# Is this really a consequence of Obamacare?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-really-a-consequence-of-obamacare/568320
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [January 20, 2011, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-really-a-consequence-of-obamacare/568320 "2011-01-20T14:33:58Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2011, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-really-a-consequence-of-obamacare/568320/21 "2011-01-20T18:00:39Z")
> [@Simplicio](#):
>
> Obamacare seems as good a nickname for the bill as anything else. It’s a healthcare act that was pushed for, at least in its general form, by Obama. And its not really a slur against the bill, it relates it to Medicare, which is popular, and Obama who while not as popular as he used to be, is still more popular then many of the bills opponents.
The official name is unwiedly and you do have to call it something. But the nickname does not relate to Medicare. It’s an update on Hillarycare, the derisive nickname for her health care proposal during the Clinton administration. For the most part I don’t take people who say “Obamacare” seriously.
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### Author:  [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2011, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-really-a-consequence-of-obamacare/568320/22 "2011-01-20T18:11:00Z")
> [@Marley23](#):
>
> The official name is unwiedly and you do have to call it something. But the nickname does not relate to Medicare. It’s an update on Hillarycare, the derisive nickname for her health care proposal during the Clinton administration. For the most part I don’t take people who say “Obamacare” seriously.
Its certainly a take-off Hillarycare, but Hillarycare was derisive because Hillary was unpopular and unelected. Obama had the majority of the electorate vote for him semi-recently and breaks even in popularity ratings.
FWIW, I use Obamacare occasionally and I’m a big supporter of the bill. If there was a better nickname in wide use, I’d use that, but Obamacare doesn’t seem particularly derisive, so I stick with that.
Beats “Death-panels” or “Job-Destroying Healthcare Act”
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### Author:  [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2011, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-really-a-consequence-of-obamacare/568320/23 "2011-01-20T18:16:12Z")
"Obamacare"is deliberately intended to suggest that the law involves some kind of government provided health care. It does not.
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### Author:  [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2011, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-really-a-consequence-of-obamacare/568320/24 "2011-01-20T18:24:37Z")
Please people - it’s the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act”. Obviously that’s too unwieldy for normal conversation so call it something like “the Affordable Care Act” or simply “health care reform”. "Obamacare is a derogatory and politically loaded term introduced by opponents. The want you to use that term because they want it to be about Obama and they want people who are frightened of Obama to be frightened of health care reform.
If you’re trying to have an objective discussion you shouldn’t use it any more than you should use the term “death tax”.
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### Author:  [@grayhairedmomma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grayhairedmomma)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2011, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-really-a-consequence-of-obamacare/568320/25 "2011-01-20T18:29:12Z")
> [@gumpy3885](#):
>
> At my company, a new rule was instituted for this year. If your spouse is on your plan but is eligible for insurance through their own job, you have to pay an extra amount (in my case, it’s $500 per year). It was explained to us as a way for the insurance company to cover it’s overhead by providing insurance for the non-employee. TANSTAAFL.
What? Did your company provide coverage for the spouse for free, prior to 2011? At my company, there has always been an increased insurance premium for anyone who is not the employee (e.g., employee only $150/month; employee + spouse $200/month; employee + 1 dependent $175/month, etc.) Or is this $500/yr in addition to the “employee+spouse” premium?
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### Author:  [@gumpy3885](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gumpy3885)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2011, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-really-a-consequence-of-obamacare/568320/26 "2011-01-20T18:46:10Z")
The extra amount is on top of the additional premium. So I pay the additional premium + a flat $500 extra to have her covered. For my children, I only have to pay the additional premium.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2011, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-really-a-consequence-of-obamacare/568320/27 "2011-01-20T18:46:41Z")
> [@Simplicio](#):
>
> Its certainly a take-off Hillarycare, but Hillarycare was derisive because Hillary was unpopular and unelected.
It was called Hillarycare _because_ she was unpopular and unelected. Obama is the president and he’s more popular, but the nickname does imply it’s government-run health care. And for that matter, Obama was behind the reform push but left a lot of the specifics to Congress.
