Affordable Care Act

[Freewill]

i am always amazed at how conservatives never got that private insurance companies are 'death panels'

There is no PUBLIC health care other then medicaid and medicare. I am sure that there are limits on what they cover also.

 

[Mac1958]

Employers shouldn't have anything to do with health care.

Expanding the current Medicare/Medicare Supplement/Medicare Advantage program to all would take a massive monkey off the back of American business.
.

 

[Freewill]

What really sucks about being covered at work is that you're stuck.
Can't change or add additional coverage

i was wondering about that, can't you buy supplemental insurance? I am thinking you can just like with medicare.

 

[hortysir]

i am always amazed at how conservatives never got that private insurance companies are 'death panels'

Amazing how liberals don't see that the ACA only benefit those same evil insurance companies.
Millions of new, forced customers

 

[Mac1958]

i am always amazed at how conservatives never got that private insurance companies are 'death panels'

Amazing how liberals don't see that the ACA only benefit those same evil insurance companies. Millions of new, forced customers

They are ideologically obligated to support it.

 

[hortysir]

What really sucks about being covered at work is that you're stuck.
Can't change or add additional coverage

i was wondering about that, can't you buy supplemental insurance? I am thinking you can just like with medicare.

Maybe buy some little pay per day crap like aflac but no real "plan"

 

[Seawytch]

Employers shouldn't have anything to do with health care.

Expanding the current Medicare/Medicare Supplement/Medicare Advantage program to all would take a massive monkey off the back of American business.
.

Make the age of eligibility zero.

And it's not like Private insurance companies wouldn't still thrive. People with money always want more...so supplemental insurance can ride to the "rescue" and get them their private rooms and upgraded meals or whatever.

 

[Freewill]

Employers shouldn't have anything to do with health care.

Expanding the current Medicare/Medicare Supplement/Medicare Advantage program to all would take a massive monkey off the back of American business.
.

How big of monkey? I am thinking you are saying, cost. Say tomorrow all employer based insurance went away and everyone had to buy insurance on the marketplace, what do you think companies would do other then jump for joy? They wouldn't give the employees a dime, they would keep the savings for themselves.

Don't believe me? Companies are dropping employees from promised health care everyday due to retirement. Unions are even agreeing. When they do this does the company give one cent to help defray the cost they had previously promised to pay? Hell not they keep the savings all for themselves.

That all said, I still think it would be better if everyone went on the marketplace and cost was evened out.

 

[Taz]

Reduce your military spending to say the average of the next 5 top spenders, and everyone could probably get free health care.

Nothing is free. Try and do that and the expense will just go up. Look at it like a pie, cut one piece a little smaller and the other pieces will just get bigger.

Ex: Canada has practically no military and can afford free health care for everyone.

Define free. Who actually pays for it and how?

General tax revenue. Like I said, Canada has almost no military, so it can afford it. It's a choice you make in society. The US is paying massive amounts of money to attack other countries (for no real reason), instead of paying for health care.

 

[Freewill]

What really sucks about being covered at work is that you're stuck.
Can't change or add additional coverage

i was wondering about that, can't you buy supplemental insurance? I am thinking you can just like with medicare.

Maybe buy some little pay per day crap like aflac but no real "plan"

Well then what you need do is figure out how much you would be willing to spend on supplemental insurance, if available. Then figure out your co-pays for the year and see if it is not the same.

 

[Mac1958]

Employers shouldn't have anything to do with health care.

Expanding the current Medicare/Medicare Supplement/Medicare Advantage program to all would take a massive monkey off the back of American business.
.

Make the age of eligibility zero.

And it's not like Private insurance companies wouldn't still thrive. People with money always want more...so supplemental insurance can ride to the "rescue" and get them their private rooms and upgraded meals or whatever.

Exactly right. It would open up millions of new customers to the insurance companies, plus the foundational plan would mean the insurance companies wouldn't have to deal with the basic, high-administrative stuff like doctor visits and simpler diagnostics.
.

 

[Mac1958]

Employers shouldn't have anything to do with health care.

Expanding the current Medicare/Medicare Supplement/Medicare Advantage program to all would take a massive monkey off the back of American business.
.

