Good news for us re: Obamacare/ACA

[NebraskaHarry]

All I know is the rate at which health care costs has risen since 2000 hasn't changed (which includes 12 total years with a Republican President on both ends of the timeline) and yet more people now have health care since the ACA. 

 

It's almost like Republicans don't even want to improve the cost situation. Or do anything except b#$%^ about it.

[JJ Husker]

On 9/26/2013 at 3:25 PM, carlfense said:

"And once it's working really well, I guarantee you they will not call it Obamacare." -Barack HUSSEIN Obama

Hmmm, it’s been about 10 years now. Too bad carlfense isn’t still around to tell us all how it’s been “working really well”.

 

Fun times going back and reading through this thread.

[Archy1221]

24 minutes ago, JJ Husker said:

Hmmm, it’s been about 10 years now. Too bad carlfense isn’t still around to tell us all how it’s been “working really well”.

 

Fun times going back and reading through this thread.

I wouldn’t mind me some 2012 premiums right about now.  
Instead of BHO saying “if you like your doctor you can keep your doctor”. I wish he would have said “if you like your premium you can keep your premium”. 

[JJ Husker]

24 minutes ago, Archy1221 said:

I wouldn’t mind me some 2012 premiums right about now.  
Instead of BHO saying “if you like your doctor you can keep your doctor”. I wish he would have said “if you like your premium you can keep your premium”. 

Yeah. I mean something needed to be done but, unfortunately, the ACA only addressed one of the problems, the uninsured. However, the elephant in the room, then as well as now, has always been healthcare costs and insurance premium costs. Would be really nice if somebody, anybody would focus on fixing that one. Cuz guess what, the number of uninsured is starting to increase again because, as it turns out, the Affordable Care Act isn’t all that affordable for many Americans. They took care of the poor people by getting them free or near free coverage but once again hung out the middle and upper middle to dry.

[Archy1221]

13 minutes ago, JJ Husker said:

Yeah. I mean something needed to be done but, unfortunately, the ACA only addressed one of the problems, the uninsured. However, the elephant in the room, then as well as now, has always been healthcare costs and insurance premium costs. Would be really nice if somebody, anybody would focus on fixing that one. Cuz guess what, the number of uninsured is starting to increase again because, as it turns out, the Affordable Care Act isn’t all that affordable for many Americans. They took care of the poor people by getting them free or near free coverage but once again hung out the middle and upper middle to dry.

Well said 

[Crusader Husker]

I wonder if the fact that all of the hospitals I go to are Architectural feats of wonder that hold beautiful works of art has anything to do with costs?  (Looking at you Cleveland Clinic)

 

Questions I wonder

*Do Americans pay of all of the R&D for all drugs, then they go out of the country without those costs?

 

*Do Americans pay for all of the R&D for all advancement for all of Medicine and other countries pay for none of it?

 

*It would be interesting to see cost differences in paying for your right to choose a DR. as opposed to just going and seeing who was available?

 

I am sure there is a lot that goes into all of the costs, but it has been crazy for years.

[Archy1221]

24 minutes ago, Crusader Husker said:

 

*Do Americans pay of all of the R&D for all drugs, then they go out of the country without those costs?

Yes.  The US basically subsidizes the worlds drug research and much of the drug pricing.  Similar to the military expenditures.  We subsidize much of the worlds cost of their security.  
 

25 minutes ago, Crusader Husker said:

 

*Do Americans pay for all of the R&D for all advancement for all of Medicine and other countries pay for none of it?

Yes to much of this, but there are a few more procedural discoveries outside of the US than what we find in drug discovery.   

[Guy Chamberlin]

As I may have mentioned before, my family went on Obamacare in the early days, and for a self-employed guy it was a great option with considerable savings. When I made too much to qualify for assistance, I stayed on it and paid the market rates. When my wife got a full-time job with benefits, I said hallelujah, but it turned out the family plan for this private insurance was slightly more expensive than market rate Obamacare, so three of us stayed on it. Premiums never stopped rising, possibly because parts of the healthcare ecosystem we're addicted to their ludicrous prices, which never adhered to supply and demand.

 

What also didn't help:  Republican governors did everything possible to kneecap Obamacare at the state-level, where a large buy-in was needed. Republicans, and frankly most Democrats, failed to promote the fact that this wasn't socialized medicine at all; it was old-fashioned economy of scale at work. For-profit healthcare would have been bidding for huge Obamacare contracts, and theoretically could have used that weight to negotiate lower prices from the ridiculous medical equipment and needless procedure rackets, who still would have enjoyed large but less ridiculous profits, with private insurance benefitting from the same economic correction. 

[JJ Husker]

16 minutes ago, Guy Chamberlin said:

As I may have mentioned before, my family went on Obamacare in the early days, and for a self-employed guy it was a great option with considerable savings. When I made too much to qualify for assistance, I stayed on it and paid the market rates. When my wife got a full-time job with benefits, I said hallelujah, but it turned out the family plan for this private insurance was slightly more expensive than market rate Obamacare, so three of us stayed on it. Premiums never stopped rising, possibly because parts of the healthcare ecosystem we're addicted to their ludicrous prices, which never adhered to supply and demand.

