What was the national benefit of Obamacare?

a reply to: CriticalStinker

You could not be denied coverage from a pre-existing condition. Kids could stay on their parents policies until 26. Sub-standard policies that took people's money but never paid out were reigned in by regulations. And in order to get rid of emergency room free-loaders an annual tax penalty was placed on people who do not carry coverage.

a reply to: dfnj2015

You could not be denied coverage from a pre-existing condition.

That sounds great in theory, but it's like getting car insurance after a wreck as callus is that is.

Kids could stay on their parents policies until 26.

And then pay 400 a month like they can afford it.

Sub-standard policies that took people's money but never paid out were reigned in by regulations.

By giving it to the very people who screwed the system in the first place?

a reply to: dfnj2015

Yes, we "reigned in" those substandard polices by giving everyone a substandard policy whose coverage they could never afford to touch thanks to the deductible.

Basically, you re-wrote their basic catastrophic policy which you called substandard because it was very clear it only covered catastrophic things and only charged you a premium for that which was actually affordable, but if you came down with cancer or suffered severe trauma from a car wreck or something, it would kick in and soak those bills for you which is what it was designed to do. All else, you were expected to cover out of pocket.

Instead, you got a policy that said it covered everything (even prostate exams for women and maternity for men); kicked in even if you had no insurance, got diagnosed with cancer and *than* called the insurance company to demand coverage (i.e. *you* pay for that!); and because of all that cost way, way more in premium per month *and* came with a deductible so high you ended up paying for all the same stuff you had to pay for before.

But hey! You got to wave your insurance card under some clerk's nose and you didn't pay a heavy tax penalty at the end of the year on top of your couple thousand per month (for a standard family) premium and the privilege of paying for everything you used to pay for.

And you wonder why so many call it a scam?

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: amazing

There does have to be way to do it, but there are some very powerful forces who will only accept collectivizing it as they *only* way whether or not it is.

I don't want to be collectivized, and I don't believe our government could run such a system even if other places have systems that might work for them.

I understand that. And a utopian healthcare system doesn't exist. So what can we do now, in the mean time?