Posted on 02/22/2016 3:58:09 PM PST by Kaslin
Most left-leaning health policy wonks assume everyone needs health coverage. I've never understood that. Insurance is a way to protect assets for people with assets to protect. Economists also sometimes describe health insurance as income protection in the event of an illness, since medical care costs money. Economist sometimes view health coverage as the ability to buy highly subsidized medical care in the event of an illness. Families' health risks, aversion to risk and family finances differ, so arguments that everyone needs the same type of protection against medical bills are not particularly convincing. To cloud the issue even further, the aforementioned left-leaning policy advocates often believe that any system that requires reaching for one's wallet during a medical encounter is unethical, since not everyone has a wallet of the same thickness. Again, this makes no sense since the poor would benefit more than the wealthy from the savings by forgoing costly health coverage. Obamacare has caused more people to reach for their wallets after a medical encounter -- not less.
Because advocates think health coverage is something that everyone should have, one of the primary goals of the Affordable Care Act was to expand coverage to the uninsured. Their thinking was that some of the uninsured could not afford health coverage because their incomes were not sufficient, while others could not afford coverage because of health concerns that made medical underwriting costly. What difference did it make? Obamacare made them worse. A few weeks ago, I wrote how under Obamacare people with health coverage can rack up huge medical bills despite having insurance. Basically, Obamacare destroyed their insurance -- at least the kind of coverage they once had. The only coverage many people can now afford are plans with excessively high premiums in return for excessively high deductibles -- leaving few funds left over to pay for medical bills out of pocket or fund a health savings account.
Earlier this year, a report from the University of Pennsylvania found all but the most heavily subsidized Obamacare enrollees would be better off financially if they skipped coverage and pay for their own medical care out of pocket. The people whose incomes fall between 1.38 and 1.75 times the poverty level will spend about three times the amount on premiums for a Silver plan as they would have out of pocket had they remained uninsured. For those earning more than 250 percent of poverty, most will be worse off financially compared to having remained uninsured. By design, Obamacare is a bad deal for most people! Except for the unlucky few who experience catastrophic health complaints, the vast majority of Obamacare enrollees would be better off uninsured.
From an efficiency standpoint, paying for routine medical bills out of pocket costs less than paying bills through an insurer who, in turn, funds medical claims from premiums. In the process of trying to make medical care cheaper for those with pre-existing conditions, Obamacare has made most enrollees worse off than prior to the Affordable Care Act. Paradoxically, they are even worse off than being uninsured.
Indeed, deductibles in the exchange have risen to the point that most enrollees pay virtually all their routine medical needs out of pocket. With deductibles of $5,000 or more becoming common, Obamacare is becoming little more than a sickness tax on people who don't expect to reach their deductibles. It's an unofficial tax on most enrollees to reward insurers and offset some of the cost of insuring the few people with major health conditions. That is not an efficient way to subsidize medical care.
I've talked to people who say they've made the conscious decision to forgo Obamacare and just pay the penalty and pay cash for medical care. A few even think they can get out of the penalty. One lady I talked to suggested she'd be far better off just taking the money she would have spent on largely worthless insurance coverage and using it... (hold on to your hats, this is controversial!) on actual medical care. She will pay out of pocket for her physician visits. She will use a discount pharmacy card for her prescription drugs. She will pay for laboratory testing out of pocket. She's even considering having some procedures done that her insurance would never have covered, even if she met her deductible.
There are arguably other benefits to American revolting against Obamacare and remaining uninsured. The Rand Health Insurance Experiment of the 1970s found when people were exposed to significant cost-sharing, they consumed about 30 percent fewer medical services on average. More recently, research by the Kaiser Family Foundation found the uninsured consume only about half the care of those with coverage ($2,443 vs. $4, 876).
