Affordable Health Care Law under review by SCOTUS

[cardboardbox]

Our family coverage is through my wife's employer (my wife, myself and two kids). He is extremely generous with health care and covers the premium 100%. There's actually no in-network deductible, but the out of network deductible is $5,000 for the individual or $10,000 for the family. We consider ourselves extremely fortunate as the health care costs through my employer are quite high and still come with a deductible (albeit lower than $5,000). We basically meet the deductible every year due to some out of network doctors my wife sees. Basically, I have absolutely no complaints given that we don't pay a premium. It is very generous of my wife's boss and helps so so much. It would probably give us pause if my wife was looking at a different job which she is currently not.

I know others are not nearly as lucky....or redbirdsfan, if you will....as we are and we are thankful every day that my wife's boss covers the premium entirely.

you probably have better insurance than 99% of the country.

[In the Corn]

to have that high of a deductible you must not pay very much per month?

Well, if I didn't have a subsidy it would be more than $850/month. My subsidy covers the vast majority of that. I'd like to thank you all for that.

[umjewman]

you probably have better insurance than 99% of the country.

Yup, I'm well aware. My wife's boss is really generous. Small company, not that many full time employees so I think he can justify it.

[DMT]

Currently, it is just a fact of life. You may not like it, but health care is still a service provided to you by someone else who paid many school bills to get the education to provide you the service. They should be provided an incentive to provide that service to you - and do it well. Kind of a carrot on a stick thing....

My wife is a physician so you don't have to tell me how hard they work. And we're still paying off her loans 15 years later. Doctors' compensation has pretty much remained the same when controlling for inflation. The huge increases in costs have come from other factors, such as administrative bloat, pharmaceutical gouging, and overprescribing of services to avoid missing something and getting sued.

[GwynnInTheHall]

Lets be honest - as in just about everything in life - it comes down to "Who's going to pay for it?" This is the biggest issue with the existing plan - claiming something is free or discounted may be true, yet others are picking up the expense because someone has to pay for it (either in increased insurance premiums or more taxes). You can tell me that isnt true - but I know what my insurance cost has gone up the last few years.

ITC is getting an even worse deal here in MN than he was getting 3 years ago. Seriously, if you do the math you can figure out what he is making and he is stuck with a $13,500 deductible because that is what he can afford for a "bronze" package. Here is a guy doing well for himself paying for insurance that will possibly bankrupt him if he has to use it to the fullest, before even getting a penny from the insurance company. But hey - it meets the requirement set forth by the government.

Not to be crass - and Im pretty sure some here think I am - but at some point if someone cant pay for the service then unfortunately for them they may have to go without it.

My wife has psoriatic arthritis - currently she is on a medication that somewhat helps and is a manageable expense in our budget. Her doctor prescribed her a new medication that her insurance company turned her down for. If we want it outside of insurance it is $2000 a month - We had this conversation literally 30 minutes ago and as you can imagine agreed that we cant afford the medication.

Currently, it is just a fact of life. You may not like it, but health care is still a service provided to you by someone else who paid many school bills to get the education to provide you the service. They should be provided an incentive to provide that service to you - and do it well. Kind of a carrot on a stick thing....

It's NOT a fact of life, it's the system put in place which can be changed at anytime. One simply has to put people before profit and it's an easy choice.

as to who pays for it--we ALL pay fr everything, for other's bad decisions for bad laws for wars for freedom for EVERYTHING--WE PAY FOR IT. It's called being a part of a society which in theory, benefits everyone.

You do seem somewhat callous online, but I'm sure that's not the case in person. It's easy to ignore the plight of others when there isn't a face connected to it. One of the reasons so many wealthy people employ security details is not only for protection, but to shield themselves from the plight of those less fortunate.

I mean, do you really want to roll in here someday in the future, tell us all about how you were robbed, burgled or defrauded and have the rest of us respond (in various manner) Karma is a bitch? Because if you really dont; care about others, why should we care about you?

Now again, I'll say I don't think you're as hard line as you represent, but if for some reason you are--well I send my sympathies because it has to be a shitty way to live.

[GwynnInTheHall]

My wife is a physician so you don't have to tell me how hard they work. And we're still paying off her loans 15 years later. Doctors' compensation has pretty much remained the same when controlling for inflation. The huge increases in costs have come from other factors, such as administrative bloat, pharmaceutical gouging, and overprescribing of services to avoid missing something and getting sued.

