# Obama care question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 27, 2016, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-care-question/764159 "2016-08-27T17:00:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-care-question/764159/21 "2016-09-01T15:18:48Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Can you, as the OP suggests, drop the Obamacare coverage, or as the previous poster suggested, change to a different plan, mid-year? > > I thought that’s why insurance plans had enrollment periods. (Of course if you have a “qualifying life event” they allow changes out of the enrollment period.) Surprisingly, yes. Exchange plans do not require you to remain enrolled until a qualifying event. See [here](https://www.healthcare.gov/reporting-changes/cancel-plan/). ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-care-question/764159/22 "2016-09-01T16:45:48Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > In Montreal, parking at the hospitals I use is more like $15/hour and you have to drive. Go with taxis. I also had to pay $300 each for “flexible” lenses. Not sure what the difference is, but they are supposedly better. > > But yes, the system is very straightforward and not gameable. We pay for it through taxes of course. Something like 47% of Quebec’s budget is for medicare. And there is some federal subsidy besides. So over 50% of my taxes go towards medicare. Worth every cent. Seriously. Heard on the news a while ago about some guy out west - Winnipeg or Calgary? - who injected spray foam into the parking pay stations to protest the parking fees for the hospital he was going to. Apparently it had cost him thousands of dollars during the course of his treatment. Still less than typical US medical insurance. ---
**Author:** ![slash2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@slash2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slash2k)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-care-question/764159/23 "2016-09-01T17:46:36Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Surprisingly, yes. Exchange plans do not require you to remain enrolled until a qualifying event. See [here](https://www.healthcare.gov/reporting-changes/cancel-plan/). Sure, you can drop the plan, or pretty much any health insurance plan, at any time. You just can’t get back ON the plan except during open enrollment, unless you have a qualifying event. (Drop the plan in May, get diagnosed with something really bad in June, have to wait until next January to start treatment.) ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-care-question/764159/24 "2016-09-01T18:00:01Z")
No - ERISA health plans require you to remain enrolled until the next enrollment period unless you have a qualifying event. Though that is a contractual rather than statutory requirement. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2016, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-care-question/764159/25 "2016-09-09T19:36:21Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > Cataract eye surgery - around $450 in Poland. A straightforward op that doesn’t require staying overnight in hospital. It has a high success rate too. Polish eye surgeons have developed a reputation for being highly trained and have been taught outside their country. > > Knee replacement: around $4000 in France. > … Appendectomy + 3 day hospital stay in Hungary: 600 dollars (as a friend’s son found out recently). Admittedly, this is not something one schedules in advance, but it’s an amazing illustration of how much cheaper care is elsewhere. I have to wonder how the doctors / facilities even break even with such prices, as just the salaries of the staff involved would seem to be more than that. In general, medical tourism would worry me because of the complications / returning home - if something bad were to happen, the stay might be extended - a LOT - and might require special assistance to return home. An acquaintance was injured in Paris, had to be in traction, and it was going to cost them 20,000 dollars out of pocket to get back home (he HAD to remain in traction for the flight). His employer (a DoD facility) got him home on a military transport. I’d guess that travel insurance would explicitly decline coverage for medical evacuation if they thought you’d gone to the other country specifically to get a procedure done. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-care-question/764159.md?page=1)