Healthcare going forward

[offthewall14420]

At that point, the vote was still planned for Friday afternoon. What happened at 3:31PM EDT Friday, the complete implosion of the bill, was different.


His figures are not all that unusual. I actually fall below the curve; I probably paid considerably less for health insurance than many people have. All told, I probably paid around $150,000 in the years before I turned 65 and got on Medicare. The only thing that saved me at all was general good health, because when I did get sick, it turned out my insurance was a piece of shit.

Well, it's better than having multiple major illnesses over your life. If they pulled Obamacare i'd likely be over the lifetime caps already.

But there is a Better Way w/ single payer.

 

[Stardreamer]

Tips on how to lose the most important vote of your Presidency:

Bannon confronted members of the House Freedom Caucus earlier this week during the White House's push for the American Health Care Act, Axios's Mike Allen reported Saturday in his newsletter.

"Guys, look. This is not a discussion. This is not a debate. You have no choice but to vote for this bill,” Bannon reportedly said.

A Freedom Caucus member reportedly replied: “You know, the last time someone ordered me to something, I was 18 years old. And it was my daddy. And I didn't listen to him, either."

 

[Sausy]

The Trump/Bannon/ Miller triumvirate is going to cause some serious, tangible harm. This is not getting any better while Trump remains President. Please, someone give us enough Russia rope to hang him and destroy this malignant Presidency before it goes through metastasis and kills this nation in an agonizing manner.

 

[offthewall14420]

Business bureaucracy wastes a shit load of money all the time.... particularly the largest corporations.

Government can be just as efficient with proper management and incentives. But Republicans don't know how to govern.

 

[Stardreamer]

So now Trump has starting to deal with his defeat and this tweet does not bode well:

President Trump on Saturday took to Twitter to address the failure of the ObamaCare repeal bill, promising a “great healthcare plan FOR THE PEOPLE” eventually.

“ObamaCare will explode and we will all get together and piece together a great healthcare plan for THE PEOPLE. Do not worry!” Trump tweeted.

I fear that the sabotage we have seen of the ACA by the right stepped up to the max. The last thing they want is for their predictions of the failure of Obamacare to NOT happen. They have every incentive now to make it happen.

 

[rareboy]

Best Tweet from Senator Bob Menendez

"Hey Republicans, don't worry, that burn is covered under the Affordable Care Act"

 

[Kulindahr]

The Trump/Bannon/ Miller triumvirate is going to cause some serious, tangible harm. This is not getting any better while Trump remains President. Please, someone give us enough Russia rope to hang him and destroy this malignant Presidency before it goes through metastasis and kills this nation in an agonizing manner.

I regard impalement as barbaric, but for Bannon I would be tempted to overlook it just once.

 

[frankfrank]

Repeal of the ACA would have brought back [junk] policies under the guise of "insurance choice".

Yes, they would be able to claim that high percentages of people are "insured" as well.

 

[rareboy]

 

[Kulindahr]

Yes, they would be able to claim that high percentages of people are "insured" as well.

No one should be considered insured unless their policy allows them to visit the doctor without having to stop and count to see if they can afford the deductible and/or co-pay.

 

[peeonme]

No one should be considered insured unless their policy allows them to visit the doctor without having to stop and count to see if they can afford the deductible and/or co-pay.

My visits to the doctor only cost $10.00, however, it's any tests, physical therapy, or other procedures that would bleed me dry.
So, what good is my $10.00 office visit if I can't follow his advise because I will end up broke?
Many people have insurance and never use it because they have to spend a few thousand out of pocket, so basically their insurance is nothing more than catastrophic coverage in case they end up in the hospital.

People need health care, not health insurance.

 

[Kulindahr]

My visits to the doctor only cost $10.00, however, it's any tests, physical therapy, or other procedures that would bleed me dry.
So, what good is my $10.00 office visit if I can't follow his advise because I will end up broke?
Many people have insurance and never use it because they have to spend a few thousand out of pocket, so basically their insurance is nothing more than catastrophic coverage in case they end up in the hospital.

People need health care, not health insurance.

Wow -- mine runs the opposite; it's $40 for a doctor visit, but labs only run me $20 per visit, and if it's three different things it's still just $20.

Your last item is one of the problems with the ACA; deductibles have been rising so people can't afford to use it -- so the whole program is just a give-away to insurance companies, though with the requirement of spending 80% on actual care at least those who can afford to use their insurance are getting something.

