Obama: "I'm Sorry Obamacare website don't work" LOL
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I get it everybody upset the website isn't working but why isnt anyone talking about those ? plans people had. They were paying for nothing.
B/c apparently folks like ? healthcare, instead of good healthcare. It gives them something to blame Pres. Obama, even despite the fact folks were being dropped loooonng before he thought about running for office.
What he REALLY wanted to say at that press conference was @ you over & over, fine! Keep it! But don't come crying to us whrn they drop yo azzz again next year! Ole whining azzz don't know a good thing when they see it muthafuccas."
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which just makes me wonder why the president would make the unequivocal promise AND refuse to acknowledge that laterI get it everybody upset the website isn't working but why isnt anyone talking about those ? plans people had. They were paying for nothing.
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darkone360 wrote: »I get it everybody upset the website isn't working but why isnt anyone talking about those ? plans people had. They were paying for nothing.
B/c apparently folks like ? healthcare, instead of good healthcare. It gives them something to blame Pres. Obama, even despite the fact folks were being dropped loooonng before he thought about running for office.
What he REALLY wanted to say at that press conference was @ you over & over, fine! Keep it! But don't come crying to us whrn they drop yo azzz again next year! Ole whining azzz don't know a good thing when they see it muthafuccas."
You are completely out of touch with reality. Many people were liking their healthcare, it took care of them and that's should be what matters. For you to tell people they should not like their plans and they should be happy to pay the scam artist sky high prices of Obamacare with its hiogh ass deductibles tells me you have no ? idea what you are talking about. -
Black students at historically Black college Bowie State are complaining that Obamacare is WAAYYYY too expensive and caused their old plans to be cancelled. Black people in this video and around me are waking up to Obama being the scumbag son of a ? liar he is.....they're saying they can barely afford their college loans and they don't think the Unaffordable Care Act is affordable
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPuFt6g_0a8&feature=player_embedded -
Soooooooo one person or group in the vid you posted speaks for the vast majority of black folks who actually benefitted from the ACA?
Gotcha. -
The government SHOULD make people pay! Especially those uninsured who use the ER(Emergency Room) as their "primary care provider". Which has historically costed healthcare service to constantly increase because the rest of us have to eat the cost of their unpaid medical bills. Yet there are people who want to have these takers continue to get a free ride even as the ACA attempts to hold them responsible for their own medical expense.
Obama's true blunder is letting Conservative media take complete control of the narrative about America's healthcare system's plight -
it's also worth noting that this is in a state where it's likely Obama's current fix will not apply to them.kingblaze84 wrote: »Black students at historically Black college Bowie State are complaining that Obamacare is WAAYYYY too expensive and caused their old plans to be cancelled.
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The government SHOULD make people pay! Especially those uninsured who use the ER(Emergency Room) as their "primary care provider". Which has historically costed healthcare service to constantly increase because the rest of us have to eat the cost of their unpaid medical bills. Yet there are people who want to have these takers continue to get a free ride even as the ACA attempts to hold them responsible for their own medical expense.
Obama's true blunder is letting Conservative media take complete control of the narrative about America's healthcare system's plight
What part of unaffordable don't you understand? People in the middle class and lower classes can't afford the horrible plans in the Unaffordable Care Act, did you see the video? And to make matters worse the govt will be fining people who can't afford the plans with the high ass deductibles? People gotta save for retirement, paying off student loans, and the rent, if you think people are gonna be happy being FORCED to pay for high ass prices, you're sadly mistaken. And Obama's approval ratings will get even worse and Republicans will gain even more power. If this is your policy, continue at ease lol...... -
if you know anything about how insurance works.....there is no way you can logically support Obamacare unless you just blindly following rhetoric like a sheep
black people need to be honest enough to call each other out when we on some ?
Obama was wrong for this ? all the way around.....I don't even see how a rational ? can even attempt to debate this
it ain't even about Republicans/Democrats......the ACA ain't doing ? but padding insurance companies pockets -
blakfyahking wrote: »if you know anything about how insurance works.....there is no way you can logically support Obamacare unless you just blindly following rhetoric like a sheep
black people need to be honest enough to call each other out when we on some ?
Obama was wrong for this ? all the way around.....I don't even see how a rational ? can even attempt to debate this
it ain't even about Republicans/Democrats......the ACA ain't doing ? but padding insurance companies pockets
This Is why I was against it initially, in fact I still am but I understand it better now.
Many of the issues people would have differ from state to state, so I'm ignoring all this ? at least for a few years.
The effectiveness can't be measured for a long time and this is primarily a state by state issue. Some participated, some didn't, some only partially participated, many people don't even know whether their state is participating or not. They also don't know about the subsidies and other privileges they may be missing out on because their state is not participating.
Last but not least there are still people who don't know that obamacare and the affordable care act are the same thing. That ? is ridiculous. Too many variables and not enough time.
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you know to the supporters of the act maybe your position could be made to look a little less like blind idolatry if you posted video's or testimonials of some those who are benefiting and how they are benefiting from the act???
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#1 - TheHealthSherpa.com. Easiest way to window shop and get prices without signing up for anything. Very cool.
#2 - Healthcare.gov errors now below 1%. Works for me. Try clearing your cache, n00b. So what, that took like....6 weeks? I wish other developers would fix their ? that fast. (dammit EA, your updates just make Madden worse i swear)
#3 - ? gonna cape for the Insurance Industry? Word? Please don't do that. They're your enemy. Any and all legitimate criticism of the ACA should contain some semblance of "Obama didn't go hard enough on the Insurance Companies". Imma laugh my ass off the first time one of these people all grateful to keep their old ? plan cuz of the fix gets ? over, left for dead, dissed and forgotten soon as they need a ER.
