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Your Health Insurance Premiums Are About To Go Through The Roof -The Stunning Reason Why
After years of delays and failed launches, Obamacare has finally taken hold, and with it the economic and financial implications from this mandatory tax are finally being felt.
We have extensively covered how Obama's Affordable Care Act will end up being a failure, observing both the economic implications in "In Latest Obamacare Fiasco, Most Low-Income Workers Can't Afford "Affordable Care Act" as well as its operational shortcomings in "Obamacare Is A Disaster: Co-Op Insurers Across America Are Collapsing, And Now There Is Fraud", paradoxically even as Obamacare - a tax - was according to the BEA the single biggest contributor to GDP growth in the third quarter.
Of course, the most obvious reason why Obamacare will have a dire impact the economy is also very simple: soaring healthcare premiums, also covered before...
... which incidentally also explain why all those touted "gas savings" failed to materialize in discretionary spending behavior: all of the "saved" money went to cover rising health insurance costs.
None of this should come as a surprise.
What should, however, is that according to a very unexpected twist healthcare premiums are about to soar so much in the coming months that the shocking increases of the past year will seem like a walk in the park.
The reason for this comes courtesy of a new report from the WSJ which explains something few if any had expected: corporate insurers are scrambling to profit from Obamacare!
Yes, we know: Obamacare was written by the health insurance companies, and it was supposed to benefit them first and foremost as US households struggled to catch up to what most rational observers had said would be surging premiums. And, on the top line, it did just that: "under the ACA, insurers have seen an influx of new membership in individual plans and in Medicaid plans they administer for the government, expanding the industry’s total U.S. revenue to $743 billion in 2014, the year the law’s biggest changes took effect, from $641 billion the year before, according to a new analysis by consulting firm McKinsey & Co."
So far so good, and just as expected - incidentally, that 16% increase in industry revenue comes right out of your pocket, dear U.S. reader with the blessings of the US Supreme Court of course.
But where it gets fascinating is that while the surge in the top-line was expected, what comes as close to a black swan as possible, is what happens below the revenue line on the insurers' income statement.
The stunning finding comes from a new analysis by McKinsey which notes that much of that revenue growth has been unprofitable! Health insurers lost a total of $2.5 billion, or on average $163 per consumer enrolled, in the individual market in 2014, McKinsey found. A number are also expecting to lose money on their marketplace business for 2015.
The simple bullet point summary:
- Insurance industry revenues surged by 16% thanks to Obamacare
- However, its costs surged by... more than 16%
How is this possible?
Shouldn't all the benefits courtesy of the Obamacare tax flow through largely unobstructed to the bottom line? The answer, it appears, is no.
At big insurer Aetna Inc., the evidence of the law’s impact could be spotted last month in a Phoenix classroom, where Aetna was training a class of customer-service hires who will support a suite of re-engineered ACA marketplace plans dubbed “Leap.” Those products will have a different service approach, with fewer automated phone prompts and a completely new staff that is supposed to spend more time solving customers’ problems.
A trainee stood at a whiteboard, drawing stick figures with speech bubbles in a Pictionary-style game. “Conversation?” asked a class member. “Transition of care?” ventured another. The teacher gave the answer: The new reps had to keep commitments to consumers. That meant calling them back if needed.
With its Leap plans, Aetna is using many of the approaches that are gaining momentum in the industry. The Leap plans, which will roll out in four states this fall but are expected to be more widely available next year, rest on different technology than other Aetna products, including a new claims-processing platform, the company says.
“It’s a mammoth change in the offering, with everything being brand-new,” said Dijuana Lewis, an Aetna executive vice president. Aetna said this week it would likely lose money in 2015 on its exchange business.
The Leap insurance will include limited networks: In Arizona, it will be built around just one provider, the large Banner Health system. The Leap plans also aim to be easy to understand. For instance, they generally won’t include coinsurance, in which a consumer pays a percentage of the cost of a medical service, a concept many people find confusing.
And, as we now learn, all these changes and all this "simplification" will cost lots of money. In fact more money, than the tax actually brings in for most.
It appears that while US health insurers had modeled out their spike in revenue courtesy of Obamacare, not even they anticipated the associated costs the "Affordable" Care Act would entail.
That, however, is amazing, because while everyone else was worse off as a result of Obamacare, at least the conventional wisdom was that the insurers would make off like bandits. Not only is that not the case, but Obamacare - in a glorious example of how government meddling destroys everything - is actually leading to reduces profit margins for the one group that was supposed to be a sure winner!
However, since it is too late to undo Obamacare, what do these latest revelations mean? According to the WSJ "now, a lot of insurers are recalibrating their approach for 2016, with changes visible at all levels of the industry—from pricing to product design."
Mostly pricing.
The WSJ reminds us that "premiums for a type of plan that is closely watched as a signal of consumer costs—the second-lowest-priced insurance product in the law’s “silver” metal tier—will increase 7.5% on average across the roughly three dozen states that rely on the HealthCare.gov marketplace, according to the administration."
