appointment was set and the date of the appointment, due specifically to the legislation. And I think that was a little after our pharmacy stopped taking our plan (Humana) for the same reason. No doubt you would "not believe" that, either.

I don't know what caused the delays, and I didn't ask. He was there to speak to my daughter about her surgery. Either way, it's irrelevant to me, the ACA is what it is, nothing I can do about it.

.

 

[bripat9643]

My daughter just had knee surgery, which was re-scheduled four (4) times. She ended up having it during finals week at school, which caused all kinds of shit. The surgeon apologized profusely and sheepishly said he hoped the "system" would be fixed soon. I asked him, "ACA?", and he nodded yes. Oh well. Who knows, if the ACA stays, maybe they'll iron out these "bugs".

Aside from "you can keep your plan / your doctor", your point about deductibles may be the biggest killer of the plan. Obviously, first, it's really hurting people. But also, I have a friend who is an administrator at a hospital here, and he says non-payment of deductibles is killing them. They're now starting to require payment of 75% of the deductible before services will be performed, which I learned personally.

This is a mess, as we knew it would be. The predictable result of an important issue becoming politicized.

You mean as opposed to what a finely tuned machine it was before then?

I'm little dubious about your story, as you don't explain HOW the 'system' caused 'delays'.

Yup...the ACA has become the scapegoat of the insurance companies. Insurance companies have always been douche bags, people. The ACA didn't change that, it just gave them more customers to be douchey about and it gave them something to hide their douchiness behind.

We need a Public Option NOW!

One thing that has become obvious in the last few months is that the people who put the ACA together are douche bags.

They certainly are douchebags, but so are the people in the GOP who decided to abdicate on health care reform. The Democrats telegraphed for decades what they would do if given half a chance, and the GOP left the door completely open to them.

What was the GOP's response to the Democrat's plan?

"tl/dr lol".

Horseshit. Failing to do something doesn't make you a douche bag. Lying and screwing people over in the process is what makes you a douche bag. Doing nothing would have been far better than this piece of crap. Furthermore, if the Republicans had adopted a market oriented solution, you would be whining even louder.

 

[bripat9643]

My daughter just had knee surgery, which was re-scheduled four (4) times. She ended up having it during finals week at school, which caused all kinds of shit. The surgeon apologized profusely and sheepishly said he hoped the "system" would be fixed soon. I asked him, "ACA?", and he nodded yes. Oh well. Who knows, if the ACA stays, maybe they'll iron out these "bugs".

Aside from "you can keep your plan / your doctor", your point about deductibles may be the biggest killer of the plan. Obviously, first, it's really hurting people. But also, I have a friend who is an administrator at a hospital here, and he says non-payment of deductibles is killing them. They're now starting to require payment of 75% of the deductible before services will be performed, which I learned personally.

This is a mess, as we knew it would be. The predictable result of an important issue becoming politicized.

You mean as opposed to what a finely tuned machine it was before then?

I'm little dubious about your story, as you don't explain HOW the 'system' caused 'delays'.

Yup...the ACA has become the scapegoat of the insurance companies. Insurance companies have always been douche bags, people. The ACA didn't change that, it just gave them more customers to be douchey about and it gave them something to hide their douchiness behind.

We need a Public Option NOW!

One thing that has become obvious in the last few months is that the people who put the ACA together are douche bags.

They certainly are douchebags, but so are the people in the GOP who decided to abdicate on health care reform. The Democrats telegraphed for decades what they would do if given half a chance, and the GOP left the door completely open to them.

What was the GOP's response to the Democrat's plan?

"tl/dr lol".

That's like saying if the Democrats stated their intention to repeal the Bill of Rights the Republicans are responsible for them doing it if they don't do it first.

Idiotic.

I can't imagine a single Republican idea for healthcare reform that would be fought tooth-and-nail by the Democrats. Just take HSAs, for instance. Democrats have fought them every time they have come up for a vote.

 

[FA_Q2]

Why didn't the GOP House pass an extension to the employer mandate deadline? It would have taken five minutes.


Yeah. What they are up to is right there in front of your face. Theater for the rubes.

?

They didn't pass an extension because the majority of the pain and shock of the ACA is going to be experienced at that time. A time that just happened to be right before the election. They clearly wanted to have the mandate kick in and force the guaranteed disarray to hit before the election and close enough so that it would not settle down before the election was over.

I have no doubt that absent that critical point in time, the GOP would have gladly supported and passed an extension. The sad truth is that such an extension was a pure political tool for the left and right. The fact that the GOP was unwilling to give up their political club does not mean they are going to walk right into it on the next problem (the subsidy gap).

They might but I doubt it as the backlash will not even touch the democrats - it will land SQUARELY on the right.

 

[Greenbeard]

I can't imagine a single Republican idea for healthcare reform that would be fought tooth-and-nail by the Democrats. Just take HSAs, for instance. Democrats have fought them every time they have come up for a vote.

