People complainign their insurance is going up with the ACA

[Oldgamer]

I thought this was a really good post by someone who is actually in the Health Insurance business:

http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1mppxm/eli5_what_are_the_primary_arguments_against_the/

Quote:

My 2 cents. Just so you know, I work in middle mgmt of a huge individual health insurance and have been here for 26 years.

There isn't a single person here who knows what the exact cost for INDIVIDUAL health insurance thru their state exchange will cost them next year. So all the "my parents premium is skyrocketing or mine is now $4000/month with an $18,000 deductible" is bullshit. Come back after Oct 1 and if you are pursuing insurance through the ACA exchange your premium will probably be lower if your older, probably the same or a little higher if you're younger-middle age. Understand the difference between group health insurance and individual before you comment.

If your group health insurance is raising your premium/deductible/out of pocket, then blame your employer or the insurance company. The MAIN change to group health insurance is that your insurance has to have a minimum required amount of benefits, and that the group health insurer has to maintain an 85% loss ratio (only 15% of total premium received can be used for admin expenses) or refund your employer the difference. And before bitching, check out what the premium growth rate has been for the last 10-20 years. (131% from 2003-2009).

To those who decide to just wait to buy insurance until you get sick - you better hope it's during the open enrollment period, or you will not get coverage and you will be on your own. (Open enrollment this cycle is Oct 1, 2013-Mar 30, 2014) Not far behind, expect medical expenses to be not discharge able under bankruptcy laws if you choose to not buy insurance. (My opinion).

If you think you are NOT paying for the uninsured's medical expenses now, then pull your head out of your liberty loving ass. You pay in increased taxes, increased medical charges (you think they just forget those outstanding unpaid for charges). It's part of the reason you pay $60 for a Tylenol.
If you are a small business and have 50 full time employees then quit your bitching and take care of them. If your business pays 2 million/year in salaries then I imagine you can take a small hit to help your employees be happy and healthy. And sorry if your 500k/yr salary drops to $475k/yr. I'm sure you will figure out how to survive. Or, be a greedy dick and fire a few people so you can fuck over the other 48.

 

[boomerang]

If you are a small business and have 50 full time employees then quit your bitching and take care of them. If your business pays 2 million/year in salaries then I imagine you can take a small hit to help your employees be happy and healthy. And sorry if your 500k/yr salary drops to $475k/yr. I'm sure you will figure out how to survive. Or, be a greedy dick and fire a few people so you can fuck over the other 48.

The above paragraph is all I need to read to know that I can discount everything said above it. Way to wrap up a rant - with an uninformed, venomous uber rant. :thumbsup:

 

[Oldgamer]

The above paragraph is all I need to read to know that I can discount everything said above it. Way to wrap up a rant - with an uninformed, venomous uber rant. :thumbsup:

He is speaking from experience and makes some good points. Sure he comes off raw, but I think he is correct in most of what he says.

I think those who carry on about the most are those who are either terribly misinformed about what the ACA actually does and how it works, or they are Repbulican leaning businesses who are just trying to wiggle out of paying for their employees health care.

I wonder how many people have actually tried to read the ACA? It is posted in PDF format in its entirety on the Government website.

Does it have flaws? Sure it does.. but the congressmen should be working together to work out the kinks and flaws instead of all this nonsense with repealing attempts and wasted time in my opinion.

 

[chucky2]

"There isn't a single person here who knows what the exact cost for INDIVIDUAL health insurance thru their state exchange will cost them next year."

Improssible. We've been told Obamacare was going to make things affordable - and of course when someone says that, they must mean actually affordable, not "affordable" because the Gov is going to subsidize someone with money the Gov doesn't have...if they said "affordable" in that context, then they're just lying via wordplay. Without knowing what things will cost, one could never really say that in good faith. So either the people who maintained this about Bammacare were wrong, and/or liars, or, this guy is lying in his second sentence.

Rush to make excuses in 3, 2, 1...

 

[soundforbjt]

People complainign their insurance is going up with the ACA

Why weren't they complaining when it went up every year before the ACA?

