Obamacare has reversed the trend of families struggling to pay medical bills!

[Luddly Neddite]

Fewer People Are Having Trouble Paying Medical Bills Thanks To Obamacare

Just incredible! How will the GOP spin this to be "BAD....JUST BAD!"

They better start planning a good rebuttal for 2016, or they will again be an also ran....

Has the cost of health care gotten cheaper? Are doctors, labs, clinics, hospitals, and pharmaceuticals charging less? If the answer to those two questions is no, then how can people magically start affording what was unaffordable? How can they suddenly pay medical expenses with ease? Could the answer be subsidized health care? If the answer is yes, then someone is subsidizing it, to make it easier to pay health care expenses. The ACA ( Obamacare ) takes from some to give to others. While the ACA makes healthcare affordable and less of a financial strain on some, it is also placing an additional burden on others. The ACA ( Obamacare ) is not a "net gain" proposition. Obamacare is NOT a "win win" proposition. Higher cost for some, enables some to be less burdened by health care cost. It's akin to the "Robin Hood" take from the rich to give to the poor.

Was just watching an interview with Atul Gawande where he talked about how health care costs have been flat, have not increased, since ObamaCare was enacted.

ALL insurance works the same way - those who do not file claims subsidize those who do. That's true of your car insurance, which you are required to have, as well as the insurance you have on your home.

A difference now is that you have to buy health insurance instead of getting it free (subsidized by taxpayers) at the ER.

OTOH, EMTALA is still available and there is no real penalty for not buying health care insurance.

Okay Luddly Neddite
since prolife people are already paying extra to support prolife programs
why not make that a requirement alternative since they are paying anyway?

Give people equal choice to pay the amount that woudl go toward insurance
or the tax penalty if they prefer,
into PROLIFE hospitals education and medical services.

so you can pay for your govt system
and the others who don't believe in govt health care
can pay for church run programs and send all their emergency
cases there and pay that way.

Since they are already paying anyway, why not require this for all people?

Why not give equal choice to separate church and state
and let people use and fund the system of their choice?

If you don't believe in govt insurance mandates
but believe in prolife you go use the prolife system that is run whatever way
they expect to pay for that.

Jeeeeeez Emily, why do you do this? Why do you always have to go wandering off into the wilderness and write reams about something that has nothing at to do with the subject at hand?

And since you did not address even one point I made, why did you address this to me?

If you want to discuss LaLaLand, start a new thread. ACA is the law of the land and its here to stay.

 

[Manonthestreet]

 

[Interpol]

Obamacare is working and it'll haunt the GOP for a generation now because they're the ones who coined it that.

When you play Chicken Little and the sky doesn't fall, you end up having to eat crow. Just yesterday, Mike Pence, the Indiana Governor who has always been against Obamacare is quietly going along with it now because he doesn't actually have a better plan. He's taking the funds to expand Medicaid.

And this week we learn from the budget office that Obamacare will cost tens of billions of dollars LESS than predicted over the coming years.

Healthcare spending the past 3 or 4 years has practically frozen compared to the 3 or 4 previous decades. I never thought I'd see that in my lifetime. Premiums had been going up anywhere between 12% and 18% per year until Obamacare was enacted.

I now know 4 people in 3 different states who earn enough to not qualify for subsidies but who never got healthcare coverage because of pre-existing conditions. Two of them had to give up their winter homes down south because of outrageous healthcare bills that are finally under control. They're all 1) saving money, 2) not getting any taxpayer funds AND 3) contributing to the health coverage of poor people. It's a total win-win-win all around.

We used to have to spend for people's direct healthcare costs when they weren't insured. Now we chip in a fraction of that so they can be insured. Fucking eh, President Obama. Fucking eh.

 

[Marvin Zinn]

Fewer People Are Having Trouble Paying Medical Bills Thanks To Obamacare

Just incredible! How will the GOP spin this to be "BAD....JUST BAD!"

They better start planning a good rebuttal for 2016, or they will again be an also ran....

