Health Care Costs

Medicare is not Obamacare and is much better - see my post above. The US should have gone to medicare for all, not obamacare which is a gift to the insurance companies.

Depends on which side of the fence you are sitting.
My ACA premium is $49 and MOOP is $700. I've had over $35,000 of medical bills this year and more coming, all I've paid is the $700.

Changing to Medicare in a few months. Medicare + supplement will be over $300 a month. And the "free" part of Medicare costs the government somewhere in the range $400 a month.

I am just happy I was able to retire and still afford heath insurance and do some traveling.

Shearwater,

Why don't you look at what the part A & B premium was back 5 years ago for example and what deductibles and exclusions it had. It's in black and white and undeniable but that isn't what my post was about.

It's about parts C & D which is where your Healthcare Insurance Carrier actually becomes your only Medicare Coverage agent and gets your SS deduction for your Medicare Insurance from the Gov for the basic A & B portions and includes it with your C & D. Your Medicare card is useless as it's your Healthcare Insurance member card and your ID number they want and must have and they bill your insurance carrier directly. Was made very clear to us many times over and over as my wife's had over a dozen surgeries just since she retired 14-1/2 years ago and is disabled and needs lots of meds daily. I've had 3 surgeries myself also since.

Talk to your Health care Insurance coverage agent and get to know what's really happening. You do NOT show your Medicare Card when retired and then must have supplemental C & D coverage to a doctor's office or a hospital etc, you show your Insurance provider's Healthcare Card as they are who will actually pay the bill after your co-pays and deductibles have been met/reached and paid by you out of your own wallet. No money to cover your healthcare checkups, prescriptions, operations, or proceedures come from Medicare, it comes from your Healthcare Insurer as they are really your only insurer. Call your doctor, hospital, and pharmacy, etc if you don't believe me! Where do you really think those premiums, co-pays, and deductibles monies come from? Your wallet!

Medicaid is normally different as it's basically a welfare system on steriods and notice how much it's grown and who do you think is paying for it? Just dig deeper and deeper and enjoy!

Shearwater wrote:

travelnutz wrote:
Increased premiums since Obamacare are only the tip of the devastating iceberg!

We are retirees on Medicare and we don't see anything like what you are talking about.

Medicare is not Obamacare and is much better - see my post above. The US should have gone to medicare for all, not obamacare which is a gift to the insurance companies.

travelnutz wrote:
Increased premiums since Obamacare are only the tip of the devastating iceberg!

We are retirees on Medicare and we don't see anything like what you are talking about.

Increased premiums since Obamacare are only the tip of the devastating iceberg!

We have seen a more than doubling also and extreme deductibles and insane annual co-pay limits. Most insured thru Obamacare would be financially devastated before even reaching them as a very high percentage are on a fixed income but too much to qualify for a subsidy as you need to be barely at an existance level to be qualified in most areas of the USA.

Vastly increased deductibles and even the grossly increased annual co-opays are really further extremely increased insurance premiums as it all comes right out of the same wallet, YOURS! Why do most people fail to see that as it's so distinctly clear? That "single payer" is really YOU! Sudsidies actually come from the people themselves so it's simply taking out of your one wallet to put in your other. It's really your own money that's being taken from you with only a small portion being given back only IF you qualify!

Retirees in general are really getting hurt very bad and many are simply not seeking needed medical help and proceedures as they can't afford to pay the deductibles or to get remotely close to their annual max co-pays. Thus, millions are left to suffer during their retirement years until it's too late and then the medical costs are extreme plus and many don't survive what would have been a normal average correctible medical issue earlier. We know many of these and some are good friends of ours and it hits home!!!

PopBeavers wrote:
I like ObamaCare.

I have read that there are quite a few people that have been able to retire before age 65 because ObamaCare makes health insurance affordable. A kaiser plan without ObamaCarew would be over $2,000.00 for both of us.

I'm turning 65 in Sept, but retired at 49 and had bought my own insurance since. In 2013 my premium was $330, but I had NO deductible and a max annual copay of $1000. BCBS wanted to cancel my plan as they were not making money on it. (They had been raising premiums quite a bit). The State of Michigan controlled insurance then and refused to allow BCBS to drop my plan. Obamacare came & Michigan no longer controlled the insurance & BCBS dropped 150,000 people from my plan as fast as they could. The plan I had to get has a premium of $604 with $1500 deductible and $3000 max annual copay. The only plus to me is that since I'm retired I make little money & get a subsidy paid by the US taxpayer and my portion of the premium is $220. (I don't want to spoon off the taxpayer & want my old plan back).

SO the premium almost doubled, my max out of pocket annual cost went from $1000 to $4500. I read where more than 25% of insured people are not going for medical treatment due to the high deductibles. I have skipped several times. Odamacare claims it's cheaper & more affordable, it's not, they ignore the deductibles & copays. Insurance is not paying for anything until you pay first.

Medicare A & B with supplemental C will cost me $228 and have no deductible nor copay. So I'm waiting for it to start & then will go in for several things.

We should have gone to some form of medicare for all.

PopBeavers wrote:
I like ObamaCare....We have a top tier Kaiser plan. We pay $3.00 for an office visit and $3.00 for a 30 day prescription. Monthly payment for both of us is $76.00.
...

Of course you like your plan. Cause someone else (like me) is paying the other $97.00 for your office visit and the other $125.00 for your prescriptions. What did you think happened, office calls suddenly got cheaper? What happened, is you got a free ride while someone else got stuck with your bill. Of course you like ObamaCare.

I knew we were in trouble when The Act kicked off millions of already insured because their current plans didn't meet the specs. The government could have asked insurance companies to make some slight changes, and charge slightly more to get the policies to meet the specs. These were responsible people that were paying hard earned cash for their insurance policies.

They were replaced by irresponsible previously uninsured people that have been using the emergency rooms as their free after hours clinic. These people don't go to the doctor unless they're sick, and they continue going to the E-Room on Friday and Saturday nights. And after a lifetime of little healthcare, they're simply unhealthful.

Have you ever noticed these people standing out in the parking lots of hospitals in the middle of the night smoking? I've even seen'em in hospital gowns pushing their IV carts outside in the snow smoking.

Would you expect any better from a government that has no idea how the healthcare business works?

I like ObamaCare.

We retired at 62. Can't get Medicare yet.

We have a top tier Kaiser plan. We pay $3.00 for an office visit and $3.00 for a 30 day prescription. Monthly payment for both of us is $76.00.

I can get an office visit with 48 hours for a non emergency situation.

When I lost 40 pounds in 3 months my doctor was very concerned. She ordered more test than I knew existed. All tests were completed within a week.

I have been to ER for a back problem at work preventing me from getting out of the chair. Wait time for an ER bed was zero. ER for kidney stones. Again wait time for a bed was zero. Did have to wait 10 minutes to get a pain shot.

DW has had both knees replaced in two operations. Co-pay was zero.

I have read that there are quite a few people that have been able to retire before age 65 because ObamaCare makes health insurance affordable. A kaiser plan without ObamaCarew would be over $2,000.00 for both of us.

Because we retired early this created vacancies in the office so that someone younger can have the job. They need the money more than we do.

We have no complaints.

ACA is a farce that provides "health insurance" not "healthcare". In California the exchange, ie a government agency, has just signed a $10M deal to collect ALL patient medical records under the auspices that it will "help everybody". The government has no right to know a citizens personal health information.

This IS the end result of mandated coverage... more control by bureaucrats.