See here's the thing:
Everybody outside dat Tea Party bubble....every other PROGRESSIVE unhappy with the ACA.......far-left bloggers, activists.....honest-to-? socialists.......want to make it better. Even the ones that KINDA wanna see it fail aren't dumb enough to ROOT for its failure. Because they correctly see it as a flawed first step in the long difficult struggle of overhauling our ? , barbaric health care system. They know you don't repeal Obamacare and magically pass Single Payer into law LOL. You eventually pass Medicare-for-All on top of the Affordable Care Act framework. (after a bunch of individual states like Vermont get their Single Payer systems up and running, of course)
So smh @ you ? (twatgetta is secretly white) rooting for it to get repealed. I don't get it. You obviously don't want all those popular provisions repealed. So you prolly just want the Mandate gone. Pfft, I don't see how THAT warrants going all-in joining the Republicunt chorus of "THIS ENTIRE LAW MUST DIE!!!!!!!!!!". We're aware that Republicans don't want to replace "Obamacare" with Single Payer, right?
Btw...........you do know Single Payer doesn't necessarily mean FREE right? Actually ask a Canadian some time. Their system is better than ours, but you still gotta pay out your pocket (unlike Britain)....and there's different problems. Quickly transitioning America over to it would be VERY messy, waaaaay messier than ACA, because you'll be making hundreds of thousands of people in the Insurance industry unemployed in the process. LOL @ alternate universe Kingblaze crying about all the people getting laid off because of EVIL OBAMA'S MEAN OLD SOCIALIST MEDICINE PLAN. "I had a client that worked in insurance and now he's gonna be homeless cuz Obama destroyed all the insurance companies! SMFH!!!!!!!!!!!!!" That's right, no easy answers in life.kingblaze84 wrote: »You are completely out of touch with reality. Many people were liking their healthcare, it took care of them and that's should be what matters.
? many people were liking their slaves too rofl. Their slaves took care of them, and that's should be what matters....
From Consumer Reports last year:
It might seem to be health insurance, if you don’t look too closely, and most people don’t. The premiums are surprisingly affordable. And so millions of unemployed people, service industry workers, and those taken in by fast-talking telemarketers sign up. They may think they’re insured-- until they have a medical problem and find out that their coverage is as skimpy as a hospital gown.
“I was aware that it wasn’t a great plan, but I wasn’t concerned because I wasn’t sick,” she says. But in July 2011 she was diagnosed with breast cancer, at which point the policy’s annual limits of $1,000 a year for outpatient treatment and $2,000 for hospitalization became a huge problem. Facing a $30,000 hospital bill, she delayed treatment.
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2012/03/junk-health-insurance/index.htm
The fastest growing group of underinsured was people in households around the national median income, the $40,000 to $50,000 annual income range -- folks who make too much to qualify for Medicaid but who don't have employer-sponsored plans or who can't afford the ones they're offered. Insurance companies jumped into the void with a lot of products Consumer Reports dubbed "junk insurance." These were plans that barely qualified as insurance because they had very low caps on coverage or weren't even really insurance at all. Many were merely medical discount programs that didn't protect against health-related financial calamity. Insurance companies, including many of the biggest, marketed these products aggressively and often misleadingly -- which was made easier by the lack of disclosure requirements in the sale of health insurance. Regulators struggled to protect consumers because so many of the junk plans were perfectly legal.
Many of the plans on the individual market are so bad that people who have them might as well be uninsured. "The only people who like those plans are people who have never needed them," says Nancy Metcalf, a senior editor at Consumer Reports. "They haven't figured out yet how terrible they are. They think they have good coverage but they don't."
A good example might be Dianne Barrette, 56, who appeared on CBS News with Jan Crawford last week for a segment about the wave of cancelations. Barrette, a realtor in Florida, was upset because her $54 a month insurance plan was being canceled. She believed a new one would cost her more than $500 a month due to Obamacare. "What I have right now is what I'm happy with," she said. "I just want to know why I can't keep what I have. Why do I have to be forced into something else?"
But here’s the rub: Barrette's $54 plan wasn't even insurance. When I talked to her, she was unsure of what her plan covered. But she said it was what Blue Cross calls a "supplemental" or discount plan, which only pays $50 toward doctor's office visits and a few other out-patient services, including mammograms. What her plan doesn’t cover: hospitalization. Not at all. So if she gets hit by a car, the people ultimately picking up the tab will be the hospital and everyone else (by way of higher medical costs). If she gets cancer, she’s basically out of luck. "It's all I could afford," she told me.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/11/obamacare-canceled-health-insurance
There are SOME people getting a truly worse deal now. "Cadillac plans", etc. But lotta other people were just plain gettin hustled. Those types of "plans" are straight-up predatory and shouldn't be tolerated by the government anyway. NothingButTheTruth was right lol OF COURSE the mark gettin' hustled is gonna THINK they're happy........ -
Soloman the Wise wrote: »you know to the supporters of the act maybe your position could be made to look a little less like blind idolatry if you posted video's or testimonials of some those who are benefiting and how they are benefiting from the act???
Why?
I've posted testimonials in the past.....started doing that years ago....and ya'll just ignore it, because people believe what they want to believe. C'est la vie.
