
Obamacare: America's Third-Fastest Expansion of Health Insurance - nikunjk
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-16/obamacare-america-s-third-fastest-expansion-of-health-insurance?hootPostID=ffed08a18863d6f6f8c25ad2e11c4cd0
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rebootthesystem
Obamacare is an abomination that needs to die a quick death before it does
more damage to our country. People are getting insured on the backs of those
nobody is talking about: The families who got royally shafted. The financial
promise was a savings of $2,500 per family.

Reality at my household and many others is quite different. Our premium went
from $600 per month to over $1,200 a month. Our deductible from $5,000 per
year to $9,000. And our co-pay is higher. This is otherwise known as a royal
shafting.

That's at least $12,000 per year instantly burned in exchange for exactly
nothing. That's $12K per year not available for my kid's college fund or to
buy any goods or services or to save away for a rainy day.

The law, the process used to pass it, the lack of transparency and the lies to
the American public make this nothing less than a disgusting abuse of power
for political gain.

I know most of you "kids" don't get it. Perhaps you can't imagine what it is
like to have a family and, out of nowhere, have your government reach into
your pocket and steal tens of thousands of dollars from you. And, at the same
time, provide you with worst medical care options, having lied to you about
all of it. Unkess you have that perpective my position is unlikely to make any
sense to you. And the reasons for my deep sadness because of what we've
allowed politicians to do to our country (regardless of affiliation) might not
register with you for a decade or more.

The damage done to this country by the current administration will require at
least 25 years to repair, if ever. In about three decades you 20-somethings
might just start to u derstand the significance of having entrusted the
country to a man hardly qualified to run a cookie baking operation.

~~~
portlander12345
A brief note: my partner's life was changed by access to Medicare. She has a
common genetic condition that, had it continued to go untreated, would have
left her crippled, unable to work, and in chronic pain within just a few more
years. (She is 32). But the progress of the disease can be halted with
medication. As it is, her life has been redeemed, yet she will still live with
pain and impairment that could have been avoided if she could have received
treatment as soon as symptoms started.

My point is, it's unfortunate for you that you have to pay more. I hear you.
But if money is the biggest thing you're worrying about, you've got it good.
Do you _deserve_ to be healthy, when others are not? Did you earn your good
genes? To put it bluntly, my partner's basic ability to function is more
important than your kid's leg up in the economy known as a college fund.

Look, your premiums are too damned high, it's true. The US spends an absurd
amount on healthcare, with price gouging and profiteering on all levels.
Obamacare was the politically-possible bandaid on this system. We should use
it as a stepping stone to something that brings both cost and care into line.
Even so, health is a value categorically above money, and it's important to
keep that in mind.

~~~
rebootthesystem
Sorry to hear about your partner's misfortunes. Hope she gets better.

Regrettably you are mixing things up here. I understand there's emotion
involved due to what your circumstances might be. However, neither I nor
anyone in my family caused your partner's condition. We have nothing
whatsoever to do with any of it.

This isn't a zero sum game. Noting in anyone else's life had anything
whatsoever to do with what you are going through. You seem to want to exchange
your perception of our good luck (with regards to health) for your partner's
condition. No relationship whatsoever.

Besides, I didn't go into any of our medical circumstances. Don't really care
to in any detail only to say that both my wife and I would probably be dead or
nearly dead by now if it hadn't been for medical care gotten many years ago.
So, I can telly you sob stories just as well. The difference is that we've
always purchased and paid for our own health insurance. Expensive, but never
ridiculously expensive as it is now with Obamacare.

Note that I am not, in any way, advocating against helping those less
fortunate. Not at all. It's a shame this has to be part of a conversation.
It's a given that we should, as a society, help those among us who might be
less fortunate. The issue here is how it is done. Not the fact that it is
being done, but how.

It is clear that we, as a family, are now carrying others with our ridiculous
payment. This is wrong. It's excessive and it is unfair. It is, in no
uncertain terms, hurting us.

I don't have a problem helping others but tripling a family's healthcare costs
isn't the right way to do it.

How much healthcare could we buy in California if we don't build that
ridiculous $100 BILLION dollar joke of a high speed train to nowhere?

How many people can we help if the Obama's don't take TWO FUCKING PLANES and
two of everything to fly to Los Angeles because, well, their schedules don't
match?

How many people would we save if we don't have three government workers for
the job that could be done by one qualified person?

How many people can we give free healthcare to if we didn't spend a billion
dollars to build a website?

How many people could we help if we demolished the grotesquely inefficient VA
Hospital system and ad our armed forces make use of the excellent private
healthcare facilities available nationwide?

