Obamacare Who can afford it

My son had to take early retirement and he has since found out that he gets just a little over to qualify (company pension to young for SS) for state help and not enough to qualify for Obamacare help.  So he and his wife are without health insurance.  So the whole issue of Obamacare is a laugh.  If you are illegal or too lazy to work you can get state help.  Point granddaughter too lazy to work so she and  her daughter qualify for state health insurance.  It is a big joke.  They have already reported that Obamacare was going up and some insurers are going to be dropping out of Obamacare.  Employers have raised their premiums to employees too plus big deductibles. 

I thought if you were on disability you could qualify for Medicare after I think, a  2 year period.  Had a DIL who has since passed away and she was on disability and qualified for Medicare after a two year wait and got it even though my son was working and had healthcare coverage on her.  It paid for her hospitalizations.   Of course, this was over 14 years ago and things could have changed. 

This country does not take care of its own.   

wmc said:

Sorry you got stuck in this

Obama care was the worst mistake this country has ever done. And some in congress are proud of it, but don't have to use it and didn't even read it. In California you can not go to a teaching or University hospital with obama care, it won't cover it. I would have had to go local and hope the hospital surgeon had ever done a Laryngectomy befor mine.  My guess is 95 to one odds I would not have made it out of surgery. We do have an ENT that removes tonsils.

Lets hope and pray it does get repealed.

Bill

That is astonishing. The last thing any of us needs is stress over $ and insurance. Never thought I would look forward to age 65 for Medicare. For me, that is Jan 2016. Have you gone through the appeals process? 

I am fortunate to have great coverage through my husband's retirement. My biggest fear comes from the thought of long term care. Following my husband's stroke, I had no idea his Medicare and private insurance would pay zero after 100 days of nursing care. We were on our own for $8000 a month. He was on a VA wait list for $2000 a month but passed away before that materialized. 

I feel so bad for anyone facing insurance issues, it's just not right. 

Just last week I went for my scans and at check-in she said I owed $44 to the wound care center and could I pay that then. I was taken back. If I had said no, would they have denied the scan? I hadn't even gotten a bill yet for the $44. 

Appeal, appeal, appeal. maybe message Duggie88, he maybe able to offer some advice.

Tim,

I see your frustration, and after getting this disease myself, I share the same fears. US healthcare, is really mind boglingly too expensive. Unfortunately, I don't know enough of the system (being here only 6 years) to offer any help, but looking at the bills it is quite atrocious (both insurance cost and/or hospital costs). The government also doesn't seem to provide a safety net for healthcare for those that cannot afford, or are facing terminal diseases. It is really quite a scary and I think the system is quite broken. 

But I'll also compare and contrast. In my country (Malaysia), once a person has cancer, he/she can forget about getting on insurance for cancer care. There's almost NO insurance for cancer coverage, even premium ones/time lapse, do not exist after a person has cancer. So you're on your own (or at the mercy of company coverage) for cancer treatment. However, there are government hospitals as a final safety net. These are state hospitals. The queues are long, and it's more of a factory model (treat as many patients as possible) versus a personalized healthcare system. You can imagine the operating model is focused more for the 'greater good' instead of 'individual outcomes'. But at the minimum, it's my final safety net and the cost is a fraction of private healthcare (probably 1%) as it's mostly state sponsored. 

I wanted to share your frustration, as my limited experinece here I share the same views with everyone that the cost of healthcare is really a major problem. Most importantly, those who cannot afford do not have a safety net and seems like they're left out on their own. This part is really broken.

We are in the same boat.  Our cost is tripling and it's either pay Obamacare or our house payment.  We moved to have lower taxes and mortgage costs already.  It's so frustrating!  I called the marketplace to tell them that we would NOT be renewing and suddenly they were "able to reevaluate our situation and find lower cost care for us".  Let's see if that really happens.  We were paying much, much less per month being uninsured.  Even with the high cost of cancer treatment. 

Funny thing...one of my coworkers has two children with her boyfriend.  They refuse to get married (they live together and both work part time) and she has free insurance on her children through the state and her and her boyfriend's insurance is less than $100/month. AND it's really good insurance!!!!  HOW does THAT work?  

Sonja.K said:

Obamacare

I think it is important to remember that the plans and rates are set by insurance companies, not the government.   United Healthcare for example made a five billion dollar profit in 2014, their CEO $66 million in compensation.  It also depends on which state you live in, some states refuse to accept money from the Federal government.  Never made sense to me, it hurts us and federal dollars are our taxes.  

But you are not correct.  Rates in ALL the exchanges have to be approved by either the State Exchange (if they are running their own) or the Feds in the states where they run the exchange.  They can request rate increases but they have to be appoved.  As you might have read, UHC is pulling out of Obamacare in 2017.  There are so many regulations, and only sick people signing up, they'd have charge way more and they'd still not make a margin (on obamacare subscribers).  They make all their money on private and medicare suppliments.

The basic premise was that young people would sign up to even out the pool.  Not happening, they are paying the fine or getting it from work.  The fund is WAY upside down, as everyone who had an ounce of brain cells knew from day one.

Our health insurance is a national disgrace.  We need true no charge "catastrophic" health coverage.  Say every family that has an income under "x" (maybe a stairstep up as income goes up) has an out of pocket  limit of say $6000 (like paying an insurance payment of $500 a month) after that, something like medicare steps in and pays 100%.

Just one thought, probably a hundred better than that abortion Queen Nancy  forced through (I wonder how she's living without the 737 she demanded as Speaker).

J.

Sonja.K said:

Oh No

Oh no, I am currently in week two of a personal resolution to stop debating politics on fb and now I am doing it here.  I do disagree with you J and know that we could each find statistics, articles and data to support our own views.  I agree that Healthcare is a mess in the United States and no American should ever die or live in poverty due to the costs.  

