Patient Freedom Act 2017

Positive steps forward in the realm of health care in the form of the new Patient Freedom Act of 2017.

In short : get to keep ACA if you want it, more options for states where Obama care is unaffordable ie keeping Obama care if it works for you, going with the new prefunded health savings account option if ACA is too high or no insurance at all/get your own policy(and not bring fined). If ACA is not affordable in your state you'll have options. Medical procedure cost transparency to spur competition and lower medical cost.

Oh yeah, pre existing health problems are covered by federal law. So you'll be able to get coverage regardless.

Sure it's not socialized Healthcare but it a step in the right direction to insure more Americans.

Thoughts ATS? Are we finding a common ground with the plan?

Talking starts at 22mins


www.youtube.com...

This is a proposal at this stage. I know people already reacting venomously in my state legislature saying the ACA should be repealed IN FULL with no exceptions, so I'm guessing there is going to be a bit of wrangling.

I think this is hilarious, actually.

It's too soon to know what my family will end up with. I hope I don't have to move.

- AB

Here's a pdf of what it might be....

PFA2017

Some of it might be "implanted" to encourage some "amendments".

a reply to: AboveBoard

What I take from this is If your family doesn't like aca then they straight-up dont have to get it(they can ignore it as it's not relevant to them/just don't like it for whatever reason and won't be fined as a result. ACA works for for a lot of folks but it varies from state to state. This plan gives us options where ACA Didn't. If ACA isn't affordable in your area or your Dr isn't covered under it you have more options than before.


Me personally, I can't afford aca where I live. Literally 75% of what I make. I pay cash for Dr visits etc. Payment plans on the big stuff like emergency visits, procedures etc. Literally cheaper than insurance as of today. The new plan would allow me to use the prefunded account for those visits and procedures.

If I lived in an area where aca was more affordable, like new york, than I would probably go with that option.

I think it's a good plan, no one goes without insurance( 20mil on ACA) and it open up more avenues for the 30MIL Americans for whatever their reason is (economic, political etc) aren't covered at all.

There are those of us on Medicare that hope they'll just decide to roll everyone into the system, and fix the inherent problems with the existing system.

The insurance companies will have to learn to make profits on claims processing and "customer service" fees, instead of bankrolled investment revenue off premiums collected, and business decisions denying medical claims to protect the company's profit.

Big Pharma is the problem - capitalism unbridled (there I said it again) - atrocious fees for drugs selling in other countries for fractions of the cost here - then there's the guys who takeover and raise product prices by multiples (EpiPen? what's that other one?). One has to be very careful to keep the doctors from bankrupting you. Even with medicare two of my meds run $245 and $347 per month. If Walmart didn't have OTC insulin at $25 a vial I'd be paying $200 each for the same product. The Insurance Company Nurse says I can reduce my cost on one other drug by half, taking two half-size dosages for what I take now - the bigger pills are in a higher drug "tier" for some reason.

Some parts of the economy are going to take hard hits if we are to solve this problem. It won't be pleasant or easy.

ganjoa

Do away with health insurance altogether. Health care for everyone paid for by the Fed that can print money out of thin air.

The only good thing about the ACA was the regulation on pre-existing conditions. However it made prices expensive for almost everyone I know. When I was unemployed for 6 months an ACA bronze plan would have been $450 a month! I spent 3 months without health insurance last year because I was in between jobs and now I have to pay $353 in fines on my taxes...I was between jobs!
Another problem is that Obama promised he would write the ACA without input from health insurance companies, and then the final product was written with health insurance companies behind closed doors. "We have to pass the bill to know whats in it" that should have been the nail in the coffin of Pelosi's political career.