Trump, GOP look to 'Obamacare' report as comeback lifeline

[webfact]

Trump, GOP look to 'Obamacare' report as comeback lifeline

By STEVE PEOPLES and JONATHAN LEMIRE

 

DORAL, Florida (AP) — Suddenly armed with fresh political ammunition, Donald Trump and anxious Republicans across the nation seized on spiking health care costs Tuesday in a final-days effort to spark election momentum.

 

The Republican presidential nominee, trekking across must-win Florida, insisted "Obamacare is just blowing up" after the government projected sharp cost increases for President Barack Obama's signature health care law. Democrat Hillary Clinton, fighting to block Trump in the same battleground state, has vowed to preserve insurance for the millions of Americans covered under the law, but her team described the cost surge as a "big concern."

 

The renewed emphasis on health care gave battered Republican House and Senate candidates a brief respite from months of painful questions about their presidential nominee, who has questioned the integrity of the U.S. election system while facing personal allegations of sexual misconduct. Trump has denied any wrongdoing.

 

"My first day in office I'm going to ask Congress to put a bill on my desk getting rid of this disastrous law," a fiery Trump told thousands of voters gathered at an airport along the Interstate-4 corridor.

 

Blessed with an unexpected political gift, however, it's unclear whether Trump will be able to capitalize.

 

"He could make this race for the last two weeks a referendum on Obamacare. But of course he won't do that," said former Ted Cruz strategist Chris Wilson. "It's just a matter of him swatting at flies instead of having a coherent and consistent message."

 

Indeed, Trump has struggled to stay focused on the traditional issues throughout his outsider candidacy. He opened Tuesday by promoting one of his Florida golf resorts, highlighting the extraordinary intersection between his business and political interests. Trump is also scheduled to attend Wednesday's opening of his new Washington hotel.

 

"We're at Trump National Doral. And it's one of the great places on earth," Trump said during a visit to his golf club. He encouraged his employees to praise him at the microphone and said many of them are having "tremendous problems with Obamacare."

 

The Doral general manager later clarified that 95 percent of the club's employees are on company-provided insurance.

 

The Department of Health and Human Services reported late Monday that premiums will go up sharply next year under the federal health care program, and many consumers will have just one choice for their insurer. Before federal subsidies, premiums for a midlevel benchmark plan will increase an average of 25 percent across the 39 states served by the federally run online market. Some states will see much bigger jumps, others less.

 

Republicans have been fighting the president's health care law since 2010 with little political success. Yet in a campaign dominated by Trump's controversies, vulnerable Republicans across the nation are eager to latch onto a familiar conservative cause.

 

In Arizona, Republican Sen. John McCain has repeatedly assailed his Democratic challenger, Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, for having called the health care overhaul her proudest vote. In Indiana, GOP Rep. Todd Young has sought to keep the focus on former Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh's vote for the law before leaving the Senate six years ago.

 

Several Republicans in difficult races leapt at Tuesday's rate hike, including Sen. Kelly Ayotte in New Hampshire and Roy Blunt in Missouri. Fighting a challenge from New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan, Ayotte's campaign asked, "Will Hassan continue to stand in lock-step with Hillary Clinton and her party in support of the failing law?"

 

Clinton did not address the cost surges during an afternoon rally on the Broward College campus in Coconut Creek.

 

Noting that her crowd was diverse, she said, "I bet some of you or maybe your parents or grandparents came from places where none of that was true." She said Trump was "attacking everything that has set our country apart for 240 years."

 

Also Tuesday, Clinton picked up the endorsement of former Secretary of State Colin Powell, a Republican who announced his intention to vote for her during an appearance in New York.

 

On Obamacare, spokeswoman Jennifer Palmieri conceded that "cost controls are a big concern for Hillary Clinton."

 

She said the Democratic presidential nominee has a plan to lower insurance costs, "both through the public option and a Medicare buy-in." She warned that Trump's plan would strip insurance from roughly 20 million Americans who now benefit.

