[Maru]

Donald Trump is about to face a rude awakening over Obamacare

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...ver-obamacare/

So let’s review what just happened. To guarantee that people with preexisting conditions can get affordable health insurance, you need to have rules requiring guaranteed issue and community rating. To keep insurance companies in business because of guaranteed issue and community rating, you need to have an individual mandate. And because poor people can’t afford health insurance, you need subsidies. Combine all three, and what you have, in a nutshell, is ... Obamacare.

Entrepreneurs to Trump: Don't take away our Obamacare
http://money.cnn.com/2016/11/18/news...reneurs-trump/

Obamacare has freed them from depending on employers for health insurance. Instead, they told CNNMoney they can pursue their own American Dreams and work for themselves while getting coverage through the exchanges.

I'm not a benefactor of Obamacare, but I would've been several years ago. The last article would pertain to me... because of lack of access to healthcare (I was not allowed to buy a policy due to a few chronic ailments) and with my yo-yo-ing health status and having to get through school, I could not maintain the hours needed to keep my health ins per an employer... so I was a private payer for many years and in many cases went without because our system is health care is ludicrously overpriced.

I know for people who are fiscally minded conservatives, Obamacare is a mess, but until you yourself has been sick and been dependent on the system as a private payer... you can't really judge know how bad it is nor can you see the commonplace predatory practices in medical and just how badly it needs to be regulated and policies to be put in place to protect the average consumer.

There needs to be regulation and a crack down on billing. We don't get itemized bills often at discharge, even for ER visits. A ghost dept handles all those barely readable codes and we just hope & pray it is correct and we are being treated fair. There are no true customer service in our medical, even though we pretty much are all paying for it, but instead what you get is a billing agent that acts as a bill collector.

Still, our billing is hilariously erroneous. A hospital should not be charging you for equipment and a package of tubing (enough to treat many patients) when you visit the doctor (as a private payer)... one visit to the ER visit cost my insurer $12,000+ (I paid a $300 copay)... I was able to see this itemized and they spared no expense... everything from equipment to tubing, to the pole the IV drip sits on... you name it... thankfully I had insurance, but what about those people who didn't?

In my mind it is clear why Obamacare is failing. They wanted to get the bill through, so they removed or otherwise neglected a lot of the regulations which would've helped to curb the high costs... sure, the hospitals may not be able to afford the gold plating and the luminescent fountains in their entrances, but we will have affordable healthcare. And they'll have to cut back on the amount of oil paintings they buy to place on their walls. We will have to find a way to endure. But what is the sense in creating a universal healthcare system that covers all, if the costs underneath the hood aren't even being mitigated? It's like trying to solve a water leak by purchasing more tanks and vacuums to pick up the water... when really we need to fix the leak first and then worry about the excess water.

[user104658]

I read an article recently that essentially broke down the cost of the US health care system... And it actually fairly comprehensively concluded that fully funded state health care for all actually costs less than the current system of insurance with so many uninsured, and the hilarious charges that business-run hospitals and pharma slap on things (e.g. Overcharging for simple meds that cost pennies over the counter, by over 2000%, when billing insurance companies). So basically if the US implemented an NHS, far from having to increase taxes to fund it, they would actually SAVE money. It's all a massive ****ing scam, they're rinsing people, deliberately. And this is the route that the UK wants to go down?

[Maru]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

I read an article recently that essentially broke down the cost of the US health care system... And it actually fairly comprehensively concluded that fully funded state health care for all actually costs less than the current system of insurance with so many uninsured, and the hilarious charges that business-run hospitals and pharma slap on things (e.g. Overcharging for simple meds that cost pennies over the counter, by over 2000%, when billing insurance companies). So basically if the US implemented an NHS, far from having to increase taxes to fund it, they would actually SAVE money. It's all a massive ****ing scam, they're rinsing people, deliberately. And this is the route that the UK wants to go down?

Exactly. It doesn't sound like Canadian or UK health care is perfect by any means, but having a fully functioning health care system for all is pivotal not only to our society's physical well-being but to society's total function.

If a child or parent is not worrying about the basics, like having food on the table or having basic health needs met... that's more time, thought, energy that they can spend on education, on picking up skills for a job, on other projects that certainly warranty just as much attention... we could actually fund little start ups, people will be more independent and not chained to an employee to subsidize their costs... would be good too for the consumer to have more options, not have to rely on the same made in china cheap crap that we often see in our big box stores... still waiting for some people to get together and fund neat projects that will help us to develop an alternative fuel to petrol... like Space X is trying to accomplish for space exploration... May hurt our bottom line here being a petrol capital, but I think we will always have a place in energy.

To send the point home... my husband is govt employed and his healthcare program through his employer is one of the best... it will cost us $400+ mo when we have a child and I actually might be wrong, it could be higher. This is not including deductibles ($600), copays, pharmaceuticals and the obligatory 20% you pay for all inpatient procedures/hospitalizations, CT Scans (scans cost a looot) etc... so yeah our system can use some improvement.

[UserSince2005]

do we have to still call it obamacare, i want to forget that vile man ever existed/

[Jack_]

Originally Posted by UserSince2005

do we have to still call it obamacare, i want to forget that vile man ever existed/

You're Trying Too Hard

[Maru]

Originally Posted by UserSince2005

do we have to still call it obamacare, i want to forget that vile man ever existed/

No we need him around for a few more years so we can continue to blame everything on him...

[Kizzy]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

I read an article recently that essentially broke down the cost of the US health care system... And it actually fairly comprehensively concluded that fully funded state health care for all actually costs less than the current system of insurance with so many uninsured, and the hilarious charges that business-run hospitals and pharma slap on things (e.g. Overcharging for simple meds that cost pennies over the counter, by over 2000%, when billing insurance companies). So basically if the US implemented an NHS, far from having to increase taxes to fund it, they would actually SAVE money. It's all a massive ****ing scam, they're rinsing people, deliberately. And this is the route that the UK wants to go down?

Well yes because the whole Idea of privatisation is that individuals make money, therefore if something is in public hands as the NHS was a short time ago and not running at a loss then who is making money?.... Nobody and we can't have that!
Same with the trains, they were functioning and providing a good service as well as a profit, so naturally they had to sell it to Mr Branson so he could make the money instead.
He recently took control of more of the NHS

''Richard Branson has quietly made the type of healthcare history only a US President would be proud of. In an unprecedented move, the British government has gifted for-profit Virgin Care direct control of Bath and North East Somerset Council’s core adult social care services as part of a £700m deal.

The deal

From April 2017, Virgin will run three statutory services. Adult social care, continuing healthcare, and children’s community health will all be in the control of a profit-seeking company.''

http://www.thecanary.co/2016/11/11/s...chunk-nhs-yet/