> [@davidm](#):
>
> or simply “health care reform”.
This is a political term, too. It’s less loaded and the bias is positive instead of negative, but it’s not free of bias.
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### Author:  [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2011, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-really-a-consequence-of-obamacare/568320/28 "2011-01-20T18:48:24Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#):
>
> "Obamacare"is deliberately intended to suggest that the law involves some kind of government provided health care. It does not.
I’m not sure that follows, IIRC Tricare and parts of Medicare are provided by private insurance companies.
But in anycase, gov’t provided healthcare plans poll well, so if the \*care construction does lead people to believe the ACA provides one, thats not really gonna harm the popularity of the act.
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### Author:  [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2011, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-really-a-consequence-of-obamacare/568320/29 "2011-01-20T19:09:59Z")
> [@xtisme](#):
>
> I thought that much of ‘Obamacare’ hasn’t even gotten implemented yet. I seem to recall that there will be some of it put in place this year and more next year and the year after, though I may be misremembering.
>
> My BS detector is going off on that one. A thousand dollars per month?? Unless he’s got some real issues I don’t see that happening.
>
> BTW, I don’t get insurance either (I’m self employed)…I’m on my wife’s plan. And I am not having to pay anything extra.
>
> -XT
Well, I’m self-employed and until last year was paying $900 per month. The reason was that they claimed I had a pre-existing condition. Just because I had injured my shoulder years ago and there was a chance that I might have to have an operation. Even though that I didn’t need the operation and have been playing basketball, tennis, biking, for years after the consultation without incident. Bastards. I reapplied about a year ago to both Blue Cross and Blue Shield of California. Blue Cross: $300/month. Blue Shield: I think it was over $1,200.
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### Author:  [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2011, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-really-a-consequence-of-obamacare/568320/30 "2011-01-20T19:14:56Z")
> [@Don\_t\_Call\_Me\_Shirley](#):
>
> I believe “Obamacare” is the colloquial term for the recent healthcare reform legislation. I used it because he used it in his complaint. You know what I mean- the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).
From recent news, I believe that the term ObamaCare has been replaced with “The Job-Killing Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act”. :rolleyes:
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### Author:  [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2011, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-really-a-consequence-of-obamacare/568320/31 "2011-01-20T20:37:20Z")
Self-employed here and we buy insurance through a group ([freelancersunion.com](http://freelancersunion.com)). Our premiums went up this year, and I too am going to directly attribute the increase to Obamacare. It’s so fucking insidious that it caused our rates to go up the year before, too (as he was just _planning_ on implementing the thing), and the year before that (it was part of his electoral platform), and the year before that (he was considering a run; the move was a likely direction he would take), and the year before that (heathcare reform was due to come up in the next political cycle).
We had different insurance before that, so I can’t say how our rates would have gone up in relation to Obamacare back then, but sure enough, any increase would have been directly attributable to Obamacare.
Because Obama completely took over health care (and the auto industry, which is why I refuse to buy a new car), any rate increase is easily attributable to him. Personally.
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2011, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-really-a-consequence-of-obamacare/568320/32 "2011-01-20T20:40:48Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#):
>
> Self-employed here and we buy insurance through a group ([freelancersunion.com](http://freelancersunion.com)). Our premiums went up this year, and I too am going to directly attribute the increase to Obamacare. It’s so fucking insidious that it caused our rates to go up the year before, too (as he was just _planning_ on implementing the thing), and the year before that (it was part of his electoral platform), and the year before that (he was considering a run; the move was a likely direction he would take), and the year before that (heathcare reform was due to come up in the next political cycle).
>
> We had different insurance before that, so I can’t say how our rates would have gone up in relation to Obamacare back then, but sure enough, any increase would have been directly attributable to Obamacare.
>
> Because Obama completely took over health care (and the auto industry, which is why I refuse to buy a new car), any rate increase is easily attributable to him. Personally.
And what is _your_ definition of “Obamacare”?
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2011, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-really-a-consequence-of-obamacare/568320/33 "2011-01-20T20:44:00Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#):
>
> And what is _your_ definition of “Obamacare”?
