Anyone else expecting to lose their health coverage?

[Riekopo]

I have an individual insurance plan through the Health Marketplace created by the 'Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act' (derogatively coined Obamacare). Based on what the new President and Congress is saying and doing I expect I will be entirely losing my health coverage soon.

My plan is $225 a month and has a reasonable deductible. There were cheaper plans with higher deductibles and more expensive plans with smaller deductibles. I have a Gold level plan. If I didn't have this insurance then my medicine would be $1,000 a bottle every 3 weeks. I would also have about a $300,000+ hospital bill.

I'm not rich and I don't get insurance through my employer. Without this insurance my life would be effectively ruined. I would be totally bankrupt and unable to get my medicine or take care of my health at all. You wouldn't believe the ignorant and misleading emails I get from my Representative in the 12th district in PA. It truly disgusts me. But hey, at least the rich will pay a few percent less taxes and we can increase our already astronomical military budget. More money for foreign regimes, weapons, war, killing, destroying, spying, and incarcerating our own citizens. Meanwhile, the rest of Western and developed world has had universal healthcare for literally generations.

The Congressional Budget Office has just estimated that under the GOP 'American Healthcare Act' (AHA) 14 million people will entirely lose their health coverage in 2018. By the end of a decade it will be 24 million. On top of that 14 million people will lose their Medicaid coverage and premiums are expected to immediately jump 20% due to deregulation of insurance companies. The White House's own Office of Management & Budget estimates are even higher. Estimating a total of 54 million Americans uninsured by 2026.

Is anyone else expecting to get fucked in the ass by the new President and Congress?

 

[Doyzer]

I hope they come up with something better. Too many insurers were leaving the marketplace under the Affordable Care Act. I don't think it was sustainable in its current form. It would be interesting to see what would happen if they left plan in place.

For me, I pay $800 a month for insurance through work for a family of 5. I only have one option, a high deductible plan so I pay everything up front. My deductible is $3,000 per person and my max out of pocket is $16,500.

The Affordable Care Act was great for those with pre-existing conditions and those who couldn't afford insurance. Unfortunately, it does little to cut general health care costs before insurance kicks in.

 

[Han Burgundy]

I'm not rich

Well there's your problem, friend. The laws aren't made to benefit YOU, the citizen. Why in the hell should they give a shit about YOU? You don't even run a superPAC. The scam that has become the healthcare industry is FAR too profitable to let a few thousand deaths get in the way of some profit margins. Corporations are people too, so have a heart (Because should the need arise, they will harvest it from you and reallocate it to a more deserving and financially influential chest)

 

[cptfrndlyfire]

Americans laugh at us Canadians and call us all kinds of things, but you know what, I'm happy to pay more in income tax upfront which provides me with a universal set of coverages including medical, providing me with the peace of mind that if I ever get sick I won't go bankrupt.

Our system is far from perfect but I do believe it's still pretty good. I hope my brethren from the south get to have an even better system one of these days because from what I see some situations just don't seem right.

 

[Plagueis]

I lost my coverage because of ACA but will be fine this round. Several of my self employed friends also lost their coverage during the same time, but was able to rebuy a plan at a 30% increase in premiums and a extremely high co insurance. $2500 per person out of pocket before I the crap would even kick in. My brother in law has to pay the no insurance fee since he didn't have an extra $800 a month to pay for insurance. ACA did help some but it wasn't all that great for everyone else.

 

[I_MIKE_I]

Edit: It's kinda lame to shitpost and then edit into a serious topic later for the sake of making the replys look dumb.

 

[BUTUZ]

Sometimes we are in dismay about the state of the NHS here in the UK, how it is funded, how it is run, but my god compared to what you guys go through in 'murica with absolute corporate insurance atrocities, it's without doubt the best thing Britain has ever constructed!!!

Most of us are so ignorant over here, they have no idea how bad other countries have it when it comes to health.

 

[Kortheous]

Is anyone else expecting to get fucked in the ass by the new President and Congress?

No, I am expecting Trump and Congress to fix the being fucked in the ass from the last president. Health care prices have tripled and I am losing coverage. My employer is offering more expensive plans because they are being hammered on healthcare cost. My doctor office visits went from $25 to $40 this year and the entire plan got nerfed. Additionally, the exchange is a joke and the plans offered there are ridiculously overpriced and the deductibles are insane. Also, being forced to buy one of the bullshit plans or be fined by the government is criminal and just plain extortion. The ACA is a complete failure just like the last president was.

I am hoping that Nancy "we have to pass the bill to see what's in it" Pelosi and the rest of congress will read the bill this time around prior to voting on it.

 

[I_MIKE_I]

I'm in Germany, we are forced to have health insurance by law, when unemployed you get it covered by welfare (dunno what the correct translation would be) and if you're unable to work you get it covered also.

