# 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:** 34
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2013, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/662 "2013-10-25T22:17:49Z")
Anyway, this thread contains mostly second-hand commentary and unsupported speculation. For those who want to see some really informed opinions, check out this thread: > **[Obamacare "Tech Surge"](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=705557)** > > So, Obama is calling for a tech surge to fix the Obamacare IT problems. Looks like someone hasn’t read “The Mythical Man Month”… Here’s the original press release: Doing Better: Making Improvements to HealthCare.gov My first thoughts as a... What should really scare supporters of the law is that if the techie Dopers are right, the administration doesn’t have any clue how to fix the problems with the site. They don’t even know what they did wrong. That bodes poorly for getting the site up and running anytime soon. ---
**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:** [October 25, 2013, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/663 "2013-10-25T22:22:22Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > That bodes poorly for getting the site up and running anytime soon. Which, based on your lifetime batting average, means it will be working perfectly in a matter of weeks. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2013, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/664 "2013-10-25T22:39:32Z")
You’re predicting a batter’s future performance based on a batter going 0-for-1? ---
**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:** [October 26, 2013, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/665 "2013-10-26T00:00:09Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > You’re predicting a batter’s future performance based on a batter going 0-for-1? You seem to be like the climate change deniers that want to tell others to just look at the recent events and ignore the past ones like the space program during Apollo. (That had also very bad setbacks and technical problems). ---
**Author:** ![Lok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e8c25b/32.png) [@Lok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lok)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2013, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/666 "2013-10-26T00:03:51Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > This is why I don’t bother to ask for cites. Your assertion that people can successfully sign up over the phone is completely wrong: > > [http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/10/23/no-you-cannot-do-that-trying-to-buy-obamacare-over-the-phone/](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/10/23/no-you-cannot-do-that-trying-to-buy-obamacare-over-the-phone/) > > Taking politicians’ word on things is never wise. > > Now the system CAN work without the site, but it still takes massive processing power to get 7 million people signed up by Mar. 31. What, do you think the phone people just take down your name and look up the person in a dozen databases, and determine their eligibility using manual arithmetic? Because without a functioning computer system, that’s what those barely trained reps would have to do. And right now, there’s no functioning computer system. > > You act as if only the front end is broken, but the front end is the least of the problems. God help them if they actually get the front end working without fixing the back end. You did read the update to the article you linked to that says: [QUOTE=HHS Spokesman] “ **Consumers can apply for and enroll in a health insurance plan over the phone from beginning to end** ," her statement says. "However, when call volume is high, or when the application is unable to be processed online, call center representatives will help to fill out an application and the consumer will be contacted at a later time to move forward with shopping and enrolling in a plan. We encourage Americans and their families to continue use all the resources available to apply for insurance – by phone, in person, by mail, or online.” [/quote] So it is possible. No it isn’t working perfectly, it needs fixed. But the entire program isn’t failing and needs to be stopped because the website needs to be repaired. When Google screwed up the start of sales for the Nexus 7 in their Play Store, they didn’t shut down their entire network. And they didn’t take the Nexus 7 off the market. And the tablet is a lot less important than health insurance. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2013, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/667 "2013-10-26T02:42:38Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > So as you can see, the exchanges do not actually work. It’s not just the website. Then how did people sign up through the exchange? With that said. WTF!!! $600 million to set this up and they had over 3 years to do it? Muthafucka, a housewife selling beanie babies out of her fucking garage got ebay up and running in less than half that time. And even after $600 million, the fucking thing STILL doesn’t work? There ought to be a law that allows us to prosecute the bankers that triggered the financial crisis and contractors that are this fucking horrible. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2013, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/668 "2013-10-26T02:50:50Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > With that said. WTF!!! $600 million to set this up and they had over 3 years to do it? Muthafucka, a housewife selling beanie babies out of her fucking garage got ebay up and running in less than half that time. Well, a French-Iranian computer programmer selling broken laser pointers, but who’s counting 🙂 And as for the amount - I know. What the HELL did they manage to spend $600M on? ---
**Author:** ![Lok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e8c25b/32.png) [@Lok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lok)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2013, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/669 "2013-10-26T03:04:07Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > Then how did people sign up through the exchange? > > With that said. WTF!!! $600 million to set this up and they had over 3 years to do it? Muthafucka, a housewife selling beanie babies out of her fucking garage got ebay up and running in less than half that time. > > And even after $600 million, the fucking thing STILL doesn’t work? There ought to be a law that allows us to prosecute the bankers that triggered the financial crisis and contractors that are this fucking horrible. They didn’t have 3 years to set it up. They didn’t start before the SCOTUS decision last summer because that would have been a waste if it was overturned. Then they waited for the elections last November, since a Romney win would have meant it was a waste of time, then they needed to find out which states were not doing their own systems so those could get put into the system. I’m sure that parts of it were done ahead of time, but most of it is within the last year. As for what they spent the money on, Government procurement procedures. But no one in Congress wants to fix that mess. