My health insurance premium just spiked up 8 bucks

Thanks obama

Now I have to pay 20$ outta my weekly paycheck

Obama's America

a reply to: muse7

Cmon 8 bucks isn't so bad.

I mean, until it's 16.

Then 32.

Then 64.

Then cube that against your income.

Yeah I see what you mean

And when you say $20 from your paycheck, you mean a dinner for your family.

originally posted by: muse7
Thanks obama

Now I have to pay 20$ outta my weekly paycheck

Obama's America

Now you have to pay $20.

Even if that's for a single person, you would be paying well over $50 a week for basic hospital/extras cover here in OZ. Family cover is around $450 a month for basic hospital/extras.

Think yourself lucky you're only paying $20

a reply to: jamesthegreat

I'm owing tax for NOT having insurance. Too poor to afford.

and aussie dollars are not the same.. Unless you were already converting.

I must now owe I don't know how much. But I can't go to a doctor.

a reply to: jamesthegreat

Before I paid zero.

Why do you think you can make that choice better than me?

Well, it could be worse I guess.....(well, that's what I say to myself to, so....)

I'm stuck paying $174 a month. Just for me to. No kids, no spouse, no medical conditions, only been to the doctor once in the past 7 or 8 years, and it was one of the lowest offered in my area.

originally posted by: rockintitz
a reply to: jamesthegreat

Before I paid zero.

Why do you think you can make that choice better than me?

Don't think I said that did I?
Just pointing out that you are lucky to only pay $20. The only people here that get free medical are those on some sort of welfare payment.

Having said that, we do have a Medicare system, as well which we pay roughly 2% of our yearly income to at tax time ( if you earn over $20k). So actually thinking about it we get screwed twice

Reply to Reverbs,

That was Aussie dollars I was quoting, I think at the moment we get 72 cents in your money to every dollar of ours.

a reply to: muse7

If you were paying $12, and now you're paying $20, that's an 80% increase. Imagine the millions of middle class Americans who are currently being shafted by the ACA and are forced into paying $500, $600, $800+ per month for their insurance. They'd be looking at their rates going to $900, $1,080, $1,440+ per month... that more than most everyone pays for freaking rent. What type of financial rape did DC put the American middle class in where they are required to make a monthly payment equal to rent just to cover the several million Americans who had no insurance under the old (and very much working) program?

I'd vote for Donald Trump if he can convince me his promises to veto the ACA on day one are genuine and if he can explain the legal mechanism by which he will make that a reality. Hell, him being one of the only candidates promising that may very well get the man elected.

a reply to: jamesthegreat

The only people here that get free medical are those on some sort of welfare payment.

Not quite correct there . If you have a hearty , get re plumbed the cost is zero , accident , zero , try to kill yourself , zero . Welfare recipients pay less for scripts and i am not sure about ambulance . The difference between covered / non covered is waiting time for non urgent conditions and above .

I have never understood the American health care system or why you need to pay so much for it. I mean out of my monthly wage I pay in the UK $223.00 (Yep done the conversion for ya ) National Insurance and $307 in tax, that tax then is split over all the services including health care, fire etc etc.

The only time I spend more on health care is if I need a prescription which costs me $12. I have had 3 opertions in the last 12 months and have spent a total of $36 this year more on my health care. If you had truly social health care you wouldnt have to worry about these costs lol.

Though it is a shame that you are being fleeced more and more money for insurance

a reply to: thekaboose

There are a lot of reasons why that system wouldn't work in the USA. Our huge population being only one of them (anyone who questions that, just ponder why the EU has never proposed EU-managed universal care for its member states.) We also have a massive issue with illegal immigration as it is... Universal care would make that an outrage. Last but certainly not least, the insurance companies and hospital system in the US is far too politically integrated. Insurance companies LOVE Obamacare because it mandates citizens purchase something from them, no its, ands, or buts. Most of the more rational objections to the ACA have proven to be not only valid, but brutally accurate. Its crippling the middle class far, far more than the previous system did.

But there's that ever growing kept voter base that certain politicians depend on, and they demand their responsibilities be taken on by those above them on the economic ladder in exchange for their votes... so here we are with the ACA.

All things considered, twenty bucks a week is pretty affordable for health insurance no matter how you slice it. Having said that, notice the narrative happening...

Conservatives gutted the single payer aspects of the ACA. Was Obama complicit and part of the political theater? Maybe. But the fact remains that a large enough portion of the public were so afraid of "death panels" and similar unfounded idiocy that the concept gained traction.

In other words, the very people who FOUGHT to gut the ACA are now raising Hell that it isn't doing what it was supposed to... even though everyone knows it was sabotaged from the beginning.

originally posted by: muse7
Thanks obama

Now I have to pay 20$ outta my weekly paycheck

Obama's America

I know you're being facetious. That's like what I pay bc I'm in healthcare but my gf is a teacher and pays $350 a month just for herself.

I dunno what you have to complain about.

I give more than that in taxes to cover my healthcare year over year.

I pay 33.39% income tax on every dollar I make.

I then pay another 13% in GST/HST ( General sales tax and Harmonized Sales Tax) on everything I buy.

I then pay about 800$ a month for health insurance. This covers me for Dental, Eyesight, Long and short term disability, prescription medications etc.

And I live in Canada. Free healthcare, not so free right?

Don't even get me started on the fact that my dollar is only worth 75 cents to your right now.

~Tenth

Insurance is the worst jack…

With (life) insurance, they're betting you are going to live, you're betting you are going to die…

…you hope they win.

Threads like this make me damn glad I live in a country with an NHS paid out of general taxation. Although I fear for England and Wales where the Tories are clearly intent on privatisation, oops sorry maybe I jumped the gun and exaggerated : "alternate method of funding to be investigated".

Scotland will remain a tax funded health care system free at the point of delivery for every citizen irresepective of their lifestyle, income, age , chronic condition etc. Prescriptions are free as well.

originally posted by: thekaboose
I have never understood the American health care system or why you need to pay so much for it. I mean out of my monthly wage I pay in the UK $223.00 (Yep done the conversion for ya

) National Insurance and $307 in tax, that tax then is split over all the services including health care, fire etc etc.

The only time I spend more on health care is if I need a prescription which costs me $12. I have had 3 opertions in the last 12 months and have spent a total of $36 this year more on my health care. If you had truly social health care you wouldnt have to worry about these costs lol.

Though it is a shame that you are being fleeced more and more money for insurance

Gotta pay for all those without insurance who use the system as well.

originally posted by: Hefficide


Conservatives gutted the single payer aspects of the ACA.

Are you 100% certain it was "Conservatives" ?

I remember many Democrats and one Independent (Senator Lieberman) in particular were holding back on the Public Option issue.

There may have been other "Single Payer" options, but I don't remember that.

a reply to: xuenchen

Killing single payer was most certainly a bi-partisan effort IMO.

The insurance companies don't see red or blue, only purple.

~Tenth

a reply to: xuenchen

Point conceded. Would "Politicians who prefer to protect business interests over other considerations, regardless of Party" work?