Healthcare reform, changes go into effect today

[Cutterhead]

They lied. They saw an excuse to dick you and shift the blame and they are taking it. But go ahead and take a health insurance company's word for it.

Here's the AP's take from the second link:


Believe who you want.

lol, OF COURSE they are using it as an excuse to increase rates. That's the whole point. Virtually all insurance companies will be doing the same thing, to cover their asses for the unkown cost impacts for all these "free" services. Are the rate increases more than what is justified due to the new legislation? Very likely, yes. But I love your suggestion not to take the insurance company's word for it, and instead to take the Obama Administration's word that increases "should" be no more than 1% or 2%. They may as well say premiums "should" go down because we say so, just ignore that letter you get in the mail with a 43% increase.

 

[Dulanic]

I understand what you are saying, but my big gripe is forcing something to be "Free" we people can easily afford it. You can get a flu shot at nationwide chain stores for less than $25. Do you think this is going to get cheaper by getting insurance or govt involved? Do you think we should be subsidized/hiding cost of something that is affordable?

I agree, I don't see why people can't just do it themselves. It is sad that people need an incentive to take care of themselves. Do I think everyone will get it? No, it's unfortunate, but true. If people just made smart decisions with their health we wouldn't be where we are. Obviously, not everything is avoidable which is what health insurance should truly be there for.

 

[nobodyknows]

Just got a letter yesterday from our insurance provider. It appears that due to the "legal reforms in the healthcare industry", our annual renewal premium, beginning in November, will be increasing by $105... per month. That is a 43% increase. In black & white, sitting on my desk at home. This is for a relatively modest, high deductible plan. I am my own employer and will be picking up 100% of that increase.

So you were only paying ~$240/month for insurance?

My parents are paying over $400/month for theirs not counting the $100/month being held out of their SS checks. That's ~$600/month.

My mom fell and cracked her hip in 3 places. She got 3 days in the hospital and then went to "swing bed" status that costs them $140/day out of their pocket. If she is still in the rest home 100 days after she went "swing bed" then medicare quits paying and they will have to pay ~$170/day.

That's over $5000/ month. Quit your fucking whining like a little girlie boy.

 

[CADsortaGUY]

They lied. They saw an excuse to dick you and shift the blame and they are taking it. But go ahead and take a health insurance company's word for it.

Here's the AP's take from the second link:


Believe who you want.

lol, so BHO claims it should only increase 1-2% and you lap it up as the truth? I thought this wasn't supposed to raise premiums?

Meh - anyone who isn't a moron knew this was going to raise prices and force major changes. Hell, some companies are going to stop writing child only policies now. Good job socialists

At my company we are doing our annual insurance dance - guess what. Our current plan doesn't exist for next year. We're going to have to change to something somewhat similar but we have no idea yet what the costs are going to be.

Any lib/bho supporters going to admit yet that he lied and that these "reforms" are a disaster?

 

[CADsortaGUY]

In 3 months you will no longer be allowed to use your FSA towards over-the-counter medicine,

socialists call that "reform".

 

[Fern]

This part of the health care bill makes sense. I don't see how one could think otherwise..

I agree to some extent.

But it's not 'reform' by any measure. It's merely the government forcing you to buy more of a product (insurance).

Our #1 problem all along, and the Admin knows and in fact hyped it, is the rising cost of the underlying HC itself. So the solution is to force us to buy more of an over-priced product? That's stupid.

Fern

 

[BoberFett]

Republicans say government doesn't work and then set out to prove it.

Democrats say government does work and then set out to prove the Republicans are right.

 

[Cutterhead]

So you were only paying ~$240/month for insurance?

My parents are paying over $400/month for theirs not counting the $100/month being held out of their SS checks. That's ~$600/month.

My mom fell and cracked her hip in 3 places. She got 3 days in the hospital and then went to "swing bed" status that costs them $140/day out of their pocket. If she is still in the rest home 100 days after she went "swing bed" then medicare quits paying and they will have to pay ~$170/day.

First of all, I'm sorry to hear about your mom's fall. It sucks when these things happen and I sincerely hope she recovers quickly. I can relate. Just 2 days ago, on Tuesday morning I got a call from one of my wife's coworkers telling me that my wife had collapsed at work and hit her head. We spent the entire day in the hospital and they ran all kinds of tests to figure out why she fainted. Blood tests, EKG, even a CAT scan all revealed nothing. Thankfully, she is doing well (albeit bruised up and with 8 stitches on the side of her head where she hit a countertop on the way down) and we certainly hope this does not happen again.

That's over $5000/ month. Quit your fucking whining like a little girlie boy.

