Many have ACA insurance but can not afford to use it

[Subyman]

Bronze ACA isn't for trips to the doctor. Its for catastrophic coverage. There is still a major gap for many people.

 

[rudder]

Obamacare in California for fantastic coverage is totally free. No deductible, no cost for drugs.

My day is also filled with rainbows and unicorns!

http://www.fresnobee.com/2014/03/15/3825369/doctors-rejecting-affordable-care.html

Those darn George Bush voting doctors refuse to work for free.

 

[Slew Foot]

My day is also filled with rainbows and unicorns!

http://www.fresnobee.com/2014/03/15/3825369/doctors-rejecting-affordable-care.html

Those darn George Bush voting doctors refuse to work for free.

Obamacare is defiitely not free in CA. it carries roughly the same costs as any other state. If he's talking about medi-cal, then it has fairly low costs for the user, but the range of services and providers who accept it are limited.

 

[Jhhnn]

The perpetually sick are still screwed. Diabetes etc.

The healthy are screwed a little, out of cough & cold visits, paying premiums and still having huge deductibles.

The very sick are getting big help, liver transplants, cancer, whatever. It comes at the cost of run of the mill healthcare, which has been decimated IMO by the high deductibles. You basically don't use it, or hit the max out of pocket. Anything in-between is hugely cost prohibitive. It hasn't affected healthcare as a whole yet because the individual market is ~11 million or so apparently compared to I'm sure a good 100 million on employer plans. But it probably will after 2018 and the employer mandates kick in.

That's also misleading. As I understand it, there are copays along the way to meeting the max deductible, just like employer sponsored plans. You never pay the full price for anything that's covered.

My family pays $30 per visit at Kaiser w/ no charge for blood work. Cheap prescription prices for most stuff, too. It's near identical to the employer sponsored coverage we had if more expensive because we only qualify for a $14/mo subsidy.