Obama care?

[trevm999]

I don't know the details of the American healthcare system, but it looks really messed up. I live in Canada and it's nice not to have to worry about most medical issues, and if you do have to pay it is unlikely you're ever getting a $100 000 bill. Health insurance would cost me $20 a month if I wanted additional things covered. I know people who had to go to the hospital in the States when they were down there or went down to get an elective surgery faster, they still get bills and notices from the hospital saying they have sent the bill to a collection agency even though their insurance covered it or they paid the hospital bill. Have you ever had that when you went to mechanic, or maybe you should try that yourself? I don't think you would keep your customers for very long, but a hospital gets away with it because they provide an essential service. One that deals with life and death. Something is messed up there, it doesn't look like Obamacare will fix the real issue, but it seems like governments pretty much always focus on the symptoms rather than the cause.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

I don't know the details of the American healthcare system, but it looks really messed up. I live in Canada and it's nice not to have to worry about most medical issues, and if you do have to pay it is unlikely you're ever getting a $100 000 bill. Health insurance would cost me $20 a month if I wanted additional things covered..

In fairness though, you do still pay for that coverage right? I hear people from a lot of other countries try to slam the US with "you have to pay that much for your healthcare? Our gov't subsidizes us!" But...some countries tax the population like 60%....so in effect you're still paying for it out of your pocket when your paycheck gets whacked in half. We're 25-35% tax...depending on the bracket you're in. My second wife was from Calgary..."cow town"...and I heard lots of pro's ..and con's...of the healthcare system up there. It certainly had some advantages over ours, and ours had some advantages over it.

BUT moving back away from the comparisons....I'm not looking forward to my healthcare costs going up shortly....nope....not happy about that.

 

[trevm999]

Yes, we are paying it out of our taxes and it is the middle class that gets hit the hardest. If one doesn't make enough to get taxed, then I guess they aren't paying anything. Where the frustration comes in is when someone gets a raise and all of a sudden they make less money than they did before because they moved up to the next tax bracket. Also wait times are long for elective surgery.

 

[Tony_Scarpelli]

USA is the perfect model of health care of How Not To Do It.

We have long wait times too and anyone who says otherwise either doesn't know or hasn't had surgery in a while. 2 months is normal to get a Surgery scheduled and that is after waiting 30+ days for the doctors visit and 30+ days for the specialists visit.....so 4-6 months is not out of the ordinary.

 

[NWPhotog]

As an American I couldn't agree more. We pay more for lower quality medical treatment than many countries.

 

[mr m]

Times have changed. I remember doctors making house calls.

Now you get to haul your sick butt to some clinic full of other malady laden unfortunates. Selflessly sharing your germs for an hour or two while you're wondering what's taking so long.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

USA is the perfect model of health care of How Not To Do It.

We have long wait times too and anyone who says otherwise either doesn't know or hasn't had surgery in a while. 2 months is normal to get a Surgery scheduled and that is after waiting 30+ days for the doctors visit and 30+ days for the specialists visit.....so 4-6 months is not out of the ordinary.

Depends on the hospital you choose, and the doctors office you choose. They're like any other business...some are good, some adequate, some suck. It's up to the consumer (us) to choose wisely, and make our decisions. Many people just think the local clinic or hospital is their only choice. That's too bad..but that's the plight of the uninformed consumer.

Last year my wife 'n I were on a 3 day weekend, her gall bladder went oingo boingo, extreme pain...I drove home at triple digits for almost 2 hours...went to the local Doc, they did scans and saw a bad problem, ambulance to the hospital that night, operation the next morning to take it out.

Couple of years ago I got tired of my crippled lower back, I have lots of medical clients with execs that know everyone around, I asked around ..got names of who was good, where to go. Got the best neurosurgeon and that whole procedure went quickly and very well, best of care every step of the way, in a great hospital.