For larger companies, the losses were survivable. But rate increases create a risk that consumers may get sticker shock despite the availability of federal subsidies that reduce the cost sharply for many.
Peter Wainwright, 63 years old, who retired from a telecommunications job, currently has a plan bought on California’s ACA marketplace. He and his wife don’t get a subsidy and pay about $2,230 a month, and the rate is increasing for 2016. “Everything has gone up,” said Mr. Wainwright, of Half Moon Bay, Calif.
The punchline:
The health law remade the individual market, forcing insurers to sell plans to all consumers and banning them from charging rates based on health conditions. Insurers struggled to predict their costs, and many didn’t set rates high enough to cover the care of those they enrolled.
And since the insurers care far more about boosting profits than merely rising revenues which are more than offset by rising costs, and since most insurers are losing money on existing plans, expect all the rate increases incurred so far to be a mere walk in the park compared to the stratospheric premium surges that are about to be unveiled and that would make even the infamous Martin Shkreli green with envy.
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The best thing people could is just drop it.
Moral hazard is a bitch.
And the same a$$holes who voted for the people who voted for and passed this will keep screwing everyone, including themselves, over and over. Complete morons.
Duh. All of the big plans and systems underestimated the number of chronically ill people who would start showing up on their doorstep with insurance. And now we have to pay for it. Couple more of these rate hikes and Trump just might win
If it don't work, just do moar of it.
Returning to my early morning theme, clearly the thing to do is put Obama in charge of "manmade global warming" after the stellar job he's done with everyone's health insurance! Then after that (or at the same time, he's an accomplished multi-tasker ya know...lol) we can cut him loose on domestic race relations, the national debt, restoring "democracy" to the ME with another Arab Spring and saving every fluffy kitten in America stuck in the tree tops!
Why...there's nothing he can't do!!! ;-)
However, since it is too late to undo Obamacare
Just say no.
Couple more of these rate hikes and Trump just might win
Trump is pushing single payer medical care. Is that what you want?
I'm sure the rise in health care costs has nothing to do with PE firms buying up generic drug makers, and medical device suppliers and jacking up prices +400%.
Exactly. The insurance industry cronies are not raising rates fast enough to outpace the health care and pharmaceutical cronies cost raises.
"Your Health Insurance Premiums Are About To Go Through The Roof"
Not if you're an illegal immigrant. It's all free, baby... compliments of loco gringo.
No, compliments of loco mullato.
On a side note, businesses will have absolutely no choice but to cut workers hours below 30 hours to stick them on the exchanges. There's no way a small business over 50 FT equivalent employees is going to be able to afford this shit. Its like making the minimum wage go from $7.25 an hour to $20 or more in less than a year. Wait till the price increases of EVERYTHING else start to REALLY hit.
It's not the just increase in prices although that will happen, it's that arbitrarily increasing wages causes unemployment, just do the math.
Just like labor unions cause unemployment. You can't avoid the math people.
Corrupt Fucking Negro.
Hope and Change Mutherfuckers!
Don't sign up unless you get it for free. The rest need to boycott it completely. Here is one case where voting with your feet might make a difference.
This situation will fix itself. It's unworkable so it won't work. I don't profess to know what will happen but I know it won't last long.
Exactly BMUS. Our small firm with slightly more than 50 FT workers received a 5% increase from a grandfathered catastrophic plan this year. If we were good American's and decided to go with an ACA compliant plan, the increase would be 50 or more percent. We are having to compete against firms that not only do not pay for any medical insurance at all, but are also paying the workers on a miss-classified 1099 basis, thereby also skipping the other 15-25% on the dollar other government taxes we have to pay. Once this grandfather plan goes away, we either pay 50% increase or get to pay ACA fines for not offering health insurance. I guess maybe we are just going to have get rid of employees and say they are all independent contractors. Seems to work for the other competitors out there, and for some reason the government seems to look the other way on these small time outfits killing the market. NAFTA type competition has, and is being imported to each local city across this nation.
$1500 per month, $18,000 per year. What is the tax for non-compliance? It will cost you less to pay the tax for non-compliance and buy catastrophic medical and a concierge medical plan from an individual physician. BTW concierge services, cost about $5000 per year and unlimited visits with a full 45 minute appointment and a physician whose case load is 2,000 Pts rather than 4,000-6,000 which is standard for these days. Plus if you need a specialist you typically get a 50-60% reduction for self pay.
It's not a tax! I saw somebody's bill from the IRS. They called it a "shared responsibility" assessment. This is why they can only take it from what refund you have coming after you "voluntarily" rat yourself out on your taxes. They can't come after you for it, although that letter the guy received looked typically threatening.
Can we not pay, then "plead the 5th" on this? How are the courts going to deal with that?
Short answer.... just keep taking our rights away...slowly... until we're a socialist totalitarian waste land.
Good by America, I loved you when you truly were America.
