BS…before Obamacare my insurance was cheaper and had better selection of doctors after Obamacare…all of sudden my premiums shot up and quality went down. I have United Health care which is big company but premiums went up for me and the quality is not as good as before. I’m not in the lower brackets in income so I don’t qualify for any aid.
When I check out the NY market place..the selection is horrible. Health first or Metro plus..sure it can be cheaper if you choose Bronze but the service is bad and there is hardly any doctors that take that insurance so you end up paying so much out of pocket.
For me, my wife and my son to have health insurance we pay $26,400 a year and that is before any deductible
So Obama Care made Health Care affordable for those who previously could not afford it. And made health care unaffordable for those that could afford it prior to Obama Care. So yes ObamaCare sucks
One of the main issues is the Republican obstruction of the ACA. Together the two parties gave us what is in practice a problem. However, I we have to be careful not to pin this all on “Obama.”
Look past any bias you think I may have and read that article. It is messed up. Essentially the GOP went on a 8 year campaign to break the ACA, it worked, and then they ran on it being broken and won. Crazy underhanded move. Why care? Care because rates are high or care because this sort of thing might keep happening if we don’t hold politicians accountable.
I went to an urgent care and was told to go to er because they had no X-ray went to,er and they did absolutely nothing for me if they told me to
Go,home and later sent me a bill for over 1000.00 dollars
I am a small business owner with hourly employees within NJ (15) and PA (30). I cannot find effective insurance that is easy for me to pay and not put the business at risk. I am not allowed to reimburse an employee for insurance. Reimbursing employees happens to now be illegal. I am incorporated in NJ. Since I have 15 employees, maybe 1 or 2 will sign up. If they leave, the plan will drop those in PA that may sign up since I must have at least one person in NJ signed up. The rules are so stifling that unless you are big business your employees are screwed.
The bureaucrats are geniuses in developing Obamacare. Obama is sitting prettying enjoying a good life, while he left a wreck behind him.
Went from large employer to self employment and my healthcare costs went from $160 / month to $400. Deductable is $7000. Next year there will be no providers for Individual Plans in my state.
I used to think that this did some good, but now that I’m the one trying to find a plan, the reality is the contrary. I don’t care who you want to blame or protect here, but the Affordable Care Act is trash, stop defending it.
What state? The GOP in some states went as far as to block insurers and medicaid to make their consitutents feel like Obama… care. Was very bad.
This is true, google it.
Doesn’t explain every rate hike, but rate hikes are higher in red states. Not just because they tend to be rural, but literally the GOP are using a tactic called “Starving the beast”.
Some might say, and this isn’t me, but some people say “the GOP leaders don’t think their base is smart enough to realize that they are breaking ObamaCare on purpose and that this sort of tactic might result in wins for them”.
I’m a 29 year old male that does not smoke and never goes to the doctor but is expected to pay for some thing I do not need or use..Makes a lot of sense.This is one of the worst things besides electing that Idiot twice.I mean for gods sake he rides a bike with elbow and knee pads..
I for one think there should have been an opt out, you DO need catastrophic, as we can’t exclude you from care if you fall off your bike without your helmet on, and thus you must pay in (or I will be stuck with your bill, and that isn’t fair).
That said, for everything else, an opt out makes sense. Something the Democrats get right, somethings the Republicans do.
As for TrumpCare though, it isn’t great. And also, let’s be honest, you are offering opinion. I doubt you understand the ins and outs of insurance and why sharing the burden via a premium makes sense with our current legacy system and a big ticket item like health insurance in general.
So do try to come into the complaining with an open mind, as Trump said correctly, “healthcare is hard.”
Here’s what’s really wrong with Obamacare. It allows people who haven’t paid one nickel for health Insurance their whole life to buy Insurance only after they get a serious health issue like cancer or heart decease and to pay for Insurance at the same rate of someone who has been paying for health insurance every month for 50 years and has never had a serious condition. The free loader keeps all of his income for 50 years and then costs the insurance company hundreds of thousands of dollar when he gets sick and decides to buy insurance.
ObamaCare gave insurance, or essentially underpriced insurance to a small percentage of the population, which was not being turned away from treatment before. While doing this it took away insurance or quality insurance from the working middle class. Should one person be charged $1. For a gallon of milk, while at the same store another is charged $10.? NO. Well that’s what ObamaCare did to insurance. What are we teaching our children, to work less to get more, or if you are poor to stay that way, because if you work hard it will cost you dearly. I agree everyone should be granted care, but oppression on the middle class is not the answer, perhaps liberals learned this in the election!!
100% agree with your general thinking (and I assume most who really think about things do).
Is making insurance more expensive for everyone via a complex system the best solution to tens of millions of sick and suffering? No way!
We must seek universal coverage, for me that is a moral and ethical duty of the state to such a degree that I have trouble understanding any other stance, however… that doesn’t mean shifting the burden to the middle class was the best answer.
I won’t even put forth “the best answer to universal healthcare in terms of our current system”… but it is not shifting the burden between the poor and middle class every few years while the rich benefit via tax breaks or growth in investing in businesses.
The reality is this is complex, but you can see why people say things like “both parties are the same and just divide us by social issues while the loot our government and keep our citizens in some bizarre form of wage slavery.”
We have the best stuff on earth, but… hey, I want better. And I don’t see why we can’t demand it from our government. It is our government.
Humana announced they are leaving the marketplace today, shows how “great” the ACA is. Obamacare is so expensive now. I have insurance at a low monthly cost but I can’t afford the deductible. Thanks Obama.
Yeah, well. read the news. They are just trying to win Trump’s favor by playing into the death spiral narrative because they are still sore over the DOJ blocking their merger. Obama did do that, but it wasn’t Obama who made things expensive. Note that the GOP blocked readjustment payments and generally tried to break Obama’s Romneycare. I dare you to dig through centered research and really look at what is happening here. Obama and the Democrats aren’t innocent, but there has been an ongoing campaign against their best efforts here.
Obamacare does suck. I had it for the last 2 years because paying the penalty was about half as much as having one of these garbage insurance plans. This year I found a way out that I do not get the penalty. I wish I would have known about it two years ago because I would not have put any money in to this system. Having Obamacare is like not having insurance at all. You pay high premiums and the insurance company sends you a bill that shows that a certain medicine costs $200 but with the insurance you only pay $30 making you think you are saving money. That same medicine cost me $14 at Wal Mart without insurance. Everyone look around and find your way out of this mess. All you are doing is paying for the poor and those that have pre-existing conditions. The morons put together a plan where the middle class and rich pay for the poor and people with pre-existing. It does nothing good unless you are in those groups.
Our family’s experience with Obamacare was a disaster. During the first 8 months our monthly premiums were affordable. However, our family doctor dropped Obamacare because the insurance hardly paid him anything for office visits so he wouldn’t be able to keep his practice on what Obamacare paid him. After that we couldn’t find any reputable doctors who accepted Obamacare. After 8 months, our premiums went up to $2,000 per month for a family of five. Our youngest child has Down Syndrome and desperately needed the insurance, so we had to keep him insured, however we couldn’t afford to pay for the rest our family. Then when my husband and I filed our tax return, the IRS took $8,000 from us because Obamacare subsidized our monthly insurance premiums without bothering to inform us. In other words, Obamacare lied to us within the first 8 months so they could real us in, then they sky-rocked our premiums and told us we had to keep the insurance or pay a fine at the end of the year. Our business only made a profit income (for a family of 5) of $30,000 that year. After hiring an attorney, the IRS finally returned our tax return of $8,000, then of course the majority of our tax return went to pay our attorney for fighting the IRS. Moreover, since we can’t afford $2,000 for monthly insurance premiums, we now have to pay the government a fine at the end of the year. We don’t qualify for free insurance through the state and yet we don’t make enough money to pay the $2,000 monthly premiums for Obamacare. The past four years has been a nightmare. We are just one example of the forgotten hard working middle class.
Can’t wait for Trump to get rid of this bullshit. “What? You don’t want obamacare? You don’t like you’re options? To bad! Get it or get fined!” Bunch of horseshit.
Costs went up because republican’s don’t play ball and the democrats made too many concessions because of that. Suit yourselves. Find out the true cost of unbridled capitalism in the next few years.
I have tried time and time again to sign up for health coverage on healthcare.gov and it isn’t working. I don’t earn very much money at all, so hopefully I don’t have a pay a big penalty or no penalty at all. I hope Obamacare gets repealed or has significant changes to it because this law is so terrible.
This is BS, sorry… I make what many would consider to be a decent salary. The salary that I make is enough to cover a modest home in a good neighborhood, the cheapest car I can find brand new, barely paying bills. Health insurance in most of me would be more than my car payment every month. In some friends cases it’s more expensive than the houses that they live in…. so what does that tell you? Does that tell you that our government is interested in lowering the price of health care itself? Absolutely not because that would be taking money away from the rich people…. Instead they devised a plan to take the money away from where they always get the money…. from the middle class. I got a great idea for Obamacare…. Instead of stealing the money from the middle class like you always do…. Why don’t you take the money away from rich people and give it to the people that need it if you guys are in the business of stealing… Because that’s what this is… This is not taxation this has become theft… I work too hard too long of hours to be bullied constantly out of my money… you know what would be a fair system? Is if everyone had to pay a certain percentage of their income toward health insurance… if 2.5% of everyone’s income went into health insurance we might actually get somewhere in addition to regulating laws and making Health Care a human right… But that will never happen because the elite will never allow it to happen, after all why should they pay when they can make us pay.. that’s all that this is about and anybody who’s trying to change your mind about this is a liar or ignorant to the facts
Anybody & everybody who thinks Obama care doesn’t suck is getting it for free because they’re getting it on the backs of hard working middle-class folks. I can’t even afford to see my Dr. because the deductible is so high & yet the younger folks on Obamacare can see their Dr easily with no copay. They call in sick (I’m a manager) & have no problem or extra expense to see the Dr. to get an excuse. These are part time ppl, living in their parents home, many with kids (yes, baby future moochers) totally utilizing their wonderful Obamacare while those of us who work hard for a living pay their way. Yes, Obamacare sucks!
This is total bulls**t! My health ins has gone from $120./month to a raging $923.00/month & my copays & deductibles have risen by MORE than 130%. In simpler terms, my health insurance cost is so high that I can’t afford to see my Dr. If I don’t carry health ins. I am punished through my taxes, so I really don’t have that option either. Add to that, health ins. cost & deductibles are predicted to rise by another 160% in 2017!!! Ridiculous! And how DARE you quote these false numbers for health ins & the cost to the consumer. Do you really think Americans are that stupid?!!
If the least expensive plan available to you is more than 8.13% (for 2017) of your income, then you can apply for an exemption from the requirement to have insurance or owing the fee for not having it. You have to apply at healthcare.gov. This would allow you to simply pay out of pocket for Medicaid expenses or to purchase catastrophic coverage (which usually has significantly lower premiums) to ensure you are covered in the worst-case-scenario. Some areas of the country have not experienced the price increases to the same degree as others and many regions have 20+ health insurance plans to choose from on the Marketplace. Its been a drastically different experience in states that didn’t expand Medicaid than those that did. There is clearly a need to continue to improve the law, but I hope that you are able to find a better solution in the mean time so that you can get the care you need. Also, keep in mind that your insurance covers a wide variety of preventative care which is required to be available to you at no cost before deductible. Make sure that you are utilizing these services that you are eligible.
My premiums have gone up from $135 to $800 a month. My insurance used to pay for most things. Now it pays for nothing until I reach a $5000 deductible. All thanks to Obamacare. How is this “Affordable health care”. Yes, Obamacare sucks.
Of course this benefits many Americans who never had health insurance or maybe could not afford it, yet the costs are tremendously high for many others that are actually paying for those people to have almost free health care. Forget saving anymore for retirement, because the cost of health insurance is eating up my retirement funds. If you take into the account how much I am paying now I am actually now back to making the wages and or income that I did 7 years ago. Not so nice to know that many can enjoy going to the doctor whenever they want, whereas I do not have that luxury considering how high my deductible is and would have to pay out even more money!
The money you are paying towards your premiums and deductibles is not going to “paying for those people to have almost free health care.” There are a number of reasons some folks are paying much higher deductibles and premiums: insurers are now required to cover certain preventative care at no cost before deductible, they can’t charge more for or deny people due to pre-existing conditions, they can’t drop folks when they become sick, and the can’t cap the annual or lifetime benefits for covered benefits. The cost assistance and Medicaid expansion programs are paid for by the various taxes the ACA added and if you have insurance, you’re not paying the taxes. The insurers can only vary the premiums charge based on age (though they can only charge the oldest 3x the youngest and HHS is looking at making it 3.49x), region, smoking, and whether the plan covers abortions (which they must offer one plan with and one plan without that coverage and that coverage can’t be paid for by cost assistance). Insurers have always charged more based on age, but the ACA placed the 3x cap on it and HHS has argued that 3.49x rounds down to 3x and thus would still meet the requirements of the law.
Just found out my doctor ordered some tests. Problem, I can no longer afford the tests because they are no longer covered by any real sense. I can’t afford the deductible nor the 10%. Thanks ACA for nothing. And yes, I would love my coverage like it says in the article. Problem is the people getting it for free are more than happy and I’m paying for them and now there’s nothing left for me.
not true. Paying out of pocket without insurance is much more affordable unless you have a heart attack or cancer or something big. Obamacare got rid of the best plan that someone under 50 could have. Major medical. People do not lose their homes because they can not afford to pay a $200 doctor bill. They lose their home because the government got involved and made insurance not affordable for the middle class.
The one thing that “ObamaCare” proves is that the health insurance industry is a crooked waste of all of our time and money.
I do believe that the ACA helps some people and that’s great. But it also hurts some others, and that is a crying shame. People are rightfully upset that their lives were affected negatively and you can’t dry their tears by explaining that someone else got their lives improved by the law.
The problem is that as long as we have for-profit Insurance and hospitals we’re going to have these problems. Too much of the money we all pay either out of pocket or through taxes goes to make these businesses profitable, or to pay their advertising budgets or whatever. That’s a sham.
Americans need to stop being afraid that a single-payer system will turn us into communist Russia. We’re the best nation in the world, lets prove it by showing that we can do a single-payer system BETTER than everyone else. Use copays to make sure consumers have some responsibility for their actions, and hopefully this dissuades them from making frivolous trips to the ER.
The problem for not for profit health care is that the people who are curing diseases stop looking for cures because there is no profit in it. I love the idea of free health care for all, but once this country goes that direction and I do not think it is far off, the entire world will suffer.
I’m 27 years old, I never had coverage before this. But now that Obamacare is forcing my employer to provide me medical coverage, what that basically translates to is 160 dollars a month being automatically deducted from my 1200 dollar a month paycheck, and I still can’t see the f***ing doctor about my knees or my progressing retinal detachment or my old football injury and my bad shoulders that I got from working this job because nothing is covered and I don’t make enough to be able to afford the 200 bucks it costs just to get the jack*** to walk into the door and say ‘Yep, you’ve got a problem! Here, let me refer you to somebody who will charge you another 200 bucks to refer you to somebody who can actually do something, who will then bill you for 3 grand that your crappy government mandated insurance will pay maybe 50 bucks into, and then make you buy a monthly subscription for the next 5 years at another 250 dollars a month’.
I’m actually tempted to just live in my car for a year or two so I can save some money so I can so i can go on a medical vacation to Mexico or Canada and get my sh** taken care of finally.
The Affordable Care Act does many things. Your new insurance, for example, is required to provide you an annual wellness visit and certain preventative services at no cost before your deductible. While its frustrating to be required to have insurance and those costs are still not managed as well as they could be (even under the ACA), the fact is that now you have insurance and in the worst case scenario of a medical catastrophe, it is your insurance that will cover the astronomical cost of care anyone of us can be affected by. That insurance can’t drop you, set life time, or annual limits. However, all that being said, the ACA has failed in many areas and we all should be doing what we can to work for something better. You mentioned going to Canada or Mexico to get your healthcare and that’s understandable. Both of those countries guarantee healthcare as a right for citizens and ensure universal health coverage, but they use different methods to accomplish it. Might it be worth your while to fight for universal coverage in the US as well.
I work hard and pay my taxes. I think it’s the money that I make is why Marketplace insurance sucks so bad. Premiums are high, and the deductible is unrealistic. I tried to hold marketplace insurance and ended up having to drop it after 3 months because it was too expensive. Even with simple care or preventative care, I still ended up paying way to much out of pocket plus my premium. I won’t touch marketplace insurance with a ten foot pole.
All insurance that is considered minimal essential coverage (regardless of whether it is marketplace insurance or not) are required to cover a long list of preventative care before the deductible at no cost to you. That being said, insurers will sometimes use very specific billing codes for those services to be covered. With any insurance ask them directly what services (including billing codes) are covered at no cost to you as preventative care and provide those to your provider when you get that care.
Obamacare sucks because it is funded poorly. I barely make too much for medicaid but don’t make enough to really afford Obamacare. I signed up last year, and even though I am a student making $1600 a month they wanted me to pay $200 a month for healthcare. Craziness. And I’m healthy too! I’d love it if everyone from working class folks to fat cats on wall street all paid 5% of their income to healthcare. I’d be cool with that but Obama was a bad haggler. We didn’t get medicaid for all. We got corporate welfare.
A $200 a month health plan is 12.5% of the $1600 a month income. That would make you eligible for an affordability exemption because its more than 8.13% of your income. You must apply for this type of exemption though in order to be exempt from the Individual Mandate requiring you to have health insurance or paying the fee.
