Medical Expenses Continue To Push People Into Poverty

WhatInThe said:
Medical expenses continue to push people into poverty even after the implementation of Obama Care and more people with insurance.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox...e_than_11_million_americans_into_poverty.html

But must remember the ACA was an insurance bill. It was not a care or cost bill.
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Are you forgetting that most of the Republican governors REFUSED to set up a Medicaid expansion in their States.. just to SPIT in the President's eye? Even though the US government was going to pick up the cost.. these people remained uninsured. Don't blame the ACA.... Blame the GOP
 
QuickSilver said:
Are you forgetting that most of the Republican governors REFUSED to set up a Medicaid expansion in their States.. just to SPIT in the President's eye? Even though the US government was going to pick up the cost.. these people remained uninsured. Don't blame the ACA.... Blame the GOP
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In other words get more government money or defacto government health insurance/care.

Millions have already been given medicare/medicaid. It's those stuck paying insurance premiums, out of pockets, co pays, deductibles that are getting hit by costs. Medicaid won't help them nor should it. Costs need to be addressed, not who is going to pay for it.
 

Yo " What", tell ya what I'm gonna do...wave a magic wand.

You are now fifty eight years old.
You've had a progressive illness the past few years, not fatal but painfully disabling some days.
You weren't planning on leaving your long time employer, but one day your job title didn't exist any more.
You are welcome to stay on part time but your medical insurance is cancelled now.
You have at least a $ 10,000 nest egg.
Perhaps you could work two jobs?
Except that at your age and with a visible tremor the employment offers just aren't coming in.
You apply for disability...sorry you're not disabled enough yet.
Your medications cost $600 a month...that nest egg isn't going to last forever.
Go off your meds and your illness might progress faster. Plus there is the pain relief that you desperately need.
Oh and two of your back teeth just gave out and a crown on a front one disappeared, maybe you swallowed it?
Do the math on how much it will cost for those three teeth.

Oh and as far as all these great benefits Medicaid recipients get? Over 21 and you have no dental coverage at all. It's also based on income. You are punished for earning above poverty level. If you are middle aged and reasonably healthy you might be okay. But if you earn even pennies over the guideline? Sucks to be you.
 
Here, premiums for ACA type insurance are skyrocketing, and many insurance companies have pulled out of the state.

What we seriously need to do is to get the insurance companies out of this business and go to single payer health care.

Here, dental insurance is mostly worthless, because most dentists don't take it and if they do, the amount it covers is only a pittance anyway. I considered dental insurance once and found that if I wanted to use dental insurance I had to go to dentists that charged WAY more than my regular guy in the first place, and that if I used the insurance I would pay more out of pocket than if I just used my regular neighborhood dentist and paid the whole bill myself. No point in it.

What we really need to worry about is catastrophic medical coverage, anyway -- there's where you can go bankrupt in a hurry.
 
WhatInThe said:
In other words get more government money or defacto government health insurance/care.

Millions have already been given medicare/medicaid. It's those stuck paying insurance premiums, out of pockets, co pays, deductibles that are getting hit by costs. Medicaid won't help them nor should it. Costs need to be addressed, not who is going to pay for it.
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Yes.. We NEED government run healthcare. We need Medicare for everyone. I'm talking about the Governors who refused to set up the exchange.. leaving the working poor to suffer, or go bankrupt.
 
QuickSilver said:
Yes.. We NEED government run healthcare. We need Medicare for everyone. I'm talking about the Governors who refused to set up the exchange.. leaving the working poor to suffer, or go bankrupt.
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Government services should be a back up, for those who need with the government as the only option and/or offered as a cheaper no frills alternative but not the primary provider.
 
Healthcare is reaching a point of being unaffordable to some. I have heard rumblings of higher premiums next year for BC. Surely, others will follow suit. Maybe congress can work on something on behalf of the people that sent them to do the people's business instead of the lobbyists? Regulation, maybe? It may be a good time to do something or step aside.
 
This from the Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper in Santa Fe:

"Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Mexico also plans to sell coverage on the exchange this year, and proposals submitted to the state show average increases of as much as 83 percent for individuals.

The company withdrew from the exchange for 2016 after regulators denied its request for a 52 percent rate hike."
 
Remember... We WANTED a single payer, but in order to get any form of healthcare for all, the compromise was made to include the Private Insurance Industry. This is what you get. Of COURSE the Private Sector is going to screw us in anyway they can to make a profit. Hey.. let's PRIVATIZE everything!!!
 
Most of the ACA was written by the Health Care Industry Lobbyists, and it is beginning to show. But...that is a Good Thing, because costs are going to continue to spiral out of control, until enough people get fed up and Demand that our government look at the experiences of other nations and begin to implement a UHC system. As it stands, our Health Care system is more concerned with making money than providing quality and affordable care. When you look at the top 10 highest paid careers in the U.S., 7 or 8 of them are in the Medical arena. Yet, other nations manage to provide quality care for half of what we pay....one would think that alone would get people's attention.
 
QuickSilver said:
Remember... We WANTED a single payer, but in order to get any form of healthcare for all, the compromise was made to include the Private Insurance Industry. This is what you get. Of COURSE the Private Sector is going to screw us in anyway they can to make a profit. Hey.. let's PRIVATIZE everything!!!
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That's what the dems get for not holding out for what they actually wanted. But they wanted to something passed to say they did something.
 
