Obama Care. Are you for or against it and do we really know what it means?

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   duffsmomposted 13 years ago

   Obama Care.  Are you for or against it and do we really know what it means?
   
   I know our insurance rates went up 20% and the letter from the insurance company cited Obama's Health Plan as the reason.  I'm confused about how higher rates helps anyone afford insurance.

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2. 60

   duffsmomposted 13 years ago

   Please excuse the tense error.  Meant to write: ..."how higher rates help anyone..."

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3. 61

   Louisiana Jobsposted 13 years ago

   As someone who has to deal with employees health care benefits I can tell you this much, Obama Care has caused our companies premiums to increase by about 20% each of the last two years. Now is this because of Obama, he does deserve some of the blame for not getting a clear plan passed in his first couple of years in office, however I think a greater percentage of the blame belongs to the insurance companies, who have taken advantage of this as an excuse to raise rates, insurance companies typically don't need much reason to raise your rates in the first place...lol

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   feenixposted 13 years ago

   I retired from the life-and-insurance industry in 2006, after working in that field for nearly 40 years.
   
   That said, I am strictly opposed to "ObamaCare" and the primary reason why is, his coming up with a "national healthcare plan" is nothing more than grandstanding on his part. He is making a pathetic attempt to show everyone that he is the man with the plan.
   
   The truth is, only one thing that has to be done to provide American workers -- whose employers do not have health-insurance plans -- with healthcare coverage.
   
   And that one thing is the following:
   
   Expand both Medicare and Medicaid for the purpose of providing uninsured workers with coverage.
   
   I cannot go into a lot of detail about it here but, essentially, that could be accomplished by having uninsured workers to pay monthly premiums (based on their individual incomes) for coverage under Medicare-Medicaid.
   
   In my opinion, that makes all of the sense in the world because both Medicare and Medicaid are well-established programs that are already in place.
   
   Thus, the only thing that would have to be done to make those programs America's "national healthcare plan" is to expand their operations.

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      Askmeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Excellent idea.  Probably too much common sense for politicians.

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   Askmeposted 11 years ago

   I realize you posted this question almost 2 years ago, but now I can answer this effectively because Obamacare is impacting me ADVERSELY.
   
   Like you we also received a notice of increase in our health insurance premiums, it was just about 2 years ago.  We had Aetna, an HMO through my husband's employer.  First off, the cost was, for our share, $800 a month. This was for my husband, myself and our 3 college kids.  Aetna was horrible.  They hardly paid for anything for things that are covered.
   
   We ditched Aetna and went outside my husband's employer's offering and found a PPO plan with Healthnet.  This allowed for 2 office visits a year for each of us pre-meeting our annual deductible.  The deductible is  $5,000. The cost for all 5 of us, is $480 a month.
   
   Along comes the alleged "Affordable Healthcare Act". We live in California, regardless of the hype from our Insurance Commissioner, Dave Jones, CoveredCA site does not work and the staff cannot be reached by telephone.  Wait time is in excess of 30  mins and the last few days, the phone system is not allowing anyone to even wait. The outgoing message merely states "call back during a less busy time" WHEN IS THAT?
   
   After weeks of enduring glitches on the CoveredCA site, I managed to input all of our personal info, social security #, DOB, etc. I still have no idea as to the cost or if there will be any subsidy.
   
   Yesterday we received the most idiotic letter from CoveredCA. It stated-I swear this is word for word-"Congratulations you qualify for medical insurance with Covered California", paragraph 3 of the same letter said  "You do not qualify for medical insurance because for reason" Yes it said "because for reason".  The reason?  "Your income is % above the National poverty level"
   
   I called my Senator and their office had a representative from Covered CA call me.  Essentially she advised me to have our motivated, college kids apply for welfare medical coverage in CA. As for dad and me, we will have to  "shop around". 
   
   I've checked with Healthnet, I can get a lesser policy-no office visits pre-meeting my deductible but it will cost for the two of us $891.00 a month. OH....good thing, I will now have maternity coverage!  At 59 yrs old and post menopausal,  I don't know why Mr. Obama is forcing maternity coverage on me!
   
   So, to sum up: middle class me will now be uninsured effective 12/30 and my kids have been told to apply for welfare!
   
   What a mess.

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