Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you.
Posted on 10/13/2025 4:04:35 AM PDT by WhiteHatBobby0701
Democrats shut down the government partly to force Republicans to extend COVID-era boosts in Obamacare subsidies that Dems once called “temporary” but now say are needed to keep the program viable.
This reveals what a true disaster Obamacare has been, as its critics warned even as Dems were ramming it into law with not a single Republican vote in 2010.
Blindly tossing fresh trillions down that hole is nuts: Time to fix it — or scrap it altogether.
The 10-year cost of Dems’ current demand totals almost a half-trillion dollars, to benefit primarily insurers and wealthier Americans.
Under the expiration that Democrats wrote into law, 1.6 million Americans (just 0.5% of the population) would see their subsidies return to pre-COVID levels.
That would leave their Obamacare plans so pricey that many would drop them altogether, especially those who could get cheaper and better coverage through their employers.
That exodus would push up premiums for those left in the program — precisely what Dems fear most.
Yet this goes to a fundamental problem with Obamacare (a k a, the Affordable Care Act): It was supposed to reduce costs; instead, premiums have soared nearly 80% since 2014.
So the answer isn’t to paper over the problem by boosting the national debt to keep hiking subsidies.
Congress needs to come up with a better, fairer, cheaper and more workable system.
Fact is, Obamacare was a calamity from the start: It raised taxes, destroyed the old (imperfect, but functional) private insurance market and slapped all kinds of requirements on insurers, spiking costs.
What’s left is an extremely pricey, Rube Goldberg system that provides, as health-policy expert Michael F. Cannon puts it, “junk coverage.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
|
|
Click here: to donate by Credit Card Or here: to donate by PayPal Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794 Thank you very much and God bless you. |
End Obama Care. Dems wanted single payer and it gets closer and closer with each passing year.
“Congress needs to come up with a better, fairer, cheaper and more workable system.”
How about the Feds getting the hell out of our lives...return it to the states. The GOPe could have done something in Trump’s first term when they had the majority but the uniparty did nothing and here we are.
When Covid came along...They ADDED MORE subsidies to Obamacare which are about to end. Let them end.
ObamaCare,like Obama himself,was and is a complete failure.
President Trump forced CONgress to abolish the individual mandate by threatening CONgress he would force them into Obamacare, he needs to just do it and FORCE the entire Federal Government to enroll in Obamacare at their own expense for their primary healthcare.
Our Government employees deserve the very best health care this country has to offer and that is Obamacare. Watch how fast the entire scam is repealed if he does it.
There’s no memding it.
End it.
...no mending it...
YES.
I literally heard a so-called ‘conservative’ investment advisor on local radio recently bemoaning the loss of the subsidies as they would adversely impact the market.
My email response was biting. IIRC “shyster” was but one word I applied. I’ve accused him of being a ‘rino-type’ for years, but he can’t hide it forever.
The future of the PPACA is up in the air.
12 million pre-Biden Originals - average risk $500/month/person
12 million Biden-era Newbys - average risk $50/month/person
you get
24 million Recipients - average risk $275/month/person
Unless the Newbys are retained by paying almost all their premiums, the Newbys will bow out and the risk per person and the premiums per covered person will almost double.
The insurance companies have to set their premiums for November marketing and they need to know what the average risk per person per age group is going to be real soon.
Would you, Mr. Healthy, like health insurance for less than $10/month?
The answer is probably going to be yes, even if the health insurance is junk.
Would you, Mr. Healthy, like health insurance for less than $100/month?
The answer might well be no. Mr. Healthy is very unlikely to benefit from health insurance, but he will get zapped with late fees if he doesn’t pay his bills. He will very likely get evicted if he falls behind on his rent.
States like California & New York could offer to continue the Covid PPACA handouts.
States could require employers to cough up the cash to continue the Covid PPACA handouts.
I am paying $69 a month for someone. It’s a decent policy but they said I could qualify for a better plan but only if I took a chance and selected it. If I didn’t qualify, it was much higher. I have to wait until Open Enrollment to try again but now I have a W2 to work with.
“How about the Feds getting the hell out of our lives...return it to the states.”
pre-existing conditions <-> expensive patented drugs
The federal government issues patents.
Patents could be limited by revenue and not by time. Right now, a drug company tries to get approval from all major countries all at once, which is very expensive and risky.
