Father Tells his Obamacare Horror Story

[80zephyr]

Except none of that would cause him to lose coverage.

Well, thats what is says when I research. Should I believe you, or "them"?

 

[debbiedowner]

People lost their original insurance under Obamacare (ACA) primarily because their existing individual plans didn't meet the new law's minimum coverage standards, forcing insurers to cancel them or requiring policyholders to switch to ACA-compliant plans with more comprehensive (and often more expensive) benefits, like mandatory essential health benefits and coverage for pre-existing conditions, disrupting "grandfathered" plans that were cheaper but offered less coverage
.

When the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was enacted, consumers were allowed to keep existing plans that were in effect on March 23, 2010, provided the plans and the insurance companies did not make significant changes to the policy, cost-sharing, or benefits. These were known as "grandfathered" plans.
The decision of whether to continue offering these plans rested with individual insurers and was often dependent on state regulations. The federal law allowed for the continuation of these plans indefinitely, but it did not mandate that insurers must keep them in force.
As a result, a plan's grandfathered status was specific to the individual policy and the insurer's business decisions, rather than a universal offering across all companies.
Insurer Discretion: Insurers like Humana and Anthem Blue Cross in California initially offered grandfathered plans but later made the business decision to terminate them over the years
State-Level Variation: In states that permitted it, health insurance issuers had the option of renewing current policies for current enrollees without adopting all of the ACA's market reforms
Loss of Status: Plans lost their grandfathered status if significant changes were made, such as increasing a copayment or deductible beyond a certain threshold, or significantly decreasing the employer's contribution to premiums. Most employer-sponsored plans have lost their grandfathered status over time due to typical annual changes.
Therefore, no specific list of companies universally allowed all consumers to keep their plans, as it depended entirely on the specific plan and the state in which it was offered. Consumers who had plans in effect on the enactment date were notified by their insurer if their plan qualified as a grandfathered plan.

Now, on to the guy in the video. If he was allowed to keep a grandfathered plan then his plan had a cap of probably $1,000,000 maybe 2 and it was lifetime cap so his daughter would probably have exhausted all treatments with leukemia treatments.

Also, congress critters are on ACA.

 

[80zephyr]

When the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was enacted, consumers were allowed to keep existing plans that were in effect on March 23, 2010, provided the plans and the insurance companies did not make significant changes to the policy, cost-sharing, or benefits. These were known as "grandfathered" plans.
The decision of whether to continue offering these plans rested with individual insurers and was often dependent on state regulations. The federal law allowed for the continuation of these plans indefinitely, but it did not mandate that insurers must keep them in force.
As a result, a plan's grandfathered status was specific to the individual policy and the insurer's business decisions, rather than a universal offering across all companies.
Insurer Discretion: Insurers like Humana and Anthem Blue Cross in California initially offered grandfathered plans but later made the business decision to terminate them over the years
State-Level Variation: In states that permitted it, health insurance issuers had the option of renewing current policies for current enrollees without adopting all of the ACA's market reforms
Loss of Status: Plans lost their grandfathered status if significant changes were made, such as increasing a copayment or deductible beyond a certain threshold, or significantly decreasing the employer's contribution to premiums. Most employer-sponsored plans have lost their grandfathered status over time due to typical annual changes.
Therefore, no specific list of companies universally allowed all consumers to keep their plans, as it depended entirely on the specific plan and the state in which it was offered. Consumers who had plans in effect on the enactment date were notified by their insurer if their plan qualified as a grandfathered plan.

Now, on to the guy in the video. If he was allowed to keep a grandfathered plan then his plan had a cap of probably $1,000,000 maybe 2 and it was lifetime cap so his daughter would probably have exhausted all treatments with leukemia treatments.

Also, congress critters are on ACA.

Thanks for the info.

 

[Seymour Flops]

Except they weren't, and the Hate Radio idiots were wrong.

Here is what the designers of Obamacare thought of you:

Funny, my company had a policy that was already compliant.

Seriously?

Your company already had a policy that provided for genital mutilation of children under the guise of "gender-affirming" care?

Premiums didn't go up because of trannies. They went up because Medical Inflation is three times regular inflation. That was the case before ACA when the insurance companies BEGGED the government to do something.

