Lets all discuss Obamacare,is anyone for this?

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Onslaught Six
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Re: Lets all discuss Obamacare,is anyone for this?

Post by Onslaught Six »

Ah, fuck it. All this high-level crap has never affected me anyway; really don't understand why it would now.
BWprowl wrote:The internet having this many different words to describe nerdy folks is akin to the whole eskimos/ice situation, I would presume.
People spend so much time worrying about whether a figure is "mint" or not that they never stop to consider other flavours.
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Re: Lets all discuss Obamacare,is anyone for this?

Post by Dominic »

It is a huge public program that will require funding, accounting and enforcement. It mandates that people do certain things and restricts them from doing other things. This is true regardless of if you are for it or against it.

I do agree that it is harder to be interested in national policy, as it is much harder for people to organize in response/favour of it, let alone influence. In contrast, it much easier to lobby at a local level.


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Tigermegatron
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Re: Lets all discuss Obamacare,is anyone for this?

Post by Tigermegatron »

Has anyone signed up the obamacare? If yes or no,Why?

If no,Do you need to or have plans to?

in 2014,how do you, all your close friends & relatives feel about Obamacare?

If you have no health insurance,Are you worried about the fine Obamacare will give you until you sign up for it.
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JediTricks
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Re: Lets all discuss Obamacare,is anyone for this?

Post by JediTricks »

TM wrote:I am against obamacare for a few short points below:

1- Imagine just losing your job. barely being able to pay the bills. now you have to shell out money you don't have for obamacare. if not,you pay penalities till you pay.
Imagine losing your job and losing your access to the medical care you need. Also, if your income is diminished, the amount of government assistance increases substantially.
2- more taxes will be put on the lower & middle class to help fund obamacare.
After Bush 2 changed how bankruptcy works, the middle class is eating shit over those heavy medical bills they're racking up, and the system is eating a mountain of ER visits from people in the lower class that can't afford medical care and have to rely on the overtaxed ER system where they're forced to take people who cannot pay.
3- in europe & cuba they offer their citzens free universal health care coverage. is obamacare the best we can do for USA citizens. forcing them to pay when other countries offer it for free.
That is very ignorant, no country offers "free" health care, those countries pay for it out of taxes. Our government simply refuses to see that a single payer system is better for some things than a free market system, that free market is great for a lot of things but disastrous when vital services are on the line, so Obamacare is the closest compromise that our selfish government can get passed.
4- the only ones that prove to benefit from obamacare are the insurance companies. as they'll make more money with people being forced to get obamacare.
The insurance companies actually operate on fairly small margins before Obamacare. When it comes to benefiting financially, why should anybody make excess money off of people's health? As for non-financial benefits, the 5th of our nation that couldn't get health care will benefit from being able to get it through a market system, the people with preexisting conditions will benefit, and the middle class will stop taking a drubbing on medical bills that had been crippling it before.
5- Companies will no longer feel obligated/mandated to offer it's workers health care coverage. companies now have the option to tell it's employees to get obamacare.
And employees will have the choice to not take a job there, leaving lesser-qualified potential employees in their wake, the companies will hire them until they realize how mediocre that level is, and equilibrium will eventually be found. Also, having sick workers and dying workers because one doesn't offer health care can affect short-term work quality (infections spread through workers) and long-term quality (skilled workers retire or die because of diseases they should have been able to easily treat).
6- It sure seems like obamacare was created to hurt the lower class. as the government is trying to hurt them because they view them as free loaders milking the un-employed health coverage. under obamacare they will get forced to buy obamacare thus eliminating the need for the governemet to give them free medicare/medicaid health care coverage.
Obamacare was drafted in part to take some weight off of insurers and medicare, so what you're saying has a kernel of truth to it, poor people will be stuck with garbage plans in bronze and silver levels. But overall it'll help more poor people and create more government spending to offset that.

Dom wrote:If you are unemployed, or simply making below a certain amount, you pay nothing.
Sadly, that's not entirely true in every situation, there are market factors that can greatly affect this. My income qualifies for premium assistance, yet the price of my insurance is just low enough in my area that I don't get any of that assistance.
Of course, companies that hire low-skilled and low-wage employees will have little incentive to offer more benefits.
Yeah, the equilibrium will take a lot longer, if ever, to be found in those sectors, but they already were getting screwed by employees keeping them below minimum hours to qualify for mandatory benefits anyway.

