(04-26-2017 06:35 PM)NIU007 Wrote: (04-26-2017 04:25 PM)Huskie_Jon Wrote: Did you ever notice how the biggest advocates of Obamacare are not enrolled in Obamacare?
If Obamacare is so great, why don't Shmucky Chucky Schumer and the rest of the remaining congressional Democrats get on the plan?
The biggest advocates of Obamacare are the people that didn't have any coverage before because they couldn't afford it but have it now.
Nope. Jon is right. The biggest mouths yapping about how great Obamacare is that are saying we need to keep it are those who don't buy their ins. from the gov exchange. So honestly they have no idea. I have to buy mine from the gov site. And I am here to tell you it is a mess.
There is just 1 good thing - it's a very big thing though - that can be credited to ACA & that is the elimination of pre-existing conditions. That is HUGE and most certainly helped many many people - me & my husband are just 2 of them. Aside from that, all of the stupid mandates are really driving up costs.
3 years ago, we had 6 insurance companies to choose from.
When we got on the IL exchange this year, we had only TWO insurance companies to choose from based on our zip code (Have to enter your zip code to get access to the offered policies. Depending on where you live costs vary & companies vary) Blue Cross & Health Alliance were our 2 choices. Based on projected adjusted gross income of between $34k and less than $42K (for married couple) the least expensive policy was going to cost $1,300 per month WITH A SUBSIDY. For that $1,300 per month, we would have had an 80/20 policy with family deductible of $8,000 per year with a max out of pocket per year of $18,000. Yes, that is EIGHTEEN THOUSAND DOLLARS. For 1 year.
So figure that out. $1,300 paid per month for the premium is $15,600 for the year just in cost of buying the insurance. Now figure in the deductible of $8,000 & you're at $23,600 out of pocket before the insurance pays anything!
Ok let's say you have an emergency - like you need your appendix out or you trip over the dog & fall breaking your leg & dislocating your shoulder. You require surgery so you have hospital bills. You have to pay your deductible plus you can possibly pay out of pocket up to an additional $18,000 before you are covered 100% & have to pay no more. So potentially you could spend $41,600 in 1 year. I ask again...is this what you call affordable?
The way "around" this? You have to make sure you don't make any money. Yep. You must deliberately not try to get ahead in life & try to make more. I entered in (on the gov marketplace site) various scenarios of income. Making each lower & lower. I settled on an adjusted GROSS income for the 2 of us for 2017 at $31,999. We cannot make more than that or we will pay a penalty. At that income level we had a few more possible policies to choose from. What I chose is a "silver" Blue Cross policy with a $1,400 yearly family deductible (family is 2 of us - me & husband) with a max out of pocket of $4,000 for the year. We pay $792 per month WITH a subsidy. Our policy bills at $2,497 per month! The subsidy covers everything over $792. WHO the hell could afford to pay $2500 a month for health insurance??? That number is insane!
For us, The $792 is $9,504 per year for the premiums. Add in our max out of pocket & we're at $13,504 possible out of pocket costs for the year. That is about 42% of our total gross income for the year. 42%. Now what does that leave for everything else it takes to live? House payment. Real estate taxes. upkeep on our house. groceries. car ins. & maintenance. utilities. Our house is paid for thank God. We could never make a house payment & pay for health ins. Now tell me how AFFORDABLE and great Obamacare is. I don't think people who are not stuck with ACA should be voicing an opinion. Because they know nothing about it.
It is insane that in order to get any kind of reasonable health insurance people have to make less money & take gov. assistance. I hate it. We grew up working hard & making our own way. We USED to be upper middle class. Not any more. :-(