You've Been Duped The Affordable Care Act isn't raising your premiums. Republicans are

[FriendlyFire]

This is what happening to many of the Republican controlled states saddly
For the aging rual population cost increases were going to happen anyways, medicare expansion was suppose to take a lot of the oldest and sickest from the market onto the government. So states that didnt do this ended up with a sicker pool. Then telling the youth not to follow the mandate with its weak enforcement meant healthy did not join the pool. The loop hole where the sick would buy insurance get treatment then leave could have been closed up and fixed.

Thus many of The Republican states ACA are in death spiral
Withholding the subsidies is one way of killing the ACA, along with unintended consequences but at least the Deplorables will never figure it out.

Well played GOP, well played

You've Been Duped The Affordable Care Act isn't raising your premiums. Republicans are

Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan, Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price and Trump have used repeatedly: that the Affordable Care Act is in a so-called "death spiral" that will inevitably "explode," so they need to pass a bill, no matter how terrible, before it does. That narrative is patently false. In fact, most of the instability driving up premiums in the marketplace can be directly traced to Republicans' efforts to undermine the health care law for their own political purposes.

Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, for example, was among the first to land a blow. In 2014, he proudly led a successful effort to cut funding for the "risk corridors" program. The consequence of that ploy to score political points was that some insurers left the marketplace, and many Americans' premiums went up.

Perhaps the most drastic way that the Trump administration is sabotaging American's health insurance is by refusing to commit to reimbursing health plans for the cost-sharing reduction payments they make to lower out-of-pocket costs for their lowest income members. Insurance companies are currently in the process of determining their rates for the 2018 plan year, and without a guarantee from the administration that they will receive the payments they are owed, they will factor that added cost into their premiums for next year. And you don't have to take my word for it – the Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that insurers would need to raise premiums for silver-level plans by an average of 19 percent to compensate if the administration will not commit to making the cost-sharing reduction payments.

One common thread in all these efforts is that Americans who purchase their health coverage through the individual market are the ones harmed, not insurance companies. The administration and Republicans in Congress want you to believe that insurers raising premiums for their plans or exiting the marketplaces all together are consequences of the design of the Affordable Care Act instead of the direct results of their own actions to sabotage the law. Don't let them fool you.

https://www.usnews.com/opinion/poli...health-care-premiums-not-obamacare?src=usn_tw

 

[Perfection]

WAKE UP SHEEPLE (I mean it)

 

[onejayhawk]

The ACA was never meant to work. It is obvious in the math. Blaming Republicans is just that, blame.

J

 

[Lexicus]

Blaming Republicans is just that, blame.

Did you intend this to be something other than a meaningless tautology?

 

[Glassfan]

The Mandate, forcing many healthy people to buy unnecessary insurance, created a sellers market. The insurance companies could raise the prices all they wanted.

Yes, health coverage will always rise in price naturally, but the dramatic increases in the last five years are the predictable outcome of the unaffordable healthcare act.

 

[onejayhawk]

This thread was a joke in poor taste. Let it die.

J

 

[Arakhor]

This thread was a joke in poor taste. Let it die.

That's an apt description of current US/UK politics.

 

[Lexicus]

The Mandate, forcing many healthy people to buy unnecessary insurance, created a sellers market. The insurance companies could raise the prices all they wanted.

Yes, health coverage will always rise in price naturally, but the dramatic increases in the last five years are the predictable outcome of the unaffordable healthcare act.

What do you propose in its place?

 

[Zelig]

What do you propose in its place?

Put the Danes in charge.

 

[civver_764]

What do you propose in its place?

Either trust the market to keep prices reasonable (ie. end the marriage of health care providers and government, stop forcing people to buy insurance) or implement a full single-payer system. This inbetween crap is no good.

 

[Lexicus]

Either trust the market to keep prices reasonable (ie. end the marriage of health care providers and government, stop forcing people to buy insurance) or implement a full single-payer system. This inbetween crap is no good.

Full single-payer system is, of these two options, the only one that will work, assuming you care about not leaving millions of people uninsured (which I know perfectly well you do not).

I agree with you - single-payer, completely dismantling the private health insurance industry, would be vastly preferable to the current status quo.