Has the cost of health care gotten cheaper? Are doctors, labs, clinics, hospitals, and pharmaceuticals charging less? If the answer to those two questions is no, then how can people magically start affording what was unaffordable? How can they suddenly pay medical expenses with ease? Could the answer be subsidized health care? If the answer is yes, then someone is subsidizing it, to make it easier to pay health care expenses. The ACA ( Obamacare ) takes from some to give to others. While the ACA makes healthcare affordable and less of a financial strain on some, it is also placing an additional burden on others. The ACA ( Obamacare ) is not a "net gain" proposition. Obamacare is NOT a "win win" proposition. Higher cost for some, enables some to be less burdened by health care cost. It's akin to the "Robin Hood" take from the rich to give to the poor.

Even worse: Yes it will "help" people in need if they accept the treatment on the federal list and/or that doctor they have little if any choice about treatment. But it will not pay for a choice I make for myself not on the list. Yes, I have a lot of trouble paying all bills, but if I believed doctors I would have been dead already four times. . . . Oh, I see, the government can reduce expense by killing more. That would work, but I should have a right to refuse to pay taxes for anything I do not approve, proven by my own experience.

 

[Manonthestreet]

 

[kodywolf898]

The Affordable Health Act, or the ACA, is a part of the health care reform that President Obama signed into legislation in 2010. It ensures that everyone has an equal opportunity to receive healthcare regardless of preexisting conditions or income levels.
I think that the ACA is a good thing because it helps people that have a preexisting condition receive health insurance even though it may make a little more expensive for others. If the U.S government decides to repeal the ACA, people that have a preexisting condition could lose their insurance and potentially die. According to Phillip Moeller a writer for U.S. News, his article name 10 Good Things About Obamacare says the ACA allows the people with the preexisting conditions to get a premium comparable with someone who is healthy (http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/the-best-life/2013/07/15/10-good-things-about-obamacare ). This is nice because those people do not have to pay a ridiculous amount of money just to get the healthcare they need. I don’t understand how people can say the ACA is a bad thing. That’s like saying the people that are denied healthcare because of their preexisting condition are just better off dead.
According to a video with President Obama and Sylvia Burwell who is the Secretary of Health and Human Services this year alone 11.4 million Americans either reenrolled or signed up for health insurance because of the ACA. This video can be found at http://www.whitehouse.gov/healthreform. This shows that the ACA is working. People that weren’t able to afford healthcare or that were denied it in the past are now able to get it.
I will admit the ACA may not be perfect but it is one of the better options that we have right now. More people than ever are getting healthcare and people are getting the treatments they need to survive. Throwing away the whole idea of the ACA wouldn’t help anything. It is definitely a step in the right direction and can only improve the healthcare system from here on out.

 

[HenryBHough]

True except when you take into account deductibles and the money they no longer have to spend on frivolous stuff like food and housing 'cause it's all going to pay their premiums that were magically going to be so low they could be paid in loose change.

 

[Vigilante]

 

[emilynghiem]

The Affordable Health Act, or the ACA, is a part of the health care reform that President Obama signed into legislation in 2010. It ensures that everyone has an equal opportunity to receive healthcare regardless of preexisting conditions or income levels.
I think that the ACA is a good thing because it helps people that have a preexisting condition receive health insurance even though it may make a little more expensive for others. If the U.S government decides to repeal the ACA, people that have a preexisting condition could lose their insurance and potentially die. According to Phillip Moeller a writer for U.S. News, his article name 10 Good Things About Obamacare says the ACA allows the people with the preexisting conditions to get a premium comparable with someone who is healthy (http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/the-best-life/2013/07/15/10-good-things-about-obamacare ). This is nice because those people do not have to pay a ridiculous amount of money just to get the healthcare they need. I don’t understand how people can say the ACA is a bad thing. That’s like saying the people that are denied healthcare because of their preexisting condition are just better off dead.
According to a video with President Obama and Sylvia Burwell who is the Secretary of Health and Human Services this year alone 11.4 million Americans either reenrolled or signed up for health insurance because of the ACA. This video can be found at http://www.whitehouse.gov/healthreform. This shows that the ACA is working. People that weren’t able to afford healthcare or that were denied it in the past are now able to get it.
I will admit the ACA may not be perfect but it is one of the better options that we have right now. More people than ever are getting healthcare and people are getting the treatments they need to survive. Throwing away the whole idea of the ACA wouldn’t help anything. It is definitely a step in the right direction and can only improve the healthcare system from here on out.