Spigot, that is a calculation we will be making in the next year or two. Factor in that the penalty cost for not offering insurance, is also NOT classified as a business expense. So the company will be required to pay 20-30% more if chooses to pay the penalty. This is the way it did work, and not sure of the penalty amounts go up over time. If you average 51 full time workers and do not offer insurance, you get a $2000 penalty per worker, but lucky us, you get a credit of the first 25 workers and do not have the pay the penalty on them. So 51-25 = 26 workers subject to the $2000 penalty, means immediately a $52,000 cost for the year. Then lets figure another 20% means another $10,400 and you are at $62,400 for that 51st worker putting you over the limit.
The first thing that will happen at most firms, if it has not happened already, is family insurance will no longer be paid for by companies because it is not required by the law. Offering single insurance will save the company some money when it buys an ACA compliant plan. The problem with this is, once the company buys and ACA compliant plan, the workers spouse/children now has access to a plan, and they immediately lose there chance at a subsidy if they were to go to the government market and purchase their own insurance. They essentially must pay the huge increase the ACA plans are costing to get their insurance. The subsidy is the only thing making the cost relatively cheap now (of course we the taxpayer are the damn subsidy provider in the long run, but most people just think it is free money they are getting from the gubmint stash).
Everything is working as designed
Indeed.
The Democrat commie-socialists now expect everyone to believe they were "tricked" by the mean ole Democrat fascist-socialists into supporting ObamaCare.
It doesn't matter to them that...non-socialists everywhere (non-commie or fascist)...from all walks of life...said it is absolutely immoral for government to FORCE people to involuntarily buy a product or a service from a private corporation...or that they exposed their own immorality (and propensity to be fascist) to the entire world when they actually said that they want to FORCE the YOUNG & HEALTHY to pay for the OLD & SICK and at some point in the future to just have the old "take a pill" and die already when they become to much of an economic liability...oh, no no no...they want to whine & bitch about how that they were "tricked" by the mean ole fascist's of the Democrat Party.
Who are (again)...fucking socialists!!!
Mind boggling, Marxism truly is a non-curable, non-covered mental disorder.
Sorry. Rehypothicated post.
+1
I worked in orthopedics in Indiana several years ago. Zimmer, DePuy, etc., are the very defintion of a cartel.
If companies can't make money on it, it's dead. No matter the law.
How can any rational human beig read those responses and believe that Trump has said anything intelligent?
not just chronically ill, I know several healthy people who never went to the doc before that are now going for routine checkups and having "preventative" tests runs etc etc because its "free" (my guess is they are getting subsidies, so no out-of-pocket cost to them) Fixin stuff that ain't broke drives up costs as well
Individual plan, not mediated by an employer's HR Dept. K-P increased my monthly premium by 8.9% because, you know, no inflation. They broke the $1000 per month barrier. One doctors visit the entire year. You know, I don't mind helping out the rest of my community, I'd just like to be able to take a tax deduction for the charitable contribution.
Uh, hello, Geico? Yeah, I, uh... Just wrecked my car. Is it bad? Oh, yeah, it's pretty fuc... Eh, messed up.
Yeah, I've got the vin number right here, I'd like to get a policy. Thank you.
Do I want full coverage? Damned straight.
Rental car? Sure, why not.
......... That's how insurance works, right?
Quick ACRONYM FACT-check:
'GEICO'
Government
Employees
Insurance
COmpany
It's like the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Cartel, or the Israeli State Intelligence Service. Most people don't think that this stuff is REALLY TRUE (because they've been brainwashed).
I prefer to step on British-accented lizards (Geckos, whatever), rather than find out if they are poisonous first-hand.
ALL types of 'insurance' entail a 'legal' form of a PROTECTION RACKET/PONZI SCHEME at the behest of the banking iterests that set them up in the first place.
That's how insurance works. it's like a casino. They figure the odds and make sure they make money. Healthcare is not health insurance. The total amount spent by Americans on insurance premiums, deductibles, and co-pays is what to look at. If you back out the insurance cost, divide that by the number of taxpayers, it is much cheaper to have socialized medicine. Not good for the insurance companies or doctors who order lots of extra tests and procedures.
America has a problem with the word socialism. In this case it could be classified as a phobia.
Obama will not finish his second term!
http://motivationdose.com/is-america-babylon/
I got the notice from my Obama-qualified insurance plan, they are cancelling my Obama-qualifid plan and must choose new one --- all th enew plans they offer are AT LEAST 25% higher.
Screw Obamacare. I going off not renewing and will pay the penalty. Many docs are fed up with Obamacare too and do not even accept ANY Obama plan so I'll just pay cash when need be.
The whole thing is sickening. There is an alternative that is ACA compliant but is not for everyone. Healthcare ministries. There are 5 or 6. CHM, Liberty Health Share, Curo, Samaritan's Ministry, Medishare, Altrua.
http://selfpaypatient.com/tag/christian-healthcare-ministries/
http://selfpaypatient.com/2014/06/18/health-sharing-ministry-members-ref...