And when you've already personally benefited from the law in question, how the ? is that "blind idolatry"??? I woulda been all kinds of ? up if it wasn't for ACA getting signed into law. Got back on my pops insurance long enough to get a sinus surgery I need every couple years otherwise I get crazy migraines. Got cavities filled (CUZ ? BE TOO FAKE) and the dentist said I was months away from emergency status. If Obama didn't drag this law across the finish line in 2010, who knows what happen to me there.
But fine....
Rules to Require Equal Coverage for Mental Ills (didn't know that did ya?)
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Friday will complete a generation-long effort to require insurers to cover care for mental health and addiction just like physical illnesses when it issues long-awaited regulations defining parity in benefits and treatment.
The rules, which will apply to almost all forms of insurance, will have far-reaching consequences for many Americans. In the White House, the regulations are also seen as critical to President Obama’s program for curbing gun violence by addressing an issue on which there is bipartisan agreement: Making treatment more available to those with mental illness could reduce killings, including mass murders.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/08/us/politics/rules-to-require-equal-coverage-for-mental-ills.html
In April, I left my job with the federal government to launch my own consulting business. After serving as part of the Obama Administration for four years, I was eager to get back to my political roots and work with the progressive community again, but I had been worried about my ability to get insurance coverage own my own.
Like many Americans, I have a pre-existing condition, that without the protections of the Affordable Care Act, would make me uninsurable.
When I left the government, I elected to pay for the government’s version of COBRA coverage, a temporary and extremely expensive option that permits you to extend for another 18 months the insurance you had with your former employer, but there’s a catch: You pay 100% of the premium, there’s no longer an employer contribution.
Each month, I write a check for $698 dollars to pay for my insurance. At 31 years of age. Yesterday, when the DC exchange opened, I learned that I’ll be able to cut that amount in half as of January 1st.
I don’t expect to be eligible for an income-based subsidy, but even without a credit, as a 31 year old female living in DC, I can elect a low-level bronze plan for $136 a month or a top-end platinum plan for between $274 and $375. Again, compare that to the $698 per month that I spend now, and the complete lack of health insurance I’d have had after my COBRA coverage expires at the end of 18 months.
Here are the actual results the DC Exchange gave me for the three most expensive “platinum” plans:
I’m taking time to look deeper into the details of the plans and expect to enroll in one of two platinum options later this month. At first glance, the coverage offered by the exchange plans is expansive. With no deductible, it’s just as comprehensive as my government option, which pre-COBRA was costing me about $240 a month out-of-pocket (because my employer was paying the rest).
A lot of attention has been paid to the 48 million Americans who don’t have health care – and rightly so. The heartbreaking stories of people denied care, or forced into bankruptcy because of their health care costs, or who simply couldn’t afford basic insurance have been the driving force behind the passage of the Affordable Care Act.
But another side of the story that isn’t told nearly as often is about the many people like me who aren’t even given the chance to buy health insurance because insurance companies consider us too great a risk, and if they do offer us a plan, it’s so prohibitively expensive that we can’t afford it. And as many have pointed about before, a “pre-existing condition” can be anything from asthma, to high cholesterol and blood pressure, to even eczema. That’s all changed now.
Freelancers, artists and other solo practitioners – not to mention the unemployed and those less well off – have options now that they never had before, and I’m excited to see how that spurs entrepreneurs and new business dreams. I know it is giving me the opportunity to chase mine. And for that, I’m grateful.
http://americablog.com/2013/10/thanks-obamacare-im-cutting-premiums-half.html
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Soloman the Wise wrote: »you know to the supporters of the act maybe your position could be made to look a little less like blind idolatry if you posted video's or testimonials of some those who are benefiting and how they are benefiting from the act???
I am posting about the nuts and bolts of my recent experience with the ACA as a super small business owner in New York State. I am one of the 100-and-some thousand folks who has selected a plan and is now awaiting the arrival of my first premium bill.
Before ACA, our current plan: Our monthly premium with a major insurer in this state is currently $655 per month for two of us. Zero dental mind you. Our deductible is just shy of $12,000 annually. We have an HSA. In addition to our premium, we spend anywhere from $0 to $2000 per year toward our deductible. I believe that, due to the ACA, my flu shot was covered 100% for the first time last year--before that, I remember shelling out something like $30 for the shot at a local pharmacy every year.
Pro: There is never a co-pay when I visit our primary.
Con: I have to list a primary.
Premiums for the "primary select" plan were significantly less than the open plans (10% to 20 % less, as I recall).
Cost: We do not qualify for subsidies. That said, our monthly premium will go up by about $200 to around $850.
However, we will now have dental insurance for the first time in about ten years, and that is huge for us in NYS. The dental plan costs an additional $22 per month for both of us and is an optional add on. It is not the best dental insurance in the world, but considering our cleanings cost about $120, cash, for each of us every six months, it makes sense. Plus cavity fillings are included. Cleaning and filling visits require a $48 co-pay per visit and not per service. Financially, that makes sense for us. Bigger things, like root canals, may or may not be covered, according the official I spoke with--they are going to figure that out over time. Fine.
The big news, however, is our new annual deductible: $500 for the both of us. Repeat: $500 for the both of us. That represents a tremendous advantage should something really bad and really big happen--especially if things go wrong two years in a row. Plus, we cannot get dropped; there are no lifetime limits; all emergency services are fully covered; and all preventative care is fully covered.
As a business owner in NYS, I am very, very happy with this deal, especially with the cost controls in place.
I cannot tell you how frustrating it is to receive a 20% or 30% premium increase notice. Every. Single. Year. Like clockwork. Man, that sucks rocks! It gets me enraged every time--especially in those years where we have not filed a single insurance claim (most).
