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Poll: Many insured struggle with medical bills

j-mac

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WASHINGTON (AP) — They have health insurance, but still no peace of mind. Overall, 1 in 4 privately insured adults say they doubt they could pay for a major unexpected illness or injury.A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research may help explain why President Barack Obama faces such strong headwinds in trying to persuade the public that his health care law is holding down costs.
The survey found the biggest financial worries among people with so-called high-deductible plans that require patients to pay a big chunk of their medical bills each year before insurance kicks in.
Such plans already represented a growing share of employer-sponsored coverage. Now, they're also the mainstay of the new health insurance exchanges created by Obama's law.
Edward Frank of Reynoldsville, Pennsylvania, said he bought a plan with a $6,000 deductible last year through HealthCare.gov. That's in the high range, since deductibles for popular silver plans on the insurance exchanges average about $3,100 — still a lot.
"Unless you get desperately ill and in the hospital for weeks, it's going to cost you more to have this plan and pay the premiums than to pay the bill just outright," said Frank, who ended up paying $4,000 of his own money for treatment of shoulder pain.

snip

The poll found that people respond to the hit on their wallets in ways that may not help their health:
— Nineteen percent of all privately insured adults said they did not go to the doctor when they were sick or injured, because of costs. Among those with high-deductible plans, the figure was 29 percent.
— Seventeen percent skipped a recommended test or treatment; it was 23 percent among those with high-deductible plans.
— Eighteen percent of all adults went without a physical exam or other preventive care, 24 percent among those with high-deductible plans.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/41df6bca84b8454cb059ffe9bef9e222/poll-many-insured-struggle-medical-bills

Hmmmm....Seems those of us opposed to this disaster of a law said this sort of thing would happen, and oh, look....it is happening...This is making our system worse.
 
Hmmmm....Seems those of us opposed to this disaster of a law said this sort of thing would happen, and oh, look....it is happening...This is making our system worse.
"Would happen?"

Wait a second. You're under the impression that this wasn't a massive, widespread problem before?
 
Yeah..... this speaks to me more that

A) Americans are atrocious at saving and

B) the Administration was obviously never going to live up to its implied promise to fix this.
 
"Would happen?"

Wait a second. You're under the impression that this wasn't a massive, widespread problem before?
It was. Obamacare was supposed to fix it. It didn't.
 
Many insured struggle with medical bills

very true, as it has always been. which is why we should have enacted single payer instead of the ACA half measure. it should have been vetoed.
 
"Would happen?"

Wait a second. You're under the impression that this wasn't a massive, widespread problem before?

Not to this extent...I know people that are putting off simple visits because it is cheaper to just pay and not submit it to insurance, so they won't go...Plus, you are going to see more bankruptcies because of this crap...Breaking the health insurance system right on track right?
 
"Would happen?"

Wait a second. You're under the impression that this wasn't a massive, widespread problem before?

It wasn't for us. We had excellent coverage with affordable premiums, easily manageable co-pays for doctor visits and all essentials, great doctors and quick efficient access to specialists as needed. Since Obamacare went into effect, our premiums have about doubled as have our deductibles, and the copays are up sometimes as much as 200% more, wait times to see a doctor have at least tripled or more, and we lost our primary care doctors and my husband's cancer doctor who moved on to other things rather than put up with the crap Obamacare forced on them.
 
It wasn't for us. We had excellent coverage with affordable premiums, easily manageable co-pays for doctor visits and all essentials, great doctors and quick efficient access to specialists as needed. Since Obamacare went into effect, our premiums have about doubled as have our deductibles, and the copays are up sometimes as much as 200% more, wait times to see a doctor have at least tripled or more, and we lost our primary care doctors and my husband's cancer doctor who moved on to other things rather than put up with the crap Obamacare forced on them.

OMG....This is horrible...
 
OMG....This is horrible...