 

[corwin]

If your group health insurance is raising your premium/deductible/out of pocket, then blame your employer or the insurance company. The MAIN change to group health insurance is that your insurance has to have a minimum required amount of benefits, and that the group health insurer has to maintain an 85% loss ratio (only 15% of total premium received can be used for admin expenses) or refund your employer the difference. And before bitching, check out what the premium growth rate has been for the last 10-20 years. (131% from 2003-2009).

So we're supposed to blame our employer or the insurance company, which is forced by law to only use 15% of income for expenses? How about the entire medical field that has made costs this high to begin with?

I wonder how many people have actually tried to read the ACA? It is posted in PDF format in its entirety on the Government website.

I can pretty damn much guarantee NOBODY has read it including the dipshits who wrote it and passed it...and the dipshit who wrote this as well

 

[Phynaz]

There isn't a single person here who knows what the exact cost for INDIVIDUAL health insurance thru their state exchange will cost them next year.

What has your role in the industry been for the last 26 years that makes you think "not a single person" knows what your employer's rates are going to be when the exchanges open in 10 days?

 

[corwin]

What has your role in the industry been for the last 26 years that makes you think "not a single person" knows what your employer's rates are going to be when the exchanges open in 10 days?

It was a reddit rant, you think that person is actually in the insurance business? Not too damn likely, or they're a janitor

 

[boomerang]

Why weren't they complaining when it went up every year before the ACA?

Wow! I highly compelling argument. I'll give you an answer though. Maybe they were but just neglected to inform you. The bastards...

 

[BoberFett]

He is speaking from experience and makes some good points. Sure he comes off raw, but I think he is correct in most of what he says.

Except for knowing how much the owners of small business earn. That fucking moron doesn't seem to have a clue about the real world, he seems to think that small business owners are just "greedy fat cats" or whatever lame term idiot leftists are using these days.

 

[rudder]

And this is why obamacare will be a failure and disaster to the U.S. obamacare will shield healthcare consumers from the cost of healthcare. Something that HSA's and high deductible plans were not doing and leading to a decrease in healthcare spending as consumers became more aware of the costs associated with their plans.

How can premiums not rise if obamacare is projected to cause a 6.1% increase in yearly healthcare spending versus the average of 4%. The math just is not going to work out on this thing.

 

[Doppel]

The above paragraph is all I need to read to know that I can discount everything said above it. Way to wrap up a rant - with an uninformed, venomous uber rant. :thumbsup:

Agreed. Unless I am to believe a company can ensure people at $500/year.

 

[boomerang]

And this is why obamacare will be a failure and disaster to the U.S. obamacare will shield healthcare consumers from the cost of healthcare. Something that HSA's and high deductible plans were not doing and leading to a decrease in healthcare spending as consumers became more aware of the costs associated with their plans.

How can premiums not rise if obamacare is projected to cause a 6.1% increase in yearly healthcare spending versus the average of 4%. The math just is not going to work out on this thing.

Hey, did you not get your daily dose of rainbows today? Did you just get unicorn farts instead of the actual unicorns?

It's too easy to dwell on the bad, well especially when it's pretty much overwhelming but don't you think it would be better to dwell on that little sliver of positives? Would it help to remember that the government taking control of one sixth of the economy is a wonderful thing? How about the great degree to which our friends at the IRS will be implementing Obamacare? Now that's got to bring a smile to your face. We sure know they can be trusted! Think about the tens of thousand of pages of regulations that will keep legions of government workers employed for a long, long time. Think about the navigators that will never, no way no how mine your personal information for their own gain and think about all those invasive, personal questions your Doctor (when you eventually get in to see him or her) will be mandated to ask you.

Best of all, we will finally have a health care plan to equal that of all the other first world counties out there! One step closer to fairness! Oh, never mind that those other countries are realizing that it's not working. Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!

 

[Phynaz]

It was a reddit rant, you think that person is actually in the insurance business? Not too damn likely, or they're a janitor

Oh, I get it, I thought it was the op saying these things.

Reading comprehension fail.

 

[1prophet]

If you are a small business and have 50 full time employees then quit your bitching and take care of them. If your business pays 2 million/year in salaries then I imagine you can take a small hit to help your employees be happy and healthy. And sorry if your 500k/yr salary drops to $475k/yr. I'm sure you will figure out how to survive. Or, be a greedy dick and fire a few people so you can fuck over the other 48.

