Posted on 12/27/2015 11:59:42 PM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
"......Last year, 86 percent of those who signed up through the federal exchanges received tax credits on their insurance premiums. The credits are available for families earning up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level. For a family of four, the income limit would be about $94,000; a family of two, $62,000.
....Other customers found themselves starting over from square one when their insurance company pulled out of the Health Insurance Exchange or was dropped from the state exchange, like Meritus, Gussio said. Meritus, a nonprofit health care cooperative, was actually removed from the list of approved insurance companies in the Arizona Health Insurance Exchange because the state was concerned that Mertius might not continue to be solvent in 2016. Meritus will close for good on Feb. 1, he said.
Some private, for-profit insurance companies that offer plans through the Exchange are facing the same financial strain, he said. United Healthcare announced this year that it would probably would not offer plans on the Exchange in 2017.
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 36 percent of counties in states using Healthcare.gov will see a net decrease in the number of insurance companies that offer coverage within their borders, about 17 percent will see an increase and the bulk will remain the same. There is a total of 2,603 counties that use Healthcare.gov.
The Flagstaff area went from 56 plans offered by a variety of insurance companies for individuals to 19 this year, Gussio said.
People also are seeing an increase in their health insurance premiums, Gussio said.
"The costs for individuals is unbelievable," he said. "We've seen some very, very high premiums. I haven't seen an increase this big in the 20 years I've been working in the industry."
Most of the families purchasing policies sold on the federal exchanges, even those more expensive, will be eligible for tax credits, based on previous years' experience.
Some individuals have seen premium increases of more than 20 percent and some businesses have seen 40 to 60 percent increases, Gussio said. There have also been some decreases in premiums, but the majority of price changes have been increases.
According to a Kaiser Foundation poll of 1,202 adults between the ages of 18 and 64, 46 percent said they tried to get health insurance but found it was too expensive, even with government subsidies.
The increases are partially due to the number of health insurance companies that are going under or are merging with other companies, he said.
Many people are saying they would rather pay the penalty for not having insurance at all rather than pay $1,400 a month for insurance they may not use, Gussio said.
That's despite the fact that the average penalty for an individual not having insurance in 2016 will increase 47 percent to $969, according to a recent analysis by the Kaiser Foundation. The average penalty in 2015 was $661.
Lewis said for a family of three, two adults and a child, the penalty starts at around $1,737.
"That's school clothes or a house payment," he said. "I have not found a person who doesn't want health insurance. They want to be able to afford it. We're trying to show people what's available."
However, Lewis said, even with the price changes he has not had a problem helping people find a new health insurance carrier. In some cases, he's been able to help them find the same plan under a different company at a cheaper price.
Businesses with 50 or more employees are also looking at paying the penalty rather than purchasing health insurance for their employees, Gussio said. He's had a handful of business clients come in asking about the 50 or more employee mandate that goes into effect in 2016.........." Full story
Q: in 2000, you wrote that you're a liberal on health care, and you supported a Canadian-style system, where the government acts as an insurer. Is that what you still believe?
A: You know, I looked at that. I looked at it very seriously. Some people don't agree with me on this: I want everyone to have coverage. I love the free market, but we never had a free market. Even before ObamaCare, it wasn't really free market. As an example, in New York, when I wanted to bid out my health insurance, we had boundaries. I could only go in New York. If I wanted to bid it out to a company from California or New Jersey, anywhere--you get no bids.
Q: But the single payer, you're not interested anymore?
A: No. No, these are different times. And over the years, you are going to change your attitudes. You're going to learn things and you're going to change. And I have evolved on that issue. I have evolved on numerous issues.
**********
We must have universal health care
I'm a conservative on most issues but a liberal on health. It is an unacceptable but accurate fact that the number of uninsured Americans has risen to 42 million. Working out detailed plans will take time. But the goal should be clear: Our people are our greatest asset. We must take care of our own. We must have universal healthcare.
Our objective [should be] to make reforms for the moment and, longer term, to find an equivalent of the single-payer plan that is affordable, well-administered, and provides freedom of choice. Possible? The good news is, yes. There is already a system in place-the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program-that can act as a guide for all healthcare reform. It operates through a centralized agency that offers considerable range of choice. While this is a government program, it is also very much market-based. It allows 620 private insurance companies to compete for this market. Once a year participants can choose from plans which vary in benefits and costs.
Source: The America We Deserve, by Donald Trump, p.206-208 & 218 , Jul 2, 2000
Well American healthcare has been attrociously spotty about coverage.
Trump is for covering people, as was Obamacare.
I’m not for Obamacare, except it covered people and that was a badly needed change.
Trump sounds like he gets it. Do you?
There are conservative solutions to the health care problem. We don’t *have* to go with the liberal solution, such as Trump is supporting.