Dear kodywolf898
And people also think Christianity is a bad thing -- when it's forced on people by govt instead of respecting free choice. The whole point that liberals are missing is this being mandated by federal govt. There is nothing wrong with setting up corporate health plans and programs that work for large populations of people at a discount. The problem is forcing it through FEDERAL govt instead of organizing through States or through the people FREELY CHOOSING to participate.

Hey, anyone can say WOW Christian schools and health care can work for everyone if everybody chipped in and paid for it through the Christian churches in a huge network. Yeah! And some people would say no thanks -- YOU pay for that if that is YOUR system. "But don't force me to pay for it; if it really works, let me CHOOSE to fund and participate in it."

Do you see the difference? It's great if it represents you and works for you.
So why not give everyone the same freedom to CHOOSE it instead of forcing it with penalties?

But even the best schools, best charities, best programs in the world
don't work when they are forced on people against their will.

The programs that work the best are chosen freely, and don't rely on "punishing people with fines" in order to fund them.

 

[emilynghiem]

The Affordable Health Act, or the ACA, is a part of the health care reform that President Obama signed into legislation in 2010. It ensures that everyone has an equal opportunity to receive healthcare regardless of preexisting conditions or income levels.
I think that the ACA is a good thing because it helps people that have a preexisting condition receive health insurance even though it may make a little more expensive for others. If the U.S government decides to repeal the ACA, people that have a preexisting condition could lose their insurance and potentially die. According to Phillip Moeller a writer for U.S. News, his article name 10 Good Things About Obamacare says the ACA allows the people with the preexisting conditions to get a premium comparable with someone who is healthy (http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/the-best-life/2013/07/15/10-good-things-about-obamacare ). This is nice because those people do not have to pay a ridiculous amount of money just to get the healthcare they need. I don’t understand how people can say the ACA is a bad thing. That’s like saying the people that are denied healthcare because of their preexisting condition are just better off dead.
According to a video with President Obama and Sylvia Burwell who is the Secretary of Health and Human Services this year alone 11.4 million Americans either reenrolled or signed up for health insurance because of the ACA. This video can be found at http://www.whitehouse.gov/healthreform. This shows that the ACA is working. People that weren’t able to afford healthcare or that were denied it in the past are now able to get it.
I will admit the ACA may not be perfect but it is one of the better options that we have right now. More people than ever are getting healthcare and people are getting the treatments they need to survive. Throwing away the whole idea of the ACA wouldn’t help anything. It is definitely a step in the right direction and can only improve the healthcare system from here on out.

Here kodywolf898 I found some more posted below from
Americans Love Their Obamacare The ACA Is On Pace To Smash 2015 Sign Up Target

The "Leap in Logic" is that people assume this plan "was the only way to get Americans insured" but this is NOT TRUE. If there are enough Democrats and liberals in favor of this plan, then there should be enough people to manage the program to make it sustainable, without imposing on others who want free market plans.

Nobody HAS to violate the Constitutional laws by forcing this through federal govt.
The people and States have authority and resources to implement this on their own, as how Massachusetts voted on their own policies. That is in keeping with Constitutional beliefs and principles, that these federal mandates violated. If it is localized per State, that's how you get accountability to the taxpayers, as directly as possible.

Anyone can set up volunteer service programs and get them to work, WITHOUT forcing donors to fund them.

Just like Christians who help with spiritual healing for FREE don't have to FORCE it on the public through govt, but it is completely voluntary. And this has cured cancer and other diseases that are otherwise expensive if not unaffordable to treat, as well as addictions, physical, mental and even criminal illness, on a permanent cost-effective basis since it addresses the root cause of sickness instead of relying on medications to suppress symptoms.

