Shared Sacrifice? 1 In 3 Americans Slash Staples Spending To 'Afford' Obamacare
Health insurers are in panic mode as the Obama administration, ever eager maximize coverage optics for Obamacare, has, as The NY Times reports, allowed large numbers of people to sign up for insurance after the deadlines in the last two years, destabilizing insurance markets and driving up premiums. This surge in costs, from unintended consequences, has left 1 in 5 Americans with health insurance is having problems paying medical bills; and, as a new poll finds, more than one in three Americans, or 35 percent, said they were unable to pay for basic necessities such as food, heat, and housing because of medical bill problems...
Among people with health insurance, one in five (20%) working-age Americans report having problems paying medical bills in the past year that often cause serious financial challenges and changes in employment and lifestyle, finds a comprehensive new Kaiser Family Foundation/New York Times survey. As expected, the situation is even worse among people who are uninsured: half (53%) face problems with medical bills, bringing the overall total to 26 percent.
While insurance can protect people from problem medical bills, the survey suggests that those with employer coverage or other insurance suffer similar consequences as the uninsured once such problems occur. Among those facing problems with medical bills, almost identical shares of the insured (44%) and uninsured (45%) say the bills had a major impact on their families.
People with insurance who face problem medical bills also report a wide range of consequences and sacrifices during the past year as a result, including delaying vacations or major household purchases (77%), spending less on food, clothing and basic household items (75%), using up most or all their savings (63%), taking an extra job or working more hours (42%), increasing their credit card debt (38%), borrowing money from family or friends (37%), changing their living situation (14%), and seeking the aid of a charity (11%). These shares generally are as large as or larger than the shares among uninsured people with problem medical bills.
Overall, 62 percent of those who had medical bill problems say the bills were incurred by someone who had health coverage at the time (most often through an employer). Of those who were insured when the bills were incurred, three-quarters (75%) say that the amount they had to pay for their insurance copays, deductibles, or coinsurance was more than they could afford.
And it is not about to get better any time soon, as The NY Times reports, it appears the liberal-leaning establishment will never learn the real "unintended consequences" of tinkering central-planning...
The administration has created more than 30 “special enrollment” categories and sent emails to millions of Americans last year urging them to see if they might be able to sign up after the annual open enrollment deadline. But, insurers and state officials said, the federal government did little to verify whether late arrivals were eligible.
That has allowed people to wait until they become ill or need medical services to sign up, driving up costs broadly, insurers have told federal health officials.
“Individuals enrolled through special enrollment periods are utilizing up to 55 percent more services than their open enrollment counterparts” who sign up in the regular period, the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, whose local member companies operate in every state, told the administration.
Of course, Enroll America, a nonprofit group with close ties to the Obama administration, said the government “should not tighten eligibility or verification standards in ways that could place an undue burden on consumers.”
Because - "it's fair..." - though The Iron Lady had it right...
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First, it was OBAMA: Yes we can. Now it's TRUMP: the new HOPE. Woe to those who put their faith in politicians. No doubt America's in for a rough ride. PLUS, let's not forget the American Curse >>> http://wp.me/p4OZ4v-3z
Fed exit coming http://hedgeaccordingly.com/2013/09/stanely-druckenmiller-govt-must-addr...
The problem with government is that you eventually run out of the peoples money....and then you just print more and load them with debt for the finale.
Either way, with government, socialism, capitalism, or any government or ism, you are screwed. A rose is a rose.
I slashed Staples spending because Office Depot was cheaper.
My premium for the most basic (6k ded) went up from 244 to 309. So, if I extrapolate that out to about 2020, it doesn't look pretty. Look people, the health care industry is growing, it employs double it did a generation ago. Someone has to pay for this.. That someone is you.
UMMm...one thing missing from the stats... political affiliation...35%...isn't that the number of hard core Republicans..would ANY R tell a pollster ObamaCare was working for them?
Boris is cook popcorn for theater of Amerikansky politic! So many smart people, so much freedom, such beautiful land, glorious constitution, and stupid FSA is elect abject amateur who is disregulate emotional wreckage. How are you sit and watch King Barry tear up constitution!? How are you watch Pelosi cram unwanted socialism central planning excrement through "Budget Reconciliation" in midnight hour?! How are you so stupid!?
"You have to starve before you can see what's in it." - Nana
If you are an American, you can look into healthcare ministries:
CHM Christian Health Ministries
Liberty Healthshare
CURO
Samaritan's Ministries
Medishare and one or two others.
I think Liberty may be the best deal followed by CHM.
This is not for everybody - you cannot smoke and can only drink moderately. They are all ACA certified so you avoid the tax.
More info
http://selfpaypatient.com/2013/11/27/health-care-sharing-ministry-member...
Thanks. I wonder if there's any hope not to pay the tax or the penalty until after Trump wins and helps throw the whole individual mandate thing out.
As I understand it, there is no real "enforcement mechanism". If you aren't due anything back from your witholding tax, they have nothing to keep from you, I make sure mine is about a hundred bucks I OWE THEM every year, I don't loan them money voluntarily.
In other words, they can't garner your wages..."legally"...yet.
However this communist bastard (technically true, he is in fact a communist as was his father before him, who left him and his mother...lol) still has one year to go and has full regulatory control.
But look at what we're even talking about here at the basic level, the Internal Revenue Service is NOT ONLY tracking your wages for tax "liability"...they're tracking whether or not you have INSURANCE.
It's full blown authoritarian-state-fucking-statist retarded.
