# If you like your health insurance, you can keep it **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 11, 2015, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-your-health-insurance-you-can-keep-it/712356 "2015-02-11T01:40:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![stretch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a6a055/32.png) [@stretch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stretch)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2015, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-your-health-insurance-you-can-keep-it/712356/201 "2015-02-14T00:49:24Z")
> [@curlcoat](#): > > I am eligible for Medicare, but am covered under my husbands group insurance thru his employer. There is no reason for UHC (may they be nuked from space) to insist I enroll in Medicare because they would still have to pay as primary. I suggest you let your husband’s insurance know that you are eligible for Medicare but are not enrolled. They would be interested to know. I don’t care about ACA here–his employer’s insurer may require it, idjit. I used to work as a benefits specialist, moron. We always got on people’s shit if they or their spouses did not enroll in Medicare when eligible. We would retro-actively cancel the incorrect benefits, fix premium discrepancies, and then retro-actively enroll in the correct plan. Then I listened to the wails from the insured and the insurance company–as the insurance company backed out claims, re-processed, and fixed discrepancies on their end. Sometimes it cost the insured quite a bit of money to pay their correct share of past medical costs, because they didn’t get appropriate approvals. On _rare_ occasions, insurance companies ate those costs because they don’t want to deal with the hassle. But mostly insurance companies seem to really groove on playing claims games… If you’re lucky, your husband’s employer is more lenient about your attempts to rob them, and if they are a small business you are messing with their rate pool. Not only a welfare queen, but a thief! I’m not even going to explain the rest of my post again, because it’s obvious to everyone that you are just flat-out stupid. I’m only beating my head against this wall because I finished my yard work and the Dope is my reward. ---
**Author:** ![curlcoat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@curlcoat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curlcoat)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2015, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-your-health-insurance-you-can-keep-it/712356/202 "2015-02-15T05:49:32Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > Your idea that Social Security is not welfare nor public assistance. Well, I wasn’t talking about 1935, I’m talking about now. Welfare is not funded by FICA. > [@GIGObuster](#): > > A lie as there is more people insured, Which is completely different than what you said previously, that US healthcare is/was broken. Healthcare costs and accessibility are still major problems. > [@Leaper](#): > > Actually, that falls rather neatly under “not my problem,” considering we’re talking about whether people should be able to CONTINUE LIVING or not based on their ability to pay. > > (Or, technically, have to choose between living or facing a lifetime of crippling debt that conservatives will sneer at them at and insist must be their fault somehow, whether it is or not.) Interesting strawman there. I say that we still have the problem of too many people assuming that someone else will come along and take care of them, and you start talking as if before ACA these people couldn’t get coverage; I was talking about people who _chose_ to not buy insurance because they didn’t want to pay the money, or who got themselves into a world of debt to the point that they couldn’t afford it. Not people who just flat couldn’t get insurance due to pre-existing laws, or because they were just slightly too “well off” to qualify for Medicaid. Oh, and crippling debt? Those people that I have known who ended up with big healthcare bills just declared bankruptcy. I don’t imagine everyone can do that, but it certainly isn’t rare. And, there simply aren’t that many people out there who were without insurance who will now be saved from crippling debt because of ACA. You do know that insurance policies have caps, right? > [@stretch](#): > > I suggest you let your husband’s insurance know that you are eligible for Medicare but are not enrolled. They would be interested to know. I don’t care about ACA here–his employer’s insurer may require it, idjit. > > I used to work as a benefits specialist, moron. Then you should know better. My husbands group policy thru his employer is always prime to Medicare. I could pay for Medicare Part B and/or D but the size of their contribution after UHC (may they be nuked from space) pays is so small it isn’t worth it. Whether or not I have Medicare doesn’t affect the rat bastards at UHC at all. I am actually enrolled in Part A because the government won’t let me opt out of that, and I didn’t fight it because it’s free. So, if I ever have to spend time in a hospital, Medicare might have to pay something after UHC (may they be nuked from space) pays. Note the word “might”. > [@](#): > > If you’re lucky, your husband’s employer is more lenient about your attempts to rob them, and if they are a small business you are messing with their rate pool. Not only a welfare queen, but a thief! As I have said before, people should really know what they are talking about before throwing accusations around, especially of felonies. > [@](#): > > I’m not even going to explain the rest of my post again, because it’s obvious to everyone that you are just flat-out stupid. I’m only beating my head against this wall because I finished my yard work and the Dope is my reward. I’m not the stupid one if as you claim you work(ed) in the insurance business and you don’t even know something as basic as retirement plans are always secondary to active plans. Do you understand the concept of primary and secondary? ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2015, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-your-health-insurance-you-can-keep-it/712356/203 "2015-02-15T15:33:50Z")
It’s so nice when all the Pitizens can come together around a single, indisputable fact. In this case, that **curlcoat** is a hypocrite. It’s a beautiful thing. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2015, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-your-health-insurance-you-can-keep-it/712356/204 "2015-02-15T16:25:40Z")
I’m just tickled at the irony that it is one of adaher’s threads that got curlcoated. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2015, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-your-health-insurance-you-can-keep-it/712356/205 "2015-02-15T16:32:48Z")
> [@curlcoat](#): > > Well, I wasn’t talking about 1935, I’m talking about now. Welfare is not funded by FICA. Of course, ignoring history is a known quality of many ignorant conservatives. > [@curlcoat](#): > > Which is completely different than what you said previously, that US healthcare is/was broken. Healthcare costs and accessibility are still major problems. Your avoidance of what is happening with vaccines is duly noted too. ---
**Author:** ![curlcoat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@curlcoat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curlcoat)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2015, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-your-health-insurance-you-can-keep-it/712356/206 "2015-02-16T08:23:59Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > Of course, ignoring history is a known quality of many ignorant conservatives. No where was I ignoring history, I am merely talking about now since now is when I am drawing SSDI. > [@](#): > > Your avoidance of what is happening with vaccines is duly noted too. Your attempt to drag in a strawman is duly noted. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2015, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-your-health-insurance-you-can-keep-it/712356/207 "2015-02-16T10:38:55Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > I’m just tickled at the irony that it is one of adaher’s threads that got curlcoated. Is curlcoating a thing here on SDMB? Should I be honored? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2015, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-your-health-insurance-you-can-keep-it/712356/208 "2015-02-16T13:03:39Z")
If you don’t get it by now … it’s understandable. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-your-health-insurance-you-can-keep-it/712356.md?page=10)