http://www.manhattan-institute.org/knowyourrates/ This is a nice interactive map where you can see how much premiums have risen in your county or state since the ACA was passed. Why is Hawaii inverted from everyone else?
In what way has government positively influenced the healthcare market? Give this law a couple years and we will have the most expensive, least effective healthcare in history but insurance companies will be happy. We don't need to increase government revenue, we need to decrease government spending. This is one thing that both sides should agree on and neither side has ever done. Conclusion: your an idiot. Land of the Free didn't used to mean stuff....
As it is with everything in the USA. It's better to be really poor, or really rich. Being middle class means you get screwed on both sides.
The good news is if the middle class get screwed enough, they'll end up in poverty so they can start to benefit!
Except you are forgetting that prior to the ACA premiums were rapidly rising, health care costs were rapidly rising on top of more an more people losing insurance. I agree that the ACA has problems but the previous status quo was already disastrous. And how is that going to solve any of the issues that you raise? If government spending decreases how will that reign in premium rises while also increasing coverage? And what is your solution to addressing health care? I'm hearing a lot of complaints about the ACA but no workable solutions.
One of my friends is a healthcare insurance agent here in NC. When the ACA passed in 2010, she spent $1500 writing to her clients advising them to hold onto their grandfathered health insurance coverage. One of her clients was US senator KH's (up for re-election tomorrow) next door neighbor. My friend's client showed the letter to KH and KH subsequently tried to have my friend's insurance license revoked. BCBS defended the accuracy of the claims in her letter, nevertheless, KH tried to reassert her power and have the license pulled. That effort failed also. Recently my friend was approached by the RNC about making an ad about her battle with KH. As much as she detests the ACA, she passed on doing the ad as she didn't want the notoriety.
Nothing is free, there are no entitlements. Give the government enough of somebody else's money and they will fix all your problems. What is funny is that as we go along, people no longer question the idea that somebody else is paying their way, they deserve these things because of something I don't understand? You have to understand that ever increasing numbers of people on government assistance burden the system and cause these premium increases. Just like with food stamps, the US has a significantly higher percentage of the population on food stamps than we had in soup lines during the great depression. If they were all standing in lines for food we would be appalled. They are not, they are buying ding dongs and cigarettes with their government credit cards(I know because I see them buying things that I think are luxury items). So we don't notice that we have a major problem, but we do. I was talking with a guy in Mexico about the US and our social programs. I asked him what he thought about welfare and food stamps etc. He said, in Mexico, if you don't work you die. While that is a little harsh, I don't think that anything should be free. If you are able bodied and you receive something from our system, you should have to return something to the system for it. I also truly believe that these systems are a very effective form of controlling people that don't mind staying at a government controlled standard of living. The problem is that they create a gap between the government standard and an equivalent level of self sufficiency that is very difficult to cross and most people don't see the effort as worthy... I'm not sure I blame them. Have no fear though, as the people on government assistance increase, the votes for politicians that offer more free stuff will become the norm. Those same politicians will be laughing from the big house on the hill. The people who are willing to work to improve their situation will eventually remove the burden of support by going somewhere else because after all, nothing is free. At $17.77 trillion dollars in debt, every single US citizen is over $56,000.00 in debt today. Can you pay your share because I'm struggling with mine or do you even care?
Does this carry over to government tax breaks to corporations? The military? Which is it? Earlier you said that people were conditioned to not question someone else paying their way. Now people would be shocked seeing people in line asking for benefits? You cannot have it both ways. Yes, lets strive for the Mexican system. Perhaps for some people. Do they laugh when they give ungodly amounts of money to defense companies? Go where exactly? Europe? Nope. China? Have fun in that hell hole. Yes, and how much of that is due to government helping it's citizenry and how much of it is for other expenses like the military?
The methodology of this study is horrible. It compares plans that offered much less coverage to more expensive plans that offer more coverage and show that it increased the cost of insurance. It's like saying you used be able to buy a stick of gum for $0.05. Now you can only buy a pack of 10 for $0.50. Thus, the cost of gum went up 1000%!
I didn't know the Military received tax breaks? Lemme splane a little better for you lucy... It is very important for control that the people receive their benefits discretely. There is no need to feel indebted to who it comes from, no shame in it and in fact the idea of entitlement is important, with complete reliance on the government. More importantly the people controlled have no reason to change the status quo like they might have if there were some social stigmas attached. They are in fact, happy and controlled. Also, if the general population had to SEE that there are tons of poor and needy they might actually do something about it. Instead it is hidden by the government and the people on it are contained and controlled. There is nothing in my statement that says we should strive to be like Mexico but the attitude is important. The people must work to survive. Perhaps They are invested in the companies so yeah... Eventually would be the key here... You don't think the Military does anything to help the citizenry? It is important for the controlled to blame "big business" or something other than the government but the federal government and big business are one. This is one place that the parties are in lock step. It is also important that we are divided and argue because if we actually were united we might do something.
It's expensive keeping people alive. Older they all get(boomers) the more ridiculous this bill will be for all of us. Good thing the group rating aspect of the ACA totally ****s the young people who don't use it. As if inheriting the national deficit isn't bad enough. Ever wonder why there was a push to keep kids on their parents plan until their 26? If they didn't remain on the plan, in another 10 years, a 21 year old working and living on their own couldn't afford what will be the equivalent of a luxury car note--for the bronze plan. Yet somebody has to pay for the 55-65 year olds burning up the bills. Never mind the 65+ crowd. Meanwhile, it's all still a for-profit system. There's your problem.
I'll be attending review of the ACA tomorrow afternoon. I'll post any interesting tidbits I hear. It's featuring Reps. Donna Howard (D) and John Zerwas (R) on a panel with two other industry people.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/21/AR2010032100943.html GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR, perhaps you can explain what you mean? It appears that not a single Republican voted for the bill... which by pretty universal acclaim benefited the insurance industry the most... so explain that lockstep theory.
The health insurance industry fought against the bill: http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickung...reform-while-pretending-to-support-obamacare/
That is a very passionate rant there but still is offering no solutions or even directly on topic regarding how better to pay for health care, lower costs or increase coverage.