How many billions of dollars could be save if government programs were brought
under control as opposed to using them as a mechanism to buy votes by gifting
people all manner of benefits on the backs of others?

The people who govern us are so fucking corrupt (regardless of party) and
self-serving that we are doomed to end-up in a fiery crash before people wake
up to what is being done to them and their families.

Obamacare was not necessary in order to improve healthcare.

You also make an attempt to belittle my concern about money. Again, I
understand your emotional position and your comments did not bother me in any
way.

Please understand that saying something like "if money is the biggest thing
you worry about" is but a one dimensional take on the life of someone and a
family you know nothing about. Yet, if we actually were that one-dimensional
the argument would still not be very strong. Money, particularly in the
context of a family and kids, means safety and security. Money is the one
thing that can convert into many other things, from clothing to education and,
yes, health.

So, yes, I do worry about money and I don't like it when our government steals
it. And I also don't like it when I am told that we, as a family, are going to
SAVE $2,500 per year only to learn that we are actually spending, I don't
know, $15K more. That's criminal. No two ways about it.

This has nothing to do with you, me or our families. This has everything to do
with a government that has been lying and manipulating us for years. They are
taking us for fools and we are proving to be fools for letting them get away
with it. Benefits or pain aside, what is being done to this country is
destructive beyond comprehension. Some are seeing gains and some are seeing
losses yet in the final accounting we are all, well, screwed.

The very foundation of this country is being blown to pieces systematically. I
don't think I am being over-dramatic here. Some of us will live to see what
happens. I do hope I am wrong. I don't think I am, which makes me worry for my
kids. And no, I am not one of those freak survivalist, safe-full-of-guns,
bunker-owning dudes. Not even close. I think I just happen to be one of those
people who is seeing things for what they actually are.

Having owned a couple of manufacturing companies my perspective on some things
is a bit different. Every politician who stands in front of a camera to tell
the American people that good manufacturing jobs are coming back (if you vote
for them) is a liar. No question about it. We are done with that except for
corner cases. Same with some services that can be outsourced en-masse, from
accounting to call centers. In the meantime we are being taxed and regulated
to death, we have no regard for balancing the books and no hope to reduce our
national debt. Our economy is so fragile that any number of events could
implode it overnight. Obamacare is almost exactly the kind of dumb-ass
legislation that we didn't need right now. You are looking at an
administration that focused on spending money rather than rebuilding the
economic foundation of our nation. You are looking at eight wasted years. You
are looking at a failure of such a scale that the damage is likely to require
50 years to repair if we started today. Again, sad.

Here in California we are spending one hundred billion dollars to build a joke
of a high speed train that will go nowhere, nobody needed and nobody is going
to use. In almost perfect synchronicity with that HALF of the teachers at my
kid's excellent school are being laid off due to a budget deficiency of a few
million dollars. This isn't responsible decision making. This is projectile-
vomiting inducing, disgusting, abusive and irresponsible conduct on the part
of politicians who are nothing but crooks seeking to advance their own station
in life and enjoy a great ride while causing untold destruction to our cities,
states and nation. In that regard we have clearly become a banana republic.

So, yeah, the problem is much bigger than you, me and our families.

I am not angry at you at all. Sorry if the tone may have led you to believe
this. I am saddened by what we, as a population, have allowed our politicians
and political system to devolve into. I wish I knew how to fix it. I don't.

------
GabrielF00
If the supreme court rules against the administration in King v. Burwell we'll
see an absolute mess. Given the dynamics in Congress, there's no way that
Congress will do a simple amendment to clarify that states that use their own
exchanges get subsidies. There's no way that Obama will accept Congress
gutting his biggest achievement. It's possible that some of the 34 states
effected will create their own exchanges - and hopefully the courts will delay
the ruling for enough time to allow this to happen smoothly - but in many
states the animosity towards Obamacare is so strong that this will not be
possible. It seems likely that the result will be that millions of people will
suddenly lose access to health care. And when that happens a lot of people who
have chronic conditions will just stop going to the doctor and filling their
prescriptions. The American Public Health Association says that this will
result in an additional 9,800 deaths per year (the figure is likely to be
lower than that depending on how much mitigation can be done).

~~~
zzalpha
And in those states where the animosity is that strong, hopefully democracy
will prevail and the state will reflect the will of the voters, either by
resisting an exchange because the people don't want it, or by voters altering
the makeup of their state government so that an exchange will be established.

Obamacare doesn't fundamentally implode if a large number of red states opt
out. But you gotta wonder what will happen if suddenly large numbers of folks
in those states lose their coverage.

[http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudenc...](http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2015/03/red_states_will_suffer_if_the_supreme_court_overturns_obamacare_in_king.html)