TM wrote:1- obamacare's prime directive was to get rid of free coverage for the un-employed & lower class people. by forcing them to pay for health care covervage called obamacare. if your being forced to buy obamacare,then by default you no longer qualify/need free medicare/medicaid health care coverage.
Where do you get these ideas? Obama's prime directive was to offer high quality government medical insurance at an affordable price that the insurance companies could decide whether or not they wanted to try to compete with, and the Republicans felt that was too close to the dangers of "socialism!" so they fought that part out. That directive served the idea that all medical insurance should treat customers with a minimum level of dependable quality, and that is the surviving central focus of Obamacare.
2- I don't trust the goverment/state in the deciding who pays for obama care & who gets obamacare for free. in the beginning they'll be more lenient. then (extremly quickly) as time passes they'll get more strick. I can see this getting natsy as far as racial profiling goes,gay rights goes,age profiling, health profiling,income profiling,if your over 18 & live with your parents profiling. credit profiling,property profiling,car profiling. family & their kids profiling goes. clothes profiling goes. health profiling goes. job & accidents all the workers on the company job profiling goes.
That's what the right wing fears, but as written, the law removes discriminatory profiling from the hands of the insurance companies and requires a minimum standard for everybody, with higher standards going to those who can afford them, but still a reasonable quality for everybody. Since the decisions are still largely up to the states and the private insurers, it doesn't change who is in charge of deciding who decides what care one gets though.
if your 18 years old,going to college,still live with your parents or at the college dorm. then you'll be considered doing extremly well. by having everything paid for you by your parents or Scholarships. so you'll be a prime candidate in being forced to pay for obamacare.
Covered by parents' insurance until 26.
If your a 25+year old male. that is divorced/not married,no kids,living at home with parents/friends/siblins. just got fired from your job. then you'll be a prime candiate to being forced to pay for obamacare.
Lost job means lost income, lost income means greater government assistance.
3- If you have a meduim to high paying job. and feel that you are healty enough to save a few bucks for the year. by deciding to cancel your health care coverage for a few months/year because you want to use that money to save up for a DVD player,clothes,sneakers,used car. then you'll be forced to pay for obamacare. as workers will no longer have the choice to do without health care coverage for extended periods of time.
That's the point of the penalties, you cannot cancel during part of the year without being taxed for that choice, your health shouldn't be treated as yet another credit card. And healthy people are paying for health INSURANCE, not just health service - you don't pay for car insurance only when you get in an accident, otherwise insurance as an industry wouldn't work, it's a net that is held up by everybody who pays in. The only gamble one can take to lower one's costs is lowering one's quality of service from platinum to bronze or something along those lines, perfect for healthy people unlikely to get sick due to significantly cheaper premiums, but VERY expensive to actually use thanks to deductibles and higher up-front costs like more expensive drugs and office co-pays.
4- Obamacare was created to de-regulate health care coverage. & punish the lower class as their the most affected group. nothing positive can come from obamacare.
That is false, Obamacare regulates the health care coverage and the health care insurance industry.

Something positive can come from Obamacare: 1/5th of the people in this country can now qualify for insurance where they couldn't before, due to income levels, or due to preexisting conditions. No Americans can be turned down for coverage, no Americans can have their coverage capped, and those will lead to lower overall costs as more of those systems are used and their costs defrayed (if 10 people use a million dollar machine, they have to be charged $100,000 a piece to use it; if 100,000 people use that machine they have to offset that cost only by paying $10 per use). Also, Americans now can choose alternate insurers easier, individuals can strike out on their own in the insurance marketplace where before individuals were buying on their own and had to spend thousands a month for insurance. So plenty of positives can come from this.
5- for those who qualify for free obamacare. I highly doubt obamacare will be as strong as medicare/medicaid was.
It's those same programs at that level, the insurers at the bottom tiers are now the carriers for those systems.

O6 wrote:Except one of the first things the act did was make it so anyone under 26 can be covered by their parents' insurance. (This has actually led to a messed up situation where my girlfriend is unable to get any kind of coverage for birth control, since she's under 26.)
How so? She should be covered for birth control which is free under Obamacare and SHOULD be confidential so she can get it without the insurer telling her folks. Is that not the case, or is she too embarrassed to get caught using it?

Holy shit, I just saw how far back this thread went in time. My bad, just sitting here ranting about very old posts, sorry.
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Re: Lets all discuss Obamacare,is anyone for this?

