# 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:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2015, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-your-health-insurance-you-can-keep-it/712356/21 "2015-02-11T03:56:32Z")
Why shouldn’t that be up to the consumer how much coverage to purchase? ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2015, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-your-health-insurance-you-can-keep-it/712356/22 "2015-02-11T03:58:09Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > If you like your health insurance, you can keep it > > Resolved: the President lied when he said this. > > Anyone disagree?😃 It doesn’t appear that anyone disagrees that the President’s was, in fact, lying. Personally, my deductible increased by $2,500, my annual cost went up almost 20%, my primary care physician is no longer in my plan, and I lost my dentist. I’VE BEEN GRUBERIZED by that lying Obama. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2015, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-your-health-insurance-you-can-keep-it/712356/23 "2015-02-11T04:02:36Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > It doesn’t appear that anyone disagrees that the President’s was, in fact, lying. > > Personally, my deductible increased by $2,500, my annual cost went up almost 20%, my primary care physician is no longer in my plan, and I lost my dentist. I’VE BEEN GRUBERIZED by that lying Obama. Do you get insurance from your employer? If so, you have no power over any of that. I’ve had employers change my insurance two years in a row. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2015, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-your-health-insurance-you-can-keep-it/712356/24 "2015-02-11T04:12:28Z")
They were affected by the coverage requirements. If certain things have to be free that weren’t before, that means your premiums must rise. Or copays. So if I want birth control, that’s free, but Gabapentin is now $15 instead of $10. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2015, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-your-health-insurance-you-can-keep-it/712356/25 "2015-02-11T04:31:58Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > They were affected by the coverage requirements. If certain things have to be free that weren’t before, that means your premiums must rise. Or copays. > > So if I want birth control, that’s free, but Gabapentin is now $15 instead of $10. Your example is asinine. Contraception coverage costs very little or actually saves money by reducing maternity costs. [https://guttmacher.org/media/inthenews/2014/07/16/index.html](https://guttmacher.org/media/inthenews/2014/07/16/index.html) > [@](#): > > [ul] > [li]The federal government, the nation’s largest employer, found that “there was no cost increase” after Congress required coverage of contraceptives for federal employees in 1998. This is significant because the population of federal employees closely resembles the privately insured Americans who are now benefiting from the contraceptive coverage guarantee. If requiring contraceptive coverage did not increase costs for the federal government, it is unlikely to increase costs for private-sector health plans.[/li][li]Studies comparing the cost-effectiveness of contraceptives find that all methods save insurers money, after the costs of unintended pregnancies averted are accounted for—with the most effective methods, such as IUDs and implants, being among the most cost-effective.[/li][li]More specifically for private employers, both the National Business Group on Health (a membership group for large employers) and Mercer (an employee benefits consulting firm) published studies recommending contraceptive coverage as a cost-saving option for health plans—both because of the savings from fewer insurance claims for pregnancy-related care and from improved employee productivity.[/li][li]Likewise, a 2007 National Business Group on Health report calls for coverage of the full range of prescription contraceptive services and supplies at “zero cost-sharing…to avoid real or perceived financial barriers, and to increase utilization.” Relying on an actuarial analysis from PricewaterhouseCoopers, the report predicts that savings from this coverage will exceed the costs.[/li][li]Buttressing this private-sector evidence is a wealth of public-sector data. Data from the Guttmacher Institute show that by helping women avoid unintended pregnancies, public funding for contraceptive services in 2010 resulted in net public savings of $10.5 billion, or $5.68 for every dollar spent. Those savings accrue to Medicaid within the first year of providing contraceptive services.[/li][li]Similarly, a 2010 Brookings Institution review of government programs to reduce unintended pregnancy found that publicly funded family planning efforts have been effective and cost-saving, and “would be even more so if they could increase the use not just of contraceptives, but of long-acting, reversible contraceptive methods.”[/li][/ul] How about my post above that you ignored? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2015, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-your-health-insurance-you-can-keep-it/712356/26 "2015-02-11T04:32:36Z")
> [@andros](#): > > Somebody help me out here…am I allowed to call this trolling in the Pit these days? Or will that get me warned? [Moderating] Go wild, dude. [/Moderating] ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2015, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-your-health-insurance-you-can-keep-it/712356/27 "2015-02-11T04:32:57Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Why shouldn’t that be up to the consumer how much coverage to purchase? Haven’t we been round this block countless times before? ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2015, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-your-health-insurance-you-can-keep-it/712356/28 "2015-02-11T04:33:50Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > Do you get insurance from your employer? If so, you have no power over any of that. I’ve had employers change my insurance two years in a row. Ahem, did Obama gruberize the public when he said that if you liked your health insurance, you could keep it? Yes, he did. I liked my health insurance. I liked my doctor. I liked my dentist. But I didn’t get to keep them. Obama lied. ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2015, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-your-health-insurance-you-can-keep-it/712356/29 "2015-02-11T04:33:57Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > It doesn’t appear that anyone disagrees that the President’s was, in fact, lying. > > Personally, my deductible increased by $2,500, my annual cost went up almost 20%, my primary care physician is no longer in my plan, and I lost my dentist. I’VE BEEN GRUBERIZED by that lying Obama. I most certainly do… But I don’t count, I’m not mercan and I don’t vote ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2015, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-your-health-insurance-you-can-keep-it/712356/30 "2015-02-11T04:42:05Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > Ahem, did Obama gruberize the public when he said that if you liked your health insurance, you could keep it? Yes, he did. I liked my health insurance. I liked my doctor. I liked my dentist. But I didn’t get to keep them. Obama lied. Since you’re so angry you’re having trouble answering, I’ll ask again: Was your insurance provided by your employer? If so, you have no say in what insurance you have, aside from purchasing it on the exchanges. You should be complaining to your employer for giving you shitty coverage. Personally, since we’re doing anecdotes, I got good coverage for myself and my daughter via the ACA (I’m off a long contract and am self-employed again) for less than my wife was paying to add my daughter to her work insurance. We make too much money to get a subsidy, so this was direct from the exchanges. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2015, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-your-health-insurance-you-can-keep-it/712356/31 "2015-02-11T05:37:02Z")
