consumer-directed health care is a big fat joke

I WISH the Medicare supplement was only $50.00 a month! Hubby`s just went up from $144.00 a month to $150.00.
 

Mrs. Robinson said:
I WISH the Medicare supplement was only $50.00 a month! Hubby`s just went up from $144.00 a month to $150.00.
Click to expand...

I think she has Blue Cross Select... I double checked with her... I was wrong. She pays $350 every QUARTER not every six months.. so that sounds about comparable.

I believe the Select.. is the less expensive of the Blue Cross plans too.
 

oakapple said:
So, Don, you are not objecting to Obama Care, because you hope it will bring about changes [ simply because it ISN'T very good and is unsustainable?] It would be better to have a system that helps 'everybody' wouldn't it?
Click to expand...

It's a given that NOTHING of consequence ever happens in Washington, UNTIL it becomes a Crisis. Obamacare, IMO, is going to hasten the day when our current Health Care System becomes unsustainable. In that regard, Obamacare is going to prove to be of value.
 
There is a place for government funded/controlled health care. But it is "a" place. It is not "the" only answer. There is still 'a' place for pay for service. The ACA has many good things including better fraud controls, pre existing and no cap mandates. But these things could've been legislated in when ever without a 1000 page bill. Just as many complain that not everyone was buying what was optional insurance as their chosen optional method of payment to cover medical care the tax payer has the right to complain about paying for all the services they'll never use. Health care reform should be focused on setting up a low cost government option, as with any set of choices there will be differences. I would expect a government option not to cover Cadillac choices. It should a choice or option where without there would've been none for someone.
 
darroll said:
I hope Obama care does not turn out like the post office.

I now pay $600.00 per month out of pocket for my prescriptions?
Click to expand...

Do you have insurance? Are you on Medicare Part D, and still paying that much for drugs?

Here's a tip....If you do an Internet search on "drug discounts", you can find several sites which offer a free discount card/program. I have a neighbor who isn't old enough for Medicare, and he was spending a bunch on drugs after he had a minor stroke. We did some searching on the Net, and got him a couple of these free cards. He took one of them...from "Drugs.com"...to Walmart, and started getting almost 40% off his meds. Check it out...it's free.
 
I have never been without health insurance, I obtained it through my employer during my entire adult life working full time for free or low cost to me. When I retired, I paid the COBRA payments until that ran out, and then I paid for my health insurance completely out of pocket from my savings.

The costs kept rising every year in outrageous amounts, and I felt I was being drained of my hard earned savings for no valid reason. I don't have medical issues, and rarely even go to see a doctor. I no longer even go for the 'preventative' x-rays and tests yearly. But I do want coverage in case I do get seriously ill, or am in a car accident or something like that.

I am for the Affordable Care Act, and the only thing IMO, that would be better at this point is a Universal or Single Payer Insurance.
 
Flowerchild you grouse about Obamacare. 13 million previously uninsured Americans now have health insurance because of the ACA. What alternative would you purpose that would allow these 13 million people to receive adequate medical care? And please don't mention Emergency Rooms because from a national standpoint that is the least cost effective way of providing health care.
If on the other hand you propose a Medicare for all single payer system, I'm sure you'll secure QS's agreement and mine.
 
I have Medicare and am also in a large HMO affiliated with our largest hospital and its physician groups. I also have good drug coverage (well, as good as it gets nowdays). I only pay the $104 Medicare premium. Most of the doctors in town take my senior care plan. I've had wonderful care, reasonable co-pays, the best docs and no hassles. I had both hips replaced in late 2013 and paid very little out of pocket. I'm VERY happy with my medicare senior care plan. I couldn't have afforded to have my hips fixed on my regular 80/20 insurance before I turned 65.
 
darroll said:
Yea, I have part D medicare. Don't know why it's so expensive. I pity the people that can't afford that kind of expense.
Click to expand...

If you are stuck with such high drug costs, you will quickly reach the "donut hole". Have you asked your doctor if there is a less expensive Generic Alternative"? For that kind of money, it would almost pay you to take a trip to Mexico or Canada, and hop across the border and get a good supply for a fraction of what you are paying here.
 
QuickSilver said:
Have you ever had a year where health premiums did NOT go up? Even before Obama care.. My out of pocket and deductables and copays stayed the same for 2015. BUT the premiums increased slightly by about $350 dollars a year. That's not a whole lot.. and I'm not complaining..
Click to expand...

Health care costs have gone up over the year but only slightly and its been gradual up until Obamacare kicked in. That's when it doubled; A drastic huge jump.
 
flowerchild said:
Health care costs have gone up over the year but only slightly and its been gradual up until Obamacare kicked in. That's when it doubled; A drastic huge jump.
Click to expand...

