2.5 million Americans have lost their individual medical insurance policies sinc

[CF DolFan]

I've been kind of tuning this crap out but it has been reported that more people have lost their insurance then have been able to sign up for insurance. The president has been caught in lies of "you will be able to keep your insurance" and then denying he even said that the dozen or so times he did.

Obviously the website was/is a debacle and things couldn't have gone much worse I don't think.  With more and more confusing things about this surfacing week by week has anyone changed their minds about Obamacare?

2.5 million Americans have lost their individual medical insurance policies since the Affordable Care Act became law

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2491792/Obama-says-sorry-healthcare-shambles-broken-promises-medical-insurance-cancellations.html#ixzz2k1CNWEcO

[Sunstroke]

I haven't changed my mind on Obamacare, but my level of annoyance regarding people bashing the president has grown exponentially...

[dolphins4life]

In MA we've had Obamacare for three years.

Without it I couldn't buy insurance.

With it, I can.

I can't change my mind on it because the conservative party thinks people like me with pre-existing conditions should not be able to afford insurance.

[dolphins4life]

Why did these people lose their plans?

[mecadonzilla]

From what I understand, the individual state sites are run more smoothly and have much fewer problems.  If you can't sign up on the national site, go to your state site and see if it works any better. 

I'll probably try it out this month as my insurance plan, ironically provided by my local hospital, is absolute garbage.  If I can take a break from shit tons of school work and family obligations, I'll let you know if it works out.  Nationally, early indications are it's been saving lots of dough for people who don't have Cadillac plans, so I must admit I'm curious if my shitty, crazy expensive plan can be replaced.

[Spider-Dan]

Here's an example of one of the people who lost their insurance plans:

"Her $54 plan actually doesn’t have copays for doctor visits and prescriptions. It pays $50 toward covered doctor’s visits, Dianne pays the rest, and $15 toward prescriptions, Dianne pays the rest. As for hospitalization, Greta again went where CBS did not, and actually asked about it. [...]

Actually, it doesn’t cover any hospital stays, unless Dianne suffers complications from pregnancy. Then, it pays fifty bucks. It doesn’t cover any outpatient care, except for mammography, osteoporosis screening, diabetes self-management, and complications from pregnancy. For that handful of services, the plan pays $50, and Dianne pays the rest."

This woman was essentially giving a $54 donation to her insurance company every month.  She had the epitome of "junk insurance"; the type of insurance Obamacare was created to get rid of.  And had she gotten sick or injured, her medical costs would have been on her (or more likely, the taxpayers) exactly as if she had no insurance at all.  The plan that she had could not qualify as "having insurance" in any system capable of working.

That being said, if her insurance company had kept her policy the same since the ACA was passed into law and chosen to continue to offer it, she would have been able to keep it under the grandfather clause (even though it does not meet current post-ACA-implementation standards).  "If you like it, you can keep it" does not and never did mean "We will force your insurance company to offer you your current plan at the same price forever."  We still have a private insurance-based system, and private insurance companies have been changing and cancelling plans every year for decades.  This is nothing new under the sun.

Finally, I'd offer that having a reasonably priced plan that can be cancelled at the whim of your insurance company the moment you need to use it is not exactly an upgrade over a more expensive plan with guaranteed coverage.

[Fau Teixeira]

i hear good things from anyone that's actually tried to register for it here,  .. lower costs, better coverage than what they had

[Phishfan]

From what I understand, the individual state sites are run more smoothly and have much fewer problems.  If you can't sign up on the national site, go to your state site and see if it works any better. 

Not all states are running their own sites/exchanges.

[Fau Teixeira]

Not all states are running their own sites/exchanges.

The states that refused are 100% republican and were doing so in an infantile tantrum against the entire law itself.

color me unimpressed

[Phishfan]

I'm curious to hear everyone's feedback. I was informed my premium rose slightly but I am covered by my employer so I don't see it. Has anyone here been informed they lost their coverage, have you seen an increase or decrease in premiums?

I am a bit worried the penalty for not purchasing insurance is not high enough. I expect younger people are not going to be signing up which was what was going to make the plan work.

[Spider-Dan]

If you already have employer-based coverage, you are not likely to see much change.  Your premiums might rise, but premiums have been rising for decades, so that isn't really a change (ACA is just supposed to slow the increase).

The primary people who are being affected by Obamacare are people who were/are buying insurance on the individual market (or couldn't/didn't have insurance at all pre-ACA).  This is why it's very important to frame the comparison properly: people with employer-based coverage aren't going to get their insurance cancelled if they get sick, but people who bought insurance on the individual market were having that happen repeatedly.  This action (rescission) is now illegal under the ACA.

So what kind of dollar value should you assign to a policy that is guaranteed vs. a policy that can be cancelled when you try to use it?

[CF DolFan]

i hear good things from anyone that's actually tried to register for it here,  .. lower costs, better coverage than what they had

my wife's cousin... who voted Obama... Was very upset because her new coverage is much more expensive. She's going to have issues paying it. Her and another democrat's experience are kind of what made me ask you guys as I've seen their opinions change.

[Spider-Dan]

CF, does your cousin-in-law have coverage through her employer?  If not, you should encourage her to look at the state Obamacare website (if she lives in a state with one) or the federal website (if she does not).

Many insurers are cancelling their pre-ACA plans and "suggesting" replacement plans that are excessively expensive.  In the story I linked above, the 54-year-old subject of the story was offered a $591/mo replacement plan (for her $54/mo junk insurance that covered virtually nothing) from her insurance company Florida Blue.  However, based on her age and income, she could have gotten a much cheaper plan through Obamacare (which is still light-years better than her old plan) for $209/mo.

[dolphins4life]

In MA, everybody can get a plan like I have for $250 a month.

It's not the greatest plan in the world but the big thing is, it has a five thousand dollar out of pocket max for the year.

This is very affordable and covers everything. 

[dolphins4life]

So does the ACA mean people have to buy insurance that actually covers them when they get sick?


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