Since we’re doing asinine anecdotes, here’s mine. My parents bought their own insurance for years. Cost went up a fair amount every year, too. Along comes Obamacare and suddenly, that increase slowed down. And their coverage is better to boot. It’s a difference of several hundred dollars a year. It could have been a coincidence. And pigs may one day fly out of my ass. So, yeah, thanks Obama for saving my parents money while getting them better healthcare. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2015, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-your-health-insurance-you-can-keep-it/712356/32 "2015-02-11T05:38:52Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > Since you’re so angry you’re having trouble answering, I’ll ask again: > > Was your insurance provided by your employer? If so, you have no say in what insurance you have, aside from purchasing it on the exchanges. You should be complaining to your employer for giving you shitty coverage. > > Personally, since we’re doing anecdotes, I got good coverage for myself and my daughter via the ACA (I’m off a long contract and am self-employed again) for less than my wife was paying to add my daughter to her work insurance. We make too much money to get a subsidy, so this was direct from the exchanges. Are you so angry that you forgot to answer the question asked in the OP? Do you believe Obama lied when he said, “If you like your health insurance, you can keep it”? I was very happy with (aka liked) my old insurance. My new insurance costs are based on the requirements of ACA/Obamacare. Obama lied and the public was gruberized. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2015, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-your-health-insurance-you-can-keep-it/712356/33 "2015-02-11T06:00:34Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Feel free to discuss anything you like in this thread, since the debate is over.🙂 > > Aren’t we allowed to troll in the Pit? Not that I’m trolling. Just reopening a debate that apparently needed reopening. Why does it “need reopening?” Most people are pretty happy with the ACA. Even those who are unhappy, don’t really need to debate this anymore. They just need to adjust to the new normal. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2015, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-your-health-insurance-you-can-keep-it/712356/34 "2015-02-11T07:49:54Z")
> [@Mona\_Lott](#): > > Please tell me what the Republican plan for health care reform is. I cancelled his policy in Reno Just to watch him die ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2015, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-your-health-insurance-you-can-keep-it/712356/35 "2015-02-11T07:50:19Z")
“Gruberize”. Man, that is just so Republican! It _wants_ to be biting sarcasm, its so earnest, it tries so _hard_… ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2015, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-your-health-insurance-you-can-keep-it/712356/36 "2015-02-11T08:22:16Z")
Look, it was a speech, OK? Political speech is like theater, to some degree, exaggeration is to be expected. He wasn’t testifying in a court of law, he wasn’t downloading data, he was making a fucking speech! Suppose he says something like “Like all of you, I love my country.”. Is there no one, out of 359 million who doesn’t? Not even one? And he knows that, and he’s lying, because he is stating as a fact that everybody in America loves their country? Not John C. Throckmorton of Vile Creek, Montana! Liar! If Fox Gnaws had existed back then, when JFK said “Ich bin ein Berliner”, they would have led with BREAKING NEWS! President Kennedy renounces American citizenship, pledges allegiance to Germany!". ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2015, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-your-health-insurance-you-can-keep-it/712356/37 "2015-02-11T08:52:12Z")
I know, let’s have a 'Lie Off": Obama: “You can keep your insurance.” Since that lie millions of people were able to get insurance ultimately saving many lives. Bush: “OMG! There’s WMDs in Iraq, we gotta go get those guys!” since then, HOW many Americans have died over that fucking lie? Go ahead **adaher** , beat that one. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2015, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-your-health-insurance-you-can-keep-it/712356/38 "2015-02-11T11:48:55Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > I know, let’s have a 'Lie Off": > Obama: “You can keep your insurance.” Since that lie millions of people were able to get insurance ultimately saving many lives. > Bush: “OMG! There’s WMDs in Iraq, we gotta go get those guys!” since then, HOW many Americans have died over that fucking lie? > Go ahead **adaher** , beat that one. It’s not the size of the lie that counts, it’s the political party of the speaker that counts. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2015, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-your-health-insurance-you-can-keep-it/712356/39 "2015-02-11T13:05:32Z")
It looks like Bush and Obama have paid for their lies in similar ways. Both lost Congress. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2015, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-your-health-insurance-you-can-keep-it/712356/40 "2015-02-11T13:05:35Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > Do you get insurance from your employer? If so, you have no power over any of that. I’ve had employers change my insurance two years in a row. When I got hired by a large company in 2000, we had a choice of HMOs and PPOs from six or seven different insurers. Then after a couple of years, we had a choice of an HMO or PPO from one insurer. By the time I was laid off in 2007, we had a choice of a high deductible health plan (aka a “you pay for everything” plan, aka a “pray you don’t get sick” plan) or jack squat. Profits, meanwhile, soared as high as ever. Thanks, Obama! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-your-health-insurance-you-can-keep-it/712356.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-like-your-health-insurance-you-can-keep-it/712356.md?page=3)