Discussion»Questions»Politics» Republicans are giving you ACCESS to health insurance. But, I have ACCESS to LOTS of things I can't afford. What's with this word "access"?
I LOVE that. Plus, with the mandate GONE, they're also gonna let you buy health insurance AFTER you get sick. Who wouldn't love that? It's like buying fire insurance AFTER your house burns up..
I'm wondering, though, how they're gonna PAY for all those goodies??
I think I heard something about high risk pools. Also there is a 30% increase for not having continuous insurance. Auto insurance does this as well, the rate may vary of course.
If you are old, sick or healthy, you have Medicare not private insurance. Unless supplemental/drug policies. As I said preexisting conditions are talking about being in a Special pool.
Ok.. Let's say I'm 25, and my health insurance WOULD cost me $5,000 a year IF I bought it. But, I didn't because I'm healthy.. Now, let's jump ahead 25 years. I've now SAVED $125,000, and I find out I'm sick. I'm ONLY 50 and medicare doesn't kick in for years, and I need treatment NOW..
Apparently, I can buy insurance for $6,500, which is 15% MORE than the $5 grand it was gonna cost me, and the insurance company WILL pay for everything..
I pay for private insurance. The Affordable Care Act really helped me tremendously. With the new plan, at my age, a tax credit of $2K - $4K per year is NOTHING when you are shelling out $10K plus per year for health insurance that requires an out of pocket deductible of at least another $6K. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/07/health/risk-of-losing-health-insurance-in-republican-plan.html
Truthfully I would not pay it. I don't pay it. If I could pay 10k annually..I can pay my Doc bill with that. I don't know the answer but I know OC is imploding.....And that's before Rs took control.
What I am quoting you is what I was paying for catastrophe insurance. Once you hit 50, the premiums just jump exponentially every year. I don't want to lose my house and savings to a hospital. The people who suffered more prior to the ACA are the families that have children with serious pre-existing conditions. I'm very glad you don't have to worry about it. I agree there were problems with The Affordable Care Act but if they would just take the plan and fix it so it works in a way that is palatable to everyone, rather than do what they are doing, the people who have insurance under the ACA would be behind it and not in such an uproar as they are.
Excon, I don't know if you read this at the beginning of the year or not but I found this article written by a former insurance company CEO very eye opening.
I am really pissed off that the GOP thinks cobbling something together quickly is better than nothing. They have placed my healthcare along with my health and millions of other people's, in major major jeopardy. I can only hope that enough of us will contact our representatives and keep hollering until a better plan is created.
I have always had ACCESS to health insurance. Either I was covered through my employer or I could have purchased it on my own. They're giving away ice in the winter unless they're giving access to AFFORDABLE healh insurance. According to the news last night, insurance will cost more for older people than it will for younger ones. Unless you're eligible for Medicare or Medicaid, it will likely cost you more than you can afford.
This is the link I posted in my response to M2c. This new plan will break all of us that are on private insurance. It will guarantee that the majority of Americans will be forced to work until they drop dead. Retirement will be a notion rather than a reality.
I realize that and I really feel bad for anyone in that position. I've been lucky in that I've always been employer covered and now I'm Medicare covered, but the supplemental plans and drug are not cheap. I'm continuing to work three days a week for a number of reasons, one of which is to have sufficient income to cover my medical costs now that I'm not employer eligible.
In one way you are lucky but it's upsetting and ridiculous that anyone has to continue working after a certain age just to cover their medical premiums & drug costs to avoid outliving their life savings.
I agree, but I also think that with the life expectancy as high as it is today, allowing people to retire at 62 is foolhardy unless there is a valid reason such as something other than you're tired of working. The government's incentive for you to work as long as you can is that there's an 8% bump every year you work after your full retirement age until age 70. I was amazed at how much more my check is.
To be honest, that is not the only reason I'm continuing to work. I ccould actually live on my Social Security if I choose to stop altogether.
