How I Was Wrong About ObamaCare

[JimG]

All I know about Obamacare is that my niece’s previously reasonable healthcare premium has suddenly skyrocketed and the high deductibles have made it nearly worthless.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Where I live, major care is readily available, high quality, and immediate. Same day CT or MRi scans are routine. Same day surgery often is too.

But that was at least as true before Obamacare as it is now. The only real difference being that previously you could just pick your own specialist directly, whereas now you get “filtered” by a GP first. Not so bad. Just different.

What’s really different, at least here, are the costs of insurance. Many and many a small business that formerly had group coverage for employees, no longer does. Part of that cost increase is the mandated coverages under Obamacare.

So, people who previously had group coverage are now thrust upon the exchanges. For many of them, there are subsidies, so now the government pays, in part, what employers formerly paid in toto. And some, of course, can’t afford coverage at all.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Well, the only religious freedom aspect came after Obamacare was law, and HHS tried to remove religious exemptions in paying for contraceptives. Obama himself had promised Cardinal Dolan that the exemptions would be there. After a heated battle with WH staff and HHS Secretary, Obama caved in and gave them most of what they wanted.

Of course its now going in circles through the Supreme Court.

So, Obamacare was not passed under a anti-religion agenda.

Heck, even the Bishops supported Obamacare, if they got the religious exemptions they asked for.

Jim

You’re saying Obama was dragged, kicking and screaming, into the HHS mandate. He runs the HHS. They can’t drag him into anything, and didn’t. He could repeal it today with a signature, but he doesn’t because he doesn’t want to.

 

[ndsolt]

Well, I was on Romney Care which then became Obamacare.

I have had the same doctor for the past 25 years while I was employed and I still have the same doctor and little has changed other than technology.

Also, my doctor is part of a small medical group and they will continue to be part of that small medical group. They are also attached to a large hospital healthcare group under U-Mass Medical.

In all its been excellent.

So, the article in the OP doesn’t fit my experience and throughout Massachusetts, most physicians are part of small medical groups which are attached to larger hospital groups like Tufts or Harvard Medical.

Individual physicians can not afford to be on their own these days and it has nothing to do with Obamacare, but the fact that a physician needs the technology which being part of a medical group provides.

When I go for my physical, my blood work results are done within a day and I see the results on my health page which U-Mass Alliance runs.

When my wife ended up in the ER bent over in pain, they sent her for a CAT scan. Our doctor, in the next city got the results as soon as the tech was finished and he saw she need surgery to have her gall-bladder removed. He immediately had us set up with a surgeon in the same building and within 4 hours, she was in her room recovering from surgery.

All this new technology was coming and any physician who tries to stay on his own, will end up out of business.

Jim

It DH 3-4 months to get his gallbladder out and we have BCBS. We ended up changing doctors due to that debacle.

 

[Theo520]

You’re saying Obama was dragged, kicking and screaming, into the HHS mandate. He runs the HHS. They can’t drag him into anything, and didn’t. He could repeal it today with a signature, but he doesn’t because he doesn’t want to.

I never understood why they targeted the religious exemptions, except for making a clear policy point.

Politically he could have made the law much easier to swallow by providing the religious exemptions and yet still broadly expanding coverage for contraception.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

All I know about Obamacare is that my niece’s previously reasonable healthcare premium has suddenly skyrocketed and the high deductibles have made it nearly worthless.

Insurance premiums were going up at an average rate of 19% before 2008.

If it had kept going, your niece and just about everyone, would had to drop their health insurance.

As it was, employers were begging the US government to do something, for they could not keep providing health insurance for their employees at the rate the cost was going up, and also because they had to hire experts in the health-insurance area to buy the best policies at the lowest costs.

Fact is. the US health care system, which is a “for-profit.” system, is the main cause of the high costs.

Remember the 32 CEO of the pharmaceutical company raising the price of their one live saving drug, 700^% ? The drug had been around since the 60’s, and he. with no medical background, but a background in hedge-fund investments, raised the premiums.

He was eventually fired. But too bad for the poor person who needed the drug and had to go without.

Jim

 

[JimR-OCDS]

You’re saying Obama was dragged, kicking and screaming, into the HHS mandate. He runs the HHS. They can’t drag him into anything, and didn’t. He could repeal it today with a signature, but he doesn’t because he doesn’t want to.

Actually he was and I fault him for this.

He had promised Cardinal Dolan in a phone conversation, that the exemptions would be in place.

Three weeks later, after what some had reported as being a heated conversation between the WH staff, HHS and the female Democratic Party Leaders, Obama caved in.

I fault him for not having the spine to go against the feminists on this, but who knows what they were going to use against him had he not given them what they demanded.

Jim

 

[JimR-OCDS]

BTW, this was last year; so the OP isn’t saying everything.