Don’t forget to change the oil on your irony meter every 3,000 miles.
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2011, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-really-a-consequence-of-obamacare/568320/34 "2011-01-20T20:47:05Z")
> [@Marley23](#):
>
> Don’t forget to change the oil on your irony meter every 3,000 miles.
Every 2000 miles with heavy use.
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### Author:  [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2011, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-really-a-consequence-of-obamacare/568320/35 "2011-01-20T21:02:33Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#):
>
> And what is _your_ definition of “Obamacare”?
Actually, _my_ definition of Obamacare included a public option and a host of other reforms that were [del]debated[/del]shouted down.
But in the end I think the Obamacare moniker may end up being a good thing. As more and more people benefit from the limited advancements it added (and wouldn’t it be funny if the public option was eventually added as a result of the lawsuits and whatnot?), associating improvements with Obama will be a good thing legacy-wise.
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### Author:  [@fumster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fumster)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2011, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-really-a-consequence-of-obamacare/568320/36 "2011-01-21T16:41:29Z")
If we could tax lies and stupidity, we’d have enough money to provide healthcare to everyone. What I don’t get is why people don’t realize that if “your side” has to make up a bunch of lies to support their point it’s probably not a good idea to begin with.
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### Author:  [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2011, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-really-a-consequence-of-obamacare/568320/37 "2011-01-21T16:47:55Z")
I am a supporter of Obamacare, and I approve of the term. Sure it is used as a pejorative by opponents today, but this will establish the term in the national dialog, and when it succeeds, it will serve as a fantastic legacy to the man.
To the OP: Unless your friend is a child, then none of the provisions of Obama care have come into effect yet. Thus your friend is either breathing or blowing smoke.
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### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2011, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-really-a-consequence-of-obamacare/568320/38 "2011-01-21T16:51:33Z")
What **Kevbo** said. Now that it’s passed, and the failure of the repeal effort is a foregone conclusion, Obamacare has graduated. It’s no longer just a convenient way of filtering out people who have adopted the Limbaugh view of the law; it’s a _good name_.
It was never the case that there was anything wrong with the term _Obamacare_, although it wasn’t particularly accurate; it was just that the people who used it were dicks.
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### Author:  [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2011, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-really-a-consequence-of-obamacare/568320/39 "2011-01-21T18:10:41Z")
> [@Kevbo](#):
>
> To the OP: Unless your friend is a child, then none of the provisions of Obama care have come into effect yet. Thus your friend is either breathing or blowing smoke.
This is incorrect. A lot of provisions have come into effect.
However, it’s also true that no provision that has come into effect, nor any that will come into effect at any later date, will have the impact this guy claims.
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### Author:  [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2011, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-really-a-consequence-of-obamacare/568320/40 "2011-01-21T18:33:14Z")
> [@Don\_t\_Call\_Me\_Shirley](#):
>
> I talked to this guy yesterday who has worked for a hospital for 20 years. He has never bought into the hospital’s health insurance plan as he gets insurance through his wife’s employer. He claims that under Obamacare, the hospital has to offer insurance to everyone now, and consequently the hospital has started charging him for health insurance even though he is still not on the plan. He claims this is costing him $1,000 per month.
>
> This just does not seem right to me. I know that did not happen at my job; even though my insurance contribution went up like $80 a month, I still have co-workers who do not participate in the plan and they don’t get charged.
>
> Is there anything in Obamacare that could conceivably cause what this person is claiming? It just sounds like BS to me; if there’s even a grain of truth to it I would guess the hospital is just trying to increase profits on the backs of their employees, and using the new healthcare laws as a convenient scapegoat.
I say this is false.
My wife works for a major medical center in central New Jersey. I’m in health care but don’t work for a hospital. I am on my wife’s medical plan because her benefits are better than my organization offers. She also gets something called ‘professional courtesy’, which we’ve found to be invaluable, but that’s another story.
Anyway, my point is my employer is not charging me because I’m not on my organization’s plan. Also, my wife can easily switch over to my plan, if I wanted to do something so ridiculously foolhardy, with no repercussions from her employer.
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