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> pre-ACA options Pre-ACA, I was denied coverage at 30 with a wife and kid, with no pre-existing conditions and from the same companies I had health insurance

> pre-ACA options Pre-ACA, I was denied coverage at 30 with a wife and kid, with no pre-existing conditions and from the same companies I had health insurance from when working fulltime. This was in 2011, it was scary and I felt the system was broken. I was healthy and had no idea why it happened, both BCBS, Aetna and other large private insurers hate individuals and small companies because they group by company not across everyone and individuals are riskier to them with that system. Aetna and BCBS are employer focused rather than individual/consumer focused. Post-ACA pre-existing conditions are covered and everyone has to be approved for coverage, breaking healthcare from employers as the customer and making them focus on consumers is key and ACA started that movement and better private markets even if it was a rocky start. Healthcare is the riskiest part of freelancing/contracting and now at least you can get it guaranteed with ACA. If we removed it from employers entirely and made individuals/families the customers rather than get it through the job, it would help people change jobs, start businesses, travel, reduce ageism and allow us to compete better with countries that do have single payer/universal or healthcare not attached to employers over consumers, it may also fix pricing when it is closer to the consumer or there is a public Medicare for all option for competition that the individual can choose. Employers don't want to pay for healthcare and people shouldn't want employers knowing their private health, nor choosing the service for them. Employers don't get your auto or home insurance, nor should they, why healthcare? Private insurance or public options like Medicare for all will make business easier and healthcare more consumer focused, it is a pro-business way to set it up, right now we have anti-business healthcare legacy systems and it is making US companies less competitive because they are expected to offer it. They can pay more for employees to go get their own, they don't need to choose and manage it. That will also help reduce the 'real compensation' parasitic leech that healthcare costs are hiding under, sucking up raises and wage increases into 'real compensation' for healthcare benefits rather than actual wage increases.

kodablah 8y ago
While I sympathize and agree with all you wrote, I think it's devolving from a macro economic statement to a micro discussion with morality included.
- drawkbox 8y ago
  Ok, we can agree to disagree on morality it is more about a broken focus in essentially a scam system with the focus on employers and insurers not paying when time comes, rather than a focus on individuals/consumers and larger more sensible grouping of covered people to spread risk and not have insurance rates spike for entrepreneurs, small businesses or people with pre-existing conditions. Employers shouldn't have anything to do with providing healthcare or deciding/choosing for you, making people have to change insurance to change jobs and people losing insurance if they do need it as employers and insurers drop you if that happens. At a macro level, everyone would be served better by healthcare where the consumer/individual is the customer focused on, not some deal with large employers where they are the customer. That current setup in healthcare purposefully tries to exclude people who are individuals, smaller businesses or other due to broken grouping that insurers use. We'd be better served by large groups across all ages, conditions and states, that would truly be insurance, more like auto insurance which is not bound to employers. We don't get our auto or home insurance from employers. Why do we get the most private of insurance, healthcare, from employers? It is a legacy broken system that most of the world has moved on from. Benefits are one thing, pay is another, but healthcare should not be provided by employers as it leads to broken fixed pricing between large insurers, medical suppliers and the consumer is considered last if at all, leading to the worst pricing fixed market maybe in history. If you support entrepreneurs and small business growth, the engine of America, you'll come around.

kodablah 8y ago

While I sympathize and agree with all you wrote, I think it's devolving from a macro economic statement to a micro discussion with morality included.

drawkbox 8y ago
Ok, we can agree to disagree on morality it is more about a broken focus in essentially a scam system with the focus on employers and insurers not paying when time comes, rather than a focus on individuals/consumers and larger more sensible grouping of covered people to spread risk and not have insurance rates spike for entrepreneurs, small businesses or people with pre-existing conditions. Employers shouldn't have anything to do with providing healthcare or deciding/choosing for you, making people have to change insurance to change jobs and people losing insurance if they do need it as employers and insurers drop you if that happens. At a macro level, everyone would be served better by healthcare where the consumer/individual is the customer focused on, not some deal with large employers where they are the customer. That current setup in healthcare purposefully tries to exclude people who are individuals, smaller businesses or other due to broken grouping that insurers use. We'd be better served by large groups across all ages, conditions and states, that would truly be insurance, more like auto insurance which is not bound to employers. We don't get our auto or home insurance from employers. Why do we get the most private of insurance, healthcare, from employers? It is a legacy broken system that most of the world has moved on from. Benefits are one thing, pay is another, but healthcare should not be provided by employers as it leads to broken fixed pricing between large insurers, medical suppliers and the consumer is considered last if at all, leading to the worst pricing fixed market maybe in history. If you support entrepreneurs and small business growth, the engine of America, you'll come around.