Well...what do you think of Obamacare now?

Rising healthcare costs have absolutely nothing to do with how those costs are funded. Insurance rates don't dictate healthcare costs. Healthcare costs dictate insurance rates.

 

Routine care for me with a history of Glaucoma. But even specialist didn't cost me $70. I had to cancel a follow-up with one a few months ago because they had to charge me the $70 and I couldn't justify that just to go over the success of the drug he prescribed.

 

If Bill Gates decided he was going to send everyone who makes under say $70,000 a year $10,000 a year to pay for medical expenses what do you think would happen to the cost of medical expenses? Yes this is an extreme example but does change the basic economic principle. We see it in higher education cost. If the government pours money into something the price of that something is going to go up.

 

First Medicaid is not an insurance program, it is a welfare program and we would do better to expand the economy and grow the labor force putting those people into jobs where they can earn their own health care. Second stop giving that free health care who have the funds to at least help pay for it instead of spending it on totally unnecessary and discretionary items. Your healthcare should be about #2 on your budget priorities right after food. That is a tuff one to enforce and come up with systems to monitor and control but the fraud and abuse in government provide health care and disability is mind boggling and SOMETHING has to be done about it.

Meaning a lot of small businesses are going to be created and lots of those jobs will not be created meaning someone who is on their spouses policy who has a great job will not be able to get that job in a small business to supplement the family income. Or even a big business where the person just wants supplemental income or an entry into the work place.

The LAST thing we need to be doing now is raising the cost of employment.

BTW here one list of Republican proposals. Which ones DO you agree with?

http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/pdf/GOPHealthPlan_061709.pdf

Next I'd expand the employer mandate requiring all employers to either: A) provide health insurance to all employees, or; B) pay an estimated $3/hr tax to provide funding to subsidize employees that don't receive medical insurance from their employers.

Finally working households that don't have employer provided health insurance would be provided with health insurance because the employer tax funds the insurance.

Simple and to the point where 100% of Americans could have health insurance.[/QUOTE]

 

Yes I did............but another thread


"Health spending skyrocketed during previous economic slumps — it saw double digit increases during the deep, prolonged 1981-82 downturn, for example.

Plus, the spending trend had been falling for years before the last recession, dropping from 7% in 2004 to 4.7% in 2008. In any case, even after the recession ended in mid-2009, spending growth still slowed.

Insurance premiums showed the same trend. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, annual family premium increases fell from 9% in 2005 to 5.4% in 2007, and to 3% in 2010.

The health care market, it turns out, was already figuring out how to control costs long before ObamaCare. Witness the explosive growth in Health Savings Accounts.

These plans — which combine high-deductible insurance policies with a tax-free health spending account that rolls over at the end of the year — went from virtually nonexistent in 2005 to become the second most popular plan offered by employers, the Kaiser study found."
http://news.investors.com/ibd-editor...-obamacare.htm

 

Unless of course you believe in Capitalism and the profit motive.

 

Sorry but your imaginary link doesn't work. And health savings accounts did absolutely nothing to resolve the cost issues with the American healthcare system.

 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/theapot...weekly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20151207

 

The world has gone mad! I can't believe that so many people will pay that much money each month for something they hardly ever use. I haven't had health insurance in 15 years and somehow I survived by researching online and treating my own health issues. Do the math, I'm saving $12k per year for 15 years, which is $180,000. What a bunch of suckers that American people have become. LOL

 

You do realize that the "link" you provided to support your point is merely an OPINION piece by an author who is an "advisor to Rubio's campaign?"

Well. .I guess that for a factual, unbiased source. . .you could have done better!

Discredited! Try again!

 

The proof that American people are suckers is that they have been willing for so many years to treat "health care for profit" as the answer to all their healthcare problems!

I am now living in Belgium. My husband is 76 years old, and he pays $80 per month for a FULL coverage health insurance. Yes, that is what he pays for a "private insurance" called a "mutuel" that works hand in hand with government coverage. . .his payment to the government (assurance OBLIGATOIRE) is $10 per month, and the other $70.00 cover single room if hospitalized, 200% of the basic coverage for doctors and specialist fees, and dental. The cost of a general physician visit is $28, and the mutuel pays back $25.