The way I see it, our premiums would have gone up to $850 per month anyway. We would never be able to afford reasonable (i.e. "real") dental insurance in this state. And our deductible amount would only go up the keep ever increasing premiums as low as possible. A $20,000 annual deductible was sounding about right to me at the rate our increases were coming, and that would just stink.
Even with the $200 per month increase in the premiums, the additional benefits I will receive makes it totally worth it--you just have to think a little about the future, do the math, and factor in the very likely chance that I, in my mid-40s now, will need to draw on my insurance further as I age more. Makes sense to me.
I am all for success and reward, but when some folks are getting paid more than $2 billion per year while 1 in 7 is on food stamps, well, there is no balance to our society, and we the people must fix that. The ACA, from my perch, is a necessary first step forward.
Would I have preferred single payer? Absolutely. The infrastructure is there--everything is set in place for Medicare buy-ins, but the political reality is nope.
Additional note: Our child is on NY State "Child Health Plus" which is an extension of Medicaid, I believe. We get no subsidy there, either, but that is capped at $250 month, regardless of income. It is single payer, from what I can tell. EVERYTHING, including dental, is covered and then covered again. We are extremely satisfied with NY's CHP, and it even covers our progressive, holistic pediatrician. No co-pays, no nothing. Full dental. $250 per month. One bill. Lovely.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/11/15/1255851/-ACA-Experience-NY-Style-My-Take
Kate (not her real name) is a 21 year old that works the front desk at my gym three nights a week. (She also has a second job.) She is a full time student and last year made about $12,000. Here is her story as it relates to her experience with Obamacare.
One day last month when I came into the gym I asked Kate how she was doing and she said she had hurt her ankle but couldn't afford to have it looked at because she didn't have insurance. I explained to her that she should look at the health insurance website to determine what she might be eligible for.
The next time I came to the gym I asked how her ankle was and she said it was feeling better, that she had ended up working out a trade with a doctor where he gave her an x-ray in exchange for tutoring his kids for 7 weeks. But she was still worried about not having insurance. She said that she had spent $2,000 out of pocket for medical expenses last year.
A couple of weeks ago I wrote the address down for the New York State health exchange and gave it to her and told her the next time I saw her I wanted to know what the site told her. She said she wasn't very optimistic as she had looked into insurance at the beginning of the year and couldn't find anything affordable, and had been told she made too much for medicaid.
A week ago Friday she visited the site and registered and was told she was eligible for insurance and it would probably be subsidized. She was required to have an appointment with someone from the exchange to verify her income levels by providing a copy of last year's W-2 and her last 4 pay stubs.
Kate met with them on Friday (a week after she signed up through the site.) She is signed up for a plan that will give her good insurance for $75 a month, part of which is subsidized so that she will have to pay $40 a month. It goes into effect Jan.1 and she just wants to stay healthy between now and then. (It is 99% done, she was missing one stub which she will provide this week.)
Kate is very excited to have the insurance and certainly feels the $40 a month is manageable for her.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/11/17/1256351/-ACA-Kate-s-Story
I work for a relatively large corporation. So when annual enrollment started for 2014 for employees, I looked at what changed in my health insurance coverage provided by my employer.
If I took Faux News and the right-wing media machine at face value, I should have expected any of the following:
- Massive increase in my contribution/rates, co-pays, or deductibles
- Worse coverage
- Increasingly restrictive choice of providers
- Hooded U.N. death-panelists jumping out of black helicopters over the Capitol.
Instead, I found no change (none, zero, zip) in my rates/contribution and only minor changes in coverage (mostly for the better.) In terms of the immediate impact of Obamacare on changing my family's coverage, it's been minimal to non-existent.
Long-term, however, the impact has already been very positive. In particular, I no longer have to worry that my son (in his early 20s) will never get covered due to a prior serious illness.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/11/12/1255164/-My-Obamacare-Shock
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Soloman the Wise wrote: »you know to the supporters of the act maybe your position could be made to look a little less like blind idolatry if you posted video's or testimonials of some those who are benefiting and how they are benefiting from the act???
My husband retired almost two years ago. We were fortunate that for the first year, we were covered under the company policy but then had to go on Cobra for the next year. He has a pre existing condition that can be serious so getting medical insurance would have been next to impossible and not affordable.
So he stayed on the expensive Cobra and my daughters and I took out ? insurance that we hope covers catastrophic medical events. So far, nothing major but our out of pocket has been a huge expense. We were thrilled that we could keep our daughters on our policy until they were 26. Our older daughter was finishing up grad school and the younger one is still in college.
This last year has been a little more difficult in that my husband has not been picking up as much work in his consulting business as he did the previous year and our expenses increased due to insurance and elderly parents that are now experiencing all the problems that getting very old entails.
So we were very anxious to get on the heathcare.gov site and sign up for insurance. I had already gotten the "we are going to cancel your policy and throw you into this more expensive one if you don't call us" letter from our insurance company. They had no information about any policy available with the ACA. We tried the the first day it opened and disaster. We live in Pennsylvania and our craptastic republican governor did not accept the financial aid offered to the medicaid program and so did not set up a state website. So we had to use the national site.
For these six weeks, we tried every day. We tried all hours of the night and day. We called, we chatted, we tried an insurance agent and finally I tried contacting the insurance companies that were supposedly offering ACA policies in our county.
So after reading a few diaries here that suggested making a new account, I tried it. It worked! We are enrolled! Oh happy days! The site now works, the pages load in normal time. I don't know why one cannot use a previous account and I hope they fix that glitch. The site is working.