My wife's trip to the hospital this week? Over $3000 in a single day. All of which we owe out of pocket - and we are okay with that. That is the risk we take for having lower premiums, and we have money set aside for emergencies such as this. As I said in my original post, we have a relatively modest insurance policy with a high deductible - far from comprehensive healthcare coverage. In my mind, that is the purpose of insurance; if anything truly catastrophic were to happen we would be covered, but it is our responsibility to handle anything reasonable. I'm sure we are also much younger than your mother (both in our late 20's), and in good health (barring this week's incident), so that also contributes to our lower premium.

But that low premium clearly is not staying low much longer. Yet, the risk we assume remains the same. The rate increase is also unrelated to this week's incident as the letter was drafted before any of this occured. Maybe they will raise our rates even more.

 

[her209]

I just got hit by a piece of sky.

 

[Zebo]

Those who can not pay should be wheeled out for those who can. problem solved.

HC is not that that complicated. Every other civilized nation has blue prints out there which insure all for less than half what we pay per capita. And French smoke like fiends.

 

[Fern]

Republicans say government doesn't work and then set out to prove it.

Democrats say government does work and then set out to prove the Republicans are right.

lol

Fern

 

[Zebo]

republicans say government doesn't work and then set out to prove it.

Democrats say government does work and then set out to prove the republicans are right.

lolz

 

[Zebo]

Are you kidding me? They've been robber barons for the last 50 years, it's just that now they are being elevated to the top of the list.

Some health, some health, my kingdom for some health!!

I don't know about that... I didn't hear about Richard Rainwater's even 25 years ago or Pfizer CEO extracting 140 million a year and what not.

 

[PJABBER]

I am kind of rushing around today under deadline pressure but I'd like to share the following article which captures the gist of what is wrong with Obamacare and why it will eventually either be repealed or it will be amended to such an extent that it will be unrecognizable from its original form -

Obamacare is even worse than critics thought

The Washington Examiner
September 22, 2010

Six months ago, President Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rammed Obamacare down the throats of an unwilling American public. Half a year removed from the unprecedented legislative chicanery and backroom dealing that characterized the bill's passage, we know much more about the bill than we did then. A few of the revelations:

» Obamacare won't decrease health care costs for the government. According to Medicare's actuary, it will increase costs. The same is likely to happen for privately funded health care.

» As written, Obamacare covers elective abortions, contrary to Obama's promise that it wouldn't. This means that tax dollars will be used to pay for a procedure millions of Americans across the political spectrum view as immoral. Supposedly, the Department of Health and Human Services will bar abortion coverage with new regulations but these will likely be tied up for years in litigation, and in the end may not survive the court challenge.

» Obamacare won't allow employees or most small businesses to keep the coverage they have and like. By Obama's estimates, as many as 69 percent of employees, 80 percent of small businesses, and 64 percent of large businesses will be forced to change coverage, probably to more expensive plans.

» Obamacare will increase insurance premiums -- in some places, it already has. Insurers, suddenly forced to cover clients' children until age 26, have little choice but to raise premiums, and they attribute to Obamacare's mandates a 1 to 9 percent increase. Obama's only method of preventing massive rate increases so far has been to threaten insurers.

» Obamacare will force seasonal employers -- especially the ski and amusement park industries -- to pay huge fines, cut hours, or lay off employees.

» Obamacare forces states to guarantee not only payment but also treatment for indigent Medicaid patients. With many doctors now refusing to take Medicaid (because they lose money doing so), cash-strapped states could be sued and ordered to increase reimbursement rates beyond their means.

» Obamacare imposes a huge nonmedical tax compliance burden on small business. It will require them to mail IRS 1099 tax forms to every vendor from whom they make purchases of more than $600 in a year, with duplicate forms going to the Internal Revenue Service. Like so much else in the 2,500-page bill, our senators and representatives were apparently unaware of this when they passed the measure.

» Obamacare allows the IRS to confiscate part or all of your tax refund if you do not purchase a qualified insurance plan. The bill funds 16,000 new IRS agents to make sure Americans stay in line.

If you wonder why so many American voters are angry, and no longer give Obama the benefit of the doubt on a variety of issues, you need look no further than Obamacare, whose birthday gift to America might just be a GOP congressional majority.
​

 

[charrison]

I agree, I don't see why people can't just do it themselves. It is sad that people need an incentive to take care of themselves. Do I think everyone will get it? No, it's unfortunate, but true. If people just made smart decisions with their health we wouldn't be where we are. Obviously, not everything is avoidable which is what health insurance should truly be there for.

The main problem is that due to govt regulation, we have been conditioned to think that you cant see a doc without insurance being involved. This needs to change if we ever want to get control of health care costs.

 

[dank69]

Obamacare will increase insurance premiums -- in some places, it already has. Insurers, suddenly forced to cover clients' children until age 26, have little choice but to raise premiums, and they attribute to Obamacare's mandates a 1 to 9 percent increase. Obama's only method of preventing massive rate increases so far has been to threaten insurers.

