Affordable Health Care Act

[TCI]

Morning all. We are fulltimers and rarely stay in one state more than 6 months in the winter and 1 month in the summer. We have our domicile at South Dakota. We do not qualify for medicare or medicade. Our current insurance which we pay, is set up that we can visit any doctor in any state. My concern is, if we register in SD, can we get care in say SC, FL, AZ, TX, etc. I was reading about the marketplaces and it didn't seem clear. It sortof read in emergency situations. So I thought I would put this out on the forum and see what your opinons are for fulltimers. Thanks for the info.

[hitchup]

We are waiting to see how our employer's coverage fares next year, when the 1 year delay mandate expires.

[CKNSLS]

cnehodgdon wrote:
We just purchased insurance through the NYS exchange. I had to go on multiple times to get all fields filled out. We will be paying less than half of what the COBRA plan we have now. Yes, I understand the COBRA is expensive but we had to use it in the short term.
I understand this is not a perfect system but then neither was Medicare when it began. I just know I am thankful for the ACA because of pre-existing conditions.

Because I take a very low dose of blood pressure medicine I couldn't get cheaper insurance. The ACA for those of us with so called "pre existing conditions" is a good thing. I will be saving at least 40% taking in to account cash outlays and no subsidy this year. Next year, I expect to qualify for a subsidy.

[cnehodgdon]

We just purchased insurance through the NYS exchange. I had to go on multiple times to get all fields filled out. We will be paying less than half of what the COBRA plan we have now. Yes, I understand the COBRA is expensive but we had to use it in the short term.
I understand this is not a perfect system but then neither was Medicare when it began. I just know I am thankful for the ACA because of pre-existing conditions.

[DianneOK]

MODERATOR NOTE...Yes, I was unavailable yesterday, so this thread goes political. I will remove the offending posts this one time but if it happens again I will close it

[deb_siems]

For all those who complain they need to now pay for "things they don't need" in their insurance coverage, aka maternity care, well there are plenty of things people pay for they don't need. That's what insurance does. I didn't need things like Viagra, circumcision, vasectomies, etc. as a woman, but my insurance covered them.

[CKNSLS]

I pay $800.00 a month to have excellent coverage on my wife's group plan. I take an extremely small amount of blood pressure medicine and have been turned down for individual plans that would have been slightly cheaper. Moments ago I looked at the Government's Health Care Website. I can get a top of the line 80% plan for $438.00 (we don't qualify for a subsidy this year). with one of the top healthcare providers in our state. As a matter of fact, one of their state of the art hospital is less than 10 minutes away from my home.

Even paying some out of pocket it will be FAR CHEAPER.

I am in all respects an otherwise healthy individual for my age.

[westernrvparkow]

The news has finally broken that millions of people are having their current policies terminated, mine included. Yes, they don't meet the ACA requirements but that is usually because of the many special interest clauses in the ACA that policies issued in the past have never covered. My existing policy didn't cover birth control, hence, not an ACA compliant policy. This gives my insurance company the loophole to eliminate my plan and move everyone who was in it to more expensive plans.
There will be many people who benefit from ACA, without a doubt. Those who couldn't get coverage because of existing conditions, those who couldn't afford insurance without a subsidy etc. But make no mistake, it is like every other government entitlement program. For everyone who finds it is a good deal, there will be someone who gets a bad deal because they have to pay for the other person's good deal. The real mess is going to come when businesses make the rational decision to pay the mandate penalty and drop insurance. Employer paid policies often cost in excess of $1000 per covered employee per month. On top of that the company has the expense of administering signup, renewal, and the assorted HR expenses of having a plan. A business could easily decide to drop coverage, pay the $1250 per employee penalty and toss an extra $500 a month into the employee's compensation claiming it makes up for eliminating the insurance benefit and still come out $6000 a year per employee ahead. For a business with 1000 employees that would be a savings of $6,000,000 a year, not exactly chump change.
That employee will then find that the $500 a month salary boost will leave them $100s short when buying a policy that ends up covering much less than what they had before. The employer will say "The ACA is good for you, just read the proponents lips, they never lie. We are doing this for your benefit." This is why the employer mandate was delayed, they had to move this debacle past the 2014 election cycle. In 2015 I would expect the fireworks to really fly.

[2gypsies1]

BarbaraOK wrote:

2gypsies wrote:
Many, many folks who have insurance are getting notified that they will be cancelled and they now have to go with ACA. So when Obama said "you'll get to keep your insurance if you want", he wasn't being truthful.

All that means is that they have changed insurance since 2010 when the law was signed. All plans in place then were grandfathered in. However, if you changed plans (which often happens with people who have individual policies and take a job/leave a job get an individual policy) since 2010 and the policy is not ACA compliant then that insurance company can bring that policy into compliance or cancel it. So what you are seeing are companies who choose not to bring the policies into compliance since most have policies offered on the exchanges that are in compliance. The grandfather clause was discussed in September of 2010 by Senator Mike Enzi on a lot of news channels.

Barb

Nope...I know these folks. They had the policies before 2010 and are being cancelled. Also, their policy is better and cheaper than what they can get with ACA.

[BarbaraOK]

If $5K is going to put a family into bankruptcy, the likihood is that they will qualify for subsidizes that will reduce the premiums. Also, you are acting like they will get NOTHING until the $5K is met. Not true. It is important to read the individual policy to see what is subject to deductible and what is subject to co-pay. And a lot of policies are such that insurance pays a % of the hospital charge until the deductible is met for the year, then they cover everything.

Barb

[brookside]

mobilcastle wrote:

orfsotr wrote:
If you are happy with your current insurance plan why not just keep it? I got a letter from my insurance co stating that since I already had coverage I did not need to change it unless I elect to do so.

If your plan is grandfathered is your coverage grandfathered? Lifetime cap? I would check that out. The ACA stops the insurance companies on new policies from cancelling you so you don't have to go bankrupt because of an illness. Medical bankruptcies have been clogging our courts for years. I just don't get it why people have not followed this law. Young people can pay the penalty and not get insurance but they will go bankrupt if they become very sick or have an accident because you only have open enrollment for a certain period of time-you cannot just apply anytime you feel like it. The collectors will come for the money owed if you do not have insurance-believe it.

But, many that went bankrupt already had insurance. If a family has a $5,000 deductible, many won't be in a position to pay that especially with increased insurance costs. We need affordable medical care not insurance which would be uniform across the US, basically socialized medicine which would fix the issue of not being covered while out of your domicile state. One study showed that 78% of those that file medical bankruptcy had health insurance.

[CKNSLS]

If you take any blood thinners, any blood pressure medicine, you have diabetes the ACA will help you. I take a very slight amount of blood pressure medicine and have been denied regular health care coverage.

[TechWriter]

mpierce wrote:
I have a very good plan. I guess it must be "lousy", because now, as a 59 year old male, I now NEED Maternity coverage!

Ha! What a knee slapper.

But seriously, a young woman might need that coverage.

Someone your age would most likely benefit from the ban on pre-existing conditions.

[DianneOK]

Moderator note....DO NOT get political, or I will close this

DianneOK

[mpierce]

"Lousy plans"?

I have a very good plan. I guess it must be "lousy", because now, as a 59 year old male, I now NEED Maternity coverage!

Darn good thing I did not get pregnant earlier, or I would have been SOL!

I feel so much better now that, when I get pregnant, I will have the government cover my expenses!

My wife is so relieved.