 

Trump, who must win the battleground state to have any chance at the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency, was appearing at three campaign events on Tuesday, his third straight day in the state. Clinton, who can win the presidency with or without Florida, made one appearance on the first day of a two-day swing.

 

While the candidates sparred, hundreds of thousands of Floridians were voting. Tuesday marked the second day of early in-person voting. Early voting by mail began two weeks ago.

 

Traditionally, Republicans have run up a large advantage in mail-in-ballots, while Democrats rely on early voting to boost their turnout numbers. This year the parties are running nearly even.

 

"I believe Florida's a must-win and I think we're winning it," Trump told Fox News.

___

Peoples reported from Washington. AP writers Erica Werner in Washington, Gary Fineout in Tallahassee, Florida and Ken Thomas in Coconut Creek, Florida contributed to this report.

 

-- © Associated Press 2016-10-26

[kamahele]

Granted this report gives ammunition to those that would like to return 20 million people to the list of uninsured but it isn't as dire as it sounds. 85% of those affected by the rate increases will receive tax credits to cover the cost. No doubt the system needs changing but it should absolutely NOT be  abolished.

[Pinot]

This is the AP doing a horrible job of reporting a non issue. These increases will affect a small number of people...that's it. The figure I believe  was 3%. 

 

Ending health insurance for 20 million people is supposed to help Trump, how? 

 

Grasping at straws at this point, this story even if entirely true would no effect on the outcome of this election tsunami. 

[Strange]

10 minutes ago, kamahele said:

Granted this report gives ammunition to those that would like to return 20 million people to the list of uninsured but it isn't as dire as it sounds. 85% of those affected by the rate increases will receive tax credits to cover the cost. No doubt the system needs changing but it should absolutely NOT be  abolished.

 

So much nonsense in this post. 

 

Just because 20 million were forced into buying healthcare.gov insurance does not mean they are in support of it, nor will be out on their ass if it gets abolished. Most of them were forced into it as there was no other option due to a variety of reasons. 

Personally I am not eligible for workplace health insurance, so had to go private. I went from about $230 a month private to $730 a month on the healthcare.gov website for a plan of equal value. Private was even more expensive. No tax credits. 

 

2015 I had to pay a tax penalty of $1800 because I am out of the country and didn't need insurance. Ill be looking at a higher penalty for 2016 as well. 

 

6 minutes ago, Pinot said:

This is the AP doing a horrible job of reporting a non issue. These increases will affect a small number of people...that's it. The figure I believe  was 3%. 

 

Ending health insurance for 20 million people is supposed to help Trump, how? 

 

Grasping at straws at this point, this story even if entirely true would no effect on the outcome of this election tsunami. 

 

A non issue? Yeah for you maybe. I don't know any working class americans on the ground that are happy with paying double/triple what they were paying for the same grade of insurance. I look at my parents now struggling to afford even just a low grade silver package. 

 

The 20 million figure is BS as its not 20 million that didn't have insurance and couldn't get it and now benefit from it. There is a shit ton of people that were forced into it without choice. Employers ending their employee benefits package is a big one. Too expensive for employers to contribute into so they dropped it. 

 

There are only a select few benefits to the AHA. A major one is an end to the pre-existing condition. Another is that any one of us can go back to the states right now and buy insurance from the healthcare.gov website outside of the enrollment deadline due to living outside of the country and moving back. Even these could have been abolished without screwing the working class. 

 

The AHA is a very big issue. If you are a single person and make more than $47,520 the government believes that on top of paying your taxes in full, they want an extra 9.69% contributed into your health plan. Thats a lot. A single male/female being forced to pay for things they don't need in an insurance plan make the prices soar. 

[Andaman Al]

46 minutes ago, kamahele said:

Granted this report gives ammunition to those that would like to return 20 million people to the list of uninsured but it isn't as dire as it sounds. 85% of those affected by the rate increases will receive tax credits to cover the cost. No doubt the system needs changing but it should absolutely NOT be  abolished.