Health Insurance Marketplace Exchange Enrollment Satisfaction Improves Significantly in Second Year

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif.: 23 April 2015 — Satisfaction with the Health Insurance Marketplace exchange enrollment process among new enrollees has significantly increased from 2014, and health plans obtained through the Marketplace exchange generate levels of member satisfaction equal to or higher than plans not obtained through the Marketplace exchange, according to the J.D. Power 2015 Health Insurance Marketplace Exchange Shopper and Re-Enrollment (HIX) StudySM released today.

The study measures satisfaction with Marketplace health plans obtained for the 2014 plan year by examining six attributes (in alphabetical order): claims processing; communications; cost; coverage and benefits; customer service; and provider selection. The study also measures the enrollment experience of both new Marketplace enrollees and re-enrollees by examining seven attributes (in alphabetical order): amount of time to complete the renewal/enrollment process; clarity of instructions for completing enrollment application; courtesy of the representative; ease of navigating the Marketplace website; ease of renewing/enrolling; ease of understanding benefits and coverage; and variety of information available about health insurance plan choices.

According to the study, enrollment satisfaction among new enrollees has increased by a significant 55 points to 670 (on a 1,000-point scale) from 615 in 2014, when all enrollees were new to the Marketplace. Satisfaction with enrollment among new enrollees is driven by the variety of information available. Among members who re-enrolled, satisfaction with the enrollment processis 731, higher than new enrollees. Satisfaction with the re-enrollment process is higher among those who auto re-enrolled (744) than among those who did not (724).

jdpower.com/press-releases/2015-health-insurance-marketplace-exchange-shopper-and-re-enrollment-hix-study

JIm

 

[Ridgerunner]

Insurance premiums were going up at an average rate of 19% before 2008.

If it had kept going, your niece and just about everyone, would had to drop their health insurance.

As it was, employers were begging the US government to do something, for they could not keep providing health insurance for their employees at the rate the cost was going up, and also because they had to hire experts in the health-insurance area to buy the best policies at the lowest costs.

Fact is. the US health care system, which is a “for-profit.” system, is the main cause of the high costs.

Remember the 32 CEO of the pharmaceutical company raising the price of their one live saving drug, 700^% ? The drug had been around since the 60’s, and he. with no medical background, but a background in hedge-fund investments, raised the premiums.

He was eventually fired. But too bad for the poor person who needed the drug and had to go without.

Jim

The cost of group insurance was increasing, but nothing like it did after Obamacare. I have a small business, and I know. I know others with small businesses, and it was true with all of them. Obamacare mandated a lot of coverages that cost money but don’t really do much for healthcare for most people. Why, for example, should I pay for 100% coverage for contraceptives and abortifacients? Why should I pay for drug rehab? Why should I pay for alcohol rehab? Why should I pay for psych? My previous group plans had none of those things. But if I bought it now, I would have to have them in the plan.

 

[Theo520]

To use a global warming analogy,

The OP is about how policy is shifting the long term healthcare “climate” in a negative way.

Introducing anecdotal “weather” examples from your personal experience is really just a deflection that doesn’t address the OP.

 

[Ridgerunner]

To use a global warming analogy,

The OP is about how policy is shifting the long term healthcare “climate” in a negative way.

Introducing anecdotal “weather” examples from your personal experience is really just a deflection that doesn’t address the OP.

So we should listen to Jonathan Gruber or someone like him instead, who says what a wonderful deal Obamacare is when everybody knows it isn’t?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Actually he was and I fault him for this.

He had promised Cardinal Dolan in a phone conversation, that the exemptions would be in place.

Three weeks later, after what some had reported as being a heated conversation between the WH staff, HHS and the female Democratic Party Leaders, Obama caved in.

I fault him for not having the spine to go against the feminists on this, but who knows what they were going to use against him had he not given them what they demanded.

Jim

Did Cdl Dolan actually believe him?

Obama could remove it today, but he won’t. And he could have refrained from dragging the Little Sisters all the way to the Supreme Court, but he didn’t.

At a point, we really ought to believe what we see plainly in front of us.

 

[Erich]

Obamacare is nothing more than a place to buy affordable health insurance.

All told, some 800,000 people have been forced to give up health plans they liked and look for another insurance carrier following the demise of their co-op. I suspect they’d all disagree with your contention.

Jim, any comments on what’s stated in the OP on how ACA is impacting the market? Are you disputing the author, who helped craft ACA?

From this link:

July has been rough for Obamacare’s non-profit co-op health plans. Four closed after running out of money — three in just one week. Just seven of the original 23 co-ops are still standing. Those seven all lost money last year — and may yet go out of business before the calendar turns to 2017.

All that failure has been pricey. Taxpayers are out $1.7 billion in federal loans that these co-ops will never pay back.