The republicans can now stop clutching their pearls, get off the fainting couch and put away the smelling salts.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/11/16/1256177/-We-Are-Enrolled
I am SURE my story is not unique, but It SHOULD serve as a reality check for anyone who has been prone to believe any of the bushwah being peddled by the GOP.
As a self-employed person, I have RARELY enjoyed health care coverage from a group large enough to negotiate favorable coverage on my behalf. In the last few years I was insured, I was in the individual marketplace, which Secretary Sebelius properly characterized as "The Wild West" - and believe me, it WAS (and would STILL be if not for the ACA).
When I first entered the wild and wooly "Land of the Individual Policy", my first policy cost about $349 per month, with what I thought were reasonable compromises for deductibles and coverage limits.
As the years passed on, I noticed an alarming trend for my renewal premiums to head up like a rocket each renewal, while the services included started to plummet earthwards like a stone. from what I am reading in comments by others, this was apparently NORMAL for the individual plans.
During my time being insured, I used my benefits rarely, and mostly for the occasional test needed during a checkup visit, and don't recall EVER using MAJOR benefits.
But at my next renewal, I was unceremoniously offered a NEW premium, $800 PER MONTH, with a ridiculous annual deductible of about $10,000, and some other limits I honestly cannot remember at this time. But the policy wasn't great
I could not afford $800/mo, so I quietly dropped my coverage, having NO choice but to "run the risk" of going without, as many do when faced with similar unaffordable premiums.
A few years later, when the beginning symptoms of old-age diseases started to surface, I got scared and immediately contacted my insurer again to re-up, only to be told that I had been "red-lined" because I had dropped my previous coverage. And, oh , now we KNOW you have a pre-existing condition - so, sorry, NO insurance for YOU!
This took place in 2008 - I have been living in deathly fear of a major medical catastrophe ever since, and in 2011, it happened.
Alarming symptoms began to creep up on me, and got so bad that I when I talked to my primary care physician (who I could no longer afford to see often enough to have caught this early) he basically said: "You have congestive heart failure, and it will ? you - you have ONE choice - without insurance, you HAVE to head for the ER at the County Health Service, and GO NOW".
I did - and bless 'em, they admitted me within 15 minutes, being well aware of the gravity of my medical condition, and the serious nature of any delay. I spent a week in-hospital, admitted for the dangerous cardiac condition, and also because of a urological condition that complicated the course of treatment for the cardiac condition - the double whammy.
During that week, I encountered the BEST and WORST of health care practitioners - wonderful nurses and doctors who truly cared, and lackluster/hostile nurses in the surgical recovery unit where I spent the TWO WORST DAYS AND NIGHTS I have EVER experienced. But they saved my life.
I didn't WANT to rely on the County for medical care, but I had no choice - I just couldn't afford insurance - and I was damned glad the County health service was there!
It took a YEAR to get healed from both of my conditions, but as a bonus, the surgery that was undertaken to fix my urological condition nearly killed me when it led to uncontrolled internal bleeding.
I was taken to a local for-profit hospital against my will by the local EMS, who said they could NOT take me to the county health service where I already had coverage!. It took ANOTHER serious surgical procedure to repair the surgery botched by the County health service.
When it was all done, I got a bill for $85K for the original County services, and another bill for $60K from the local hospital (for a 4-day admission)
So here's my take on the ACA controvery, from someone who is still too young for Medicare, still currently uninsured, and definitely getting on in years:
I WANT Obamacare
I am one of MILLIONS who NEED Obamacare
I an THRILLED that I may FINALLY be able to obtain insurance again without having to deal with any of the issues that have excluded me from coverage since 2008!
But Republicans want to ? the ACA before I can get insurance!
So to all the Republicans who have been working hard to ? the ACA, or REPEAL/UNFUND it, now that millions of us are FINALLY SO close to obtaining the health insurance we have DESPERATELY WANTED and needed, I say the following:
SHAME ON YOU HEARTLESS ? !
Yammering endlessly about how the flawed website launch proves the underlying law isn't workable is just so much BULL.
When Medicare Part D launched, it was screwed up too but Democrats worked WITH REPUBLICANS TO MAKE IT WORK FOR THE COUNTRY!
When Romneycare launched in Mass, it took TWO YEARS to get all the website issues worked out - but Romneycare was NEVER called an unworkable failure.
Either be a part of the REAL SOLUTION, or resign your seat and GO HOME!
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/10/31/1251927/-The-ACA-GOP-Nightmare-godsend-for-ME
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Soloman the Wise wrote: »you know to the supporters of the act maybe your position could be made to look a little less like blind idolatry if you posted video's or testimonials of some those who are benefiting and how they are benefiting from the act???
MY PARENTS' ? , NO-GOOD, MAY-AS-WELL-NOT-HAVE-INSURANCE PLAN
My parents are too young for Medicare, too rich for Medicaid, and right at the age when one develops conditions that must be "managed" and not just cured with a week's worth of antibiotics. When my mother was in the ICU, they gave her steroids to save her life, leaving her with steroids-induced diabetes. My dad, a mechanic who's worked 12+ hours a day since he was a teenager, has high blood pressure. Their conditions are the usual suspects for the 60s set.
To say my parents' health insurance before Obamacare was a ripoff would be like saying that the universe is kind of large and filled with some stars.
Their premium is $710 a month. Their deductible is $10,000 a year. Their medications are expensive. As a result, they've forgone a lot of preventative care and generally avoid doctor's visits. Here's the breakdown:
$8,520 - premiums
$10,000 - deductible
____
$18,520 out of pocket, not including coinsurance.
