
Obamacare’s Demise Is a Looming Disaster for Mental Health - electic
https://www.wired.com/2017/01/obamacares-demise-looming-disaster-mental-health/
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a2tech
You could say 'Is a Looming Disaster' instead. I think we all know its going
to be terrible.

~~~
GiorgioG
You could say what we have today is a disaster. The problem that everyone
seems to ignore is Obamacare failed because it did nothing to address the
cost-side of healthcare. All it did was add more demand for health services
(hey if I have health insurance now, I should use it right?.) Prices go up
when demand goes up, that's just the way it goes.

We need a single-payer system. I think what's coming is fantastic, even if
it's a total shit-show (which I expect it to be in the short term) because it
will create momentum for a single-payer system.

Keep in mind that I pay nearly $24k/year in premiums + copays/etc because our
son is a type-1 diabetic, so I'm painfully aware of how bad the system is. I
paid $3,000 less last year - so Obamacare has done jack-shit for my plan
costs, despite their trying to say Obamacare has slowed health insurance cost
increases.

~~~
zelon88
You seem fairly well versed, and I don't want to argue with you, but I am
curious as to what would happen in your situation if you changed jobs or
changed insurance providers in a world without Obamacare. Would you be worried
about pre-existing conditions? What about contraception being covered under
health insurance? Are there no benefits to be found in Obamacare, or are you
solely concerned about the premiums?

~~~
GiorgioG
The 'pre-existing condition' clause that Obamacare did away with was only
applicable for patients who do not have continuous health insurance coverage.
In other words, the reason this was ever an issue is because health insurance
companies wanted to avoid the situation that people who never had insurance
sign up for coverage only after they've gotten sick.

If you already have health insurance and you change jobs, there's no issue
with changing providers.

I'm not in the "Obamacare is completely useless" camp, I'm in the "Obamacare
solved the wrong problem" camp.

But premiums and copays are completely out of hand. The supplies my son
receives for his insulin pump and glucose monitor cost the insurance company
$5,780 (per quarter.) The supplies are not complex and likely cost Medtronic
no more than a couple of hundred dollars to produce. There's nearly zero
competition in this space because of vendor lock-in (I can't source these
supplies from anyone else.)

This latest year our premiums didn't go up at all (yay!) but our coverage got
worse (same plan) so instead of paying $0 out of pocket for his quarterly
supplies we now pay $700. Prescription/doctor-visit copays have gone up too.

The sad reality is if you're sick and not rich in this country you're fucked.
I'm not rich, but I happen to be a software engineer nowhere near SV and have
a decent (contract) job, so we can swing it for now. But if I was making $90k,
we'd be in trouble.

~~~
attaboyjon
I think you may be wrong on the pre-existing conditions. My understanding is
that previously someone like myself (Type 1 Diabetic) could not buy insurance
on the individual market (I'm self-employed) because the insurance company
selling me insurance is basically guaranteed to lose money.

~~~
GiorgioG
The HIPAA act of 1997 says otherwise. As long as you had continuous coverage
for a certain number of days they couldn't deny you based on a pre-existing
condition.

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tsomctl
Trump has a plan that solves all the problems with Obamacare:
[https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-vows-
insurance...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-vows-insurance-
for-everybody-in-obamacare-replacement-
plan/2017/01/15/5f2b1e18-db5d-11e6-ad42-f3375f271c9c_story.html?utm_term=.1128c8c1f554&wpisrc=al_alert-
COMBO-politics%252Bnation)

~~~
extra88
Trump _claims_ he has a plan. Basically the only specific thing mentioned is
letting Medicare and Medicaid negotiate drug prices which, by law, they're
forbidden to do. That would help with affordability. "Insurance for everybody"
and "lower numbers, much lower deductibles" sounds good but he also says it's
not single-payer (of course). I'm concerned that it will be really shitty
insurance for everybody, it won't cost a lot but you're get very little from
it and will have to fight every time to get what you're entitled to.