The co-ops stand out as perfect examples of how Obamacare’s idea of government-managed “competition” is doomed to fail.
…
Obamacare itself is responsible for the most recent co-op bankruptcies.

As part of its effort to “fix” the individual insurance market, Obamacare banned insurers from pricing coverage based on risk. Instead, they have to take all comers and charge each one no more than three times what they charge anyone else.

To make the math for this scheme work, Obamacare created a series of cross-subsidies called “risk adjustment.” Insurers who attracted less expensive, healthier-than-average enrollees were supposed to pay into a fund that would redistribute money to those who enrolled costlier, sicker-than-average patients.

Several co-ops ended up facing big “risk adjustment” bills — even though they were losing money.
…
The failure of these co-ops is not an isolated problem within Obamacare. Their demise is symptomatic of Obamacare’s fundamental flaws.

President Obama and his allies believed they could centrally plan the private insurance market to suit their own ends. The CO-OPs are the most obvious indication that they were wrong.
…

 

[JimR-OCDS]

The cost of group insurance was increasing, but nothing like it did after Obamacare. I have a small business, and I know. I know others with small businesses, and it was true with all of them. Obamacare mandated a lot of coverages that cost money but don’t really do much for healthcare for most people. Why, for example, should I pay for 100% coverage for contraceptives and abortifacients? Why should I pay for drug rehab? Why should I pay for alcohol rehab? Why should I pay for psych? My previous group plans had none of those things. But if I bought it now, I would have to have them in the plan.

You paid for many things you wouldn’t use before Obamacare.

Insurance companies were dropping ala-carte coverage and forcing companies to take full package plans.

Jim

 

[JimR-OCDS]

So we should listen to Jonathan Gruber or someone like him instead, who says what a wonderful deal Obamacare is when everybody knows it isn’t?

Actually Gruber knew it was a good plan and he was the one who created Romney Care.

Don’t take his words out of context.

Jim

 

[Ridgerunner]

Actually Gruber knew it was a good plan and he was the one who created Romney Care.

Don’t take his words out of context.

Jim

Gruber knew he had to lie about the plan to get it passed, and admitted it himself.

 

[zz912]

Fact is. the US health care system, which is a “for-profit.” system, is the main cause of the high costs.

Nonsense. Take the example of plastic surgery. It is not involved with the nightmare of Obamacare and insurance. It is free market, for-profit. And costs for plastic surgery have plunged over the last few decades, while quality, availability and variability has gone up.

The free market brings down the costs of things by competition. The nightmare of Obamacare and the myriad of insurance laws/protectionism has made health costs skyrocket.

Remember the 32 CEO of the pharmaceutical company raising the price of their one live saving drug, 700^% ? The drug had been around since the 60’s, and he. with no medical background, but a background in hedge-fund investments, raised the premiums.

He was eventually fired. But too bad for the poor person who needed the drug and had to go without.

And the free market responded to his move. Within one month, another company started producing the drug and selling it for the prior price. So his attempt at price-setting via his monopoly was thwarted by the free market. And IIRC, his monopoly was the result of government influence in the first place.

 

[Theo520]

And the free market responded to his move. Within one month, another company started producing the drug and selling it for the prior price. So his attempt at price-setting via his monopoly was thwarted by the free market. And IIRC, his monopoly was the result of government influence in the first place.

Yes, the drug was widely produced outside the US for use around the world. All that was required was approval by the FDA to allow competition in the US market.

 

[edwest2]

ObamaCare is a government approved takeover of the health insurance industry. Rates keep going up. And if you “decide” not to join in, the IRS will join in with a penalty.

Just go to the federal government’s health care site. Look at the rates for people living in or close to urban areas and the ones who don’t. They are vastly different. ObamaCare is not affordable. My employer has already told me how much the rate increase for my plan will be next year. Since the “economy” isn’t improving, and hasn’t for years now, expect it to keep from improving. In my case, I can live without non-essential items like the latest electronic gadget, but some people seem to need/want expensive things. Expect to see some stores closing unless I can buy a pair of pants for under $5.

Ed

 

[Suudy]

Well. I know others from other parts of the US who also have had good experience.

Well, I know others from other parts of the US who have had a bad experience. We can swap anecdotes all day. The fact of the matter, Obamacare did not make things better for everyone. At best, it was a wash, making some people’s situations worse, and some people’s situations better. But what it clearly has done has reduced choice, which is worse for everyone.

Obamacare is nothing more than a place to buy affordable health insurance.

Oh, no, it is MUCH more than that.

Recall that it also takes over the student loan program. It imposes additional reporting requirements. It imposes mandates, including minimum coverages. It requires nuns to buy contraception. It fines people for refusing to buy health insurance, even if they don’t want or don’t need it.

No, Obamacare was 2,000+ pages of overregulation, poorly planned systems, unrelated expenses, and imposes mandates on others. It is not just “a place to by affordable health insurance.”