OT: health insurance stuff

[Daniel Shays]

Even Insured Can Face Crushing Medical Debt, Study Finds

From the article:
"Among those who reported having problems paying their bills despite having insurance, 63 percent said they used up all or most of their savings; 42 percent took on an extra job or more work hours; 14 percent moved or took in roommates; and 11 percent turned to charity".

meanwhile more than 50% of the discretionary budget goes to the military.


http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/06/u...n-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1

 

[Daniel Shays]

The Trouble with For-Profit Healthcare: Even the Insured Face Mountains of Debt

New data outlines 'wide range of consequences and sacrifices' made by insured Americans who face burdensome medical bills

http://www.commondreams.org/news/20...t-healthcare-even-insured-face-mountains-debt

 

[megadrone]

Everything is a calculated risk until he ends up in the hospital. Then the rest of us have to pay because he selfishly decided to take a calculated risk. Everybody should be required to have health insurance, because you just don't know.

No, everybody SHOULDN'T be required. Basic freedoms, Al.

Congress had NO AUTHORITY to include the mandate in the ACA. Completely unconstitutional.

 

[RUinPinehurst]

No, everybody SHOULDN'T be required. Basic freedoms, Al.

Congress had NO AUTHORITY to include the mandate in the ACA. Completely unconstitutional.

I believe the US Supreme Court upheld the ACA by ruling it as a tax, no? Taxes can and are mandated. Congress has authority to tax. And taxes are not unconstitutional.

 

[rutgersal]

No, everybody SHOULDN'T be required. Basic freedoms, Al.

Congress had NO AUTHORITY to include the mandate in the ACA. Completely unconstitutional.

The supreme court disagrees with you and upheld the mandate in the ACA in 2012. this isn't about basic freedoms, this is about personal responsibility. Unless one can self-insure, they should be required to have health insurance. Otherwise, should the unfortunate happen, the burden falls on the rest of society.

 

[robcac26]

The supreme court disagrees with you and upheld the mandate in the ACA in 2012. this isn't about basic freedoms, this is about personal responsibility. Unless one can self-insure, they should be required to have health insurance. Otherwise, should the unfortunate happen, the burden falls on the rest of society.

If they're going to require everyone to buy health insurance, they need to do something to control costs. Instead, this law made healthcare even more expensive than it was before. We spend more per capita on healthcare than any other industrialized nation. The ACA did nothing to streamline the system and lower costs, and instead it made it more expensive than it was before, and now if you can't afford it you get hit with a massive fine unless you are absolutely dirt poor and are eligible for a subsidy. The fine allows the insurance companies to charge even more because the price where insurance becomes too expensive to be worth it is now artificially higher by hundreds or thousands of dollars depending on the person.

 

[robcac26]

To clarify, I was referring to indigent and lower socioeconomic ER patients, individuals who use the system and do not pay at point of service. They are covered by Medicaid. They do not have private or ACA insurance. The Emergency Medical and Treatment Labor Act of 1986 stipulates that hospitals receiving federal funds cannot refuse care based on a patient's ability to pay. We all pay for the care rendered to these individuals via our tax dollars and via increased insurance premiums and increased charges at point of service.

Your previous post said "those without means or without responsibility may not pay." I assume now you are changing it to just those without the means to pay. Anyway, these people will get the care they need at a hospital, but if they can't pay, their credit will be doomed. If this is such a huge problem for our federal budget, which I doubt it is compared to how much they put towards military spending, then maybe it's time to take a look at why there are so many Americans that can't afford health insurance.

 

[megadrone]

The supreme court disagrees with you and upheld the mandate in the ACA in 2012. this isn't about basic freedoms, this is about personal responsibility. Unless one can self-insure, they should be required to have health insurance. Otherwise, should the unfortunate happen, the burden falls on the rest of society.

Yes, 5 of them disagree with me. 4 of them, however, agree with me so my premise has validity. Having read the Constitution, the power isn't delegated to the Federal Government, so by the Tenth Amendment, should have been left to the states or the people; it's similar to car/auto insurance, which NJ says we must purchase if we want to operate a car. Power left to the states.

Walking away from this one, though, so it doesn't become a never ending argument.