[quote=flu]…. Just like for me, I’ve realized obamacare is a great thing. It means a lot of you healthy people (even those on fixed income) will end up having to pay for much higher premiums for “their fair share” into a healthcare system so that people like me that was born with less than desirable health can eventually qualify to buy health insurance to pay for my $40-50k/year medical expenses that insurance ends up paying for…every year….
Get other people to pay more than you for things. It’s the american way. I finally get it.[/quote]Well, if this post was or was not directed at me, I’ll bite anyway. As a “relatively healthy obamacare planholder” whose premium is going up another 22% for 2017 and whose insurance carrier has made a minimum of $10K off her annually since 1/1/14, I honestly don’t mind helping to cover the necessary procedures for “unlucky gene inheritors” such as the likes of fat_lazy_union/flu/bullishgurl/flu redux thru my monthly premiums. I fully sympathize with his plight.
What I DO have a problem with is being charged enough in my premium to also subsidize my (much more common) brethren who: (1) smoked for 30++ years (and may still be smoking) and thus are walking heart attacks and probable present and near future emphysema sufferers; (2) have weighed >300 lbs (>200 lbs for females) for the past 20+ years and thus suffer from diabetes and deep vein thrombosis, among other numerous maladies; (3) were former hard drug addicts and current and former snuff addicts (even if “clean” now) who are now having strokes and being diagnosed with mouth cancer; (4)have been heavy drinkers for most of their lives and now suffer from cirrhosis and other liver diseases, etc; and (5) have repeatedly engaged in dangerous activities where they could easily be gravely injured such as skydiving, mtn and ice climbing, race car driving, motorcycling, scuba diving, etc. I feel the latter group should buy their own medical riders for these activities if they wish to pursue them. I don’t want to subsidize their daredevil lifestyles. Nor do I want to pay for maternity care because I don’t need the benefit. And I shouldn’t have to. It’s not my problem and no one paid for my maternity care but me when I needed it.
The MSM is currently claiming that obamacare’s massive rate hikes for 2017 are being “softened” by the subsidies (APTC) that ~80% of obamacare planholders receive but nothing could be further from the truth. The average subsidy paid out is $270-$380 month (providers in most states charge less than CA providers so premiums in the lower-cost states are lower). These subsidies might be substantial for the under-50 crowd but not for me. My subsidy for 2017 will be somewhere between $422 and $434 month. That will represent less than 1/3 of my monthly premium. Of course, I’m going to have to go down another metal level for 2017 so my subsidy will represent ~1/2 of my monthly premium. Hopefully, 2017 will be my last year on obamacare because it will either be repealed and replaced with the major carriers doing business across state lines or I will be allowed into the Medicare program early and be able to buy a top-quality Part B/D Supplement from a major respected carrier. Obamacare is an effing mess run by incompetents and was/is a sad joke played on the American people. It needs to go away yesterday.
I want my old Aetna Advantage plan back (which was $358 month on 12/31/13, when I lost it). It had a fantastic choice of providers and everything I needed. And its customer service was very competent. I realize that premium may be higher now but because it was an HDHP, it would be substantially lower today than what I am trapped into paying, due to the ACA. I wouldn’t need the subsidy to help pay it and don’t want it anymore if I can have my old plan back.