Exception: If the guys who'd cover it when unemployed think you're unfit to work and the guys who'd cover it when you're unable to work think you are able to work and consequently ignore every proof by the doctors that you meet because one of theirs figured they'd all lie without even meeting you in person, theeeeen: you're fucked.

Make a educated guess of what my situation is.
Sidenote: I asked how much I'd have to pay if I'd want to pay my health insurance myself (normally it's 50/50 with the employer)... most send me away saying I'd be unable to work and should have it covered by the guys mentioned above, since I don't fit into any of their classfications, one insurance recently told me "at least a 5 digit sum per month, but we think other ways might be preferable to you".

Oh... and I'm not a refugee. Otherwise I'd have it all covered and then some.
I'm not some right-wing idiot, but it's things like that which present them a basis.

 

[Graptor]

My health insurance has gone up so much I can't keep up with it. And it's split with my employer. I can't believe my company has to pony up the same amount I do. It's out of control. And it goes up every time I talk to HR. I'm sick of it. I'm hoping this new administration can figure out something that lowers costs. I can't by new ships because of it! :confounded:

@Riekopo, I hope they figure out how to keep everyone with pre-existing conditions covered. I don't think it will pass without that, it's a must-have at this point. You're situation sounds unique, and by no means should you be cut off. It's above my pay grade to figure out how that works. Unfortunately I don't think our government knows the slightest thing about managing money or costs, so the less they do, the better.

 

[Murderer]

Not to get into politics;

My experience with the ACA (Obamacare) has been a bit of lunacy. Last year I paid $291 a month for one of the "gold" plans and thought having insurance would be something "to my benefit" to have when I knew I had to undergo minor surgery during the year. Somehow in my mind I had thought, I would save myself some money without going into debt and be able to get my issues worked out. All I have to say is the amount covered by the insurance company vs. what the deductible was is total robbery imo once you add in all the costs of coverage. I would have been better off paying out of pocket for everything. I know this isn't the case for everyone and know some procedures are more than others. Another example is my GF and I would have been screwed if it wasn't for her work insurance to cover the costs of the pregnancy. That shit was about $40k with a 4k deductible.
What ever they come up with I hope eliminates the mandate but also gets people better financial easement during their times of duress.

 

[Doyzer]

$40k for a pregnancy, that is cheap. Our youngest was $100k before insurance but she was in NICU for 5 days.

 

[Lockewood]

Hoping they axe ACA entirely, and let private insurance flourish. Need to stop the government overreach and provide consumer protection if we want a good system.

 

[Phil]

I think people forget that we tried healthcare under privatized insurance and it did not work, people could not get coverage because of pre existing condition, newborns were being excluded from coverage due to not being in a weight bracket etc... there was a million flaws with allowing privatized companies the freedom to put profit over patient care.

The ACA which btw is also the Republican plan Affordable is switched to American its still the ACA, the ACA was a step in the right direction, I really feel like healthcare is a right everyone should have, people love to complain about being forced to pay for something but in the early 90s the Republicans tried to pass individual mandate because laws were being passed that were going to force companies to provide healthcare so the Republicans felt people should pay for it themselves, Romney passed individual mandate in his state and his plan was actually very much like the ACA matter of fact many of his people who laid the ground work were consulted for the ACA yet once again Republicans hypocrisy knows no bounds an African American president passes it for the nation and all of a sudden its an evil idea.

Fact is privatized healthcare is a big mistake, we will once again be held to substandard care because the bottom line when its privatized is profit margins and whenever profits are a priority your healthcare will always be secondary.

The ACA was not perfect but it was a step in the right direction, these cost increases were also inflated deliberately by the Republican controlled states by declining the federal aide to help get the programs started, almost every red state declined the federal aide required to medicare and other area's, under Ryans new plan things will go back to the way it was only worse, I don't understand why people are so quick to go right back to the old way when Obama ran twice on healthcare reform and won both times, its clear we want healthcare reform and we did not like privatized healthcare yet the right wing has demonized the government every chance they get, they don't like regulations because it put responsibility and accountability in their laps, it dampens their profit margins because they are forced to pay for clean up and penalties.

Social Security in the 30s was labeled socialism it was brought about because people had nothing to fall back on should they retire, fall ill or could not maintain a job and the costs were to high so to offset the costs people were forced to pay into a system that took care of those costs when the time came and it has worked, for those same reasons healthcare should be treated the same people without healthcare or proper healthcare become costly to the people who pay it that is why everyone must have it within reason and the ACA was a step in the right direction to close the gaps, if someone goes to an emergency room without insurance its the people who have who pay for them our costs go up either way were paying for the under insured or uninsured and if you think the costs that so many people are complaining about are not associated with insurance companies and Republicans gaming the system I would think again.

In the end the people who voted for Trumpythinskin and his ultra rich cohorts got what you wanted, 4 years from now we will know who was right and wrong and I can honestly say 3 months in its not looking good for the Trumptards lol.