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Enrollment In Obamacare's Federal Exchange, So Far, May Only Be In 'Single Digits'

Re: Enrollment In Obamacare's Federal Exchange, So Far, May Only Be In 'Single Digits

I signed up for my state's exchange, and it looks much better than what I have. It's a bummer I have to wait for it to kick in, because I sure could use it now. The premiums are about the same as I pay now for much better care. There are half a million people in my state alone who are uninsured, and I think the truth is that most of them want health insurance and have never been willing to jump through the hoops to get it. They're lazy and the mandate will help people go out there and get insurance. The end result will be a better system, one in which people start getting preventative care. It's going to make our country better, and for the many posters in this thread who talk about how horrible they think Obama is, making the country better seems like a pretty good use of our money. Bush - used our money to invade two countries. Obama - used our money to set up affordable health insurance for the majority of our citizens.

I can see why that's so scary to Republicans. No, I'm just kidding, I have no idea why anybody would be terrified of the ACA. We need to reform entitlement programs and get spending down, granted, but Obamacare seems good to me.

Would you mind posting the comparison to what you have now? Include monthly premium, deductible, out of pocket max, and co-insurance rate.
 
Re: Enrollment In Obamacare's Federal Exchange, So Far, May Only Be In 'Single Digits

:lamo Complete opposite of reality....

"On Thursday, the government's official Obamacare Facebook page was riddled with people expressing sticker shock over the government's high cost premiums after struggling for hours to wade through the technical failures vexing Obamacare exchanges all across the country.

"I am so disappointed," wrote one woman. "These prices are outrageous and there are huge deductibles. No one can afford this!" The comment received 169 "likes."

"There is NO WAY I can afford it," said one commenter after using the Kaiser Subsidy Calculator. "Heck right now I couldn't afford an extra 10$ [sic] a month...and oh apparently I make to [sic] much at 8.55/hour to get subsidies."

Obamacare Facebook Erupts with Citizen Sticker Shock

So, although it is early on in the roll out, so far it can only be described as an unmitigated disaster.

Oh, and that is not even to start discussing how code writers, and IT security people that have looked at the site, have described nothing less than a hackers, or identity thief's dream.

"On Fox Business Network’s “Cavuto” on Wednesday, computer programmer and founder of McAfee, Inc. John McAfee said the online component of Obamacare “is a hacker’s wet dream” that will cause “the loss of income for the millions of Americans who are going to lose their identities.”

For starters, McAfee said the way it is set up makes it possible for fake websites be set up to fool people to think they’re signing up for Obamacare.

“It’s seriously bad,” McAfee said. “Somebody made a grave error, not in designing the program but in simply implementing the web aspect of it. I mean, for example, anybody can put up a web page and claim to be a broker for this system. There is no central place where I can go and say, ‘OK, here are all the legitimate brokers, the examiners for all of the states and pick and choose one.’”



Read more: McAfee on Obamacare: 'This is a hacker's wet dream' [VIDEO] | The Daily Caller

I wouldn't go anywhere near that site, even to check it out.



One funny thing is, when checking that Kaiser calculator, people who smoke (predominantly the poor) are going to get reamed. They get an automatic 50% surcharge on top of their premium that can not be covered by the subsidy. So the poor folks have to give up their cigarettes... but crack and marijuana is OK.


Even funnier is that the Out of Pocket for the SILVER plan is about $12k which means that this plan won't even save the poor from medical bill induced bankruptcy. The Bronze plan, which is all the poor will be able to afford, is even worse.
 
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Re: Enrollment In Obamacare's Federal Exchange, So Far, May Only Be In 'Single Digits

I signed up for my state's exchange, and it looks much better than what I have. It's a bummer I have to wait for it to kick in, because I sure could use it now. The premiums are about the same as I pay now for much better care.

Of course there is NO way to verify that without seeing both plans you are talking about side by side in their entirety.

There are half a million people in my state alone who are uninsured, and I think the truth is that most of them want health insurance and have never been willing to jump through the hoops to get it. They're lazy and the mandate will help people go out there and get insurance.

