A Short Health Care Discussion
I generally stay out of discussions about health care. Being on MediCal- although I pretty much pay all my own medical bills- I feel I should stand aside on those. But, I had a short lived discussion with a neighbor yesterday I found interesting, if not frustrating.
The first thing he said as he walked up was something along the line of "TheTea Party is dead and now we have MediCare for all"- the MediCare reference meaning what he believed to be Obamacare. I replied that I wasn't so sure the Tea Party was dead, but what did he mean by we're all on MediCare, or however it was he put it.
He asked me when I first started working. I replied age 16. He replied he started working at 15 and that he's worked 50 years. He pulled out his newly issued MediCare card and told me "I worked 50 years to earn this. Now just anybody can get it.". I had to tell him Obamacare is nothing like MediCare. He insisted it was.
I went on to tell him about how MediCal works- with income restrictions and all- and how I'd recently tried the new Obamacare web site to see how what they might offer that would fit us. I found a plan that was pretty much along the lines of what I'd checked out on Blue Shield recently. That plan was $83.00 a month with a $2000 deductible.
The one we might have qualified for under Obamacare was pretty much the same thing although it was subsidized depending on one's income. Our cost would have supposedly been $2.00 a month after a tax rebate to cover the hundreds of dollars it would normally cost. It also had various things covered, or not, plus the same $2000 deductible. I told him that was hardly MediCare.
I wanted to take it further and explain a few more things along with asking him some questions about how MediCare works for him. I suspect he thought I'd be more sympathetic to what he was trying to say but he abruptly turned and walked away in a huff.
So much for a chat with someone that seems to have gotten their entire understanding of all things political listening to Sean Hannity.
It turned out we didn't qualify for the Obamacare plan, anyway, as we were already on MediCal/MediCare.
posted by Fred Mangels @ 9:24 AM
15 comments
15 Comments:
"I generally stay out of discussions about health care. Being on MediCal- although I pretty much pay all my own medical bills- I feel I should stand aside on those."
Why? You take advantage of a great program that helps those without a but-load of money to, I don't know keep the home they worked their lifetime to own? This is absolutely something you should be writing about.
People walking away in a huff.. this is how I feel trying to converse about third parties with you.
Has anyone reading this been able to sign up for Obama care yet even Forbes is saying it looks like the web sites weren't designed to work ony to collect data. Anyone with private insurance seen their premiums Co pay or deductible go up?
THC
I've been hearing the web sites didn't work, but it worked fine for me. Except all I did was check what plans were available. I didn't go further and that seems to be what most were complaining about.
I've only heard anecdotally of people's premiums going up, especially for younger folks. I haven't heard anything from a live person.
In related news, the wife received a booklet a month or two ago from MediCal(?) telling her she was no longer able to see the doctors she normally sees unless they were on the list MediCal provided. She said she had to go to some other doctor and then maybe that doctor could refer her back to her original one. So much for choice, although that was for MediCal not MediCare.
I told her to call and ask her doctor's office about it as I couldn't believe they could just tell her to stop seeing her doctor. She ended up calling to cancel an appointment and was told that only applied to MediCal patients. Since MediCare pays most of her bills it didn't apply to her. Wonder why they never sent me anything?
I don't know keep the home they worked their lifetime to own?
Except MediCal has sent us more than a couple notices that our home could be forfeit should we die with no one to pass the home to. I actually don't have a problem with that.
They can legally put a lean on any asset you have
Got it Fred. I won't bother you any longer.
I think it's a crying shame that we can't have an open discussion. That is ultimately why we have such a disagreement on the violence dealeo. Despite your apparent denial, there are sides, plenty of overlap, and room for agreement or disagreement on this or that subject, but in the end the way this experiment in governence has worked in practice (even in this School Board Election) is there is a left and a right or a Democrat or a Republican or a Democratic Republican and a Federalist. Maybe your party isn't here yet.
Again, I am saddened that we can't converse, but you know were to find me and the door is always open. For Democracy to work, we have to have open, honest, informed dialog, without that - you're dreams will come true. Which is probably kinda the point I'm sure. Chow.
I received yet again an e-mail from Anonymous that didn't show up here. Basically, the question was why Obamacare isn't MediCare:
So what is dif from it and medicare. medicare has a deductible, And im kinda skeptical that you got prices when you did your search.
I'm not entirely sure about co- payments with MediCare which why I wanted to ask some questions of the fellow before he scurried off. He might not have been on MediCare long enough to know exactly how it works.
I know the wife has been on MediCare (under 65, though) for some time. She makes some co- payments but they're minimal, I think it might be $1.00 per prescription or some such. We've never had to worry about making any co- payments. At least nothing she's mentioned to me.
The Obamacare plan we were looking at had a $2000.00 deductible per person, plus co- pays for some things and other things that you paid out of pocket for.