I got used to that way of actively pursuing the best medical help from growing up in the 70's...my mom was an RN who worked for 2x hospitals, and a well known doctors office. My neighbor and pretty much god mother was a head nurse who ran the hospital for Electric Boat (where many of the US Navy sub were built). Got it engrained in me to research and demand the best when it came to healthcare and emergencies...to be my own advocate. If you can do this, you'll find success in our healthcare system. If you just let the system drive you....accept basic common care...you will be disappointed.

 

[SilverLeaf]

...........snip........... Got it engrained in me to research and demand the best when it came to healthcare and emergencies...to be my own advocate. If you can do this, you'll find success in our healthcare system. If you just let the system drive you....accept basic common care...you will be disappointed.

You hit on an important topic. I am a firm believer in self-directed and participatory healthcare. Maybe it's just the way I'm wired, but I always make an effort to participate in and understand any medical issue or health problem I may have or may be genetically susceptible to. I research treatment and prevention options thoroughly. Now, I'm not arrogant enough to think that I am a qualified medical professional. But, there have been occasions where I felt I was more knowledgeable about a specific issue than my GP, who has to deal with such a wide variety of ailments that they can't possibly be a specialist in all of them.

Once upon a time, I even had one GP actually "fire" me....sent me a certified letter and everything. His claim was that I refused to continue to follow the cholesterol treatment program recommended by him (rather his pharmaceutical representatives). Truth be told, I believe he was unaccustomed to and threatened by educated and assertive patients and the difficult questions that they ask.

Bottom line: It's my health, and I'm not about to let one person make unilateral decisions about it....especially if they are unwilling to engage in a discussion about it and would rather stick to the pharmaceutical dogma and treat the symptoms.

In my experience, a good doctor that is willing to listen and encourage his/her patients to learn and participate is a valuable asset to have. Sometimes you have to weed out a few until you find one.

 

[Tony_Scarpelli]

I personally have great health care. Thank you all very much. I am a vet.

Despite news articles to the contrary the VA where I live is excellent. Other members of my family rely on normal health care insurance and hospitals....do not fare as well.

 

[Pants]

One thing that bothers me is that hardly anybody knew what was in the bill when they passed it, but our elected officials voted for it anyway. What kind of a way is that to run a government? I'm not sure fixing the health care system from Obama care to something else would work, the government is too big and irresponsible. THAT is our biggest problem.

 

[callthatgirl]

I'll probably insure myself under MNSure, the state's plan. I figured the best plan for just a few extra dollars is the best deal for me.

What I found funny is this...those that HAVE insurance, go to the Dr. all the time. When I worked at the Mayo clinic, we had an average of 8 people in my dept out sick on a daily basis, out of 32 people! The sick days allowed were insane, but if you think of it...people all working in cramped cubicles all day, sharing germs and crap and fridge foods and bringing in the flu from their kids, they needed those sick days apparently. Being child free, I seemed to be sick less so I took off sick days as holidays.

Anyway, when you are entrepreneur starting out your own business, the choice is limited in health care and I had NONE for many years, until I found out I qualified for the old MNCare plan based on my taxes. And guess what, once I had insurance, I went to the dr. often. Might as well right? I Had the sleep study done and finally got the CPAP machine to save my life. Couldn't afford that without some type of insurance. All of the Dr. visits and studies and aftercare, rental of the machine, probably 10G easily.

Now I'm without insurance, I make too much money to afford the "real plans" and i'm overweight, so no underwriting company will take me. The Obama Care thing allows me to have insurance now no matter what, for under $200 a month.

I'm so thankful I don't have employees now.

 

[14049752]

I'm so thankful I don't have employees now.

Why? You didn't have 50 or more employees. All you would have needed to do was inform them that healthcare.gov exists.

I very much doubt that anyone on this forum is affected by ACA in terms of being a business owner having employees.

 

[Tony_Scarpelli]

Do not expect anything from your government that makes sense until we change a few things to get the elected officials to work for the public again rather than the champagne contributors.


1. term limits on senate and congress no more career elected officials
2. public financed elections where all candidates get the same time to make their case.
3. make it illegal to give an elected officials anything more than coffee and a pie (in the face).