I want to better understand how I’m expected to pay $500- $1000 monthly with a $9000- $13,000. Deductible that has to be met before the one out of four health insurance that I have to choose from will pay for anything.
The quicker it is killed the better. I have the choice of only two plans, the cheaper is $20,000 for two people with a $7000 deductible for each. We are in good health and work to stay that way. Forcing us to pay for insurance we cannot afford and cannot use so others who practice unhealthy lifestyles and spend their money on cigarettes, liquor, video games, tattoos and the latest cell phones borders on Communism.
Every congressman or senator who voted for this disaster should hang their head in shame.
Obama Care is horrible. My wife and I are young and healthy, but because we have good jobs and we get paid more that $63k a year our lowest premiums are over $600 per month! I should just sit in my but and not work. Seems that is the way to go now days. Rot in hell Obama
It will cost me over $20,000 in 2017 for my wife and I for a plan with $7000 deductible. No subsidies. I run a small business. I could cut back hours and fire half the staff to get into the subsidy range. I don’t understand why the middle class is gutted by Obamacare to enable others to receive healthcare at the expense of our disproportionate premiums.
Obama care is a wonder tool for foreign , married students. Case in point ; A young Chinese couple applied for maternity care will attending school in the USA. Within two weeks their plan was in place. An individual, American, I know returning from an overseas working contract had to wait at least 6 months before receiving Obama cafe.
Ok what is wrong with this picture. Obama care sucks. Than goodness he is Lea ing the white house
Obama care is garbage and has caused the poor to live in poverty for being forced into something they couldn’t handle, and it brain washed one of my teachers into thinking it was good.
I’m am very upset with the lack of respect and unprofessional manners for this Healthcare. I was listening to my daughter explain to 3 individuals that about her upcoming status and her insurance needs and three nasty stooges hung up the phone on her.
Get your staffing Bulls hit under control and be nicer to these people asking you to provide a service. It’s not much but it’s their hard working dollars try to buy this shitty insurance.
You want to know who really gets screwed under the God awful ACA? The self employed and small business owners, that’s who. I left corporate America in 2015 and started my own business. I am the sole provider of a family of four. In 2015 my business did fairly well and my adjusted gross income was just under the subsidy maximum…approximately 95k. As mandated, I signed up for Obamacare and my family of 4 was “covered”.I use that term losely because the deductibles were so high, but anyway, for approximately $800 a month we had coverage. Fast forwarded to today…my business did much better in 2016, so it looks as though my AGI after every conceivable deduction, business expense, and HSA contribution will be approximately 100k. Good for me, right? No not quite. Sine I’m no longer under the level to receive a subsidy, my healthcare premium will jump from $9600 a year to over $24000 a year! Thanks Obama! Under your socialist crackpot plan, by making more, I actually make less! To the tune of nearly 10k. Your “act” has succeeded in squashing the American dream, thwarting entrepreneurial success, and making an incentive to rely more on the Government. I could not be happier that you are now done ruining America and Sincerely hope that your “legacy” in thrown in the trash can in January 2017!
I feel your pain. My husband is self employed. We have always worked and had private health insurance. Now with Obamacare, we still have insurance, but just cant use it. Right now, I’m putting off a needed procedure due to high ded and out of pocket cost. How is this fair? This outrage is why people like me feel they are being sucked into govt assistance. My assumption is that people who do not contribute to the cost of their healthcare are adding unimaginable financial pressure of those that do contribute. Why does Medicaid in my state cover weight loss surgery but the ACA in my state does not? Yes it’s true folks. Even if you could find a way to pay the deductible, weight loss surgery is not covered. Medicaid recipient’s lives are held in higher regard by our govt than non-medicaid recipients. Why would it be covered by medicaid and not Obamacare? Both gov’t run. If anyone can please respond to this highly prejudicial denial of a life saving surgery for for ACA members in TN, please do.
Well, the initial bit is being snarky because the question was “why does Obamacare suck so much?” which is a snarky question. However, the facts that follow the snarky back and forth are fact-checkable and accurate. Trying to mix a little levity into a heavy conversation is all.
obama care is terrible, we shouldn’t have to pay for other peoples insurance, thats why its risen and not affordable. As I said its terrible. I wish all insurance companies would pull out!!!!!
2015 more people on aca and medicaid yet death rate increased in 2015
and for 2017 in my area only 1 choice not for profit fl blue
er visits increased not decreased
and the national debt has increased again 150 billion moe in 2016
and the last tax 40% on people who had excellent insurance has yet to be charged postponed so unions will not be upset during the current election
As a small (self employed) business it cost me 3K a month (family of 4) for health insurance . As everyone knows how slow the oil field is right now it’s hard to make ends meet with the high cost of health insurance. The only people that have benefited from Obama care are the people that have never had a job and are living on the government system. I think they people on the government system should have to do a drug screen before they receive there monthly check and if they fail they should receive it for 6 months and the same for there housing that is half paid buy the government. The people have kids and they see how there parents used to system and they do the same and it will never end if something isn’t done fast.
My insurance is now rediculously expensive where before Obamacare it was awesome and affordable. Makes me feel like the country doesn’t care if I live or not. I am offended, disappointed and flat out pissed off. Just because I work a descent job doesn’t mean I should have to pay way too much for a crappy health insurance plan. Politicians can suck it.
The first two years I thought Obamacare was a godsend my husband and I both are self-employed I’m a real estate agent he’s a counselor we made too much money to get any kind of Public Assistance he was over 60 so his health care was $1290 a month, I was uninsured for 8 years because we just couldn’t afford to both be insured. The plan he had was horrible and it covered nothing it was a catastrophic plan they gave him 3 free office visits a year High deductibles it was an insurance we never used. The year Obamacare came into play we signed up at the exchange and got insurance it was $480 each, that same year I was in a severe accident and broke my back and my neck I had a three-level fusion in my neck and a 4 level Fusion in my lumbar area the first surgery was over 500,000 II 300,000 that right there is the problem, hospitals charging $8 for a Band-Aid but none the less Obamacare covered the majority of it we had an $8,000 maximum out-of-pocket we would be bankrupt today if it weren’t for Obamacare. But now we’re a few years into it and plans and coverage are changing deductibles are going up. Last year my husband turned 65 went on Medicare so I no longer qualified for the exchange because we are married and dual-income even though he is on Medicare. Coverage for me is now $690 a month I just got a notice today that next year the plan that I have will no longer exist and my new coverage will be $790 a month and will cover about half of what the current plan covers with deductibles going way up…I think I am considering becoming uninsured and paying the fine at tax time. I realized that means with another accident that we could face bankruptcy but at this point I can’t afford to pay $800 a month for insurance coverage oh and I did apply for disability since I am now not working and homebound but I was denied twice even though I have 12 screws in my back and 6 in my neck and can barely walk.
Obamacare sucks and is a fancy term for a mandatory tax. Affordable healthcare act is a joke of a name. I make just enough to get no subsidies and pay more for healthcare than my house payment so please tell me again how this isnt a form of forced taxation….disaster
I make around $50,000/year and I work almost 70 hours per week to earn that. My health insurance costs to insure my family have more than doubled, and my insurance has gotten MUCH worse (doubled deductible, worse % coverage).
I don’t know if this was the plan of Obamacare, but THIS is why it sucks.
Well reason for such a turnover on non insured is because people are forced to buy insurance they don’t need thats not affordable. The whole system needs to be reworked. How about free health care like just about every first world country has. Politicians won’t let that happen though because of kick backs from the greedy insurance companies.
If Obama care is so wonderful how come my insurance premium has tripled. My out of pocket cost have gone up. This year medical expenses have cost my family over 1/3 of our income and are so far in debt now we are in danger of losing everything. Thanks Obama and all you lazy supporters.
“Having” insurance means nothing! Providers can’t even tell you how much their services will cost. The deductibles and out of pocket costs are ridiculous. My crap policy that we do not use is going up 45% this year. sure I’ll renew…..
Why no mention of outrageous medical mafia costs? All those f___ers and the media whores do is push flu shots.
Most doctors are ignorant of real cures and only in it for the money and prestige.
My families health care costs have tripled since the passing of the “Affordability” Health Care Act. Obamacare is America’s worst public policy ever. Our president should be ashamed and embarrassed.
I used to think I could save for my kids college education. “Sorry kids, I was forced to pay ridiculous insurance premiums for meaningless coverage, so some douche bag liberal idiot could leave a legacy.” Legacy of ruining the American Dream.
Politics is so partisan that almost nothing gets done. The affordable care act was lucky to get done. But w congress so divided most decisions came down to a swing vote aka Joe Lieberman, fake democrat. Now we need to get the public option in to put some competition out there. Hopefully we can move from there to single payer. Work towards the goal, see the the benefits for more than yourself, and stop whining.
I may be insured, but I still can’t see a doctor or specialist because of extremely high deductible and co payments, so it does me no good. Why not just exchange it for Single Payer system?
I protested against OBAMACARE from the beginning. My husband has worked at the same company (well, actually it has been bought and sold numerous times, and gone bankrupt a few times) for over 31 years. He lost his pension during one of the bankruptcies, and as the government only insures a penny on the dollar, he got a few thousand dollars out of the deal. Because of the poor economy, according to his employer, (but contrary to the Obama care propaganda), he has only had one raise since 2006, and that was 0.75%. Our health insurance premiums have gone up, but the most shocking thing is, the deductible next year will be $10,000 and after that, we will still pay 20%. I don’t know about everyone else, but with the 230% increase in groceries, the increase in all consumer products, and NO raises for 10 years, I know we will be unable to afford to go the doctor, and god help us if we require surgery or hospitalization. Our current insurance is worse than the insurance my parents had in the late 1950’s, and I believe that within 2 or 3 years, employers will not be offering any health insurance benefits whatsoever. The way I see it, the only ones who benefitted from Obamacare, Is the government, the employers, and the insurance companies, and doctors. The govt is no longer having to pay the huge medical bills for everyone who used the emergency rooms as a free clinic with the govt picking up the bills. The doctors will lose in the long term, when people cannot afford to go the doctor. I do see an increase in benefit to the funeral homes and cemetaries, when all the people who can’t afford to go to the doctor or hospital, start dropping dead. All I can say for the govt is: propaganda works! Remember: we were promised good affordable health insurance and could stay on the same plan and use the same doctors and hospitals, all of this for less money!
I have the best plan the marketplace offers for my location ($350/month for a young healthy man) and it paid for 200 dollars of the 1400 emergency room bill I got last month.
Obamacare is a joke, I was super impressed how easy it was to sign up for a plan that appeared great. In reality the plan costs an arm and a leg and provides nearly nothing. To top it all off I called in to cancel it and immediately after saying it will take up to 14 days for the cancellation to take effect they give me a cancellation date a month and a half away. I will not use the marketplace again and if I ever find myself uninsured again, I’ll pay the absurdly unconstitutional penalty.
When Obamacare first came out, its leading forces had claimed we could all keep our existing insurance if we had it, and Obamacare would only impact the lives of those without insurance already. This clearly failed on several fronts.
Let’s look at a family with two working middle-class parents. These ordinary middle-class workers who work to make their money now are forced to lose good insurance for their family because of this new “helpful healthy system”. Remember, the promise is that this hurts nobody and only helps new insurance spenders. These workers can be forced by employers to be registered as part-time to avoid them having to cover this insurance, or forcing employers to downgrade insurance plans to fit the “one-box-fits-all” nature of this system.
Now let’s look at a lower income family. Perhaps they have a large family size, or possibly only one of the parents working. This poor family is expecting to reap in the benefits of Obamacare. After all, that’s who this is really for, right? If this system actually helped these people get cared for and out of debt, then at least there’s a bright side to this disappointing scenario this first family is now faced with. Obamacare, though, falls short here as well. Obamacare requires the employers to provide insurance, but this means that the insurance premiums would be excruciatingly high, especially for those with bad credit and difficult financial lives. They get this taken from their pay, essentially paying for care just like before.
Perhaps the problem people have with socialized medicine isn’t greedy rich people who want to take advantage of the 99%. Maybe, just maybe, it’s the poor implementation that many government programs like this face. Not everything is thought through, and everybody loses. Ironically, those rich [insurance] companies socialism tries to avoid favoring appear to be the only ones who WIN here.
This program isn’t a bad idea at first glance. If the people behind this looked at all angles to find problems instead of focusing on ‘winning’ in political arguments and debates, perhaps “Obamacare” wouldn’t suck. But, alas, it does.
I know the job is hard, but people exist out there that can do it. However, our campaigning system for president asks our in-charge leaders to sell themselves to do things that they could never practically do. Maybe we all need to look at ourselves, the voting public, to start the journey to a truly great America, where optimism and freedom swing hand-in-hand, and where people can truly become who they want to be through hard work and dedication.
your answer does not cover the fact that it is almost impossible to get hold of medicaid or any of the obama care people. and when you do contact them about a question a large amount of time they do not know the answer. is there someone out there that can actually help someone if they are having trouble with medicaid or united healthcare
You should call your state Medicaid office if you have issues with Medicaid. As for general help, healthcare.gov is the best avenue. Customer service is its own whole ball of wax, never going to knock someone for being frustrated with that. We have all been there. As for United, you would call them directly. If you are being shafted in any way you need to look into your appeal rights.
Obama care is the worse thing to happen to the United States. Do to a unforeseen event my spouse and I lost our already expensive Heath insurance. Unfortunately COBRA was not an option for us due to the $1400.00 monthly premium amount. We reviewed plans on ehealth website and selected a plan that we thought was comparable to the insurance we orginally had through an employer. When the plan was paid for and we tried to use the insurance, the insurance wasn’t taken by any doctors and wouldn’t pay for my expensive medical treatments and prescriptions that I have been on for 15+ years. Apparently if you self pay for individual or family Heath insurance plan, it is not taken At the majority of doctors/facilities but the same insurance through an employer is excepted. How is this a valid insurance? How is this acceptable insurance? This is a rip off, I pay $709.00 monthly out of our pocket with NO discount from the government Or help with premium. How can Obama even say this is health care for all? This is not heathcare for all, I can not see any of my doctors or get my treatments, or get my expensive prescriptions. This health care thing is a waste, the government needs to get their hands out of the cookie jar and revoke the Obama care plans and leave heathcare the way it has been before implementing this dumb plan to give insurance to all.
I lost my my job a year ago and my Cobra runs out this month.
While I appreciate the help the website still has many bugs and the people working there are nice but have a uphill battle with a large and rather cumbersome system.
Personally I receive a large subsidy which is good the bad part is it tries to force my kids onto medicaid and no doctors will see them.
So while I see the benefits the plan has been “poorly” implemented by the administration.
Haste makes waste…
I would like some relief knowing the provisions intended to satisfy corporations do not maintain the 818% figure whether from the government or the average citizen. Why MUST we avoid that topic? Drug companies have been price guaging for over 50 years. Not in canada. I am disgusted that we can not politically afford to make a documented comparison of other countries’ costs to peivate interests, why private interests are not standing in their government’s way, and who the real names of the enemies of this country are.
Agree, we have to be willing to crack down on special interests. We need a fair shake, not someone telling us how its going to be. Gotta do what is best for all Americans, that includes people and corporations (which are important, but aren’t people).
I’ve been in the medical debt industry for over 13+ years, and I’ve owned one for 10 years so I think I speak with authority as I’ve spoken to hundreds of patients and doctors over the years when it comes to getting bills paid either by insurance or patient responsibility. Before Obamacare took affect, insurance was no doubt expensive and was rising every year. It was not a good trend. However, with that said, the coverage you paid for was FAR SUPERIOR to what we now have after Jan, 2014 when Obamacare took affect. The various complex rules now governing how health insurance is to be sold and offered has certainly helped some people but not without hurting others. When people pay for a metallic plan (aka. Obamacare plan) they are making the same monthly payments they did in the past but with much watered down coverage, not only in terms of increased co-pays, co-insurances and higher deductibles, but with simply smaller networks of doctors from which to choose. Its a pigeon holing for sure. All without actually LOWERING THE COSTS of health insurance which is where the focus should have been to start with. Overly hyped, politicized Insurance manipulation laws like the ACA is not where affordable health coverage is going to be realized, I can tell you that.
Obamacare is the epitome of the standard government “hurt some to help some” scenario but the people supporting it to only want to highlight the “good stuff” as the millions of people whose plans have been canceled and replaced with water down versions just have to bit the bullet and shut their mouths as if their monthly bills have no meaning in this discussion. You would think such excitement in this health care law meant prices would remain the same, but obviously premiums are going up as well. So where did this all get us?? What was the end result?? Nothing. More money for less coverage. Why bother?? On top of that, we’re now $20 trillion on debt even after ending two wars. Look, lets face facts. Obamacare was a mistake. A good intention with a bad result. Bottom line, insurance companies stink and Obamacare just empowered them more. Is it any wonder, Health Republic Of New York (a non-profit) Obamacare flag ship insurance company went out of business in less than 2 years (screwing over thousands of doctors who filed claims for payment in the process)? C’mon, lets stop the nonsense. Time to get government out of the health business. It can’t fight wars anymore and it certainly can’t administer good health coverage to it’s people without having to spread dishonesty. Time to start over, but without Uncle Sam (or rather Uncle Obama).