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Tigermegatron wrote:Has anyone signed up the obamacare? If yes or no,Why?

If no,Do you need to or have plans to?

in 2014,how do you, all your close friends & relatives feel about Obamacare?

If you have no health insurance,Are you worried about the fine Obamacare will give you until you sign up for it.
I signed up for insurance using California's market system. I did so last November so I could have coverage starting on the first of this year.

I signed up because I've been unable to afford medical insurance in the past due to several pre-existing medical conditions and because I am my own boss so I don't have an insurer covering my costs. Until Obamacare, insurance for me was prohibitively expensive and since I'm in the middle class I can't even qualify for state assistance. Now I can afford, albeit barely, a Gold plan with a lower-tier insurer which means I can start using it right away without worrying about deductibles and expensive office co-pays.

I've not had medical coverage as an adult ever, existing solely on over-the-counter medications (the only OTC asthma medication was taken off the market 2 years ago due to the Kyoto treaty - we promised not to use CFC propellants and the company couldn't find a non-CFC propellant, so they simply stopped making the product despite its proven safety over even prescription versions), my single dalliance with free clinic care when I qualified was a disaster, the doctor was useless and ignored all my symptoms in favor of just assuming that all free clinic users have STDs that cause all their symptoms.

I started the year with the flu and carried with it a lingering cough. In the month since I've been able to use my medical insurance, there's been some paperwork snafus on the insurer's part that have taken a little straightening out, but I've been to the doctor twice and she was actually quite nice and patient and really listened. I have referrals for imaging and 2 consultations, one for a preexisting condition and one for a possible cancer scare (I didn't show signs, but my complaint warranted the doc to look anyway), the imaging is a little expensive but it'll be better to know. Within hours of my first visit, I had purchased prescription asthma medication and my lingering cough disappeared immediately, apparently that's RADS - reactive airway disorder, a downward spiral brought on by coughing and asthma fighting each other. I have a rescue inhaler and a maintenance inhaler. My bloodwork shows that I'm relatively healthy, I don't have any STDs and I don't have cholesterol problems, I do have high blood pressure but it's not as bad as I expected, and for my situation and family history I'm doing alright. My second visit got those results and also a med to control my blood pressure until I can get into better shape.

All in all, it's been a very frustrating and scary experience getting the insurance, even picking the insurance, and the provider is the medi-cal clinic which means I'm paying for the state's rather dodgy health care system, but I am actually getting medical results and I am protected from catastrophes.

As for my family, I think they're vaguely for Obamacare, but nearly all of them are already covered. The only notable change so far is that my mom and step-dad's insurance no longer is as easy to change doctors with as it used to be, but they still get the best medical provider in LA at gold or platinum level.
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Re: Lets all discuss Obamacare,is anyone for this?

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How so? She should be covered for birth control which is free under Obamacare and SHOULD be confidential so she can get it without the insurer telling her folks. Is that not the case, or is she too embarrassed to get caught using it?
I literally forget the details. It's not a "personal" thing; she was on birth control at one point actually but the nearby place ended up being shut down and the next nearest one is in Harrisburg (like 3 hours away, fuck that). We switched to some over-the-counter stuff and I'll leave it at that.

...also hey I'm back
BWprowl wrote:The internet having this many different words to describe nerdy folks is akin to the whole eskimos/ice situation, I would presume.
People spend so much time worrying about whether a figure is "mint" or not that they never stop to consider other flavours.
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Re: Lets all discuss Obamacare,is anyone for this?

Post by Tigermegatron »

Onslaught Six wrote: ...also hey I'm back
Welcome back.

I'm hoping the posting volume increases this weekend. It would be awesome if we could all discuss what we think about Hasbro's NYC Toyfair newer 2014 toys.
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Re: Lets all discuss Obamacare,is anyone for this?

Post by Tigermegatron »

JediTricks wrote:
Tigermegatron wrote:Has anyone signed up the obamacare? If yes or no,Why?

If no,Do you need to or have plans to?

in 2014,how do you, all your close friends & relatives feel about Obamacare?

If you have no health insurance,Are you worried about the fine Obamacare will give you until you sign up for it.
I signed up for insurance using California's market system. I did so last November so I could have coverage starting on the first of this year.