Here is more:

My sister recently lost her job and if this happened before ACA came along, a big concern, since she has a chronic health condition that requires regular visits to a specialist along with several medications, would have been the loss of insurance. She would not have been able to buy a private plan or get coverage with COBRA because it’s too expensive.

Now with ACA, she will have insurance January 1st – a PPO plan that will cost her less than $50 a month with the credits she was able to get.

I can’t imagine why anyone would want to take this peace of mind away from her and the millions of Americans who now have health coverage at an affordable cost.

It’s unconscionable.
=============
^ This reminds me how I feel when I see that Spiritual Healing is FREE and can save lives, but people want to DENY that FREE HELP to people, CENSOR that CHOICE,
and instead force INSURANCE "as the only choice" and then call it "unconscionable"

Also, what do you think Prolife people think of this?
that to push the choice of abortion at the expense of baby's lives and women's health
because FREEDOM OF CHOICE is sacred and worth the sacrifice,
but when it comes to pushing insurance 'as the only choice in paying for health care'
then choice is sacrificed because saving lives is more important.

So in one case prochoice is argued as NOT killing babies or denying life.

but in the case of health care choices,
suddenly being FOR free choice is equated to depriving people of health care?
just because you want FREE CHOICE?

Do you see how this comes across as contradictory?

I really wish someone could explain this better.
Because I really want to know why other liberals don't see how
the idea of "prochoice" is not valued or represented equally in both situations.

 

[Vigilante]

Last 2 DAYS of Obamacare news!

• Sen. Cruz introduces the Health Care Choice Act
  
  KETK-TV ^
  Bill would eliminate destructive and costly insurance mandates while giving consumers more choice and freedom Washington, D.C. (Office of Ted Cruz) — On Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, introduced the Health Care Choice Act, which would remove Obamacare’s costly insurance mandates and allow residents in one state the option to purchase a health insurance plan of their choice in any other state. The bill is cosponsored by Sens. John Barrasso (R-WY), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and David Vitter (R-LA). Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) has introduced companion legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives, H.R. 543. "Every last...

• Stark contrast: the two attorneys arguing the Obamacare case
  
  Politico ^
  One attorney is known for his measured, authoritative approach, the other for a brash, confrontational style. And when the Affordable Care Act brings both of them back before the Supreme Court on Wednesday, these differences may be on display as much as their legal points.In what’s arguably the most important case of the court’s term, Michael Carvin will argue for plaintiffs seeking to upend a fundamental aspect of Obamacare, and Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr. will again defend the government. Both are hailed as brilliant litigators steeped in case law, and their first round in 2012 concluded with each man...

• Roberts too good a lawyer to vote against ACA
  
  Philly.com ^
  When the Supreme Court hears oral arguments in King v. Burwell this week, all eyes will be on Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., trying to figure out which way he's leaning. He's too good a lawyer to do otherwise.

• Obama says there's no 'legal basis' for the Supreme Court to dismantle Obamacare subsidies...
  
  dailymail.co.uk ^
  Obama says there's no 'legal basis' for the Supreme Court to dismantle Obamacare subsidies and defends the lack of a Plan B if he's wrong Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on Wednesday in a case that could gut the Affordable Care Act Planitiffs say the law itself forbids the federal government from offering insurance subsidies in states that didn't set up their own exchanges Dozens of states opted to let Healthcare.gov sell policies to their citizens, and those people could be left twisting if the court rules against Obama Republicans say Congress has a 'Plan B' but it's likely...

• Jonathan Gruber in 2013: States Without Exchanges Will Cost Residents
  
  Breitbart.com ^
  Most observers of the legal battle over Obamacare’s subsidies are now familiar with the two clips (one video and one audio) in which economist Jonathan Gruber takes the plaintiff’s side, saying only states which set up an exchange will receive subsidies. But a third example of Gruber saying much the same thing has, so far, received very little attention.

