# What is your ongoing opinion of the Affordable Care Act? (Title Edited) **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [January 17, 2013, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561 "2013-01-17T23:21:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 15
**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:** [July 18, 2013, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/281 "2013-07-18T03:06:34Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > THe drunk driver’s insurance, duh. > > Actually, Anotheruser1 could benefit from a catastrophic plan. Too bad those plans aren’t qualifying anymore. Catastrophic health insurance is an oxymoron. Between exorbitant premiums, copays, coinsurance and benefit caps, a major medical bil of $100,000 would still leave $50,000 for the patient to pay. That’s still a catastrophe, so I might as well go bankrupt for $100,000 and save the premiums. Catastrophic insurance is a scam. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/282 "2013-07-18T03:29:13Z")
Some of it is. The government could have done something useful and required catastrophic to cover say, all expenses above say $10,000. But they think everyone needs comprehensive coverage regardless of their financial situation, and furthermore, they should buy health insurance before they even pay rent or buy food. ---
**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:** [July 18, 2013, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/283 "2013-07-18T03:32:46Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > THe drunk driver’s insurance, duh. No Duh. It is actually a crap-shot, usually there is no enough coverage and for anyone that does not have health insurance the costs add up. ---
**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:** [July 18, 2013, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/284 "2013-07-18T03:51:17Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Some of it is. The government could have done something useful and required catastrophic to cover say, all expenses above say $10,000. But they think everyone needs comprehensive coverage regardless of their financial situation, and furthermore, they should buy health insurance before they even pay rent or buy food. Everyone does need comprehensive coverage regardless of their financial situation. To pretend otherwise is to burden our economy with high cost emergency room health care and poor preventative health care, resulting in a less productive workforce, more medical bankruptcies and skyrocketing defaults on medical services at public hospitals. You can pay a little more now, or a lot more later. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/285 "2013-07-18T04:31:39Z")
That’s not insurance. Many people do not actually need to be insured for costs in the low four figures or below. ---
**Author:** ![yorick73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/b5a626/32.png) [@yorick73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yorick73)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/286 "2013-07-18T05:08:23Z")
As the Times article explains New York is an outlier. They currently have guaranteed issue but no mandate which has resulted in unusually high premiums for New Yorkers. It seems we could see this scenario play out all over the US if people choose not to self-insure and companies cut hours ore employees to avoid the mandate. ---
**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:** [July 18, 2013, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/287 "2013-07-18T13:30:29Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > That’s not insurance. Many people do not actually need to be insured for costs in the low four figures or below. Unortunately for your argument, they are the same ones who already either get health insurance through their employer, or can afford individual health insurance. The uninsured are the problem, and they are the ones who are disproportionetly low income. A bill in the low four figures is as daunting as a bill in the low six figures, and will result in the same negative outcomes. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/288 "2013-07-18T18:44:10Z")
And as candidate Obama said, those people don’t need to be forced to buy health insurance. At least that was the case until so many mandates were piled onto these insurance policies that they stopped being insurance and instead became a pre-paid medical plan. ---
**Author:** ![Anotheruser1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@Anotheruser1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anotheruser1)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/289 "2013-07-18T18:59:48Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Catastrophic health insurance is an oxymoron. Between exorbitant premiums, copays, coinsurance and benefit caps, a major medical bil of $100,000 would still leave $50,000 for the patient to pay. That’s still a catastrophe, so I might as well go bankrupt for $100,000 and save the premiums. Catastrophic insurance is a scam. It is to the point where all insurance is a scam. The policy i had through my work was supposed to be good insurance, but when they only paid out 10% of the claims and that amount was $4, 000 less than i paid them for the insurance, i don’t see a reason to have it. I had insurance, still paid for all my health care, still got sued by the ones i couldn’t pay, lost an additional $6, 000 a year by paying them,and lost thousands of dollars because the mark up on everything was as much as 5, 000% just because I had insurance. Insurance is a big scam and i will never believe anything different. Especially when people die because the insurance refused to pay and the doctors refused help ---
**Author:** ![Anotheruser1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@Anotheruser1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anotheruser1)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/290 "2013-07-18T19:09:12Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Everyone does need comprehensive coverage regardless of their