Health Insurance

westernrvparkowner wrote:
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.j

. Why are you mixing income tax with health care cost? You just didn't see the health care costs before because they were paid by your employer, with less income to you. No pre-existing illness making you uninsurable, no lifetime caps, etc. make things better for those that need individual plans.

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.

If you have assets then yes, that will get 'clawed back, Medicaid is for those without assets & income. The poorest of the poor. Always has been.

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.

. Spreading the risk is what ALL insurance is about.

Single payer would be best, but that requires everyone to get on board and so far people aren't frustrated enough to demand that their legislatures listen to them instead of the lobbyists.