Obamacare Status update

[sirs]

We had to pass it to see what was in it, we were told, with the sincerest pledges that it would bring down healthcare costs, shrink the deficit, and those who wanted to keep their insurance and/or their physician absolutely could.  No ifs, ands, or buts

After its 100% partisan passage, how well has it been for 'the country", as its biggest cheerleader is about to leave office (read, NOT just for those who now have coverage, but didn't before, since that could have been addressed with about 3 pages of legislation vs the 2000+ page monstrosity we got instead. Let's take a totality tally, shall we;

- Much higher rates,
- ballooning out-of-pocket costs,
- more federal debt accrual,
- decreased options for consumers,
- more uncompensated care,
- constricting networks,
- major insurers pulling the plug,
- imploding co-ops,
- collapsing marketplaces,
and
- enduring unpopularity, as more Americans are directly harmed than helped by the $2 trillion law that was marketed with no downsides for anyone.

But yea, a few more people are covered, so I guess there's that

[Xavier_Onassis]

There is NO HOPE that this country will go back to the mess we had before Obamacare.
No matter who is elected.

[sirs]

Why not??  If one piece of crap legislation has made this country's healthcare system so much worse than it was, than repealing and replacing that piece of legislation would be the 1st order of business in repairing its damage.  Trump has campaigned on it, and if Congress remains in GOP control, and has produced multiple legislative options that doesn't leave the Fed in control, merely their more appropriate Constitutional oversight, there's absolutely no reason Obamination care can't be repealed

In fact, I'd even support a 100% completely partisan effort, including whatever Senatorial gimmicks are required to pass on a simple majority vote

[Xavier_Onassis]

I might be altered, but m]never again will people be told that they cannot be insured because of previous conditions.
Single payer, perhaps with an option like Medicare Advantage plans, is the best thing that could happen.

[sirs]

It might, but it won't.  Subsequent legislation can be passed following Obamination Care's repeal that will include being covered for previous conditions.  Trump has campaigned on the repeal, and the GOP is already on board, with alternative legislation.  So the BEST thing that can happen is getting Government out of the business of trying to control our healthcare, in which they have no business in doing so, in the 1st place

And I'm fully on board, in supporting whatever parlimentary manuevers are needed to have such repeal and passage of new legislation, performed on a simple majority basis

[Plane]

   The five to ten percent that will never be covered under the rules of "Obamacare" what excuse are they offered?

     I think that a 5% improvement in the situation could have been bought with less than a 20% increase in cost.

      But that is what we have now , and there is "no hope" of improvement.

[sirs]

Especially when you consder that the alternative "fix" being floated by the left is for the Fed to take it all over, with a single payer system......yea, let's throw gasoline on the fire.  What made it horrible to begin with (Fed taking control), will be fixed by the Fed taking complete control

I don't think so.......then again, that was what the left's goal has been all along

[Plane]

  Yes I think so too.

    It was never important that the affordable health care law be well crafted and efficient. It was intended more to smash up what we had at the time than to last.


      There are several historical instances of generals burning the bridges as they crossed them or Conquistadors  burning their ships to prevent retreat.


     This works fine if it is difficult to build the bridges and ships.


     What makes it difficult to re-establish a private system of insurance?


        Perhaps with improvements?

[sirs]

With the right President & right piece of legislation, could absolutely accomplish that....that of a Private System, but with Federal oversight, including coverage for those with pre-existing conditions

[Plane]

....., including coverage for those with pre-existing conditions

That is one of the thorny bits.

Unless practically everyone is included it is hard to cover preexisting conditions.

Insurance depends on covering a lot of people who don't get all of their money back.

   So when the very healthy would rather run around uninsured , there is just that much less money to make.

    The Civil service has had coverage for pre-existing conditions for a long time , buying in to the insurance is a condition of employment so we have been nearly 100% covered since a way back. With this large number of customers the civil service negotiates with insurance companies with strength.

     Obamacare does not have any friends that want it to last forever, the staunchest proponents are disappointed in it,or else consider it a mere stepping stone to a single payer, it should not be truly hard to repeal once the bills scheduled to land the next two years come due.

      What we replace it with needs to have some of Obamacares popular provisions , but coverage of pre-existing conditions pretty much requires some of its least popular features, like really strong inducements to get the healthy to pay or a high tax that makes up the difference.


     This is one of the things I liked about Ben Carson, his plan for paying medical expenses was more realistic than Obamacare and gave more power to individuals while producing gentle inducement to the healthy to join , those healt savings plans are a good idea even if you do it only for yourself, but if they were organized into customer bases for negotiation even more so.

[Xavier_Onassis]

Again, I have a Medicare Advantage Plan are it is absoutely the BEST insurance I have ever had, None of the other mickeymouse plans that my college had even come close.

The government does a good job of supervising Humana, and Humana is quite responsive, All the others they would put you on hold fopr an hour and then they would hang up. or they would pingpong you back and forth between the HP office and the company.

[sirs]

Anecdotal evidence aside, your personal anomoly of care, is not representative of the vast majority of the rest of the country, under this legislative behemeth.  I've lost count of the patients that have told me the periods of waiting they've had to endure trying to connect up with some Government representative.  Social Workers and Discharge Planners, here at the hospital, are turning grey trying to get any expedited responses from Medicare/Government agents, on medical equipment & home health follow-up

The Government is NOT mandated to supervise and direct Humana, much less humans, which is what controlling healthcare is all about.  And none of your "personal" experience debunks any of the FACTS layed out above

[Plane]

  There is not just one story.

    Medicare is doing alright , though an increasing number of Doctors are refusing to participate.

     Blue Cross Federal program is doing alright, though deductibles are rising and there will be an increase of twenty percent in premiums next year.

      The VA is overwhelmed and straining at its seams , probably getting worse as more military retirees grow old and military spending grows restrained.

        Obamacare opened opportunities for many uninsurable people , though by no stretch of the imagination is it first class coverage for them.

        We have five or eight percent of us who are more uninsurable than before, if they get sick they just go to an emergency room for care that we wind up paying for at outrageous rates, though it is not the best of care.

        I imagine that better could be done, if we could ever get organized .

[sirs]

That'll never happen until one side stops with the fatally flawed ideology, that it must be controlled by Government....at the Federal level

[Xavier_Onassis]

Socialized medicine is the way to go!  Yay Socialism!