We had plenty of opportunity to fix our healthcare system, and did nothing.
Nothing.
Our healthcare is the most expensive on the entire planet, yet many American only received coverage under Obama.
That was a big advancement. Don’t criticize Trump for being for (not) breaking American healthcare.
Sure Obamacare should be fixed, but there are some good aspects to it, and those should remain.
Everyone needs coverage.
I am a firm believer in government owned and operated hotels, resorts, and especially commercial and residential real estate. We have to eliminate the Pakistani owned Holiday Inns.
You voted for this America.
F**k you.
Healthcare is government regulated, and up until recently American healthcare was (extremely) spotty about coverage.
Many, many, many Americans were not covered, healthcare was (extremely) expensive and our system was dominated by government controls.
I am all for a free market, but that suggests freedom. Our healthcare system is currently among the most unfree systems anywhere.
And everyone needs healthcare. Every single person.
As long as healthcare is so dominated by the government, then the government has a big role to play in making sure it is not prohibitively expensive.
One or the other.
Either get the government out of regulating healthcare, or else government should ensure people have coverage and are not excluded.
One or the other.
So you want socialized medicine. Yes, Trump wants to give you that.
..”We will repeal Obamacare,” Trump said. “By (2017) it implodes because the wrong people are signing up. Not enough people are signing up. It’s a disaster. ....
Trump is advocating “repeal and replace”.
You forgot the replace part, perhaps.
Honest mistake no doubt.
“And everyone needs healthcare. Every single person.”
And everyone needs dinner. And housing. And iPhones. And a college education. And a big TV. And a job. And lower mortgages. And so on.
You’ve outed yourself as an anti-free-enterprise, liberal progressive, CNN. Like your preferred candidate, Trump.
It’s impossible to tell with him.
Trump is advocating “repeal and replaceâ€.
You forgot the replace part, perhaps.
Honest mistake no doubt.
With single payer by chance? I don’t know......Do you?
Another example of “the evolving Donald Trump”:
NOV 2012: “Ronald Kessler reporting from Washington, D.C. - The Republican Party will continue to lose presidential elections if it comes across as mean-spirited and unwelcoming toward people of color, Donald Trump tells Newsmax.
Whether intended or not, comments and policies of Mitt Romney and other Republican candidates during this election were seen by Hispanics and Asians as hostile to them, Trump says.
“Republicans didn’t have anything going for them with respect to Latinos and with respect to Asians,” the billionaire developer says.
“The Democrats didn’t have a policy for dealing with illegal immigrants, but what they did have going for them is they weren’t mean-spirited about it,” Trump says. “They didn’t know what the policy was, but what they were is they were kind.”
Romney’s solution of “self deportation” for illegal aliens made no sense and suggested that Republicans do not care about Hispanics in general, Trump says.
“He had a crazy policy of self deportation which was maniacal,” Trump says. “It sounded as bad as it was, and he lost all of the Latino vote,” Trump notes. “He lost the Asian vote. He lost everybody who is inspired to come into this country.”.....
http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/Donald-Trump-Ronald-Kessler/2012/11/26/id/465363/
You are misrepresenting both American healthcare, and the position I am taking.
Everyone needs healthcare, you correctly got that much. But dinner, housing, iPhones, a big TV, a job, all of those things involve FREE CHOICES. And competition. Free competition, in a free market. Although iPhones are mostly all made in China, which is another problem altogether.
Healthcare in America is among the least free choices we have. It is extremely government controlled.
That is why it is so darned expensive. It is extremely government controlled, that is why it is very important that it not be allowed to take advantage of people.
That is what needs to change. I think our healthcare system is overly controlled, but it currently is, what it currently is.
As for college, which you included in your list, I also think that colleges are overly-controlled as well. Which is why they are rapidly deteriorating, and so darned expensive as well.
But that is, another topic altogether.
“Bernie Sanders said Sunday that he is populist candidate that Donald Trump supporters should back.
The Vermont senator claimed Republican front-runner is worried about flagging working-class support.
Sanders, who relentlessly sticks to his economic talking points, suggested Democrats can capture pro-Trump voters by emphasizing middle-class pocket book proposals and soft-pedaling social issues.”....
I think that Donald Trump is the populist candidate, that Bernie Sanders supporters should back.
He’s far more pleasant, and he’s for America.
The solution is less government control, not more. And more competition.
Trump’s big government solution is not best for America.
I would agree with you, except our government has controlled healthcare enormously, for years and years.
America has the most government control of healthcare, in the entire world.
I am saying we either need to get government out of the business of regulating everything about healthcare, or if government is going to be so darned involved in healthcare regulation, then it need to insure the system not take advantage of that.
One or the other.
Either one is ok with me.
What we had, was definately not ok.
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