It's insurance.. you do know that it works better when the risk is spread around over more people.. right? That's how these things work. And a large number of those that were uninsured are younger people with less health risks to burden the system.
If you don't like your plan get a different one.
This is not single payer. It's insurance. As you say...risk spread around. Which means if you bring in more risk, you pay a bit more than someone who does not. That's the way it works. Or the way it used to work. Obamacare was NOT supposed to guarantee coverage for those with high claims at the same rate as someone who has no claims. But that's what they slipped in under the door. That's part of the reason that premiums (for the healthy people) sky rocketed. If you are sick, your premium went DOWN. Even though you will be using the insurance much more than others.
That's not right. It's not fair. And it shifts the costs of unhealthy lifestyles to those who don't use insurance that much, whether because of genetics or a healthy lifestyle. There are so many people who are obese (self-inflicted condition), which means they will get metabolic syndrome, if they don't have it already (diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke risk, etc.). All related to their obesity caused by their lifestyle. I, a healthy person, am footing the bill for their lifestyle, even though I live a healthy lifestyle myself. I walk every day, eat veggies & fruit, rarely eat pizza, etc., etc. Despite coming from a morbidly obese family, and tipping the scales at moderate obesity during puberty, I've escaped and have been a normal weight, healthy person all my adult life. It's not easy. My reward? I'm healthy. And I get to pay a higher premium so I can pay for an obese person's health care. Ironic.
Obamacare promotes unhealthy lifestyles. The healthier you are, the more your premium is in relation to what it would have been last year. The sicker you are, the bigger the break on your premium under Obamacare.
Insurance ALREADY spread the risk. What is going on now is not spreading the risk. It's something else. It's bringing sick people in at the expense of healthy people. It's forcing people over 50 to pay for the sins of the 40 year olds. (People over 50 automatically pay an increased premium because of their age, even if they are in perfect health. And the premium keeps increasing for each year over 50. This is not the case for those under 50.)
There is so much that is wrong and unfair with the new system that it's hard to list it all. But it's unfair, to sum up. Previously, insurance was fair. If you will use insurance more, you will pay a higher premium. Makes sense. But that common sense approach has flown the coop.
There's nothing wrong with paying less for a premium (by a sick person who will have high claims). But no one ever said, and it was never stated, that the high useage people would be paying the same as or less than healthy people. That would be okay in a single payer system. But that's not what we have. Middle class people are footing the bill. Average people are having to take money from other budget items to pay for the premiums that pay for high useage claim people.
And don't forget that we are forced to buy only one policy. It is illegal to alter it. You DO you know we all have the same policy, right? I know you have maternity care, prescription coverage, inpatient drug rehab coverage, and that you pay for that. Even if there's no chance in hell you'll ever use it. You pay for it. Not the govt.
The end result is too expensive for ordinary middle class people. It is a hardship on people to the point that some people will be dropping the ins. altogether.
Yes, more people are covered under Medicaid, a few are getting ins. where previously they had none, and some have LOST their insurance because of the cost.
You have decided that some people are more important than others. The people this bill helps are more important to you than the ones it hurts. Fair enough. But own up to it. That's what you are saying. I have lost a healthy leg because you have decided it's worth it so that someone else's unhealthy leg can get amputated. I, OTOH, believe that it unnecessary to cut off everyone's leg in order to cut off the one unhealthy leg in the room.
(NOTE: I can tell you are not one of the ones whose premium went up 65% for less coverage.)