I have had Florida Healthy kids for my daughter for many years. She was born with a congenital heart defect and has had several surgeries for her hear defect as well as other issues. I always like Florida Healthy Kids, I had Amerigroup through the program, it was great. Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, my premium went up $100 monthly to a total of $299.50 – still not bad, considering her history. However, the dilemma I am facing is that because of the Affordable Care Act, all full price Florida Health Kids are forced to use Sunshine Health Insurance through the program and the doctors don’t want to take this insurance. It took me several weeks to find a Specialist ENT for her and right now I am having a difficult time finding a GYN for my daughter since she was in the hospital last week due to a cyst on her ovary. Even the GYNs listed on the plan are telling me that they stopped taking Sunshine Health. I can’t tell you how utterly disappointed I am with the Affordable Care Act. It may be affordable to some, but to me the price went way up and the quality went way down. Thanks Obama…
This is a typical obama-hardon article. Its strongest points are, at best, arguable when you ask tge questions “what is being measured compared to what?” and “what is being avoided in the calculation?”.
As an accountant, I watched job raises slam to a halt, people get laid off, and growing sectors shut down so that prospective bew empkoyees could not be hired. I am absolutely not relying on tge authority fallacy when I say: THE NUMBERS DON’T LIE. The author of this article makes blatantly false claims, and it asserts other statements as truth by romanticizing the good points and leaving out the countering points.
I have this rule where if an “educational/informative”article like this are geared to set the record straight with an orgy of good news, it’s almost entirely crap.
I wouldn’t be surprised if most of these anti-Republican (for trying to defund the ACA) and pro-Obamacare articles are commissioned by the Obama-admin by some degree of enticement.
I find it hilarious that most Americans HATE the ACA, and yet, you cant find any critical articles on the ACA. It’s all pro-ACA.
Good input. As the author, I don’t entirely disagree. This was a Q&A response to the question “why does ObamaCare suck so much”. I framed the answer in a way that pointed out the root of why the ACA is lack-luster, rather than blaming the law or the Democrats.
So here then:
Republicans, the right, their representation in congress, and their ties to corporations aside… The Democrats and law fall short because:
Costs are shifted onto the middle class and remain unaffordable.
A more socialist version that benefited all except for the rich and special interests was avoided due largely to political opposition and lobbyist ties.
The law is so complex that parts like “free preventive services” are confusing and result in extra charges.
The system keeps in place a lot of bureaucracy and creates more.
The system lowers the deficit, but doesn’t fix growth in debt. This is frustrating short sighted.
The system only takes half-measures against some of the root problems that affect costs.
The current right in America has no solution beyond repeal and give tax breaks to businesses. This is better for some middle-class wallets and political ideals, but it sucks for coverage and rights to healthcare.
We are left to choose between an overly authoritative left and a destructive right in America.
On that FactMyth.com we cover political science and theory from the center. This website covers politics in regards to healthcare, and the ACA specifically, from the perspective of our actual choices in America.
In other words, this page, while true, was meant as an eye roll to people who ask, “why does ObamaCare suck” implying that it gets nothing right and should be repealed in full with no replacement… I get this sort of comment daily, it is grating, sorry if the answer suffered a bit as a result. I am all for real and more nuanced conversations.
Just did a price check (April 25th, 2016). For myself, my wife, and my son the cheapest plan for us was $27,422 a year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How is this affordable? I have a son to put through college. If I want to lower my premiums my deductible goes to $12,700 a year. This is ludicrous. Where is this money going? Where is the transparency? All I see is more burden on the middle class to pay for healthcare for this plan. The name says it all. Socialism is Obama’s agenda.
WOW! what a bunch of garbage. Yes I have insurance. It is now double what it was two years ago due to Obamacare. AND to top that off this year after our company enrolled the insurance company came back after the enrollment period and said they made a mistake and increased the premium AGAIN!
We were left with the option of no insurance and be in violation of the Obamacare Act or pay the highway ransome.
To top it off most of the doctors we all go to don’t accept the level of plan we purchased that was supposed to be exactly the same as last year’s plan.
The answer from our happy federal government overlords: we don’t qualify for special enrollment because we actually have healthcare right now so we can’t do anything about it until open enrollment in December. We either drop insurance now and go without….or we pay and wait.
Obamacare only works for medicaid recipients who have do not contribute to the system. Illegal immigrants get better coverage than retirees with 40+ years paying into Medicare. This form of socialism penalizes the middle class once again.
There is truth in that. I am very sure that denying healthcare to someone isn’t ideal. Rather, logic points to stuff like: tighten up immigration laws, provide a pathway to citizenship, and keep improving healthcare.
Lots of not fair things happening in America, but that doesn’t mean they all come with an easy fix.
Remember, “illegal immigrants” are also people made out of the same stuff you are, they have families, and I can’t imagine how scary it would be to be sick in America and avoid care due to immigration status. Doesn’t make it right, but does require empathy to really understand that side of things.
I’d like health insurance…it would be great if I could enroll in something right now…but the enrollment period is closed. Why have an enrollment period? If I need car insurance, I can get it anytime. It is a competitive business and the rates are low. People should be able to get insurance any time. What if we are unemployed during the period of enrollment?
I’m a non-working college student in Texas which hasn’t opened up Medicaid (making insurance outrageous) living off veterans benefits. I haven’t had insurance in the past but am now thinking about it. I just got married in December, can’t be on my wife’s coverage because she is a phd student and it is paid through her stipend. I do not qualify for a life event because it has been over 2 months since marriage. This is pretty ridiculous. It seems all Obama Care has done is make it more difficult for me to get insurance.
If you want to regulate anything, why not open up NIH grants and provide more funding for medical research rather than having the medical companies pay for it themselves. Require low-cost medicine in return for the research money. This would be a win-win, reducing the cost of medicine for all. Also, extend these grants to hospitals in return for low cost care, and so on. Instead, we give something like 2 billion a year to NIH when we should give 20 billion or more. Private business has to pay extraordinary costs to get their medication into the marketplace. Instead of regulating the common people, how about you try to regulate the medical industry by putting a little bit more money in the budget for funding their work?
Insurance is a pain in the a**, I can’t get it, and I can’t even afford it. It is frustrating, instead of protecting us, obamacare is preventing us from protection.
The answer is that the few states who ran pilot programs pre Romney-care found that people would wait until they were sick to sign up. HHS even had to tighten the rules on special enrollment due to this. If the rule isn’t set in this way it appears people abuse it (although we haven’t really tested this on a grand scale).
It is one reason single payer is attractive. Kind of cuts out the paperwork and bureaucracy.
I have never said anything publicly before about anything political. But my wife has had so much turmoil and difficulty with her health care after she was forced into an Obama Care plan. She frequently needs acute care and can’t get it. She has needed a referral for specialists, and despite a platinum plan, it has taken 5-8weeks to get it. In the mean time, she has become seriously ill waiting when she could have done so much better if treated in a more timely manner. So as a spouse and a Christian who has seen my wife suffer because of being forced out of her previous plan into Obam Care, if you are responsible for my wife’s suffering, I condemn you to hell for your arrogance. You deserve to go to hell. Even if you do not believe in hell, please go to hell…….
This is such nonsense. Chronically ill patients who work full time in professional careers like myself have seen our coverage decrease while our expenses go up hundreds of percent higher. I now pay almost $15,000 per year and navigate a pile of bills because my “platinum” level of coverage I used to have is now no longer offered because we have to pay for millions of people who don’t have any coverage. Would it be better if I just didn’t have coverage and stopped working because I could qualify for disability? It could get to that point which is disheartening because I should be able to receive my medication at a reasonable price and contiue to be productive through my lifepspan. Every person I know at work and in my family is struggling will healthcare bills now due to this mess. This didn’t FIX anything. It added more layers of complex government nonsense to a broken system and forces the middle class to carry the weight of the unemployed not looking for work garbage this country continues to cater to. You don’t need to tell me why it doesn’t suck, I’m experiencing the ride as we speak.
So if your numbers are right, 87% get subsidies, paid by the other 13%?
Mandating that we buy a service is un-American. If you want to be like Europe or Canada, move there.
How is this Affordable Care?
$15,000 a year in premiums
$13,000 in deductibles
Yeah, The ACA SUCKS. Naming it after our exalted leader just adds insult to injury.
Second year uninsured thanks to this disaster!!
I had insurance through my entire adult life that is until the Obama/Pelosi monstrosity commonly known as Obamacare.
I had a decent insurance plan that provided coverage for both my child and I for a decent monthly premium and a deductible I could chose based upon my personal financial condition but that’s no more because now some unknown bureaucrat decided my premium/deductible forcing me to choose between insurance for my child or I. I chose my child of course and what did I get for her? a premium that already increased by 20% year after year with a preposterous $6,000+ deductible which we don’t meet!! So this means that under this socialist-scheme I am paying premiums so that somebody else has insurance!!
As for me, forget about it. This year’s quote was for a $420/mo premium with a $6,000 plus deductible and the worst part is that this situation taught me that it’s cheaper for me to go cash than to pay for insurance!!
Yes, some people have benefited from this monster and I will not stand for the proposition that free market is the solution because it is not as I witnessed far too much abuse from the insurance cabal but Obamacare punishes those of us who are already struggling to benefit others and that is not right or fair.
I will never forget the response I got from my “democratic” congressperson when I called to explain the financial problems resulting from Obamacare: “some had to be sacrificed to benefit others” I kid you not, this was the response I received…..of course these people don’t sacrifice as they walk out with a better insurance policy after a few wasted years in congress…..
This law sucks big time. I’ve been looking for a new job for a while, since I only work twice a week at my current job. I hardly make any money, and I’m still gonna have to pay a huge fee.
No one is talking about this! I’ve seen several articles saying that the amount of people with health insurance has skyrocketed since the affordable healthcare act. This is true, but it does not make the act a good thing. These people who have recently signed up only did so to avoid being penalized when they file their taxes. Many of these people will never use their insurance because the premiums are too high. What’s the point of paying for something you’ll never use? You’ll be charged for not having it. Shared responsibility, my foot.
I voted for Obama twice. I was in favor of Obamacare. Sorry to say that I’ve never bought it because it is unrealistically expensive. We needed health care reform and after several years of the ACA we STILL need health care reform.
Obamacare is TOO expensive for those who do not qualify for the subsidies. It is expensive AND has high deductibles. It is DISCOURAGING people from going to see the doctor for fear of incurring out of pocket expenses. Obamacare is simply bankruptcy insurance, not true health insurance.
In SD you cannot buy a plan on the exchange that offers coverage for people like me who travel full time. There is literally no reason for me to buy it because if I have to go to the emergency room in another state I can be backbilled for anything the plan doesn’t cover. And if I have a non-emergency I would literally have to fly to SD just to see a doctor at all. I’ve had a lumpy lymph node in my forearm for decades and was recently thinking I should go see a doctor to make sure it’s not cancerous. How much would it cost me under Obamacare to take care of what should be a simple matter? I’d have to buy the cheapest plan in SD which is $3k. Then I’d have to travel from NV to SD and then pay out of pocket to see the doctor. It’s just insane. So what happens? How many thousands of people just DON’T go to the doctor for anything less than an emergency? How many preventable conditions are now going to turn into serious or life-ending catastrophes due to the ACA?
If you have “coverage” all is right with the world. The real problem is how to kick one of those Honkies off Mt. Rushmore so his head can be replaced with President Obama’s. Obama has solved the nations health care problems and this for all time. So make his head three times bigger than the others!
Absolutely clueless. Since ACA, my insurance almost doubled. I now pay 786.00 / mo through my wife’s union plan. Cigna raised it 15% this year. So I started shopping ACA NYState of Health plans for 2016. While at first they look good on paper, try calling any of the specialist listed as accepting ACA. You’ll find the majority listed on some plans and virtually all on others don’t take ACA plans. But the insurers fail to to update the lists. This is straight up fraud. The ones that do are threadbare clinics, out of the way, and crappier doctors. The incentives for good doctors to participate are just not there. So, I stayed as an additional on my wife’s insurance for a felonious premium. I can’t risk putting my hands in the sham that is NY State of Health.
My 63 year old mother in law, who works part-time was denied Medicaid not old enough for medicare, cause she “makes to much” 13,000.00 annually. She was told she has to pay $90.00 a month for the OBAMA crap insurance but can not use it unless she meets her 6,000 deductible every year?
Is it me or do they NOT know simple math. That’s 1,080.00 + 6,000 = 7,080 take that away from her years 13,000-7,080= 5,920 to live off for the rest of the year and still have to pay for her meds and visits at discounted rate. That is less than 500.00 to live off of every month. I might be off a couple hundred dollars but either way this is a fucked up program and it literally promotes “quitting a job” just so you can get free health care, food stamps, childcare, phones, money be cause working doesn’t pay.
I have worked my entire life, 38 years, without ever having any major problems with insurance. Although the cost and the amount I was paying steadily ate away at my paycheck and lowered my standard of life I had no idea how many problems existed with Obamacare.
I lost my job this past year and found out that while I was unemployed my family did not qualify for any help whatsoever. I have to work, my wife has been disabled for years and has many health problems. She is not eligible for disability because her work credits expired.
Since my state did not expand Medicaid I must pay $1400 per month to remain covered while unemployed. If I work at a job that offers insurance I must put my family on the employer offered plan even though it will take more than half of my check due to the “affordability glitch”.
I am so sorry that you are struggling. The states that didn’t expand Medicaid did a huge disservice for their state’s low income (or temporarily unemployed) residents. The Family Affordibility Glitch is also a failure of the ACA and I hope that gets addressed during the healthcare reform push. Depending on your income, your children may still qualify for CHIP which was in place before the ACA and state’s often provide it to children in families with incomes as high as 200% of the federal poverty level (this varies slightly state to state) and being offered employer sponsored coverage or COBRA doesn’t disqualify eligibility. Check your states CHIP program and get your kids signed up right away, then ask them what the income eligibility is so you are prepared once you return to being employed.
The ambetter plan I signed up for has NO providers in my area. I was lead to believe I had access to several doctors plus a major hospital/clinic with this plan. I had to change my plan to a high priced plan with higher deductible, which I have no clue how we are going to pay, in order to find providers in my area. I don’t get any “coverage” until the $12000 deductible is paid. Am I really saving any money for health care if I am paying $12000 plus $450 a month for a year? And that’s considered a discount. I took my son to the doctor without insurance, $106, plus $69 prescription. Seems a bit cheaper to me than the alternative. I am confused…
If you were sold a plan with no providers in your area you should report the plan to your state’s marketplace.
And you are right, going to the doctor for basics can be cheaper out-of-pocket than it is on some plans. Not the case for “free” preventive services or catastrophic accidents or illness.
Now if only this page been title why does the underlying costs of healthcare suck and what can we do about it…
It tells me we created a page that answered the question “why does ObamaCare suck so much”… and it tells me that there are real struggles with the law.
I don’t mind playing “bad cop” here. But someone has to defend the consumer protections and the idea that we need some sort of healthcare reform. I think there are middle-ground solutions, and there are aspects of the private and public market I dislike personally, but until the conversation is “smart reform” instead of “repeal and build a wall around it” i’ll have to keep playing devil’s advocate.
You fail to answer the complaints about 22 million, individually insured and non-subsidized, Americans have. Since the ACA passed, my deductible has risen from $2500 to $6000. My monthly premium has increased from $256 in 2012 to $556 for 2016. That represents 13% of my income for insurance that only covers catastrophic events. For us, this is an expensive joke. I am not unique in my experience. So the ACA screwed 22 million hard working, individually insured Americans to cover how many?
About 22 million. Ironic right? The other 280 million Americans probably fall somewhere in the middle. But then there is all the other things the law does.
There is a difference between “why is healthcare so expensive and what more can we do?” and “why does ObamaCare suck?” You personally can simply file the exemption if the cheapest plan costs more than 8% of your income after tax credits.
That being said, we didn’t create this site to justify the unaffordable costs of the healthcare industry. We started this site to help educate people about the new law and to try to help people understand that we need to band together and demand better solutions over time. Can you imagine if the outcome of all of this is just “repeal the ACA”. I mean 22 million suffered then for what? HealthCare spending was spiraling out of control before the law, we HAVE to do something and we HAVE to provide some sort of health coverage as one of the world’s leaders. We aren’t in an easy position, but we have to rise to the occasion.
Try and get a 2016 exemption form! It does not exist. I called the “marketplace” or as I call it the “the more than my fair share of shared responsibility”. They can’t provide it either. So wait until the year is over and if you are not approved then pay the penalty. Guess what the chances are of getting approved after the fact. Zero.
You would want a 2015 exemption form for 2015 coverage (taxes are annoying like that). There may be slight updates, but that is what you file for 2015 coverage and for 2016 exemptions you can just call healthcare.gov to confirm.
There are about 700 comments and questions in the cue for moderation. A big chunk of them are answered multiple times on ObamacareFacts.com’s many detailed pages, many are vague or include information that is exaggerated, lots of them are just angry about their insurance and want us to “fix” it for them (even though ObamacareFacts.com is independent and not affiliated directly with any insurers or Healthcare.gov), and another chunk is SPAM.
While that isn’t your problem, I hope you understand that we are going to do our best to help folks navigate the Affordable Care Act as a law, but we can’t solve everyone’s individual issues. I don’t know what form you are looking for or what your question is, but if you look for the answer and still can’t find it, please feel free to ask a more specific question and we will do our best to find the answer.
doug
People should not be fined if they dont wont or afford healthcare.period.but trump is going to takecare of that
Stop the hand outs to the Americans who don’t deserve it. Most can work and are not terminal. Make them get a job and stop giving out handouts. Get rid of all free health care or give us all the same as our Congress, senators, and president.
I’m pretty sure that is covered under my HMO. Thanks ObamaCare!