This is a tall order because they are not going to put restrictions on their-selves.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

One thing that bothers me is that hardly anybody knew what was in the bill when they passed it, but our elected officials voted for it anyway. What kind of a way is that to run a government? .

The REAL concern is what ACA "riders" slipped through on that last big vote that "brought out gov't back to work".
On a related note...our healthcare plan at the office is locked in until next spring.

 

[Metanis]

Can't get in...

My state (Wisconsin) didn't build their own exchange so I'm using the Federal one. I have Medicare and VA so am covered, however my wife needs insurance. I've been trying since the first day and the site keeps finding some way to block me. I've tried different browsers and at various times you have to delete your cache and cookies and try again.

After 2 weeks I finally reached the point her application was considered complete except I needed to submit proof of her expected 2014 income. (That's a subject for another thread in itself, how can you "prove" something you anticipate to happen in the future?) I submitted last year's 1040 form using the web submission tool provided.

That's been 4 days ago and the application is locked. It shows that the application is not complete due to a required submittal however it also shows that I've submitted it. There is no feedback how to move beyond this state of affairs and there is no feedback as to what is supposed to happen next.

I invoked the Chat feature and was told almost immediately that I'd have to be escalated to the next level of support. That was yesterday and I was told to expect 2 business day response.

So 19 days into this thing I still cannot even review the plans available or their pricing.

In the Marines we had a phrase to describe this type of experience. It's acronym is CF. Or phonetically known as a Charlie Foxtrot.

 

[SilverLeaf]

Yeah, there seems to be a night and day difference between the states that were pro-active and established their own exchanges and those states that opted to use the federal exchange. It's a shame that the federal exchange has been so poorly implemented. Had it not been for the distraction of all the "shutdown" nonsense, these problems might have received more of the spotlight and helped support the "anti-obamacare" movement. I hope they get these glitches resolved soon.

 

[Pants]

How about everybody just learn how to live off the GRID, once again. It used to be done, after all. What choice are we going to have eventually, anyway? If you depend on the "system" as we know it, you're either going live without HOPE in it (since it's going nowhere fast), or you're going to be let down one of these days.ie Our government is CORRUPT, irresponsible, and have pushed us into unsustainable 17 Trillion dollar debt,..and it's going to just keep going HIGHER and HIGHER, and HIGHER.

You may live as part of the "system" for accomplishing certain things, or choose not abandon the system entirely, but nothing wrong with LEARNING how to live off the system. If everybody learned how to do that, then we would render the government who controls almost everything we do virtually powerless. We could tell the government, essentially, if you don't SHAPE UP, we're going to SHIP OUT ............start over with our new society.

This is what we need! We need to get everybody to LEARN how to live off the grid (not abandon the grid entirely, just learn HOW to live off of it), and then the government cannot hold us hostage with their fear mongering and bull**** ... If they knew we all knew how to live off the grid, then they would work for US and not themselves because they would have more incentive to work for us (or they would loose their job).


POWER BACK TO THE PEOPLE! POWER BACK TO THE PEOPLE!
POWER BACK TO THE PEOPLE!

LET'S DO THIS! LET'S DO THIS! LET'S DO THIS!

LET'S WIN OUR COUNTRY BACK!!!

 

[bee_spec92]

I think Obama Care is totally justified, and I'm supporting it

 

[coffee]

I think Obama Care is totally justified, and I'm supporting it

Im so glad to hear that.

Your premium will be 675.00 a month. How do you want to pay for that? Or would you just want to pay the penalty/tax instead? - You know, For your 'free health care'?

(I will not even sign this)

 

[NETWizz]

Their "Learn about Healthcare" calculated mine out to $243/month for the Gold plan... Great deal!!! Until I found out that is for someone who makes $19,000. How in the hell would someone in that income group possibly afford that kind of money???

Then I go to apply and my premiums were estimated to be $629/month for the Silver. WTF???

For now, I will stick with my employeer's plan which is about $280/month for the equivalent of Gold.