We received the first info about how my husband's insurance is changing due to the Health Care Act in 2014. I'm scared - it appears to mean much more $$ out of pocket AND there was no mention of durable medical yet (which was unlimited and covered at 100%) so we'll see. RX is going up, too.
I've already received my brand new Dexcom G4 and I am going to quickly order a new T-slim pump as my Animas Ping is really beat up. But who knows if I'll be able to afford the supplies going forward.
Cheri
For the record, I'm terrified, too.
I am not at all. I believe the improvements are well worth the changes. Here are improvements we already know about. 1. elimination of lifetime limits on coverage. Up until this year these maximums have been coming down at an alarming rate. This legislation eliminates this. 2. allowance that children over 18 and not in school can remain on their parents plans in many cases. This age is unheard of today, and 3. the requirement that all person obtain health insurance. Make no mistake you, we, are paying the high price for those who chose to remain uninsured and who then do not pay bills.
Their is a basic misunderstanding that unpaid accounts do not somehow cost others. This is a completely wrong. What happens is that unpaid bills go to the hospital or doctors bottom line and those items are then paid by all of us. So a portion of every medical bill you and I pay is the cost of uncollected fees and cost of collection.
What many people falsely assume is that if they have medical insurance they are not paying for the medical costs of the uninsured. instead the uninsured are driving health insurance inflation at a rate of near 15% per year. Employers, individuals, no one will be able to afford health insurance the vast majority are covered by insurance. Now I wont lie, medical inflation has yet to catch up with rates. in the future, this will happen. if we wish to make it worse delay will do that. Right now there is little significant reason for people to carry health insurance, after all in most states, the debt goes away when the person that services were provided for dies.
Other factors. Most countries have government controlled health plans. We do not. We want largely company provided health insurance. That is fine, but our companies are paying an incredible amount for health insurance. Wish to know one of the reason other countries have jobs that might be done here? It is because our industry bares the majority of the cost of health insurance. So companies take their jobs elsewhere.
This law will not solve this issue, but we must understand if cost and therefore responsibility is not shifted to the individual than or job base will go away even worse than we think it is today.
OK, so none of that is your issue, I get that. This law will not distantly control costs. What does is provide access to markets. Right now most type 1's and many type 2's cannot enter the individual market on their own. Further and this the part that frighten you more than cost, today their is no universal right to health insurance provided by your employer. In other words, today your employer could drop their plan no questions asked, or they could place a disqualification in their policy that prevents some new employees form gettign health insurance even that offered to others. now i do not want to frighten you or misrepresent the facts, it is far more likely a company will drop all health coverage before they discriminated against some employees.
I honestly believe that this issue will be mute in a few years. Please remember all this nonsense you are hearing almost word for word was said about Medicare in the mid 60's. There were politicians speaking against it, complaining about it etc. Today, these very same people or people they represent are speaking against this new law.in some cases it is almost parallel reasoning depending on the item being addressed. These are not new arguments and they are made by roughly the same people.
Here is something that i hope will give you some comfort. Before any of this started, the Hudson and Cato institutes both extremely conservative think tanks made proposals about how to refine America's health insurance system. By and large, the method chosen is very similar to eh method that these institutes proposed. More personal responsibility, subsidy of the low income, state or regional exchanges and lifting maximum lifetime limits.
that is close to what we have.
Oh as far as durable medical equipment, the plan design you employer chooses is not dependent on the federal law, so long as it meets the minimum requirements. Yes durable is a concern, but be careful not to mix employer issues with the deferral requirements. Not all changes here are perpetrated as a result of this law, however, most folks may blame the federal law.
Oh I am sorry for my terrible editing, I wrote it on this web site instead of Word. It was late and I was very tired. So sorry for the editing, I hope folks get the main ideas. Again I am so sorry.
No, thank you so much for posting this, Rick; there is a lot of rumor, misinformation and fear about this topic and I hope your post reduced some of this for people that have been hearing all the dire rumors (based more imho on anti-Obama sentiment than knowledge of the program he has instituted of desperately needed changes to our shameful system.
There are some merits to the changes particularly the right to insurance regardless of a pre-existing condition. I'm sure the insurance companies will find loopholes around this though. In general, I think it's pointless to debate the pros and cons of the ACA since health care continues to be a for profit system that mainly benefits drug companies and insurance companies. Like everyone else I will have to wait and see what the effects of the ACA will be, but already we are seeing thousands of people being shifted to part time work due to the employer mandates. Also, I believe the layers of new bureaucracy to manage this thing will prove to be total chaos. Corporate profits are more important than the welfare of the people, and as long as this system prevails we will continue to get shoddy medical care.
Yes - all of what you say is true.......here is what is also true: My out of pocket is going dramatically up and I can't afford that. I realize that is not because of the law per se, but how my husband's employer has chosen to implement it. But the fact is, we are going to get a whole lot less for a whole lot more.
I didn't mean to seem unsympathetic to that, Cheri. I would be upset as well.
Cheri - Your perception is the same one I had when I first read your post. Some employers will use the upcoming Affordable Care Act (ACA) implementation to begin some drastic benefits downgrades. Some people that suffer these changes will, in error, blame the ACA, or Obamacare as they like to call it.
I am against any change that will adversely affect, economically and otherwise, the much needed benefits that we diabetics need to survive. I wish you well!
Thanks Terry - and Zoe - and lotsofshots ....I believe that one of the reasons they are using the law to downgrade is to avoid the taxes on so-called "Cadillac plans" - I think that was a mistake. Most corporations will avoid taxes of any kind at all cost - even at the cost of employees and families. It wasn't "cadillac" to me - it was survival.
Having said that, while there are some great features in the plan that should remain, like Social Security and Medicare - it needs tweaks and fine tuning. The problem is all the folks who will fall through the cracks during the years it will take to make the needed changes.
Very sorry to hear, although it sounds like they haven't rolled out the complete plan so hopefully it won't be too bad.
I am of the opinion that some companies, employers and insurance companies, will use the healthcare law to blame for many things. I do know that in the five years I've been with the company I'm with that every year my out of pocket costs have increased and my deductible is now around $6000.
Working for a small company, less than 50 employees, so not expecting any direct impact from ACA . Also curious on impact as my company is headquartered in a State that's resisting ACA and live in one that's supporting ACA. It may turn out cheaper for me to buy off the local exchange if possible. Hoping to find out soon.