How big of monkey? I am thinking you are saying, cost. Say tomorrow all employer based insurance went away and everyone had to buy insurance on the marketplace, what do you think companies would do other then jump for joy? They wouldn't give the employees a dime, they would keep the savings for themselves.

Don't believe me? Companies are dropping employees from promised health care everyday due to retirement. Unions are even agreeing. When they do this does the company give one cent to help defray the cost they had previously promised to pay? Hell not they keep the savings all for themselves.

That all said, I still think it would be better if everyone went on the marketplace and cost was evened out.

Yes, taking the monkey off the back of American business would be a savings of both premiums and administrative dollars. That's a positive in an increasingly competitive global business environment.
.

 

[Freewill]

Reduce your military spending to say the average of the next 5 top spenders, and everyone could probably get free health care.

Nothing is free. Try and do that and the expense will just go up. Look at it like a pie, cut one piece a little smaller and the other pieces will just get bigger.

Ex: Canada has practically no military and can afford free health care for everyone.

Define free. Who actually pays for it and how?

General tax revenue. Like I said, Canada has almost no military, so it can afford it. It's a choice you make in society. The US is paying massive amounts of money to attack other countries (for no real reason), instead of paying for health care.

So people do pay for their healthcare they just have almost no say in what that health care is. I can go on the marketplace and select several different plans by several different companies. Can they do that in Canada? Are there co-pays in Canada? Deductibles in Canada? Maybe they are all Zero or is just the premium free?

 

[Andylusion]

Reduce your military spending to say the average of the next 5 top spenders, and everyone could probably get free health care.

Fail at math? Medicare as it is, has trillions in unfunded liabilities. It is actually worse off than social security.

 

[Freewill]

Employers shouldn't have anything to do with health care.

Expanding the current Medicare/Medicare Supplement/Medicare Advantage program to all would take a massive monkey off the back of American business.
.

How big of monkey? I am thinking you are saying, cost. Say tomorrow all employer based insurance went away and everyone had to buy insurance on the marketplace, what do you think companies would do other then jump for joy? They wouldn't give the employees a dime, they would keep the savings for themselves.

Don't believe me? Companies are dropping employees from promised health care everyday due to retirement. Unions are even agreeing. When they do this does the company give one cent to help defray the cost they had previously promised to pay? Hell not they keep the savings all for themselves.

That all said, I still think it would be better if everyone went on the marketplace and cost was evened out.

Yes, taking the monkey off the back of American business would be a savings of both premiums and administrative dollars. That's a positive in an increasingly competitive global business environment.
.

So you are saying that Human Resource departments would be closed?

Premiums are based on the group. If a company had a work force made up of nothing but under 30 employees their premium would be very low compared to a company whose work force is over 50. Go to the healthcare.gov site, there are three questions they ask, Age, tobacco use, and location, that is it. Of course then you need to sort through bronze/silver/gold and platinum plans. A few more questions would be nice to determine the lowest cost plan.

I am all for throwing everyone in the same basket if it lowers primium for everyone. But I am not going to do it just to give a company a windfall and screw their employees. Health care is a benefit that attracts workers.

 

[Taz]

Reduce your military spending to say the average of the next 5 top spenders, and everyone could probably get free health care.

Nothing is free. Try and do that and the expense will just go up. Look at it like a pie, cut one piece a little smaller and the other pieces will just get bigger.

Ex: Canada has practically no military and can afford free health care for everyone.

Define free. Who actually pays for it and how?

General tax revenue. Like I said, Canada has almost no military, so it can afford it. It's a choice you make in society. The US is paying massive amounts of money to attack other countries (for no real reason), instead of paying for health care.

So people do pay for their healthcare they just have almost no say in what that health care is. I can go on the marketplace and select several different plans by several different companies. Can they do that in Canada? Are there co-pays in Canada? Deductibles in Canada? Maybe they are all Zero or is just the premium free?

You can also get private health care, and/or supplemental coverage (for a single room or other things like that). You pick your hospital, doctor, clinic... And doctors aren't as motivated by profit as they are in the US. No co-pays, no deductibles... And like I said, lots of private clinics as well for rich people... Unions...