• THE LEFT IS TIRED OF PERSUASION
  
  Breitbart's Big Government ^ | March 2, 2015 | JOHN HAYWARD
  “Is Liberalism Exhausted?” Jonah Goldberg wondered recently at National Review, surveying a movement that seems to have run out of intellectual gas after six years of dragging Barack Obama uphill. [...] All true, but to quote Obama’s presumptive successor on the Democrat ticket in 2016: “What difference, at this point, does it make?”It’s true that liberalism doesn't have anything exciting and new to offer – even its plans for the Internet are drawn from 1930s telephone legislation – but the only thing the Left is really tired of is selling its ideas to skeptics. It’s largely given up on that effort in exchange for...

• GOP Senators Back Extensions if Health-Law Tax Credits Voided
  
  Wall Street Journal ^ | March 2, 2015 | Louise Radnofsky
  The trio of Republicans tasked with shaping GOP senators’ response if the Supreme Court voids many of the Obama health law’s tax credits have thrown their weight behind a short-term extension of financial assistance. [Snip] Sens. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Orrin Hatch of Utah and John Barrasso of Wyoming gave their backing to such a plan in an op-ed published Sunday night in the Washington Post. “Republicans have a plan to create a bridge away from Obamacare,” wrote the men, who were tapped by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell with devising a strategy for GOP senators.

• Vox's Sarah Kliff: Please Believe Gruber's Disavowal of his Own Obamacare Remarks
  
  NewsBusters ^ | March 2, 2015 | P.J. Gladnick
  Please believe in the integrity of Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber. If he disavowed his own remarks emphatically repeated several times on video that only state based health exchanges were eligible for subsidies you can believe this honorable gentleman. Such is the attitude of General Electric Vox's Sarah Kliff as she regales us with the history of the King vs Burwell case which will be heard this week at the Supreme Court. Kliff might be unique as being the last person on the planet to believe in the integrity of Jonathan Gruber. Or is she only faking such a belief to...

• King v. Burwell Is Much Bigger Than Obamacare
  
  American Spectator ^ | 3/2/2015 | David Catron
  John Adams, in a 1775 essay referencing the Roman historian Livy and other sources, wrote that a republic was “a nation of laws, not of men.” As recently as fifty years ago, most Americans would have intuitively understood his point and why it was relevant to their lives. Today, it isn’t clear that the President of the United States, the leaders of the Democratic Party, or the members of our “news” media would grasp the meaning of Adams’ words, much less that they still matter today. We will soon discover if the same can be said of the Supreme Court....

• Lawmakers Weigh Future of HealthSource RI; Director Says It Can Help Innovate, Control Costs
  
  The Daily Reporter (AP Sourced) ^ | March 2, 2015 05:10 GMT | Jennifer McDermott
  PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island — The new director of Rhode Island's health insurance exchange is making a case for keeping the state-run marketplace, as some lawmakers are calling for its demise. HealthSource RI has served as a model among the state-run marketplaces. Most other states use the federal exchange. Director Anya Rader Wallack says Rhode Island can use the state exchange as a tool to innovate and control health care costs in ways it couldn't if it switched. Gov. Gina Raimondo supports keeping the program in Rhode Island. But some say it isn't worth it. A group of lawmakers, led by...

 

[Marvin Zinn]

Yes, it all sounds good, but it will not work. People in need of something not on the government or medical list of problems and solutions will still have to pay 100% of the cost. I know that from most of my life. If I believed doctors I would have been dead already four times. Yes, insurance (including government) pays for some corrections, but not for preventing the cause, nor an alternative solution that works a lot better.

 

[Marvin Zinn]

"And this week we learn from the budget office that Obamacare will cost tens of billions of dollars LESS than predicted over the coming years."

So why do you believe their lies? I dare not use most of what they allow payment for, but my cost of what has saved my life four times they will not cover a penny of.

 

[tigerred59]

Fewer People Are Having Trouble Paying Medical Bills Thanks To Obamacare

Just incredible! How will the GOP spin this to be "BAD....JUST BAD!"

They better start planning a good rebuttal for 2016, or they will again be an also ran....

Its also creating jobs!!

 

[Sonny Clark]

Fewer People Are Having Trouble Paying Medical Bills Thanks To Obamacare

Just incredible! How will the GOP spin this to be "BAD....JUST BAD!"