Seriously though, the answer and the question are both slightly tongue in cheek. That being said the content of the answer is essentially on point. One can argue provision by provision, and actually I’d welcome this, because then we would be talking about the hundreds of provisions we never talk about. It’s easy to say “this sucks”, it’s harder to discuss why each provision is or isn’t working.
Join Tea Party Patriots, and our GOP Heroes and DEMAND additional tax cuts for the noble Job Creator class! Lets get help to those who so desperately need it, and stop wasting money on obozocare to the poor and middle class, end the socialist giveaways like Socialism Security, Mediscam & Medifraud, SNAP, ACA, and so called unemployment benefits for the lazy poor and “entitled” middle (MOOCHER) class like the democrats want. It’s high time for these folks to stop playing the victim and start taking personal responsibility!
Watch Fox News and learn the TRUTH!! obummer is a lazy kenyan born, radical muslim socialist waging a racist jihad against America from our WHITE House, that he stole in 2008 and 2012 with Acorn and the Black Panthers. And Shillary is a lesbian who shot Vince Foster because she was pregnant with his love child!!!
Being able to vote and communicate your opinions online in a civil manner within the bounds of democracy is pretty revolutionary. Certainly one issue we should be casting our vote about is healthcare.
The answer is half true. Obamas speech “You can keep your insurance” was a flat out lie. Government can mandate what ever business rules they would like, but in a free marketplace businesses will simply not participate. I paid insurance premiums for 35 years until Obanacare drove NY Life out of the marketplace. I was forced to go to health.gov for insurance. Now Cigna and BCBS have dropped all PPO HSA plans for 2016 and there is not a single exchange plan available for me and my family that has any of our doctors in it. God I hope the Republicans win the presidency and repeal Obama care
Yeah. Politicians aren’t renowned for their laser focused truth telling. Rather politics is an art that is half legislation and half marketing. In retrospect that line was bad marketing. We could have looked at the law and said “if you like your plan, and your plan is ACA compliant, and your insurer offers it, then you can keep it”. I mean insurance doesn’t let you just keep plans that aren’t offered, so the expectation was off in the first place. Yes the opposition would have used truth to play politics with that talking point, but it would have held up over time. I am sure the President regrets oversimplifying the issue, but it’s doubtful he regrets what the ACA gets right.
So what at all does ACA get right it is a waste of money 800 million was wasted on the defective site and thats according to report produced by Bloomberg Government
Insurance companies are the issue. You can’t keep the same insurance plan when the insurance company changes all of them. I wonder why they would do that? (I wonder what they think of Obama?)
A for profit healthcare system can never work. It’s sad that America can’t adopt any one of the universal healthcare models from around the world. Let’s not forget that we are the only first world nation without one, and we continue to pay more for worse healthcare. We could also try to stop being a nation of unhealthy irresponsible &$*holes, but that won’t happen.
Here is the only smart response I have seen on here. “a for-profit healthcare system can never work. We need universal healthcare.”
Healthcare should not be a money-making industry. It should be considered a basic human right. But people are so scared of government regulation on free market and so-called socialism, even when we can clearly see that it is working in other countries.
The reason the ACA sucks (and it does suck for the middle class) is because you got what you asked for. Republicans did not want “Universal Health Care.” Neither did the insurance companies. So Obama expanded medicaid, which at least allowed poor people to get health care coverage. This while the working middle class, who keeps buying into a nonsensical devotion to unregulated free market, gets to figure out how to pay their deductibles. It shouldn’t be hard, since they are so “responsible.” Or maybe they are more poor than they care to admit or ever realized, and are just now starting to realize that capitalism can be very sucky.
Our insurance premiums rose from $350 a month to $2000 in 5 years. It doesn’t matter what proponents of Obamacare say. That is a fact. Welfare programs and “aid” to the “poor” take money from my pocket and give it to someone else. It is killing my drive to work hard to increase the success of my business and better the standard of living for my family. It seems the harder I work the more I get penalized. This country is killing my drive to pursue success and it is truly depressing to see and be a part of.
Everyone, man woman and child should be on MEDICARE!!!!!!!!! Pay $100 month for each person and enroll as seniors do…if you can afford more than you get a better policy. if you cant, then you have to settle for an HMO…..thats the way to solve this problem…for the welfare people, take it out of their EBT or whatever….then they wont have so many kids .
None of these answers are exactly true for starters. This year the plan I pay for currently will almost double in cost? The uninsured you talking about is way under estimated in this article. Plus, we know illegals are getting it for for free which is why I pay so much among other reasons. The coverage I get sucks! People who don’t work get it for free, that don’t put in job applications. This is just another liberal milk the middle class scheme, period.
“Illegals” (which is a prejudice term to be clear) only get coverage in a few select states that use state funding to subsidize Medicaid coverage. This is not what is impacting health insurance costs in any meaningful way. This doesn’t detract from those who are getting a bad deal, or their frustrations.
Illegals” (which is not a prejudice term to be clear) if someone is not legally in our country, this is a statement of fact. i do not hate anyone but the term is correct, NO PC if you are talking facts.
Well “illegal immigrants” would be the proper term. “Illegals” is not PC as it specifically derogatory. This doesn’t mean you don’t have a right to say it, or that you don’t have to right to be upset, but it is worth noting.
In this conversation it doesn’t even really need to come up anyway, as illegal immigrants aren’t affecting the cost of healthcare for the most part (unless you live in a liberal state that uses state money to expand Medicaid regardless of citizenship, or are concerned with profits at hospitals who treat unpaid emergency cases).
Your point isn’t unfair, but PC is a matter of respect in its most altruistic form…. That said, my family immigrated to the U.S., I study healthcare, and also have a blog with a whole section on PC (which approaches it from a balanced angle). So i’m not just saying this stuff without thought.
“Illegals” take advantage of my tax money so I will call them what I want. If they are citizens, they are not “Illegals”. Yes Obamacare does suck. Seriously, I am a business owner and for my Wife, Child and I it is like $1600 per month. Then I am responsible for almost all the charges until I hit a $14k deductible. So I have to pay $18k per year, and charges that will take that to $32k in one year. If I paid cash for a hernia surgery, that won’t exceed $22k, not that I need one but that is a costly surgery for a good example bc it is common, so having OC would cost me $10k more in a year than paying cash, including the aftercare meds. Where is the benefit again?
what is prejudice about the term illegals? They are here “illegally”.. There are much worse words we can use for them other than what they actually are… “ILLEGALS”
Well, President Obama did say repeatedly that people would be able to keep their existing coverage. It turns out that was not true, and millions of people can not afford the replacement coverage that is offered.
So Obama obviously sucks, and the “Affordable Care Act” is a joke, at least in as far as the name is concerned. Unfortunately, it is a joke that is not funny.
Perhaps he was just assuming that no one actually liked there health insurance? I mean people like puppies and tacos and pizza, not their PPO.
Joking aside, there are 320 million people in the US about 2 million lost plans and didn’t get a new one with cost assistance or Medicaid or by going on an employer plan (about 5 – 6 “lost plans” in general), 17.5 million uninsured got covered under the law by Nov 2015.
Those are the facts, doesn’t take away from anyone’s frustrations or problems, but it’s gotta be said to keep things in balance.
You say 17.5 million uninsured got covered under this law by Nov. 2015. A huge amount of those people will pay 100% of their healthcare costs out of pocket due to high deductibles. So WHY is it better for them to be insured? How would they not be better off WITHOUT the monthly premiums? What benefit are they going to receive before they meet their deductible? The correct answer seems to be somewhere in the range of nothing to peanuts in comparison to premiums. Who cares about 17.5 million newly insured people if this insurance offers them nothing in the day-to-day struggle with American healthcare.
People just north of the poverty line will NEVER be in a position to spend up to their deductible, not to mention the nightmare of dealing with the plan networks. The only things we need are lower costs at the point of care, fewer barriers to access, and reasonable standards for quality. Anything outside of that just reeks of corruption and profiteering.
But the main concern is why am I forced to buy a plan I don’t want because the deductable is so high three times the amount I make in a year are wages going to go up is someone going to take action for the people that pay 30 dollars a check for preventive service why can’t that money go into a healthsavings account that can’t be withdrawn from with an interest rate that banks use to pay now if I sit around and cry what can I do about it to rid this pain Obama has caused I can quit my Job and get free health insurance? Please respond.
So you can fund an HSA that is tax free in and tax free out. That lowers your taxable income too. This could help you qualify for subsidies on the Marketplace. If your income is low enough that caps your deductible too. A person who needs medical services should be looking at lower deductible silver plans (many are HSA eligible).
I have become so sick and stressed over Obama Care!! At first it was great. Now the premium has gone up so much, and those Silver deducitbles you say are supposed to be low are not!! I’m being charged off my gross income and Obama Care does not care that I have rent, utilities, food, gas etc. to buy. After my monthly premium I DO NOT have enough to make it. I drive a 20 year old car and can’t imagine what I’ll do when I have to somehow get a car also. I will never use my insurance as I can’t afford to….if I go to a more affordable bronze plan then it’s basically no coverage. But it’s not like I’d be able to pay off the Silver deductibles and out of pocket costs anyway! I have always worked hard and have picked up extra work only to be penalized for it. You either have to be really rich in this country or really poor. I see more BK’s in the future. I’ll be one of them. BTW, you mention a HSA in the Silver plan? Haven’t seen it offered.
Look for HSA eligible plans. Typically silver plans will be, although if you do end up with subsidies it could prevent you from funding the HSA. It’s based on income.
And sorry, Silver Plan is sort of the generic (albeit good) suggestion it’s not going to be on the money in every life situation.
THOUGHT WE LIVED IN A DEMOCRACY NOT COMMUNIST COUNTRY, LIMITING HOW MANY HOURS WE CAN WORK OR MAKING COMPANIES PAY FEES IF EMPLOYEES WORK TO MANY HOURS THAT ARE PART TIME. THE GOVERNMENT SHOULDN’T LIMIT HOW MANY HOURS SOMEONE CAN/ WANTS TO WORK. WHO CARES IF THEY ARE PART TIME, IF THEY WANT TO AND CAN WORK THEY SHOULD BE ABLE TOO. THIS GOT TO STAY BELOW 28 HOURS FOR THE HEALTHCARE LAW OR BE PENALIZED IS BULL.
This answer is political spin doctoring. The reality is that while millions of of Americans now have insurance, they cannot use it because the deductible is so high.
All Obamacare has done is strip hard working Americans of useful health insurance (we had the same coverage for 15 years, since Obamacare it has been cancelled twice, the cost is nearly 50% more, and our our deductible is so high the insurance never actually pays for anything) so that insurance companies, giant health care corporations and the government don’t pay for anything unless it is a catastrophic illness.
The government now is supposedly paying less, giant hospital corporations aren’t forced to provide free care, and the insurance companies are guaranteed a profit. Read the law -it’s all there.
There is truth in what you say, but we have to remember that you were one of the lucky ones who was being charged reasonable rates before the law. Other people who didn’t have enough money or had been sick in the past are now getting coverage for the first time. How do we retain that, but fix the part that hurt you. That answer is the answer we should be looking for.
To be clear though, high deductibles on high premium plans is not a winning long term strategy. Not going to argue that.
Nope… he is not the lucky ones. He is the ones that where responsible like my wife and I we made sure we had insurance. We managed it ourself’s. Our insurance is now more expensive, with less services and a really high deductible with now only two choices in the Market Place for us since every year more insurance companies drop out.
Who the F are you kidding many hard working tax paying Americans like me had affordable insurance until this TURD called Obamacare wasd created!!
Now like many my insurance deductable has more than tripled, les coverage and premiums have tripled. So tell me again how this is good for me!!
I don’t think I ever implied it was good for everyone. There is a lot in America that is a better deal for some than others. Not sure this will change in the next 4, but we will be fighting to help ensure it gets better. That is what our support for the good parts of the ACA was about, that is what our support of whatever is good about TrumpCare will be about.
Obamacare did absolutely nothing to address the cost of health care, they only went after the Insurers. Why does Canada negotiate better prices on prescriptions? Why is it the we don’t know how much a service will cost until AFTER it is done? There is no open transparency with the cost of health care, so they charge whatever they want and there is no way to shop for the best price. Also, the penalty for not having coverage is so low that many forgo the coverage and just pay the penalty. This has led to adverse selection. With guarantee issue we need to have a large pool of health people in the pool, but there are way too many sick, which is driving up costs. There needs to be a penalty in the form of a waiting period for pre-existing conditions for those who decide not to have coverage. This would encourage people to keep coverage instead of just getting it when they need it. Another thing, it’s a complete joke that if a family has someone with Employer Coverage that it prohibits the rest of the family from getting a subsidy. This is a huge burden on many families, and it makes absolutely no sense. Obamacare was about government control. This entire thing could have been fixed by keeping underwriting for those that are healthy, expanding Medicaid and subsidizing State High Risk Pools, and it would have been done at a fraction of the cost. This is what happens when a bill is passed that has not been read.
Smart comments and good points, although I will say for fairness cost cubing measures are working and some of us have actually read the bill. Provisions by provision there are pros and cons, but such is the case with most legislation.
The annoying thing is the ACA needs reform and the discussion manages to be repeal vs. perfection. How about we start with state-based public options via sec. 1332 and take it from there?
James .schneider
because I work for a temp service not working today
Premiums were high before Obamacare but deductibles were more attainable; now, premium doubled, deductible doubled. The insurance companies are the only winners.
Deductibles are a major sticking point. I won’t argue that. However, more than just the insurance companies won, the old environment of being excluded for a preexisting condition was to me not worth the lower deductible. Still, way more work to do, and nothing excuses the current problems.
I agree my insurance premiums went up four fold my deductible went up 7 fold and nothing not even two ER visits for actual accidents, one that left me unable to walk for several weeks were covered as NONE of the services meet the criteria for the deductible. At the end of the year the amount applied to my deductible was $0 and when I got through paying the bills I had only $100 left to my name! Yea thanks Oboma for looking out for hard working Americans!
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John
BS…before Obamacare my insurance was cheaper and had better selection of doctors after Obamacare…all of sudden my premiums shot up and quality went down. I have United Health care which is big company but premiums went up for me and the quality is not as good as before. I’m not in the lower brackets in income so I don’t qualify for any aid.
When I check out the NY market place..the selection is horrible. Health first or Metro plus..sure it can be cheaper if you choose Bronze but the service is bad and there is hardly any doctors that take that insurance so you end up paying so much out of pocket.
Erik Draheim
For me, my wife and my son to have health insurance we pay $26,400 a year and that is before any deductible
So Obama Care made Health Care affordable for those who previously could not afford it. And made health care unaffordable for those that could afford it prior to Obama Care. So yes ObamaCare sucks
ObamaCareFacts.com
One of the main issues is the Republican obstruction of the ACA. Together the two parties gave us what is in practice a problem. However, I we have to be careful not to pin this all on “Obama.”
https://obamacarefacts.com/2017/05/30/the-ongoing-republican-strategy-to-break-obamacare/
Look past any bias you think I may have and read that article. It is messed up. Essentially the GOP went on a 8 year campaign to break the ACA, it worked, and then they ran on it being broken and won. Crazy underhanded move. Why care? Care because rates are high or care because this sort of thing might keep happening if we don’t hold politicians accountable.
Carol garza
I went to an urgent care and was told to go to er because they had no X-ray went to,er and they did absolutely nothing for me if they told me to
Go,home and later sent me a bill for over 1000.00 dollars
Alan
I am a small business owner with hourly employees within NJ (15) and PA (30). I cannot find effective insurance that is easy for me to pay and not put the business at risk. I am not allowed to reimburse an employee for insurance. Reimbursing employees happens to now be illegal. I am incorporated in NJ. Since I have 15 employees, maybe 1 or 2 will sign up. If they leave, the plan will drop those in PA that may sign up since I must have at least one person in NJ signed up. The rules are so stifling that unless you are big business your employees are screwed.
The bureaucrats are geniuses in developing Obamacare. Obama is sitting prettying enjoying a good life, while he left a wreck behind him.
Vernon Logue
replace obama care support TRUMP
Jeffrey H
why! obamacare is beast. u suck
Matt P
Went from large employer to self employment and my healthcare costs went from $160 / month to $400. Deductable is $7000. Next year there will be no providers for Individual Plans in my state.
I used to think that this did some good, but now that I’m the one trying to find a plan, the reality is the contrary. I don’t care who you want to blame or protect here, but the Affordable Care Act is trash, stop defending it.
ObamaCareFacts.com
What state? The GOP in some states went as far as to block insurers and medicaid to make their consitutents feel like Obama… care. Was very bad.
This is true, google it.
Doesn’t explain every rate hike, but rate hikes are higher in red states. Not just because they tend to be rural, but literally the GOP are using a tactic called “Starving the beast”.
Some might say, and this isn’t me, but some people say “the GOP leaders don’t think their base is smart enough to realize that they are breaking ObamaCare on purpose and that this sort of tactic might result in wins for them”.
They explain aspects of it here:
http://www.heritage.org/health-care-reform/report/repealing-obamacare-and-getting-health-care-right
http://www.heritage.org/health-care-reform/report/after-repeal-obamacare-moving-patient-centered-market-based-health-care
http://billmoyers.com/2013/08/13/alecs-attempts-to-thwart-obamacare/
There was also this long PDF about the tactic specifically I can’t find at the moment.
I don’t like being played for a fool, do you? ACA isn’t perfect, but its frustrating to see the GOP tactics work. It means they will use them again.
