Just about everyone I've talked to has either lost their existing insurance or have received a letter telling them they will in the near future.
A couple of friends that have looked on the Cover California exchange told me the coverage was more expensive than their old plans. When they added the co pays and shared costs, they said it's not worth getting the insurance.
Look at the demographics of the enrollees BnB,. To date, 2.2 million have signed up for Obamacare, twice that many have signed up for medicaid.
Less than 25% of the young and healthy who are suppose to offset and pay the cost of the sick and elderly have enrolled. I could go on and on if I had the time.
But the whole Obamacare model was flawed from the beginning, you can't lower the cost of healthcare insurance by adding more non paying consumers of healthcare. The only way to reduce the cost of healthcare insurance, is to lower the costs of healthcare itself, it's as simple as that.
But Obama said if you liked... Oh wait.
But seriously, the democrats might say "they can afford it." And in reality they might be able to, it just cuts into their discretionary spending.
I signed up for the aca in January. I plugged in the $8/hr I made when I was at subway and it was damn near free. I figured I'd get caught up with that, but I only had two months of my new job to go on for putting in income.
I made a conservative guestimate and put in $45k, what I would have made if my 11/13 and 12/13 incomes apply to all of 2014, which it won't, but I don't know what I'll make either.
Anyway, a single 30 year old male with no dependents, and $45k annual income. That's what I put in, and I still got a subsidy.
The plan I chose was over 300, and my subsidy brings it under 200.
I shouldn't have a fucking subsidy!
My health insurance shouldn't be over $300 either.
I work for a small business that does not offer health insurance. I couldn't get health insurance otherwise. I weight 240 lbs. No shit, I got turned down every time I tried to buy health insurance because of my weight over the past few years. I could stand to lose a few pounds, but as far as being fat goes, there are a hell of a lot fatter people than me out there.
I have thrown my cautious and optimistic support behind Obamacare. I'm sure there are people out there that it's going to cost a few more dollars for.
Your friends are good examples. But I think, pragmatically, if they are more similar to you (financially speaking) they are petter positioned to absorb the extra costs of insurance than the working poor out there who cannot get health insurance.
I've heard people say it isn't supposed to effect your credit, but I've sold cars, and unpaid medical bills have a very negative impact on credit worthiness.
There are people out there that blindly support Obamacare simply because they system as it was was so flawed it was tragic. So Obama did something, put some rhetoric behind it, and they fell inline.
I was totally opposed to it because cost is the real issue and i don't see anything that will bring costs down. Perhaps cost of insurance premiums to the poor, but that's not the cost that is important.
I think though, the one way this might impact cost is if everyone is covered. My sister in law is a surgeon. She said one month she billed out nearly 100k, but only collected 30k.
I would say this ratio of what is billed to what is collected is close to an industry standard that they plan on. Basically, if her bill is
paid, it's an insurance company paying it, the unpaid ones are the services she gave uninsured patients.
So they inflate the price of their services to the point that all their expenses and profit is covered when 30 percent of their patients pay.
So if everyone has insurance, all her patients will pay, which should enable her to bill 3000 for something she currently bills 9000 for.
But like you, I have my doubts as to if everyone will get insurance. In which case, the plan falls apart.