They better start planning a good rebuttal for 2016, or they will again be an also ran....

Its also creating jobs!!

At what cost? And, was the cost worth it? Who benefitted the most? Who'll pay the salaries for the people that got the jobs? Are they being paid with debt?

 

[Brrainstormerr]

Came across this a while ago: Obamacare - Ten Hits and Misses after 5 Years of the Affordable Care Act Read more- https www.hcentive.com ten-hits-and-misses-after-5-years-of- Pinterest

 

[JimH52]

Fewer People Are Having Trouble Paying Medical Bills Thanks To Obamacare

Just incredible! How will the GOP spin this to be "BAD....JUST BAD!"

They better start planning a good rebuttal for 2016, or they will again be an also ran....

Has the cost of health care gotten cheaper? Are doctors, labs, clinics, hospitals, and pharmaceuticals charging less? If the answer to those two questions is no, then how can people magically start affording what was unaffordable? How can they suddenly pay medical expenses with ease? Could the answer be subsidized health care? If the answer is yes, then someone is subsidizing it, to make it easier to pay health care expenses. The ACA ( Obamacare ) takes from some to give to others. While the ACA makes healthcare affordable and less of a financial strain on some, it is also placing an additional burden on others. The ACA ( Obamacare ) is not a "net gain" proposition. Obamacare is NOT a "win win" proposition. Higher cost for some, enables some to be less burdened by health care cost. It's akin to the "Robin Hood" take from the rich to give to the poor.

You are bitching about something ( costs ) that was not addressed by the law....because the opposition to the law didn't allow it to be addressed.

Next.

The typical Repub response encapsulated into one simple cartoon....

Fewer People Are Having Trouble Paying Medical Bills Thanks To Obamacare

Just incredible! How will the GOP spin this to be "BAD....JUST BAD!"

They better start planning a good rebuttal for 2016, or they will again be an also ran....

Has the cost of health care gotten cheaper? Are doctors, labs, clinics, hospitals, and pharmaceuticals charging less? If the answer to those two questions is no, then how can people magically start affording what was unaffordable? How can they suddenly pay medical expenses with ease? Could the answer be subsidized health care? If the answer is yes, then someone is subsidizing it, to make it easier to pay health care expenses. The ACA ( Obamacare ) takes from some to give to others. While the ACA makes healthcare affordable and less of a financial strain on some, it is also placing an additional burden on others. The ACA ( Obamacare ) is not a "net gain" proposition. Obamacare is NOT a "win win" proposition. Higher cost for some, enables some to be less burdened by health care cost. It's akin to the "Robin Hood" take from the rich to give to the poor.

You are bitching about something ( costs ) that was not addressed by the law....because the opposition to the law didn't allow it to be addressed.

Next.

The Repub response to anything Obama tries to do....

 

[CoachWitch]

1. Truly, ACA has been a revolutionary act in healthcare services, especially for those who needs to be subsidized for their medical treatments. Along with that, it also gave benefits and rights like improved medicare for senior citizens, gender discrimination and tax breaks to small businesses.

 

[mudwhistle]

Fewer People Are Having Trouble Paying Medical Bills Thanks To Obamacare

Just incredible! How will the GOP spin this to be "BAD....JUST BAD!"

They better start planning a good rebuttal for 2016, or they will again be an also ran....

Thats just great for people who are subsidized.
What about the people who can no longer afford healthcare because they now have to pay for the subsidized bums as well?
You know,the people who actually contribute to society...

Link that for me.....besides an ultra conservative hack site...

In other words.......

 

[JimH52]

Fewer People Are Having Trouble Paying Medical Bills Thanks To Obamacare

Just incredible! How will the GOP spin this to be "BAD....JUST BAD!"

They better start planning a good rebuttal for 2016, or they will again be an also ran....

Thats just great for people who are subsidized.
What about the people who can no longer afford healthcare because they now have to pay for the subsidized bums as well?
You know,the people who actually contribute to society...

Link that for me.....besides an ultra conservative hack site...

In other words.......

No link huh? I am shocked!