Bob
I’m a 29 year old male that does not smoke and never goes to the doctor but is expected to pay for some thing I do not need or use..Makes a lot of sense.This is one of the worst things besides electing that Idiot twice.I mean for gods sake he rides a bike with elbow and knee pads..
ObamaCareFacts.com
I for one think there should have been an opt out, you DO need catastrophic, as we can’t exclude you from care if you fall off your bike without your helmet on, and thus you must pay in (or I will be stuck with your bill, and that isn’t fair).
That said, for everything else, an opt out makes sense. Something the Democrats get right, somethings the Republicans do.
As for TrumpCare though, it isn’t great. And also, let’s be honest, you are offering opinion. I doubt you understand the ins and outs of insurance and why sharing the burden via a premium makes sense with our current legacy system and a big ticket item like health insurance in general.
So do try to come into the complaining with an open mind, as Trump said correctly, “healthcare is hard.”
nwbkevin
Here’s what’s really wrong with Obamacare. It allows people who haven’t paid one nickel for health Insurance their whole life to buy Insurance only after they get a serious health issue like cancer or heart decease and to pay for Insurance at the same rate of someone who has been paying for health insurance every month for 50 years and has never had a serious condition. The free loader keeps all of his income for 50 years and then costs the insurance company hundreds of thousands of dollar when he gets sick and decides to buy insurance.
tony
It only helps those that don’t want to work the disability
Dave
ObamaCare gave insurance, or essentially underpriced insurance to a small percentage of the population, which was not being turned away from treatment before. While doing this it took away insurance or quality insurance from the working middle class. Should one person be charged $1. For a gallon of milk, while at the same store another is charged $10.? NO. Well that’s what ObamaCare did to insurance. What are we teaching our children, to work less to get more, or if you are poor to stay that way, because if you work hard it will cost you dearly. I agree everyone should be granted care, but oppression on the middle class is not the answer, perhaps liberals learned this in the election!!
ObamaCareFacts.com
100% agree with your general thinking (and I assume most who really think about things do).
Is making insurance more expensive for everyone via a complex system the best solution to tens of millions of sick and suffering? No way!
We must seek universal coverage, for me that is a moral and ethical duty of the state to such a degree that I have trouble understanding any other stance, however… that doesn’t mean shifting the burden to the middle class was the best answer.
I won’t even put forth “the best answer to universal healthcare in terms of our current system”… but it is not shifting the burden between the poor and middle class every few years while the rich benefit via tax breaks or growth in investing in businesses.
The reality is this is complex, but you can see why people say things like “both parties are the same and just divide us by social issues while the loot our government and keep our citizens in some bizarre form of wage slavery.”
We have the best stuff on earth, but… hey, I want better. And I don’t see why we can’t demand it from our government. It is our government.
Ted Greggers
Humana announced they are leaving the marketplace today, shows how “great” the ACA is. Obamacare is so expensive now. I have insurance at a low monthly cost but I can’t afford the deductible. Thanks Obama.
ObamaCareFacts.com
Yeah, well. read the news. They are just trying to win Trump’s favor by playing into the death spiral narrative because they are still sore over the DOJ blocking their merger. Obama did do that, but it wasn’t Obama who made things expensive. Note that the GOP blocked readjustment payments and generally tried to break Obama’s Romneycare. I dare you to dig through centered research and really look at what is happening here. Obama and the Democrats aren’t innocent, but there has been an ongoing campaign against their best efforts here.
Steve
Obamacare does suck. I had it for the last 2 years because paying the penalty was about half as much as having one of these garbage insurance plans. This year I found a way out that I do not get the penalty. I wish I would have known about it two years ago because I would not have put any money in to this system. Having Obamacare is like not having insurance at all. You pay high premiums and the insurance company sends you a bill that shows that a certain medicine costs $200 but with the insurance you only pay $30 making you think you are saving money. That same medicine cost me $14 at Wal Mart without insurance. Everyone look around and find your way out of this mess. All you are doing is paying for the poor and those that have pre-existing conditions. The morons put together a plan where the middle class and rich pay for the poor and people with pre-existing. It does nothing good unless you are in those groups.
Ted Greggers
I’m poor but can’t afford the deductible.
f obama
of course what they leave out is that its our government that helps raise cost of healthcare with all their half thought out laws
Dr. Aymee Ayrington
Our family’s experience with Obamacare was a disaster. During the first 8 months our monthly premiums were affordable. However, our family doctor dropped Obamacare because the insurance hardly paid him anything for office visits so he wouldn’t be able to keep his practice on what Obamacare paid him. After that we couldn’t find any reputable doctors who accepted Obamacare. After 8 months, our premiums went up to $2,000 per month for a family of five. Our youngest child has Down Syndrome and desperately needed the insurance, so we had to keep him insured, however we couldn’t afford to pay for the rest our family. Then when my husband and I filed our tax return, the IRS took $8,000 from us because Obamacare subsidized our monthly insurance premiums without bothering to inform us. In other words, Obamacare lied to us within the first 8 months so they could real us in, then they sky-rocked our premiums and told us we had to keep the insurance or pay a fine at the end of the year. Our business only made a profit income (for a family of 5) of $30,000 that year. After hiring an attorney, the IRS finally returned our tax return of $8,000, then of course the majority of our tax return went to pay our attorney for fighting the IRS. Moreover, since we can’t afford $2,000 for monthly insurance premiums, we now have to pay the government a fine at the end of the year. We don’t qualify for free insurance through the state and yet we don’t make enough money to pay the $2,000 monthly premiums for Obamacare. The past four years has been a nightmare. We are just one example of the forgotten hard working middle class.
Swish
Can’t wait for Trump to get rid of this bullshit. “What? You don’t want obamacare? You don’t like you’re options? To bad! Get it or get fined!” Bunch of horseshit.
John Schmidt
2016 monthly cost $1700, 2017 same plan $3100. $37,000 a year. Why to Democrats still call it the AFFORDABLE act? Please go away Chuck Schemer!!
A concerned citizen
Costs went up because republican’s don’t play ball and the democrats made too many concessions because of that. Suit yourselves. Find out the true cost of unbridled capitalism in the next few years.
Travis Bell
I have tried time and time again to sign up for health coverage on healthcare.gov and it isn’t working. I don’t earn very much money at all, so hopefully I don’t have a pay a big penalty or no penalty at all. I hope Obamacare gets repealed or has significant changes to it because this law is so terrible.
Jason
This is BS, sorry… I make what many would consider to be a decent salary. The salary that I make is enough to cover a modest home in a good neighborhood, the cheapest car I can find brand new, barely paying bills. Health insurance in most of me would be more than my car payment every month. In some friends cases it’s more expensive than the houses that they live in…. so what does that tell you? Does that tell you that our government is interested in lowering the price of health care itself? Absolutely not because that would be taking money away from the rich people…. Instead they devised a plan to take the money away from where they always get the money…. from the middle class. I got a great idea for Obamacare…. Instead of stealing the money from the middle class like you always do…. Why don’t you take the money away from rich people and give it to the people that need it if you guys are in the business of stealing… Because that’s what this is… This is not taxation this has become theft… I work too hard too long of hours to be bullied constantly out of my money… you know what would be a fair system? Is if everyone had to pay a certain percentage of their income toward health insurance… if 2.5% of everyone’s income went into health insurance we might actually get somewhere in addition to regulating laws and making Health Care a human right… But that will never happen because the elite will never allow it to happen, after all why should they pay when they can make us pay.. that’s all that this is about and anybody who’s trying to change your mind about this is a liar or ignorant to the facts
mayhmmm
Anybody & everybody who thinks Obama care doesn’t suck is getting it for free because they’re getting it on the backs of hard working middle-class folks. I can’t even afford to see my Dr. because the deductible is so high & yet the younger folks on Obamacare can see their Dr easily with no copay. They call in sick (I’m a manager) & have no problem or extra expense to see the Dr. to get an excuse. These are part time ppl, living in their parents home, many with kids (yes, baby future moochers) totally utilizing their wonderful Obamacare while those of us who work hard for a living pay their way. Yes, Obamacare sucks!
mayhmmm
This is total bulls**t! My health ins has gone from $120./month to a raging $923.00/month & my copays & deductibles have risen by MORE than 130%. In simpler terms, my health insurance cost is so high that I can’t afford to see my Dr. If I don’t carry health ins. I am punished through my taxes, so I really don’t have that option either. Add to that, health ins. cost & deductibles are predicted to rise by another 160% in 2017!!! Ridiculous! And how DARE you quote these false numbers for health ins & the cost to the consumer. Do you really think Americans are that stupid?!!
Erin
If the least expensive plan available to you is more than 8.13% (for 2017) of your income, then you can apply for an exemption from the requirement to have insurance or owing the fee for not having it. You have to apply at healthcare.gov. This would allow you to simply pay out of pocket for Medicaid expenses or to purchase catastrophic coverage (which usually has significantly lower premiums) to ensure you are covered in the worst-case-scenario. Some areas of the country have not experienced the price increases to the same degree as others and many regions have 20+ health insurance plans to choose from on the Marketplace. Its been a drastically different experience in states that didn’t expand Medicaid than those that did. There is clearly a need to continue to improve the law, but I hope that you are able to find a better solution in the mean time so that you can get the care you need. Also, keep in mind that your insurance covers a wide variety of preventative care which is required to be available to you at no cost before deductible. Make sure that you are utilizing these services that you are eligible.
brent
My premiums have gone up from $135 to $800 a month. My insurance used to pay for most things. Now it pays for nothing until I reach a $5000 deductible. All thanks to Obamacare. How is this “Affordable health care”. Yes, Obamacare sucks.
dee
Of course this benefits many Americans who never had health insurance or maybe could not afford it, yet the costs are tremendously high for many others that are actually paying for those people to have almost free health care. Forget saving anymore for retirement, because the cost of health insurance is eating up my retirement funds. If you take into the account how much I am paying now I am actually now back to making the wages and or income that I did 7 years ago. Not so nice to know that many can enjoy going to the doctor whenever they want, whereas I do not have that luxury considering how high my deductible is and would have to pay out even more money!
Erin
The money you are paying towards your premiums and deductibles is not going to “paying for those people to have almost free health care.” There are a number of reasons some folks are paying much higher deductibles and premiums: insurers are now required to cover certain preventative care at no cost before deductible, they can’t charge more for or deny people due to pre-existing conditions, they can’t drop folks when they become sick, and the can’t cap the annual or lifetime benefits for covered benefits. The cost assistance and Medicaid expansion programs are paid for by the various taxes the ACA added and if you have insurance, you’re not paying the taxes. The insurers can only vary the premiums charge based on age (though they can only charge the oldest 3x the youngest and HHS is looking at making it 3.49x), region, smoking, and whether the plan covers abortions (which they must offer one plan with and one plan without that coverage and that coverage can’t be paid for by cost assistance). Insurers have always charged more based on age, but the ACA placed the 3x cap on it and HHS has argued that 3.49x rounds down to 3x and thus would still meet the requirements of the law.
Teri Wermager
Just found out my doctor ordered some tests. Problem, I can no longer afford the tests because they are no longer covered by any real sense. I can’t afford the deductible nor the 10%. Thanks ACA for nothing. And yes, I would love my coverage like it says in the article. Problem is the people getting it for free are more than happy and I’m paying for them and now there’s nothing left for me.
mayhmmm
Yes! I completely agree.
Obamacare sucks because it SUCKS the life out of the hard working middle-class.
ObamaCareFacts.com
You know, unless that middle class person had ever been sick in the past. In which case it “blows the life back into them”.
Steve
not true. Paying out of pocket without insurance is much more affordable unless you have a heart attack or cancer or something big. Obamacare got rid of the best plan that someone under 50 could have. Major medical. People do not lose their homes because they can not afford to pay a $200 doctor bill. They lose their home because the government got involved and made insurance not affordable for the middle class.
Fix Our Healthcare System Please
The one thing that “ObamaCare” proves is that the health insurance industry is a crooked waste of all of our time and money.
I do believe that the ACA helps some people and that’s great. But it also hurts some others, and that is a crying shame. People are rightfully upset that their lives were affected negatively and you can’t dry their tears by explaining that someone else got their lives improved by the law.
The problem is that as long as we have for-profit Insurance and hospitals we’re going to have these problems. Too much of the money we all pay either out of pocket or through taxes goes to make these businesses profitable, or to pay their advertising budgets or whatever. That’s a sham.
Americans need to stop being afraid that a single-payer system will turn us into communist Russia. We’re the best nation in the world, lets prove it by showing that we can do a single-payer system BETTER than everyone else. Use copays to make sure consumers have some responsibility for their actions, and hopefully this dissuades them from making frivolous trips to the ER.
Steve
The problem for not for profit health care is that the people who are curing diseases stop looking for cures because there is no profit in it. I love the idea of free health care for all, but once this country goes that direction and I do not think it is far off, the entire world will suffer.
Ethan Coffeen
I’m 27 years old, I never had coverage before this. But now that Obamacare is forcing my employer to provide me medical coverage, what that basically translates to is 160 dollars a month being automatically deducted from my 1200 dollar a month paycheck, and I still can’t see the f***ing doctor about my knees or my progressing retinal detachment or my old football injury and my bad shoulders that I got from working this job because nothing is covered and I don’t make enough to be able to afford the 200 bucks it costs just to get the jack*** to walk into the door and say ‘Yep, you’ve got a problem! Here, let me refer you to somebody who will charge you another 200 bucks to refer you to somebody who can actually do something, who will then bill you for 3 grand that your crappy government mandated insurance will pay maybe 50 bucks into, and then make you buy a monthly subscription for the next 5 years at another 250 dollars a month’.
I’m actually tempted to just live in my car for a year or two so I can save some money so I can so i can go on a medical vacation to Mexico or Canada and get my sh** taken care of finally.
Erin
The Affordable Care Act does many things. Your new insurance, for example, is required to provide you an annual wellness visit and certain preventative services at no cost before your deductible. While its frustrating to be required to have insurance and those costs are still not managed as well as they could be (even under the ACA), the fact is that now you have insurance and in the worst case scenario of a medical catastrophe, it is your insurance that will cover the astronomical cost of care anyone of us can be affected by. That insurance can’t drop you, set life time, or annual limits. However, all that being said, the ACA has failed in many areas and we all should be doing what we can to work for something better. You mentioned going to Canada or Mexico to get your healthcare and that’s understandable. Both of those countries guarantee healthcare as a right for citizens and ensure universal health coverage, but they use different methods to accomplish it. Might it be worth your while to fight for universal coverage in the US as well.
Tina
I work hard and pay my taxes. I think it’s the money that I make is why Marketplace insurance sucks so bad. Premiums are high, and the deductible is unrealistic. I tried to hold marketplace insurance and ended up having to drop it after 3 months because it was too expensive. Even with simple care or preventative care, I still ended up paying way to much out of pocket plus my premium. I won’t touch marketplace insurance with a ten foot pole.
Erin
All insurance that is considered minimal essential coverage (regardless of whether it is marketplace insurance or not) are required to cover a long list of preventative care before the deductible at no cost to you. That being said, insurers will sometimes use very specific billing codes for those services to be covered. With any insurance ask them directly what services (including billing codes) are covered at no cost to you as preventative care and provide those to your provider when you get that care.
Rob Roy
Obamacare sucks because it is funded poorly. I barely make too much for medicaid but don’t make enough to really afford Obamacare. I signed up last year, and even though I am a student making $1600 a month they wanted me to pay $200 a month for healthcare. Craziness. And I’m healthy too! I’d love it if everyone from working class folks to fat cats on wall street all paid 5% of their income to healthcare. I’d be cool with that but Obama was a bad haggler. We didn’t get medicaid for all. We got corporate welfare.
Erin
A $200 a month health plan is 12.5% of the $1600 a month income. That would make you eligible for an affordability exemption because its more than 8.13% of your income. You must apply for this type of exemption though in order to be exempt from the Individual Mandate requiring you to have health insurance or paying the fee.
Mary ann garcia
I want to better understand how I’m expected to pay $500- $1000 monthly with a $9000- $13,000. Deductible that has to be met before the one out of four health insurance that I have to choose from will pay for anything.
Greg
The quicker it is killed the better. I have the choice of only two plans, the cheaper is $20,000 for two people with a $7000 deductible for each. We are in good health and work to stay that way. Forcing us to pay for insurance we cannot afford and cannot use so others who practice unhealthy lifestyles and spend their money on cigarettes, liquor, video games, tattoos and the latest cell phones borders on Communism.
Every congressman or senator who voted for this disaster should hang their head in shame.
Troy
Obama Care is horrible. My wife and I are young and healthy, but because we have good jobs and we get paid more that $63k a year our lowest premiums are over $600 per month! I should just sit in my but and not work. Seems that is the way to go now days. Rot in hell Obama
Greg
It will cost me over $20,000 in 2017 for my wife and I for a plan with $7000 deductible. No subsidies. I run a small business. I could cut back hours and fire half the staff to get into the subsidy range. I don’t understand why the middle class is gutted by Obamacare to enable others to receive healthcare at the expense of our disproportionate premiums.
Deserner
Obama care is a wonder tool for foreign , married students. Case in point ; A young Chinese couple applied for maternity care will attending school in the USA. Within two weeks their plan was in place. An individual, American, I know returning from an overseas working contract had to wait at least 6 months before receiving Obama cafe.
Ok what is wrong with this picture. Obama care sucks. Than goodness he is Lea ing the white house
Joe cool
Obama care is garbage and has caused the poor to live in poverty for being forced into something they couldn’t handle, and it brain washed one of my teachers into thinking it was good.
