My taxes are subsidizing this program, and you are welcome to them. It’s sure better than flushing my tax dollars down the ratholes that were Afghanistan and Iraq. I would be willing to pay a bit more if I could afford it.
This is probably because pre-existing conditions can no longer factor into your insurance rate. So that means under ACA everyone the same age pays the same averaged rate. Whereas before, your rate was somewhat based on your pre-existing conditions. I’ve currently got a pretty reasonable catastrophic insurance plan that costs me only $150/month, but under the ACA, the absolute minimum I could pay for a similar plan* is at least $270/month.
So, yes, I’ll be paying more under ACA starting next year than I am this year. But one day, I’ll be older and have pre-existing conditions and I’ll be riding on the coattails of young, healthy kids. So, I’m okay with it. This is why it’s called insurance.
*pre-ACA and post-ACA plans are hard to compare. Under ACA new plans have to cover a lot that my current plan doesn’t.
Well, that’s what’s odd. Blue Cross Blue Shield is making me change to one of a couple of plans beginning 2014. The $6000 deductible plan for me, with 100% coinsurance (but no flat office visit copay that I see) is $180/mo. I’ve just decided to move over to my wife’s plan instead.
Nobody ever falls ill or is injured in another city, so that their regular physician doesn’t know anybody he/she could recommend? 
:smack:
You can find all kinds of exceptional situations. You do not base policy on exceptional situations.
Getting back to the OP:
So bronze and silver plans basically don’t offer much coverage if you are outside the area of your home network unless it is an emergency? Did I get that right?
In which case, for a comparatively rural area such as New Hampshire, how is the local availability for specialist care? Maybe certain specialties just aren’t readily available at your local hospital?
For example, would someone insured under the silver plan you chose and living where you do have to travel to Boston anyway to see an oncologist or endocrinologist due to lack of local availability. And thus such specialists would be “in network” even if Primary Care Physicians in Boston would be out of network?
Can y’all keep the political bickering out of this thread? There are plenty of other threads dedicated to that purpose. I’d like to hear more about the basic experiences of those who are buying on the exchange, and the nuts-and-bolts details of what they can get.
The American College of Emergency Physicians state that Emergency care is less than 2% of health care expenditures in the US.
So in some circumstances, certainly, the person is in no position to shop around. But in the large majority of cases a patient could shop around if costs were transparent. Often costs are not transparent and which price you pay depends upon your insurance plan and/or whether you need a payment plan.
For the prototypical 50 year old getting his first colonoscopy as a routine screening, the test will be scheduled well in advance. How can he know if he is about to incur $740 in charges or $8500? Those were the low and high charges in the New York area cited in a New York Times Editorial. The same editorial goes on to mention large price disparities for MRIs and hip replacements.
As the patient I would damn well want to know that the extra $7,700+ is in some way medically justifiable before shelling out the extra money.
Right - but today most (hell, all) people have NO idea what the cost of their procedures is. And have really no need to know. What a wonderful, wonderful system.
I’m not just talking about emergency care (though that’s part of it). The situations I’m talking about are cancers that present without warning and pull people downhill pretty fast. The patient and family are blindsided, and honestly, “shopping around” for the best deal is an unrealistic expectation. You’re barely thinking straight because you or your loved one is in pain, needs care maybe not on an emergency basis but pretty quickly, and price-comparisons are not the first thing that spring to mind (or the second… or the third…)
I agree with you on that; even though I have health insurance that covers me, I’ve tried to find pricing information a few times. It’s impossible until after-the-fact, when you get a bill. It shouldn’t be like that.
(and as an aside - the growing popularity of high-deductible plans does bring some clarity to the situation, as you do have to pay your own bills until the deductible is met and thus you see that that 5-minute procedure cost $2000 or whatever.)
Obamacare is far from perfect, but I don’t believe the answer is “let the free market decide” either. I don’t believe that prices would come down; I believe the drug manufacturers and medical device manufacturers would have very little competition and thus no real incentive to bring their rates into the range that everyone who needed them could afford them. I think a lot of people would end up dying and/or not being able to work - therefore a drain on society in a different way - without government intervention in health care.
But that’s where you and I differ, Terr, so that’s not news. 
Guy who successfully enrolled in Obamacare on the healthcare.gov website, do you have any security concerns about your personal data, specifically your SS number? Do you have identity-theft protection?
No, I really don’t. I think the reports of security issues are overblown, and are politically motivated. I have a credit report watching service, but not LifeLock or anything like that.
My network has 43 hospitals and medical facilities with 100 miles of me. If I wanted access to the Boston hospitals, I could have enrolled in a silver plan with multi-state access.
No, but I submitted proof of income which has not been approved yet. That didn’t prevent me from enrolling though.
Try again, it seems to be improving. I have no problem accessing my account now.
How does that translate into a mooch from the government? It was my understanding the insurance companies determined the benefits and the premiums, free market and all that. Do you think the feds are paying the insurance company the difference, in addition to the subsidy? Because they certainly aren’t paying it to me. I’m going to need a cite that the feds are paying the insurance companies any more than the subsidy on the premium.
Yes they are subsidizing your deductible and OOP expenses. And if I do show it to you, will you admit it’s a mooch? I suspect you won’t. So why should I look for it to show it to you?
I can’t tell you how bewildering this whole episode in US heathcare seems to me, a European.
Welcome to the world of not worrying yourself sick!
To the world of not having to worry about friends, family members and every sorry arse stranger getting cared for.
Of course it is a mooch, as it is intended to be. As are all tax credits. I know you think “mooch” is pejorative, but it’s not. I am a socialist, by the way. I don’t think that is a bad word either.
So, give with the cite.
“federal cost-sharing subsidies”. Mooch.
Thank you for that, and I mean it; ignorance fought. It explains the difference between the deductibles and OOP on silver versus bronze and gold plans.
Mooch, mooch, mooch. It starts to sound funny when you say it a lot.
Of course you don’t think it is pejorative. You’re on the receiving end.
I’m not eligible to enroll, because my employer offers a decent policy that I pay a little under $200 a month for. I’m jealous! But you didn’t say anything about dental or vision coverage. Are those options for the more expensive plans? Can you add a dental rider or something like that?
Terr, there are plenty of threads centering around the politics of the ACA that you can shit up. Kindly shut your yap.