3 ms·

> Calling this out as bullshit. Show me a reference. You mean, like this: https://i.imgur.com/iIz30xw.png https://i.imgur.com/iIz30xw.png Take note of the ra

> Calling this out as bullshit. Show me a reference. You mean, like this: https://i.imgur.com/iIz30xw.png https://i.imgur.com/iIz30xw.png Take note of the rating. The fact that they are labeled "Platinum" is nice marketing. We've had family members and friends on some of these plans, they are --and I am being kind-- not great. The context shouldn't be what's on the CA exchanges today. It should be what we and others had prior to being forced into ACA. Which was fantastic insurance for the entire family for $650 per month. Our deductibles were half what they are today and we had all the catastrophic stuff just the same. I assure you that, with my wife being a doctor, we did not have shit insurance. What should horrify everyone is that, today, in the US, a family has to spend $30K per year for health insurance. That's just insane. Before you say "we don't". If you get your insurance through your employer you should ask them how much they are spending for your insurance. Unless they got you on a shit program, they are likely spending $20K to $30K on you. This is money that is not available to give you a raise. In other words, you are still suffering the consequences of the ACA scam, you just don't know it. Oh, yes, and don't get me started on the Presidential promise that families would save $2,500 per year, keep their doctors, etc. We went from $7,800 per year to $27,600 per year. More than that actually. Due to the high deductibles we have to spend thousands of dollars per year before any of it actually kicks in. I haven't done the math at this point. I would not be surprised if we've reached $40K. Again, no problem helping others. That doesn't mean robbing families of tens of thousands of dollars per year. That's fucking criminal. I know many don't feel this way. That's only so because they have never been on the receiving end of something like this. We love to talk about the concept of "fair share". Well, tripling health insurance costs isn't anywhere close to "fair share", it's government-enforced theft under false promises.

bsder 4y ago
Ambetter is known to be horrible. Why on earth would you pick them when there are so many options? I'm standing here with a friend who got full mental health care ($0 copays for almost everything) from "Sharp Health" and didn't even need to use the exchange to get the rate ($600/mo direct retail from Sharp). Kaiser is on the same order of magnitude. Hell, even straight up Blue Cross/Blue Shield is better than what you picked. Good grief. > The context shouldn't be what's on the CA exchanges today. It should be what we and others had prior to being forced into ACA. Which was fantastic insurance for the entire family for $650 per month. Okay, okay, let's refresh your memory: My mother was widowed and had to buy health insurance at 60. She got lucky and could tap into the PA Teacher's Pension system for a mere $1,100 per month. She paid that for 5 years until Medicare. This was prior to Obmamacare. Where was her $650 plan? My wife was 35 and had sleep apnea and her cheapest plan that would even cover her was $3,500 per month with an enormous deductible. This was prior to Obamacare. 10+ million people couldn't get coverage. "Excision panels" worked hard to dump you off the rolls the moment you tried to use them. Okay THAT was the system before Obamacare. Remember now? What you are pining for was the old "indemnification" system that was due to the extremely strong labor unions. Unfortunately, that went away in the 80s due to the rise of the HMOs and the fact that everybody dumped on the labor unions. Many of us fought against that knowing that the HMOs were picking off the "profitable" people and were eventually going to to collapse the indemnification system--which is precisely what happened. And then the HMOs weren't so profitable once they got those patients and would dump them--which they did. And THAT was the situation before Obamacare.
ceejayoz 4y ago
The objection is not "there aren't $2400/month plans". I'm also on a Platinum exchange plan, also for $2400/month this year. We net out well into the $30k range annually out of pocket, probably $40k with various uncovered items like medical marijuana and compounded medications. The objection everyone's having is that the $2400/month plans are exceedingly unlikely to refuse a medically necessary hospital stay for myocarditis. People are trying to figure what critical piece of information is being left out there. > Oh, yes, and don't get me started on the Presidential promise that families would save $2,500 per year, keep their doctors, etc. Nothing in the ACA changed how doctors pick which insurance networks to honor, but if you switch insurers as part of picking an ACA plan you may have a different network just like you'd have if you did so with a non-ACA plan. You're highlighting ongoing problems with the American health insurance industry and falsely portraying them as ACA-specific. High-deductible plans were on the rise with insurers before the ACA (https://www.kff.org/health-costs/issue-brief/snapshots-the-prevalence-and-cost-of-deductibles-in-employer-sponsored-insurance/ https://www.kff.org/health-costs/issue-brief/snapshots-the-p...). Premiums were going up 5-15% a year before the ACA (https://www.fastcompany.com/40470468/this-scary-chart-shows-skyrocketing-insurance-premiums-over-the-last-18-years https://www.fastcompany.com/40470468/this-scary-chart-shows-...). Doctors were dropping insurers before the ACA. etc. etc. etc. Again, look at https://www.fastcompany.com/40470468/this-scary-chart-shows-skyrocketing-insurance-premiums-over-the-last-18-years https://www.fastcompany.com/40470468/this-scary-chart-shows-.... 1999: a bit over $5k/year in average premiums 2009: about $13k/year in average premiums, the year BEFORE the ACA was passed