I signed up because I've been unable to afford medical insurance in the past due to several pre-existing medical conditions and because I am my own boss so I don't have an insurer covering my costs. Until Obamacare, insurance for me was prohibitively expensive and since I'm in the middle class I can't even qualify for state assistance. Now I can afford, albeit barely, a Gold plan with a lower-tier insurer which means I can start using it right away without worrying about deductibles and expensive office co-pays.

I've not had medical coverage as an adult ever, existing solely on over-the-counter medications (the only OTC asthma medication was taken off the market 2 years ago due to the Kyoto treaty - we promised not to use CFC propellants and the company couldn't find a non-CFC propellant, so they simply stopped making the product despite its proven safety over even prescription versions), my single dalliance with free clinic care when I qualified was a disaster, the doctor was useless and ignored all my symptoms in favor of just assuming that all free clinic users have STDs that cause all their symptoms.

I started the year with the flu and carried with it a lingering cough. In the month since I've been able to use my medical insurance, there's been some paperwork snafus on the insurer's part that have taken a little straightening out, but I've been to the doctor twice and she was actually quite nice and patient and really listened. I have referrals for imaging and 2 consultations, one for a preexisting condition and one for a possible cancer scare (I didn't show signs, but my complaint warranted the doc to look anyway), the imaging is a little expensive but it'll be better to know. Within hours of my first visit, I had purchased prescription asthma medication and my lingering cough disappeared immediately, apparently that's RADS - reactive airway disorder, a downward spiral brought on by coughing and asthma fighting each other. I have a rescue inhaler and a maintenance inhaler. My bloodwork shows that I'm relatively healthy, I don't have any STDs and I don't have cholesterol problems, I do have high blood pressure but it's not as bad as I expected, and for my situation and family history I'm doing alright. My second visit got those results and also a med to control my blood pressure until I can get into better shape.

All in all, it's been a very frustrating and scary experience getting the insurance, even picking the insurance, and the provider is the medi-cal clinic which means I'm paying for the state's rather dodgy health care system, but I am actually getting medical results and I am protected from catastrophes.

As for my family, I think they're vaguely for Obamacare, but nearly all of them are already covered. The only notable change so far is that my mom and step-dad's insurance no longer is as easy to change doctors with as it used to be, but they still get the best medical provider in LA at gold or platinum level.
If Obama care was so good & a Godsend. Why are there so many complaints about it coming from Hospitals,doctors,nurses,people of all ages,elected officials,companies of all sizes in america?

Obama care is already having negative impacts on people. Large retail corporations & various companies. Are getting rid of full time jobs & opting for more part time jobs. due to the strict laws Obama Care has for providing adequate insurance benefits. Instead of these companies dealing with the laws & guidelines of Obamacare,These companies have taken the easy way out. By taking away full time jobs & making more part time jobs. It's still legal for companies not to provide insurance to part timers. Companies now figure they can dump it's work force health care benefits on The goverments Obama Care.

My Grandparents have seen the negative impacts of Obama Care. As most of there stuff got cut to help fund Obama care. Stuff like Food stamps, no or lower raises every year in the monthly SS money they get. Coverage being limited on there hospital,medications & other areas.

Obama care's prime goal was to make the lower class suffer & feel the pinch the most.

If you've been watching Television. There are thousands of commericials daily that are being created by health care insurance companies. These insurance companies are the only ones benefiting from Obama care. As people are getting desperate & crazy looking to get the cheapest priced health care coverage possible that meets the requirements so they don't have to bother signing up for,getting fines or forced to get Obama Care.

Obama care is forcing people to get health care benefits that they either don't want or feel they don't need. This in a nutshell seems unconstitutional. As the Government in now acting like acting & enforcing laws like a Communist country does. The forcing stems from the Goverment trying to hurt the lower class that they feel takes/steals the most money from the Goverments money. The Goverment is trying to phase out all these welfare programs by making them weaker,less buget money & eventually getting rid of them.
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Re: Lets all discuss Obamacare,is anyone for this?

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Tigermegatron wrote:Obama care's prime goal was to make the lower class suffer & feel the pinch the most.
No it's not. The actual name for "Obamacare" is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and its primary goal is to increase the quality and affordability of health insurance and lower the rate of people who are uninsured. In other words, it's supposed to make it easier for people to afford decent health care, not to make the lower class suffer or force them to buy benefits they don't need. And in fact, the law does include considerations for people with an income below a certain amount.
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