2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumThe Truth About Those Canceled Health Plans
I'm one of those people! Why would Obama make health insurance companies cancel my plan? Seems mean.
The fact is, some health insurance on the market today is just lousy. That's a big reason why even people who have insurance can go bankrupt when their medical bills start piling up.
Health insurance you bought for yourself before might have been (or seemed) perfectly okay, but there's a good chance it had big holes in it -- the kind people tend to only find out about when they incur expensive doctor and hospital bills. And if you have a pre-existing condition, or you're older, or you're a woman, you have been paying more for that insurance.
But not all the insurance plans being canceled are lousy. Some people really do like their plans, and they're losing them because of relatively small differences in new Affordable Care Act rules.
The law standardizes health insurance plans by mandating that they cover a basic set of benefits, including hospitalizations, prescription drugs and maternity care, that many insurance products on today's market don't. Obamacare also limits total annual out-of-pocket expenses to $6,350 for a single person, in order to protect people against going broke when they get sick.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/01/health-insurance-cancellations_n_4192079.html
Thinkingabout
(30,058 posts)Thanks for your post.
Response to UCmeNdc (Original post)
lostincalifornia This message was self-deleted by its author.
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)with a real insurance plan..you pay 10k out of pocket- and you're not ruined and homeless.
Response to Sunlei (Reply #8)
lostincalifornia This message was self-deleted by its author.
lancer78
(1,495 posts)Its just old people are more likely to be sick. The only way that no one falls through the cracks is a national single payer system that takes out the premium as a payroll tax.
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)In texas for two people the price bronze without tax credit is between 300-400 for 2 people. I checked the over 50 age range.
https://www.healthcare.gov/find-premium-estimates/
Response to Sunlei (Reply #15)
lostincalifornia This message was self-deleted by its author.
quadrature
(2,049 posts)LOTS more like that coming,
with group plans getting the axe.
Enjoy!
GeorgeGist
(25,321 posts)Justice
(7,188 posts)Pointing out that group plans may get the axe means that companies will stop providing insurance and shift even full time workers over to the exchanges. Opponents of the ACA point this out as a failure of the ACA. However, these opponents place no responsibility on companies at all -- in fact, they they excuse the companies entirely. They say the law gives companies the incentive to drop workers or drop worker hours and thus opponents think that is okay. In fact, it is a perversion of the law.
Companies who are dropping part time workers they previously covered under the group plan should not be excused - they should be called out. Companies who drop their group plans should be called out. They should be called out and boycotted.
Response to Justice (Reply #6)
lostincalifornia This message was self-deleted by its author.
davidpdx
(22,000 posts)The law is not perfect, but it is what we have. We need to continue to push for single payer. People need to focus on the 2014 election and knock off all the BS rambling about 2016. If we don't get the House and Senate there will be no changes made.
appacom
(296 posts)Response to davidpdx (Reply #4)
lostincalifornia This message was self-deleted by its author.
davidpdx
(22,000 posts)I just hope we can get to the point that we have the means to fix somethings. It's going to be an uphill battle to get to that point. I'm not very hopefully it will happen in the next cycle.
Response to davidpdx (Reply #12)
lostincalifornia This message was self-deleted by its author.
BlueDemKev
(3,003 posts)I'm in Georgia, and supporting Obamacare here is equivalent to bending knee to Allah according to this state's leaders.
We must first get Terry McAuliffe elected in Virginia this Tuesday. After that, we need to focus on the 2014 midterms and MAKE 100% SURE that the turnout of Democratic voters is at least as high as it was in 2012. No more sitting at home for midterms, which are just as important as presidential election years.
Let's get to work!!
davidpdx
(22,000 posts)It would be great if we could get that senate seat flipped. What do you think about Michelle Nunn? She's def a bit on the conservative side, but then again that's probably the only way she has a shot in Georgia.
BlueDemKev
(3,003 posts)She definitely has name recognition, but given how conservative this state has become I don't think she'll be able to pull it out. Her father has been out of the public eye for over twenty years now.
davidpdx
(22,000 posts)so I'm way out of my league on being able to understand the dynamics of the race. I remember who her father is as he was in office when I was able to vote and from following politics way before that.
BlueDemKev
(3,003 posts)...but that all changed in the 2002 elections. That year an unknown Republican candidate upset the incumbent Democratic governor, kicked Max Cleland out of the U.S. Senate, and handed the state Senate over to the GOP (two years later the House flipped also). Politics, for now, seems hopeless for us liberals in Georgia.
davidpdx
(22,000 posts)I have to think the demographics are changing there as they are in most other states. Maybe not as quickly, but they probably are changing. More minority voters will favor the Democrats. It probably won't happen next year or even 2016, but there will come a point when things will swing.
Sancho
(9,070 posts)the insurance company makes the decision, just like they always do, to cancel or change a policy.
All plans in effect can still be offered without change IF the company wants to continue offering it and if people continue buying it.
The ACA grandfathered in all plans unless the company wanted to cancel it.
That's the law and what Secretary Sebelius has said over and over. The ACA did not force companies to change a plan or cancel one...it just mandates that all new plans had to be minimally compliant.