CHM or Christian Healthcare Ministry has been around 35+ years. They have gone from paying $1 million a month is claims to over $10 million a month in about 5 years and are growing rapidly. They have three plans - $45 a month, $85 and $150.
http://www.chministries.org/programs.aspx
Liberty Healthshare has a plan $199 with $500 deductible and $1 million per illness. It is not insurance but it acts like insurance should act. The Husband and Wife plan is $299 a month. Family $449. It is cheaoper for all three if you are under 30 years old.
http://www.libertyhealthshare.org/3-program-options
This is not for everyone but it is an option. Liberty is probably the best bet for people who are mildly religious and may have the best deal. CHM is the least expenisive starting at $45 a month.
If you think these are good and can help youy - tell friends and family.
Only on ZH would this get 11 thumbs up. Christian Healthcare Ministries (fka Christian Brotherhood) went bankrupt severals ago. A jury ruled that its executives defrauded the customers of some $15 million spent on luxury houses, motorcycles, expensive cars and high salaries. One highly paid employee was a stripper, whom they were “trying to help.” (I like helping people, too.) Of course, these problems are completely in the past, and all three companies are now clean as the driven snow. Just ask them, and they’ll tell you so.
Only fools pay the penalty. The *only* way the IRS can legally enforce the penalty is by nicking your refund, so adjust your withholding now so you owe tax next April 15. They actually wrote this into Obamacare so protesters wouldn't go to jail for refusing to pay the penalty.
It's the truth. Not only that, but there is no reporting and matching system for who does and who doesn't have insurance until you check that little box and rat yourself out. I hear the IRS is not particularly happy about the extra work collecting the penalties and I calculate the odds of their coming down on you for saying you did have insurance when you didn't are zero.
Legalized theft. Pure and simple.
Thieving fucking cocksuckers, period
Rates went up, costs went up - so everyone on the gravy train could take an extra helping of your ass at the taxpayer buffet benefit dinner for TPOTB.
Thanks, elected representatives, way to serve the people, you fucking crooks.
The Medical Industrial Complex...ooops MIC is already taken.
Try HIC: Healthcare Industrial Complex...and remember, .gov is not a caregiver, .gov is a caretaker!!!
;-D
You know they're scamming you when they change the name. Personnel became "Human Resources," murder became "gun violence," medical care became "healthcare" and Bruce Jenner became "she."
*.zog
I am waiting for L. Frank Baum's books to be banned by (ahem) 'them'.
'The Wizard Of Oz' was a 'children's book', you know. It was a wonderful allegory, as well.
Personally, I won't be satisfied until we get what we deserve here. Bring it on, it's long over due.
Funny the only ones who saw this disaster coming were the subversive doomer websites. One of these days the sheeple might just wake a little and think "maybe I should shoot the fucking tele and head on over to the Hedge, see what's up there. They seem to be getting a few things (read: fuckin' everything) right".
This asswiping proletariat at the link listed in my reply missed a few (including Zero Hedge):
http://michaelghurston.com/2014/10/list-of-fake-news-sites-satire-and-ho...
Hell, he missed a WHOLE LOT! WHAT A DOUCHEBAG this 'Micheal G. Hurston' is!
NOHTDH, and Media Monarchy, and Matt Drudge, and Infowars, and Steve Quayle, and Blacklisted News, and Ben Swann, and the N.E.T.C., and RMN, and all kinds of others...
"Either you're WITH US, or you're with THE TERRORISTS!" (GWB, U.N. speech, 2002)
Personally, the Trends Research Institute has been doing good things for a number of years...
The problem was one of reporting. Anybody paying attention to the basics of insurance economics could have fingered the fundamental problem of adverse selection. More sick sign up, higher rates, fewer healthy join, higher rates, . . . eventually ending when only the sickest of the sick sign up, and even they are indifferent because the rates they pay have to be high enough to cover their OWN costs. Nobody else is left. No insurance is left. It does sound like something a sensible, rational doomer would say.
Mine is going up 36% in January.
My out-of-pocket maximum is the same. Everything else up.
Lookig at other plans soon.
But but but you can experience all the advances in medical technology.
Ain't it funny that every other industry in history that experienced "advances in technology" saw costs plummet and quality and functionality skyrocket.
Except any- fucking- thing government sticks it's nose in.
If you like your ass-fucking....
you can keep your ass-fucking.
Just go to finance.yahoo and look for hospitals that are listed and watch their revenue.
Those hardly rose and even went down.
Obamacare is nothing more then a government funding project.
Hospital I work in is tightening its belt big time. I'd assumed it was just to increase the CEO's bonus...maybe it's more than that. And it's in upmarket Silicon Valley.
mine is staying the same, zero....
Yup. They rigged it both ways. Overpay thru the nose for coverage or pay a fine. Heads they win and tails you lose.
http://selfpaypatient.com/2014/06/18/health-sharing-ministry-members-ref...
Check out healthcare ministries. They are not for everyone but they may be great for a lot of people.
I'm uninsured and pay the tax 'penalty' for it. Still way cheaper than giving money to these assholes.
