Speaking of Obamacare lowering individual costs, it's not going to, at least for now:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/13/u...lth-care-law.html?partner=MYWAY&ei=5065&_r=1&
WASHINGTON In another setback for President Obamas health care initiative, the administration has delayed until 2015 a significant consumer protection in the law that limits how much people may have to spend on their own health care.
The limit on out-of-pocket costs, including deductibles and co-payments, was not supposed to exceed $6,350 for an individual and $12,700 for a family. But under a little-noticed ruling, federal officials have granted a one-year grace period to some insurers, allowing them to set higher limits, or no limit at all on some costs, in 2014.
Obama's really looking out for the little guy, ain't he?
Hey DaveMan --- quite screwing with my head.. I've only got 49 days til the exchanges open for business and rescue me.. All those welcoming faces will be properly trained and FLUENT in all the details of ObamaCare..
I will be so happy that Obama LIED and Pelosi/Reid FAKED their way thru this great political victory for the "little guy"..
So don't try to ruin my enduring optimism for the extreme competence and excellence of Govt run programs like this one..
In just 49 days --- my problems will be over...
Maybe-----maybe your problems will be over but my guess is, you'll make buying insurance for yourself and your family as difficult as you possibly can so you can then piss and moan about what a horrible experience your having --shoulder shrug-- that's just the way some people roll --yawn--
But-----but if you do make buying insurance difficult for yourself, you'll be giving yourself a different kind of experience than the overwhelming majority of Massachusettsian's who are enjoying-----enjoying their health insurance-----their health insurance that in the words of the bill's architect is "the same f**king bill" as Obamacare;
But while Republicans continue to
peddle horror stories about America's future under Obamacare, the very satisfied residents of Massachusetts are telling a different story today. Earlier this month, the Massachusetts Medical Society released survey findings showing
continued strong support for the 2006 law signed by Republican Governor Mitt Romney, one its architect Jonathan Gruber described as "
the same f**king bill" as Obamacare:
The survey finds that 84 percent of Bay State residents are satisfied with their health coverage -- considerably higher than the approximately 67 percent of Americans nationally who are happy with their health care. Specifically, respondents praised high quality of care and good access to medical services as the reasons for their satisfaction. An additional 75 percent said that finding the kind of medical care they need isn't difficult. Those results track with earlier polls on Massachusetts' reform law. In 2011, a survey administered by state insurance officials found that 86 percent of residents were pleased with the range of services covered by plans under the law's insurance marketplace and 82 percent were pleased with their choice of doctors.
The popularity of "Romneycare" should come as no surprise. After all, the program now in its seventh year reduced the ranks of the uninsured from 10 percent to a national low of just two percent. Neither the supposed "rate shock" nor the hordes of angry residents forced to pay penalties for non-compliance came to pass: just 44,000 out of 6.6 million people paid the fine rather than comply with the individual mandate in 2010.
To be sure, the national Affordable Care Act and the Massachusetts law are not exactly the same and different states are differentially situated. As the
Washington Post explained in May, "Massachusetts is a relatively rich and liberal state that already had a fairly high rate of health insurance." And there's another reason why "the Massachusetts experience might not prove an apt guide to the national experience":
Although the Massachusetts reforms are architecturally similar to the Affordable Care Act, they didn't have to contend with a political party working relentlessly to undermine their implementation.
And in Texas, Florida, Wisconsin, Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania and everywhere else
where Republicans are working relentlessly to undermine the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, millions of their constituents will suffer. While blue states like California, Maryland, New York and Oregon running their own insurance exchanges and accepting the federal expansion of Medicaid will provide their residents greater coverage and lower premiums,
the tragedy that is red state health care will needlessly continue.
Continue, that is, until constituents in Republican states demand the same access to and quality of health care they see their cousins enjoying in Democratic states. Starting next year, Americans will know who to blame for trying to deny them health care and who to credit for making reform possible. As Bill Kristol fretted two decades ago, that triumph will cement the Democrats' brand "as the generous protector of middle-class interests."
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Take your time answering.