I pay a little over $90 per month (because I wanted a coverage that would cover 300% of the basic cost of hospitalization. I am 65.

Medication is also about ⅓ of the price (one exemple, an alternative to the regular stations.. .because I am allergic to statins but must still address high cholesterol. . .is a medication called Zetia in the US and EZETROL in Europe. In the US, without coverage, a 3 month supply costs over $400.00. with coverage a 3 month supply costs about $95. In Europe, without coverage the full price is $105, and with coverage it is $43.

What is killing American (literally!) is that we are still believing the "capitalist way" to health care! We have swallowed the crap that "more we pay, better the care," and that "for profit is always better."

That is stupidity!

 

Apparently you didn't read it because the source of the facts comes from the CMS

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog...an_expected_drives_up_cost_of_healthcare.html

 

Another "unbiased source. . .right?
Try again!


I can play that game!

By the way... this decrease happen IN SPITE Of the GOP trying to revoke ACA dozens of times. . .and IN SPITE of the resistance by the Right and the for profit insurance companies!

 

Here try this one and yes they have and would do more if they are expanded

http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/010813-639833-health-care-mending-before-obamacare.htm#ixzz3PwFk3Hvl

 

OK and when I retire I will pay about that much to suppliment my Medicare insurance so what is your point. If you are of working age you pay 7.5% of your earnings into the government health insurance system and the have to buy supplemental insurance.
http://www.expatica.com/be/healthcare/healthcare/Healthcare-in-Belgium_100097.html

And then this

"The nation's social welfare programs are extensive. There are 5 main elements to the Belgian social welfare system : family allowance, unemployment insurance, retirement, medical benefits, and a program that provides salary in the event of illness. Employers contribute the equivalent of 35 percent of a worker's pay to the social welfare system and workers contribute 13 percent of their pay."

That's a combined 48% for social welfare programs from each worker.
http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/economies/Europe/Belgium-POVERTY-AND-WEALTH.html

Those dirty devils in the details.

 

My wife was just laid off, & we got our insurance through her job. I had to get the ACA insurance through an Az exchange, & a minimal silver package is ~$1700/mo. It's a medium sized deductible, copays for doc visits & prescriptions, & was the best deal i could find.

On her work plan, which was about the same coverage, we paid ~ $500/mo, & the company matched it. Anyway, this seems pretty steep, for the little we use medical care. It has the look & feel of a scam.. a forced compliance for something way overpriced. Who can afford to pay this for normal healthcare?

We lived most of our adult lives without healthcare. I was self employed, & we just didn't carry coverage. We went to the doctor if we needed to & paid them. This new 'forced compliance' to a commodity is criminal & steals the money of the laborer & 'redistributes' it to shady middle men in the medical field & no doubt, politicians & their handlers.

The nation is fraught with corruption & has been getting worse with the rampant growth of progressive ideology, with the legalized plunder of the treasury, & the explosion of looters & moochers on American society. This trend cannot last, & it will destroy us.

 

Dear.. . .you forget that, until very recently I lived in the US.. . for over 40 years! I know all about health care in the US, and my husband was paying every month $105 out of his social security for medicare. . .and another $237 per month for a supplemental insurance (Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina). That is a total of $342 per month for health care coverage AFTER retirement in the US. . .compared to $75.00 per month in Belgium

Yes, the taxation is high in Belgium. . .But EVERYONE has the advantage of that taxation. . .not just the the poor, but also the wealthy. This include excellent health care, excellent infrastructure, excellent care for our "patrimoine," which is basically our monuments, our parks, and everything that makes up our history. Education is also accessible to all, and university are very low cost. Every family with children (even the wealthy families) receives child benefits MONTHLY, which allows everyone to care for their children with a lot less "inequalities" than the one that exists in the US.

What you call "social welfare" is actually social services, that include double pay for the workers to go on vacation, company cars, and free lunch for the workers. I much prefer to spend my tax money on PEOPLE, and infrastructure that SERVES THE PEOPLE than on armements and huge military expenses . . .or on CORPORATE WELFARE!