$18,520.
That's an obscenity that has no place in a modern, civilized society.
As their premiums have increased year after year, they've tried to shop around for better rates. Almost no one else would take them. If a company was open to taking on a couple with so many pre-existing conditions, it took advantage of the situation and quoted them prices that would have required them both to work two jobs. Ridiculous, to say the least.
Of course, I've tried to defray their costs over the years, as have my sisters. But my parents are very, very proud and refused to accept help, choosing instead to do what millions around the country have been forced to do: build a family budget around the costs of health insurance and hope that they don't get sick(er).
Let there be no mistake, health insurance in this country is still outrageously expensive. At first launch, the marketplace isn't going to dramatically decrease the actual premiums set by the insurance companies. You'll still see those wince-inducing numbers on the screen as you research your choices.
The difference is that now, you may also see your taxes at work. If you're like my parents, you'll see a premium subsidy that takes the bite out of the insurance company price-gouging.
For my parents, their subsidy is a hefty one. They choose a silver plan where the premium will now be $53 a month.
Their new plan covers my mom's pulmonary specialist, all of her screenings (x-rays, CTs, etc), requires only a $1,500 deductible and $4,500 max out of pocket cost and the insurance company kicks in 100 percent after the deductible is met.
Granted, there are still glitches. Although she wanted to make a payment right away, she couldn't and the Marketplace reps say it will take some time for the information to transfer over to the insurance company.
Still, affordable, better coverage is the best birthday present she could ask for.
My parents' story isn't unique. Across the country, those who need help the most paying for their health insurance and health care costs are breathing a sigh of relief. Like the Sherburne family in Utah:
It took half-a-dozen tries over several days. But Phil Sherburne struck gold on Saturday — silver actually — with family health coverage purchased on the Affordable Care Act’s online exchange.
After plugging in particulars about his family of five, the Salt Lake City business owner was able to compare 38 plans and apply for tax credits to put toward his monthly premiums. He settled on a silver-level plan from Altius that retails for about $850 a month.
After tax credits, the Sherburnes will pay just $123 a month.
Or Joy Kramer, 54, of Georgia, a cancer survivor who may be paying just $210 after being denied:
She’s grateful for the Affordable Care Act, and she doesn’t have much patience with its many critics.
“I think those people have never experienced what I’ve experienced,’’ she says. “They are shutting the door on the cancer survivors and the self-employed.”
Or Allan Pacela and his family:
I am a retired engineer on Medicare, and my wife had long been insured by Cigna, under a group plan from my engineers' society. Because of minor pre-existing conditions, she could not leave that plan, because no other plan would insure her.
The Cigna premiums increased to $5,000 per quarter, or $20,000 per year, just for my wife. This year, Cigna canceled the entire plan, leaving her with no insurance.
So, we turned to Obamacare. She found it simple and easy to sign up through an agent in a 10-minute phone call. She obtained their best plan, providing much much better coverage than in the past, at a cost of $3,000 per quarter.
My wife would not have insurance coverage at all as of Jan. 1, if not for Obamacare. And, here's the kicker - we now are saving $8,000 per year, for a very much better plan.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/11/10/1252349/-This-is-the-real-rate-shock-My-parents-amazing-Obamacare-story#
The uninsured view the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, more favorably since online marketplaces opened - 44 percent compared with 37 percent in September, according to the Reuters/Ipsos poll. It found that 56 percent oppose the program compared with 63 percent in September.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/06/us-usa-healthcare-uninsured-idUSBRE9A505W20131106?irpc=932 -
Here, I'll even give you a NEGATIVE Obamacare story to balance it out.....because its positive at the end and dude is spitting knowledge that is sorely lacking:
Confessions of an Obamacare advocate with cancelled policy, facing 38% premium hike
I have been reading the declarations of how things will be so much better for everyone after the Affordable Care Act plans kick in next year. I am an advocate of quality universal health care, and glad for all of those who are finding health coverage who never would have gotten it before, whose rates are going down, and whose coverage is improving. HOWEVER, I would like to add a voice from the ranks of those losing their excellent, low-cost coverage (I got one of those famous cancellation letters) who will now be paying higher rates for less. My monthly premiums, at minimum, will go up by 38% for a Bronze plan that has a far higher deductible than my soon-to-be-obsolete one. A couple of disclaimers – I am 62, hence at the high end of the cost chart; and have the good fortune not to qualify for a subsidy. Also, I live in a blue state (Washington) with a multitude of choices; I cannot speak for other states.
After initial sticker shock, and even a feeling of betrayal (as an activist for universal health care), and after studying the different “metal” categories' plans, and the plans within the plans, and thinking about where this all fits in the big picture of universal health care, here are my impressions of the bad and the good.
First, the bad:
1. Yes, it IS true, some of us will lose our current coverage which is not at all junk – and will pay far higher premiums. A high deductible ($5000-6000-range plan) will cost me 38% more than my current low-deductible ($2000) plan. Plans with that low of a deductible - so-called "Silver Plans" - would double my premiums.
2. Understanding the plans is beyond my education level and I have a Ph.D.
Once you sort through the basics, there are the nuances. Within each of the “metal levels” there are several different choices, which have perplexed me to the point where I still have not made a decision about which plan I will apply for. You still have to figure out things like, “Will I need Tier 3 drugs but not so much Tier 1?” and “Am I likely to need an MRI but not a lab test, or vice versa?” And I have done due diligence in researching all available information - checked with individual insurers, with Washington State’s health care plan info line, with sites like “ehealthinsurance,” etc.
