1/31/2011 -
The whole thing has confused me from the beginning. Please share your thoughts and ideas, pros and cons…
With the federal court ruling yesterday, I assume this will end up in the Supreme Court. As someone with pre existing conditions who pays over $1000 per month for insurance I would like to see cheaper insurance. But I am not sure the law as passed will do that. I would rather be able to buy catastrophic insurance for a few hundred a month and pay for all the little things up front. As it is with high deductible insurance I do that anyway. My biggest fear is when you force employers to provide a certain level of coverage or be fined, they will choose the latter since it is cheaper. I think the other big problem is the way they are going to deal with many of the uninsured is to add them to the already overwhelmed Medicaid system. At the same time they want to reduce the amount doctors are paid on Medicare and Medicaid. My biggest fear will be lots of us will have insurance but no doctors or specialists to go to. I think this will create a definte 2 tier system in our health care system. The people who can afford the high priced private insurance will get much better access and care than those of us stuck in Government plans. Just my 2 cents.
I agree that EVERYONE needs to work with each other. I find myself in the middle of the debate. Both sides have valid points. I would just add that if Obama wanted the other side to work with him he has an odd way of showing it. He listened to very little input when developing this bill and now that it is said and done wonders why no one is willing to “work with” him by not complaining/suing.
I think if you are going to do it then do it. Universal coverage for all. Then the people who crafted the bill would have the same insurance as everyone else. Funny how Congress made a clause in the bill that excludes themselves and their friends from the bill.
pros: can’t be denied insurance for pre-existing conditions (good for diabetics switching plans), people up to 26 years old can stay on their parents plans (good for grad students or young adults who can’t afford insurance on their own), insurance companies can’t drop you
cons: individual mandate - still being decided in the courts 2 courts said it was ok and 2 said it wasn’t. the law was written that if one portion is shot down by the courts the WHOLE law is thrown out. not just that part - not very good for the parts noted above
Don’t think it went nearly far enough to address rising medical costs
Not an ideal sets of laws but think it was a step in the right direction and could be fixed w/ future laws. we’lll have to wait and see how the supreme court thinks about it
Very mixed on how it ended up. A national tax payer healthcare service would not bother me as it is now I am not a fan, would rather have seen it drop the no selling across state lines clause that way large companies could pool all employees together instead of just what they have in one state to get better deals. Over all something needed to be done and it’s a start.
I think lots of people are making some assumptions about what their premium costs will be. In most states already you can’t deny insurance for pre existing conditions but they can make you may a lot more. In the new bill they can still do it. So we won’t be able to afford the premiums. Right now a healthy young person can get an insurance policy that covers catastrophic for about $75 a month or so. Under this new plan they are mandating that insurance cover everything which will push premiums up close to $500 a month for healthy people and over $2000 a month for pre existing conditions. We buy our own insurance so we pay the whole thing. People that get their insurance through their employers don’t realise how much their employer pays. If his costs go up 50% he either has to lay people off or switch to HSA high deductible insurance. That is the only one I can afford now and my premium went up 25% this year. I have written lots of letters to my congresswoman and senators and I can get no answers what the new premiums would be. I checked on the Federal Program for Pre existing condiions, which we don’t qualify for because you have to be without insurance for 6 months. But the price for my husband and me would be over $1500 a month and we would have to get separate insurance for my daughter. That is why no one is signing up, they can’t afford it.
Only discount my company gives me is the power of group discount. They cover nothing, work full-time hours for part time benefits. The official full-time people pay less then half of what I pay.
whether or not it gets struck down by the supreme court (and i’m extremely confident that it won’t, because the court supports an expansive reading of the commerce clause [see, e.g., gonzales v. raich, 545 U.S. 1 (2005)]), it’s nice to the extent that it’s raised the salience of the issue and clarified that there is widespread agreement on the need for health insurance reform, especially with regard to coverage for pre-existing conditions. it’s even one of the issues mentioned in the 2010 republican party congressional platform.