One of my employees just told me the story of her daughter who had COBRA from her prior employer, took a new job that didn't pan out, and now cannot renew COBRA because of time, and cannot get ObamaCare because it isn't open enrollment.
That is asinine.
Cobra prices were fucking insane before ACA I can't imagine what they are now.
COBRA prices are only the full premium (your portion plus what the employer paid).
Most employees don't realize how much their employers subisdize their healthcare until they leave and either 1) get the COBRA quote or 2) try and buy insurance on their own.
no, that's not right. COBRA is captive. The COBRA plan I was offered was 2x the cost of individual insurance.
No the previous reply was correct. You are paying the rate the previous employer paid. Now if the plan year ended while the individual was still on Cobra (you have the right to keep insurance for x amount of months) and the prior company changed plans, you would probably be stuck with whatever increase that plan tried to charge the employer for the next cycle. Or maybe you could even be charged more since the plan agreement term ended and was not renewed for another term.
Who ever came up with the "open enrollement" policy? Why can't I sign up for a plan any day of the year? What kind of a company refuses new customers because it's not "open enrollment"? Fucking stupidity.
https://www.healthcare.gov/quick-guide/dates-and-deadlines/
Yeah, I guess everyone (still wanting to) has plenty of time to enroll in one of the "exchanges" that hasn't collapsed...not yet anyways. I mean, it's not like a life or death situation we're talkin about here.
It's only like, you giving "someone" all your intimate, private, personal information (depending on how honest you really want to be, it's optional ya know these days and I have zero desire to be honest with them) and then "hoping" they actually follow through, ya know, by not having another "exchange" go tango uniform on say, January 29 2016.
Jus sayin, you were fucking warned what a debacle this was going to be Bob, afterall, it is Obama's signature creation.
Holy Fuck. I just went through that site, into the Washington State (wife is from there, talks about moving back randomly) Health Plan Finder and found plans where I would have to pay a $6000-$10000 deductible for the insurance to kick in, and then still have to put more money towards the bill?! What the fuck kind of shit is this?!
$hit for the medical and insurance industries--clearly not meant to help out the "recipients."
Crazy shit. Only in Americorp.
Just get private insurance. Costs much less than the C word.
If everyone did, they'd pretty much be fucked.
wrong, wronger, and wrong yet again.
There is a huge ass notional derivative market out there in the hundreds of trillions of dollars.
Your "premium payment" is collateral for the ever shakier foundations of that Wall St. Mega-Mess.
Thats all you need to know about it-
BTW its why your deductible will continue to rise-as that premium is sucked up to keep your insurer afloat in the derivative markets.
It is NOT possible for Fed.gov to backstop that mountain.
Yep. Remember in the early to mid 90's when they created the PPO type plans and rates actually went down. The plans were taking all the monthly premiums and investing in the market and making so much money in the "casino" they could afford to lower the premiums.
We have to get back to paying the actual costs to establish the market. All we have now is financialized engineering of everything to keep the monthly rent payments flowing in to whatever mega corp name you would like to insert here. All the weekly/monthly 401K money flowing into Wall Street might have been the real kick-starter to all of this madness.
No, we have to get back to a medical regime that does not need government or a fucking insurance company.
Between tose two entities, the skim off the top is probably 60%.
I'm saying for all the money going in, I'd bet we are lucky to see 40% actually spent on healthcare.
They do make some money on the float but this idea that the 'premium payment' or even a significant portion of it is woefully wrong. It varies from state to state according the NAIC commissioner but health insurers have much higher liquidiity requirements than a standard bank (say using Basel II requirements).
"The best thing people could is just drop it."
No individual, company, business, nonprofit entity, or health insurance issuer offering group or individual health insurance coverage shall be required to participate in any Federal health insurance program created under this Act(or any amendments made by this Act), or in any Federal health insurance program expanded by this Act (or any such amendments), and there shall be no penalty or fine imposed upon any such issuer for choosing not to participate in such programs.
The website further explains that the Act referred to in 42 USC § 18115 is Obamacare:
This Act, referred to in text, is Pub. L. 111–148, Mar. 23, 2010, 124 Stat. 119, known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 18001 of this title and Tables.
42 USC § 18115 refers to:
Title 42 – The Public Health and Welfare
Chapter 157 – Quality, Affordable Health Care For All Americans
Subchapter 6 – Miscellaneous Provisions
Section 18115 - Freedom Not to Participate in Federal Health Insurance Programs
U.S. Code › Title 42 › Chapter 157 › Subchapter VI › § 18115
42 U.S. Code § 18115 - Freedom not to participate in Federal health insurance programs
Current through Pub. L. 113-65. (See Public Laws for the current Congress.)
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/18115
I travel to Costa Rica all the time...and their system is what is to come here...You have the single payer Shit system that everyone pays into. They take it out of the paychecks...Lines are long...it is like DMV...then you have the pay as you go for the rich folks. Best care, top of the line equipment and people that most folks don't have access to. Better get yourself some assets. I am paying close to $800 a month just for my wife and I. Don't get sick BITCHES
My GOD ! ! ! ! !