Will
My cost has tripled. The deductibles are so high the insurance is almost worthless.
El
For profit health care is unChristian. Beyond that is it a failure.
Big pharma, corporate hospitals and MD need to be sent to the guillotine.
Kathy wolle
I’m am very upset with the lack of respect and unprofessional manners for this Healthcare. I was listening to my daughter explain to 3 individuals that about her upcoming status and her insurance needs and three nasty stooges hung up the phone on her.
Get your staffing Bulls hit under control and be nicer to these people asking you to provide a service. It’s not much but it’s their hard working dollars try to buy this shitty insurance.
Seymour Clearly
You want to know who really gets screwed under the God awful ACA? The self employed and small business owners, that’s who. I left corporate America in 2015 and started my own business. I am the sole provider of a family of four. In 2015 my business did fairly well and my adjusted gross income was just under the subsidy maximum…approximately 95k. As mandated, I signed up for Obamacare and my family of 4 was “covered”.I use that term losely because the deductibles were so high, but anyway, for approximately $800 a month we had coverage. Fast forwarded to today…my business did much better in 2016, so it looks as though my AGI after every conceivable deduction, business expense, and HSA contribution will be approximately 100k. Good for me, right? No not quite. Sine I’m no longer under the level to receive a subsidy, my healthcare premium will jump from $9600 a year to over $24000 a year! Thanks Obama! Under your socialist crackpot plan, by making more, I actually make less! To the tune of nearly 10k. Your “act” has succeeded in squashing the American dream, thwarting entrepreneurial success, and making an incentive to rely more on the Government. I could not be happier that you are now done ruining America and Sincerely hope that your “legacy” in thrown in the trash can in January 2017!
Arthur Savostiuk
Hey Seymour.
Can you please tell me how I can make 100K a year?
I’m from PA so I don’t think that I’m gonna become your competition 🙂
K.
I feel your pain. My husband is self employed. We have always worked and had private health insurance. Now with Obamacare, we still have insurance, but just cant use it. Right now, I’m putting off a needed procedure due to high ded and out of pocket cost. How is this fair? This outrage is why people like me feel they are being sucked into govt assistance. My assumption is that people who do not contribute to the cost of their healthcare are adding unimaginable financial pressure of those that do contribute. Why does Medicaid in my state cover weight loss surgery but the ACA in my state does not? Yes it’s true folks. Even if you could find a way to pay the deductible, weight loss surgery is not covered. Medicaid recipient’s lives are held in higher regard by our govt than non-medicaid recipients. Why would it be covered by medicaid and not Obamacare? Both gov’t run. If anyone can please respond to this highly prejudicial denial of a life saving surgery for for ACA members in TN, please do.
Mike Laboissonniere
The above so-called answer in the green-shaded background, sucks. It’s all lies.
ObamaCareFacts.com
Well, the initial bit is being snarky because the question was “why does Obamacare suck so much?” which is a snarky question. However, the facts that follow the snarky back and forth are fact-checkable and accurate. Trying to mix a little levity into a heavy conversation is all.
Connie
obama care is terrible, we shouldn’t have to pay for other peoples insurance, thats why its risen and not affordable. As I said its terrible. I wish all insurance companies would pull out!!!!!
jar
2015 more people on aca and medicaid yet death rate increased in 2015
and for 2017 in my area only 1 choice not for profit fl blue
er visits increased not decreased
and the national debt has increased again 150 billion moe in 2016
and the last tax 40% on people who had excellent insurance has yet to be charged postponed so unions will not be upset during the current election
Hard worker
As a small (self employed) business it cost me 3K a month (family of 4) for health insurance . As everyone knows how slow the oil field is right now it’s hard to make ends meet with the high cost of health insurance. The only people that have benefited from Obama care are the people that have never had a job and are living on the government system. I think they people on the government system should have to do a drug screen before they receive there monthly check and if they fail they should receive it for 6 months and the same for there housing that is half paid buy the government. The people have kids and they see how there parents used to system and they do the same and it will never end if something isn’t done fast.
John G
What a steaming pile of refuge this apologist doles out.
BB
Is obamacare “working” because so many are paying so much, that it pays for the losers who don’t pay?
Steven fardal
My insurance is now rediculously expensive where before Obamacare it was awesome and affordable. Makes me feel like the country doesn’t care if I live or not. I am offended, disappointed and flat out pissed off. Just because I work a descent job doesn’t mean I should have to pay way too much for a crappy health insurance plan. Politicians can suck it.
Nan
The first two years I thought Obamacare was a godsend my husband and I both are self-employed I’m a real estate agent he’s a counselor we made too much money to get any kind of Public Assistance he was over 60 so his health care was $1290 a month, I was uninsured for 8 years because we just couldn’t afford to both be insured. The plan he had was horrible and it covered nothing it was a catastrophic plan they gave him 3 free office visits a year High deductibles it was an insurance we never used. The year Obamacare came into play we signed up at the exchange and got insurance it was $480 each, that same year I was in a severe accident and broke my back and my neck I had a three-level fusion in my neck and a 4 level Fusion in my lumbar area the first surgery was over 500,000 II 300,000 that right there is the problem, hospitals charging $8 for a Band-Aid but none the less Obamacare covered the majority of it we had an $8,000 maximum out-of-pocket we would be bankrupt today if it weren’t for Obamacare. But now we’re a few years into it and plans and coverage are changing deductibles are going up. Last year my husband turned 65 went on Medicare so I no longer qualified for the exchange because we are married and dual-income even though he is on Medicare. Coverage for me is now $690 a month I just got a notice today that next year the plan that I have will no longer exist and my new coverage will be $790 a month and will cover about half of what the current plan covers with deductibles going way up…I think I am considering becoming uninsured and paying the fine at tax time. I realized that means with another accident that we could face bankruptcy but at this point I can’t afford to pay $800 a month for insurance coverage oh and I did apply for disability since I am now not working and homebound but I was denied twice even though I have 12 screws in my back and 6 in my neck and can barely walk.
jerry jones
Obamacare sucks and is a fancy term for a mandatory tax. Affordable healthcare act is a joke of a name. I make just enough to get no subsidies and pay more for healthcare than my house payment so please tell me again how this isnt a form of forced taxation….disaster
David
I make around $50,000/year and I work almost 70 hours per week to earn that. My health insurance costs to insure my family have more than doubled, and my insurance has gotten MUCH worse (doubled deductible, worse % coverage).
I don’t know if this was the plan of Obamacare, but THIS is why it sucks.
Ed
Well reason for such a turnover on non insured is because people are forced to buy insurance they don’t need thats not affordable. The whole system needs to be reworked. How about free health care like just about every first world country has. Politicians won’t let that happen though because of kick backs from the greedy insurance companies.
Jeff
If Obama care is so wonderful how come my insurance premium has tripled. My out of pocket cost have gone up. This year medical expenses have cost my family over 1/3 of our income and are so far in debt now we are in danger of losing everything. Thanks Obama and all you lazy supporters.
Rife
“Having” insurance means nothing! Providers can’t even tell you how much their services will cost. The deductibles and out of pocket costs are ridiculous. My crap policy that we do not use is going up 45% this year. sure I’ll renew…..
Why no mention of outrageous medical mafia costs? All those f___ers and the media whores do is push flu shots.
Most doctors are ignorant of real cures and only in it for the money and prestige.
Whoever wrote this garbage is full of crap.
Pete Thorne
My families health care costs have tripled since the passing of the “Affordability” Health Care Act. Obamacare is America’s worst public policy ever. Our president should be ashamed and embarrassed.
I used to think I could save for my kids college education. “Sorry kids, I was forced to pay ridiculous insurance premiums for meaningless coverage, so some douche bag liberal idiot could leave a legacy.” Legacy of ruining the American Dream.
Paloma
Politics is so partisan that almost nothing gets done. The affordable care act was lucky to get done. But w congress so divided most decisions came down to a swing vote aka Joe Lieberman, fake democrat. Now we need to get the public option in to put some competition out there. Hopefully we can move from there to single payer. Work towards the goal, see the the benefits for more than yourself, and stop whining.
Joe
I may be insured, but I still can’t see a doctor or specialist because of extremely high deductible and co payments, so it does me no good. Why not just exchange it for Single Payer system?
Kim
I protested against OBAMACARE from the beginning. My husband has worked at the same company (well, actually it has been bought and sold numerous times, and gone bankrupt a few times) for over 31 years. He lost his pension during one of the bankruptcies, and as the government only insures a penny on the dollar, he got a few thousand dollars out of the deal. Because of the poor economy, according to his employer, (but contrary to the Obama care propaganda), he has only had one raise since 2006, and that was 0.75%. Our health insurance premiums have gone up, but the most shocking thing is, the deductible next year will be $10,000 and after that, we will still pay 20%. I don’t know about everyone else, but with the 230% increase in groceries, the increase in all consumer products, and NO raises for 10 years, I know we will be unable to afford to go the doctor, and god help us if we require surgery or hospitalization. Our current insurance is worse than the insurance my parents had in the late 1950’s, and I believe that within 2 or 3 years, employers will not be offering any health insurance benefits whatsoever. The way I see it, the only ones who benefitted from Obamacare, Is the government, the employers, and the insurance companies, and doctors. The govt is no longer having to pay the huge medical bills for everyone who used the emergency rooms as a free clinic with the govt picking up the bills. The doctors will lose in the long term, when people cannot afford to go the doctor. I do see an increase in benefit to the funeral homes and cemetaries, when all the people who can’t afford to go to the doctor or hospital, start dropping dead. All I can say for the govt is: propaganda works! Remember: we were promised good affordable health insurance and could stay on the same plan and use the same doctors and hospitals, all of this for less money!
Damien
I have the best plan the marketplace offers for my location ($350/month for a young healthy man) and it paid for 200 dollars of the 1400 emergency room bill I got last month.
Obamacare is a joke, I was super impressed how easy it was to sign up for a plan that appeared great. In reality the plan costs an arm and a leg and provides nearly nothing. To top it all off I called in to cancel it and immediately after saying it will take up to 14 days for the cancellation to take effect they give me a cancellation date a month and a half away. I will not use the marketplace again and if I ever find myself uninsured again, I’ll pay the absurdly unconstitutional penalty.
Esteban
When Obamacare first came out, its leading forces had claimed we could all keep our existing insurance if we had it, and Obamacare would only impact the lives of those without insurance already. This clearly failed on several fronts.
Let’s look at a family with two working middle-class parents. These ordinary middle-class workers who work to make their money now are forced to lose good insurance for their family because of this new “helpful healthy system”. Remember, the promise is that this hurts nobody and only helps new insurance spenders. These workers can be forced by employers to be registered as part-time to avoid them having to cover this insurance, or forcing employers to downgrade insurance plans to fit the “one-box-fits-all” nature of this system.
Now let’s look at a lower income family. Perhaps they have a large family size, or possibly only one of the parents working. This poor family is expecting to reap in the benefits of Obamacare. After all, that’s who this is really for, right? If this system actually helped these people get cared for and out of debt, then at least there’s a bright side to this disappointing scenario this first family is now faced with. Obamacare, though, falls short here as well. Obamacare requires the employers to provide insurance, but this means that the insurance premiums would be excruciatingly high, especially for those with bad credit and difficult financial lives. They get this taken from their pay, essentially paying for care just like before.
Perhaps the problem people have with socialized medicine isn’t greedy rich people who want to take advantage of the 99%. Maybe, just maybe, it’s the poor implementation that many government programs like this face. Not everything is thought through, and everybody loses. Ironically, those rich [insurance] companies socialism tries to avoid favoring appear to be the only ones who WIN here.
This program isn’t a bad idea at first glance. If the people behind this looked at all angles to find problems instead of focusing on ‘winning’ in political arguments and debates, perhaps “Obamacare” wouldn’t suck. But, alas, it does.
I know the job is hard, but people exist out there that can do it. However, our campaigning system for president asks our in-charge leaders to sell themselves to do things that they could never practically do. Maybe we all need to look at ourselves, the voting public, to start the journey to a truly great America, where optimism and freedom swing hand-in-hand, and where people can truly become who they want to be through hard work and dedication.
But hey, that’s just MY two cents…
robin
your answer does not cover the fact that it is almost impossible to get hold of medicaid or any of the obama care people. and when you do contact them about a question a large amount of time they do not know the answer. is there someone out there that can actually help someone if they are having trouble with medicaid or united healthcare
ObamaCareFacts.com
You should call your state Medicaid office if you have issues with Medicaid. As for general help, healthcare.gov is the best avenue. Customer service is its own whole ball of wax, never going to knock someone for being frustrated with that. We have all been there. As for United, you would call them directly. If you are being shafted in any way you need to look into your appeal rights.
Useless insurance
Obama care is the worse thing to happen to the United States. Do to a unforeseen event my spouse and I lost our already expensive Heath insurance. Unfortunately COBRA was not an option for us due to the $1400.00 monthly premium amount. We reviewed plans on ehealth website and selected a plan that we thought was comparable to the insurance we orginally had through an employer. When the plan was paid for and we tried to use the insurance, the insurance wasn’t taken by any doctors and wouldn’t pay for my expensive medical treatments and prescriptions that I have been on for 15+ years. Apparently if you self pay for individual or family Heath insurance plan, it is not taken At the majority of doctors/facilities but the same insurance through an employer is excepted. How is this a valid insurance? How is this acceptable insurance? This is a rip off, I pay $709.00 monthly out of our pocket with NO discount from the government Or help with premium. How can Obama even say this is health care for all? This is not heathcare for all, I can not see any of my doctors or get my treatments, or get my expensive prescriptions. This health care thing is a waste, the government needs to get their hands out of the cookie jar and revoke the Obama care plans and leave heathcare the way it has been before implementing this dumb plan to give insurance to all.
Steven
I lost my my job a year ago and my Cobra runs out this month.
While I appreciate the help the website still has many bugs and the people working there are nice but have a uphill battle with a large and rather cumbersome system.
Personally I receive a large subsidy which is good the bad part is it tries to force my kids onto medicaid and no doctors will see them.
So while I see the benefits the plan has been “poorly” implemented by the administration.
Haste makes waste…
Delton Arno
I would like some relief knowing the provisions intended to satisfy corporations do not maintain the 818% figure whether from the government or the average citizen. Why MUST we avoid that topic? Drug companies have been price guaging for over 50 years. Not in canada. I am disgusted that we can not politically afford to make a documented comparison of other countries’ costs to peivate interests, why private interests are not standing in their government’s way, and who the real names of the enemies of this country are.
ObamaCareFacts.com
Agree, we have to be willing to crack down on special interests. We need a fair shake, not someone telling us how its going to be. Gotta do what is best for all Americans, that includes people and corporations (which are important, but aren’t people).
Dan Jay
I’ve been in the medical debt industry for over 13+ years, and I’ve owned one for 10 years so I think I speak with authority as I’ve spoken to hundreds of patients and doctors over the years when it comes to getting bills paid either by insurance or patient responsibility. Before Obamacare took affect, insurance was no doubt expensive and was rising every year. It was not a good trend. However, with that said, the coverage you paid for was FAR SUPERIOR to what we now have after Jan, 2014 when Obamacare took affect. The various complex rules now governing how health insurance is to be sold and offered has certainly helped some people but not without hurting others. When people pay for a metallic plan (aka. Obamacare plan) they are making the same monthly payments they did in the past but with much watered down coverage, not only in terms of increased co-pays, co-insurances and higher deductibles, but with simply smaller networks of doctors from which to choose. Its a pigeon holing for sure. All without actually LOWERING THE COSTS of health insurance which is where the focus should have been to start with. Overly hyped, politicized Insurance manipulation laws like the ACA is not where affordable health coverage is going to be realized, I can tell you that.
Obamacare is the epitome of the standard government “hurt some to help some” scenario but the people supporting it to only want to highlight the “good stuff” as the millions of people whose plans have been canceled and replaced with water down versions just have to bit the bullet and shut their mouths as if their monthly bills have no meaning in this discussion. You would think such excitement in this health care law meant prices would remain the same, but obviously premiums are going up as well. So where did this all get us?? What was the end result?? Nothing. More money for less coverage. Why bother?? On top of that, we’re now $20 trillion on debt even after ending two wars. Look, lets face facts. Obamacare was a mistake. A good intention with a bad result. Bottom line, insurance companies stink and Obamacare just empowered them more. Is it any wonder, Health Republic Of New York (a non-profit) Obamacare flag ship insurance company went out of business in less than 2 years (screwing over thousands of doctors who filed claims for payment in the process)? C’mon, lets stop the nonsense. Time to get government out of the health business. It can’t fight wars anymore and it certainly can’t administer good health coverage to it’s people without having to spread dishonesty. Time to start over, but without Uncle Sam (or rather Uncle Obama).
DENZEL ARLOO
OBAMA BLOWS 8———–D
Tammy Boffill
I have had Florida Healthy kids for my daughter for many years. She was born with a congenital heart defect and has had several surgeries for her hear defect as well as other issues. I always like Florida Healthy Kids, I had Amerigroup through the program, it was great. Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, my premium went up $100 monthly to a total of $299.50 – still not bad, considering her history. However, the dilemma I am facing is that because of the Affordable Care Act, all full price Florida Health Kids are forced to use Sunshine Health Insurance through the program and the doctors don’t want to take this insurance. It took me several weeks to find a Specialist ENT for her and right now I am having a difficult time finding a GYN for my daughter since she was in the hospital last week due to a cyst on her ovary. Even the GYNs listed on the plan are telling me that they stopped taking Sunshine Health. I can’t tell you how utterly disappointed I am with the Affordable Care Act. It may be affordable to some, but to me the price went way up and the quality went way down. Thanks Obama…
Jason
My health insurance has went up 30 percent since aca passed. Come on wake up it’s a joke for people that work hard a earn there coverage
Mike the damn accountant
This is a typical obama-hardon article. Its strongest points are, at best, arguable when you ask tge questions “what is being measured compared to what?” and “what is being avoided in the calculation?”.