Stick it to the small business while the largest employer in the country laughs all the way to the bank, ACA was designed by the rich for the rich to push costs down to the middle class but keep drinking the corporate Koolaid of how it is for the people.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/lauraheller/2013/06/14/obamacare-is-turning-walmart-workers-into-temps/

Obamacare Is Turning Walmart Workers Into Temps

Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) opponents warned it would happen, but now there’s mounting proof that full-time employees are being replaced with part-timers, at least in the retail industry where Walmart is focused on keeping the majority of workers to part-time hours only.


A new hiring policy uncovered by Reuters shows that nearly half of its stores are only hiring part-time employees, thus avoiding the mandate to provide health care or pay a fine.

A Reuters survey of 52 stores run by the largest U.S. private employer in the past month, including one in every U.S. state, showed that 27 were hiring only temps, 20 were hiring a combination of regular full, part-time and temp jobs, and five were not hiring at all.
​

It’s company directive, according to sources interviewed by Reuters who asked to remain anonymous.

“Full-time people are getting slimmer and slimmer,” said a supervisor at a store in North Carolina, who asked not to be named, as did other store-level employees who were interviewed for this story, because she is not authorized to talk to the media.
She said that the five new employees hired this year at the store are all temps and hours of existing employees are being cut.
“Everybody who comes through the door I hire as a temporary associate,” said a store manager in Alaska, who asked not to be identified. “It’s a company direction at the present time.”
​

Walmart was a proponent of Obamacare and its increasingly clear why, the retailer is shifting health care costs and responsibility to the state. It’s creepy move that has a lot of people upset, but it’s not illegal.
But it very well could backfire.


I don’t cover healthcare, but I know retail. Benefits and pay are moving targets and payroll gets manipulated depending on the weather (as weather actually impacts sales). In 2005, Walmart was pressured to provide health benefits to part-time workers and its closest competitor Target TGT -0.83% quickly followed suit.


In December, after backing Obamacare, Walmart announced it would no longer insure part time workers (Target still does). Since then, its part-time ranks have swelled, according to reports.


But so too have complaints about understaffed stores with empty shelves and inventory piling up in warehouses and back rooms. It seems even Walmart can’t operate on such a lean staff. Dirty stores, parking lots in disarray and out-of stocks don’t bode well for sales and stores can’t operate that way for long periods.


Walmart doesn’t easily give in to pressure, but it does give in to market forces. A direct hit to its top line could change this policy.
The recovering economy could also help force Walmart, and other like-minded employers, to back off this policy and hire full-time workers with benefits. A dwindling labor pool and competition for employees does wonders for worker’s rights.


Market forces at work could work in employees favor, but in the meantime it’s a disturbing trend. One designed to shirk an employers responsibility under the very healthcare act it advocated for.

 

[CADsortaGUY]

...If your group health insurance is raising your premium/deductible/out of pocket, then blame your employer or the insurance company. The MAIN change to group health insurance is that your insurance has to have a minimum required amount of benefits,

And what caused these changes? Hmmm... Stupid reddit moron... stupid obamacare

 

[Engineer]

Why weren't they complaining when it went up every year before the ACA?

We were....and ACA was the result.

 

[WackyDan]

Obamacare already fucked me on my FSA. Cut it more than half exposing $2700 to taxes... costing me more in out of pocket expenses...

So They snag a free $ 900-1000 in taxes from me and now it is even harder to pay the medical bills for my daughter.

Thanks Obama... Thanks democrats... and by the way... FUCK YOU progressives.

 

[BoberFett]

We were....and ACA was the result.

ACA is the solution to expensive medical care in the same way that surgically swapping your right leg and broken left leg is the solution to your broken leg.

 

[Engineer]

ACA is the solution to expensive medical care in the same way that surgically swapping your right leg and broken left leg is the solution to your broken leg.

Didn't say it was a good or bad result, just the result.

 

[Phynaz]

Obamacare already fucked me on my FSA. Cut it more than half exposing $2700 to taxes... costing me more in out of pocket expenses...