Exactly my point. The young don't really need HC coverage. The oldsters do, and once you can't work, you need a government program.

Then why did the architects of Obamacare try to mandate purchase of insurance?

So why not simply have Medicare for All, and have the government control costs by telling big pharma and big medical they can't gouge people anymore?

Why can't they tell them that now, since the government is paying so much cash to healthcare insurance providers?

If they pay one way they can tell them what to do, but not if they pay another way?

I'd have no problem gutting the Military-Industrial Complex and learning to mind our own ******* business around the world.

Nor I.

Of course, I'd rather have the rich pay their fair share.

The rich are too smart for Democrats to take their money.

Hell, they had Democrats shut down the government to try to force Republicans to keep paying ACA marketplace subsidies for millionaires.

 

[JoeB131]

Here is what the designers of Obamacare thought of you:

No, that's what they think of average voters, and they are right. Most voters are pretty ******* stupid. They don't get on USMB every day and discuss policy

Seriously?

Your company already had a policy that provided for genital mutilation of children under the guise of "gender-affirming" care?

Seriously. There are only 11,000 Bottom Surgeries performed a year out of 51 Million procedures carried out. It's hardly a blip.

Then why did the architects of Obamacare try to mandate purchase of insurance?

They didn't. They wanted a Medicare Buy-in and a Public Option. Republicans opposed that, and Joe Lieberman supported them. (YOu see, once they told him this was to take care of Americans and not Israelis, he didn't care.)

Why can't they tell them that now, since the government is paying so much cash to healthcare insurance providers?

If they pay one way they can tell them what to do, but not if they pay another way?

Again, big insurance has too much say in how these programs are administered. Otherwise, we'd be on single payer by now.

The rich are too smart for Democrats to take their money.

Yet they ***** every time taxes go up.

Hell, they had Democrats shut down the government to try to force Republicans to keep paying ACA marketplace subsidies for millionaires.

The rich aren't using ACA.

 

[Seymour Flops]

No, that's what they think of average voters, and they are right. Most voters are pretty ******* stupid. They don't get on USMB every day and discuss policy

This is the self-justification Democrats use. "I'm not being lied to. I'm in on the lie!"

But you're not.

Seriously. There are only 11,000 Bottom Surgeries performed a year out of 51 Million procedures carried out. It's hardly a blip.

One is too many, especially if I have to pay for it. If there is more than one way to be a girl and a "woman with a penis" is a real woman, as much as Salma Hyak is, what's the point of the surgery, other than a very specific form of body dysmorphia?

They didn't.

Didn't try to mandate purchasing policies?

They sure did. Come on, Joe, you know better than that!

They wanted a Medicare Buy-in and a Public Option. Republicans opposed that, and Joe Lieberman supported them. (YOu see, once they told him this was to take care of Americans and not Israelis, he didn't care.)

They've had Congress and White House plenty of times to pass Medicare for all. THey passed O'care without any GOP votes, they could have passed MFA

Again, big insurance has too much say in how these programs are administered.

Yes.

Otherwise, we'd be on single payer by now.

Only if the Dems lied even more.

Yet they ***** every time taxes go up.

The rich aren't using ACA.

Then why are the Dems fighting against an income limit on ACA marketplace COVID subsidies?

 

[JoeB131]

This is the self-justification Democrats use. "I'm not being lied to. I'm in on the lie!"

One is too many, especially if I have to pay for it. If there is more than one way to be a girl and a "woman with a penis" is a real woman, as much as Salma Hyak is, what's the point of the surgery, other than a very specific form of body dysmorphia?

So this isn't about costs, it's about your discomfort with trans folks daring to exist.

I mean, you'd think the streets were being overrun with drag queens the way you people carry on. I've known all of two trans people in my entire life, and I don't consider myself particularly sheltered.

I suspect you don't know any.

Didn't try to mandate purchasing policies?

Again, only because Lieberman shot down Medicare buyin and a public option.

Here's the real reason we didn't get a public option. Big Insurance didn't want to compete with it.