I really like this line of BS. What the hell are the statistical risks of insuring 23-26 year olds?

 

[Fear No Evil]

Maybe students could afford healthcare if Universities weren't raising tuition costs double-digit percentages every year and making students go into debt for 10's of thousands of dollars for an education that will likely not even get them a job when they graduate?

 

[2Xtreme21]

I'm going to laugh so fucking hard if the Republicans somehow manage to repeal this, and then spidey or CAD get dropped from their insurance. They'd probably be ok with it though, seeing as how that's capitalism at its finest! Thanks for being willing to take a personal hit on beating the big ugly red machine.

 

[jiggahertz]

I really like this line of BS. What the hell are the statistical risks of insuring 23-26 year olds?

Very small, but it's huge for people with pre-existing conditions.

 

[2Xtreme21]

Maybe students could afford healthcare if Universities weren't raising tuition costs double-digit percentages every year and making students go into debt for 10's of thousands of dollars for an education that will likely not even get them a job when they graduate?

Wtf? That's capitalism dude! Are you suggesting regulation?????

 

[PJABBER]

Taking political positions has consequences, but that is the role that politicians run for.

Sarah Palin, no longer a politician but still highly political, has come out with a list of those who should be targeted for their political positions, particularly for their unfortunate support of the failure that is Obamacare.

Her statement contains numerous links in support of her position. Though some are familiar studies, others offer a different insight than one you might run across if not fully engaged in this discussion. Well worth perusing the large numbers of click-throughs. And well worth reading as a direct and unfiltered presentation on one issue she may run on, if run she does, next year.

Lies, Damned Lies – Obamacare 6 Months Later; It’s Time to Take Back the 20!

by Sarah Palin on Thursday, September 23, 2010 at 9:53am

It’s now six months since President Obama took control of one-sixth of the private sector economy with his health care “reform,” and the first changes to our health care system come into effect today. Despite overwhelming public dislike of the bill, we were told that D.C. knows best, and there was nothing to worry about, and we’d be better off swallowing the pill called Obamacare; so, in defiance of the will of the people, the President and his party rammed through this mother of all unfunded mandates. Nancy Pelosi said Congress had to pass the bill so that Americans could “find out what is in it.” We found out that it’s even worse than we feared.

Remember when the president said, “If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor”? Not true. In Texas alone a record number of doctors are leaving the Medicare system because of the cuts in reimbursements forced on them by Obamacare! The president of the Texas Medical Association, Dr. Susan Bailey, warns that “the Medicare system is beginning to implode.”

Remember the Obama administration’s promise that Obamacare would cut a typical family’s premium “by up to $2500 a year”? Not true. In fact, fueled by reports that insurers expect premiums to rise by as much as 25 percent as a result of Obamacare, Senate Democrats are contemplating the introduction of price controls.

Remember when the president said in his address to Congress that “no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions”? That turned out to be yet another one of those “You lie!” moments. We found out that Obamacare-mandated high risk insurance pools set up in states like Pennsylvania and New Mexico will fund abortions after all.

Remember the promise that Obamacare would “strengthen small businesses”? Not true either. The net result of Obamacare is that small businesses will face higher health care costs, new Medicare taxes, and higher regulation compliance costs, while the much-hyped health care tax credit for small businesses turns out to be almost impossible to obtain.

Remember the president’s promise that his bill would ensure “everyone [has] some basic security”? False again. Besides the great uncertainly that Obamacare hampers businesses with, companies now find it is actually cheaper to pay the $2000 per employee fine imposed by Obamacare than to keep insuring their workforce. This leaves millions of American workers at risk of losing their employer-provided health insurance.

And remember when the Obama administration said they would not be “rationing care” in the future? That ol’ “death panels” thing I wrote about last year? That was before Obamacare was passed. Once it passed, they admitted there was going to be rationing after all. There has to be. The reality of Obamacare is that it enshrines what the New York Times called “The Power of No” – the government’s power to say no to your request for treatment of the people you love. The fact that the president used a recess appointment to push through the nomination of Dr. Donald Berwick as head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services tells you all you need to know about this administration’s intentions. After all, Berwick is the man who said, “The decision is not whether we will ration care – the decision is whether we will ration with our eyes open.”

By the way, when the administration was talking about that independent board that has the statutory power to decide which categories of treatment are worthy of funding based on efficiency calculations (that, again, sounded to me like a panel of faceless bureaucrats making life and death decisions about your loved ones – which, again, is what I referred to as a “death panel&#8221, it was another opportunity for Americans to hear the truth about Obamacare’s intentions.