Don't get me wrong. It is better than no insurance at all, but we fall in with that huge group of people who really liked the insurance we had and were assured we would be able to keep it. Instead we are paying substantially more for less coverage and less access to doctors. It's the primary reason that you are hearing nothing, zero, zip, nada re the wonderful virtues of Obamacare from any candidate right now and the vast majority of Democrat candidates don't want Obama anywhere near them during this election cycle.
 
It wasn't for us. We had excellent coverage with affordable premiums, easily manageable co-pays for doctor visits and all essentials, great doctors and quick efficient access to specialists as needed. Since Obamacare went into effect, our premiums have about doubled as have our deductibles, and the copays are up sometimes as much as 200% more, wait times to see a doctor have at least tripled or more, and we lost our primary care doctors and my husband's cancer doctor who moved on to other things rather than put up with the crap Obamacare forced on them.

New Mexico health exchange premiums below national average - The Santa Fe New Mexican: News

New Mexico: 2015 QHP premiums to see 1-2% DROP on average (weighting unknown) (UPDATED) | ACASignups.net
 

You will notice you posted a link to an article more than a year old and reported what they expected to happen--the reality, as I believe the New Mexican subsequently reported--was somewhat different. And a 2% drop in some costs doesn't help all that much. The rapid fire changes we have watched happen throughout the whole system over the past year is mind boggling from severe personnel shortages in the hospitals, urgent care centers, and far fewer doctors to treat far more patients. New Mexico does have a sharp young Republican governor who is managing it all better than the average bear, I believe. But it is still a mess. We just received our plan for 2015 and while some costs did not rise this year, several did. Only the cost for one item went down and not by much.
 
Don't get me wrong. It is better than no insurance at all, but we fall in with that huge group of people who really liked the insurance we had and were assured we would be able to keep it. Instead we are paying substantially more for less coverage and less access to doctors. It's the primary reason that you are hearing nothing, zero, zip, nada re the wonderful virtues of Obamacare from any candidate right now and the vast majority of Democrat candidates don't want Obama anywhere near them during this election cycle.

Greetings, AlbqOwl. :2wave:

Right now, Ebola has claimed center stage for the past week or so, and prior to that it was our bombing in the ME, so people have been diverted from thinking about Obamacare this close to the midterms. Have they forgotten? That remains to be seen, but I think people remember that the ME problem could have been handled months ago, but wasn't, and a majority of the people still don't understand why Obama hasn't closed our airports to passengers flying from Ebola-ridden countries in Western Africa, as many other countries have done for their countries' economic and potential health crisis problems it could bring, so we are hearing about health care providers getting Ebola in different parts of our country. "Never let a crisis go to waste," as Rahm Emanuel famously stated. Do the voters have short memories? Time will tell.
 
It was. Obamacare was supposed to fix it. It didn't.

Correct. Only a system of Universal Healthcare really could eliminate this problem.
 
Greetings, AlbqOwl. :2wave:

Right now, Ebola has claimed center stage for the past week or so, and prior to that it was our bombing in the ME, so people have been diverted from thinking about Obamacare this close to the midterms. Have they forgotten? That remains to be seen, but I think people remember that the ME problem could have been handled months ago, but wasn't, and a majority of the people still don't understand why Obama hasn't closed our airports to passengers flying from Ebola-ridden countries in Western Africa, as many other countries have done for their countries' economic and potential health crisis problems it could bring, so we are hearing about health care providers getting Ebola in different parts of our country. "Never let a crisis go to waste," as Rahm Emanuel famously stated. Do the voters have short memories? Time will tell.

Yeah, I am pretty sure I posted somewhere that I couldn't shake the suspicion that this whole middle east thing is purely a wag the dog ploy to get the focus off of Obamacare and new revelations in Benghazi and the IRS scandal and an economy that is steadily worsening. As for the Ebola scare, I'm pretty sure all of us with a brain are pretty sure we aren't being told the whole truth about that.
 