That's a fu*kin crime right there ! ! !
I wouldn't pay it ! ! ! ! !
I'd die first ! ! !
They are more than happy to let you die.
i am long term resident in Costa Rica. Yeah the state system sucks for any big problems. However for $56.00 per month I get free checkups, at my local clinic. free cholesterol meds (statin but not lipitor) High bloodpressure medecine, blood tests whenever I want and also this includes a pension of $250 per month when I turn 65 Up to heart transplants if I need it free.
However to make sure I have top quality great care here I have an 1,850 per year policy with the state insurance company (outside of the stae run system) which allows me to make a call, schedule any preventative test or any other rpoblem and no doctor has to approve it and the doctors are Mayo clinic etc trained. This is with private hospitals/clinics. Totally top notch. Just had colonoscopy and endoscopy done as preventative and my cost (20% co pay on top of annual premium) was about 200$ and included some very hot and nice nurses.I see a cardiologist with a stress test, a great procto doc, era nose throat guy to check for throwat cancer (ex smoker) and anything else I want. I would be hard pressed for all this good care to spend more than 300$ per month (including pension).
Quit badmouthing Costa Rica and face the fact that you got here a bit too late and you obviously have some decent income and do not know how to hide it to lower your premium.
Sorry have to go. Costa Rica is now playing Belguim in sub 17 world cup quarter finals.
Go Ticos.
However for $56.00 per month I get free checkups, at my local clinic.
You can't make this stuff up, folks ...
Maybe he injures himself a lot watching CR lose ;-)
Hey Belguin nmewn, First half you are up 1-0. Lets see at the end. No problem. You motherfuckers have amazons out there agianst our small kids.
Just to get to quarterfinals for a small country like ours is a victory.. Just like in world cup. Where were you motherfuckeing belguins in that on?
HAHA go fuck your self and learn how to play futbol. See you in 45 minutes
Says the guy who is voluntarily taking statins...............wise up buddy! Your heart will thank you.
Not just statins, but blood pressure meds as well. Blood pressure is easy to bring down with proper diet and supplements.
Soccer is sofa king lame. Least entertaining of the circenses.
soccer vs hockey
Like all big government healthcare systems, Costa Rica's government run healthcare system known as La Caja has teetered on the brink of bankruptcy due to careless spending and mismanagement.
http://www.ticotimes.net/2014/05/08/9-things-we-can-expect-from-costa-ri...
http://news.co.cr/us-moves-towards-socialized-health-care-costa-rica-uk-...
You're the problem, mate, sorry to have to tell you. That long list of medical interventions can be sumed up in one word: BULLSHIT. Look 'em up if you like. Or dare. Prophylactic endoscopy....jesus. Wait till you get Hep B, or worse, with your "clean bill of health".
Get off the processed foods, do a bit of exercise, and stay the fuck away from doctors. All that for $56 a month.
' Up to heart transplants if I need it free.' I think he might get that heart transplant sooner than he thinks. The question is, where are they going to transplant his heart? Sooner or later they will have to cut costs and people like him will be eliminated from the system.
you obviously have some decent income and do not know how to hide it to lower your premium.
"Nuff said.
This news isnt going to affect the >100MM Americans who are VERY busy collecting 'Gimmiedat' benefits as we speak. Rates go up? No problem, moar free shit will cover the increase. If not, breed like cockroaches, and presto! Problem solved.
they know if they go to the emergency room for the baby's cold, it's free.
My family doc said they do not come to the doctor offices since they know they'll have to pay so they simply go to the ER as you say for "free" and never pay.
It's totally Phucked.
I dated an ER doc. She would tell me the stories of people coming in for pregnancy tests. . . My buddy's a head shrink out in Vegas. He tells me about the patients who demand to be declared crazy so they can get psycho disability payments from .gov. They know the drill. They threaten to walk out on the highway and lay down in traffic. Most docs cave at that point (liability).
>>>They threaten to walk out on the highway and lay down in traffic. Most docs cave at that point (liability).
Great idea for future reference
If you're officially "crazy", how can they hold you responsible for keeping accurate records, or filling out all those confusing IRS forms.
dont forget the open borders and today's movement toward allowing felons to vote.....and you have yourself a permanent (fully dependent) voting block.
Be Your own Health Maintainence Provider.
Eat Healthy, Exercise, Opt out of the State in Every way possible.
And of course read Zerohedge religiously.
Don't forget to 1) wake up early; 2) drink lots of water when you wake up; 3) work on that personal passion project ... and you know the rest.
Well played....
Expat here. Fuck obamacare. Burn baby burn!
If you like your doctor find a 4th McJob to pay for it!
I am so sorry for all who had the bad luck to be born in the US... Good luck for you and your health!! Don't get ill, don't have an accident :D From Europe with Love
When the banksters collapse the USD, and we have to then quit pouring billions of $$$ into Europe theough our military expenditures, your cradle-to-grave is going to FUCKING EVAPORATE INTO THIN AIR.
