Healthcare Post Obamacare

I am also a cancer survivor and I expect that I and 20 million other Americans will lose our health Insurance as that was one of Trump’s major promises–to repeal the ACA on day one. His “replacement” idea is to allow junk health insurance policies to be sold over state lines, and to push healthcare savings plans–in other words, his replacement is pretty useless.

What really bothers me is when I hear middle income people claim that they are paying for ACA subsidies without understanding that the law had some built-in funding–small tax hikes on things like medical devices, tanning salons, and yes, a small hike to the taxes of wealthier Americans, paid for much of the subsidies. Not to mention that I personally have paid into the tax system for over 40 years and have never taken a cent of Federal dollars and don’t feel guilty about my subsidy whatsoever. Many of the Americans complaining about the law weren’t even affected by it as over 80% of Americans are insured through their employers. It is true that about 8 million people were basically screwed because they did not qualify for the subsidies, and that issue could be fixed except the Republican Congress didn’t want to fix it.

I am old and several years away from medicare (which Americans need to know that the Republicans would also like to cut if they could do so without riling their base of old white people.) To finish, I believe that in a decent society that healthcare is a right and shouldn’t be a privilege, but clearly millions disagree with me. I do hope that I don’t get cancer again before I get medicare but c’est la vie…

Having lost my job with FREE health benefits several months ago this has been a major concern for me as well. I’m fairly young, 35 and fairly healthy so I have a feeling I’ll qualify for some sort of personal plan but the cost will certainly be a factor.

Ironically, even employer health plans are not the saving grace they once were. Many employers are making major cut-backs to both benefits and what they contribute towards premiums. My wife has group health insurance through her work however they do not contribute anything towards the premium for spouse/children. We would have gone from paying about $250 a month for just her insurance to $1,200 a month for the both of us.

Politicians on both sides love to say they are PRO small business but health insurance costs are a major roadblock for anybody considering becoming self employed. I was considering not getting another traditional job after getting laid off but I might be forced to if I can’t get health insurance I can afford.

We live in uncertain times. I know it is difficult, but the solution right now is to wait and see. The election is less than 12 hours old. There is no telling what will happen. It could be any one of 100 different outcomes. When changes do come, then explore your options and move forward. I have not had employer health care in 20 years. There are plenty of options out there, even to those who work for themselves.

Whose to say it won’t get better in the future?

And Jason, there is no such thing as FREE health care. Lol

I, for one, am terrified. There are, in fact, NOT plenty of workable options out there. We were paying nearly $1,000 a month in insurance premiums before Obamacare, and that was when everyone was completely healthy. We’re older now, and there have been some health issues over the last few years that will certainly be “pre-existing conditions” in the eyes of health insurance companies looking to charge increased rates or exclude us altogether. I’m looking into conventional employment, but there’s not much out there that fits my schedule and my sort of irrelevant skill set.

If I may say so, I feel utterly heartbroken by the results of the election.

This new administration and Congress have vowed to get rid of the Affordable Car act on their first day. This is a punch in the gut because it’s been a huge leveling of the playing field for those us who are self-employed.

Yes, you can and have always been able to buy insurance privately.
BUT, insurance companies could deny you for any reason.
Pre-existing conditions were the scarlet letter.

And most affordable plans have historically had huge deductibles which made it useless for normal medical care. You pay for it “just in case” you get cancer or the worst kind of emergency. These private plans also had limits on how much they would ultimately pay, so cancer patients would be go bankrupt anyway because their care cost more than the policies would allow.

The ACA changed all that. Everyone was accepted. There was no limit on care if you were sick. I have no idea if this new Congress will really have anything similar to replace it with. The hope is that even Trump voters have had six years of decent medical care and will expect that same service. Trump voters also have pre-existing conditions.

I didnt see that. We’ll mention it on the podcast.

I started an application on the website back in December but never finished it once I saw the cost vs my private plan and they have been sending me emails almost every day about the deadline so there is still some communication about it going on.

Last year our health care (family of 3) was $350 per month. It was not an ACA plan so we paid an additional $200 per month in taxes. We have had the same health insurance for 8 years. Deductible – $6k, max out of pocket $8.5k. The cheapest option through heathcare.gov was $1050 per month with $12k deductible.

With our baby being born Dec. 27 we re-evaluated, and switched our plan to an ACA plan. I assume the cost saving was because we had a family of 4. New cost $500 per month $12k deductible (with supplements at our assumed income). If the ACA tax is repealed we would immediately go back to our old insurance, finding doctors under our ACA plan has been difficult. This was a surprise to us because we researched the website thoroughly to try to keep our pediatrician. We found a plan that did, but found out later that because a doctor is listed on the website does not mean that the doctor accepts the insurance, it means the insurance accepts the doctor.

I know many on these forums like and appreciate the ACA, and I do think most of the changes were needed. I don’t understand why insurance that is inferior is so much more expensive. Comparable insurance and deductibles were in the 5x to 6x range (with no supplement). The cheapest plans were 3x as expensive with double the deductible. I also don’t understand the “everyone must get insurance that complies” demand. Seems like if the government wants to help people get insurance, provide that service, but don’t require me to drop the insurance and doctors that I like, and pay more for an inferior product.

Also a couple of weeks ago we got a notice from the IRS (I love when those come in the mail). The notice said that we needed to get insurance, and it was available through heathcare.gov and many people paid $75 per month or less. Is there anyone who is getting health insurance for $75, and if so what is that coverage like?

Jay, we were paying $200 in taxes per month because our health insurance was not compliant with the ACA. We had purchased it well before 2008 and decided to stick with it because it was cheaper. So we had insurance at $350 per month which was non-compliant but we still had to pay the 2.5% penalty (about $200 per month). Even with the penalty it was 1/2 as much as the cheapest ACA plan.

I like the aspect of removing pre-existing conditions. I did not like the aspect of requiring everyone to purchase. I hope it gets better, I like it better

Interesting, I don’t know about purchasing policies outside of the ACA, maybe we were grandfathered in?

I don’t really know how to fix the entire system, all I can speak of is my experience. Jay what was your experience? How much was your insurance before and after ACA?

By choice, or because of costs?

I am glad ya’ll have insurance now, I wouldn’t want you guys to die in the streets ;). I really do believe that there is a lot of common ground in the middle that a majority of Americans can be happy and believe in the future. I also really do believe a lot of the changes in the ACA were for the better. Hopefully we are just talking a few tweaks and not a total dismantle. Maybe one day we will all be rich and not have to worry about health care costs! <– that’s my plan.