 

Agreed. Obamacare was one of the biggest 'start-ups' in global history. Sure there are many problems and they need fixing, which can be done with Bi-Partisan co-operation. To simply bin it would be insane. Where is Trumps business acumen now?? Obamacare needs time and the problems need working through, there are many unfair issues as shown in the post by 'Strange' above, but to bin it would cost more than to work through the problems and fix them.

[Strange]

44 minutes ago, kamahele said:

Granted this report gives ammunition to those that would like to return 20 million people to the list of uninsured but it isn't as dire as it sounds. 85% of those affected by the rate increases will receive tax credits to cover the cost. No doubt the system needs changing but it should absolutely NOT be  abolished.

 

85% of those affected by the rate increases will receive tax credits to cover the cost.

 

Wrong again. Even with the tax credits, it will still be more expensive for most people than they were paying before the AHA. 

[Strange]

13 minutes ago, Andaman Al said:

 

Agreed. Obamacare was one of the biggest 'start-ups' in global history. Sure there are many problems and they need fixing, which can be done with Bi-Partisan co-operation. To simply bin it would be insane. Where is Trumps business acumen now?? Obamacare needs time and the problems need working through, there are many unfair issues as shown in the post by 'Strange' above, but to bin it would cost more than to work through the problems and fix them.

 

Governmental Bureaucracy has never fixed anything. 

 

The poor still go without insurance because they are poor. Only way to cover them is to make it "free" and paid for by already existing tax money, not levying the middle class to pay for it, on top of their own tax burden. The rich may pay more but they don't "feel" it. They don't have to make the decision of weather to go out to eat at a nice restaurant or save the money. They don't have to budget so hard just to survive and skillfully spread their cash over all the bureaucracy involved. 

 

The only people that are in the 20 million are the people that can afford to do so. Most of the poor don't even own a freakin laptop or a cell phone. What? they gonna stand at a pay phone for hours on end trying to get "Obamacare"?

 

"Hill" just feigns concern over it. That really aggravates me. 

[gk10002000]

Obamacare is a murderously bad law.  I am a contractor in the private sector and even though I don't have to use the health exchange because my plan was grandfathered, my premiums went up an average of 28% the last four years!  If I went to straight Obamacare, my costs would be 30% more than I am currently paying which is $346 a month.  And that is for a single person with no health issues.  I make too much to qualify for any subsidies. Next year it will be well over $400/month.  The costs are so crazy that it induced me to decide to take a direct job with an aerospace company for the next three years or punch out, and leave the USA and live very modestly in Thailand or somewhere until I qualify for Social security and medicare.  Luckily for me I got a very strong offer to go direct so I am hanging up my contractor hat and taking the offer.  I am familiar with the place and the job so it is an OK thing to do in order to lock up retirement. 

 

  I am stunned it hasn't been overturned by a good law suit and that the supreme court has made one ruling on it.  I mean, what's next, mandating pet insurance because you own a dog?  People should be able to decide what type of plan they want.

[Andaman Al]

2 hours ago, Strange said:

 

Governmental Bureaucracy has never fixed anything. 

 

The poor still go without insurance because they are poor. Only way to cover them is to make it "free" and paid for by already existing tax money, not levying the middle class to pay for it, on top of their own tax burden. The rich may pay more but they don't "feel" it. They don't have to make the decision of weather to go out to eat at a nice restaurant or save the money. They don't have to budget so hard just to survive and skillfully spread their cash over all the bureaucracy involved. 

 

The only people that are in the 20 million are the people that can afford to do so. Most of the poor don't even own a freakin laptop or a cell phone. What? they gonna stand at a pay phone for hours on end trying to get "Obamacare"?

 

"Hill" just feigns concern over it. That really aggravates me. 

I understand.