WhatInThe said:
That's what the dems get for not holding out for what they actually wanted. But they wanted to something passed to say they did something.
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No... because they knew Republicans would have never gone for Single Payer. I think the GOP has been counting on the insurance industry to do this.
 
QuickSilver said:
No... because they knew Republicans would have never gone for Single Payer. I think the GOP has been counting on the insurance industry to do this.
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The Republicans didn't want ACA either. It was partisan voting that passed the bill known as Obama Care. They could've attempted single payer then but I guess the big insurance and pharma industries effectively lobbied against that regardless of party.
 
Well, as long as we allow the insurance companies to rape and pillage and make obscene profits from the suffering of others, this will keep going on. New Mexico set up an exchange (and we have a Repub governor), but most companies have pulled out. I think we have 2 left now.
 
There's another problem with our health care system that is seldom mentioned....Ambulance Chasing Lawyers. Doctors have to purchase extremely expensive Malpractice Insurance....which costs between $80,000 and $250,000 dollars a year...depending upon which State, and which level of practice that doctor is in. You can bet that those costs are passed on to the patients, and the insurance companies. There is NO Way a doctor can give an accurate diagnosis in many cases, and if he guesses wrong, there is a lawyer standing by waiting to level a multi-million dollar lawsuit. Tort Reform has been proposed in our Congress, but since most of those politicians Are lawyers, fat chance that such reform will ever get passed....a lawyers First obligation is to protect other lawyers.
 
Don M. said:
There's another problem with our health care system that is seldom mentioned....Ambulance Chasing Lawyers. Doctors have to purchase extremely expensive Malpractice Insurance....which costs between $80,000 and $250,000 dollars a year...depending upon which State, and which level of practice that doctor is in. You can bet that those costs are passed on to the patients, and the insurance companies. There is NO Way a doctor can give an accurate diagnosis in many cases, and if he guesses wrong, there is a lawyer standing by waiting to level a multi-million dollar lawsuit. Tort Reform has been proposed in our Congress, but since most of those politicians Are lawyers, fat chance that such reform will ever get passed....a lawyers First obligation is to protect other lawyers.
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CYA medicine. A pain yet profitable in some cases. Especially if the doctors or practice own labs, mri machines etc. Also makes doctors lazy because they wind up using testing for diagnosis and not just verification.
 
Butterfly said:
Here, premiums for ACA type insurance are skyrocketing, and many insurance companies have pulled out of the state.
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Same here. Today's news was Blue Cross had proposed a 65.4% premium increase which was met with public and insurance commission outcry as unreasonable, was then reduced to 58.4%. The State Insurance Commissioner considers that amount unreasonable as well. The finding of unreasonable will be noted on the federal insurance marketplace website.

What we seriously need to do is to get the insurance companies out of this business and go to single payer health care.
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Worth repeating and bolding: What we seriously need to do is to get the insurance companies out of this business and go to single payer health care. Insurance companies are no different/better than pharmaceutical companies when it comes to customer care.

Carla said:
Healthcare is reaching a point of being unaffordable to some. I have heard rumblings of higher premiums next year for BC. Surely, others will follow suit. Maybe congress can work on something on behalf of the people that sent them to do the people's business instead of the lobbyists? Regulation, maybe? It may be a good time to do something or step aside.
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See above. I just talked to a couple who have MT Blue Cross through ACA--just the two of them, early 40's--who pay $550 a month now. They are not eligible for credits, sadly.
 
WhatInThe said:
CYA medicine. A pain yet profitable in some cases. Especially if the doctors or practice own labs, mri machines etc. Also makes doctors lazy because they wind up using testing for diagnosis and not just verification.
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Then, consider that Medical errors are the 3rd leading cause of death in the U.S. Medical "mistreatment" kills twice as many people each year as Auto Accidents, Guns, and Suicides, combined. And yet, we continue to pay twice as much as the rest of the civilized world for this "service".
 
Don M. said:
Then, consider that Medical errors are the 3rd leading cause of death in the U.S. Medical "mistreatment" kills twice as many people each year as Auto Accidents, Guns, and Suicides, combined. And yet, we continue to pay twice as much as the rest of the civilized world for this "service".
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Which means are they even using the tests they are prescribing or are they performing them for profit. Either way doesn't bode well for the patients and consumer.
 
WhatInThe said:
Which means are they even using the tests they are prescribing or are they performing them for profit. Either way doesn't bode well for the patients and consumer.
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If you break down the 250,000 Medical deaths, the biggest culprits are surgical, or unneeded surgery...hospital infections....and side effects from over prescribing drugs. If a person is wise, they would seek 2nd or 3rd opinions before submitting to any major procedures, or drugs use. At the bare minimum, a person should do some serious investigation on sites like Web MD, or Mayo Clinic, or Drugs.com, before taking some of this medical "advice" at face value. Far too many of our doctors are in it for the Money.

An even larger problem is coming, in that over 90% of today's Med students are planning on entering a "specialty"...because That is where the Big Bucks are. I can see the day coming where local family doctors are going to be an increasingly rare breed.
 

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