This post was edited by SpunkySenior at March 9, 2017 12:55 PM MST
Senior, I agree with you. I don't have a problem with the retirement age being raised to 68 or even 70. If the gov't incentive stays in place, with yearly step-ups for deferring, that makes sense. Unfortunately, Social Security & Medicare are also being targeted in an attempt to cut gov't overspending. I am hopeful they will fix the problem rather than just cut the budget. Only time will tell.
Re: your situation. I am very glad you are in the position you are. You are one of the fortunate ones. Even before the downturn in 2008, people over 50 were being asked to take early retirement or just let go, in order to cut expenses. I saw it happen to a number of people. Trying to get a new job after 50 is not easy. No one wants you. And, if you do manage to land a job, forget about pulling down the salary you had before. After the downturn it was impossible. The past couple of years there has been a resurgence in hiring but those people haven't gotten any younger. There is a definite age discrimination that is occurring and no one is talking about. And, of course, on top of that, there are people who, as they age, are not healthy enough to continue to work and need to take their Social Security at an earlier age. So, we do have some issues that still need to be addressed.
We are definitely in agreement here. I AM very fortunate to have been able to find work with good salaries and benefits since I graduated high school. I know there were times years ago when I realized that if I had to go looking for a new job, it would be very difficult.
Companies are loathe to keep workers on for long periods of time because their salaries rise to much higher levels and the benefit package increases as well. You can bet that a legal secretary who has 53 years experience is going to command a salary far in excess of one that has only 5 years under her belt. The way the legal field has changed since I first started, the skills I have accumulated are no longer needed, so a person with a good work ethic and good typing skills (we rarely even take dictation anymore) can easily be trained to do the job I do. I'm sure my firm would never gave agreed to let me work just three days a week without my offering to forego my benefits. It was a win-win for both of us and my boss of 25 years doesn't have to start with someone new who has no idea how to handle his needs. There are things that I do on a personal level that he doesn't even realize I've done until they've been accomplished. :)
But Obama care was falling apart with insurance companies pulling out because of the expense. Obama said you could keep your own doctor, you couldn't, it wouldn't cost more, it did and now from what I can gather only part of the new plan has been unveiled.
Health care insurance is complicated but Obama care concerned me a lot. I heard Obama say that a 65 year old would not get the same level of care as a 25 year old which made me think of the National Health Service in Britain with their postcode medicine and Liverpool Care Pathway which meant they were withdrawing treatment of the elderly often without consulting the family. I was also concerned about Obama care after talking to several doctors who were disgusted with it and two who were in their fifties said they had thought of taking early retirement which I'm sure wasn't limited to them and could put the US in the same situation as Britain with the really good young doctors leaving the country to work elsewhere.
It is dependent upon which plan you chose under the ACA. I was able to keep my doctor. The plan has been adjusted each year. It's true that the cost went up. For me, it was still much cheaper than what I was paying and I have been receiving the same standard of care that I had before. The biggest difference is that pre-existing conditions are not anything I have to worry about and I am fully covered for preventive care, which I wasn't under my catastrophe plan. So, the ACA has been helpful to me and millions of others in my situation. With younger people, I do know a couple of families with children who have medical conditions, who have also benefited. Yet, I also know people who have found it to be too costly for them, so there are definitely problems with the program. The "falling apart" scenario is a bunch of rhetoric. There are definitely issues that need to be addressed and fixed. I do know a doctor that did retire but it was because of all the paperwork requirements from the insurance companies prior to the ACA being in place. In speaking with my doctors and the support staff, the paperwork requirements get worse each year but they blame it on the insurance companies. I'm sure the blame can be laid at the feet of both the insurance companies and the government.
The ACA plan needs to be reviewed and corrected, not completely thrown out and rewritten in a way that will leave millions unable to afford insurance premiums. All of us on it, lost our original plans when we were convinced to shift to the ACA. There is no turning back. We will all be at the mercy of insurance companies. No group is endorsing the new plan outside of the GOP. That includes doctors & hospital groups, specifically the AMA, AAP, ANA, & AHA have spoken out against it. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/major-health-advocacy-groups-announce-opposition-to-gop-plan-to-replace-obamacare/
I don't know if we will lose doctors over this but I am positive we are going to experience a major medical care implosion in this country if this new plan is passed & put into effect.
my2cents 