They've had Congress and White House plenty of times to pass Medicare for all. THey passed O'care without any GOP votes, they could have passed MFA

Except they couldn't with Lieberman blocking them. The reason why this wasn't sorted out in conference - the House version had Medicare Buy in and Public option- was because after Ted Kennedy kicked it, they didn't have the ability to stop filibusters.

Then why are the Dems fighting against an income limit on ACA marketplace COVID subsidies?

Because Republicans can't be trusted.

Let's agree that some subsidies ARE necessary. Why would you want to cut all of them?

 

[Seymour Flops]

So this isn't about costs, it's about your discomfort with trans folks daring to exist.

Not at all. As long as they are adults, and not asking me to pay for their supposed treatment, I would say nothing.

But you try to convince me that cutting up physically healthy children due to their being sexually confused is somehow medically necessary, and you get an argument from me that you cannot win by addressing. You can only deflect by guessing my motivations.

I mean, you'd think the streets were being overrun with drag queens the way you people carry on. I've known all of two trans people in my entire life, and I don't consider myself particularly sheltered.

I suspect you don't know any.

I live in Houston and I know and see plenty. I don't care what adults do with their own money.

Again, only because Lieberman shot down Medicare buyin and a public option.

What was his reason? His middle-class Connecticut constituents would have voted him out as soon as possible?

Here's the real reason we didn't get a public option. Big Insurance didn't want to compete with it.

Yes, everything about the ACA is because Big Insurance wanted it that way.

Except they couldn't with Lieberman blocking them. The reason why this wasn't sorted out in conference - the House version had Medicare Buy in and Public option- was because after Ted Kennedy kicked it, they didn't have the ability to stop filibusters.

Because Republicans can't be trusted.

Non-sequitor.

Because your party insisted on giving COVID Supplemental subsidies to the wealthiest Americans, you got nothing.

Let's agree that some subsidies ARE necessary.

Why are subsidies necessary?

Becasue the ACA did not make care affordable. It did the opposite.

Subsidizing skyrocketing ACA supplements does not make them affordable, it just changes who pays them.

Why would you want to cut all of them?

That will happen in one week, because Democrats refused to compromise.

Even now, their supposed "compromises" have no cuts. The "compromise" is to only extend the boondoggle for a couple of years instead of making it permanent.

 

[Dr Grump]

Well, I think that is just a reciepe for mass death.

Well, almost every other first world country would disagree with you. With facts too, not just rhetoric or hyperbole.

 

[Darkwind]

Well, almost every other first world country would disagree with you. With facts too, not just rhetoric or hyperbole.

They would not and you know full well that they wouldn't.

Every first-world nation that has single-payer has nothing but horror stories. You won't ever see it because they won't tell you about it. That is the level of corruption we have in the information age. It's all controlled by those who get rich of your misery.

 

[Captain Caveman]

We need to go single payer like every other civilized country.

Yup.

And if the daughter in the story lived in the UK, she would have received treatment. And the only cost she would have to pay for is the fuel for the car.

 

[Seymour Flops]

Yup.

And if the daughter in the story lived in the UK, she would have received treatment. And the only cost she would have to pay for is the fuel for the car.

You mean the car to escape the UK in?

(CNN) Judges on the UK Court of Appeal once again ruled against 23-month-old Alfie Evans’ family.

Wednesday’s ruling rejected new arguments intended to overturn a decision by the High Court on Tuesday that prevented the terminally ill toddler from leaving Britain for medical treatment, said Roger Kiska, a lawyer with Christian Legal Center and part of the legal team representing Alfie’s parents.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/25/health/alfie-evans-appeal-bn

Or did you mean waiting in the car with the heater running, hoping to get closer to the top of the waitlist?

 

[JoeB131]

Not at all. As long as they are adults, and not asking me to pay for their supposed treatment, I would say nothing.

But you try to convince me that cutting up physically healthy children due to their being sexually confused is somehow medically necessary, and you get an argument from me that you cannot win by addressing. You can only deflect by guessing my motivations.

Nobody is cutting up children. In fact, out of 300,000 trans youth, only 5000 are even getting hormone therapy.

I live in Houston and I know and see plenty. I don't care what adults do with their own money.

yet it's your go to when complaining about health care.