bsder 4y ago

Ambetter is known to be horrible. Why on earth would you pick them when there are so many options? I'm standing here with a friend who got full mental health care ($0 copays for almost everything) from "Sharp Health" and didn't even need to use the exchange to get the rate ($600/mo direct retail from Sharp). Kaiser is on the same order of magnitude. Hell, even straight up Blue Cross/Blue Shield is better than what you picked. Good grief. > The context shouldn't be what's on the CA exchanges today. It should be what we and others had prior to being forced into ACA. Which was fantastic insurance for the entire family for $650 per month. Okay, okay, let's refresh your memory: My mother was widowed and had to buy health insurance at 60. She got lucky and could tap into the PA Teacher's Pension system for a mere $1,100 per month. She paid that for 5 years until Medicare. This was prior to Obmamacare. Where was her $650 plan? My wife was 35 and had sleep apnea and her cheapest plan that would even cover her was $3,500 per month with an enormous deductible. This was prior to Obamacare. 10+ million people couldn't get coverage. "Excision panels" worked hard to dump you off the rolls the moment you tried to use them. Okay THAT was the system before Obamacare. Remember now? What you are pining for was the old "indemnification" system that was due to the extremely strong labor unions. Unfortunately, that went away in the 80s due to the rise of the HMOs and the fact that everybody dumped on the labor unions. Many of us fought against that knowing that the HMOs were picking off the "profitable" people and were eventually going to to collapse the indemnification system--which is precisely what happened. And then the HMOs weren't so profitable once they got those patients and would dump them--which they did. And THAT was the situation before Obamacare.

ceejayoz 4y ago

The objection is not "there aren't $2400/month plans". I'm also on a Platinum exchange plan, also for $2400/month this year. We net out well into the $30k range annually out of pocket, probably $40k with various uncovered items like medical marijuana and compounded medications. The objection everyone's having is that the $2400/month plans are exceedingly unlikely to refuse a medically necessary hospital stay for myocarditis. People are trying to figure what critical piece of information is being left out there. > Oh, yes, and don't get me started on the Presidential promise that families would save $2,500 per year, keep their doctors, etc. Nothing in the ACA changed how doctors pick which insurance networks to honor, but if you switch insurers as part of picking an ACA plan you may have a different network just like you'd have if you did so with a non-ACA plan. You're highlighting ongoing problems with the American health insurance industry and falsely portraying them as ACA-specific. High-deductible plans were on the rise with insurers before the ACA (https://www.kff.org/health-costs/issue-brief/snapshots-the-prevalence-and-cost-of-deductibles-in-employer-sponsored-insurance/ https://www.kff.org/health-costs/issue-brief/snapshots-the-p...). Premiums were going up 5-15% a year before the ACA (https://www.fastcompany.com/40470468/this-scary-chart-shows-skyrocketing-insurance-premiums-over-the-last-18-years https://www.fastcompany.com/40470468/this-scary-chart-shows-...). Doctors were dropping insurers before the ACA. etc. etc. etc. Again, look at https://www.fastcompany.com/40470468/this-scary-chart-shows-skyrocketing-insurance-premiums-over-the-last-18-years https://www.fastcompany.com/40470468/this-scary-chart-shows-.... 1999: a bit over $5k/year in average premiums 2009: about $13k/year in average premiums, the year BEFORE the ACA was passed