Obamacare success stories

[fan_since79]

I have one (sort of).

 

I signed up for Obamacare on the Covered California site over the Thanksgiving weekend. The whole thing was a breeze, took under 45 minutes. The site works great, very easy to navigate. They told me Blue Cross would be contacting me with payment information. I must pay them my first months' premium by Dec 26th in order for me to be covered come January 1st.

 

There was one glitch. The link they gave me that was supposed to set up my payment with them is dead. When I logged in to Blue Cross (I'm currently a member), all they have is my current plan and billing info. Nothing at all about my new policy. When I called them, I got a recording telling me to expect an extremely long wait before speaking to a live person. The last time I went through this I was on hold for TWO HOURS. 

 

It has been ten days now since I enrolled, and December 26th is fast approaching. I hope Blue Cross received my enrollment and is processing it, but I have no way to know.

 

Oh...my premium more than doubled, but I will be eligible for a partial subsidy since my income is not very high.

 

 

 

 

[tdawg87]

Oh...my premium more than doubled, but I will be eligible for a partial subsidy since my income is not very high.

 

Sweet!

[fan_since79]

I saved a lot of money not going to Angels games the past few years, so I have some extra funds to spend on health care!

[Lhalo]

Edited December 10, 2013 by Lawrence

[Blarg]

Your idea of success is like saying lives were saved on the Titanic because of the lifeboats they had.

[Blarg]

In the New York Times today they had an article about how because of the mandatory health care rules people are finding they are paying premiums for health care insurance that does not cover anything until they have paid in over $5,500 in deductibles on the least expensive plans. This is 35% increase over the average plan before the law was enacted and the initial cost is higher as well so the total year coverage costs around $9,000 before the insurance kicks in.

[fan_since79]

And more and more doctors and hospitals are opting out of many Obamacare plans, according to recent news reports.

[TennAngelsFan]

This thing is scaring the life out of people.  In so many ways it's changing our levels of comfort.  We all know people that were already hurting because of this stinky economy.  Now they can't be sure of getting competent medical care even if they've done the right things and have good insurance. 

 

Last month my wife fell and broke her wrist.  Yep, we had no choice we headed to the emergency room at 1:30 in the morning  First question?  Insurance papers please.  Yes.  To be honest they gave us 1st class attention.  The next day we had to wait 4 hours but we saw a 1st rate Dr we didn't even know.  Yep they wanted insurance before we even got in the door. Then the next day surgery about 5 hours at the hospital.  Thank God we have pretty good insurance, Blue Cross approved everything the 1st day.  The bills keep rolling in totaling about $30,000. that without an overnight stay.  The way the game is played they wrote off about $23,000.  Blue Cross paid about $5,000.  So I think I will pay about $2,000 out of pocket.  I hope I met my deductible because we have therapy next.

 

I don't even know what I am saying.  I guess I'm grateful we had insurance.  It's scaring my wife something terrible that we will lose it now.  We've both paid in over 30 years of our working lives both been healthy til now. Neither of us feel secure anymore knowing what this government is doing to people's security. I can't imagine what people are going thru that get billed for $30,000 or perhaps over a hundred thousand for major incidents.  I just shake my head when I hear the nighmare stories of people seriously ill losing their insurance over this. 

 

Thanks for listening to my rant sorry guys.

[fan_since79]

How about $500 for a single stich? Cut yourself and end up paying over $2,000 for a few minutes of the doctor's time. Insane.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/03/health/as-hospital-costs-soar-single-stitch-tops-500.html?_r=0

[Taylor]

It's about time we all paid our fair share.

[fan_since79]

LOL. Yeah, what are tens of millions of personal bankruptcies in the whole scheme of things?

[TennAngelsFan]

Gosh, can't believe what is going on .  Not many years ago I got a busted chin playing softball.  Needed a few stitches and I doubt if it was more than a couple hundred.  I think I can remember going into a Dr.'s office and only paying maybe $25.00.  Now I see them billing my insurance hundreds with me paying perhaps $15.00.   Gosh, how did I get so old I remember how cheap stuff used to be?

[fan_since79]

In the New York Times today they had an article about how because of the mandatory health care rules people are finding they are paying premiums for health care insurance that does not cover anything until they have paid in over $5,500 in deductibles on the least expensive plans. This is 35% increase over the average plan before the law was enacted and the initial cost is higher as well so the total year coverage costs around $9,000 before the insurance kicks in.

 

CBS is the only broadcast network that's figured this out. ABC and NBC are clueless so far, unintentionally or on purpose.

 

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/matthew-balan/2013/12/09/cbs-notices-another-problem-obamacare-higher-deductibles-abc-nbc-omit

[mtangelsfan]

In speaking with a doctor friend of mine he and many of his associates have not even been contacted by the government as to whether or not they want to be on the exchange.  Their names are just put on it.

[Jay]

Thanks To Obamacare, A 20,000 Doctor Shortage Is Set To Quintuple

 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/sallypipes/2013/06/10/thanks-to-obamacare-a-20000-doctor-shortage-is-set-to-quintuple/

 

In California, for example, folks covered by Blue Shield’s exchange plan will have access to about a third of its physician network. The UCLA Medical Center and its doctors are available to customers of just one plan for sale through the state exchange, Covered California. And the prestigious Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is not taking anyone with exchange insurance.

[fan_since79]

I considered Health Net as one of my possible choices for companies on Covered California. Their premiums are much cheaper on average than the others. After taking a look at their Provider list, though, and finding very few doctors within ten miles that would take this insurance, with the nearest available hospital 9 miles away, I went with the more expensive Blue Cross.

[LBHalos17]

Nailed-it, Lawrence!

Even the Socialists are laughing at us now..

[Angel Oracle]

Only in America....the 1% have the great majority, and 40 million uninsured are causing headaches for the other 250 million. 

 

Every one needs to be insured.   But Obama totally screwed the pooch on this one.

Edited December 11, 2013 by Angel Oracle

[mtangelsfan]

I don't know if everyone needs to be insured.  I would say it would be more important that everyone had access to affordable health care. 

[Crampknees]

Insurance is still up and running and nothing changed.  Will likely be a premium raise first of the year like always.  Isn't this a success story?  

[Bruce Nye]

I saw a report that the CBO reported that in 2010, the top 40% paid 106.2% of all federal income taxes.  The 60% accounted for -9.1% getting an average of $18,950 from the gov't.

 

So apparently our "fair share" is still not fair enough.

[mtangelsfan]

I have an honest Affordable Care Act question:

 

Lets say somebody who isn't very wealthy chooses an inexespensive option with a high deductable.  What happens when they get sick or hurt and they can't pay their deductable?

[nate]

The provider would be responsible for collecting that money.  After a period of non payment they would go to collections.  As long as they continue to pay premium their coverage would continue.

[Jay]

I have an honest Affordable Care Act question:

 

Lets say somebody who isn't very wealthy chooses an inexespensive option with a high deductable.  What happens when they get sick or hurt and they can't pay their deductable?

 

The IRS comes and confiscates all the smartphones, tablets, and big-screen TVs in the household.

[Lhalo]

The IRS comes and confiscates all the smartphones, tablets, and big-screen TVs in the household.

 

What about the rims? They wouldn't take the rims would they?!!!!