Except HSA-compatible plans are more prevalent now than ever, thanks in large part to policy changes in the ACA. In the employer market, they've gotten even more attractive (and continued to grow) due to a mix of the affordability requirement for employer-based plans and the looming Cadillac tax on high premium plans. Both of which push employers toward lower premium offerings, like HDHPs that can be paired with an HSA.

In the individual market, they've gotten a shot in the arm because the ACA's exchanges are chock full of HSA-compatible plans.

The conservative Manhattan Institute, two months ago (Health Savings Accounts under the Affordable Care Act):

Initial skepticism from HSA advocates was understandable; but based on our current research, it appears that the Obama administration was true to its word and that HSAs (at least for the moment) remain widely accessible on public exchanges. The report finds that, far from becoming obsolete under the ACA, high-deductible plans are widely available—98 percent of uninsured Americans have access to at least one HSA-eligible plan. Moreover, these plans also make up about 25 percent of total offerings on Obamacare exchanges. We also found that they remain significantly less expensive than traditional plan designs, offering savings of about 14 percent, on average.

The HSA Coalition had similar findings last December:

HSA plans and tax advantaged accounts have grown rapidly in their first ten years of existence and now cover more than fifteen million Americans. Many people feared that the Affordable Care Act (ACA)would dampen HSA growth or even eliminate HSA options, especially in light of the Massachusetts experience, where HSAs have not been as popular. Our research shows that HSAs play a prominent role in the ACA exchanges, accounting for nearly 20% of total offerings. This is about three times the current 7% HSA market share of commercial insurance, according to the 2013 AHIP HSA Census. If the exchanges survive their slow start [spoiler alert: they did - GB] and grow as expected, HSAs will likely grow rapidly and be among the most affordable options in the Affordable Care Act exchanges.

The ACA is the best friend HSAs ever had, so your theory as to what would attract GOP support needs a little work.

 

[JoeB131]

But the pretext for the adoption of Obama hellcare is that healthcare is expensive. What made healthcare expensive was medicare/medicaid. So , in order for the free market to take over, those programs must be abolished including the state programs which have been in effect since the 1840's.

Yeah, let them poor people die! how dare they expect to get good health care!

 

[JoeB131]

Of course you would be dubious. Partisan ideologues automatically assume that everyone else is as intellectually dishonest as they are.

There is actually more to the story, how a specialist she was scheduled to see stopped taking our insurance in between the time the appointment was set and the date of the appointment, due specifically to the legislation. And I think that was a little after our pharmacy stopped taking our plan (Humana) for the same reason. No doubt you would "not believe" that, either.

I don't know what caused the delays, and I didn't ask. He was there to speak to my daughter about her surgery. Either way, it's irrelevant to me, the ACA is what it is, nothing I can do about it.

Frankly, you are making the ACA sound like the dog that ate your homework.

 

[bripat9643]

I can't imagine a single Republican idea for healthcare reform that would be fought tooth-and-nail by the Democrats. Just take HSAs, for instance. Democrats have fought them every time they have come up for a vote.

Except HSA-compatible plans are more prevalent now than ever, thanks in large part to policy changes in the ACA. In the employer market, they've gotten even more attractive (and continued to grow) due to a mix of the affordability requirement for employer-based plans and the looming Cadillac tax on high premium plans. Both of which push employers toward lower premium offerings, like HDHPs that can be paired with an HSA.

In the individual market, they've gotten a shot in the arm because the ACA's exchanges are chock full of HSA-compatible plans.

The conservative Manhattan Institute, two months ago (Health Savings Accounts under the Affordable Care Act):

Initial skepticism from HSA advocates was understandable; but based on our current research, it appears that the Obama administration was true to its word and that HSAs (at least for the moment) remain widely accessible on public exchanges. The report finds that, far from becoming obsolete under the ACA, high-deductible plans are widely available—98 percent of uninsured Americans have access to at least one HSA-eligible plan. Moreover, these plans also make up about 25 percent of total offerings on Obamacare exchanges. We also found that they remain significantly less expensive than traditional plan designs, offering savings of about 14 percent, on average.

The HSA Coalition had similar findings last December:

HSA plans and tax advantaged accounts have grown rapidly in their first ten years of existence and now cover more than fifteen million Americans. Many people feared that the Affordable Care Act (ACA)would dampen HSA growth or even eliminate HSA options, especially in light of the Massachusetts experience, where HSAs have not been as popular. Our research shows that HSAs play a prominent role in the ACA exchanges, accounting for nearly 20% of total offerings. This is about three times the current 7% HSA market share of commercial insurance, according to the 2013 AHIP HSA Census. If the exchanges survive their slow start [spoiler alert: they did - GB] and grow as expected, HSAs will likely grow rapidly and be among the most affordable options in the Affordable Care Act exchanges.

The ACA is the best friend HSAs ever had, so your theory as to what would attract GOP support needs a little work.

Previous to ACA HSAs were limited by law because that's the way the Dims wanted it. It was the Dims who opposed them, not Republicans.