Slower but cheaper methods could be used.
A drug might be tested and approved only in say in the country of Georgia, which has modest per capita incomes and a homogeneous population.
It might then be tested and approved in say Ghana and Vietnam.
Then the FDA might say testing and approval in Caucasian, black and Asian populations indicate it is safe enough for US use.
A royalty might then be paid for each US prescription partially or fully paid for by public or private cost coverage based on the type of drug and number of treatment days dispensed until the applicable (me-too chemical, breakthrough chemical, first fit chemical, minor disease biologic, major disease biologic, Alzheimer’s beating) patent limit is reached.
CANCEL Obamacare and drive a stake through its heart. Who cares what it looks like to the rest of the world.
Complete garbage that destroyed our healthcare named after the worse President in history. End it.
AFFORDABILITY
Silver plans would be limited to a maximum deductible of three times the Medicare Part A amount [2025: $1676].
I would also make bronze plans low cost by having co-insurance up to $10,000 at up to 50% with the policy upfront amount paid up front to the insurance company by the insured. Policy percentages would normally be 20% and based on the Medicare amounts unless contractually specified otherwise. Policy percentages might be less for certain things and contractually capped by time periods, by say 50% of the upfront amount the first three months of the calendar year, 60% the first six months of the calendar year, 70% the first eleven months of the calendar year and the whole amount the whole calendar year. If and how an upfront amount would get invested would be subject to contract. Unused amounts of upfront money would be refunded after each policy is closed out. A policy would not be closed out until the time allowed for claim submission has expired.
I would also make copper plans low cost by only covering Part A scope items plus what Part B would pay for any general or regional anesthesia surgery. These would be like the Blue Cross/Blue Shield plans of my youth.
I would allow Federal PPACA exchanges to offer Interstate Class Drug Plans,
exempt from state control that cover under contract at the time of policy issue at least:
1. 80% of all FDA-approved recombinant drugs by key active entity
2. 80% of all key FDA breakthrough chemical active entities under patent as of January 1 of the coverage year
used in a drug approved by the FDA by August 1 prior
3. 80% of all key chemical active entities under patent as of January 1 of the coverage year
used in a drug approved by the FDA by August 1 prior
4. 90% of all WHO “essential” drugs
This system would allow for genuine negotiation between drug plans and drug companies. Drug plans would have an incentive to try to buy drugs from drug companies and drug companies would have an incentive to make deals to make sales.
In-plan drugs would be supplied at on an all-the doctors prescribe basis. The co-pays would be roughly equal to mere manufacturing cost. Out-of-plan drugs need not be covered at all.
The new bronze, copper and Interstate Class Drug Plans are meant for higher income folks and would not be PPACA subsidy eligible.
A possible hospital coverage mode is to cover an amount equal to twice the median Medicare DRG hospital amount plus a percentage of say 20% minimum on the Medicare amount for the first operation if the hospital agrees prior to 10 days after discharge to perform any needed second operation for the remaining amount left on the policy.
A Blue Shield equivalent rider for the amounts Medicare pays for the surgeon(s) and anesthesiologist(s) might be purchased too.
Single payer has been the mission since the Clintons.
I hope, you noticed, how the US healthcare deteriorated since Obamacare.
Like in Europe, you may have an insurance, but you cannot get doc appointment any more!
My Suggested EMTALA Reform
To get care under the EMTALA for yourself or custodial child, the hospital might require you to
1. pay $100 in cash or by financial organization card accepted at the emergency care facility,
2. present for recording a valid coverage card and appropriate matching ID if and as required to use the coverage card,
3. hand over your valid SNAP card and a matching valid domestic governmental picture ID,
4. hand over your valid domestic driver’s license,
5. hand over your valid US passport,
6. hand over your operable Apple or Samsung cellphone model listed by a current regulation issued by a Secretary of HHS, or
7. hand over a valid domestic governmental picture ID of yours and
a matching financial institution statement less than 70 days old showing a domestic governmental or employer direct deposit of at least $150.
States might be allowed to authorize emergency care facilities to contemporaneously debit SNAP cards for EMTALA incidents.
Items handed over may be retained by the emergency care facility until retrieved within one month by the responsible party by paying $100 or more plus a $50 retrieval fee in a manner the facility accepts. Items not timely retrieved may be disposed of in a legally allowable manner.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.