What was his reason? His middle-class Connecticut constituents would have voted him out as soon as possible?

His Constituents voted him out in 2006, when he lost the primary, then Republicans propped his ass up. He had no plans to run again in 2012. Sabotaging ACA was just a big **** you to America for rejecting him.

Yes, everything about the ACA is because Big Insurance wanted it that way.

I agree, we ended up with RomneyCare Lite thanks to Joe Lieberman.

Non-sequitor.

Because your party insisted on giving COVID Supplemental subsidies to the wealthiest Americans, you got nothing.

Again, keep running on cutting people's insurance, see where that gets you.

Why are subsidies necessary?

Becasue the ACA did not make care affordable. It did the opposite.

Subsidizing skyrocketing ACA supplements does not make them affordable, it just changes who pays them.

ACA isn't the problem. The greed of the insurance, pharmacuetical, and medical industries are.

That will happen in one week, because Democrats refused to compromise.

Even now, their supposed "compromises" have no cuts. The "compromise" is to only extend the boondoggle for a couple of years instead of making it permanent.

When people see you cut their health care, they are not going to be happy with you.

 

[JoeB131]

You mean the car to escape the UK in?

(CNN) Judges on the UK Court of Appeal once again ruled against 23-month-old Alfie Evans’ family.

Wednesday’s ruling rejected new arguments intended to overturn a decision by the High Court on Tuesday that prevented the terminally ill toddler from leaving Britain for medical treatment, said Roger Kiska, a lawyer with Christian Legal Center and part of the legal team representing Alfie’s parents.

You realize that Alfie Evans was just a corpse being kept alive by medical technology, right?

Alfie Evans case - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

For Alfie Evans, I give you Nataline Sarkisyan. A girl whose life could have been saved by a liver transplant, but Cigna refused to pay for it, declaring it "experimental". They went into court and argued - successfully - that because their contract was with her father's employer and not him, they were under no obligation to pay for her treatment.

Death of Nataline Sarkisyan - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Seymour Flops]

Nobody is cutting up children.

Are you lying or do you really not know?

This is a letter from Chloe Cole, who was cut up at the age of 15:

https://www.kslegislature.gov/li/b2025_26/committees/ctte_h_hhs_1/documents/testimony/20250128_01.pdf

My name is Chloe Cole.

I am a detransitioned 20-year-old woman from California who went through the process ofmedical transition between the ages of 12-16.The three main interventions I was given were puberty blockers and testosterone, startingat 13, and a double mastectomy at 15. I was treated negligently by my healthcare provider,but the biggest failure they made was encouraging and allowing me to medically transitionas a child in the first place.

My therapists and gender specialists failed to address several underlying circumstancesand comorbidities that led to the onset of my gender dysphoria. I began puberty when I wasno older than 8 or 9. From a very young age I had tremendous discomfort around mydeveloping body. I was afraid to grow from a girl into a woman and experience things likeperiods, childbirth, and menopause, because I would often only hear about how scary andpainful being a woman was from other girls and older women.

I never really had any strong female role models and I often never felt like I fit in with othergirls. I had a tomboyish streak due to the influence of my older brothers.I had previously been diagnosed with ADHD. I am on the spectrum though I was notdiagnosed until age 17. The gender specialist who referred me to surgery was also the samephysician who later recommended screening for autism. Because I am autistic, I have somemore masculine behaviors and I am more object oriented than most girls. I have somesocial, cognitive, and sensory processing differences that made school and going throughpuberty a little more difficult. All things considered, these struggles were normal but weremisrepresented as problems connected to gender.

Psychological issues, especially those as common as being confused about sex while going through puberty, should not be treated with surgery on healthy bodies.

In fact, out of 300,000 trans youth, only 5000 are even getting hormone therapy.

Nor should they be treated with hormones for healthy bodies. Are you seriously suggesting that it is okay to perform these body and life-altering experiments on children, so long as the numbers are relatively low?

yet it's your go to when complaining about health care.

It is one part of a long list of complaints about the ACA.

Before I answer the rest, I'm curious to know whether you will be honest about the above.