Believe. It.
Asshole.
you lost because you used the a word
The smug tone of your OP warranted it. You are an asshole. And your cradle-to-grave is on America's dime.
Eh, and who forced the US to provide all that military subsidy?
We could have burnt all of our money on social spending and corportate handouts.
The FED and the US government printed money for all spending.
He won.
Nah, he won, because he's right, AAAAAsshole. Airhead. Armpit. You Addictive, Agonizing, Annoying, Arrogant, Androgynous, Abnormal, Awkward Awful, Apeish, Accidental birth Asswipe.
So, there.
We're so sorry for all who had the bad luck to be born in the Islamic califate that used to be known as Europe... Good luck for you and your health!! Don't get ill, don't have an accident, because your big government healthcare system is broke and broken: D From US with Love
They had to pass it so YOU could find out whaaaat's in it, snicker snicker.
Can't wait to see what's surprises are in the Top Secret™ Trade Bill!
50 shades on how to fuck you a new asshole?
The only true purpose of Obamacare was to lavish yet more $$$ on the FSA. Cloward-Piven, bitchez.
The purpose of Liarcare is to collapse the healthcare system so they can push for single payer. It was designed to fail. Progressive/communist/NWO assholes create the solution and then cause the problem.
Problem. Reaction. Solution.
Anybody in favor of gummint run healthcare should spend a day at a VA hospital, or a Naval Medical Clinic. Anyone who thinks government should run everything, should be required to spend a week in prison, as a test-drive.
Long article for a simply fact, couldn't you just have boiled it down to: "Cuz the free shitters dont pay!!!"
that's the same policy I have...same increase..Blue Cross Blue Shield...and the highest deductible I could get..
All forced to Obamacare....single payer
Won't increase the deficit by a dime....but thousands to others...lying shit head.
This and college and real estate taxes and no interest rates are taking the country under...especially the middle class
premiums going up... ObamaDon'tCare
it was the plan that Insurance wrote the plan
just wait for TPP to kick in, drugs will cost more, generics won't be available, GMO food will go into overdrive, environment disasters causing more sick people, so in the future, don't get sick, don't get old, you won't be able to afford to live (I guess mass suicides will be the only solution)
Are you implying we should rename the country Jonestown?
I like the succinct thought of Gonzalo Lira (acerbic Chilean economist):
If you grow old in the USA, you will be bankrupted by "health care" costs.
So, plan accordingly.
If you want to be healthy do the following:
Eat mostly fruits, veggies and lean meats
eat 3 meals a day, no meal should be larger than your closed fist
do gentle exercise like brisk walking and yoga
drink plenty of water
and finally, stay away from doctors. asking a doctor if you have a medical problem is like asking a barber if you need a haircut.
sounds like a perfect plan if you own a self contained biosphere that excludes the air, water, earth and food available in the US and doesn't allow accidents to happen, or desease and aging
Bullshit advice on every point save the last. But that's the most important one.
1. Nope. Plenty of fat, preferably saturated, and cholesterol. And eat minimal fruit. It's sugar.
2. Nope. Exercise should be vigorous. Read "manly". Yoga is for metros and fat chicks.
3. Show me ANY evidence that drinking lots of water is useful.
"1. Nope. Plenty of fat, preferably saturated, and cholesterol. And eat minimal fruit. It's sugar."
Speaking of "bullshit advice." Follow this at your own risk.
... as to number 3, it can prevent death due to dehydration. Just sayin.
... and avoid vegetable oils and simple carbs like they are poison. Because they are.
it may be cheaper to fly elsewhere to seek medical care
I have two older friends who flew to Chiang Mai for their total joint replacements. Both were extremely happy---docs trained in UK or USA and everyone was super polite, the rooms were like the Ritz and PT post-op was included.
That's something to consider for non-emergency surgeries and medical issues.
Hard to understand that the insurance companies have losses on this screw job for middle Americans.
Mom-in-Laws pre-Cr*pCare was about $385/month for $2,500 deductible.
Obama's Cr*pCare raised to aboyt $700/month with $5,000 deductible ...so high that the folks who can't afford the full pay, can afford the deductible.
MinLaw only paying now about $80 of that est. $700 and the taxpayers are paying the other est. $600 so the insurance company has a sweetheart deal.
High priced cr*p where they get hugh premiums for cr*p the little people can't afford to use.
Where's the downside?
They wrote the thing to rip off ordinary folks.
DK
Insurance Scumpanies aren't losing money. If they were, they would pick up quick and sell their snakeoil elsewhere. They got the game rigged from front to back, top to bottom. This Unaffordable Care Act crap was their brainchild, after all. Republicans wanted it first, but when the democraps picked up on it, the repubs went against it.
Bottom line is, both parties like it...
Repubs...it helps big business stay in business and provides nice profits to their contributors.
Demos...it forces more people onto the government plantation and hurts the middle and working-class.
Fucking stupid Americans just figured this out.