Same here.

 

[sactoking]

This person, allegedly working for a "huge individual health [insurer]" for 26 years, doesn't know what (presumably) he is talking about.

There isn't a single person here who knows what the exact cost for INDIVIDUAL health insurance thru their state exchange will cost them next year. So all the "my parents premium is skyrocketing or mine is now $4000/month with an $18,000 deductible" is bullshit. Come back after Oct 1 and if you are pursuing insurance through the ACA exchange your premium will probably be lower if your older, probably the same or a little higher if you're younger-middle age.

This is blatantly false. Many states have already released the final, approved rates that will be available on 10/1. Some, like mine own, have very user-friendly tools available to look up exactly what your rates will be.

Understand the difference between group health insurance and individual before you comment.

If your group health insurance is raising your premium/deductible/out of pocket, then blame your employer or the insurance company. The MAIN change to group health insurance is that your insurance has to have a minimum required amount of benefits, and that the group health insurer has to maintain an 85% loss ratio (only 15% of total premium received can be used for admin expenses) or refund your employer the difference. And before bitching, check out what the premium growth rate has been for the last 10-20 years. (131% from 2003-2009).

This is also blatantly false. While the loss ratio mentioned (Medical Loss Ratio technically, "MLR" for short) is a factor in group insurance (it's also a factor in individual policies) to paint it as the "MAIN" [emphasis original] change, and thus imply that it has no bearing on premiums and cost-sharing, further implying that changes in premiums and cost-sharing are discretionary by employers and insurers, is laughable.

Ever heard of EHB, the ten Essential Health Benefits? Those are driving up costs. Lack of health underwriting is driving up costs. Compressing the age banding to 3:1 (groups can still be subject to banding since one acceptable method of rating a group is as a collection of individuals) is driving up costs. Offering preventive care with no cost-sharing shifts costs from the utilization-driven cost-share to the blanket premium. The ACA restricts the amount of a group plan's deductible to $2000 for an individual or $4000 for a family. That pushes premiums up. All these higher premiums cause employers to seek out plans with the highest possible deductibles (2000/4000) which means that employees premiums and cost-sharing go up. And none of these are really discretionary (though you could argue that employers could just eat the increased premium costs) for the employer or the insurer, they're all driven specifically by provisions of law.

Overall this person may have worked for a major health insurer for 26 years, but it certainly wasn't in health policy, benefit design, actuarial, or any other sector that actually deals with this stuff. 26 years as a "middle manager" in claims, underwriting, or a call center doesn't mean jack shit (in this regard).

 

[raildogg]

I don't know about the details but there will be big changes coming up. I just checked my insurance's website and they already included a different account that I did not set up. Apparently this is a new account that will take place on 1/1/14. I hope I have the option of getting an HSA like I do now but I'm not sure.

I have mixed feelings on this new healthcare law. On the one hand, it helps many people get healthcare who otherwise could not for whatever reason. This is good. On the other hand, the ones who got their insurance after 02/2010 and pay for their own insurance, their costs will likely rise. The ones who got their insurance before 02/2010 are grandfathered in so their costs will likely stay close to current levels. Though I'm not quite sure about this part.

I might be totally wrong on all of these points since I don't have the facts in front of me.

 

[bshole]

Gawd, I am so so so ready for socialized health care, like every other civilized nation has. Burn down the insurance companies and just let the government take it ALL over. Whatever happens ENSURE AT ALL COSTS that the rich and monied share the exact same kind of care that the middle class has.

 

[boomerang]

Gawd, I am so so so ready for socialized health care, like every other civilized nation has. Burn down the insurance companies and just let the government take it ALL over. Whatever happens ENSURE AT ALL COSTS that the rich and monied share the exact same kind of care that the middle class has.

I'd be curious to know what percentage of job loss you'd deem to be warranted so you can have your way. The layoff numbers are really starting to add up with no perceivable end in sight and Obamacare hasn't even officially gone into effect.

To satisfy your jealousy over what people in other countries have, how many more should lose their jobs, probably their homes and most certainly the way of life they and their children have become accustomed to?

http://www.dailyjobcuts.com/