Yeah, all those darned 'lazy' 27 year old's that don't really use health care services outside the occasional visit to a Doctor's Care clinic for a cold, now have to be forced to buy a private product to cover things that they will never use, all in the name of redistribution of their premium money paid.

The end result will be a better system, one in which people start getting preventative care. It's going to make our country better, and for the many posters in this thread who talk about how horrible they think Obama is, making the country better seems like a pretty good use of our money.

Well, that is a catchy talking point, too bad it isn't the reality of what is taking place.

Bush - used our money to invade two countries. Obama - used our money to set up affordable health insurance for the majority of our citizens.

:roll: You libs just can't help yourselves can you? THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH BUSH!!!

I can see why that's so scary to Republicans. No, I'm just kidding, I have no idea why anybody would be terrified of the ACA. We need to reform entitlement programs and get spending down, granted, but Obamacare seems good to me.

With all due respect, lots of things 'seem' good on paper, when in practical application they are disasters, this is no different.
 
Re: Enrollment In Obamacare's Federal Exchange, So Far, May Only Be In 'Single Digits

One funny thing is, when checking that Kaiser calculator, people who smoke (predominantly the poor) are going to get reamed. They get an automatic 50% surcharge on top of their premium that can not be covered by the subsidy. So the poor folks have to give up their cigarettes... but crack and marijuana is OK.

Even funnier is that the Out of Pocket for the SILVER plan is about $12k which means that this plan won't even save the poor from medical bill induced bankruptcy. The Bronze plan, which is all the poor will be able to afford, is even worse.

Yeah, this is never going to work, but then again it was never meant to work at all...
 
Re: Enrollment In Obamacare's Federal Exchange, So Far, May Only Be In 'Single Digits

Yeah, this is never going to work, but then again it was never meant to work at all...

Not to mention the retiring couple with a 25 year old smoker will get reamed as well because they will get charged big time for their child's habit but have no legal recourse to avoid incurring the debt because in all other aspects of the law they have no say in their child's life choices and can not boot them off their insurance.
 
Re: Enrollment In Obamacare's Federal Exchange, So Far, May Only Be In 'Single Digits

...The end result will be a better system, one in which people start getting preventative care. It's going to make our country better...

This part of your post has always confused me. Around here an annual checkup costs as little as $80 and as much as $250. There are even annual free health fairs which do a fairly comprehensive examination including BP, heart rate and blood work. My confusion is how someone cannot afford to set aside $8-$20/month to cover the annual expense and yet will be able to afford $?(presumably much more) per month in premiums. Sure if there is some medical issue discovered in these checkups the individual has NEW cost issues but the 'preventative care' point is mute at that point isn't it?
 
Re: Enrollment In Obamacare's Federal Exchange, So Far, May Only Be In 'Single Digits

Of course there is NO way to verify that without seeing both plans you are talking about side by side in their entirety.

Very true. And many people don't really understand their benefits anyway. Even after ACA requirements are present I still don't expect people will understand their benefits any better than before. It's how companies like McDonald's were offering "insurance" to their employees with approximately $2,000/year maximum benefit payout. Someone could purchase the insurance, tell people they were insured, but even a minor injury would put them way over their coverage. Of course they wouldn't know this until they had an accident or a stroke or whatever and end up getting an ambulance ride to the hospital. Then of course the hospital can't collect the bill and the cost gets passed on to the rest of us. Even though they had "insurance". If they never had an accident or needed the insurance they will never have known what they had was so terrible. And no doubt comparing the cost of that fake insurance to the minimum mandated in ACA makes insurance under the ACA much more expensive.

The minimum insurance requirements under ACA fix that. Can't offer something with $2,000 maximum payout and call it health insurance.
 
Re: Enrollment In Obamacare's Federal Exchange, So Far, May Only Be In 'Single Digits

The problem with that is that when a liberal progressive says 'we need to work together', what they really mean is 'you need to do everything my way'....

For the 93rd time:

What are Democrats getting in this supposed negotiation?
 
