You're not supposed to come out ahead for the most part - you're protecting yourself from bankruptcy and other worst-case scenarios. That's the whole point of any kind of insurance, whether it's health or auto or flood or insuring your iphone from cracking.
This isn't a left-right issue. The left likes federal regulation; the right likes states' rights. None of the states want to give up their right to regulate the insurers that operate in their state. Everyone agrees this would be a good things policy-wise, but no one will support it in legislation. The GOP supports it in talking points, but doesn't when it comes to actual legislation, which is part of why they never actually propose specific health care legislation. 100% absolutely true. This is the one the huge problems with our current system. Unfortunately, neither party wants to alientate the 170 million people that get their health care that way, so it's basically a non-starter. Wyden's employer-coverage flexibility amendment to Obamacare would have been huge in this regard, but it didn't make it into the bill.
This just makes Medicare non-viable. You're basically dumping all the unhealthy people on the government, and subsidizing the private market by giving them all the most profitable people. The people still pay for Medicare - so while your insurance rate will go down, your taxes will just go up. This does nothing at all to fix overall rising healthcare costs for the country - it just hides them in taxes/debt instead of your pocket.
Unless of course there are barriers to that "choice" (like being denied coverage for pre-existing conditions). If the "hungry" person is still going to eat, and there's only one "pizzeria" in town, isn't that cost passed along to other "diners"? After all, you could then make the case that the "hungry" person is "stealing" the pizza and others are paying the price. Which, in turn, shows how asinine it is to compare healthcare to eating pizza.
Of course medicare will go up. As stated, we all will need medical care eventually, no matter how healthy we are. A couple of you have mentioned about giving all the 'profitable' people to private insurance. What is wrong with this concept? I pay $85.00 a month for a policy that covers anything that is not considered pre-existing conditions ... with a $500 out of pocket deductible and up to $2 million. This is the true definition of insurance and the way it should be. Private insurance companies are really not in the 'insurance' business anymore. They are simply managing our healthcare payment system. This is a very very very bad idea. There is no transparency. There is no oversight. There is no incentive to drop costs. The company is forced to answer to its investors only. There is massive amounts of unneeded overhead. This is why we should just hand it over to medicare. The system is in place, while not great, it works. Once you allow anyone to buy into it, you can then change it to "single payer system" as that is exactly what it would become. You then take the reigns off private insurance companies and allow them to sell whatever policies (provided they aren't deceptive and fraudulent of course) they want to supplement anything a person would be unhappy with on a single payer system.
I don't see your anti-conspiracy MSM angle. Open enrollment starts in a few days. People are going to see the large increases in premiums and limited plans. We've been hearing for months how the major insurers are dropping from the ACA. This information isn't private or timed inconveniently.
Obama's landmark accomplishment...turns out to be a failure, before he is even OUT of office.. It will be another mutli-billion dollar anchor on the American Taxpayer...They need to scrap the ACA and start over before its too late.
Replace it with what? It's a simple question, you've had 6 years to think of an answer. Please tell us.
He had 8 years to DO a job and NOT play partisan politics...It is time to reallocate the federal budget and rework the tax code. We are a taxed nation, but unable to get people access and quality healthcare. Some patients that take advantage of the current system, some doctors order USELESS tests that compound the problem, some hospitals that charge exorbitant fees for services and medical equipment, and most insurance companies that have way too much power over the doctor patient relationship...It all has failed. I would be an active proponent in minimizing individual dependency/phase out the need for Medicare and Medicaid...via a Health Saving Account for each and every LEGAL citizen of the United States. The Patient will finally be able to have direct control of their health care and corresponding costs. Dr. Carson suggested a similar option that I would also support...
Interesting that republicans want to move people into Medicare... a program they believe is failing and would like to cut sending on...
You should be denied coverage for a pre-existing condition. Insurance by definition is a hedge against possible future negative outcomes, not pre-existing conditions.
Also, if your view is that you should be defined coverage for a pre-existing condition... I think that might cover half of the population.
Why are all other developed nations able to afford health care for all and we have to And why have out of pocket max? I am sure if you cannot pay for 500k brain operations, you should declare bankruptcy.
So you're suggesting the government create a virtually risk-free business model for the private sector? What you're suggesting is not insurance - it's free government-sponsored money to insurance companies. Besides that, how do you define pre-existing condition? Around 10 years ago, I sprained my ankle. I got an X-Ray that came back negative. 1 year later, I switched insurance, and my ankle was considered a pre-existing condition that was not covered. Are you suggesting I, perfectly healthy at 30ish years old, should I have been eligible for Medicare because I sprained an ankle? By that standard, just do Medicare for all, becuase virtually everyone has pre-existing conditions of some sort or another. Keep in mind, group insurance covers pre-existing conditions. Insurers make money with that. It's only the much smaller individual market where this is an issue.
A combination of higher taxes, a much lower population, much lower illegal population, and much fewer international obligations and responsibilities.
Single payer is coming, when I am not sure, but it is coming because the current system just cannot last forever
The "current system" being Obamacare was never intended to last. Everyone with a brain knew that it was a system that would fail really quickly. The goal was to pass a terrible system that would fail in order to take the next step towards a single payer system that will be even worse. What we'll get is essentially the VA for poor people with just awful quality of health care while the rich can afford private doctors who won't accept the government system for payment. Basically it'll make the health care for the rich better while making the health care for everyone else worse. It won't take long for the complaints about how terrible the single payer system is before we have people running on dumping billions and trillions more into the system to make it better only given that it's a government system the money will be poorly spent and the only real difference will be that taxes will have skyrocketed and the average person will still be receiving inferior health care compared to what they could have gotten before it all became the VA.