As I said... Companies are using ObamaCare as an excuse. If it was because of Obamacare everyones group insurance would have had double digit increases... Mine only went up slightly... I think your Company is ripping you off.
 
Josiah09 said:
Flowerchild you grouse about Obamacare. 13 million previously uninsured Americans now have health insurance because of the ACA. What alternative would you purpose that would allow these 13 million people to receive adequate medical care? And please don't mention Emergency Rooms because from a national standpoint that is the least cost effective way of providing health care.
If on the other hand you propose a Medicare for all single payer system, I'm sure you'll secure QS's agreement and mine.
Click to expand...

I work for a hospital. Hospitals uninsured, for years, had been covered by our government in Medicare/Medicaid funds compensation. That all stopped some years back, the gov. decided not to compensate hospitals for the non-insured. Hospitals lost a lot, there were lots of job losses, premiums became more costly for the existing personal, and some hospitals closed down due to the losses. Hospitals began to scramble to finds ways to compensate for that loss. They had to increase employee paid insurance fees and costs for healthcare went up all over. We had seen consolidation of hospitals into bigger organizations at that time. The bigger the org. the more compensation money's they can share within the org to keep medical care going in the grids of people they support.
Docs too don't work without pay either. Many docs shut doors too to the uninsured or take reduced payments from Medicare/Medicaid patients. They too continually take a loss.

The only way the gov. has funds to pay for the uninsured is to get the money from somewhere right? Universal healthcare has been sitting on the bench in gov. for some time before Obama took the reigns because it was not fully understood how to implement it and not raise taxes and insurances for the US people.. Obamas universal healthcare has increase the Medicare statues to accommodate more people. Someone has to pay for that. Still it's not coming from the strapped gov. funds. His way is to fund this whole thing on the backs of the working class, increased taxes, increased insurance and healthcare costs, this would be the younger people, the middle class and the retired. The people who have the least funds to help pay. Mine you across the board wages have not increased more than 2%/ year during all this time. Minimum wages haven't increased for how many years now?

There are too many loopholes in Obama care. It allows insurance companies to increase costs and make limitations. Obama care went into effect before it was carefully read. Pulaski even said so. Implementing something like this before ironing out it's problems is just bad politics, IMO. The only ones benefiting from this are the uninsured and the gov. Neither has to pay.

I'm not sure how this Press Ganey compensation came about for hospitals. Hospitals can only get paid for treating Medicaid/ Medicare patients (gov. compensation) pertaining to the % scores they get that are dependent of patient surveys. This to me is like false advertising that a hospital has superior services above all others. Sort of like hitting the like button, the more people that hit like button the more funding they get. And if the likes fall below the national average in good care they don't get paid and have to shut the doors. It's almost like a roulette game just like our retirement funds over in Wall street. It's all a gamble.

ObamaCare does not address the charges widely different from hospital to hospital, doc. to doc.and state to state either. What Obamacare is doing tho is costing more in (premium fees) for regional and rural areas that have less participants. Less like buttons, costs more to the individuals who live in that region. Obama care is not cost containment in any way or form. Some end up paying extremely high premiums, copays, and deductibles, while others are reasonable. The hospitals and docs loses are greater in those areas as well.

This becomes an unfair system depending on where you live and what wage status you are. To force this upon people without asking was sneaky at best and just plain wrong. Shall I go into insuring the non citizens and who pays for that?
 
Our present Health Care System is locked in a race between Profits and Patient Care. So far, Profits are winning, but the cost is becoming ridiculous. It will take another 3 to 5 years before the full effects of the ACA can be determined, but so far "Affordable" does not seem to be working, for most. I am sure that we will eventually get to a sensible SP-UHC system in this nation...the only question is, how much Baloney the American public will put up with before we demand a move toward such a proven system.
 
[h=1]Obamacare cost to be 20% less than forecast, budget office says[/h]Source: LA Times

President Obama's healthcare law will cost about 20% less over the next decade than originally projected, the Congressional Budget Office reported Monday, in part because lower-than-expected healthcare inflation has led to smaller premiums.

So far, the number of uninsured Americans has dropped by about 12 million. By the end of 2016, 24 million fewer Americans will lack insurance, the nonpartisan budget office forecast.

Excluding immigrants in the country illegally, who are not eligible for coverage under the law, only about 8% of Americans under age 65 will lack insurance by the time Obama leaves office, the budget office's latest report on the law estimates.

Of the Americans who will remain uninsured once enrollment has fully ramped up, the budget office estimates that about 30% will be people in the U.S. without legal authorization. An additional 10% will be people who are too poor to buy insurance on the exchanges, but who live in states that have not expanded Medicaid. The remaining 60% will be people who choose to not buy insurance or enroll in Medicaid.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/politicsnow/la-pn-obamacare-cost-20150126-story.html
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top