 

To be honest the US needs an even more radical change to its health system. Firstly you have big Pharma that spent hundreds of millions lobbying (successfully) to have everything their way. There is no reason why the cost of drugs in the USA are 10-20 times more than the rest of first world countries. Next you need a health system like the UK. I don't care what arguments you come up with about how bad that is, they are most likely as a result of dishonest scare mongering by the medical lobbyists themselves. In my 45 years living in the UK I never wanted for ANYTHING in terms of medical help. Yes queues for treatment get longer but that is because science progresses. There were no queues  for heart bypass surgery 40 years ago, then some smart ass finds a solution and suddenly we have queues - and we complain. In the UK most people would faint if they thought they had to pay 250 USD per month for medical insurance, as for 750 USD I would be complaining if i had to pay that per year! But in the UK the CHOICE of buying medical insurance simply means private treatment with far fewer queues. In General the National Health Service is good.

 

The medical insurance companies and big Pharma are a trillion dollar conglomerate that are strangling the US (and it's population) to death. The problem is how does a mere President and his administration take on such a giant, especially when the opposition party will say chalk is cheese and the blue sky is green as long as it opposes what the administration want.

 

The last thing the insurance companies want is a National Health Service, but free medical care should be a right for ALL citizens in a first world country. Another thing is that US citizens need to start taking a close look at what their Doctors recommend. Almost every American I know is on some form of medication for something, a few I know have 5-10 different pills a day, and children are no different. This just does not occur outside the US in other first world countries. The US is clearly a land of sickies, or could it just be the upmarket way of what happens here in Thailand - Docs prescribe pills to make themselves money.

 

In the USA they have made anything other than chemo therapy for the treatment of cancer illegal !!! Think about that for a minute. There are many alternative ways of treating cancer that do not destroy healthy living cells and if I want to try those methods I should be able to do so in a well run modern clinic, but now in the USA! It is illegal. Why?? Because every cancer patient is worth a minimum of 250K to big Pharma. They don't want you to survive they want to drag it out as long as they can before you kick the bucket!

 

Obamacare has been a first step at trying to change the system and it us FAR from satisfactory. But for 8 years you have had the republicans sworn to oppose everything Obama attempted. How different it would have been if politicians would have said OK we lost now lets work for the people (who pay us)  for 4 years". And as Bi Partisans sat around the table they would have said "ok the President wants a new healthcare system, how can we all make this work how can we design the best system together to suit our diverse population!"

 

Scrapping Obamacare will be one step forward 8 steps back. There are far more severe underlying problems to sort out. 

 

 

[elgordo38]

4 hours ago, Pinot said:

Grasping at straws at this point, this story even if entirely true would no effect on the outcome of this election tsunami. 

Surfs up

[thaihome]

Affordable Care Act Premium Increases are a Fixable Problem

 http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/26/opinion/the-acas-premium-increases-are-a-fixable-problem.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region&region=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region

 

TH 

[Strange]

Just now, thaihome said:

Affordable Care Act Premium Increases are a Fixable Problem

 http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/26/opinion/the-acas-premium-increases-are-a-fixable-problem.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region&region=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region

 

TH 

 

How about you give us a quote from your precious link. 

 

There are some of us who have done plenty of research and don't need the NYT to tell us what to think or feel. 

[thaihome]

40 minutes ago, Strange said:

 

How about you give us a quote from your precious link. 

 

There are some of us who have done plenty of research and don't need the NYT to tell us what to think or feel. 

 

The NYT website does not allow easy cut and paste, also fair use on this website only allows 3 sentences to be quoted (it is strictly enforced). Besides the subject is very complex and does not lend itself to short rhetorical statements. 

 

My thinking is the ACA was born in the midst of a starkly partisan conflict in the Senate and the result was in several ways flawed, but not fatally so. Throwing it completely out at this point, purely based on further self destructive partisanship  and without a viable replacement, would be extremely  counterproductive to fixing the  health care issues in the US.

 

The quoted article puts forth several reasons for the increasing premiums and several fixes that could be acceptable to people not blinded by hyperbole and demogugary.

 

Read it or not, up to you. ?

TH   

 

 

[Chicog]

Clinton wants to fix Obamacare. Trump can only say he wants to "repeal and replace", which is a line I think that's nicked from Boehner, but unfortunately he doesn't have a clue what it means. He doesn't even understand Obamacare.