The really stupid thing about this is that a nation that doesn't take care of its people is not performing at its full capability -- nor is it much of a nation.

More and more I like my dad's idea: required national service, whether in the military or Peace Corps or Americorps or whatever, and care for all 'veterans' of that service. And if immigrants want citizenship and want to vote, they can complete a term of service as well. It would make the whole thing nice and tidy: everyone has to invest in the nation by serving, service means getting to vote and getting health care. It would even satisfy the voter-ID folks; your 'veteran' card would be your voter card as well as your health care card.

 

[smokeshadow]

Spicer is now claiming that reform is still on the table

http://www.thenewcivilrightsmovemen...nounces_health_care_reform_still_on_the_table

 

[gsdx]

So, ObamaCare is dying and will be dead soon. Ironic that TrumpCare was aborted even before it was given life.

 

[Kulindahr]

I noticed the Independent Institute delivered a scathing assessment of the ACHA bill, calling it worse than what it replaced and than what came before.

I suspect that helped put some backbone in the Freedom Caucus.

 

[Stardreamer]

So back on the subject of the thread, it seems to me at this point the main issue for healthcare going forward is how will the administration try to make its predictions about the ACA come true and what can be done to counter that. Quite literally the supporters of the ACA need to start playing a strong defense.

For one thing, we know that the administration has stopped most promotion and advertising for the marketplaces hoping to drive down enrollments. That slack needs to be taken up by NGOs.

We also need some movement in the insurance industry to bring some players back into markets or even develop some new players geared specifically for the marketplaces.

More states need to jump on the Medicaid expansion. There are a few that were trying to do just that when it looked like the opportunity was going to go away, now they need to follow through.

 

[Benvolio]

Aca is failing for reasons inherent in the system. You cannot charge the healthy enough to cover preexisting illnesses. Young healthy people pay the fine, if any rather than the humongous premiums. People can wait until sick to buy insurance. Premiums on the people who do buy are skyrocketing to cover the preexisting. http://www.investors.com/politics/e...ailing-exactly-the-way-critics-said-it-would/

 

[smokeshadow]

Sorry, Ben, but most sources that I've seen debunk the "imploding" theories

http://www.stltoday.com/business/co...0549-c603-5327-834b-2df67859f5f9.html?ref=yfp

 

[Stardreamer]

Aca is failing for reasons inherent in the system. You cannot charge the healthy enough to cover preexisting illnesses. Young healthy people pay the fine, if any rather than the humongous premiums. People can wait until sick to buy insurance. Premiums on the people who do buy are skyrocketing to cover the preexisting. http://www.investors.com/politics/e...ailing-exactly-the-way-critics-said-it-would/

If that's the case you can just sit back and watch it all fall apart, in the meantime most folks want to try and do something about it. It seems strange that none of the other 1st world nations are having a problem with managing pre-existing conditions in their healthcare systems so it seems there is some doubt about your claim that it is not possible. In any case, you seem to be the only one that wants the sick to get on with dying on the street corners. Both Trump and the most viable of the Republican plans all call for keeping protections for pre-existing conditions.

The focus of my post is how to improve the situation, not complain about it.

 

[KaraBulut]

The "ACA" is not the same thing as the Marketplace. The ACA is a healthcare reform bill whose purpose was to reform healthcare delivery. Insurance plans are just the most visible part that the public sees.

The Marketplace has two components - Medicaid and Private Insurance.

The Private Insurance part of the marketplace offers individual plans to people who don't have a group plan through their employer and who don't qualify for Medicaid. That's about 12,216,000 people ending Jan-2016 - up from 8 million in 2013.

There's another 7 million people who gained coverage via Medicaid.

Something that is insuring 19 million people isn't "failing".

The issue in the individual market is the affordability of plans, the cost of subsidies and the number of insurance companies that are participating outside urban markets. Each of issues those can be fixed. If the individual market doesn't get fixed, then expect the "public option" (aka "Medicare for all") to be back on the table for discussion.

The one factor that is really at the root of the problem- and it nothing to do with the ACA- is the cost of healthcare. That includes the exorbitant prices for medications, the inherent problems of fee-for-service healthcare and the ridiculous price structure that charges more to people who don't have insurance. That's going to be much harder to fix.