ACT (Obamacare)

[wolf39us]

It's $55/month NOW.  I'd like to see the numbers later!  

Obviously due to the fact that my employer provides insurance I would not qualify for ACT anyway.  If I was to work for a company that didn't provide insurance, I probably would also be making less money at a less than skilled position.  I'd like to see where these numbers start coming down.

The only way this ACT works is by making the youngest and healthiest among us BUY insurance so as to subsidize everybody else.  The whole medical system is corrupt and overpriced... Why the fuck does it cost $19,000 for the average hospital stay (IN THE USA)?  Nope, No Thanks.

If I start having problems I'll hit that insurance.  Until then, I'll pay out of pocket and save the rest.

[Jason Harvestdancer]

How many people here (especially those who have opinions on this) have read the act?  I've only read parts of it, and some parts I liked and some parts I didn't.  I know that many congress critters didn't read it at all, and Pelosi said that the bill had to be passed in order to find out what is in it.

Of course, according to JP, since I said there were parts I didn't like that makes me racist.

[FrankDK]

I don't get it.

If it's such a bad idea, why did the Republicans propose it?  "Obamacare" is "Romneycare."  It is exactly the same program Republicans proposed.  The individual mandate came from the Heritage Foundation (a right-wing "think" tank) which now bitterly opposes that individual mandate.

As with everything else, the Republicans hate everything Obama supports.  I don't believe it's too early to begin the treason trials.

Frank

[Brian37]

With what procedures cost and visits and meds, I think low payments with co-pays are pointless. I think the entire system should be sliding scale. I've been hearing about the "lowest" payments and for me even that is too much.

[SGOS]

I don't get it.

If it's such a bad idea, why did the Republicans propose it?  "Obamacare" is "Romneycare."  It is exactly the same program Republicans proposed.  The individual mandate came from the Heritage Foundation (a right-wing "think" tank) which now bitterly opposes that individual mandate.

It might be that when the Republicans proposed it, it was during the Clinton Administration, done with tongue in cheek as a reaction to Hillary's single payer proposal.  It was a stupid proposal and so obviously pro corporation that it was bound to fail, but it was something they could point to and say, "See, the Democrats won't compromise."  No Democrat back then considered it as anything other than a political monkey wrench to destroy Hillary's agenda.

But Obama decided to show what deceitful hypocrites the Republicans really are by turning the tables and proposing the same bill back to them, which of course they are now obligated to oppose, either because they knew it was a joke when it was their bill, or just because it's now being pushed through by Democrats.

Great strategy for Obama who makes the Republicans look like jerks.  Except that Americans end up with Obamacare, rather than class A single payer system.

[josephpalazzo]

I don't get it.

If it's such a bad idea, why did the Republicans propose it?  "Obamacare" is "Romneycare."  It is exactly the same program Republicans proposed.  The individual mandate came from the Heritage Foundation (a right-wing "think" tank) which now bitterly opposes that individual mandate.

As with everything else, the Republicans hate everything Obama supports.  I don't believe it's too early to begin the treason trials.

Frank

Right on. It is a bad idea. And Obama's mistake was to start with the minimum his base would accept, thinking that the GOP would go for it. Instead, they knocked it down. Obama should have started by demanding way much more, like a single payer. In fact, that's what he should do in the present impasse. Just say, "Fine, let's repeal Obamacare, and now I want the single payer. If not, I'll veto everything until I run out of office." IOW, go crazy by going to the far left. That's the only way to deal with the radicals on the right. By bending backward to please the GOP he has unwittingly emboldened the radicals on the other side. I don't know if it is too late for a complete 180[sup:2tt2pk4k]0[/sup:2tt2pk4k] turn around in the strategy, but it would be a pleasant surprise if he did.

[LikelyToBreak]

wolf39us wrote in part:

Why the fuck does it cost $19,000 for the average hospital stay (IN THE USA)? Nope, No Thanks.

One of the thing which I dislike about Obamacare is that it doesn't really address the high costs of healthcare.

FrankDK wrote in part:

If it's such a bad idea, why did the Republicans propose it? "Obamacare" is "Romneycare." It is exactly the same program Republicans proposed.

As I explained in a previous post, the insurance companies are going to make money with it.  The monied masters are finally letting it though.  The parties are just playing their roles in keeping the public docile while the oligarchy gets more entrenched.

Brian37 wrote in part:

I've been hearing about the "lowest" payments and for me even that is too much.I've been hearing about the "lowest" payments and for me even that is too much.

We can't expect real low payments as long as the oligarchy can take more for themselves.  Only the rhetoric has changed in Washington with Obama as President.  No real changes will occur as long as the monied elite have their way.

SGOS wrote in part:

either because they knew it was a joke when it was their bill, or just because it's now being pushed through by Democrats.

Politics as usual, to keep us in the dark as to who is really running our country.

[josephpalazzo]

More lies from the GOP:


Conservatives Already Lying About Obamacare Enrollee Chad Henderson

[lumpymunk]

How many people here (especially those who have opinions on this) have read the act?  I've only read parts of it, and some parts I liked and some parts I didn't.  I know that many congress critters didn't read it at all, and Pelosi said that the bill had to be passed in order to find out what is in it.

Of course, according to JP, since I said there were parts I didn't like that makes me racist.

I've read quite a bit of it, the parts that interest me are the employer penalties and how those are calculated.  Depending on whether or not your employee's premiums are above/below a certain percentage (something employers do not have complete information on) the penalty can swing.

Of course, I opposed it entirely (as well as RomneyCare) primarily for philosophical reasons, but also practically because it doesn't address any of the actual problems.

...such as pharmaceutical patents on drugs that they re-engineer slightly or rebrand and market as a brand new drug with a brand new patent and a brand new high price tag... that health care consumers don't pay attention to... they just take what they're prescribed.

...such as addressing the disconnection between health care consumers and health care costs.  The mentality should not be "umm here's my card" it should be "what are the costs of this test and do I need it?"  Ignorance in health care consumption driven by the middle-man of insurance companies is one of the primary reasons health care costs have steadily gone up unchecked.  Consumers check them... insurance companies don't.

...it does nothing to look at why doctors are practicing defensive medicine and over-prescribing antibiotics to avoid legal abuses.

...provide insurance for everyone.  Doesn't even do that.  It turns the inefficient federal government into an inefficient health insurance provider (not a healthcare provider).

At worst it's an immoral abomination.
At best it's another government bureaucracy that misses the mark.

I'm 29.  Nonsmoker.  My premiums now are a little over 100$ a month through private insurance and it gives me everything that I want in a customized plan that includes only the things I choose.  I checked what my premium would be online using the calculator they have...  it would be $236.42 per month because it covers tons of shit that It doesn't need to.