I like Nancy P and I am not even from CA.

Have a great weekend!  

 

 

Actually, Unitedhealth has made $6.1-billion in net profit over the past fiscal year, so the forementioned was understated. And it appears Humana and Aetna make similar profits, which I find very troubling. They are publicly traded Companies, you see, and the numbers are, thus, open to the public. As for the top brass, looks like they get from $1-$5-million/year in pay. Being in the stock market for the last fifteen years, I look at these companies and the all important Earnings Per Share, and am shocked to see how high they are: United is $6.30, Aetna is $6.52, and Humana is $8.72!!! They are, in fact, some of the most profitable companies in America, without a doubt. I had expected, at most, around $2/share. Microsoft earns $1.50, General Electric is at $-.73, but Apple is at $9.22, Walmart is at $4.67, and Ford is at $1.20, as examples. Typically, if a Company is earing $2-2.50/year, EPS, it's doing real good.

Thus, we get into the arena of how the government can let these companies raise their premiums to you and I, when they are in fact making incredible net profits. What is Obama doing/saying about that? Or any of the Republican or Democrats on Capitol Hill? So, what has Obamacare really done? Nothing, really, except making it mandatory that everyone has health insurance. Affordable? Looks to me the numbers say it's mega-profitable to the Insurance Companies, and so nothing has really changed. And, the bottom-line, is that there's no way they can justify raising premiums like they are, and yet they are.

Ever hear of Lobbyists? Bingo. Nothing has changed because, as I've told my Dad so many times, both parties on Capitol Hill all eat at the same table. One can say the Democrats are for the poorer people, and the Republicans for the rich, and business, but that's all hot air. The Democrats want to just give money to the people, and the Republicans want jobs to be created so that people can earn the money they get with work. And people can watch C-Span and see how the votes went, HOWEVER, those votes only pertain to a specific Bill that has gotten past committee- and that is really what is key to it all. Congressional delegates can write a Bill that would really make changes, but it doesn't go to the floor for a vote. Instead, it goes to a committee for review. And that's where many Bills die/disappear. SO, I suspect any Bill proposed by Ron or Rand Paul, for instance, would never reach the floor for a vote. A Bill to form a Regulatory Agency to reign-in healthcare costs to the people, in light of the great profits being made by the big Insurance Companies...If such an Agency does exist, then why isn't it doing it's job? And if it does exist, then why isn't Obama having his people doing something about it? 

I have long thought COSTS were the real problem, mainly due to new and expensive equipment, and medicine and procedures that can now keep people alive when in the past they would have died, and such as that. And, overpaid healthcare workers. 1968- an overnight stay in the Freeport, Il., hospital was $45, and my Dad thought it was noteworthy when I got transferred to Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's in Chicago and found it was $60/night. In the mid-80s I was in a hospital in Peoria, and saw it posted that the basic charge for an overnight was $530. And now it is over $1,000. I recently had an experience that was outrageous: a Botox shot to each side of my neck is the new thing for treating neck spasms. I looked at the billing, and was shocked. I was only in the room for, at the most, 15 minutes, and it wasn't even in a hospital, though it was considered as a room in the Genesis hospital "system." The charge for just use of the room? $1,084!!!!!!! Not even 15 minutes, and no special equipment was used. The Spinal Dr just felt around for the spots, and in goes the needle on each side. That simple. And, yes, there were separate charges for the Dr, and the Botox med. But $1,084 for just use of the room for under 15 minutes?! Is it payroll, their computers, utilities, taxes and insurance liabity expenses that make them charge so much? I suspect they all come into play, along with profit. There used to be the arguement that they overcharge to make-up for the losses they take by treating patients with no insurance and never pay their bills, but now?

The one fact I can find to support Obamacare is the fact that 3 or 4 hospitals on the South Side of Chicago literally closed-down back in the late-90s due to being so far in the red that they just went out of business. Treating patients who could pay little or nothing of their billings...And, there was that story on 60 Minutes about that hospital in Las Vegas that shut-down it's Cancer treatment unit, due to costs and how patients weren't able to pay- many patients had no insurance back then. A lady was brought-in to analyze the situation by the Hospital, and she said they were losing $3-million/month just in that unit, so there was no alternative but to close it down, which they did.

All just food for thought for y'all.

kcass 

duck1255 said:

Obamacare

I thought you couldn't be turned down for preexisting conditions with Obamacare, apparently that isn't true.

being turned down, but our premiums are going up 3x the cost for next year with Obamacare!

I think Honda was referring the the health SHARE program that didn't want to touch him.   That's a shame, too! 

Hondo said:

All we can do is to pray

They are right to call it Cobra because it is just like a snake, how can they figure someone out of work can pay $1,500.00 a month for insurance

Yes, I did find out that after 2 years on disability I can enroll in Medicare but that will not be till February 2017.

P: you are right as I was searching on the web I found there are about 6 million people all having problems and can’t pay for affordable health insurance because it is not affordable.

 

We really need to all pray because this is just not America anymore.

 

Keep praying, just keep praying

Tim

Tim,

Have you tried calling or writting a local TV News station to see if they can help?  Where I live we have a news station that takes on hard challenges and then puts the results on the local news to show how they did it.  It's worth a try.  Maybe the newspapers too will publish something about you to get the attention of the government.  This is not the time to be shy Tim.  Get the word out to as many as possible.  The spotlight needs to be shinning on you right now.

I can't stand to think of you w/o insurance my friend.  You've helped so many of us through the years and now you get the big kick in the rear.  It seems you are the epitomy of the saying "No good deed goes unpunished".  

We all need to put Hondo in our prayer list to find a solution to this monumental problem.  It is just not right.

Tom