# Repealing the ACA with new healthcare reform **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 2, 2016, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repealing-the-aca-with-new-healthcare-reform/750951 "2016-04-02T18:12:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2016, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repealing-the-aca-with-new-healthcare-reform/750951/21 "2016-04-02T21:51:51Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > They can get coverage but should not expect a health insurance company to pay for \*that \*specific preexisting injury. > > Analogy: If I am an uninsured driver, and then get in a car wreck, and \*then \*buy car insurance, it’s not fair for the insurance company to have to pay for that car wreck. Not quite. The insurance companies’ analogy was, if I got in a car wreck, my insurance would be canceled. If I was even able to get insurance from another company, that insurance company would never pay for any car wreck ever again, whether or not it was my fault. In fact, I’d be lucky if the insurance company would even pay a claim for hail damage to my car. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2016, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repealing-the-aca-with-new-healthcare-reform/750951/22 "2016-04-02T21:54:20Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > I’m not going to support a health care reform plan that is just a bunch of buzzwords thrown together. This “reform” is basically incoherent. Freedom. lower prices. state lines. consumer driven. What isn’t to love. ---
**Author:** ![MindsEye\_Watering](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindseye_watering/32/3619_2.png) [@MindsEye\_Watering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MindsEye_Watering)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2016, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repealing-the-aca-with-new-healthcare-reform/750951/23 "2016-04-02T21:56:00Z")
_“4) Permit health-insurance companies to discriminate on the basis of pre-existing conditions”_ Nope. Deal breaker. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2016, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repealing-the-aca-with-new-healthcare-reform/750951/24 "2016-04-02T22:09:02Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > How can you have single payer and still have health insurance companies? This is insurance that covers what single-payer doesn’t. Single payer coverage means everyone gets treated with the basics. Insurance layers on top of that in countries like the UK and Canada. Got breast cancer? Single payer pays for the tumor removal and treatment, insurance may pay for a semi-private hospital room instead of a bed in the ward or it may pay some of the cost of breast reconstruction or alternative post-surgery therapy. Insurance companies smaller, but are alive and thriving in countries with single-payer systems. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2016, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repealing-the-aca-with-new-healthcare-reform/750951/25 "2016-04-02T22:21:12Z")
So basically, it’s a single-payer anti-abortion bill that includes Death Panels for old people and removes the coverage for per-existing conditions (which included pregnancy, don’t forget) that doesn’t actually pay bills for poor people, just “defers” them to snowball indefinitely. And breast cancer victims won’t get reconstruction surgery, they just got to walk around with one boob. No wonder Republicans hate talking about their health care plans. ---
**Author:** ![dofe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ba0ec/32.png) [@dofe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dofe)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2016, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repealing-the-aca-with-new-healthcare-reform/750951/26 "2016-04-02T22:26:39Z")
I agree with other posters that the OP’s list is internally contradictory. I wish **Velocity** would explain what he thinks “single-payer health care” means. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2016, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repealing-the-aca-with-new-healthcare-reform/750951/27 "2016-04-02T23:31:37Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > They can get coverage but should not expect a health insurance company to pay for \*that \*specific preexisting injury. > > Analogy: If I am an uninsured driver, and then get in a car wreck, and \*then \*buy car insurance, it’s not fair for the insurance company to have to pay for that car wreck. I think one of the “big deals” about ACA is, an insurance company can’t say, “Sorry, but we’re not insuring you for trying to treat a disease you were born with.” (And if it turns out that the only known treatment costs God’s Own Amount Of Money per year, the government’s response is, “Well, then count what you spend against the 80% minimum of what you take in that you have to spend on actual medical care.” Presumably, if a company spends more than 80% of its income on care, then it can raise its rates to reach the 80% point.) Besides, just as insurance companies are supposedly in the Republicans’ back pockets, lawyers are in the Democrats’, so there’s no chance of limiting any awards. They tried putting a limit on the ballot in California, to which the lawyers responded with ads along the lines of, “If this passes, then you won’t have the access to lawyers that the insurance companies do.” ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2016, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repealing-the-aca-with-new-healthcare-reform/750951/28 "2016-04-02T23:40:42Z")
No. The proposed ‘plan’ seems to be a jumble of ideas that match no functioning healthcare system in the world. ---
**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:** [April 2, 2016, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repealing-the-aca-with-new-healthcare-reform/750951/29 "2016-04-02T23:44:56Z")
> [@dofe](#): > > I agree with other posters that the OP’s list is internally contradictory. > > I wish **Velocity** would explain what he thinks “single-payer health care” means. Only one person in the country can afford to pay cash for his health care. Everyone else is SOL. 😃 ---
