Posted on 06/29/2015 8:22:57 AM PDT by Brad from Tennessee
Despite the Supreme Court decision to uphold the subsidies for private insurance in King v. Burwell, the fundamental problems with the Affordable Care Act remain. Ironically, it is the growing government centralization of health insurance at the expense of private insurance that must be addressed.
The 107 million people on Medicaid or Medicare in 2013 will increase to 135 million by 2018, a growth rate tripling that of private insurance, according to projections by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. At the same time, private health-care insurance premiums are expected to skyrocket in 2016, many by more than 30%.
This will not improve American health care. Private insurance is superior for both access and quality of care. Reforms should therefore be focused on how to maximize the availability and affordability of private insurance for everyone, regardless of income or employment, rather than put more people into government insurance while causing private insurance to become unaffordable to all but the affluent.
Why is private health insurance so important? Insurance without access to medical care is a sham. And that is where the country is heading. According to a 2014 Merritt Hawkins survey, 55% of doctors in major metropolitan areas refuse new Medicaid patients. The harsh reality awaiting low-income Americans is dwindling access to quality doctors, hospitals and health care. . .
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
End it, don’t mend it...................
If the GOP was not willing to end the subsidies for 8 million people in states on the Federal exchange, they sure as hell are not going to kick tens of millions of recipients off of expanded Medicaid.
No, we are on the slow glide path to single payer.
Single Payer is the goal. Once you realize that all else falls into place.
“...The 107 million people on Medicaid or Medicare in 2013 will increase to 135 million by 2018...”
Maybe. But it should be noted that Medicaid (pure welfare) and Medicare (funded by its truly eligible users) are VERY different things. Obama is robbing Medicare (reducing payments to medical industry) to pay for the pure welfare of Medicaid (to buy votes) to cover those that PAY NOTHING. Medicare, funded by decades of working people being taxed for it, and continuing to be funded by retired folks who use it (it is not free), was working pretty well until Obamacare went into effect.
This horror story has to end.
BUMP! BUMP! Interesting.
We’ll need to repair the Ophonybama Presidential wreckage!
I wonder how long THAT will take?
“government centralization of health insurance at the expense of private insurance”
I myself do not believe private insurance revenues nor profits are declining. I’ve seen no evidence of this. In fact, quite the contrary.
Look at the dysfunctional VA... that is the model for healthcare post Obamacare. Us peons will be on long waiting lists to see a doctor or take our chances waiting in some dingy government clinic for a 10 minute visit with a physicians assistant. Need to see a specialist... more waiting. Rationing of care will be the norm. However, if you are a government official or have money you will get VIP treatment at the best medical centers
[[fundamental problems with the Affordable Care Act remain.]]
There aren’t any ‘problems’- The supreme court will pull out their pom poms asnd jump up and down cheering their beloved leader- and simply rewrite everything to save it
ANY business model that is built on a third-party payment system is doomed to fail, because it lacks both of the key ingredients for a normal financial transaction: a buyer who actually pays for the product/service and a seller who delivers the product/service and gets paid for it.
Duh, that's the whole PURPOSE of Obamacare.
Since Medicare went into deficit in 1986, it has been funded by printing money and by borrowing from China. Medicare "truly eligible users" currently fund 13% of payouts, the rest is welfare.
“But it should be noted that Medicaid (pure welfare) and Medicare (funded by its truly eligible users) are VERY different things”
Medicare is not completely funded by its truly eligible users. Not even close. So from a taxpayers perspective, there isn’t much difference between a Medicaid user and a Medicare user - sorry to burst your bubble.
We are going to “single payer” because there is no way Medicare and Medicaid “cost shifting” to private insurers can occur with such high numbers of complete freeloaders (Medicaid), or mostly freeloaders (Medicare).
“End it, don’t mend it...................”
Any idea which republican presidential candidates have vowed to end it?
Repair it? No, help make it crash and burn.
I am currently trying to figure out how to reduce my Reportable Income for 2016 so I can qualify for Obamacare Subsidies. After all, according to The Dear Leader, Obamacare is woven into the fabric of our Society.
In CA where we live, they’re Passing Laws to pay for Illegal Invaders Healthcare. Nice to know what my Taxes are paying for, never mind EBT, Welfare and Section 8.
Since we currently pay about $1,900 a Month for our Healthcare Coverage, up from $1,200 in December of 2013 thanks to Obamacare, I figure we can get a $700 Monthly Subsidy. I’m already expecting our Premium to rise to $2,200 a Month in 2016.
Not sure if I can pull it off. We have to sell our House so we can get rid of the Mortgage Payment. We can live off the Equity from the Sale for a few Years instead of draining our IRA’s like we are doing today.
Maybe I’m just fed up, but I see no way out. Every Dollar counts, so I might as well reduce our Tax Burden and join the Obamacare is here to stay Club. Well, until it collapses under its own weight anyway.
Do yourself a favor and look into the health sharing ministries. Exempt from obamacare tax, and cost about half what an obamacare policy would. It might work in your situation. It might not. Doesn’t hurt to check it out.
If you don’t have major medical expenses you might want to consider dropping the health coverage entirely and paying the ObamaCare penalty. The penalty is only $695 or 2.5% of your income in 2016, which is probably much less than the $2,200 per month that you’re expecting to pay.
I don’t like this type of article. WSJ, the newspaper of record for the crony capitalists, is “concerned” about obamacare. How touching.
So long as we limit ourselves to the alternatives and strategies proposed by those who have a vested interest in our defeat, we will lose.
What we should be thinking about is not how we’re going to fight obamacare, but how we’ll get around it. Things that individuals can do to render it irrelevant or as irrelevant as it can be made. You also may have heard these things called SOLUTIONS. They rarely come from politicians and their ilk.
On that note, let me propose a SOLUTION that might work for some people. The health sharing ministries. There are 5 or so that operate on Biblical principles. They are EXEMPT from thr obamacare tax. They also don’t contribute a dime to obamacare or its cohorts.
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