 

I don't think this will have any noticeable hit on voting.

 

 

[Strange]

2 minutes ago, Chicog said:

Clinton wants to fix Obamacare

 

She would have to. She can't go against it can she. 

 

How would she "Fix" it anyway. 

[Chicog]

29 minutes ago, Strange said:

 

She would have to. She can't go against it can she. 

 

How would she "Fix" it anyway. 

 

By putting back in all the buffers that the Republicans removed.

And perhaps some regulation (or the threat of it) for the Insurers, who just want to trouser cash and don't really like having to pay for sick people.

[JLCrab]

7 hours ago, Strange said:

 

Governmental Bureaucracy has never fixed anything. 

 

The poor still go without insurance because they are poor. Only way to cover them is to make it "free" and paid for by already existing tax money, not levying the middle class to pay for it, on top of their own tax burden. The rich may pay more but they don't "feel" it. They don't have to make the decision of weather to go out to eat at a nice restaurant or save the money. They don't have to budget so hard just to survive and skillfully spread their cash over all the bureaucracy involved. 

 

The only people that are in the 20 million are the people that can afford to do so. Most of the poor don't even own a freakin laptop or a cell phone. What? they gonna stand at a pay phone for hours on end trying to get "Obamacare"?

 

"Hill" just feigns concern over it. That really aggravates me. 

Aren't you the guy who started the 'Thinking hard about moving back to the US' topic -- maybe you should've stayed in Thailand?

[Chicog]

1 hour ago, Strange said:

 

Hmmm. Thought provoking. 2 whole scentences. Why didn't anyone else think of that. 

 

They did.

But with the Republicans in charge of the House it's never going to happen.

 

The best way to fix Obamacare is to kick them out.

[Strange]

22 minutes ago, JLCrab said:

Aren't you the guy who started the 'Thinking hard about moving back to the US' topic -- maybe you should've stayed in Thailand?

 

Yep thats me. Im still in Thailand. 

 

Does staying in Thailand and sticking my head in the sand fix anything? I didn't run away from the USA. I still have family and friends there and go often. 

[Strange]

9 minutes ago, Chicog said:

1 hour ago, Strange said:

Hmmm. Thought provoking. 2 whole scentences. Why didn't anyone else think of that. 

 

They did.

But with the Republicans in charge of the House it's never going to happen.

 

The best way to fix Obamacare is to kick them out.

 

Typical. Blame Republicans. You clearly have no idea what your talking about by blaming the "Insurers" for "Trouser Cash"

 

The whole premise of the AHA was to use insurers. Private companies. They operate on cash flow. Profits. They don't do it for free. Anyone could see that it was going to go like this from a mile away. 

 

You blame the insurers and republicans, and believe that by kicking the GOP out, it will somehow be repaired? Add more bureaucracy to insurers and the system in general and it will get better? Make people jump through hoops to get back like $800 on the back end? 

 

Let go of your GOP hatred and look at the real issue here. 

 

[JLCrab]

26 minutes ago, Strange said:

 

Yep thats me. Im still in Thailand. 

 

Does staying in Thailand and sticking my head in the sand fix anything? I didn't run away from the USA. I still have fam ily and friends there and go often. 

Beats me. Expounding on a website based in Thailand that no one in a position in US to do anything about it is likely to read maybe doesn't fix anything either: Maybe you try commenting on The Washington Post.

[Strange]

5 hours ago, Andaman Al said:

I understand.

 

To be honest the US needs an even more radical change to its health system. Firstly you have big Pharma that spent hundreds of millions lobbying (successfully) to have everything their way. There is no reason why the cost of drugs in the USA are 10-20 times more than the rest of first world countries. Next you need a health system like the UK. I don't care what arguments you come up with about how bad that is, they are most likely as a result of dishonest scare mongering by the medical lobbyists themselves. In my 45 years living in the UK I never wanted for ANYTHING in terms of medical help. Yes queues for treatment get longer but that is because science progresses. There were no queues  for heart bypass surgery 40 years ago, then some smart ass finds a solution and suddenly we have queues - and we complain. In the UK most people would faint if they thought they had to pay 250 USD per month for medical insurance, as for 750 USD I would be complaining if i had to pay that per year! But in the UK the CHOICE of buying medical insurance simply means private treatment with far fewer queues. In General the National Health Service is good.