It's sad really when we think of what America invented for the world.
Now, it is circling the toilet and the drunken culture is about to puke.
I guarantee Ocare will either be gone or substantially rewritten by 2020 at the very latest. Anyone can do the math and recognize the increases simply aren't sustainable. Like that Reich peice earlier today, the people are getting so raped so many ways there simply isn't going to be the money (via their pockets, taxes or government) to pay for it all.
The left has their single payer pipe-dream, but just like the guaranteed minimum income folks, basic math (price x number of people) makes it incredibly obvious nothing is workable. They best they'll ever do is some sort of minimum care program with a list of a few hundred cheap generic drugs and pamphlets to lose weight to treat every condition.
It's going to be interesting to see how crazy it gets as everyone is desperate to keep the profit engine going as the plane it's attached to is headed straight down at Mach 1.0. What gets proposed after the crash will probably be crazier, so hide your shit now and keep a low profile.
fascists like fascism
who is going to make it better for the people and as a result make it less profitable for the corporations, who? anyone getting to power is owned
need a new deal? same as the old deal? ain't going to happen
who is going to make it better for the people and as a result make it less profitable for the corporations, who?
How about the government stop trying to play mommy and daddy for all of its citizens so people can have a fighting chance at taking care of themselves once again? For 150 years, America was all about self-reliance and rugged individualism; people were responsible for their own retirement and healthcare and the government was, for the most part, keeping its nose out everyone's affairs and sticking to protecting the nation and settling property disputes. The nation thrived. Then comes FDR and we take a hard left turn towards socialism. It's been down hill ever since.
doesn't matter what "ism" you've got when it's prefixed with "crony"
Probably the doctors will make it better for the people when they finally figure out that they should give cash pay patients a better discount than they do to the insurers.
Actually, a nearby doc-in-the-box does exactly that. Also, they do not participate in Medicaid. They currently accept BC/BS, but (who knows?) that may change. BC/BS has a customer service or claims center with several hundred employees located two blocks away. Should say "had". Most of those jobs have been outsourced to India and the Phillipines over the last two months.
A family practitioner in solo practice has his office in the next city 25 miles away. He and his wife would like to move to seeing patients on a cash basis. I may help him reach that goal.
I broke off the patient/doctor relationship with my internist. The whole point of going for those stupid annual wellness visits was so that I would have someone to call if I ever did need to get in to see a doctor. I finally decided that my refusal to comply with the usual nonsense of mammograms, etc. was probably messing him up on the quality reviews of his charts if mine made it into the list of lucky charts. He is my mother's internist and a good one. His practice is usually closed to new patients, so surely there was somebody who needed him more than I did.
My premium payment for my BC/BS individual PPO coverage was due yesterday. I haven't paid it and think I'll let it lapse. I checked the IRS website to try to figure out how much the penalty might be. Lo and behold, if your income is below a certain low, low level for the year, you don't have to file. If you are uninsured and lucky (?) enough to have had a bad income year, you are automatically exempted from the penalty if you don't file.
And as a USAF veteran of 40+ years ago, I try not to spend much time at the Phoenix VA.
In fact, I believe Obama has spent more time there as a PR spokesman than me.
Mr Wainwright should cancel his insurance and stay healthy til he's 65 and get Medicare. Then he can get shtty healthcare for only $100month.
"However, since it is too late to undo Obamacare,"
Where does that come from? It is never too late to reverse a major policy mistake.
That comes from the progressive RHINO's who have no freakn balls
The Rinos say that because they have been bought and paid for by insurance companies. Follow the money.
Cut back a few hundred billion on war mongering and black projects, fully nationalise the health system including the providers and make premiums 10% of salary irrespective of age. Viola, the British health system where people live years longer than in the US.
Nub,
The fact that your math is correct, points to a stupid empire in decline.
Plus no deductables, free for all at the point of use. A wonderful system.
Since WW2, the American people have been governed by and infected with the power of evil.
And just like we Germans before WW2, they are blinded by the sickness of their leaders.
For this, they too shall suffer.
As we did.
Plus no deductables, free for all at the point of use. A wonderful system.
Wonderful system?
It's a corrupt system where sick people die waiting to get help from the shitty "free" gobernment run healthcare.
Some cases which receive much publicity, yes, but why do British people have such a better life expectsncy than Americans, who seem to enjoy being milked dry by their current system for no benefit?
Because they have pristine water and food. No GMOs in their liquor no toxic sludge in their water. They also drink and party way more then Americans. All good stuff. They'd really live longer if they paid attention to their health.
Health care premiums shouldn't be based upon one's income.
Health care premiums should be based upon how well one takes care of their health.
Smoker, pay more.
Druggie/alcoholic, pay more.
Fat tub of lard, pay more.
Poor health lifestyle choices, pay more, don't expect someone else to cover your irresponsible choices.
This one tells me all I need to know.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-378791/Desperate-dentistry-Wom...
Standard Disclaimer: Heck, I'll pull yours for free. One by one.