Amen brother Conlin.
The way I see it, the biggest problem is that ObamaCare didn't go far
enough. We really, really need to have a system that gets a handle on
the costs. The cost to US citizens is more than double the cost to
other developed countries.
Just peruse this:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/26/charts-health-care-costs-americans_n_2957266.html
bp
On 10/9/2014 5:12 AM, Paul Conlin via Af wrote:
What did people expect? Insurance companies are the house. They
always make money. By accepting pre-existing conditions everyone
else’s premiums go up. By definition. The only way health insurance
can work is if it is universal (code for mandatory). Can’t have
people who can do math, like Chuck, opting out. Or healthy people
saying no. Everyone in. Everyone pays. Spreads out the costs.
ObamaCare was never about controlling costs. It was about increasing
coverage. More coverage costs more. Why are people surprised at
this? If you want to control costs you have to redesign the way money
flows. Our system of providers and insurance companies is
**designed** to maximize heath costs. It is a positive feedback loop.
What is needed is a single payer system, like Canada, where one paying
party can have maximum leverage to minimize costs and who has limited
ability to raise taxes. It is a proper (negative) feedback system
that has inheritably more control. Canada, for the record, is not
privatized health care like the VHA. In fact it is the opposite. The
Government of Canada purchases all its healthcare from private
entities, like Medicare. A fact yet to be discovered by the media in
the USA.
It is hard to understand why the Republican’s hate ObamaCare since it
was mostly their idea. Well, other than ObamaCare was championed by
Obama and I guess that is enough reason. The basic concept to use the
free market and let industry to its thing is normally what
Republican’s want. Not to mention its inherent ability to make more
money for insurance companies and private industry. Sure, they are
upset that it is being used as a wealth distribution system that makes
people with money pay more and people without pay less. Ok, so that
is two reasons they hate it.
The mistake made, was not implementing a single payer system
simultaneously with universal coverage. The CBO calculated the saving
from the former would pay for the later resulting in no increase in
out-of-pocket costs. Then the other benefits of such a privatized
system would start to kick in and the open market competition for
services will drive costs down. With health care general health would
improve and costs would go down even more.
Unfortunately the Government is dysfunctional and has zero chance of
overcoming the trillions of dollars companies are making off of the
existing out of control health care system. And if they could pass
the laws, would anyone trust our Government to run such a program?
And there is the root problem.
Obviously an over simplification but now back to my real job.
PC
Blaze Broadband
*From:*Af [mailto:af-boun...@afmug.com] *On Behalf Of *Rory Conaway via Af
*Sent:* Thursday, October 9, 2014 12:33 AM
*To:* af@afmug.com
*Subject:* Re: [AFMUG] ObamaCare
People with pre-existing conditions are one of the few groups
benefitting from this.
Rory
*From:*Af [mailto:af-boun...@afmug.com] *On Behalf Of *Jeremy via Af
*Sent:* Wednesday, October 08, 2014 7:32 PM
*To:* af@afmug.com <mailto:af@afmug.com>
*Subject:* Re: [AFMUG] ObamaCare
We pay about the same as we did but our deductible is lower, our out
of pocket max is lower, and they covered our pregnancy. We switched
during the first trimester because we didn't have maternity coverage
(no self-insured plans in our state had it), and Obamacare made
pregnancy not count as a pre-existing condition. It saved us about
$7,000-$8,000 this year. The craziest part is that we actually stayed
with the same provider, Select Health (IHC). It was just the
difference between them providing maternity and not providing
maternity. We have been very happy with our Obamacare.
On Wed, Oct 8, 2014 at 6:50 PM, Glen Waldrop via Af <af@afmug.com
<mailto:af@afmug.com>> wrote:
Further the subsidies have been deemed unconstitutional, so they're
forcing us to pay insurance with the promise of subsidies that they
are now going to take away.
Bait and switch.
The whole thing has been a screwup from day one.
It is actually cheaper for me to pay out of pocket than pay for this
insurance, but the fines will get you either way.
----- Original Message -----
*From:*Rory Conaway via Af <mailto:af@afmug.com>
*To:*af@afmug.com <mailto:af@afmug.com>
*Sent:*Wednesday, October 08, 2014 7:03 PM
*Subject:*Re: [AFMUG] ObamaCare
And so did the quality and options of your care. I know that 2 of
my doctors retired early and the other one doesn’t take
Obamacare. Fortunately I don’t have to use it.
Here is my question though, doesn’t the fact that the federal
government wasted a couple billion dollars of your taxes on
websites that don’t work, companies that are paying workers to do
nothing, and companies that are friends with the First Lady with
no bid process in place?
Rory
*From:*Af [mailto:af-boun...@afmug.com
<mailto:af-boun...@afmug.com>] *On Behalf Of *Sean Heskett via Af
*Sent:* Wednesday, October 08, 2014 5:00 PM
*To:* af@afmug.com <mailto:af@afmug.com>
*Subject:* Re: [AFMUG] ObamaCare
Please don't forget that this whole "obamacare" thing was
"invented" by the American Heratage Foundation which is a
republican think tank. And the republicans tried to squash
"Hillarycare" with it in the 1990's.
Be careful what you ask for because you just might get it.
Also, so far in the states that set up their own exchanges medical
costs and premiums have been going down...mine sure did :)
2cents
Sean
On Wednesday, October 8, 2014, Travis Johnson via Af <af@afmug.com
<mailto:af@afmug.com>> wrote:
Hi...
I'm not sure exactly how this ObamaCare thing was supposed to
"save everyone money" and provider "better health care". We just
received our group health insurance premium notice for the
upcoming year, and our rates will go up by 10% starting 2015.
On top of that, everyone is now paying a 3% ObamaCare tax on their
personal income taxes. This doesn't really seem like much of a
savings to me... :(
Travis