 

[Mac1958]

Employers shouldn't have anything to do with health care.

Expanding the current Medicare/Medicare Supplement/Medicare Advantage program to all would take a massive monkey off the back of American business.
.

How big of monkey? I am thinking you are saying, cost. Say tomorrow all employer based insurance went away and everyone had to buy insurance on the marketplace, what do you think companies would do other then jump for joy? They wouldn't give the employees a dime, they would keep the savings for themselves.

Don't believe me? Companies are dropping employees from promised health care everyday due to retirement. Unions are even agreeing. When they do this does the company give one cent to help defray the cost they had previously promised to pay? Hell not they keep the savings all for themselves.

That all said, I still think it would be better if everyone went on the marketplace and cost was evened out.

Yes, taking the monkey off the back of American business would be a savings of both premiums and administrative dollars. That's a positive in an increasingly competitive global business environment.
.

So you are saying that Human Resource departments would be closed?

Premiums are based on the group. If a company had a work force made up of nothing but under 30 employees their premium would be very low compared to a company whose work force is over 50. Go to the healthcare.gov site, there are three questions they ask, Age, tobacco use, and location, that is it. Of course then you need to sort through bronze/silver/gold and platinum plans. A few more questions would be nice to determine the lowest cost plan.

I am all for throwing everyone in the same basket if it lowers primium for everyone. But I am not going to do it just to give a company a windfall and screw their employees. Health care is a benefit that attracts workers.

I'm not anti-business, so we'll just have to disagree.

Profits, increased competitiveness and the growth they create are fine with me.
.

 

[Penelope]

Reduce your military spending to say the average of the next 5 top spenders, and everyone could probably get free health care.

Fail at math? Medicare as it is, has trillions in unfunded liabilities. It is actually worse off than social security.

Too bad they stole from Peter to pay Paul. they an refund it.

 

[Seawytch]

Employers shouldn't have anything to do with health care.

Expanding the current Medicare/Medicare Supplement/Medicare Advantage program to all would take a massive monkey off the back of American business.
.

How big of monkey? I am thinking you are saying, cost. Say tomorrow all employer based insurance went away and everyone had to buy insurance on the marketplace, what do you think companies would do other then jump for joy? They wouldn't give the employees a dime, they would keep the savings for themselves.

Don't believe me? Companies are dropping employees from promised health care everyday due to retirement. Unions are even agreeing. When they do this does the company give one cent to help defray the cost they had previously promised to pay? Hell not they keep the savings all for themselves.

That all said, I still think it would be better if everyone went on the marketplace and cost was evened out.

Yes, taking the monkey off the back of American business would be a savings of both premiums and administrative dollars. That's a positive in an increasingly competitive global business environment.
.

Personally, I think it will be the business community that drives us to a single payer healthcare system. We know we only get things in this country if Big Corp wants them and single payer is great for businesses.

 

[Mac1958]

Employers shouldn't have anything to do with health care.

Expanding the current Medicare/Medicare Supplement/Medicare Advantage program to all would take a massive monkey off the back of American business.
.

How big of monkey? I am thinking you are saying, cost. Say tomorrow all employer based insurance went away and everyone had to buy insurance on the marketplace, what do you think companies would do other then jump for joy? They wouldn't give the employees a dime, they would keep the savings for themselves.

Don't believe me? Companies are dropping employees from promised health care everyday due to retirement. Unions are even agreeing. When they do this does the company give one cent to help defray the cost they had previously promised to pay? Hell not they keep the savings all for themselves.

That all said, I still think it would be better if everyone went on the marketplace and cost was evened out.

Yes, taking the monkey off the back of American business would be a savings of both premiums and administrative dollars. That's a positive in an increasingly competitive global business environment.
.

Personally, I think it will be the business community that drives us to a single payer healthcare system. We know we only get things in this country if Big Corp wants them and single payer is great for businesses.

No doubt they're afraid that it would be true single-payer, and that's understandable.

Plus, all the above would really mess with their infrastructure, and that's understandable too. When Medicare Advantage came out, the participating insurers were given help with that, so that might be an option.

The freaking system is up, running, and works. This whole issue is pretty frustrating.
.