 

What also didn't help:  Republican governors did everything possible to kneecap Obamacare at the state-level, where a large buy-in was needed. Republicans, and frankly most Democrats, failed to promote the fact that this wasn't socialized medicine at all; it was old-fashioned economy of scale at work. For-profit healthcare would have been bidding for huge Obamacare contracts, and theoretically could have used that weight to negotiate lower prices from the ridiculous medical equipment and needless procedure rackets, who still would have enjoyed large but less ridiculous profits, with private insurance benefitting from the same economic correction. 

I think you’re the first person I’ve heard say that you experienced considerable savings by going on an ACA plan. If you don’t mind me asking, what amount of monthly premium were you spending that was less than before?

 

My family plan increased yearly to around $2200/mo., then the kids got off of it and it reduced to about $1600 and is now back up to about $1800/mo. It is one of the cheapest plans offered in CO with a high deductible, approx $6,500 per person. The only good thing is once you hit the deductible you are also practically to the max out of pocket. The math- guaranteed $22,000 per year in premiums and the first $13,000 in expenses out of pocket.  So $25k to about $36k yearly expense for healthcare. I don’t think that is a reasonable amount to have to absorb year in and year out. If you just have a few minor things the $23-24k isn’t terrible I guess but even one halfway major thing and you’re looking at $30k+. We’ve been able to absorb that a few times but I can’t imagine that is very sustainable for a whole bunch of people.

[Guy Chamberlin]

3 minutes ago, JJ Husker said:

I think you’re the first person I’ve heard say that you experienced considerable savings by going on an ACA plan. If you don’t mind me asking, what amount of monthly premium were you spending that was less than before?

 

My family plan increased yearly to around $2200/mo., then the kids got off of it and it reduced to about $1600 and is now back up to about $1800/mo. It is one of the cheapest plans offered in CO with a high deductible, approx $6,500 per person. The only good thing is once you hit the deductible you are also practically to the max out of pocket. The math- guaranteed $22,000 per year in premiums and the first $13,000 in expenses out of pocket.  So $25k to about $36k yearly expense for healthcare. I don’t think that is a reasonable amount to have to absorb year in and year out. If you just have a few minor things the $23-24k isn’t terrible I guess but even one halfway major thing and you’re looking at $30k+. We’ve been able to absorb that a few times but I can’t imagine that is very sustainable for a whole bunch of people.

 

In the early days our family of four was covered by the ACA for around $900 - $1200/month. I had lost my great insurance as a Guild member and COBRA was crazy expensive and running out. Again, this was made possible by a couple years of modest self-employed income. ACA benefits run out when you make over $110k a year, IIRC. 

 

When that happened, insuring my family of four jumped to $2,200 a month, like yours, which was $200 less than the private healthcare benefits from my wife's employer. During the COVID year this magically dropped down to $600 month. We dumped one kid off on a very affordable out-of-state college plan and my wife went solo on her company's plan, so it's now $1,800/mo for me and my 20 year-old son. I honestly don't know the deductible on our slightly more expensive Silver Plan, but our out of pocket expenses have been very low. I've just had two rotator cuff surgeries, a detached quad surgery, and my son had knee surgery, too. I see bills that range over $20,000 for these, but I'm maybe $300 out of pocket for each one. I have four drug prescriptions I take daily (statins & blood pressure), two are no cost to me and the other two are $2.50 for a three month supply. 

 

There are cheaper plans on California's ACA, like Kaiser, but this middle plan works for us.  

[ZRod]

Over $20k/year in premiums is insane to me!!! How doed anybody find this reasonable???

[BigRedBuster]

Well, many people aren't willing to accept what it's going to take to fix the problem.  So...here we are with a program that was first introduced by Republicans, adopted by Democrats and passed....then condemned by Republicans.

[ZRod]

21 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

Well, many people aren't willing to accept what it's going to take to fix the problem.  So...here we are with a program that was first introduced by Republicans, adopted by Democrats and passed....then condemned by Republicans.

You forgot the gutted by republicans part 

[Guy Chamberlin]

43 minutes ago, ZRod said:

Over $20k/year in premiums is insane to me!!! How doed anybody find this reasonable???

 

The rest of the world agrees with you.

[JJ Husker]

1 hour ago, ZRod said:

Over $20k/year in premiums is insane to me!!! How doed anybody find this reasonable???

My wife keeps telling me to step it up to a silver or gold plan so that the plan actually pays for some stuff. Problem is, that premium is a guaranteed expense while the actual healthcare depends how much you use for your cost. Oddly enough, the max out of pocket possible is very similar for all plans. Every year I run numbers for light use, medium use and major surgery, and every year it comes up with the cheapest plan being the best option. Sure we could spend another 6 grand on premiums and have a better plan but just can’t recoup those premium dollars from paid benefits.

 

But yeah, $22k plus in premiums every year sucks. It seems the solution is to not get old…..or get old enough quickly to qualify for medicare.