financial situation. To pretend otherwise is to burden our economy with high cost emergency room health care and poor preventative health care, resulting in a less productive workforce, more medical bankruptcies and skyrocketing defaults on medical services at public hospitals. You can pay a little more now, or a lot more later. I don’t totally agree with that, i have a flexible spending account i pay for my medical on. Anything more than that i pay cash if i have it or do without. You will find out everything is way cheaper if you don’t have insurance. Example CT scan of my brain was $5800, when i called and told the hospital i had no insurance and that price was ridiculous, she said if you pay cash today it will only be $245. Talk about price gouging… So you see if you don’t have insurance and the 5, 000% mark up fee for having insurance is taken off most people can afford their own health care. Just stop listening to the lies of corporate america and the government. ---
**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:** [July 18, 2013, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/291 "2013-07-18T19:30:24Z")
I was hospitalized in the ICU for four days in 2008, and the bill for emergency endoscopic surgery came to $35,000. Is your flexible spending account up to covering that? ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/292 "2013-07-18T20:00:22Z")
Looks like the big unions are getting buyer’s remorse: [http://blogs.wsj.com/corporate-intelligence/2013/07/12/union-letter-obamacare-will-destroy-the-very-health-and-wellbeing-of-workers/](http://blogs.wsj.com/corporate-intelligence/2013/07/12/union-letter-obamacare-will-destroy-the-very-health-and-wellbeing-of-workers/) When you and the President sought our support for the Affordable Care Act (ACA), you pledged that if we liked the health plans we have now, we could keep them. Sadly, that promise is under threat. Right now, unless you and the Obama Administration enact an equitable fix, the ACA will shatter not only our hard-earned health benefits, but destroy the foundation of the 40 hour work week that is the backbone of the American middle class. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/293 "2013-07-18T21:51:36Z")
More Alarmist claims that are extremely unlikely to pan out. My job is not going to try to cut me back from 40 hours to try to save on health insurance. It is a ludicriously small part of my compensation. Hell, even the crappy call center I used to work in has no plans to cut people back to ‘part time’ to escape the mandate. Stupid-assed bad businessmen may decide to try this game. They’ll pay a price for it. Mostly they’re just blowing smoke because they buy into CMEC propaganda claim #1,872,314 that the sky will fall and Human Civilization will be destroyed. If they were really all that smart in the first place, they’d wise up to the fact that not a single one of these kinds of predictions has ever been correct. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/294 "2013-07-18T23:05:49Z")
It should be noted that right after the unions freaked out, the employer mandate got delayed. So I’d say it’s not alarmist. ---
**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:** [July 19, 2013, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/295 "2013-07-19T00:31:48Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > It should be noted that right after the unions freaked out, the employer mandate got delayed. So I’d say it’s not alarmist. Not what I saw, the delay was also requested by employers. > **[Fox, Drudge Ignore Conservative Obstruction To Mislead On Obamacare Delay](https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/fox-drudge-ignore-conservative-obstruction-mislead-obamacare-delay)** > [@](#): > > The Treasury Department announced on June 2 that the Obama administration elected to delay the deadline for large businesses, which employ 50 people or more, to offer health insurance to their employees from January 2014 to January 2015. Treasury explained that its decision was made in part following consultations with businesses, who had expressed concerns about the deadline and requested more time to implement the new requirements under the Affordable Care Act. > > Fox News and the Drudge Report reacted to the announcement by baselessly claiming that the administration’s decision was politically motivated and was linked to the approaching 2014 midterm elections. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/296 "2013-07-19T00:54:32Z")
So labor and business said it was a looming disaster, Ezra Klein says it’s unworkable and needs to be eliminated, not delayed. But that’s just alarmist talk. ---
**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:** [July 19, 2013, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/297 "2013-07-19T00:57:33Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > So labor and business said it was a looming disaster, Ezra Klein says it’s unworkable and needs to be eliminated, not delayed. > > But that’s just alarmist talk. I see it as just trying to get a better deal and to prepare, your “looming disaster” is the definition of alarmism. More FUD ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/298 "2013-07-19T23:56:38Z")
Indiana will see a 72% increase in individual rates. ---
**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:** [July 20, 2013, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/299 "2013-07-20T00:11:00Z")
Indiana will see a 72% decrease in individual rates. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2013, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/300 "2013-07-20T00:14:12Z")
Oops, sorry: [http://www.indystar.com/article/20130718/BUSINESS/307180100/State-says-Obamacare-will-force-78-percent-increase-individual-insurance-plan-rates?gcheck=1](http://www.indystar.com/article/20130718/BUSINESS/307180100/State-says-Obamacare-will-force-78-percent-increase-individual-insurance-plan-rates?gcheck=1) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561.md?page=14) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561.md?page=16)