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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That 2% fee errrrrrrr TAX is starting to seem like a deal compared to what you're going to have to fork out for the (un)ACA policies...
It always was... what's a $6k premium as a percentage of the average household income? Unless you have some devastatingly expensive condition, paying the fee AND paying cash for genuine care (even if it involves a plane ticket to another country) is a fantastic deal compared to the government's offer.
I cant even afford ObamaFucked. I make over his 63k a year and the penalty for working my ass off is $968 a month with a $12,000 deductable.
Now you might think, WoW! over 63K a year! But that just covers my basic bills where I live.
ObamaFucked = he didnt consider the northeast cost of living.
I don't think he really cared.
The agenda sees no man's suffering, except those who might further the agenda.
63k will not get you a middle class life. Not to rub salt in the wound, but to make a point, how much MORE care will you be getting at this price?
I have several predictions I posted in the past. One of them is that people wil start avoiding healthcare except the sickest and unhealthiest. LESS healthcare will go out at a much higher price. Not more.
Your only option is to get someone in office who will repeal this monster, but most the people running are insulated from it. If the Republicans who theoretically are on your side could be made to feel the pain they would have put a bill in front of Obama at gunpoint and dared him to veto.
It is the singlest biggest, most painful and autocratic thing I can remember in my whole life and it is largely ignored.
I seriously suggest you revolt and not buy it, if necessary. Go to a community health center and offer to pay cash. They will not turn you in...yet.
Maybe they will get it repealed... if not, then WTF, nobody wanted this, no *sane* American in her right mind would have said, in breathless anticipation, "gee-whiz" Mr. Prez, where do I sign? These people are supposed to be working for us!, not the other way around. They are employed at our pleasure. I don't know about all of you, but I am beyond fucking tired of being treated like a bitch slave. It is time for a change. A serious change.
I mean really, as part of some coordinated effort, a huge segment of the population says, screw it, I am not onboard with this, this is your (Washingtons)reality, and I summarily reject it, and supplant it with my own, and just stop playing their game. What are they going to do, drone all of us? Throw us all in one of their privately run prisons? So fucking what? At least that way I would be assured of three square meals a day!
Another thing we should all be doing, by way of passive non-compliance (and it is really a good thing, regardless) is start taking better care of ourselves. Healthier people are happier, more productive people, and that new-found health means less Dr visits. Screw you Obozo, you are not going to win this one. Obozo care will go away, one way or the other.
"the copays, deductibles and coinsurance was more than they could afford." Yeah, $6k/yr deductible for me and my wife. A major illness would put a sizeable dent in our modest savings. I told my wife it was like having a gov funded Lambourghini in the garage that we can't drive because we can't afford the insurance and repairs!
Now shylocks own your body parts
& ur already on debt to feed these body parts
(and what to say about ur house, car & children
all on debt , ur a strand of thread away from becoming homeless
on street)
Think it's bad here, read this. China wants to expand a road and comes in with bulldozers and starts demolishing a hospital full of doctors, nurses and patients. Let's hope it doesn't get that bad here with healthcare and insurance. They had to run for their lives.
http://www.smh.com.au/world/china-hospital-bulldozed-with-doctors-nurses-patients-inside-20160109-gm2n5m.html
“And where’s there a funding? Can you say …” http://youtu.be/EYa_fhLkg5c?t=10s
I'm a married guy with two kids, so that automatically places me in the "damn this is expensive" kind of mindset, but this healthcare debacle is unfuckingbelievably frustrating to me. Not only do we pay the equivalent of a mortgage for monthly premiums, all the while our life insurance providers rate us as the best on the planet in their risk model, but the deductibles are as insulting as being spit on, directly into my face. Then, I have buddies who, with a straight face, tell me I should be grateful that we "make enough to outstrip the need for any kind of subsidies for healthcare." If I did not love them so much, I'd punch them in the throat with a hammer for being so ignorant. My soci-econ group is simply being led down an emotional path to throw up our hands and say "Fuck it! Let's socialize this shit so we all pay equally!" The worst of my buddies act like my taking it straight in the financial ass on healthcare is some kind of martyrdom, or service to other human beings. No. My family's financial raping is not some kind of service, or do-gooder bullshit we are doing. Quite the contrary. Either I pay this form of robbery, or my family goes uncovered, risks a catastrophic event, and suffers a subsequent BK. Meanwhile, we have to sock away the annoying out of pocket deductible amount, sit on it like a fucking egg and hope it does not hatch into an actual medical event, and then this very behavior limits my own spending, thus fucking the economy, at least proportionately. It also limits doing fun and cool shit. On top of that, I hold my money like some greedy dick and no longer donate or help on the level I did before this shitstorm because I do not want to saw a leg off of my three-legged stool. Funny how all of this works. When one does the math for middle class folks, it becomes apparent that after all of the defined taxes and undefined taxes (health care premiums), many are actually smart to retire one parent from the working world, and then fleece the hell out of the system by claiming every form of hand-out possible and which may be available with the single income. I just can not bring myself to do this. We touched down onto a social safety net once, and it scared the living hell out of me! For people to somehow grow comfortable and to use that net as a god damned hammock, is totally insane to me. At least I feel empowered, if that's the correct word. Maybe it's pride. Who knows anymore, but sucking the government's dick is of no interest to me.