As an accountant, I watched job raises slam to a halt, people get laid off, and growing sectors shut down so that prospective bew empkoyees could not be hired. I am absolutely not relying on tge authority fallacy when I say: THE NUMBERS DON’T LIE. The author of this article makes blatantly false claims, and it asserts other statements as truth by romanticizing the good points and leaving out the countering points.
I have this rule where if an “educational/informative”article like this are geared to set the record straight with an orgy of good news, it’s almost entirely crap.
I wouldn’t be surprised if most of these anti-Republican (for trying to defund the ACA) and pro-Obamacare articles are commissioned by the Obama-admin by some degree of enticement.
I find it hilarious that most Americans HATE the ACA, and yet, you cant find any critical articles on the ACA. It’s all pro-ACA.
Mike the d*** accountant again
Pardon my typos. Thumb typing is derivative to actual typing.
ObamaCareFacts.com
Good input. As the author, I don’t entirely disagree. This was a Q&A response to the question “why does ObamaCare suck so much”. I framed the answer in a way that pointed out the root of why the ACA is lack-luster, rather than blaming the law or the Democrats.
So here then:
Republicans, the right, their representation in congress, and their ties to corporations aside… The Democrats and law fall short because:
Costs are shifted onto the middle class and remain unaffordable.
A more socialist version that benefited all except for the rich and special interests was avoided due largely to political opposition and lobbyist ties.
The law is so complex that parts like “free preventive services” are confusing and result in extra charges.
The system keeps in place a lot of bureaucracy and creates more.
The system lowers the deficit, but doesn’t fix growth in debt. This is frustrating short sighted.
The system only takes half-measures against some of the root problems that affect costs.
The current right in America has no solution beyond repeal and give tax breaks to businesses. This is better for some middle-class wallets and political ideals, but it sucks for coverage and rights to healthcare.
We are left to choose between an overly authoritative left and a destructive right in America.
Instead of going too deep here, read our breakdown of the political left right spectrum on our other site FactMyth.com: http://factmyth.com/the-left-versus-the-right-explained/
On that FactMyth.com we cover political science and theory from the center. This website covers politics in regards to healthcare, and the ACA specifically, from the perspective of our actual choices in America.
In other words, this page, while true, was meant as an eye roll to people who ask, “why does ObamaCare suck” implying that it gets nothing right and should be repealed in full with no replacement… I get this sort of comment daily, it is grating, sorry if the answer suffered a bit as a result. I am all for real and more nuanced conversations.
Disgusted in Minnesota
Just did a price check (April 25th, 2016). For myself, my wife, and my son the cheapest plan for us was $27,422 a year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How is this affordable? I have a son to put through college. If I want to lower my premiums my deductible goes to $12,700 a year. This is ludicrous. Where is this money going? Where is the transparency? All I see is more burden on the middle class to pay for healthcare for this plan. The name says it all. Socialism is Obama’s agenda.
Paul
I pay $900 a MONTH for a zero pay plan by the insurance company. Deductible is $15000.
The very rich that can divert income qualify for free healthcare. Income does not equate to ability to pay. Try net worth.
Jason
WOW! what a bunch of garbage. Yes I have insurance. It is now double what it was two years ago due to Obamacare. AND to top that off this year after our company enrolled the insurance company came back after the enrollment period and said they made a mistake and increased the premium AGAIN!
We were left with the option of no insurance and be in violation of the Obamacare Act or pay the highway ransome.
To top it off most of the doctors we all go to don’t accept the level of plan we purchased that was supposed to be exactly the same as last year’s plan.
The answer from our happy federal government overlords: we don’t qualify for special enrollment because we actually have healthcare right now so we can’t do anything about it until open enrollment in December. We either drop insurance now and go without….or we pay and wait.
This sort of garbage didn’t happen before.
Clyde Ankle
That’s pretty funny but I missed the punchline. Is my family the punchline?
J
Obamacare only works for medicaid recipients who have do not contribute to the system. Illegal immigrants get better coverage than retirees with 40+ years paying into Medicare. This form of socialism penalizes the middle class once again.
ObamaCareFacts.com
There is truth in that. I am very sure that denying healthcare to someone isn’t ideal. Rather, logic points to stuff like: tighten up immigration laws, provide a pathway to citizenship, and keep improving healthcare.
Lots of not fair things happening in America, but that doesn’t mean they all come with an easy fix.
Remember, “illegal immigrants” are also people made out of the same stuff you are, they have families, and I can’t imagine how scary it would be to be sick in America and avoid care due to immigration status. Doesn’t make it right, but does require empathy to really understand that side of things.
Real Person
I’d like health insurance…it would be great if I could enroll in something right now…but the enrollment period is closed. Why have an enrollment period? If I need car insurance, I can get it anytime. It is a competitive business and the rates are low. People should be able to get insurance any time. What if we are unemployed during the period of enrollment?
I’m a non-working college student in Texas which hasn’t opened up Medicaid (making insurance outrageous) living off veterans benefits. I haven’t had insurance in the past but am now thinking about it. I just got married in December, can’t be on my wife’s coverage because she is a phd student and it is paid through her stipend. I do not qualify for a life event because it has been over 2 months since marriage. This is pretty ridiculous. It seems all Obama Care has done is make it more difficult for me to get insurance.
If you want to regulate anything, why not open up NIH grants and provide more funding for medical research rather than having the medical companies pay for it themselves. Require low-cost medicine in return for the research money. This would be a win-win, reducing the cost of medicine for all. Also, extend these grants to hospitals in return for low cost care, and so on. Instead, we give something like 2 billion a year to NIH when we should give 20 billion or more. Private business has to pay extraordinary costs to get their medication into the marketplace. Instead of regulating the common people, how about you try to regulate the medical industry by putting a little bit more money in the budget for funding their work?
Insurance is a pain in the a**, I can’t get it, and I can’t even afford it. It is frustrating, instead of protecting us, obamacare is preventing us from protection.
ObamaCareFacts.com
The answer is that the few states who ran pilot programs pre Romney-care found that people would wait until they were sick to sign up. HHS even had to tighten the rules on special enrollment due to this. If the rule isn’t set in this way it appears people abuse it (although we haven’t really tested this on a grand scale).
It is one reason single payer is attractive. Kind of cuts out the paperwork and bureaucracy.
Clyde Ankle
Couldn’t you make a more honest living as a carnival barker?
Tom Matiski
I have never said anything publicly before about anything political. But my wife has had so much turmoil and difficulty with her health care after she was forced into an Obama Care plan. She frequently needs acute care and can’t get it. She has needed a referral for specialists, and despite a platinum plan, it has taken 5-8weeks to get it. In the mean time, she has become seriously ill waiting when she could have done so much better if treated in a more timely manner. So as a spouse and a Christian who has seen my wife suffer because of being forced out of her previous plan into Obam Care, if you are responsible for my wife’s suffering, I condemn you to hell for your arrogance. You deserve to go to hell. Even if you do not believe in hell, please go to hell…….
Donald
This is such nonsense. Chronically ill patients who work full time in professional careers like myself have seen our coverage decrease while our expenses go up hundreds of percent higher. I now pay almost $15,000 per year and navigate a pile of bills because my “platinum” level of coverage I used to have is now no longer offered because we have to pay for millions of people who don’t have any coverage. Would it be better if I just didn’t have coverage and stopped working because I could qualify for disability? It could get to that point which is disheartening because I should be able to receive my medication at a reasonable price and contiue to be productive through my lifepspan. Every person I know at work and in my family is struggling will healthcare bills now due to this mess. This didn’t FIX anything. It added more layers of complex government nonsense to a broken system and forces the middle class to carry the weight of the unemployed not looking for work garbage this country continues to cater to. You don’t need to tell me why it doesn’t suck, I’m experiencing the ride as we speak.
John
So if your numbers are right, 87% get subsidies, paid by the other 13%?
Mandating that we buy a service is un-American. If you want to be like Europe or Canada, move there.
How is this Affordable Care?
$15,000 a year in premiums
$13,000 in deductibles
Yeah, The ACA SUCKS. Naming it after our exalted leader just adds insult to injury.
mane D.
Second year uninsured thanks to this disaster!!
I had insurance through my entire adult life that is until the Obama/Pelosi monstrosity commonly known as Obamacare.
I had a decent insurance plan that provided coverage for both my child and I for a decent monthly premium and a deductible I could chose based upon my personal financial condition but that’s no more because now some unknown bureaucrat decided my premium/deductible forcing me to choose between insurance for my child or I. I chose my child of course and what did I get for her? a premium that already increased by 20% year after year with a preposterous $6,000+ deductible which we don’t meet!! So this means that under this socialist-scheme I am paying premiums so that somebody else has insurance!!
As for me, forget about it. This year’s quote was for a $420/mo premium with a $6,000 plus deductible and the worst part is that this situation taught me that it’s cheaper for me to go cash than to pay for insurance!!
Yes, some people have benefited from this monster and I will not stand for the proposition that free market is the solution because it is not as I witnessed far too much abuse from the insurance cabal but Obamacare punishes those of us who are already struggling to benefit others and that is not right or fair.
I will never forget the response I got from my “democratic” congressperson when I called to explain the financial problems resulting from Obamacare: “some had to be sacrificed to benefit others” I kid you not, this was the response I received…..of course these people don’t sacrifice as they walk out with a better insurance policy after a few wasted years in congress…..
Fred Davidson
Vote these politicians out who voted for this junk insurance
Travis Bell
This law sucks big time. I’ve been looking for a new job for a while, since I only work twice a week at my current job. I hardly make any money, and I’m still gonna have to pay a huge fee.
Megan
No one is talking about this! I’ve seen several articles saying that the amount of people with health insurance has skyrocketed since the affordable healthcare act. This is true, but it does not make the act a good thing. These people who have recently signed up only did so to avoid being penalized when they file their taxes. Many of these people will never use their insurance because the premiums are too high. What’s the point of paying for something you’ll never use? You’ll be charged for not having it. Shared responsibility, my foot.
Carl
I voted for Obama twice. I was in favor of Obamacare. Sorry to say that I’ve never bought it because it is unrealistically expensive. We needed health care reform and after several years of the ACA we STILL need health care reform.
Obamacare is TOO expensive for those who do not qualify for the subsidies. It is expensive AND has high deductibles. It is DISCOURAGING people from going to see the doctor for fear of incurring out of pocket expenses. Obamacare is simply bankruptcy insurance, not true health insurance.
In SD you cannot buy a plan on the exchange that offers coverage for people like me who travel full time. There is literally no reason for me to buy it because if I have to go to the emergency room in another state I can be backbilled for anything the plan doesn’t cover. And if I have a non-emergency I would literally have to fly to SD just to see a doctor at all. I’ve had a lumpy lymph node in my forearm for decades and was recently thinking I should go see a doctor to make sure it’s not cancerous. How much would it cost me under Obamacare to take care of what should be a simple matter? I’d have to buy the cheapest plan in SD which is $3k. Then I’d have to travel from NV to SD and then pay out of pocket to see the doctor. It’s just insane. So what happens? How many thousands of people just DON’T go to the doctor for anything less than an emergency? How many preventable conditions are now going to turn into serious or life-ending catastrophes due to the ACA?
Clyde Ankle
If you have “coverage” all is right with the world. The real problem is how to kick one of those Honkies off Mt. Rushmore so his head can be replaced with President Obama’s. Obama has solved the nations health care problems and this for all time. So make his head three times bigger than the others!
T Nails
Absolutely clueless. Since ACA, my insurance almost doubled. I now pay 786.00 / mo through my wife’s union plan. Cigna raised it 15% this year. So I started shopping ACA NYState of Health plans for 2016. While at first they look good on paper, try calling any of the specialist listed as accepting ACA. You’ll find the majority listed on some plans and virtually all on others don’t take ACA plans. But the insurers fail to to update the lists. This is straight up fraud. The ones that do are threadbare clinics, out of the way, and crappier doctors. The incentives for good doctors to participate are just not there. So, I stayed as an additional on my wife’s insurance for a felonious premium. I can’t risk putting my hands in the sham that is NY State of Health.
Shocked
My 63 year old mother in law, who works part-time was denied Medicaid not old enough for medicare, cause she “makes to much” 13,000.00 annually. She was told she has to pay $90.00 a month for the OBAMA crap insurance but can not use it unless she meets her 6,000 deductible every year?
Is it me or do they NOT know simple math. That’s 1,080.00 + 6,000 = 7,080 take that away from her years 13,000-7,080= 5,920 to live off for the rest of the year and still have to pay for her meds and visits at discounted rate. That is less than 500.00 to live off of every month. I might be off a couple hundred dollars but either way this is a fucked up program and it literally promotes “quitting a job” just so you can get free health care, food stamps, childcare, phones, money be cause working doesn’t pay.
Lee
I have worked my entire life, 38 years, without ever having any major problems with insurance. Although the cost and the amount I was paying steadily ate away at my paycheck and lowered my standard of life I had no idea how many problems existed with Obamacare.
I lost my job this past year and found out that while I was unemployed my family did not qualify for any help whatsoever. I have to work, my wife has been disabled for years and has many health problems. She is not eligible for disability because her work credits expired.
Since my state did not expand Medicaid I must pay $1400 per month to remain covered while unemployed. If I work at a job that offers insurance I must put my family on the employer offered plan even though it will take more than half of my check due to the “affordability glitch”.
Erin
I am so sorry that you are struggling. The states that didn’t expand Medicaid did a huge disservice for their state’s low income (or temporarily unemployed) residents. The Family Affordibility Glitch is also a failure of the ACA and I hope that gets addressed during the healthcare reform push. Depending on your income, your children may still qualify for CHIP which was in place before the ACA and state’s often provide it to children in families with incomes as high as 200% of the federal poverty level (this varies slightly state to state) and being offered employer sponsored coverage or COBRA doesn’t disqualify eligibility. Check your states CHIP program and get your kids signed up right away, then ask them what the income eligibility is so you are prepared once you return to being employed.
Desperate
The ambetter plan I signed up for has NO providers in my area. I was lead to believe I had access to several doctors plus a major hospital/clinic with this plan. I had to change my plan to a high priced plan with higher deductible, which I have no clue how we are going to pay, in order to find providers in my area. I don’t get any “coverage” until the $12000 deductible is paid. Am I really saving any money for health care if I am paying $12000 plus $450 a month for a year? And that’s considered a discount. I took my son to the doctor without insurance, $106, plus $69 prescription. Seems a bit cheaper to me than the alternative. I am confused…
ObamaCareFacts.com
If you were sold a plan with no providers in your area you should report the plan to your state’s marketplace.
And you are right, going to the doctor for basics can be cheaper out-of-pocket than it is on some plans. Not the case for “free” preventive services or catastrophic accidents or illness.
Now if only this page been title why does the underlying costs of healthcare suck and what can we do about it…
Heather
You are the ONLY one defending Obamacare. Doesn’t that tell you something?
ObamaCareFacts.com
It tells me we created a page that answered the question “why does ObamaCare suck so much”… and it tells me that there are real struggles with the law.
I don’t mind playing “bad cop” here. But someone has to defend the consumer protections and the idea that we need some sort of healthcare reform. I think there are middle-ground solutions, and there are aspects of the private and public market I dislike personally, but until the conversation is “smart reform” instead of “repeal and build a wall around it” i’ll have to keep playing devil’s advocate.
Look at what is in this law. There is lots to defend without being overly happy about restrictive deductibles, loopholes, family glitch, cronyism, etc. https://obamacarefacts.com/summary-of-provisions-patient-protection-and-affordable-care-act/
Joe cicero
Bulls##@@! It’s a disaster they made my deductible 2250 for 2016 I paid a 2500 in 2014 and a reasonable 250 in 2015. Tripled my health care costs!!!!
James
You fail to answer the complaints about 22 million, individually insured and non-subsidized, Americans have. Since the ACA passed, my deductible has risen from $2500 to $6000. My monthly premium has increased from $256 in 2012 to $556 for 2016. That represents 13% of my income for insurance that only covers catastrophic events. For us, this is an expensive joke. I am not unique in my experience. So the ACA screwed 22 million hard working, individually insured Americans to cover how many?
ObamaCareFacts.com
About 22 million. Ironic right? The other 280 million Americans probably fall somewhere in the middle. But then there is all the other things the law does.
There is a difference between “why is healthcare so expensive and what more can we do?” and “why does ObamaCare suck?” You personally can simply file the exemption if the cheapest plan costs more than 8% of your income after tax credits.
That being said, we didn’t create this site to justify the unaffordable costs of the healthcare industry. We started this site to help educate people about the new law and to try to help people understand that we need to band together and demand better solutions over time. Can you imagine if the outcome of all of this is just “repeal the ACA”. I mean 22 million suffered then for what? HealthCare spending was spiraling out of control before the law, we HAVE to do something and we HAVE to provide some sort of health coverage as one of the world’s leaders. We aren’t in an easy position, but we have to rise to the occasion.
