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I was under the impression this would increase the cost of insurance for younger people in order to allow insurance to better cover older people and those with

by pfisch 13y ago

I was under the impression this would increase the cost of insurance for younger people in order to allow insurance to better cover older people and those with pre-existing conditions....

MaysonL 13y ago
It might do that, but so what? A slight increase in fixed costs, with a massive decrease in variance will decreases the risk of medical bankruptcy considerably, even for the young. You seem to be under the impression that all potential entrepreners are young, without dependents, and without pre-existing medical conditions. Not true.
- NoPiece 13y ago
  It does help potential entrepreneurs with preexisting conditions. But it hurts potential healthy entrepreneurs whose rates have skyrocketed. So it is unclear if there is an overall net benefit, and the article doesn't provide any evidence that it would drive a tech boom.
- ghaff 13y ago
  Note also that (as I understand it), if someone already has insurance they can maintain it through HIPAA. The main difference in that case from the new law is that they can't let their insurance lapse or there is no obligation for the insurance company to renew it.
  - dantheman 13y ago
    Lots of insurance plans people had are being cancelled since they don't provide coverage mandated by ACA.
ianb 13y ago
Which means older people, who have generally been much less able to participate in startups at an early stage, can now have affordable insurance as individuals. Before not only could someone older (though not necessarily very old) be burdened by a high cost of insurance, but you could never be sure that your insurance wouldn't spike to some unrealistic amount. After a certain age insurance companies have been very willing to price a person out of the individual insurance pool (and force the person to move to government or employer insurance). Also god forbid you have a kid.
ctl 13y ago
Right now people avoid self-employment because if they get seriously sick it will bankrupt them. Under the new law it won't. That's the argument. The premiums you pay when you're healthy are beside the point.
- smsm42 13y ago
  I though medical insurance is available to self-employed. Is it not the case? I've also heard many self-employed people now face a significant increase in their healthcare costs due to the fact that many high-deductible catastrophic insurance plans are illegal under ACA and plans that cover everything from contraceptives to mental health problems cost a lot more. At least I've seen many reports from self-employed people that they got notes from their insurance companies that their plan is cancelled under ACA and is no longer available.
  - timr 13y ago
    No, high-deductible plans are not "illegal" under the ACA. The ACA marketplaces offer high-deductible plans. If all you want to do is pay for catastrophic coverage, you can do that. What's happening is that some existing catastrophic plans don't meet the requirements of the ACA with regards to coverage, cost-sharing, annual spending caps, and other metrics. Some of these plans are closing rather than conform to the law. But there is no blanket provision against high-deductible plans. There are some suspiciously similar stories floating around the conserv-o-sphere involving vaguely specified elderly couples who are just spitting mad about having to give up their cheap, crappy, high-deductible plan because of the ACA. These stories smell very much like astro-turf propaganda, and should be treated with high levels of skepticism.
    - smsm42 13y ago
      >>> No, high-deductible plans are not "illegal" under the ACA. Of course, the mere fact that plan is high-deductible does not make it illegal. However, as far as I know, under ACA it is illegal to offer plans that restrict coverage of certain options. Which makes specific plans that were restricting them (and thus making the plans cheaper) illegal, and they are getting cancelled because of this. >>> There are some suspiciously similar stories floating around the conserv-o-sphere involving vaguely specified elderly couples I've personally seen multiple scans of officially looking letters saying things in the vein of "our insurance company discontinues this plan because of ACA". Are you saying all of these scans are fake and produced by astro-turf propaganda? To choose most "propagandy" one, just to get it out of the way, here's an example: http://michellemalkinblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/screen-shot-2013-09-25-at-2-02-55-am.png http://michellemalkinblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/screen... This is from Michelle Malkin, google who it is if you don't know, it is a very real (though not that elderly) person. Is it true or fake?

by pfisch 13y ago

I was under the impression this would increase the cost of insurance for younger people in order to allow insurance to better cover older people and those with pre-existing conditions....

MaysonL 13y ago

It might do that, but so what? A slight increase in fixed costs, with a massive decrease in variance will decreases the risk of medical bankruptcy considerably, even for the young. You seem to be under the impression that all potential entrepreners are young, without dependents, and without pre-existing medical conditions. Not true.

NoPiece 13y ago
It does help potential entrepreneurs with preexisting conditions. But it hurts potential healthy entrepreneurs whose rates have skyrocketed. So it is unclear if there is an overall net benefit, and the article doesn't provide any evidence that it would drive a tech boom.
ghaff 13y ago
Note also that (as I understand it), if someone already has insurance they can maintain it through HIPAA. The main difference in that case from the new law is that they can't let their insurance lapse or there is no obligation for the insurance company to renew it.
- dantheman 13y ago
  Lots of insurance plans people had are being cancelled since they don't provide coverage mandated by ACA.

ianb 13y ago

Which means older people, who have generally been much less able to participate in startups at an early stage, can now have affordable insurance as individuals. Before not only could someone older (though not necessarily very old) be burdened by a high cost of insurance, but you could never be sure that your insurance wouldn't spike to some unrealistic amount. After a certain age insurance companies have been very willing to price a person out of the individual insurance pool (and force the person to move to government or employer insurance). Also god forbid you have a kid.

ctl 13y ago

Right now people avoid self-employment because if they get seriously sick it will bankrupt them. Under the new law it won't. That's the argument. The premiums you pay when you're healthy are beside the point.

smsm42 13y ago
I though medical insurance is available to self-employed. Is it not the case? I've also heard many self-employed people now face a significant increase in their healthcare costs due to the fact that many high-deductible catastrophic insurance plans are illegal under ACA and plans that cover everything from contraceptives to mental health problems cost a lot more. At least I've seen many reports from self-employed people that they got notes from their insurance companies that their plan is cancelled under ACA and is no longer available.
- timr 13y ago
  No, high-deductible plans are not "illegal" under the ACA. The ACA marketplaces offer high-deductible plans. If all you want to do is pay for catastrophic coverage, you can do that. What's happening is that some existing catastrophic plans don't meet the requirements of the ACA with regards to coverage, cost-sharing, annual spending caps, and other metrics. Some of these plans are closing rather than conform to the law. But there is no blanket provision against high-deductible plans. There are some suspiciously similar stories floating around the conserv-o-sphere involving vaguely specified elderly couples who are just spitting mad about having to give up their cheap, crappy, high-deductible plan because of the ACA. These stories smell very much like astro-turf propaganda, and should be treated with high levels of skepticism.
  - smsm42 13y ago
    >>> No, high-deductible plans are not "illegal" under the ACA. Of course, the mere fact that plan is high-deductible does not make it illegal. However, as far as I know, under ACA it is illegal to offer plans that restrict coverage of certain options. Which makes specific plans that were restricting them (and thus making the plans cheaper) illegal, and they are getting cancelled because of this. >>> There are some suspiciously similar stories floating around the conserv-o-sphere involving vaguely specified elderly couples I've personally seen multiple scans of officially looking letters saying things in the vein of "our insurance company discontinues this plan because of ACA". Are you saying all of these scans are fake and produced by astro-turf propaganda? To choose most "propagandy" one, just to get it out of the way, here's an example: http://michellemalkinblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/screen-shot-2013-09-25-at-2-02-55-am.png http://michellemalkinblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/screen... This is from Michelle Malkin, google who it is if you don't know, it is a very real (though not that elderly) person. Is it true or fake?