Where the big problem is going to hit is when all the holes in the program hit. There are stories everyday where employers are dumping dependent coverage. Those spouses and children will not be eligible for subsidies in Obamacare and the financial burden will be born by middle class families.
perhaps this wasn't a "mistake", but a "feature"?
You know how much commies hate the middle class.
I still can’t figure out what the out of pocket expenses are,...
I’ve been working in the healthcare area for close to 30 years but darned if I can figure out what is going on with the current mess. OOP just seems to be all over the place - from $ per person to $ per family. Some plans at the present time have a substantial deductible and then payment is at 100%, depending on the type of service that is being provided. What I’m seeing now is coverage split into sub-groups and you need to know how many lives are covered by a particular group to go to the first sub-group of benefits and then within that sub-group how the group is classified by the insurance carrier.
Used to be able to get benefits on-line for patients with no problem - but not any more.
One of the on-line systems that I work with used to allow a doctor’s office to put in the procedure and diagnosis code and you could get an estimate of what the provider would be paid and the patient’s co-pay. Used to work for Aetna, Blue Cross and Cigna. This information is no longer available. Health care users and most doctor’s offices just really have no idea what a mess this truly is and nobody in Washington except for Cruz and a very few others cares.
Why is this not straightforward? (figures for CA exchange plans; shouldn’t be much if any different in other states):
Maximum annual out-of-pocket expenses for individual:
Platinum: $4,000
Gold: $6,350
Silver: $6,350
Bronze: $6,350
Family:
Platinum: $8,000
Gold: $12,700
Silver: $12,700
Bronze: $12,700