Re: Enrollment In Obamacare's Federal Exchange, So Far, May Only Be In 'Single Digits

It's a bummer I have to wait for it to kick in, because I sure could use it now. .
you are already anxious to run up a bill
did you not understand my post? for the premiums to stay where they are at now million will need to sign up for Obama care and not use it. if all that signs up are like you looking forward to running up a bill Obama care will collapse
 
Re: Enrollment In Obamacare's Federal Exchange, So Far, May Only Be In 'Single Digits

This part of your post has always confused me. Around here an annual checkup costs as little as $80 and as much as $250. There are even annual free health fairs which do a fairly comprehensive examination including BP, heart rate and blood work. My confusion is how someone cannot afford to set aside $8-$20/month to cover the annual expense and yet will be able to afford $?(presumably much more) per month in premiums. Sure if there is some medical issue discovered in these checkups the individual has NEW cost issues but the 'preventative care' point is mute at that point isn't it?

Um, what do you think would have happened otherwise? Those issues discovered would have just gone away? Never been paid for?

Or is maybe catching them earlier potentially cheaper? Like, before you have to go to the ER.
 
Re: Enrollment In Obamacare's Federal Exchange, So Far, May Only Be In 'Single Digits

Very true. And many people don't really understand their benefits anyway. Even after ACA requirements are present I still don't expect people will understand their benefits any better than before. It's how companies like McDonald's were offering "insurance" to their employees with approximately $2,000/year maximum benefit payout. Someone could purchase the insurance, tell people they were insured, but even a minor injury would put them way over their coverage. Of course they wouldn't know this until they had an accident or a stroke or whatever and end up getting an ambulance ride to the hospital. Then of course the hospital can't collect the bill and the cost gets passed on to the rest of us. Even though they had "insurance". If they never had an accident or needed the insurance they will never have known what they had was so terrible. And no doubt comparing the cost of that fake insurance to the minimum mandated in ACA makes insurance under the ACA much more expensive.

The minimum insurance requirements under ACA fix that. Can't offer something with $2,000 maximum payout and call it health insurance.



Which is a pointless differentiation, really, since the new bronze coverage which is all the McDonald's worker can afford has at least a $12.5k out of pocket so they will go broke from that ambulance ride anyway.
 
Re: Enrollment In Obamacare's Federal Exchange, So Far, May Only Be In 'Single Digits

you are already anxious to run up a bill
did you not understand my post? for the premiums to stay where they are at now million will need to sign up for Obama care and not use it. if all that signs up are like you looking forward to running up a bill Obama care will collapse

And you want to delay the mandate so that more healthy people will fail to sign up. Which means that you want premiums to go up faster, you want fewer people to be able to afford them. All in the name of collapsing the insurance industry, for some reason. Not Obamacare. That's a law. The premiums offered by private health insurance companies would have to go up. They're the ones who are going to collapse in your scenario. We could have had a public option for you to insist on destroying instead, but no. Offering people an additional choice was just too much socialism.
 
Re: Enrollment In Obamacare's Federal Exchange, So Far, May Only Be In 'Single Digits

Which is a pointless differentiation, really, since the new bronze coverage which is all the McDonald's worker can afford has at least a $12.5k out of pocket so they will go broke from that ambulance ride anyway.

If they end up with $100k in medical bills following an auto accident the $6,350 maximum out of pocket for an insurance plan combined with whatever they had to pay for the insurance might cause the individual to go bankrupt all the same, that's true. But at least the hospital doesn't end up with $95k in noncollectable bills - the insurance pays it. Which means the hospital has less expenses to spread out among the rest of us and doesn't need to raise rates as much to cover the non-payers.
 
Re: Enrollment In Obamacare's Federal Exchange, So Far, May Only Be In 'Single Digits

One problem, your side keeps losing when it goes to the public.

Ok, I think I see your problem here. The maority of the PUBLIC did not and still does not want the individual mandate. The GOVERNMENT, those in congress, that passed Obamacare ignored the public completely on this. They lost the public vote in the Mandate, yet Congress still voted FOR the mandate. Congress did not represent the people with Obamacare. Do you not see a difference there? A problem with that?
 
