Can anyone explain the Affordable Care Act to me?

1. 66

   Eric Seidelposted 7 years ago

   Can anyone explain the Affordable Care Act to me?
   
   I was honestly going to make a Hub about this, asking this very question, and I had written 800 something words on the subject. Ok actually it's more like a mild rant, but I think this would be better as a Hubpages question rather than a Hub that no one will read. Or would it be worthy of a Hub?
   
   I guess I'm asking two questions here; first please help me understand this nonsense (or why it's not), and secondly would it be worth writing a Hub about?

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2. 70

   dashingscorpioposted 7 years ago

   Essentially it's a health insurance coverage law designed to give people access to health insurance who may  not be able to get it from their employer. They can buy through their state exchange.
   Some of things people like about it is no one can be exempted for having preconditions and anyone with children can keep them on their plan up to age 26.
   The main thing people don't like is having a mandatory requirement to have health insurance.
   Another thing is premiums have risen in large part to the fact that many young healthy people have not signed up for it which means older unhealthy people are causing insurance companies to have raise premiums to earn profits.
   Some people also are not in favor of expanding Medicaid to supplement payments for those who cannot afford health insurance.
   And others actually wish we had a "single payer" insurance model where everyone automatically has health insurance coverage. The big pushback is we'd all pay higher taxes.
   Medical expenses have become one of the leading cause of bankruptcy for citizens. Hospitals and the medical community also lose billions of dollars providing emergency services to people who don't have health insurance.
   I'm not sure if a hub on this topic would be as popular as it might have been in 2009.

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   1. 51

      bradmasterOCcalposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Besides pre existing conditions, which could have been satisfied by a single bill, and been applied immediately, what else does ACA offer?

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   2. 70

      dashingscorpioposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Coverage for young adults without their own insurance can remain covered by their parents until age 26. That's pretty much it.
      Most people actually can get insurance through their employer.
      The ACA didn't affect (me) at all.

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   3. 51

      bradmasterOCcalposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      The fact that people 26 and younger allowed to be on their parents plan says they either don't have jobs, or they can't ones from their employer.
      
      Also, having to select high deductibles doesn't really help the lower income people.

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   4. 70

      dashingscorpioposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      You're correct!
      The very poor are often eligible for Medicaid and Medicare or other government programs. The ACA I suppose is for the "working poor" who don't have access to insurance through their employer or are under age 26 with no job.

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   5. 51

      bradmasterOCcalposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Then why do people have to take catastrophic deductibles to afford ACA insurance. Illegal aliens get free medical at our hospitals.
      
      And no one has read the ACA so who is there to explain it?

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3. 85

   Austinstarposted 7 years ago

   Your best comparison to the ACA is mandatory Automobile insurance. You own a car and you have a responsibility to operate it safely. You must operate your car in a safe manner regardless of being able to afford insurance or not. Laws say that everyone has to have insurance to operate a car and private insurance companies charge rates that enable them to profit over these laws. Your car is a reflection of your safety record out and about and it affects everyone on the road, not just you.
   You own your body, and you have a responsibility to keep it in good shape, non-infective to others, cause harm to others (mental health), and you may be the sole family support for your children. If you get sick (like being in a car wreck), you affect everyone around you as well as yourself.
   ALL insurance is like a safety belt for you and the general public.
   Without car insurance, it is a public safety risk to drive your car on the public roads because harm MAY happen to you or others.
   Without health insurance, it is a public safety risk because your health care must be paid for somehow. Perhaps hospitals may have to shut down (affecting the care of thousands). Perhaps, you will get sick and die (affecting the welfare of your family and government funds that must be spent to care for these people instead of you being able to).
   ALL insurance is simply a safety net so that people may be cared for if they are unable to care for themselves.
   Private Insurance companies work for profit and fight over every penny. Government insurance generally uses our tax money to protect us. We pay the taxes and the money goes for the upkeep and reimbursements.
   So, it's really just a matter of who gets the money.

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   1. 76

      Misfit Chickposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      I was going to make this case, good job. There is mandatory car insurance across the states for a reason; and healthcare should be required for the same reasons. Its too bad government has to tweek insurance regulations to serve citizens.

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   2. 85

      Austinstarposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      The private insurance lobby is a powerful one closely alligned with the upper1% This is why we don't have universal health care. The rich want a slice of the big health pie.

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   3. 83

      Au faitposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      BradmasterOCcal, there isn't space/characters sufficient 2 respond 2 your comment on my statement or would do. Not allowed 2 respond more than once to several comments either.That why I'm responding to you here instead of under my own answer. Sorry.