You will notice you posted a link to an article more than a year old and reported what they expected to happen--the reality, as I believe the New Mexican subsequently reported--was somewhat different. And a 2% drop in some costs doesn't help all that much. The rapid fire changes we have watched happen throughout the whole system over the past year is mind boggling from severe personnel shortages in the hospitals, urgent care centers, and far fewer doctors to treat far more patients. New Mexico does have a sharp young Republican governor who is managing it all better than the average bear, I believe. But it is still a mess. We just received our plan for 2015 and while some costs did not rise this year, several did. Only the cost for one item went down and not by much.

Yes, I posted one link about premiums in 2014 (so of course it's more than a year old) and one link about premiums in 2015. The links show that premiums in NM are some of the cheapest in the nation and are going down.
 
Yes, I posted one link about premiums in 2014 (so of course it's more than a year old) and one link about premiums in 2015. The links show that premiums in NM are some of the cheapest in the nation and are going down.

Cheaper than other states does not negate her claim that hers went up. It also does not affect deductibles and out of pocket expenses. I've said all along that the high deductibles would cause more bankruptcies than previously.
 
very true, as it has always been. which is why we should have enacted single payer instead of the ACA half measure. it should have been vetoed.

Then instead of having some people not see the doctor because they couldn't afford it we'd have people not seeing a doctor because the Government decided it couldn't afford it. Progress!
 
Cheaper than other states does not negate her claim that hers went up. It also does not affect deductibles and out of pocket expenses. I've said all along that the high deductibles would cause more bankruptcies than previously.

Insurance goes up every year, pretty much but claims of 100% are the foundation of right wing propoganda. The fact is that premiums on the individual market went up 5% in NM.

RWJF Reform Community Report
Nongroup premiums expected to be relatively affordable. According to the state,9 premiums in 2014 for a silver-level policy for a 40-year-old nonsmoker in Albuquerque will range from $189 to $258 a month, with the second-lowest silver premium of $212 determining the level of federal subsidy an individual receives regardless of the plan chosen. New Mexico’s insurance superintendent had expected premiums in the nongroup and small-group markets for similar products to rise by roughly 10 percent in 2014 but premiums are only about 5 percent higher on average.10 Also, one report indicates Albuquerque’s premiums in 2014 will be lower than in most markets.11
 
That is the wonderful thing about citing state averages - some states are naturally going to below the average. ;)

Particularly states who have refused money for a medicaid expansion!
 
Then instead of having some people not see the doctor because they couldn't afford it we'd have people not seeing a doctor because the Government decided it couldn't afford it. Progress!

people in other first world countries certainly aren't clamoring for the opportunity to go bankrupt when their kid breaks his arm falling out of a tree, or to lose coverage when their employer decides to can them.
 
Correct. Only a system of Universal Healthcare really could eliminate this problem.
And that was the planned end goal all along. I hope the voters remember all the lies and financial pain caused by liberal lies and manipulation.
 
Yes, I posted one link about premiums in 2014 (so of course it's more than a year old) and one link about premiums in 2015. The links show that premiums in NM are some of the cheapest in the nation and are going down.

So if our medical costs have at least doubled in the last couple of years, a fact which our medical group has told us is directly related to mandates of Obamacare, that we have lost doctors, that coverages and service are less than they were, you see that our premiums are some of the cheapest in the nation is a good thing????? That it is unaffordable for a great many New Mexicans so is likely to be even more so for others????

I suppose you think that should offset the loss of jobs because employers are struggling to stay under 50 employees so they won't be subject to the mandates, or those employers who have seen their group insurance rates double and, if they keep the insurance at all, will of necessity have to reduce wages, raises, and bonuses to help pay for it.

A full one third of New Mexicans are now insured by Medicaid meaning they aren't paying anything for insurance but the taxpayer is picking up the tab. This has almost doubled since Obamacare went into effect. Add in the folks on Medicare and 50% of New Mexicans are now insured under Medicare or Medicaid. 22% of those who are insured but are not on Medicaid or Medicare are eligible for tax credits. And while accurate numbers are difficult to come by, it is estimated some 15 to 20% of New Mexicans are opting to go without insurance because they cannot afford even the subsidized plans offered by the exchange.
 
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