 

[El_Machinae]

Part of the reason prices rose is because some people now had money to buy health insurance. And so, because new people had access to money, prices rose.

But again, the longterm solution here is deflation. If you're worried about future Medicare, and not donating to Alzheimer's research, you're not doing the math right.

 

[FriendlyFire]

What do you propose in its place?

Trumpcare Praying,

 

[Glassfan]

What do you propose in its place?

A good question.

I work in hospitals and modern medicine is just very expensive by it's very nature - and getting more so all the time. America got along for so long with private insurance because of the sheer wealth of the country. But employers have been divesting themselves of the standard employee benefits - including medical - for decades, and a change had to occur somehow.

Obamacare was a half-hearted attempt to federalize health coverage. It's what could be passed at the time - given the political constraints. It had obvious shortcomings like the Mandate (and it's week tax penalty - which I am currently paying incidentally).

Clearly we cannot go back to private sector coverage, it's no longer in the corporate bottom line.

Like it or not, we are shifting over to government health coverage.

The current political logjam is not the most favorable environment to accomplish this. But we do have a tradition in this country (Social Security, etc.) of getting the ball rolling with an initial pitiful effort, and then updating, improving and reforming over time until we have a working system.

President Trump is clearly not them man to do this. The hostility and hatred (Kathy Griffin) he engenders in mass media and among Democrats and elites will prevent any possible accomplishment. I believe we will have to wait until the country swings back to the Left and we have a liberal government in power to again achieve the liberal agenda.

No happiness in the short term.

 

[warpus]

Either trust the market to keep prices reasonable

How could anyone ever fall for something like that? "The market" is just a bunch of companies who are trying to increase their profits. Who is going to stop them from charging as much as they want?

 

[civver_764]

How could anyone ever fall for something like that?

We trust the market for a lot of things.

"The market" is just a bunch of companies who are trying to increase their profits. Who is going to stop them from charging as much as they want?

Their competitors?

 

[warpus]

But.. One of the main reasons why healthcare is so expensive in the U.S. compared to other places, is because the companies have not been regulated well enough. Why would they lower their prices if you give them even more flexibility to charge what they want? You give them more power to charge more, and they will charge more.

The reason why healthcare is much cheaper in other western countries is because the drug companies & healthcare providers have regulations to answer to and a strict framework within they have to operate in. If they could raise prices to match American standards or beyond they probably would.

 

[Glassfan]

...The reason why healthcare is much cheaper in other western countries is because the drug companies & healthcare providers have regulations to answer to and a strict framework within they have to operate in. If they could raise prices to match American standards or beyond they probably would.

Health coverage is not really cheaper in the West - citizens simply pay higher taxes for cheaper or free coverage there. But your point about regulation is spot on. The medical systems in America are grossly overpriced for a number of reasons; doctors receive higher pay and have to maintain malpractice insurance (> $100,000.00 per/anum in Ohio), Pharmaceutical and medical manufactures overcharge hospitals because of exclusive contracts, and Joint Commision and other regulatory agencies constantly require higher (more expensive) standards. In our military, cost overruns and and overcharging are constantly investigated by a vigilant (and somewhat hostile) press, but abusive medical expenses are always given a pass.

 

[Lexicus]

Health coverage is not really cheaper in the West - citizens simply pay higher taxes for cheaper or free coverage there.

Not economically cheaper, but cheaper for the people who use it.

President Trump is clearly not them man to do this.

Even if he could, he wouldn't, because he serves the parasitic capitalists who are the only ones who benefit by keeping things the way they are.

 

[civver_764]

But.. One of the main reasons why healthcare is so expensive in the U.S. compared to other places, is because the companies have not been regulated well enough.

That's debatable.

Why would they lower their prices if you give them even more flexibility to charge what they want? You give them more power to charge more, and they will charge more.

The reason why healthcare is much cheaper in other western countries is because the drug companies & healthcare providers have regulations to answer to and a strict framework within they have to operate in. If they could raise prices to match American standards or beyond they probably would.

They would have to match their prices to what people can afford.

I agree that the American system is bad, but I wouldn't really call it a free market. A lot of our regulations have the effect of preventing new providers from entering the market.