Medicare doesn't have a monthly premium, either. At least I don't believe we've ever paid one. The ObamaCare plan was something like $700 to $800 a month for two people, but (and this part was confusing) it said we'd only pay $2.00 a month- the rest being refunded in taxes, or some such.
That was of concern, if I had that right, as we wouldn't have even $700.00 to pay per month only to have to wait to get it back in a tax refund. That's if I'm reading it right.
Nor does Obamacare have property asset limits if you're under 65, So, the fellow I spoke with needn't worry about that, but the wife and I run into trouble with MediCare if we have more than $10k in assets, which usually means cash, cars and such. With MediCAL the property limit is $3000.00, something I wouldn't wish on anybody.
And, yes, they do give prices on the web site. You type in a few items of info: annual income, number of people, and such, and it quickly shows you what plans you qualify for.
We did it about 4 times before I realized there was a warning saying since we qualified for MediCal we didn't qualify for ObamaCare. Same goes with those on employer sponsored health plans.
Oh, Anon also asked,why did big business and unions get a year exemption from enrolling and individuals didnt?.
They got an exemption from Obamacare because there were some problems with ObamaCare recognized by all sides. Why individuals didn't get that temporary exemption you'll have to ask Obama and the Democrats.
You might recall that was one point of contention in the recent government shutdown. The Republicans wanted to give individuals that same exemption. The White House refused.
When my wife was temporarily unemployed, we discovered she was uninsurable through private insurance at 35-years-old. She has asthma (a mild condition requiring an inhaler for a couple minutes perhaps once every 4 months), and she tried more than a dozen insurers before giving up.
Eight percent of Americans have asthma in the United States.
She had a 6 month gap in insurance before she found employment again.
The unfortunate thing about Obamacare is that, because of its nickname, many people may not look into it to see how they'll benefit. The law is far from perfect, it's a great improvement over the utterly broken status quo. Hopefully we can build upon it now.
From what I can tell it's not any less expensive than regular insurance except for those that already have health problems. Those pre- existing conditions would have either cost them much more in premiums or excluded them altogether prior to this.
They'd still be unaffordable to most if not for the subsidy for lower income types, and I'm not sure quite how the subsidy works.
It says something about a tax rebate. Are you supposed to come up with the premium each month and then get money back after you file taxes? If so, I don't know how a lot of folks could afford it.
Oh, and then I read in the Santa Rosa Press- Democrat (just one place I'd read about it) that California was going to try to get over a million more people on MediCal as part of implementing Obamacare.
I had to ask there if those new MediCal people would be subject to the same asset limits and reporting requirements that those already on MediCal face. One person who claimed to be in the know said they wouldn't.
So how does that work? I don't get it, and didn't see anything about that on the ObamaCare site. Heck, I'd love to switch the that MediCal program, without the asset limits, if I could. Why the difference for one group over the others?
Nobody gets it and that's the point it was written in a manner that no one can understand and can be easily changed at any time. what people don't seem to understand this is not controlled by the government its not a single payer program like you see in the UK and Canada its just a mandate to buy insurance from a private company that have no limit as of yet on what they can charge people welcome to the beginning of the USSA
THC
..its just a mandate to buy insurance from a private company that have no limit as of yet on what they can charge....
Kinda like the forced garbage service in Eureka. The price has gone up considerably since it was made mandatory.
One thing few seem to have noticed about ObamaCare is that the federal government is only helping fund it for something like 3 years. You have to wonder what will happen to the premium subsidy once the feds stop their funding?
You had made a comment at the end of section something like "they only subsidize for 3 years makes you wonder what will happen then" there really isnt any wonder well only the libs maybe. The obamacare drafters know that it will only take 3 years to crash the healthcare with this new program which will make it so we have to goto single payer system. There are many places in new healthcare law that after three years states can goto single payer healthcare. that is there main goal. All you have to do to understand this law is read marks book on marxism. The number one thing in a marxist nation to do is control the healthcare which will put you in control of the people. Obama studied marxist way in school and his collage transcripts they faught tooth and nail to seal fromt he american people are all writin about how to control americans and the number one way to crash the healthcare system. No where in obamacare did they fix our healthcare. The number one problem was the cost and no where did they do anything about cost in law. they said you cant be denied with pre existing condition but didnt say they couldnt charge what they wanted when forced to accept you. They say it was to take stress off emergency rooms but then want to give amnesty to 15 million illegals who will not have to have healthcare and employees will get tax credit for highering the newly amnestied illegals. And the companyies will not have to provide healthcare and only citizens can be on obmacare so the newly amnestied illegals will be flooding the E.R. at a cost to tax payers. And we know the illegals have a kid a year to eventually be able to swing election by increasing there numbers. We have to stop the birther laws so to protect our country. and why do you not post all are comments only cherry pic what you want others to see. are you sensoring the opposition another play right out of marxist 101 handbook
Finally somebody that did some research on the 10000 plus page law
THC
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