**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:** [April 3, 2016, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repealing-the-aca-with-new-healthcare-reform/750951/30 "2016-04-03T01:03:43Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > 1. Allow health-insurance companies to compete across state lines. So you are going to give the federal government the authority to take away the the power of the states to regulate the sale of health insurance within their own borders? Isn’t that big government? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2016, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repealing-the-aca-with-new-healthcare-reform/750951/31 "2016-04-03T01:44:00Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > 1. Repeal the ACA in its entirety. > 2. Institute single-payer health care. > 3. Force all hospitals and health-care providers to publish prices for all procedures and not deviate from them. So far so good. > [@](#): > > 1. Permit health-insurance companies to discriminate on the basis of pre-existing conditions (it’s not fair if someone uninsured suffers a broken arm, purchases insurance, and \*then \*wants the insurance company to pay for the preexisting broken arm.) The pre-existing exclusion was never for people attempting to purchase insurance post-arm breaking, it was to exclude people with expensive and especially chronic conditions. You want to bring that back? Seriously? So some born with a birth defect can be excluded from insurance? That sort of thing? WTF? > [@](#): > > 1. Institute stiff penalties for patients who can afford to pay their bills but deliberately refuse to. So… garnish wages. Who decides what “afford” means? Can the entity you owe money to take every asset you own until you are reduced to living on, oh, say $15,000/year? > [@](#): > > 1. Have a deductible for health care so that there is a deterrent to misuse of the health care system (i.e., $10 for doctor visits, several hundred dollars for surgery, which is still miles cheaper than the current health care system,) Are there really people who go to the doctor for fun? > [@](#): > > 1. Institute stiff criminal penalties for people who commit Medicare fraud (there has been tens of billions of dollars in Medicare fraud in recent years; ) Don’t these already exist? > [@](#): > > 1. Give the taxpayers a tax cut to help offset the burden of the single-payer health care premiums that they will be paying. How about we just do an X percent tax on payroll? Everyone pays 5% or whatever, just cut out the middle-man. > [@](#): > > 1. Have end-of-life decision panels (yes, “death panels.”) > 2. Allow health-insurance companies to compete across state lines. If we have single-payer why do we need health insurance companies? > [@](#): > > 1. Institute cap limits on medical-malpractice lawsuit compensation (getting millions of dollars for a broken finger is unreasonable) Cite on the “millions for broken finger” thing. > [@](#): > > 1. Since the ACA is repealed, individuals would no longer be required to acquire health insurance. Not workable - between that and the stupid allowance to deny pre-existing conditions your pool of paying individuals would be too small to make this work. You need everyone paying in to reduce the risk to the most manageable levels overall. > [@](#): > > 1. Require abortion clinics to meet ambulatory center standards. Why? > [@](#): > > 1. People who can demonstrate financial need (i.e., being unemployed, broke, etc.) will be able to have their bills temporarily postponed - be it for a year, several years, or more - until they are demonstrably financially able to pay them. Congratulations - you’ve just given people a DISincentive to work hard and get a better job. While you have some good points this just isn’t a good idea overall. ---
**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:** [April 3, 2016, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repealing-the-aca-with-new-healthcare-reform/750951/32 "2016-04-03T03:03:41Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > They can get coverage but should not expect a health insurance company to pay for \*that \*specific preexisting injury. > > Analogy: If I am an uninsured driver, and then get in a car wreck, and \*then \*buy car insurance, it’s not fair for the insurance company to have to pay for that car wreck. You use as an example something minor and possibly preventable. The real problem is when someone without insurance all of a sudden finds he has cancer and the insurance companies say tough luck. 13 is a common ploy to eliminate abortion rights, so no. And letting insurance be written across state lines is fine if they are all regulated by the feds so that they don’t all flock to states where lobbyists make sure the laws are written so the customers will get screwed. Really, your points make the Republican mishmash of alternatives seem coherent. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2016, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repealing-the-aca-with-new-healthcare-reform/750951/33 "2016-04-03T03:43:55Z")
I’m in favor enough of the first three to say yes and we’ll work out the rest from there. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2016, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repealing-the-aca-with-new-healthcare-reform/750951/34 "2016-04-03T07:50:48Z")
> [@Sampsiceramos](#): > > I am not denied coverage by the public system. I am guaranteed to get medical treatment for my shoulder issues at some point on equal footing with everyone else that has not chosen to purchase private health insurance, which is the vast majority of the population. Private health insurance is simply not a consideration for the vast majority of the population because the overall standard of care is incredibly high - those who choose to purchase private health insurance are generally professional athletes or so wealthy that the premium is a drop in a planet-sized bucket. > > Insurance companies are simply not compelled to sell me insurance that is financially untenable for them in the first place, and I can still get private health insurance for literally everything that does not pertain to my shoulder or my knee. The only result of compelling them to do so under the Danish model would be increased insurance premiums and healthcare costs for everyone. **Velocity** I’m sorry but I gotta fight the hypothetical on this one. What you posted in your OP is well, gibberish isn’t the right word, but, gibberish to me. I’d take what **Sampisceramos** has. maybe it isn’t the best but it sounds good and at least its sane compared to the “ACA” btw sorry about showing up late and not reading the whole thread, the “ACA” and discussions revolving around it bring out a little bit of the crazy and stupid in me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repealing-the-aca-with-new-healthcare-reform/750951.md?page=1)