After a month of these efforts, I can see why the Administration would be faulted for this mess – technical glitches aside, even with smoothly-functioning sites it is difficult to sort through it. Yet I am not sure the Administration should be faulted as I am guessing this was forced upon us by the need to keep insurance companies in the loop (to mollify Republicans – a lot of good that did).
I am glad for the success stories of people managing to sign up in their various states, but I can understand, also, if some people out there felt dazed and confused.
Now, to the good -
1. Here is the advantage which should be shouted from the rooftops, yet which somehow gets lost in the shuffle: all plans have relatively low yearly out-of-pocket maximum and no lifetime limits. (Okay, Bronze plans’ $5000-6000 range caps aren’t exactly low – I said “relatively.”) That is extremely significant because it means that major illness will not force people to lose all assets and go into bankruptcy paying medical bills. I believe this point has not been stressed enough by Administration officials as a selling point; Tea Party and Libertarian types aside, I think most rational people who seek to protect themselves, family members, and assets would recognize that the low out-of-pocket maximums offer an amazing amount of security. I would expect the benefit of this to be apparent even to younger people who have something to protect, so I believe you don’t have to be 50+ to see the advantage of this level of coverage. Even if I have to pay more in the short run – I get it, that serious illness doesn’t mean losing everything, as it easily might have prior to the ACA. That’s great news for me, and for everyone in the country as well.
2. Having to contemplate becoming uninsured is now a thing of the past. I have my own mini-horror story about being on the verge of joining the uninsured when I lived in California 4 years ago. My insurer at the time had been socked with “recision” lawsuits, as well as failure to demonstrate that it needed the rate increases (as it was extremely profitable) so apparently it turned to other means to purge the old folks. So after being with this company for more than two decades, I now found myself facing rate increases of 20-25% every other month, then every month as I approached 60 even though I had never filed a major illness claim. When rates hovered at $1000 a month I sought other coverage and in California the options at the time, at my age, were “catastrophic only” – say, $410/mo for the privilege of having $18,000 deductibles - in other words, high-cost junk coverage. (I was saved from this fate by moving to another state).
3. Almost all plans (at least among the dozens in Washington State) cover prevention and have co-pays so even high deductibles might be manageable. This makes a tremendous positive difference, unless there is a major illness (in which case, see point #1). I’d like to think that this is an improvement over my current plan, which lacks co-pays, but if there is a major illness, frankly, I will pay more out-of-pocket than I would have with my soon-to-be-obsolete plan.
I mention this, again, not as a “negative” but to point out that not everyone is going to literally save on the plan – some will pay more – and this from an Obamacare supporter.
So, the bottom line is this: not everyone who reports that they are losing good plans, and facing much higher premiums, is a Fox News propagandist. Yet as believer in good quality universal health care as a right, not a privilege, I “get it.”
On the one hand, I am going to lose the fine plan I had; on the other hand, in exchange I will have the security of knowing that whatever health conditions I may face in the future, I cannot be denied coverage. And above all, I appreciate the fact that we are taking the first major step toward a universal health care system even if it still needs to have some of the kinks ironed out. Now, if we can just keep the Republicans from gutting Medicare…..
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/11/11/1254844/-Confessions-of-an-Obamacare-advocate-with-cancelled-policy-facing-38-premium-hike -
But alas.....
Complex things are hard for people to understand.
Way of the world.
THAT'S why Obama lied to America's face w/ that "keep your coverage" ? , because if he suddenly starts qualifying this n that and adding details, America's deeply religious population of cowardly, tradition-obsessed white people will start going "WHAT DID YOU SAY?!?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE'S DETAILS?! I'M SCARED!!! C-C-C-COMMUNISM!!!!! I DON'T WANT PEOPLE WITH PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS TO GET COVERAGE AFTER ALL!".
You wanna get all ? off about Obama lying to you, ? about him breaking every promise he ever made regarding Patriot Act/privacy etc. Matter of fact, you should probably be furious at him for that anyway lol. But this one was a GOOD lie. Good. It was necessary. ? outta here with this hysterical female crying because a politician lied to you. lmao.
Laws of Power #32 & #45.
Bush told his biggest lie cuz he wanted to invade and occupy Iraq, Clinton told his biggest lie cuz he was ? fat ? on the low, Reagan told his biggest lie cuz he was funneling money to drug trafficking narco-terrorists, Obama told his biggest lie cuz.......he wanted to get sweeping health care reform passed.
Huh. When you put it like that....
kingblaze84 wrote: »What part of unaffordable don't you understand?
What part of SUBSIDIES don't you understand?
lol..........
I'm one of those "lower class" people. I'm one of those 7 million getting covered for Free. $0.00 monthly.........hater...........for a "Bronze" plan that is light years past any "cheap" insurance you'd get in the past. Worrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrd? Subsidies, ? .
So soon, my poor ass will have health insurance. Because of Obamacare, thank you very ? much. So I won't have to worry about relying on the ER for primary care, or calling a TAXI cuz its cheaper than a ambulance, or having to pull a GTA 5 caper just to pay for a hospital stay.
Ohhhhhhhhh yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhh. UNaffordable Care Act (HAHAHAHAHA GET IT, I CHANGED THE NAME!!) is just TERRIBLE dude. I should TOTALLY support its repeal, because its clearly in my rational self-interest to do so, but I'm just too BLINDED by my devotion to Dear Leader...............lmfao.
