Health Insurance
So, I have the 5th wheel on the site and am waiting for it to dry out enough I can get under it to hook up the water and sewer. I am also waiting for Kansas City Power and Light to hook me up. Then I ...
Forum Discussion
My problems with the ACA is first of all it is very misleading.
ACA stands for Affordable Care Act. Unless you are at the very lowest income levels, the coverages are no where near affordable for the average American. A couple in their 50s making around $50,000 gross a year would have a subsidized premium in excess of $500 per month and deductibles around $5000 per person, per year. Factor in taxes on their income of around 20% that would bring total costs of healthcare for a year to nearly 40% of their take home pay. That cannot be called Affordable in anyone's book.
My second problem is the subsidies appear to be very stair-stepped. Make 1 penny more than some percentage of the poverty level and you suddenly find your deductible going from $500 to $5000. Make less than the poverty level you get dumped into Medicaid, which has a federally mandated clawback provision meaning the government will come after your estate for the benefits paid, that isn't insurance.
The ACA basically uses premiums that are too high for the younger workers to subsidize the premiums that are too low for the older workers. To many that is patently unfair. Furthermore, the law requires coverage that many people find morally offensive.
Finally, the whole system doesn't address the root causes of our healthcare cost crisis. There is no addressing the skyrocketing costs of care. The high costs of malpractice claims, both legitimate, and more importantly, illegitimate. The high costs of drugs. The inefficiencies in the system and on and on.
But it is really the only game in town. The law requires your coverage meet ACA standards, or you pay a penalty. I am not opposed to the premise of the ACA, that healthcare should be subsidized for those who cannot afford it. It is a morally correct thing to do.
We paid that subsidy in the past through high hospital costs and high medical costs since treatment cannot be legally or morally withheld from those who cannot pay. What we haven't seen is those costs come down on the premise that now all patients should have insurance, so the hospitals, doctors and clinics shouldn't be treating patients without insurance, hence they should have no uninsured care losses to recover. The system needs a big tuneup, to say the least.
ACA stands for Affordable Care Act. Unless you are at the very lowest income levels, the coverages are no where near affordable for the average American. A couple in their 50s making around $50,000 gross a year would have a subsidized premium in excess of $500 per month and deductibles around $5000 per person, per year. Factor in taxes on their income of around 20% that would bring total costs of healthcare for a year to nearly 40% of their take home pay. That cannot be called Affordable in anyone's book.
My second problem is the subsidies appear to be very stair-stepped. Make 1 penny more than some percentage of the poverty level and you suddenly find your deductible going from $500 to $5000. Make less than the poverty level you get dumped into Medicaid, which has a federally mandated clawback provision meaning the government will come after your estate for the benefits paid, that isn't insurance.
The ACA basically uses premiums that are too high for the younger workers to subsidize the premiums that are too low for the older workers. To many that is patently unfair. Furthermore, the law requires coverage that many people find morally offensive.
Finally, the whole system doesn't address the root causes of our healthcare cost crisis. There is no addressing the skyrocketing costs of care. The high costs of malpractice claims, both legitimate, and more importantly, illegitimate. The high costs of drugs. The inefficiencies in the system and on and on.
But it is really the only game in town. The law requires your coverage meet ACA standards, or you pay a penalty. I am not opposed to the premise of the ACA, that healthcare should be subsidized for those who cannot afford it. It is a morally correct thing to do.
We paid that subsidy in the past through high hospital costs and high medical costs since treatment cannot be legally or morally withheld from those who cannot pay. What we haven't seen is those costs come down on the premise that now all patients should have insurance, so the hospitals, doctors and clinics shouldn't be treating patients without insurance, hence they should have no uninsured care losses to recover. The system needs a big tuneup, to say the least.
