If you like your Healthcare coverage, you can keep your Healthcare coverage! Period!!

Re: If you like your Healthcare coverage, you can keep your Healthcare coverage! Peri

Excuses excuses.

Need to earn a few extra bucks to pay for your ObamaCare?

 

Re: If you like your Healthcare coverage, you can keep your Healthcare coverage! Peri

aha!

 

Re: If you like your Healthcare coverage, you can keep your Healthcare coverage! Peri

But seriously, the lower middle class and working poor are going to be helped. Yes, the 'and up' (you and me) will pay a bit more. No one is getting raped. The sky is not falling. You and everyone else will survive this.

barfo

 

Re: If you like your Healthcare coverage, you can keep your Healthcare coverage! Peri

Perspective. Common sense.

A fairly minor change in our healthcare insurance is not going to destroy the nation. You really think we can survive depression, war, terrorism, etc. but insurance is going to defeat us?

barfo

 

Re: If you like your Healthcare coverage, you can keep your Healthcare coverage! Peri

Yep, fairly minor. Although you wouldn't know it from the howling, most people won't be significantly affected. Of those that are, some will gain benefits (subsidies, coverage or better coverage, lower rates). Some will pay more (taxes and/or higher rates). The system is still primarily employer based private insurance, as it was before. This isn't a fundamental change, this is an incremental change.

barfo

 

Re: If you like your Healthcare coverage, you can keep your Healthcare coverage! Peri

It's 1% of family income (or $95/pp, $275/family), whichever is greater. That's about a grand for me, with no coverage. Probably do-able, especially if you're single or young married, entering-workforce wages--call it $500 a year or so for a teacher.

But the penalty escalates to 2.5% or $2095 per family per year, whichever is greater in a couple of years. I would be worried that it would keep escalating, except we've seen how it takes a lot to get FICA and SS increased (even though they're woefully undertaxed for what goes out).

What I thought was a bit funny, though, was the explanation of why there was a penalty/tax:

So wait...do people without health coverage get urgent care paid for by these penalties, or do they have to "pay the entire costs of all of their medical care". Or is this another case of "this is how we take from citizens to help illegals"?

Full Disclosure:
Tricare reserve is about $200/mo, and I've been told it meets "minimums" by the Chief of Navy Reserve (moot point while I'm deployed on active duty, but a concern when I get back).

 

Re: If you like your Healthcare coverage, you can keep your Healthcare coverage! Peri

I'd guess that means that those without coverage will be billed for their urgent care costs (same as now) but it expected that a sizable fraction won't pay the bill (same as now).
The latter part about 'all their medical care' obviously includes non-urgent care, where it would be slightly more difficult to evade the bill.

barfo

 

Re: If you like your Healthcare coverage, you can keep your Healthcare coverage! Peri

But wouldn't any medical care, urgent or not, that goes to the ER (or equivalent) qualify as "urgent"? Isn't that one of the major drivers for the law?

 

Re: If you like your Healthcare coverage, you can keep your Healthcare coverage! Peri

Yes, but I'm not sure I'm getting your point. Woman doesn't walk into the emergency room and say 'I'm due for a pap smear, it's an emergency'.

barfo

 

Re: If you like your Healthcare coverage, you can keep your Healthcare coverage! Peri

I see what you're saying. I'm not talking about preventative. I was talking about "I'm in the ER because my nose is running and won't stop" or various other non-life-threatening care that goes to an ER when uninsured. Care is given ("medical" care, vice "urgent" care).

My good friend is an ER nurse (doesn't everyone have one) and the stories she tells are painful to listen to. Oftentimes, they're drug-related.

 

Re: If you like your Healthcare coverage, you can keep your Healthcare coverage! Peri

As her friend, you should help her get off drugs.

I think you are saying that an otherwise law-abiding, honorable person who is choosing to break the law and pay the fine rather than have health insurance, will be paying twice - once the fine, and once at the ER? Not sure that's an issue, since they can choose to have health insurance if that is cheaper for them.

barfo

 

Re: If you like your Healthcare coverage, you can keep your Healthcare coverage! Peri

No, what I'm saying is that someone who's abiding by the law (that allows you to "opt-out" and pay a fee) isn't stopped from going to the ER just like before, and doesn't seem to be stopped by the law from receiving care and then paying or not paying as they deem appropriate for their situation, just like before.

But I did find the answer to my question. There are a litany of people who get "exemptions" from paying a fee for opting out:

So the penalty is for people who choose to opt out and pay for their own health care, to pay for those exempted from insurance above. Which seems to me like a large overlap of the 48M uninsured who were supposed to be helped by PPACA.

 

Re: If you like your Healthcare coverage, you can keep your Healthcare coverage! Peri

Well, by golly tell them I said hi!

Also tell them you haven't actually made an argument here, and that I don't think you have one to make.

barfo

 

Re: If you like your Healthcare coverage, you can keep your Healthcare coverage! Peri

I don't believe that paying for urgent care is optional under either previous or current law. Certainly some/many people don't pay, but that doesn't mean they don't owe it.

Not sure which question that answers, but I'm happy you got an answer.

Not sure how you arrive at that conclusion. Yes, those who chose to pay the penalty and their healthcare bills directly will be double-paying. But that's their choice. It's a free country.

barfo