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2013, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/670 "2013-10-26T03:18:09Z")
> [@Lok](#): > > You did read the update to the article you linked to that says: > So it is possible. No it isn’t working perfectly, it needs fixed. But the entire program isn’t failing and needs to be stopped because the website needs to be repaired. When Google screwed up the start of sales for the Nexus 7 in their Play Store, they didn’t shut down their entire network. And they didn’t take the Nexus 7 off the market. And the tablet is a lot less important than health insurance. The update is either a lie, or the operators aren’t trained, since only one of the three the Post called said they could complete the entire process over the phone. And then only when the system worked. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2013, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/671 "2013-10-26T03:20:32Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > Then how did people sign up through the exchange? A few hundred did. And even there, the insurers got false information. Which they can fix manually, just so long as they don’t get thousands of such transmissions. > [@](#): > > And even after $600 million, the fucking thing STILL doesn’t work? There ought to be a law that allows us to prosecute the bankers that triggered the financial crisis and contractors that are this fucking horrible. There is a law: it’s called the law of “if you’re company is a failure, it goes out of business.” Unless of course said company has political connections. It might have been a good idea to undertake reform of the government contracting system before health care. That’s what someone with an ounce of management experience would have done, anyway. ---
**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:** [October 26, 2013, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/672 "2013-10-26T03:42:29Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > Well, a French-Iranian computer programmer selling broken laser pointers, but who’s counting 🙂 > > And as for the amount - I know. What the HELL did they manage to spend $600M on? > [@adaher](#): > > A few hundred did. And even there, the insurers got false information. Which they can fix manually, just so long as they don’t get thousands of such transmissions. > > There is a law: it’s called the law of “if you’re company is a failure, it goes out of business.” > > Unless of course said company has political connections. It might have been a good idea to undertake reform of the government contracting system before health care. That’s what someone with an ounce of management experience would have done, anyway. Unless, the mainstream media can not go back to tell you they made a mistake on that number, and after more than a day of the explanation being available I have to conclude that the right wing media is once again preferring that you believe that lie than trying to explain where they got it wrong. > **[The Myth Of The $634 Million Obamacare Website](https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/myth-634-million-obamacare-website)** > [@](#): > > Independently, the Sunlight Foundation estimated it cost $70 million to build the much-maligned website, not $634 million. (Officially, CGI was awarded a $93 million contract for the [healthcare.gov](http://healthcare.gov) job.) > > And today in his Fact Checker column in the Washington Post, Glenn Kessler looked at the question of the [healthcare.gov](http://healthcare.gov) cost and concluded, “A conservative figure would be $70 million. A more modest figure would be $125 million to $150 million.” Kessler noted that the cost for the entire health care project beyond the website would be “at least $350 million.” > > Despite those red flags, the bloated figure has been widely embraced as factual within the conservative press. > > As for the Twitter and Instragram comparisons, they don’t make much sense in terms of what those hugely popular and relatively simple social media sites do (swap updates and photos) as compared to what [healthcare.gov](http://healthcare.gov) is supposed to do. Noted Kurt Eichenwald at Vanity Fair regarding [healthcare.gov](http://healthcare.gov): “The site is one of the most complicated Web-based undertakings ever envisioned not only by the federal government but possibly by any Internet product provider.” > > Meanwhile, the $600 million misinformation has created some odd contradictions within the conservative media, where it is still regularly touted. For instance, on October 9, a report posted on [Foxnews.com](http://Foxnews.com) referred to [healthcare.gov](http://healthcare.gov) as the “$93M ObamaCare website.” Yet day after day, Fox hosts such as Hannity, Dana Perino, and Andrea Tantaros ridicule the “$600 million” the government allegedly spent to build its health care exchange website. > > And then there’s Blaze news anchor Amy Holmes who appeared on CNN on October 21 to discuss the health care controversy. She said that “the website got over $600 million to be able to be set up.” Strange, right? On October 10, The Blaze debunked the “rumor” that [healthcare.gov](http://healthcare.gov) cost $600 million to build. Then eleven days later The Blaze’s Holmes told a CNN audience that [healthcare.gov](http://healthcare.gov) cost $600 million to build. > > Sifting through the vast range of cost estimates for [healthcare.gov](http://healthcare.gov), the Washington Post’s Kessler suggested, “readers should be wary of many cost estimates uttered by lawmakers.” That also holds true for estimates uttered by conservative commentators. BTW didn’t you claimed once to be better than this and that you looked also at the leftist media sources, and not we can see that you where not aware about this? ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2013, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/673 "2013-10-26T03:48:34Z")
Actually, I never said it cost $600 million. that was another poster. And Gigo, one thing you’re forgetting with your handwaving away of the problems as normal and temporary is that in order for this law to succeed, time is of the essence. if young people just don’t bother to sign up, insurance rates skyrocket and the law fails. A lot of young people the administration needs to sign up have already tried to get through and have failed. How long will they keep trying? And they’d better have good security, because it will only take one data theft story to warn people off. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2013, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/674 "2013-10-26T03:52:50Z")