So, yes, those rationing “death panels” are there, and so are the tax increases that the president also promised were “absolutely not” in his bill. (Aren’t you tiring of the untruths coming from this White House and the liberals in Congress?) When the state of Florida filed a challenge to Obamacare on the basis that the mandates in the bill are unconstitutional, the Obama Department of Justice filed a motion to dismiss the suit by citing the Anti-Injuction Act, which blocks courts from interfering with the federal government’s ability to collect taxes. Yes, taxes! Once the bill was passed it was no longer politically inconvenient for the Obama administration to admit that it makes no difference whether the payment is a tax or a penalty because it’s “assessed and collected in the same manner.” The National Taxpayer Advocate has already warned that “Congress must provide sufficient funding” to allow the IRS to collect this new tax. Pretty soon we’ll be paying taxes just to make it possible for the IRS to collect all the additional taxes under Obamacare! Seems as if this is another surprise that the public found out about after the bill was rammed through.

But perhaps the most ridiculous promise of all was the president’s assurance that Obamacare will lead to “bending the curve” on health care spending. Yes, rationing is a part of the new system, and yes, Obamacare does raise taxes. But because the new government managed system is so incredibly complicated and expensive to run, health care spending will actually rise instead of fall. Don’t believe me? Then take a look at the Congressional Budget Office’s admittance that the CBO’s original estimate of the total costs of the bill were off by around $115 billion. Its new estimate is now above $1 trillion, and even that may be way too low. A more realistic figure calculated by the Pacific Research Institute puts the number at $2.5 to $3 trillion over the next 10 years! This is probably what President Obama was referring to when he admitted recently that he had known all along that “at the margins” his proposals were going to drive up costs. Give us a break! Only in this administration would they refer to a $3 trillion spending increase as “marginal.” Next time he comes to us with another one of his harebrained proposals for a budget-busting federal power grab, let’s make sure we remember the president’s admission that he was lying all along when he told us his health care plan was going to cut costs. He is increasing costs. He admits it now. Period.

Higher costs and worse care – is it any wonder why people are overwhelmingly in favor of repealing and replacing Obamacare? Politicians who have vacillated on this issue need to be fired. Candidates who don’t support “repeal and replace” don’t deserve your support. No amount of money spent on Washington’s “government-wide apolitical public information campaign” (otherwise known as “propaganda&#8221 will convince Americans that this awful legislation is anything other than a debt-driven big government train wreck. We need to repeal and replace it, and that can only happen if we elect a new Congress that will make scrapping Obamacare one of its top priorities. We can replace it with pro-private sector, patient-oriented reform that the GOP has proposed.

On March 23, when Obamacare was signed into law, I launched my “Take back the 20” campaign, focusing on 20 congressional districts that John McCain and I carried in 2008 which are or were represented by members of Congress who voted in favor of Obamacare. They need to be held accountable for those votes. They voted for Obamacare. Now we can vote against them. We need to replace them with representatives who will respect the will of the people.

That’s why today I’m launching a new Take Back the 20 website at www.takebackthe20.com!

TakeBackthe20.com provides information about the candidates in these 20 districts who are committed to repealing and replacing Obamacare. It has links to their personal websites and their donation pages. It allows you to read up on them, and then support them in their race to defeat those who gave us this terrible bill.

We have to send Washington a message that it’s not acceptable to disregard the will of the people. We have to tell them enough is enough. No more defying the Constitution. No more driving us off a financial cliff. We must repeal and replace Obamacare with patient-centered, results-driven, free market reform that provides solutions to people of all income levels without bankrupting our country.

It’s time to make a stand! Let’s take back the 20!

- Sarah Palin

 

[Gonad the Barbarian]

Lies, Damned Lies – Obamacare 6 Months Later; It’s Time to Take Back the 20!

by Sarah Palin

In case anyone has PJABBER on ignore, that's all you need to know from his post.^

 

[2Xtreme21]

In case anyone has PJABBER on ignore, that's all you need to know from his post.^

Yeah I used to think he was at least somewhat intelligent. Quoting something written by Sarah Palin to further your argument just lost you about all the credibility you had left.

 

[Zebo]

Maybe students could afford healthcare if Universities weren't raising tuition costs double-digit percentages every year and making students go into debt for 10's of thousands of dollars for an education that will likely not even get them a job when they graduate?

Fear - You're not advocating FREE universities like socialist Europe are you? It was damn near free when I went in good ole days... about $300 a quarter. today high so only well to do can go...That's what happens when you refuse to invest in people.

BTW it's not 20 yr old that pay. Try 40+ then you get ass raped. I have to come up with $1318 every single month for family of 5 and I'm not quite 40 got a year to go before real costs kick in.

 

[Zebo]

Yeah I used to think he was at least somewhat intelligent. Quoting something written by Sarah Palin to further your argument just lost you about all the credibility you had left.

A lot of what she says is true. A lot false too. Don't worry she prolly did not write it anyway. It won't bite.