Do You Know How Obamacare Will Affect You?

It seems everyone has forgotten that insurance premiums were skyrocketing before Obamacare. How much of the increase is due to this program?
 
It seems that no one remembers that the U.S. govt never does anything under or even near budget.
 
It has been touched on but these low premium costs are very deceiving. The bronze plan cheapest plan has around a 2000 deductable before your plan kicks in. Then your plan only pays 60% of your cost and your prescriptions will cost more. Doesn't sound worth a crap to me. So if you have to have surgery or something you will have to pay almost half the cost. How will people living pay check to pay check afford this. They want be able to which will mean another large tax increase for us
 
I had breakfast with a few friends of mine who are coders/programmers/database administrators. All five of them work either for very large companies here in Austin or for the state. To a man, each one of them hates his job, two of them in particular. They stay on, though, because of the health insurance benefits. As soon as Obamacare is available, they are quitting to start working on their own. Three of them are starting their own company (already have seed money and an angel investor) because they will now be able to and not worry about whether healthcare will be available. According to them, there are many others in their line of work that are in the same boat: they absolutely hate their jobs working for Big Blue and the State of Texas. One of them used the word "stultifying" and asked me if I'd ever heard of the Myth of Sissyphus. I had, of course. He said "that's what it feels like to me at the State Board of Insurance. I push the rock up the mountain every day, and every night it rolls back down and I have to do it again."

I predict that one unforeseen result of all of this may very well be the unleashing of a tidal wave of entrepreneurship and innovation that washes over the economy as people depart their old safe jobs en masse and go off to work on their own dreams. If it truly is portable, that aspect of it may end up benefiting the economy.
 
Entrepreneurs afraid of risk? Yes, I predict a tide of successful new ventures.
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paso... Spin it the way you want it. Of course taxes will go up and a part of the increase will be to cover govt employees healthcase cost increases.........and yes, the govt is an employer.
 
Spin what?

The person who posted the link claimed that "Obamacare" was responsible for a tax increase in Tyler. It turns out that health insurance costs "rose" $100,000 (or at least this was the portion of the tax increase allocated to health insurance). The overwhelming majority of the tax increase was due to just normal government functions like hiring some more people.

As for the purported reasons, the coverage of minor until age 26 might be legitimate although this is usually not a very large cost and it assumes the city pays some or all of dependent care (some do and some do not). I suspect the pre-exisiting condition claim is nonsense since most large plans cover pre-exisiting conditions either with or without a waiting period.

So we have $100,000 increased healthcare costs on a budget of $61 million. This is a disaster and needs to be spun? I guess my final comment is to reiterate something that is said again and again on these threads. Were healthcare costs for Tyler going down before Obamacare? Scapegoat is so apropos.
 
I don't think Obamacare will affect me much. At my employer, they are taking a tack that works to hold down costs -- a high deductible plan with health savings account. Basically, I withhold what I expect my health care to cost into the savings plan each year. I'm in my mid 50s and have an arthritic knee and generic meds for blood pressure with periodic GP visits required, I set aside the $1,500 I expect to spend which pretty much covers my deductible. If I get cancer or require hospitalization or knee replacement, the costs will be covered at 100 percent well before it causes me financial catastrophe. I need a physical exam and a flu shot each year, which my plan pays for as well as for colonoscopies I'm asked to take every five or six years or so.

I can see the good it does. I'm more knowegeable and careful about what procedures I take. I won't do anything out of network. I'll let my doctors know that unless it's life or death, I don't want an MRI or non-generic prescription. I self medicate for allergies, colds and minor aches and pains. I ride a bike for exercise because it's easier on my knees than walking or jogging.

With or without Obamacare, I think what I'm doing is where medical plan should go. Consumers need to feel the costs of health care and be as careful buying medical procedures as they are about new cars, computers or cell phones.
 
If the Kaiser calculator linked by the Washington Post is correct, I should save somewhere between $4,800 and $6,700 a year depending on what plan I select. This is with zero subsidy. I will probably go with the plan that saves me $4,800.

Should I send $2,400 to the DNC?

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What is most idiotic is the media reports about people who will now have insurance to pay for "routine" doctor visits. They fail to mention that most plans have very high deductibles to go along with premiums. So after they pay up to $6,000 out of pocket, insurance will kick in.

If they did not have money for a routine doctor appointment, why will they have it now?
 
Because annual checkups and preventative care are included. There is no out-of-pocket expense for this.

The highest deductible I have seen is $2,500 which is still pretty high but not $6,000. I think the $6,000 is maximum out-of-pocket for the year os it would include all co-pays.
 
The CBO estimate for bronze plans via the exchanges is $4,500. Yes, people will be able to go get a free check up which involves nothing more than a physician consultation on low cost tests. Older people, families, and those who choose plans with better coverage will experience deductibles in the $6,000-$7,000 range on average.

Should those people actually be ill or need further surgeries/tests, it will come out of their pockets and will go against their deductible. If people want low deductibles, they will (and should) pay on the higher side of the premium spectrum. As to my original point, the media and especially the POTUS does not provide the fine print of these plans and most Americans are unaware of the details.
 
is there an estimate of how many still have no insurance under obamacare?

I remember BO saying this would provide health insurance for the millions who do not have it now.
 
Actually, I remember during the campaign for the nomination his plan and Hillary's plan not insuring everyone. They both closed the gap significantly. The law that passed was primarily crafted in the Senate and was based on the Heritage Foundation proposal from 1994.

I also remember all the Republican proposals the last 20 years ...

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Insurance is great, but people need to understand what it actually is and is not. The common belief appears to be that it is a magical certificate that gives you free care or someone else simply foots the entire bill because you give them a few hundred dollars each month.

Also, much of the quoted costs come after a tax credit. IE, you get it back after you file your tax return the following April.

My point is that Obama and the democrats are not telling people the entire story and few people understand the total effect the law will have them individually, much less nationally.
 
use google ?
Once obamacare commences the gov't will know enough
so
no

I asked to see if anyone knew
you answered so I thought you did
but thanks for answering anyway
 
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