 

The medical insurance companies and big Pharma are a trillion dollar conglomerate that are strangling the US (and it's population) to death. The problem is how does a mere President and his administration take on such a giant, especially when the opposition party will say chalk is cheese and the blue sky is green as long as it opposes what the administration want.

 

The last thing the insurance companies want is a National Health Service, but free medical care should be a right for ALL citizens in a first world country. Another thing is that US citizens need to start taking a close look at what their Doctors recommend. Almost every American I know is on some form of medication for something, a few I know have 5-10 different pills a day, and children are no different. This just does not occur outside the US in other first world countries. The US is clearly a land of sickies, or could it just be the upmarket way of what happens here in Thailand - Docs prescribe pills to make themselves money.

 

In the USA they have made anything other than chemo therapy for the treatment of cancer illegal !!! Think about that for a minute. There are many alternative ways of treating cancer that do not destroy healthy living cells and if I want to try those methods I should be able to do so in a well run modern clinic, but now in the USA! It is illegal. Why?? Because every cancer patient is worth a minimum of 250K to big Pharma. They don't want you to survive they want to drag it out as long as they can before you kick the bucket!

 

Obamacare has been a first step at trying to change the system and it us FAR from satisfactory. But for 8 years you have had the republicans sworn to oppose everything Obama attempted. How different it would have been if politicians would have said OK we lost now lets work for the people (who pay us)  for 4 years". And as Bi Partisans sat around the table they would have said "ok the President wants a new healthcare system, how can we all make this work how can we design the best system together to suit our diverse population!"

 

Scrapping Obamacare will be one step forward 8 steps back. There are far more severe underlying problems to sort out. 

 

The NHS is not free. Not. Free. Everything I read says that on average, English pay roughly 5,000 Pounds a year in tax for the privilege of having the NHS. This is an average. It is not free. This is not total tax, just the NHS cost. You guys pay more, per person, in taxation than an American. It appears that you guys get to keep an average of 57% of your income whereas an American, on average, and depending on state, keeps about 65-70% of their total income. Your NHS is not free. Stop saying its free. I would certainly hope that in your 45 years of paying this tax that you never want for anything, healthcare wise. Your government also floods the NHS with Billions of pounds of taxation money. Money taken from taxpayers. 

 

While I agree with some of your post, just about all of your talking points will not ever be touched on from the AHA. 

 

I agree that medical care should be a right to all citizens, but your stuff isn't free. 

 

[Strange]

4 minutes ago, JLCrab said:

Beats me. Expounding on a website based in Thailand that no one in a position in US to do anything about it is likely to read maybe doesn't fix anything either: Maybe you try commenting on The Washington Post.

 

Ah ok then Ill just stick to the 7-8-9 page thread where a pornstar says that trump tried to kiss her one time cause thats real important & stuff. 

 

Im a member of several forums but being Im in Thailand and there is a 12 hour time difference, it gets kinda boring during the day time. 

 

I mean if you don't like it, you can always beat it. 

[JLCrab]

That's OK -- forums in the USA are open 24 hours a day. No need to be bored. That is if you're really interested in fixing anything.

[Chicog]

1 hour ago, Strange said:

 

Typical. Blame Republicans. You clearly have no idea what your talking about by blaming the "Insurers" for "Trouser Cash"

 

The whole premise of the AHA was to use insurers. Private companies. They operate on cash flow. Profits. They don't do it for free. Anyone could see that it was going to go like this from a mile away. 