 

[Seymour Flops]

You realize that Alfie Evans was just a corpse being kept alive by medical technology, right?

I'll believe his parents and the doctors willing to treat him over you.

Why do you believe that it is an important parental right for parents to choose to allow their child to be mutilated as Chloe Cole's parents did, but life-saving care is at the discretion of the government?

Alfie Evans case - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

For Alfie Evans, I give you Nataline Sarkisyan. A girl whose life could have been saved by a liver transplant, but Cigna refused to pay for it, declaring it "experimental". They went into court and argued - successfully - that because their contract was with her father's employer and not him, they were under no obligation to pay for her treatment.

Death of Nataline Sarkisyan - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Yes, insurance sucks. Especially employer-provided insurance. The ACA gave insurance companies license to suck even more and be paid by taxpayers for it.

 

[JoeB131]

Are you lying or do you really not know?

This is a letter from Chloe Cole, who was cut up at the age of 15:

She got breast removal surgery, not genital surgery.

And if you actually read her complaint (and we only get her side because Kaiser is bound by HIPAA not to tell their side) she admits that the first group of doctors determined she wasn't gender dysphoric, but she kept insisting to her parents she was until they got a second set of doctors that would treat her.

She's also autistic, manic-depressive and a whole slew of other problems.

Nor should they be treated with hormones for healthy bodies. Are you seriously suggesting that it is okay to perform these body and life-altering experiments on children, so long as the numbers are relatively low?

I'm saying that it's okay if that is the best course of treatment. Only 1% of people who undergo GAC care later regret it. That's better than most medical procedures.

I'll believe his parents and the doctors willing to treat him over you.

How about his medical chart, which said pretty clearly, that he lacked brain function and was only being kept alive by the ventilator?

Why do you believe that it is an important parental right for parents to choose to allow their child to be mutilated as Chloe Cole's parents did, but life-saving care is at the discretion of the government?

Because absolutely nothing was ever going to make Alfie better. He was going to be stuck in that condition until he eventually died.

Brockman (not Cole) insisted on the treatments she got, until she decided she didn't like them anymore.

And again, we are only getting her side of the story, thanks to HIPAA.

Yes, insurance sucks. Especially employer-provided insurance. The ACA gave insurance companies license to suck even more and be paid by taxpayers for it.

I agree, Insurance sucks. We need single-payer health care.

 

[Seymour Flops]

She got breast removal surgery, not genital surgery.

Oh, is that all?

And if you actually read her complaint (and we only get her side because Kaiser is bound by HIPAA not to tell their side) she admits that the first group of doctors determined she wasn't gender dysphoric, but she kept insisting to her parents she was until they got a second set of doctors that would treat her.

She's also autistic, manic-depressive and a whole slew of other problems.

Yes, exactly the kind of child that should not be taken advantage of.

I'm saying that it's okay if that is the best course of treatment. Only 1% of people who undergo GAC care later regret it. That's better than most medical procedures.

It is never the best choice, but it is often the most lucrative.

How about his medical chart, which said pretty clearly, that he lacked brain function and was only being kept alive by the ventilator?

That's for his parents to interpret, not journalists who get ahold of private records, or posters on IMDB.

 

[JoeB131]

Yes, exactly the kind of child that should not be taken advantage of.

Again, you are holding her blameless when she was the one who insisted she was trans after the first batch of doctors said she probably wasn't.

It is never the best choice, but it is often the most lucrative.

Quite the contrary, a lot of people have benefited from it.

People get quite a lot of procedures, some medically necessary, some cosmetic, to feel better about themselves. But this always boils down to how people like you feel about it.

That's for his parents to interpret, not journalists who get ahold of private records, or posters on IMDB.

There was a Movie about Alfie.

"Alfie the Meat Puppet, the untold story!!!"

 

[Seymour Flops]

Again, you are holding her blameless when she was the one who insisted she was trans after the first batch of doctors said she probably wasn't.

She was a CHILD.

What part of that is hard for you?

Jebus, do you seriously think that any adult can do anything they want to a child as log as they can claim that the child wanted it?

They had an obligation to help her with her mental issues that even you pointed out. Mental disorders are not helped by cutting and injecting hormones.