LOL inb4 Healthcare.gov was programmed to charge Kingblaze more when he typed in his SS#, in order to punish him for his years of online dissent. -
Swiffness, I qualified for subsidies and the plans are STILL unaffordable lol. All of this would have been much easier and popular with single payer. Obama's approval ratings, credibility, and respect are down the drain because Americans are seeing how expensive these plans are even WITH subsidies. My mom doesn't qualify for subsidies cuz she makes about $46K a year as a nurse and the cheapest plan she saw was a whopping $585 a MONTH. How the flying ? is she supposed to save for retirement with this being the CHEAPEST plan, along with the fact she still has student loans to pay for?
Single payer would be much popular, as it is very popular in Britain, Japan, Trinidad, Israel, and tons of other nations around the world. The UNaffordable Care Act has done some good by you, good for you. The only problem is that it's NOT doing good for most other people. Most poor people can't afford these ? plans with the high ass deductibles, and young people trying to pay off student loans and get their ? in order are shocked at the ridiculous prices even WITH subsidies.
Obama should have just fought for single payer and his approval ratings wouldn't be so damn low. It would have simplified this mess, as most Americans now think Obama is a LIAR and has zero credibility. Look at the polls yourself. It seems the more some try to defend this law, the more unpopular the law gets lol.....keep talking Swiff, the law ain't getting anymore popular. It sucks and most Americans and people around me agree. -
Some things the misguided supporters of the UNafforable Care Act are forgetting to keep in mind about the law and WHY it's very unpopular:
Cost of food is going up
Water bills have gone up
rent has gone up
student loans remain expensive (thank ? almighty I don't have any)
saving for retirement is harder then ever before, ask your parents and grandparents
college tuition and books are still through the roof
diapers for kids are expensive and transportation isn't getting any cheaper
And now people without insurance will be forced to pay for the sky high prices and high ass deductibles of Obamacare and be HAPPY with this? The fines of Obamacare will reach $700 per year by the 3rd year for people who cannot afford this lol....how are people supposed to stimulate the economy with all of the above being listed? The economy will be even worse once those employer mandates kick in and over 90 million Americans start to see their plans getting cancelled. How much ? was Obama smoking with the mayor of Toronto when he made this law?
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Obamanites are fckin delusional. literally. literal-fckin-ly.
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SWIFFNESS THAT IS TOO MUCH ? POSTING IN A ROW
well, i AM ? at him, he's an ? and he sucksSwiffness! wrote: »You wanna get all ? off about Obama lying to you, ? about him breaking every promise he ever made regarding Patriot Act/privacy etc. Matter of fact, you should probably be furious at him for that anyway lol.
but here's the thing: it would have taken no major effort to be clear about it, especially if, as you're saying, it's a good thing, it's for the best, blah blah blah. further -and this is what makes me so sad- when this all happened, he COULD have just said, "yeah, okay, the truth was more complex and here's why i said what i did." what the ? ACTUALLY first ran with was "that's what i said all along."
frankly, a really ? STUPID and pointless lie is much more annoying in my book.
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That's a lot of words man.
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A lot of words, and a lot of low approval ratings for the UNaffordable Care Act and Barack "the Liar" Obama which is getting more unpopular by the day. Most Americans want a delay in the law now and most even say they will punish those who voted for the UNaffordable Care Act in 2014......70 percent of the nation think we're on the wrong track (understatement of the year)
http://news.yahoo.com/botched-aca-rollout-hammers-obama-job-disapproval-reaches-125618130--abc-news-politics.html
Botched ACA Rollout Hammers Obama; Job Disapproval Reaches a Career High
70 percent say the country's headed seriously off on the wrong track - up 13 points since May to the most in two years.
ACA - Skepticism about the Affordable Care Act looks to be the driving force in Obama's troubles. Americans by nearly 2-1, 63-33 percent, disapprove of his handling of implementation of the new health care law. And the public by 57-40 percent now opposes the law overall, its most negative rating to date, with opposition up by 8 points in the past month alone.
----Swiffness read this ? twice, your titan graphs aren't helping your wack ass case
Intensity of sentiment is running against the law and the president alike. At 46 percent, "strong" opposition to the ACA - a new high - outpaces strong support by a record 19 points. In terms of Obama's job performance overall, strong critics outnumber strong approvers by 2-1, 44-22 percent, with strong disapproval at another career high.
Fifty-six percent describe the cancellation of health insurance policies that are deemed substandard under the law as "mismanagement" rather than a normal startup problem. Given the breakdown of the healthcare.gov website, a broad 71 percent favor postponing the individual mandate requiring nearly all Americans to have coverage. And the mandate's still widely unpopular in any case; 65 percent of Americans oppose it - a majority of them, strongly. Notably, even among those who support the individual mandate. 55 percent favor delaying it.
The poll produces evidence that the ACA could spell trouble for Democrats in the 2014 midterm elections. Americans by a 16-point margin, 37-21 percent, are more likely to oppose than to support a candidate for Congress who favors Obamacare. That's opened up from an even score in July 2012. (Using an intensity rating - those who are "much" more or less likely to support a candidate who backs the ACA - it's still 15 points negative, vs. 2 points last year.)
The health care law looks most politically hazardous in the states that backed Mitt Romney in 2012; there Americans by 3-1, 46-15 percent, say they're more inclined to oppose than to support a candidate who favors the law. But the ACA's no help even in the blue states that backed Obama; while the division is far closer, 31 percent in those states are inclined to oppose an ACA-linked candidate, vs. 25 percent who'd be more apt to support one. -
GEEEEEZZZZ........I wonder why the UNaffordable Care Act and Obama are so unpopular right now.......could it be because the UNaffordable Care Act is well, uh......UNAFFORDABLE?