Paul
Try and get a 2016 exemption form! It does not exist. I called the “marketplace” or as I call it the “the more than my fair share of shared responsibility”. They can’t provide it either. So wait until the year is over and if you are not approved then pay the penalty. Guess what the chances are of getting approved after the fact. Zero.
ObamaCareFacts.com
You would want a 2015 exemption form for 2015 coverage (taxes are annoying like that). There may be slight updates, but that is what you file for 2015 coverage and for 2016 exemptions you can just call healthcare.gov to confirm.
Gene
No answer, no form, no help
[email protected] Erin
There are about 700 comments and questions in the cue for moderation. A big chunk of them are answered multiple times on ObamacareFacts.com’s many detailed pages, many are vague or include information that is exaggerated, lots of them are just angry about their insurance and want us to “fix” it for them (even though ObamacareFacts.com is independent and not affiliated directly with any insurers or Healthcare.gov), and another chunk is SPAM.
While that isn’t your problem, I hope you understand that we are going to do our best to help folks navigate the Affordable Care Act as a law, but we can’t solve everyone’s individual issues. I don’t know what form you are looking for or what your question is, but if you look for the answer and still can’t find it, please feel free to ask a more specific question and we will do our best to find the answer.
doug
People should not be fined if they dont wont or afford healthcare.period.but trump is going to takecare of that
Anonymous
Stop the hand outs to the Americans who don’t deserve it. Most can work and are not terminal. Make them get a job and stop giving out handouts. Get rid of all free health care or give us all the same as our Congress, senators, and president.
ObamaCareFacts.com
The social safety net isn’t for people who don’t deserve it, it is meant to bounce back hardworking families who fall on hard times or need extra help. http://factmyth.com/the-purpose-of-the-social-safety-net/
Lev Halpern
Wow, what a bunch of BS! Who wrote this crap? I’d love to punch them right in the cajones.
ObamaCareFacts.com
I’m pretty sure that is covered under my HMO. Thanks ObamaCare!
Seriously though, the answer and the question are both slightly tongue in cheek. That being said the content of the answer is essentially on point. One can argue provision by provision, and actually I’d welcome this, because then we would be talking about the hundreds of provisions we never talk about. It’s easy to say “this sucks”, it’s harder to discuss why each provision is or isn’t working.
Ann
Insurance is sucks! From deduction %copay monthly payments everything is suck can’t effort anymore
Bob Smith
Join Tea Party Patriots, and our GOP Heroes and DEMAND additional tax cuts for the noble Job Creator class! Lets get help to those who so desperately need it, and stop wasting money on obozocare to the poor and middle class, end the socialist giveaways like Socialism Security, Mediscam & Medifraud, SNAP, ACA, and so called unemployment benefits for the lazy poor and “entitled” middle (MOOCHER) class like the democrats want. It’s high time for these folks to stop playing the victim and start taking personal responsibility!
Watch Fox News and learn the TRUTH!! obummer is a lazy kenyan born, radical muslim socialist waging a racist jihad against America from our WHITE House, that he stole in 2008 and 2012 with Acorn and the Black Panthers. And Shillary is a lesbian who shot Vince Foster because she was pregnant with his love child!!!
BENGHAZI!
BENGHAZI!
BENGHAZI!
John Q public
BullSh!t. My family now pays 15,000 / year for coverage that is :
A. not as good.
B was less then half of this 5 years ago.
The middle class is once again SCREWED.
Two party system is FLAWED. Revolution is in order…
“I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical”
ObamaCareFacts.com
Being able to vote and communicate your opinions online in a civil manner within the bounds of democracy is pretty revolutionary. Certainly one issue we should be casting our vote about is healthcare.
David unnerstall
The answer is half true. Obamas speech “You can keep your insurance” was a flat out lie. Government can mandate what ever business rules they would like, but in a free marketplace businesses will simply not participate. I paid insurance premiums for 35 years until Obanacare drove NY Life out of the marketplace. I was forced to go to health.gov for insurance. Now Cigna and BCBS have dropped all PPO HSA plans for 2016 and there is not a single exchange plan available for me and my family that has any of our doctors in it. God I hope the Republicans win the presidency and repeal Obama care
ObamaCareFacts.com
Yeah. Politicians aren’t renowned for their laser focused truth telling. Rather politics is an art that is half legislation and half marketing. In retrospect that line was bad marketing. We could have looked at the law and said “if you like your plan, and your plan is ACA compliant, and your insurer offers it, then you can keep it”. I mean insurance doesn’t let you just keep plans that aren’t offered, so the expectation was off in the first place. Yes the opposition would have used truth to play politics with that talking point, but it would have held up over time. I am sure the President regrets oversimplifying the issue, but it’s doubtful he regrets what the ACA gets right.
Eric
So what at all does ACA get right it is a waste of money 800 million was wasted on the defective site and thats according to report produced by Bloomberg Government
Craig
Insurance companies are the issue. You can’t keep the same insurance plan when the insurance company changes all of them. I wonder why they would do that? (I wonder what they think of Obama?)
A for profit healthcare system can never work. It’s sad that America can’t adopt any one of the universal healthcare models from around the world. Let’s not forget that we are the only first world nation without one, and we continue to pay more for worse healthcare. We could also try to stop being a nation of unhealthy irresponsible &$*holes, but that won’t happen.
Juan Lopez
Here is the only smart response I have seen on here. “a for-profit healthcare system can never work. We need universal healthcare.”
Healthcare should not be a money-making industry. It should be considered a basic human right. But people are so scared of government regulation on free market and so-called socialism, even when we can clearly see that it is working in other countries.
The reason the ACA sucks (and it does suck for the middle class) is because you got what you asked for. Republicans did not want “Universal Health Care.” Neither did the insurance companies. So Obama expanded medicaid, which at least allowed poor people to get health care coverage. This while the working middle class, who keeps buying into a nonsensical devotion to unregulated free market, gets to figure out how to pay their deductibles. It shouldn’t be hard, since they are so “responsible.” Or maybe they are more poor than they care to admit or ever realized, and are just now starting to realize that capitalism can be very sucky.
Jake
Our insurance premiums rose from $350 a month to $2000 in 5 years. It doesn’t matter what proponents of Obamacare say. That is a fact. Welfare programs and “aid” to the “poor” take money from my pocket and give it to someone else. It is killing my drive to work hard to increase the success of my business and better the standard of living for my family. It seems the harder I work the more I get penalized. This country is killing my drive to pursue success and it is truly depressing to see and be a part of.
Jerome Janci
Everyone, man woman and child should be on MEDICARE!!!!!!!!! Pay $100 month for each person and enroll as seniors do…if you can afford more than you get a better policy. if you cant, then you have to settle for an HMO…..thats the way to solve this problem…for the welfare people, take it out of their EBT or whatever….then they wont have so many kids .
Todd Nichols
None of these answers are exactly true for starters. This year the plan I pay for currently will almost double in cost? The uninsured you talking about is way under estimated in this article. Plus, we know illegals are getting it for for free which is why I pay so much among other reasons. The coverage I get sucks! People who don’t work get it for free, that don’t put in job applications. This is just another liberal milk the middle class scheme, period.
ObamaCareFacts.com
“Illegals” (which is a prejudice term to be clear) only get coverage in a few select states that use state funding to subsidize Medicaid coverage. This is not what is impacting health insurance costs in any meaningful way. This doesn’t detract from those who are getting a bad deal, or their frustrations.
Jerry
Illegals” (which is not a prejudice term to be clear) if someone is not legally in our country, this is a statement of fact. i do not hate anyone but the term is correct, NO PC if you are talking facts.
ObamaCareFacts.com
Well “illegal immigrants” would be the proper term. “Illegals” is not PC as it specifically derogatory. This doesn’t mean you don’t have a right to say it, or that you don’t have to right to be upset, but it is worth noting.
In this conversation it doesn’t even really need to come up anyway, as illegal immigrants aren’t affecting the cost of healthcare for the most part (unless you live in a liberal state that uses state money to expand Medicaid regardless of citizenship, or are concerned with profits at hospitals who treat unpaid emergency cases).
Your point isn’t unfair, but PC is a matter of respect in its most altruistic form…. That said, my family immigrated to the U.S., I study healthcare, and also have a blog with a whole section on PC (which approaches it from a balanced angle). So i’m not just saying this stuff without thought.
Check it out: http://factmyth.com/tag/politically-correct/
Joe
“Illegals” take advantage of my tax money so I will call them what I want. If they are citizens, they are not “Illegals”. Yes Obamacare does suck. Seriously, I am a business owner and for my Wife, Child and I it is like $1600 per month. Then I am responsible for almost all the charges until I hit a $14k deductible. So I have to pay $18k per year, and charges that will take that to $32k in one year. If I paid cash for a hernia surgery, that won’t exceed $22k, not that I need one but that is a costly surgery for a good example bc it is common, so having OC would cost me $10k more in a year than paying cash, including the aftercare meds. Where is the benefit again?
Steve
what is prejudice about the term illegals? They are here “illegally”.. There are much worse words we can use for them other than what they actually are… “ILLEGALS”
Ryan
Totally agree! Get rid of illegal immigrants then we are fine. I love Trump.
ObamaCareFacts.com
This user doesn’t mean that. Gonna build a wall around your bad vibes, make you pay for it. Make this thread great again.
D
Thank you so much for that. Made me laugh out loud and snort. Back to SNL viewing now; have a good night!
Name
Well, President Obama did say repeatedly that people would be able to keep their existing coverage. It turns out that was not true, and millions of people can not afford the replacement coverage that is offered.
So Obama obviously sucks, and the “Affordable Care Act” is a joke, at least in as far as the name is concerned. Unfortunately, it is a joke that is not funny.
ObamaCareFacts.com
Perhaps he was just assuming that no one actually liked there health insurance? I mean people like puppies and tacos and pizza, not their PPO.
Joking aside, there are 320 million people in the US about 2 million lost plans and didn’t get a new one with cost assistance or Medicaid or by going on an employer plan (about 5 – 6 “lost plans” in general), 17.5 million uninsured got covered under the law by Nov 2015.
Those are the facts, doesn’t take away from anyone’s frustrations or problems, but it’s gotta be said to keep things in balance.
Jim
You say 17.5 million uninsured got covered under this law by Nov. 2015. A huge amount of those people will pay 100% of their healthcare costs out of pocket due to high deductibles. So WHY is it better for them to be insured? How would they not be better off WITHOUT the monthly premiums? What benefit are they going to receive before they meet their deductible? The correct answer seems to be somewhere in the range of nothing to peanuts in comparison to premiums. Who cares about 17.5 million newly insured people if this insurance offers them nothing in the day-to-day struggle with American healthcare.
People just north of the poverty line will NEVER be in a position to spend up to their deductible, not to mention the nightmare of dealing with the plan networks. The only things we need are lower costs at the point of care, fewer barriers to access, and reasonable standards for quality. Anything outside of that just reeks of corruption and profiteering.
Tim
But the main concern is why am I forced to buy a plan I don’t want because the deductable is so high three times the amount I make in a year are wages going to go up is someone going to take action for the people that pay 30 dollars a check for preventive service why can’t that money go into a healthsavings account that can’t be withdrawn from with an interest rate that banks use to pay now if I sit around and cry what can I do about it to rid this pain Obama has caused I can quit my Job and get free health insurance? Please respond.
ObamaCareFacts.com
So you can fund an HSA that is tax free in and tax free out. That lowers your taxable income too. This could help you qualify for subsidies on the Marketplace. If your income is low enough that caps your deductible too. A person who needs medical services should be looking at lower deductible silver plans (many are HSA eligible).
Karen
I have become so sick and stressed over Obama Care!! At first it was great. Now the premium has gone up so much, and those Silver deducitbles you say are supposed to be low are not!! I’m being charged off my gross income and Obama Care does not care that I have rent, utilities, food, gas etc. to buy. After my monthly premium I DO NOT have enough to make it. I drive a 20 year old car and can’t imagine what I’ll do when I have to somehow get a car also. I will never use my insurance as I can’t afford to….if I go to a more affordable bronze plan then it’s basically no coverage. But it’s not like I’d be able to pay off the Silver deductibles and out of pocket costs anyway! I have always worked hard and have picked up extra work only to be penalized for it. You either have to be really rich in this country or really poor. I see more BK’s in the future. I’ll be one of them. BTW, you mention a HSA in the Silver plan? Haven’t seen it offered.
ObamaCareFacts.com
Look for HSA eligible plans. Typically silver plans will be, although if you do end up with subsidies it could prevent you from funding the HSA. It’s based on income.
And sorry, Silver Plan is sort of the generic (albeit good) suggestion it’s not going to be on the money in every life situation.
It sounds to me that you weren’t getting cost assistance applied correctly. Check out this page: https://obamacarefacts.com/federal-poverty-level/
RICHRD
THOUGHT WE LIVED IN A DEMOCRACY NOT COMMUNIST COUNTRY, LIMITING HOW MANY HOURS WE CAN WORK OR MAKING COMPANIES PAY FEES IF EMPLOYEES WORK TO MANY HOURS THAT ARE PART TIME. THE GOVERNMENT SHOULDN’T LIMIT HOW MANY HOURS SOMEONE CAN/ WANTS TO WORK. WHO CARES IF THEY ARE PART TIME, IF THEY WANT TO AND CAN WORK THEY SHOULD BE ABLE TOO. THIS GOT TO STAY BELOW 28 HOURS FOR THE HEALTHCARE LAW OR BE PENALIZED IS BULL.
MIchael Caudill
This answer is political spin doctoring. The reality is that while millions of of Americans now have insurance, they cannot use it because the deductible is so high.
All Obamacare has done is strip hard working Americans of useful health insurance (we had the same coverage for 15 years, since Obamacare it has been cancelled twice, the cost is nearly 50% more, and our our deductible is so high the insurance never actually pays for anything) so that insurance companies, giant health care corporations and the government don’t pay for anything unless it is a catastrophic illness.
The government now is supposedly paying less, giant hospital corporations aren’t forced to provide free care, and the insurance companies are guaranteed a profit. Read the law -it’s all there.
ObamaCareFacts.com
There is truth in what you say, but we have to remember that you were one of the lucky ones who was being charged reasonable rates before the law. Other people who didn’t have enough money or had been sick in the past are now getting coverage for the first time. How do we retain that, but fix the part that hurt you. That answer is the answer we should be looking for.
To be clear though, high deductibles on high premium plans is not a winning long term strategy. Not going to argue that.
jason
Nope… he is not the lucky ones. He is the ones that where responsible like my wife and I we made sure we had insurance. We managed it ourself’s. Our insurance is now more expensive, with less services and a really high deductible with now only two choices in the Market Place for us since every year more insurance companies drop out.
John
Who the F are you kidding many hard working tax paying Americans like me had affordable insurance until this TURD called Obamacare wasd created!!
Now like many my insurance deductable has more than tripled, les coverage and premiums have tripled. So tell me again how this is good for me!!
ObamaCareFacts.com
I don’t think I ever implied it was good for everyone. There is a lot in America that is a better deal for some than others. Not sure this will change in the next 4, but we will be fighting to help ensure it gets better. That is what our support for the good parts of the ACA was about, that is what our support of whatever is good about TrumpCare will be about.
Heath Carington
Obamacare did absolutely nothing to address the cost of health care, they only went after the Insurers. Why does Canada negotiate better prices on prescriptions? Why is it the we don’t know how much a service will cost until AFTER it is done? There is no open transparency with the cost of health care, so they charge whatever they want and there is no way to shop for the best price. Also, the penalty for not having coverage is so low that many forgo the coverage and just pay the penalty. This has led to adverse selection. With guarantee issue we need to have a large pool of health people in the pool, but there are way too many sick, which is driving up costs. There needs to be a penalty in the form of a waiting period for pre-existing conditions for those who decide not to have coverage. This would encourage people to keep coverage instead of just getting it when they need it. Another thing, it’s a complete joke that if a family has someone with Employer Coverage that it prohibits the rest of the family from getting a subsidy. This is a huge burden on many families, and it makes absolutely no sense. Obamacare was about government control. This entire thing could have been fixed by keeping underwriting for those that are healthy, expanding Medicaid and subsidizing State High Risk Pools, and it would have been done at a fraction of the cost. This is what happens when a bill is passed that has not been read.
ObamaCareFacts.com
https://obamacarefacts.com/obamacare-control-costs/
https://obamacarefacts.com/summary-of-provisions-patient-protection-and-affordable-care-act/
Smart comments and good points, although I will say for fairness cost cubing measures are working and some of us have actually read the bill. Provisions by provision there are pros and cons, but such is the case with most legislation.
The annoying thing is the ACA needs reform and the discussion manages to be repeal vs. perfection. How about we start with state-based public options via sec. 1332 and take it from there?
James .schneider
because I work for a temp service not working today
Simpleman
Premiums were high before Obamacare but deductibles were more attainable; now, premium doubled, deductible doubled. The insurance companies are the only winners.
ObamaCareFacts.com
Deductibles are a major sticking point. I won’t argue that. However, more than just the insurance companies won, the old environment of being excluded for a preexisting condition was to me not worth the lower deductible. Still, way more work to do, and nothing excuses the current problems.
Wayne Cravey
I agree my insurance premiums went up four fold my deductible went up 7 fold and nothing not even two ER visits for actual accidents, one that left me unable to walk for several weeks were covered as NONE of the services meet the criteria for the deductible. At the end of the year the amount applied to my deductible was $0 and when I got through paying the bills I had only $100 left to my name! Yea thanks Oboma for looking out for hard working Americans!