Billionaire Ronald Perelman holds a major "interest" in the Call Center contracting company called Faneuil:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacAndrews_%26_Forbes
Faneuil is a contractor Call Center for the Health Benefit exchange for a few of the States that run their own exchanges. Reading reviews at Indeed or GlassDoor shows poor benefits and pay. Sounds like a terrible company.
Many people have insurance but cannot afford to go to the doctor. People are paying out thousands in premiums, deductibles, and co-pays, and getting no service.
Well, it's a gub'mint program, right? You're not getting your money's worth from the taxes you pay to your gub'mint, right? No one should expect anything different with ObamaCare. Like the Federal Reserve, it's another rip-off, designed to fleece you and give you the illusion of receiving something of value, an illusion that vanishes with your first bill.
Typical government swindle, proposed by air-headed 'progressives' - the same kind of people who brought us alcohol and drug prohibitions, making a small problem into a big one. They never seem to understand that 'fixing' things often make them worse.
Obamacare and Gun Control go hand in hand. This is another step towards full blown totalitarian system and 1984 Orwell's world, laced with some of Aldus Huxley's fine Brave new World:
Obama Administration’s Gun Control Rule Lets Doctors Report Patients to Background Check System:
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/01/05/obama-administrations...
What gets me the most lately are these guys in Oregon that imposed themselves on the community by taking over the Federal building there. Nobody gives a shit about them, because Americans would have ALREADY STOPPED ALL THIS tyranny back in 2001 if they had been up for it. There is NO REVOLUTION coming. It would have already been here. So they have to manufacture one...in Oregon, which anyone with perception and insight can already see is going to end up being used as another reason to forfeit individual freedoms.
In declassified discussions between Nixon and Armand Hammer Nixon plainly states his intention in the creation of HMOs was to market them as a better way to provide care then, once people signed on, to progressively raise prices and deny coverage purely as a way to raise profit margins. This process was not a problem which developed in HMOs, it was how the government designed them to work in the first place as Nixon clearly stated on the record. If anyone thinks Obama and Obamacare is any different I have a bridge to sell them.
Receptionists present you with the bill then ask for your insurance information. If you don't have insurance they'll quote you a cash price which is typically far cheaper than the price after being subsidized by insurance. Astonishingly when you try to share this tip with others they'll rarely believe you. People are not only stuck on stupid, they're dedicated to it. Next time you're paying for services with insurance ask them the cash price if only to prove me wrong.
So Obamacare forcing people to buy insurance not only forces them to buy costly insurance, but the cost of insured services will likely still be higher than if they had no insurance whatsoever. Many will have less access to healthcare under Obamacare than if they had no insurance at all.
edit
Anyone with 3 brain cells to click together knows the Lennon Rule: Anything government touches turns to shite.
I knew this ObamaCare was a fraud the moment I saw those sky-high yearly deductables and outrageous premiums. When I went online to enquire about them, I had high-pressure sales people calling me back literally, no bull, within 3 minuites. I shut them off quick.
I had saved some money, found a company that handled 'medical tourism', and went out of the country to get medical tests done, and at a fraction of the cost, minimal hassle and next to no bureaucracy. I haven't signed up for this crap, and won't. I'll pay the damned fines, even though I shouldn't have to, just to stay out of the clucthes of these vampires.
I recall all those idiots chanting Obama's name, like he was the Savior, full of 'hope' and 'change'. They should have re-read the legend of Pandora's Box and learned the last - and worst - thing that came out was false 'hope'. Stupid, fiscally-naive ("deficits don't matter!") 'progressives' opend that box, and now look at the mess we have. But they still try to dodge responsibility.
Many americans have cut way back on actual medical care itself in order to pay obamacare's massive insurance premiums. Higher costs, less coverage, less care - a trifecta of misery on us proles dealt out by the democrats. End obamacare NOW.
People people, get educated on exemptions to the individual mandate. And stop calling people without insurance criminals - you play into the Obozo's hands. You just owe a bigger tax than others. Being without health insurance is not a criminal act...yet...
if you're unemployed you get free healthcare...just sayin
Looking at the financials of a counple of large medical insurers, it looks as if Obummer-care has had a large positive impact on revenue and gross profit.
Why would the insurance industry (a completely unnecessary and parasitic industry) be in panic mode? They got the insider deal of lifetime and get to continue screwing the patients and service providers in ever larger numbers.
They should just stop whining ... or better yet, shrink and die.