A friend works at a local small ambulance company. His bi-weekly expenses raised from $5x to $12x. He noted no other changes.
My question–
One of the advantages of everyone having insurance is that forcing the young people to pay into an insurance pool better offsets older individuals who draw from that pool more often. How are everyones premiums going up double digit percentages from this? The cost of healthcare didn’t go up overnight. Is there a video that explains that?
Edit; the image posted above says costs increased, but I don’t know what half of those words mean or how they equate to 20+% premium increases. Guaranteed issue and rating rules?
The cost of healthcare did go up. You need a video? There are now TONS more people that are going to be landing in the pool, the problem is that the young healthy ones are young and fucking healthy. I personally am young and healthy but already have insurance so I don’t really count in to the mix except I already pay for older and less fortunate people to leach off of my success. My brother in law: perfectly healthy, does not have insurance currently, does not give a fuck if he gets insurance or not… We looked at the charts from the government site and determined that insurance would cost him nearly $300 per month with a 10K deductible. The uncollectable $1xxx fine that will be imposed on his non-existent tax return is a much better option for him. He like millions of other intelligent young people will not be following blindly behind Obama and his train wreck. He did however vote for him the first time so I would love to see him forced to piss his money into this clusterfuck.
sorry I did not mean to be an angry anti government douche but that is what I am. Hospitals will be forced to work on slimmer margins thus reducing staff, the remaining staff will be forced to work harder for less or equal pay, and the quality of care in this country will decline. Even the presidents shining example of a stellar functioning health care facility has announced it will be cutting staff/hours/expenses in the wake of this law. Go research the Cleveland Clinic for more details. Our government has no business in healthcare, education, transportation, even the fucking parks they closed to make a point. They need to be pulled from all of this and we will all experience less taxes and more freedom to give and donate as we feel necessary. I digress, this could go on for pages.
This is what always got me…who ever thought the insurance companies would bring down the top, if raising the lower end was an option. If think saying elderly is a bit too much though as most of the truly elderly 65+ are already on on the gov’t dole to begin with.
I lost my insurance in june when I got injured. I should probably look into doing something or at least learn more about the fines. I never get much of anything back anyway so maybe a fine is a better option.
dont take my word for this because it is hearsay but from what I am told if you work out your taxes to break even or minimally owe the govt money the fine is not a collectable item. It can only be deducted from any return that you are to receive.
I have paid for my own health insurance since I was 18-19.
I had a gap of a month about 5 years ago when I changed jobs I ended up in the ER with kidney stones during that month…That trip cost me 7-8k out of pocket to make it better when I got insurance back the kidney stones were now a pre existing condition and surgery I had wasn’t covered another 4-5k :lol:
Ditto! I’ve done/had the same; my largest gap was about 2 months, if that. With all the crap that happens with me, I’ll pay the $$ upfront. And now with a family, no way in hell am I going without insurance, in fact I’ve got the best that’s offered to my family. Both my wife and I work in the healthcare industry (myself in Medical Devices, and my wife in the Administration side of the 2nd largest healthcare company in UT). The costs from both a business side and consumer side are astronomical. One good accident and without insurance we’d be fucked for a long time. But instead we don’t worry about it. What we pay in health insurance costs for us, is a small price to pay to not have to worry about going bankrupt/loosing everything.
As an insider, the #1 issue is waste throughout the system, plain and simple waste. Wasted time, wasted energy, focus on non-value-added bullshit. If the system gets optimized even 10% more than it is today, the savings would be astronomical. My wife’s work is a model facility who has people touring and getting training from on a monthly basis. We’re out here in UT, and have people from all over the country looking at how her work has and is constantly looking to reduce waste (thus costs) while improving patient care. I can tell you it doesn’t from paying people less and grinding them harder; just from more strict procedures, policies, proper training, and employee empowerment; combined with stricter screening during the hiring process.
And the #1 contributor to waste in the medical world right now… the Insurance companies. Hands down, no question. No value added to the process of treating people. Single payer, single system for $$ control, put the power back into the hospitals and doctors and remove the $$ from the equation on getting service and worrying about paying for it. Costs will be better managed and be reduced (just from reduced waste); overall costs will go down because preventative medicine will be performed MORE instead of people waiting till they’re really fucked up. Yes, it’s socialist, as if that’s such a taboo word for certain things. Would you rather your doctor and a board of doctors approve/decline treatments, or some dipshit processor with maybe an associates degree getting paid $15/hr rubber-stamp declined like it’s done today at the insurance companies? (I’ve got family on the insurance side of things… the big money stuff is always rubber stamped no hoping you won’t appeal, and even once you appeal, then it goes to a nurse, then once you appeal again, then it might go to a doctor who’s on-staff with the insurance company… all who are paid/get bonus’s based on how profitable the company is instead of what’s best for the person and society as a whole.)
Add a 2nd tier “for-profit” system for the people who can and want to pay into it on a “traditional competitive business” model.
Yes- you may all get mad and disagree with me on this… but such is life. We all view things differently, and have different experiences that shape our viewpoints. But lets keep it respectable.
ok, so I just enrolled for 2014 with the exact same coverages. My rate went up $40/month or $480/ year. My out of pocket costs not including my HSA are $60 a month.
I’m in a high deductible plan with $1250 deductible and $5k max out of pocket. (after deductible I pay 20%)
I have a typical dental plan, no vision, and 60% pay extended disability income.