 

You blame the insurers and republicans, and believe that by kicking the GOP out, it will somehow be repaired? Add more bureaucracy to insurers and the system in general and it will get better? Make people jump through hoops to get back like $800 on the back end? 

 

Let go of your GOP hatred and look at the real issue here. 

 

 

Yes, the Republicans legislated the buffers out of Obamacare that would have mitigated big increases, so I do blame them.

As for the insurers, they are only interested in profits, and they are doing their best to get out of having to treat sick people, because that's what costs them the most money.

Pretty basic stuff if you bother looking into it.

 

I never mentioned bureaucracy, so I don't know why you decided to slide that one in.

 

The real issue here is that Republicans take the most money from the Health industry and in return do everything the can to maximise profits for them.

(Which is not to say that there aren't Democrats on the payroll, but not to that extent. They're chucking a load of money at Clinton now she looks like she's going to win).

 

Look for yourself:

https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus.php?ind=F09

 

 

 

 

[JLCrab]

Lay all the facts you want -- you said you are not sticking your head in the sand but trying to fix things. OK fix away.

Edited October 26, 2016 by JLCrab

[Chicog]

1 hour ago, Strange said:

 

I agree that medical care should be a right to all citizens, but your stuff isn't free. 

 

 

That's true. National insurance is a percentage of salary + employer contribution and pays for healthcare, pension and other benefits like unemployment.

 

You can't opt out, but a lot of employers provide additional private plans as an incentive. And some people take out private plans as well.

 

 

Edited October 26, 2016 by Chicog

[Strange]

8 minutes ago, JLCrab said:

Lay all the facts you want -- you said you are not sticking your head in the sand but trying to fix things. OK fix away.

 

Stop trying to corner me. I never said I was trying to fix anything by posting on Thaivisa. I asked you if burying your head in the sand will fix anything - IE Staying in thailand and ignoring everything. Im trying to contribute here, in this thread. 

 

Feel free to PM if you like. 

 

[Johpa]

9 hours ago, gk10002000 said:

Obamacare is a murderously bad law.  I am a contractor in the private sector and even though I don't have to use the health exchange because my plan was grandfathered, my premiums went up an average of 28% the last four years!  If I went to straight Obamacare, my costs would be 30% more than I am currently paying which is $346 a month.  And that is for a single person with no health issues.  I make too much to qualify for any subsidies. Next year it will be well over $400/month.

 

Your annual increase in premiums is not unusual for independent policies in the private sector and is not related to Obama care.  You will always get a steep increase each time you cross a 5 year age increase (e,g. 30,35,40 45, etc).  and that increase gets steeper for each decades in life.  The $400 per month is cheap if you are under 50 years of age and is cheaper than my wife's coverage and she is 53.  Your personal health issues are not taken into consideration as the ACA rules prevented any plan from discriminating based upon existing conditions.  It is all a matter of age.

 

Obama care had no direct cost influences on non-ACA plans. It's one great positive on all plans is that it spelled out a maximum out-of-pocket.  If you ever had a serious illness or injury like myself, although you may not be an atheist, you too would get down on your hands and knees and thank Baby Jesus and all the other benevolent gods of the world for that little inclusion in the law.  Stop thinking in terms of your good health and think about what happens when something goes wrong because that is why you are buying insurance. I mean what is the odds of my house burning down?  How many houses in your neighborhood have burned down over the past century?  But then we still all buy insurance on our homes, even when the house insurance companies continue to put their names on some of the tallest buildings in the world.

 

Look, this Republican inspired plan still relies on the private insurance sector, the people who actually wrote the law.  The only solution is a single payer national plan with everyone in one large national group to cover and spread the risk. I am not surprised the ACA is requiring increased premiums given that the participants in the ACA plans are not a random grouping of the populace.  It is all a matter of statistics and not politics.  But if you want to blame Obama and the Democrats for the weaknesses in this plan devised by the private sector to deflect attention away from a single payer option then by all means stay ignorant of how insurance works.

[Basil B]

Thing is if selfish billionaires avoid paying tax then America can not provide basic care to those who need and can not afford it.