Re: Enrollment In Obamacare's Federal Exchange, So Far, May Only Be In 'Single Digits

For the 93rd time:

What are Democrats getting in this supposed negotiation?

The ability to continue to spend.
 
Re: Enrollment In Obamacare's Federal Exchange, So Far, May Only Be In 'Single Digits

For the 93rd time:

What are Democrats getting in this supposed negotiation?
Good press.

But you may have a point in that - they'd get good press regardless.
 
Re: Enrollment In Obamacare's Federal Exchange, So Far, May Only Be In 'Single Digits

Um, what do you think would have happened otherwise? Those issues discovered would have just gone away? Never been paid for?

'happened otherwise'...ambiguous? I did address 'issues discovered' but consider if they find out your blood sugar/cholesterol/BP is slightly elevated, prognosis modify die thus no continuing cost ergo 'preventative'.

Or is maybe catching them earlier potentially cheaper? Like, before you have to go to the ER.
Sure it is but you failed address the premise in my post of "how someone cannot afford to set aside $8-$20/month to cover the annual expense and yet will be able to afford $?".
 
Re: Enrollment In Obamacare's Federal Exchange, So Far, May Only Be In 'Single Digits

Very true. And many people don't really understand their benefits anyway. Even after ACA requirements are present I still don't expect people will understand their benefits any better than before. It's how companies like McDonald's were offering "insurance" to their employees with approximately $2,000/year maximum benefit payout. Someone could purchase the insurance, tell people they were insured, but even a minor injury would put them way over their coverage. Of course they wouldn't know this until they had an accident or a stroke or whatever and end up getting an ambulance ride to the hospital. Then of course the hospital can't collect the bill and the cost gets passed on to the rest of us. Even though they had "insurance". If they never had an accident or needed the insurance they will never have known what they had was so terrible. And no doubt comparing the cost of that fake insurance to the minimum mandated in ACA makes insurance under the ACA much more expensive.

The minimum insurance requirements under ACA fix that. Can't offer something with $2,000 maximum payout and call it health insurance.

I have seen those types of plans....Let me tell you about my niece....She moved down here with us about 6 months ago, to get a fresh start. She got a job working for a feeder company for BMW, that uses a temp agency for staffing. And although she makes pretty good money for what she does, the insurance offered by the agency is total crap, and expensive. It also has a disclaimer that they are not covered under the ACA.

Now we are hoping that she will become permanent with the company she is working with soon, but who knows? This company may choose to keep her as a temp worker to avoid offering insurance. Under the ACA (she is a healthy 21y.o.) her insurance will be more than she can afford, and may choose to just pay the penalty, $95. this year.... A choice that many of the young people that Obama is relying on to make this work.

What I don't understand is this...I was listening to a program yesterday, where a simple solution was what they were talking about. It involved using what they were calling 'Concierge' Medical service, along with a catastrophic coverage plan, and an employer contributed HSA that rolled over year to year. This would be less expensive, give more control to patients and doctors, and cost less over all.
 
Re: Enrollment In Obamacare's Federal Exchange, So Far, May Only Be In 'Single Digits

In principal? In this case the House told the President he could have the cash and he refused it. The condition they made was the temporary funding of a program. So yes. In this case the House is doing, what the constitution says it should. It is controlling the government's funding.

The Senate refused to defund/delay the AHC act you mean. They passed the CR and it is sitting back in the House at this moment but Boner won't allow it to come to a vote.
 
Re: Enrollment In Obamacare's Federal Exchange, So Far, May Only Be In 'Single Digits

If they end up with $100k in medical bills following an auto accident the $6,350 maximum out of pocket for an insurance plan combined with whatever they had to pay for the insurance might cause the individual to go bankrupt all the same, that's true. But at least the hospital doesn't end up with $95k in noncollectable bills - the insurance pays it. Which means the hospital has less expenses to spread out among the rest of us and doesn't need to raise rates as much to cover the non-payers.

The hospital would have billed them for far less than the 100k, probably more in the 30-40k range, due to the lack of insurance, and if the uninsured couldn't pay, the would most likely apply the grant money and trust funds at their disposal to cover treating the underprivileged. In the end, the hospital probably has a charity write off of a few thousand dollars.