Despite Obamacare, uninsured rate ticks up
http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/personalfinance/despite-obamacare-uninsured-rate-ticks-up/ar-CCixqC?li=BBnb7Kv
“Change you can believe in!”
Change you can bereave in.
remember, once you go black.... we dont want you back
they may be right there if you have an inheritance.
Most people don't have to worry about the individual mandate tax penalty because most premiums are > 8% of their yearly income. Those people are exempt from paying penalties. In a few more years, with > 20% yearly premium increases, virtually no one outside the upper 10% will be eligible for a penalty if uninsured.
the penalty does not exist. period. read the tax code and opt out legally. period.
unhealthy mericans painted into corner. laughable. i'm not paying for your lifestyle of laziness, shit food eat. fuck off and pay your premium. if you care about your life and health, get off your ass, turn off the tv, quite buying garbage food and opt out and take control of your destiney starting with your health. and furthermoar, your healthcare in not a mandate on my income. it is earned through effort and sacrafice that requires your input(exercise and lifestyle). ha, i laugh at all the loosers that think i have to subsidize their healthcare. fuck you too...
Looser, hee hee
But dont they wear a Fit Bot to tell them to move their fat asses every 30 mintues from sitting a their desk surfing the shopping web sites ... moving to the donut tray near the coffee machine?
That's something of a "workout," right?
I mean, ya know.
With the on demand economy surfing the web at work is the only thing that keeps you sane sometimes. Corporate America did a good job destroying the middle class to get us where we are. Now we all wait for our pink slips.
Either my work is very busy or dead.There is little in between.
Precious satire.
Prior to passage of the ACA if you didn't like it you were deemed selfish because you didn't want to pay for healthcare for other people. Now the same people try to tell you what to do with your own life so they don't have to subsidize your behavior. I remind them it's the ACA which removes their ability to opt out.
It's funny when people pass selfish laws spitefully only to find out they've thoroughly screwed themselves too.
I have Liberty and I'm very happy with them. Look into this as an option.
Because everything is working exactly as planned. As communists have always understood, before change there must come great destruction. Luckily people's lives don't matter much or the process of change would be much more difficult to manage. The goal of indoctrination is voluntary suicide. If only it could be a more peaceful process....
C'mon Boris...Admit it....Barry has a great smile!
Sometime when King Barry is turn head to right, Boris is see melanoma and want surgically remove with reciprocating drill.
For best results, I'd recommend performing surgery on Obamao with a nice table saw, Boris ... but that's just me.
Disclaimer: I'm not a real doctor, but I often play one on Zero Hedge.
Cut through crap is make it dull expensive saw blade.
Disclaimer: Barry is not real leader, is only play one on TV.
No need for expensive surgery, stand-ins are much cheaper.
Personally I prefer this...
http://woodmizer.com/Store/Product/Index/3
A wood chipper works just fine also.
They've been working the plan to destroy America since 1966. It's a tough act to turn it around this late in the game, no matter who's signing the paperwork.
Your insurance "premium" is a tax. There is NO legislature or court in the world that will define what benefits must be provided in return for a tax payment.
As your "premium" is going to back-stop a bunch of derivative positions of the insurers, your "deductible" will continue to climb.
ObamaCare is the insurance industry's TARP
And the way Obamacare is written, the policy does not ensure health treatment because any doctor can refuse that payment method. And you don't know if a doctor that does participate has the ability to help you. Plus there is the high deductible issue which for some people is the same as no insurance because they don't get benefit if they can't afford the co-pay.
If you want your health, you can keep your health.*
*I didn't say what it would cost.
"My insulin costs so much I can barely afford my weekly 2 gallons of Mountain Dew!" - Murca'
Don't tell me I can't have it all!
Bend over....... -Barry-
Piglosi didn't say it came with Supersized premiums!
Yup, and just wait until the "refunds" don't come in because they're eaten up by penalties.
Not to mention the 2% taxation (sorry, "fee") on all income if you didn't sign up with .gov.
Hey yo! Whey be my refun?
Amerikansky comrade, please, let Boris teach you treachery of Cloward Piven. Here is ticket escape from individual mandate:
https://www.healthcare.gov/health-coverage-exemptions/exemptions-from-th...
Do not pay utility, do not pay hospital bill, and you are not need insurance.
The penalties for not having coverage when they say you can afford it, or individual shared responsibility payments (Orwellian enough for you?) are much higher than most people realize. Lot's of 'folks' are gonna get a nasty surprise with their 2016 Tax Returns.
https://www.healthcare.gov/fees/fee-for-not-being-covered/
According to info on that site:
What happens if I don't pay the fee?
The IRS will hold back the amount of the fee from any future tax refunds. There are no liens, levies, or criminal penalties for failing to pay the fee.
My question is if the IRS cannot do anything but take your refunds, why not make sure to never have a refund and just not get coverage?
Good question, but if enough people were to do that, they'd change the rules on the fly (as they so frequently do) and hit you with wage levies, passport nullification, seize it out of your financial accounts, etc.
They will have to abolish cash in order to capture everyone, which I suspect is around the corner......
i'm so fucking scared i think i'll comply, fuck that and find the two balls you were born with.
i know someone who used the social services system money about 20 years ago for about 300 bucks, when they inherited money, guess who came calling during probate.
I'm in that no pay class right now. The intimidating multi - thousand $ IRS letters are worrisome. Hoping I can last until Trump and at least the mandate is thrown out.
The alternative to going without food and heat is to skip the policy, pay the penalty, and hope to god there's no major medical incident because then you're on the street. Capping out of pocket is the only reason to buy an Obamacare policy. The coverage and deductibles are a joke.