Obamacare/Trumpcare Horror Stories

[fan_since79]

I received my 2017 enrollment package from Anthem on Friday and have been afraid to open it until just now.

A very pleasant surprise. My premium was raised 'only' 7%. 

Dodged a bullet, at least for one more year. Hooray!

 

[Make Angels Great Again]

32 minutes ago, Adam said:

Isn't it an 11% tax for healthcare in the UK assessed against your NET income, not gross? I could be wrong. Correct me if so. 

 

That doesn't sound terribly cheap. 

For 2016 it looks like 55k or so and up is taxed at 2%. income between 10-55k is taxed at 12%. below 10k is 0%.

[Make Angels Great Again]

My folks pay about 15k or so per year in just premiums alone, and my mom is constantly in the hospital for breathing issues. I'm pretty sure they'd kill for the NHS here.

[Catwhoshatinthehat]

Actually there's different classes of NI in the UK and what someone pays depends on their employment status and how much they earn.  Employees working full time earning roughly the median wage for the UK are paying about 8% while their employer kicks in another 13.8%.  

[Make Angels Great Again]

Right, I was looking at this page: https://www.gov.uk/national-insurance-rates-letters/contribution-rates

 

There are different letters assigned depending on various factors but it seems like most people would fall in category A.

[Catwhoshatinthehat]

I've been working on payroll for our UK office for over 3 years and have never seen anyone fall in Category A while the people who see a "lower" rate are higher wage earners who hit the upper limits.  Again, the people earning a median wage have roughly 21.5% of their comp being paid into NI between their contributions and those of their employer.  

[Make Angels Great Again]

Wait, you've never seen someone fall in category A in 3 years? I must be misunderstanding you.

 

Category letter	Employee group
A	All employees apart from those in groups B, C, J, H, M and Z in this table
B	Married women and widows entitled to pay reduced National Insurance
C	Employees over the State Pension age
J	Employees who can defer National Insurance because they’re already paying it in another job
H	Apprentice under 25
M	Employees under 21
Z	Employees under 21 who can defer National Insurance because they’re already paying it in another job

[Catwhoshatinthehat]

No actually I misunderstood and was still looking at the rate table.  

[Blarg]

4 hours ago, Make Angels Great Again said:

Stats are skewed. Cancer mortality rates are almost exactly the same between the two countries, while survival rates are higher for the US because of over-diagnoses.

Over diagnosis? Are you fucking kidding me? It's cancer! You can't over diagnose it. 

And the stats are not skewed,  you just refuse to belive them. 

[Make Angels Great Again]

Over diagnosis is a thing actually. Read about it here. 

https://www.cancer.gov/news-events/cancer-currents-blog/2015/overdiagnosis-meeting

[Jay]

http://dailycaller.com/2016/10/03/bill-clinton-trashes-obamacare-at-event-calls-it-crazy-system/

Bill Clinton Trashes Obamacare At Event, Calls It ‘Crazy System’

 

[Blarg]

His wife voted for it. Does that make her a crazy woman? 

[fan_since79]

“The people … out there busting it, sometimes 60 hours a week, wind up with their premiums doubled and their coverage cut in half,” Clinton said. “It’s the craziest thing in the world.”

You tell 'em, Bill!

 

[arch stanton]

Is that an accurate statement? I thought the reason for the premium hikes was because the coverage was mandated.

[fan_since79]

3 hours ago, arch stanton said:

Is that an accurate statement? I thought the reason for the premium hikes was because the coverage was mandated.

A whole list of mandated coverages (free colonoscopies, just one example)

Very few young, healthy people signing up but preferring to pay the penalty instead.

Large number of older, sick people running up liabilities for the companies.

Exponential increase in medical and prescription drug costs. Obamacare does nothing to address this problem.

So, as a result, huge premium hikes in order for the few companies remaining in Obamacare to stay solvent.

 

[arch stanton]

4 hours ago, fan_since79 said:

A whole list of mandated coverages (free colonoscopies, just one example)

Very few young, healthy people signing up but preferring to pay the penalty instead.

Large number of older, sick people running up liabilities for the companies.

Exponential increase in medical and prescription drug costs. Obamacare does nothing to address this problem.

So, as a result, huge premium hikes in order for the few companies remaining in Obamacare to stay solvent.

 

But not half the coverage? I guess that makes his statement a half-truth.

[nate]

19 hours ago, arch stanton said:

But not half the coverage? I guess that makes his statement a half-truth.

Smaller networks, higher deductibles, etc.  They were paying less for a higher plan.

[arch stanton]

4 hours ago, nate said:

Smaller networks, higher deductibles, etc.  They were paying less for a higher plan.

But are they getting their coverage cut in half? I'm not questioning the suck level of Obamacare just wondering about the exaggeration. Seems like the statement was made to intentionally allow  anyone to rally for or against as they saw fit.

[nate]

48 minutes ago, arch stanton said:

But are they getting their coverage cut in half? I'm not questioning the suck level of Obamacare just wondering about the exaggeration. Seems like the statement was made to intentionally allow  anyone to rally for or against as they saw fit.

It just depends on half.  A buy up plan may have a much smaller out of pocket than a base plan.  They are definitely sensationalizing it but it isn't much of an exaggeration.

[arch stanton]

5 hours ago, nate said:

Smaller networks, higher deductibles, etc.  They were paying less for a higher plan.

I thought the big complaint about Obamacare was paying for coverage you don't need. If so then you and I have very different definitions of the word half.

[nate]

12 hours ago, arch stanton said:

I thought the big complaint about Obamacare was paying for coverage you don't need. If so then you and I have very different definitions of the word half.

We are talking about two different things.  The mandates mean higher premiums.

You might get covered for more things however your out of pocket is twice (or even 3x) as much.  So your obgyn visits and psych visits are free, but if you break your leg, you are paying 2x or 3x as much out of pocket.  So that is where the "half" comes from.  Not half the covered treatments, 2x the out of pocket costs for normal need a doctor shit.

[NJHalo]

[Tank]

@Blarg, this would be the perfect place to include the tardy says graphic of the a's logo with a fork in it.

[Make Angels Great Again]

 

[Spirit]

On October 6, 2016 at 6:23 PM, Tank said:

@Blarg, this would be the perfect place to include the tardy says graphic of the a's logo with a fork in it.

 

Is that Towelie's time challenged little brother?