Obamacare

[MATTHEW'S_DAD]

Success stories? Failures? How has it affected you so far?

Last year for my family coverage it was $392 per month of which $350 was covered by my company. Now it is $1180 of which my company covers $380. That'll be $800 per month EXTRA out of pocket and all the basics of my policy will be the same. Due to this expense we decided that only I will be covered by this policy and that we would "shop" the exchange for the wife and kid. So that we have some sort of coverage for the wife and kid, we took out an accident policy as a rider to my insurance plan at an extra but lesser expense. This is three weeks now and I still can't get logged into the website to "shop". When I do get onto the site I already know that my family will NOT get a subsidy because a plan is offered by my employer. Therefore we will get to pay full price if we can ever get on the website. So far, NO ONE where I work has taken the family policy because NO ONE can afford it and basically they have all said screw it and will be going "uncovered" this coming year.

So here is what I see. Last year people with jobs had insurance and people with no jobs may have had insurance or may not have had it. This year people with jobs have lesser and/or more expensive insurance and people with no jobs have more insurance with no cost or a "subsidized" cost. So now the people who work have to work a little harder so they can have less in an effort to provide more for those who don't work. Good system.

[[NH]Shadow]

Obamacare = not a good idea. All I'm gonna say...MD's stats pretty much summed it all up though.

[(=DK=)Samonuh]

So, my knowledge is extraordinarily limited on the subject, so I will only share one anecdote. Feel free to correct me on any invalid points:

My girlfriend has Type I Diabetes. This essentially means that she costs a lot more to an insurance company than the average person. Consequently, under our current system it would be very difficult for her to find a company willing to cover her, which would prove to be very problematic and plainly unfair. My girlfriend did nothing to cause this disease. She was just born with it, so I see it unjust for her to suffer by the insurance companies' sake.

Obamacare mandates each American to have affordable healthcare, right? This means that people like my girlfriend will no longer have to worry about either paying extremely high healthcare coverage or simply not having healthcare at all (even more expensive). And I appreciate this sentiment a whole lot.

This, however, is only one isolated incident, so I suppose I still need to look at the larger picture to grasp its repercussions.

[MATTHEW'S_DAD]

Wouldn't it have been easier though for the government either to subsidize the "un-insurable" and to require coverage access by the insurance companies? Or perhaps operate a Government sponsored insurance company for the un-insurable? Instead we have overhauled the entire thing affecting the majority to assist a smaller minority.

[(SWGO)DesertEagle]

The barring of using prexisting conditions and the institution of the exchanges are good ideas. (The former will cause rates to go up unfortunately, but I guess that is the price you have to pay).

However, the rest of it is not.

People don't seem to realize that we are still paying for healthcare, just in taxes. And the cost is going up as the gov forces insurance companies to cover more so the government will have to pay more. Therefore, taxes will have to go up.

Also, I find it sickening that the people who pushed this law thru love it so much that they exempted themselves from paying for 75% of it (President, congress, staffers, etc).

[MATTHEW'S_DAD]

The barring of using prexisting conditions and the institution of the exchanges are good ideas. (The former will cause rates to go up unfortunately, but I guess that is the price you have to pay).

That's the price you pay if that's the crap you vote for. It's not my responsiblity to pay for other people's insurance.

People don't seem to realize that we are still paying for healthcare, just in taxes.

I knew it.

Also, I find it sickening that the people who pushed this law thru love it so much that they exempted themselves from paying for 75% of it (President, congress, staffers, etc).

Agreed.

[-)G(-Sawyer]

Most if not all of the civilised countries in the world have a healthcare system in place, which is normally paid for by the people with taxes. I live in one of these places and for me it sounds dreadful that people have to use insurance companies for health reasons and if your unwell this makes getting a policy more difficult and more expensive. I hate dealing with insurance companies at the best of times and this is for cars,bike and home not me or my wife's health, life or death trust me from the outside your system sounds truly dreadful and a bit 3rd world.

[MATTHEW'S_DAD]

I lived in Europe for three years and yes, your car insurance was horrible.....as was setting phone service. These are two things I most hated when I was over there.

By the way, driving on the left hand side of the road would horrify me.

edit: I just noticed the 3rd world comment. Let's not do that....

[(SWGO)Kren]

Being British this does not really impact me but based upon MD's post I decided to do some further reading from the Website below:

http://obamacarefacts.com/obamacare-facts.php

Is it really that bad or is it not working for certain parts of the population? I am not saying this healthcare is good or bad and as with all things some people will benefit and others will not so is it really a bad thing?

I am not being insensitive here to your situation MD just trying to understand how bad/good it is or will be in the future for you guys, clearly having to pay-out more money for you MD is a bad thing.

Our health care system is not brilliant but it does work but given the US is much larger etc comparing the systems would not work. The only time I deal with insurance companies is to make a claim (house insurance) but apart from that medical treatment etc is so easy over here. If someone in the UK had a medical condition they could still be treated under the NHS or if they want to go private and pay for it.

Kren

[(=DK=)Samonuh]

Wouldn't it have been easier though for the government either to subsidize the "un-insurable" and to require coverage access by the insurance companies? Or perhaps operate a Government sponsored insurance company for the un-insurable? Instead we have overhauled the entire thing affecting the majority to assist a smaller minority.

Very true. I'd be all for that, but unfortunately it has yet to be proposed (probably never will be). Because of this, Obamacare is the only viable solution I see right now.