You may think you know enough about Belgium (or any other European country) by looking at "articles" but I live here, I have a large family here, many friends here (who have lived here most of their life, contrary to myself), and I KNOW what higher taxation can do. . .when it is not going to "DEFENSE budget" and "CORPORATE welfare!"

 

48%..............is the middle class America ready to see their tax rates go up and wages go down to pay a combined 48%.

And I'm not you dear so enough with the dismissives. I too could be retired but I like my job and the income it provides and I can assure you I have equal healthcare without having to pay 48%, at least I did until Obamacare.

 

I went through a life change this year too and had to go on my companies insurance and off the now ex-wifes. They reimburse so much for the policy which I had to buy. The best deal was the bronze plan but it is NO WHERE NEAR the insurance I had. It cost a almost $700 with a $6500 deductible and 60% coverage. That's a ripoff compared to what I had before, a third the deductible, 90% coverage and about 25% lower premimum. MY prescription cost are up about 20-25%. And now premiums are seeing double digit increases.

I wouldn't mind a high deductible if my premium as about half that or less. But no way I can save enough to self insure now and have a low premium.

 

So explain exactly where that article says that health savings accounts did or if expanded would do anything to resolve the cost issues of the American healthcare system. All they did was to help those with enough extra money to put aside avoid paying taxes on that part of their income that went into the savings accounts. They did absolutely zero to reduce the actual expenditures in this country for healthcare. We are talking here about the percentage of the Amercan GDP that goes toward healthcare which is the largest in the developed world and has been since way before the ACA.

 

So it sounds like you need to get a new wife that will cover you on her healthcare plan. Don't quite understand why this has anything to do with Obamacare? Or are you suggesting that because you now have to pay for your own insurance instead of having your wife's employer pay is somehow Obama's fault.

 

Well now you are starting to realize the actual costs of healthcare under the American system. Do some research with an open mind and you will realize there are much better and less costly systems than what we had or have now.

 

No, i am realizing the more the govt gets involved in the citizens' daily lives, the more they will screw things up, waste our labors, & breed corruption.

Insurance has been around forever. I know many people who paid for it themselves for decades. Some get a cushy govt job & have it given to them, but most people either have to pony up some or pay it all.

SINCE it has gotten under govt 'management', it has exploded in costs, which is what you would expect, given the success of any govt managed fiscal operation. IMO, it would be a lot better to leave it as an option.. let people buy it on an open market, & let the competition decide. It would also help to deregulate the medical industry, to remove the monopoly on health care that the AMA & their crony schools & hospitals have. Alternate medicines could save people a lot of money, & give the MDs a bit of competition.

The healthcare 'bubble' is just another bubble created by govt meddling. Just like they did with the housing crash, by mandating loans to anyone & building a false demand. The student loan bubble is another, & is still blowing up, just waiting to pop & plunge us into another economic tailspin.

The more the govt meddles in economics, the currency, & our money, the worse it ALWAYS is. But we don't learn, & let these clowns continue their corrupt song & dance, stealing our money, & driving us to bankruptcy as a nation.

 

You might be on to something there. I appears to me, the costs of healthcare in the USA have been allowed to spin out of control so that no ordinary person could afford it without insurance or the help of government or both. The ultimate goal being to create a socialist nation. The plan is working perfectly. ---pete---

 

The housing crash was caused by the securitization of loans not by the government. Do your research. And in the old days it wasn't just government employees that had their healthcare paid for. I spent twenty years in corporate management and never spent a dime on my healthcare. And my employees in the factory had great health insurance with very tiny out of pocket expenses.

Employer paid healthcare has been shrinking for decades. And if you actually look at the data healthcare costs have been increasing way before the ACA. New drugs, better treatments, obesity, smoking, etc, etc have all contributed.

Trying to go back to the past while comforting really never solves any problem. American healthcare has been broken for decades and the only real attempt to fix it has been the ACA.

And by the way you can buy healthcare on the open market. You don't have to go to the exchanges. That fact seems to be lost on most ACA opponents.