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ACA Running Thread

I think usury is a more appropriate word than fraud. Instead of unusually high interest rates, it is unusually high charges.

The whole in/out of network thing is a scam that rate setting would put an end to. Support rate setting.
 
This is my last post to you on this subject.

When a patient calls in to ask if they are covered at X Hospital for the ER or an operation, you'd have to be high to think that they are told, "Yes, you are covered but the ER is contracted out to a private vendor and you will be receiving an additional bill." or "Your operation is covered, but you'll have to cover extra payments for the anesthesiologist because we don't pay him enough."

Not telling EVERYTHING entailed is 100% the textbook definition of deception.

Have to head out, but you'll come up some other BS to protect doctors, hospitals, insurance companies.

Your scenario is completely hypothetical because hospitals would be insane to guarantee anything about your coverage. That’s between you and your insurance company.

Is it a shitty system? Yes. Is it fraud? No.
 
What happened after 2008 to cause this???

 
What happened after 2008 to cause this???


Not sure it's every actually worth responding, but health care spending growth averaged 4.3% per year during 2008–17, compared to an average annual rate of 7.3% over the 1998–2007 period. This comes out to a savings of about $2.3 Trillion over that period (that's trillion, with a "T").

So, I guess what you're trying to say is, Thanks Obama!

https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2018.05085
 
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Not sure it's every actually worth responding, but health care spending growth averaged 4.3% per year during 2008–17, compared to an average annual rate of 7.3% over the 1998–2007 period. This comes out to a savings of about $2.3 Trillion over that period (that's trillion, with a "T").

So, I guess what you're trying to say is, Thanks Obama!

https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2018.05085

I knew I couldn't trust the lamestream media!
 
Not sure it's every actually worth responding, but health care spending growth averaged 4.3% per year during 2008–17, compared to an average annual rate of 7.3% over the 1998–2007 period. This comes out to a savings of about $2.3 Trillion over that period (that's trillion, with a "T").

So, I guess what you're trying to say is, Thanks Obama!

https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2018.05085

I'm sure the Middle-class Americans from the posted article who are carrying the burden of funding the ACA are PUMPED to read about the $2.3T saved in health care spending growth from HealthAffairs.org when they won't see $0.01 of it to offset rising deductibles and premiums.
 
I'm sure the Middle-class Americans from the posted article who are carrying the burden of funding the ACA are PUMPED to read about the $2.3T saved in health care spending growth from HealthAffairs.org when they won't see $0.01 of it to offset rising deductibles and premiums.

Middle class America is also getting killed by the rising costs of buying a new car is 5% more than it was in 2008. I blame the Detroit Red Wings for winning the Stanley Cup that year.
 
I'm sure the Middle-class Americans from the posted article who are carrying the burden of funding the ACA are PUMPED to read about the $2.3T saved in health care spending growth from HealthAffairs.org when they won't see $0.01 of it to offset rising deductibles and premiums.

Are you just not getting that the costs are rising less than they were before?
 
Oh I get it. Costs are rising at a slower rate than before. Fantastic!!!

But as mentioned before, I'm sure it's heartwarming for the middle class (whose % of household income spent on premiums and deductibles has increased 50% in 10 years and directly hits them in the wallet) to know HealthAffairs.org is happy to report $2.3T was saved in health care spending when they have less disposable income each month.

Hopefully these same middle class americans weren't budgeting the $2,500 annual savings in premiums promised by Obama.
 
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Not sure it's every actually worth responding, but health care spending growth averaged 4.3% per year during 2008–17, compared to an average annual rate of 7.3% over the 1998–2007 period. This comes out to a savings of about $2.3 Trillion over that period (that's trillion, with a "T").

So, I guess what you're trying to say is, Thanks Obama!

https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2018.05085

does the amount individuals spent on premiums and deductables track with the slowing pace of overall health care spend growth?
 