Last year, one of the big hospitals here in Cleveland, Ohio provided free hospital care to the tune of $143 million.
 
Re: Enrollment In Obamacare's Federal Exchange, So Far, May Only Be In 'Single Digits

The Senate refused to defund/delay the AHC act you mean. They passed the CR and it is sitting back in the House at this moment but Boner won't allow it to come to a vote.

Because regular order is to come to conference on it. Reid won't even appoint conferees to do this...The Senate doesn't get to tell the house what to do with spending. The house is responsible for it, and they have the say in what is put forward. It seems that demo's want to run the show like dictators.
 
Re: Enrollment In Obamacare's Federal Exchange, So Far, May Only Be In 'Single Digits

Even funnier is that the Out of Pocket for the SILVER plan is about $12k which means that this plan won't even save the poor from medical bill induced bankruptcy. The Bronze plan, which is all the poor will be able to afford, is even worse.

That was just another of the boatload of lies told to get some idiots to support this disaster. Some poor dude having to fork over a monthly premium isn't going to have a stash of cash to pay out of pocket expenses. He probably would have been better off the old way by negotiating a cash price than faced with those out of pocket expenses and not had the monthly expense. At least much of the time.

But the majority of people that won't be getting medicade on the taxpayers dime won't be signing up for these plans anyway. They are not stupid, they know they have to eat everyday whereas they may not need healthcare anyway. So they will use the old way if required, getting treatment on the taxpayers dime and worry about some bill they can't pay later. Meanwhile the taxpayers will have wasted billions setting up this disaster plus get stuck with some of the bill plus have their insurance rates go up because of the same disaster.

This disaster was planed with complete failure as an easily achieved goal. Then the liberals will claim there is no choice but a single payer and then they can attempt to control cost via the death panels and other health care rationing.
 
Re: Enrollment In Obamacare's Federal Exchange, So Far, May Only Be In 'Single Digits

There is a solution to this....

SAN DIEGO -- Concierge doctors are spreading the word that it's possible to operate a direct primary care practice, make a living, and avoid one of the biggest headaches for family medicine physicians -- dealing with health insurance companies.

Multiple sessions at the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) scientific assembly informed attendees about the growing world of direct primary care, sometimes called concierge, boutique, or retainer-based medicine. These practices charge patients a monthly or annual membership fee for unlimited office access, and bill patients for the tests and supplies they use.

When Doug Nunamaker, MD, and Josh Umbehr, MD, ended their 45-minute AAFP talk about their direct primary practice in Wichita, Kan., the two had barely walked off stage when they were besieged by a couple dozen doctors wanting more information.

Nunamaker and Umbehr opened Atlas MD, a direct primary care practice, in 2009 shortly after Umbehr left residency. They charge $50 a month in membership fees for adults ages 20 to 44, with fees ranging from $10 to $100 a month for pediatric and older patients.

They describe their payment structure on the Atlas MD website as a "direct fee-for-services arrangement [that] frees us from the typical contractual agreements that prevent physicians from offering wholesale prices on laboratory tests, imaging, and medications."

The practice quickly grew to about 600 patients in the first couple of years, with a monthly revenue of $30,000 in membership fees. The only marketing has been word of mouth.

They said patients loved the open access to their physicians. Patients are encouraged to email, call, or text their doctors with questions. The office has no office staff, and the physicians answer the phones, which they said "freaks out" patients at times.

Nunamaker and Umbehr said they loved not having to deal with insurance payers for such issues as prior authorizations or rejected claims.

The practice has added three physicians along with one full-time nurse and one part-time nurse. They said they now count 1,300 patients in their practice for $65,000 in monthly revenue from membership fees.

Concierge Medicine Gains Ground
 
Re: Enrollment In Obamacare's Federal Exchange, So Far, May Only Be In 'Single Digits

WWII wasn't won in 4 days either.

Is it safe to say that WWII was less complex and had fewer moving parts than the ACA?
 
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