It's rather sad when you realize the Affordable Care Act made health care unaffordable and left the formerly-insured better off with no coverage. As I've already explained, it would be far cheaper for most to just pay bills out of pocket with the money they saved by going bare. Obamacare is hardly a legacy to celebrate.
OK. You and I are on the same page then!
Nothing is much better. When I have people on Obama care policies in the hospital it covers very little. In addition it covers no home care or skilled nursing services. If they had no insurance I could get them charity care, but since they are “insured” I can do nothing for them. I hate obamacare.....
Doesn’t that validate what kaslin said? ACA is worse than nothing?
Be very nice to your pets’ veterinarian. They can prescribe meds, for your pet, of course....
You are asking for details that are really beyond a mere citizen's need to know. But to help out, I can pass on DT's comprehensive explanation of his plan's detailed provisions: "It will be unbelievable, believe me."
It’ll be YUGE!!!!
Vote for him to find out what’s in him?
So, I get to the pharmacy and they tell me it is $180 and my insurance won't cover it. So, I ask if there is a generic. They tell me there is, it is new and my insurance won't cover it because it is new. How much is it, I ask. $28. I say fine, let's pretend I don't have insurance and fill the rx. I pay my $28 and go my way.
The next month, I go fill it and they tell me it is 0 dollars. There can't be a charge for it. I don't ask any questions. I go fill it today, now month 3, and they tell me it's 0 dollars. Again, I say, "OK, great thanks".
No idea what's going on. I am not gonna rock the boat and ask but I have a feeling it's got something to do with O-care and the War on Women. Normally, I'd expect I would have to pay double and for the guy behind me.
How many people actually use over 20k per year of medical care?
For the Obamacare premiums alone you can walk in to an urgent care center for just about any medical need you’ll ever have for much less money.
I had to have an emergency apendectomy and spent a week in a hospital pre Obamcare. I had no insurance and paid cash. Yes... It was expensive. BUT, after looking at all the Obamacare I would have to buy right now, I would have paid the same amount of cash just to meet the deductible requirements.
My wife does. She is type1 with lots of complications.
I’m this guys typical uninsured! Been paying cash since 2005. Anything big put it on the Credit Card, roll it over at 0 percent till payed off! Low interest rates are great for me!
Also most doctors give a steep discount for cash payments.
Office visits generally half price if cash!
LOL !!
ObamaCare is as crappy as any Euro-socialist health insurance, if not worse; politicians can pat themselves on the back and say “Everyone has health insurance” but the fact is people lost “health care” - they can’t afford to use the insurance.
Last night on local news people were complaining that NJ’s historical trust had run out of money; the state had used it for other things. Expect this to snowball; the same is happening with our highway funds. Eventually the bills come due for these leftie pipe-dreams...
>>Everything Hussein has done is to screw America. Why would you expect Americ’s first Muslim President to do anything different?<<
It is going to take years to recover from this America-hating dilettante. We are still digging out from under FDR, carter and clinton.
Like I said — I hope those that voted for him go bankrupt and end up in shacks and soup kitchens.
If I saw that I would laugh and light a cigar with $10 bills just to see their faces (OK, I would palm the sawbuck and light a single).
Schadenfreude baby.
mine is 3k a year, that I pay (employer picks up a big chunk on top of that), and a $3800 deductible.
this is employer plan, not death-care.
my deductibles have gone up close to 1k in the last 2 years, thanks to death-care.
my wife and I have made the conscious decision to take better care of ourselves, and hopefully that will help us stay healthy...eating better, losing weight...she has lost 75 lbs in the last 18 months, and I have lost 25 lbs since Jan. 1.
Mine is employer provided insurance, too. I have no idea what portion they pay, but I’ll bet it is the lion’s share.
And still forcing people to purchase something they may not want to. How is that a good thing?
Shall we trust government to force us to buy other things?
There is no conservative justification.
How did you infer from what I posted that you would be required to purchase anything?
What Trump is suggesting is what everyone said they wanted prior to Obamacare.
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