I think the point that b-rad is poorly trying to make is that most of this increase in premiums as a percentage of taxable income is being borne by a small percentage of middle-class taxpayers who are stuck in the individual marketplace for one reason or another and are above the subsidy levels. These plans are not even close to being competitive with comparable plans in small groups. We used to have individual plans in our small business so that everybody could have the flexibility but the fact that the premiums increasd at like 25 30% a year for several years and deductibles and co-pays got worse and worse made us look for a much better deal in a small group. It does seem that these massive percentage increases have leveled off the last few years but there's no way that those plans overall are competitive.
 
I think the point that b-rad is poorly trying to make is that most of this increase in premiums as a percentage of taxable income is being borne by a small percentage of middle-class taxpayers who are stuck in the individual marketplace for one reason or another and are above the subsidy levels. These plans are not even close to being competitive with comparable plans in small groups. We used to have individual plans in our small business so that everybody could have the flexibility but the fact that the premiums increasd at like 25 30% a year for several years and deductibles and co-pays got worse and worse made us look for a much better deal in a small group. It does seem that these massive percentage increases have leveled off the last few years but there's no way that those plans overall are competitive.

Heh, you are giving him way too much credit. The article he posted was referring specifically to people with employee sponsored insurance, not people on the individual marketplaces. The article itself is fine. It talks about rising premiums and deductibles which have outpaced wage growth, referencing work from the commonwealth fund (https://www.commonwealthfund.org/pu...rends-employer-health-care-coverage-2008-2018). This is reflective of health care costs which have been rising at unsustainable levels for many years now. Where our friend went wrong was trying to blame the ACA for this, which is nonsense. If anything the ACA has bent to cost curve downward somewhat.

Your point about those above the subsidy cliff is a good one that needs to be addressed (all the current Dem plans address it, thankfully). But I'm quite confident it's a level of nuance that is beyond the original post in question.
 
Heh, you are giving him way too much credit. The article he posted was referring specifically to people with employee sponsored insurance, not people on the individual marketplaces. The article itself is fine. It talks about rising premiums and deductibles which have outpaced wage growth, referencing work from the commonwealth fund (https://www.commonwealthfund.org/pu...rends-employer-health-care-coverage-2008-2018). This is reflective of health care costs which have been rising at unsustainable levels for many years now. Where our friend went wrong was trying to blame the ACA for this, which is nonsense. If anything the ACA has bent to cost curve downward somewhat.

Your point about those above the subsidy cliff is a good one that needs to be addressed (all the current Dem plans address it, thankfully). But I'm quite confident it's a level of nuance that is beyond the original post in question.

You don't say.
 
Awaken, which insurance or pharma company do you work for?

There is no legitimate reason for this:

"There are some startling differences in price between the U.S. and Canada. According to one report, the retail price of a vial of Humalog in the U.S. is $300. In Canada, the same vial costs $32. According to media reports, a growing number of Americans cross the border into Canada to get their insulin"

Here's another article.

https://www.inquirer.com/philly/hea...osts-buying-foreign-medications-20180727.html
 
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The insulin video was not posted as a defense of pharma, but to show another example of their price gouging. I've given many examples of American health providers gouging their patients. Your article is yet another example. I think the practice should be outlawed through price setting.

The function of insurance is to distribute risk over a population and time. Health insurance should be like home and auto insurance. When you think of the ways health is different from auto insurance, that is a way the system is broken, and should be fixed via legislation.
 
Pharma is even more scared of single payer or a full public option than the insurance company is. With a full public option, prices for meds will be negotiated and should be much lower than in Canada due to massively greater purchasing power.
 
Interesting day at SCOTUS on the ACA. The issue at hand is the Feds unwillingness to pay insurers for the risk corridors for the first three years of the ACA. The ACA said the Feds would pay some portion of losses if insurers lost big. Many did of course. This part of the law was critical to get insurers to even participate. Looks like SCOTUS is going to force Uncle Sam to pony up whats owed under the law.

https://www.vox.com/2019/12/10/21004821/obamacare-supreme-court-risk-corridors-maine-community
 
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