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4. 83

   Au faitposted 7 years ago

   The Affordable Care Act (ACA sometimes referred to as ObamaCare) is essentially insurance regulation. The way many people refer to it you might think it was an insurance or healthcare program like Medicare or Medicaid. It is not.
   
   A few years ago you could buy health insurance and pay that premium every month, sometimes for years, & then have an accident or get sick & have to make a claim on that insurance you’ve paid on all those months or years only to receive a letter explaining that your coverage didn’t include an accident of your type, or didn’t include sickness such as you were/are experiencing. The ACA ended that. 
   
   Now insurance companies must inform you in plain language exactly what is covered or not covered by the insurance you buy. Insurance companies must meet minimal standards of coverage to be on the insurance board in any state. Insurance not offered on the ‘board’ does not have to meet such stringent requirements, but is still held to a higher standard than was required a few years ago.
   
   Most people know that they can no longer (because of the ACA) be refused insurance coverage because of pre-existing conditions & that they can’t be dropped for having an accident or developing a chronic illness. They can no longer be told they are not covered for health issues directly/indirectly related to a previous condition or a chronic illness.
   
   No small business with fewer than 50 employees is required to provide their employees insurance. Not all people are required to buy insurance or be fined. There is a long list of all the different categories of people who will not be subject to a fine for not having health insurance. This list is online:  https://www.healthcare.gov/health-cover … m-the-fee/
   
   Part of the ACA required states to expand their medicaid programs to cover more poor people. People previously considered not poor enough to get Medicaid, but still too poor afford health insurance. The requirement for a state to expand Medicaid was challenged by various states & struck down by SCOTUS. The Federal government offered incentives for states to make this expansion of healthcare to poor people & would have paid millions in the first few years to encourage that expansion. Many states still refused to do so & turned down the money to help poor people in their states.
   
   Everything you need to know about the Affordable Care Act is available online from the U.S. government website.  https://www.hhs.gov/healthcare/

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   1. 51

      bradmasterOCcalposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      If ACA was so affordable, why did the congress in 2013 raise the medical deduction threshold from 7.5% to 10%?
      
      They should have reduced it to 5% or 2%.
      From what I see, people insured under the ACA have catastrophic coverage meaning high deductibles

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   2. 0

      Hxprofposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Au fait: Many of the problems the ACA purportedly tries to address could have been addressed without the ACA, by legislation that corrected these problems.  We didn't need the feds to take over insurance.

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   3. 83

      Au faitposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Hsprof, that is not the question asked here, but since you raised it, I disagree. Know of no one on Medicare who doesn't like it. We all need to have Medicare. Universal healthcare works great everywhere in the world. Backward USA doesn't have it.

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   4. 0

      Hxprofposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Backward US population doesn't want to be controlled by their federal government.

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   5. 83

      Au faitposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Hxprof, if having access to healthcare is your idea of government control, by all means refuse it and accept the consequences, but don't force the rest of us to go without healthcare because you have this irrational fear of government run healthcare.

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   6. 51

      bradmasterOCcalposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Hxprof
      I agree. The fed govt couldn't even run a bordello in Nevade, that is a true story. Medicare has been the furnace of fraud from the beginning. Crooks have made more use of it. Without medicare extended plans, medicare sucks. WtDonut hole??

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5. 82

   tamarawilhiteposted 7 years ago

   Government mandates you have to buy health insurance.
   Government's definition of minimum acceptable health insurance is an all inclusive plan that costs a lot of money.
   Health insurance costs continued going up 10% or more a year for most people.

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   1. 51

      bradmasterOCcalposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      good points.

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6. 78

   wba108@yahoo.composted 7 years ago

   The purpose of the ACA was to provide access to quality affordable healthcare for everyone, especially those with preexisting medical conditions. Heavily regulated federal and state exchanges we're to be established for this purpose.
   
   Unfortunately, the ACA has accomplished the opposite of what its stated goals were. Instead of lowering costs, the Daily Signal reports that "the average premium costs for an employment-based insurance family plan have skyrocketed to $15,500," and that in just a few years those costs are expected to increase 60%.
   
   The promises made by Barack Obama concerning the ACA have been repeatedly broken. Among those promises was that you could keep your current healthcare plan. According to the Daily Signal Obama's promises included " families  making less than $250,000 would see no tax increase; Obamacare would not add to the deficit; premiums would decrease; and federal conscience laws would remain in place."
   
   According to the  Daily Signal,  the ACA  ultimately "provides fewer choices, longer waits and higher costs, which is the opposite to what was promised.
   
   For more info: http://dailysignal.com/2016/09/19/3-sim … obamacare/

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