Did you read where they are going to make it legal to have new doctors working 24 hour shifts? How can that be any good at all?

[cardboardbox]

Well, if I didn't have a subsidy it would be more than $850/month. My subsidy covers the vast majority of that. I'd like to thank you all for that.

850/mo seems high for 2 adults and 13,500 deductible but your market and age are different than mine.

So essentially, tax payers are paying most of 850/mo for insurance you almost cant use due to high deductible. Govt efficiency at its finest!

[In the Corn]

From my insurance provider:

Be aware, your in-network doctor or hospital may use an out-of-network provider for some services.

These are the traps that drive me freakin' insane. I can make every decision to be in-network and still find a hidden out of network service that I'm on the hook for.

My wife had surgery for kidney stones last year...this is exactly what happened.

[In the Corn]

850/mo seems high for 2 adults and 13,500 deductible but your market and age are different than mine.

So essentially, tax payers are paying most of 850/mo for insurance you almost cant use due to high deductible. Govt efficiency at its finest!

Pretty much. All I can say is it keeps prescription drugs at a relatively affordable price.

My policy is the cheapest premium available in my coverage area. I wouldn't want to waste anymore tax dollars, or personal dolars, than I already do.

[DMT]

From my insurance provider:

These are the traps that drive me freakin' insane. I can make every decision to be in-network and still find a hidden out of network service that I'm on the hook for.

My wife had surgery for kidney stones last year...this is exactly what happened.

That's sickening.

[DMT]

Did you read where they are going to make it legal to have new doctors working 24 hour shifts? How can that be any good at all?

I haven't, but that's surprising because in residency programs they have dramatically reduced the maximum length that residents can work. My wife didn't particularly like the way things were before (30 hour shifts, on-call every 3rd day, etc), but she says without hesitation that residents today are not nearly as well-trained as they were 15 years ago.

[GwynnInTheHall]

I haven't, but that's surprising because in residency programs they have dramatically reduced the maximum length that residents can work. My wife didn't particularly like the way things were before (30 hour shifts, on-call every 3rd day, etc), but she says without hesitation that residents today are not nearly as well-trained as they were 15 years ago.

I'm pretty sure that's a critique across the board in most professions.

[Moonlight J]

I haven't, but that's surprising because in residency programs they have dramatically reduced the maximum length that residents can work. My wife didn't particularly like the way things were before (30 hour shifts, on-call every 3rd day, etc), but she says without hesitation that residents today are not nearly as well-trained as they were 15 years ago.

my wife is a 22 year scrub tech and she's appalled at how unprepared & self-righteous today's techs are coming out of school. It is so bad at her hospital that the manager doesn't mind that my wife comes in late when I'm traveling because she's infinitely better than the recent hires

[umjewman]

my wife is a 22 year scrub tech

That's not nice. I'm sure she's very good at her job - why you gotta call her a scrub?

[Hornsby]

The CBO has finally released it's impartial analysis of the GOP "Health Care" bill...drum roll please":

24 MILLION people will lose coverage under the plan between now and 2026.

14 million people will lose insurance by next year...14 million more uninsured.

Millions more will see the cost of their insurance rise, if they can afford it.

Older American will pay substantially more than younger Americans.

Paul Ryan, who apparently has a real knack for writing fiction said this:

“Our plan is not about forcing people to buy expensive, one-size-fits-all coverage,” he said. “It is about giving people more choices and better access to a plan they want and can afford. When people have more choices, costs go down. That’s what this report shows.”

But hey, it'll save 337 billion over the next decade, so we've got that going for us!

I'm betting that eventually Insurance companies will come to the conclusion that having 24 million less customers is going to be a bad thing. I might be naive, and not understand the ways of the Insurance world, but generally speaking, more people purchasing a product or service should be a good thing...educate me if I'm off base here.

This is a disaster for all Americans, it'll drive people back to the days when they had to ignore their health until the day came when it could no longer be ignored, and became a catastrophic event. Which will either be paid for by the Government when people have to go to the hospital for care, or they'll just die off.

THIS people, is the real life Death Panel, not the scare tactics that the GOP tried to use against the ACA.

This bill is a fucking disgrace, and Paul Ryan, Donald Trump, and all who back this should be ashamed.