> **[Analysis | How much did HealthCare.gov cost?](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2013/10/24/how-much-did-healthcare-gov-cost/)** > > The estimates you have heard may be much too high. CGI Federal has been paid $112 million for its work on the Web site so far, which is certainly higher than the $70 million mentioned above. Moreover, the federal government has obligated $196 million, so the tab could certainly run that high if CGI submits the bills. And that’s just CGI. Seems like the cost is $350M+. I wouldn’t be surprised if in the end it will be revealed that it was, in fact, $600M. The “transparency” of the government is so awesome. ---
**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:** [October 26, 2013, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/675 "2013-10-26T04:08:26Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Actually, I never said it cost $600 million. that was another poster. And that makes it worse, so you were aware of the mistake but you did not correct the other poster? I wonder why. > [@adaher](#): > > And Gigo, one thing you’re forgetting with your handwaving away of the problems as normal and temporary is that in order for this law to succeed, time is of the essence. if young people just don’t bother to sign up, insurance rates skyrocket and the law fails. A lot of young people the administration needs to sign up have already tried to get through and have failed. How long will they keep trying? I have the impression that they will succeed because 2 weeks ago I did register. My impression is that there are bottlenecks that need to be fixed and looking at history it is more likely than not that they will be fixed. [http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/gop-medicare-part-d-obamacare](http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/gop-medicare-part-d-obamacare) > [@](#): > > A few weeks into the launch of the most sweeping health care reform law in a generation, John Boehner declared that the implementation was a disaster. > > “The implementation,” the Republican leader said, “has been horrendous. We’ve made it far more complicated than it should be.” > > Boehner, of course, was talking about the rollout of the new Medicare prescription drug benefit – known as Part D – enacted in 2003 by President George W. Bush. He discussed the implementation woes during a Feb. 6, 2006 appearance on “Fox News Sunday,” on his fifth day as House majority leader. > > But did he want to repeal the benefit? No. The future Speaker soberly acknowledged the problems but saw potential in the law and called for improving it. “The good news is that the competition that’s being created has lowered premiums significantly below where Congress thought they’d be when we put the bill together, so the competition side is good,” he said. “I think the implementation side continues to need to be improved.” > > It was a rough time for the law’s proponents. The soft launch was “anything but smooth,” according to the Washington Post, marred by at least two delays along with other, deeper problems. Upon launch, the Bush administration admitted to receiving “tens of thousands of complaints by seniors, pharmacists and others” about implementation failures. Health and Human Services vowed to “fix every problem as quickly as possible.” > > Boehner was far from alone in pushing to fix the problematic law, rather than repealing or dismantling it. And his judgment was vindicated – the Medicare Part D program turned out to be a success, expanding medical coverage for millions of seniors at a lower cost than many expected. Today it is a fixture of the Medicare program. Fortunately for Bush and his party, Democrats were a willing partner in tweaking and improving the law. As Digby, one of my favorite commentators said: “Yes, that was fortunate.” > [@adaher](#): > > And they’d better have good security, because it will only take one data theft story to warn people off. And we already found out that your sources lied to you, just by memory I recall that they reported that the ACA was not having any security checks for the workers, it turns out that they did, now we found that the price tag they reported was also a lie, and you are the one that claims we should rely on those sources that continue to get it wrong? ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2013, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/676 "2013-10-26T07:56:48Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > And that makes it worse, so you were aware of the mistake but you did not correct the other poster? I wonder why. I do not know how much the site cost, and neither do you. There are varying estimates and I saw no need to dispute any of them. [/QUOTE] > [@](#): > > I have the impression that they will succeed because 2 weeks ago I did register. My impression is that there are bottlenecks that need to be fixed and looking at history it is more likely than not that they will be fixed. Looking at history, massive projects like this can and do fail completely. > [@](#): > > And we already found out that your sources lied to you, just by memory I recall that they reported that the ACA was not having any security checks for the workers, it turns out that they did, now we found that the price tag they reported was also a lie, and you are the one that claims we should rely on those sources that continue to get it wrong? Far better than the main source, who started the debate by lying his ass off and continues to lie: [http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563\_162-57609224/arrival-of-obamacare-forcing-insurers-to-drop-customers-with-low-coverage/](http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57609224/arrival-of-obamacare-forcing-insurers-to-drop-customers-with-low-coverage/) ---
**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:** [October 26, 2013, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/677 "2013-10-26T08:15:09Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > I do not know how much the site cost, and neither do you. There are varying estimates and I saw no need to dispute any of them. And you did not read the cite. "Independently, the Sunlight Foundation estimated it cost $70 million to build the much-maligned website, not $634 million. (Officially, CGI was awarded a $93 million contract for the [healthcare.gov](http://healthcare.gov) job.) And today in his Fact Checker column in the Washington Post, Glenn Kessler looked at the question of the [healthcare.gov](http://healthcare.gov) cost and concluded, “A conservative figure would be $70 million. A more modest figure would be $125 million to $150 million.” Kessler noted that the cost for the entire health care project beyond the website would be “at least $350 million.”" There is a need to dispute that 600+ number as it has no reliable confirmation or support. > [@adaher](#): > > Looking at history, massive projects like this can and do fail completely. News to me that Medicare D was a failure. > [@adaher](#): > > Far better than the main source, who started the debate by lying his ass off and continues to lie: > > [http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563\_162-57609224/arrival-of-obamacare-forcing-insurers-to-drop-customers-with-low-coverage/](http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57609224/arrival-of-obamacare-forcing-insurers-to-drop-customers-with-low-coverage/) Once again, what you demand here is for Obama to force the insurance companies to behave, Now what would one call that? Anyhow, as consumer groups point out, the companies are the ones that should be criticized for their dick moves. > **[Thousands Of Consumers Get Insurance Cancellation Notices Due To Health Law...](https://kffhealthnews.org/news/cancellation-notices-health-insurance/)** > > Insurers say the old policies fail to meet the law's requirements, but some consumers complain about being forced to buy more expensive policies. > [@](#): > > Both Independence and Highmark are cancelling so-called “guaranteed issue” policies, which had been sold to customers who had pre-existing medical conditions when they signed up. Policyholders with regular policies because they did not have health problems will be given an option to extend their coverage through next year. > > Consumer advocates say such cancellations raise concerns that companies may be targeting their most costly enrollees. > > They may be “doing this as an opportunity to push their populations into the exchange and purge their systems” of policyholders they no longer want, said Jerry Flanagan, an attorney with the advocacy group Consumer Watchdog in California. > > Insurers deny that, saying they are encouraging existing customers to re-enroll in their new plans. > > “We continue to cover people with all types of health conditions,” said Highmark spokeswoman Kristin Ash. > > She said some policyholders who may have faced limited coverage for their medical conditions will get new plans with “richer benefits” and the policies “in most cases, will be at a lower rate.” ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2013, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/678 "2013-10-26T10:41:55Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > And you did not read the cite. I did and your cite does not have a firm answer. I do not need to correct things I don’t know need correcting. > [@](#): > > News to me that Medicare D was a failure. There are many more examples of such large projects. nearly half end in complete failure, either abandoned or started over. This one is unlikely to be abandoned, but if the code is filled with too much garbage or the basic design is terrible, they will have to start again, which means the start of ACA will have to be pushed back a couple of years. > [@](#): > > Once again, what you demand here is for Obama to force the insurance companies to behave, Now what would one call that? Anyhow, as consumer groups point out, the companies are the ones that should be criticized for their dick moves. In many of these cases, the companies can’t offer the products anymore because they are now not ACA-compliant. A lot of people who were just dandy with their insurance now have to purchase a more expensive ACA-compliant version. ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2013, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/679 "2013-10-26T12:18:36Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > A lot of people who were just dandy with their insurance now have to purchase a more expensive ACA-compliant version. Sure they were. They paid the minimum and knew that we would backstop with care when their coverage ran out. Now we’re asking that they get usable coverage (and will even help with the bills if they qualify), so that we don’t have to backstop them. Why do so many “conservatives” believe socialized risk, privatized profit is acceptable? I thought ya’ll were the “pay your own bills” people. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2013, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/680 "2013-10-26T12:22:26Z")
That’s only partly true for some consumers, and not true at all for others. Yes, some of the cost increase is the end of lifetime maximums. A plan with a lifetime max is hardly insurance at all. But ACA also adds other mandates, such as maternity care and free preventive services, something most consumers happily do without. ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2013, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/681 "2013-10-26T13:33:27Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > That’s only partly true for some consumers, and not true at all for others. Yes, some of the cost increase is the end of lifetime maximums. A plan with a lifetime max is hardly insurance at all. But ACA also adds other mandates, such as maternity care and free preventive services, something most consumers happily do without. Preventative care and maternity care both reduce long-term costs. If you\* had “insurance” with no preventative care and didn’t get any on your own, you tended to use emergency/emergent care services more than necessary. In the long run, this cost all of us more. I think some of these price increases we’re seeing are due to uncertainty and will adjust as the actuarial situation becomes better defined. There’s still the 80% rule for insurers to deal with after all. \*Generic you - not you specifically. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561.md?page=33) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561.md?page=35)