20
Aug
2019
0
Life Without Affordable Health Care

Life Without Affordable Health Care

The Affordable Health Care Act
Life Without Affordable Healthcare

Also known as “Obamacare”, has been in operation for about nine years now, as of 2019. Unfortunately, there are some politicians who have politicized it, and now patients are in jeopardy of losing their Affordable Health Care Coverage. Many did not know the health insurance they held, was given to them under the Affordable Health Care Act, according to polls.

The Health Care Debate

There has been a lot of debate about the government provided health care coverage in the United States. Who would have thought there would ever have been a debate about saving lives? With the uninsured rate sky rocking from 2 million in the 1970’s to over 50 million (uninsured and under-insured), before the government-sponsored health coverage began. We would have thought everyone would have been ecstatic about its lifesaving function. After all, the politicians who don’t agree with it get government sponsored paychecks, pensions, and health care.


Is Health Care Important if You Are Not Rich

There are many reasons health care is important; it encourages Americans to visit the doctor on a regular basis and go to the hospital when needed. What happens when you have no health care and no other way to pay when you go to the hospital. There are a few devastating things that can happen. First of all, many uninsured will stay away from doctors and hospitals when they are sick, and continue to get worse. But, equally devastating is the financial aspect, if you own a home, they can eventually place a lien on your home and do a forced sell to pay a large unpaid hospital balance. They can also get a court order to garnish your check for payment. Now, would you rather have government sponsored health care, (with subsidies, to help for payment, if you make under $50,000), or would you rather lose all of your assets for (potentially) the rest of your life.

Small Business and Health Care

I spoke with a small businessman about health care. He has 3000 employees nationwide. He was really upset he had to provide health care for his employees, initially. Then, he complied and went into shock. His employee attendance rate increased by 50% immediately. His employee morale increased drastically. He was happy to find out he also received a subsidy to help with the payments. It was a win-win situation for everyone involved. His best surprise was that health care worked wonders on his business bottom line, despite his previous misgivings. His employees revealed they stayed home with the slightest illness because they were afraid to get sick. They could not afford to go to the doctor or hospital, without the fear of either being turned away or financially devastated as a result of treatment.

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Health Care From a Physicians Point of View

Another health care scenario is that of a physician I spoke to who worked in the emergency room for 6 years. He said the first person to usually see the incoming patient is the insurance person, if not immediately, soon after arrival. He witnessed one of three things: The person was given no treatment if they had no insurance and appeared to be ok, or band-aid treatment, that is enough to make them comfortable and safe at the moment if they had no insurance. Or, treatment with a huge bill sent to them if they had a job or home. Before the Affordable Health Care Insurance, a few patients were
treated and given the government hospital subsidy if they qualified.

Do You Really Need Health Care

I am trying to establish a pattern why you need to have health insurance if you are uninsured or under-insured (many individual plans will place you in the under-insured category without your knowledge), and be grateful that you have affordable government options if you get sick, just as the politicians have. The companies providing the coverage are private insurance companies.

The affordable health care insurance is for those who don’t have health insurance or are under-insured. It will provide yearly physicals and health maintenance procedures like mammograms, colonoscopies, pap smears, and physicals to help maintain your health or catch problems when they are small and treatable. You will also be covered for hospital room and board, as well as hospital procedures. Concentrate on low deductible and low payment insurance plans to keep it affordable for you and your family.


Affordable Health Care Update 2019

For health care you can get coverage that starts January 1, 2019, if you sign up by December 15, 2018, you have until January 31 to get covered for the coming year.

If you lose your job, get divorced or lose your insurance, you may be able to sign up anytime. You may also need to re-sign if you move to a different state.

Here is the health care web page: Affordable Health Care Website


Affordable Health Care Update 2019

Unfortunately, at this point, I don’t know what the future of the Affordable Health Care Act is. The new administration is committed to destroying it.

A friend of mine is a specialist in medicine with many very sick patients who are currently in the middle of expensive medical treatments, under the insurance bought with the affordable care act. The republican administration says they have a replacement, but we have not seen a viable plan, only promises. A friend of mine who is a specialist in medicine has several republican patients getting serious treatment.

They were not aware that the Affordable Health Care was the same as “Obamacare”, now they are terrified that they may not be able to finish their medical treatments. Hopefully, they will re-think their position and allow lives to continue to be saved with Affordable Insurance. Out local newspaper just reported that a major University Hospital that gets tax breaks and government subsidies is regularly putting liens on the homes of patients without health care and garnishing checks of people who work at places such as walmart. Get insured and stay insured.

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Life Without Affordable Health Care

25 Responses

  1. Amber Myers

    I admit, I don’t know a lot about this because I use Tricare, which is the military health insurance. I hope everything works out for the affordable care act. I do know some people who use it and hate it, but at the same time, others enjoy it. So maybe they could come up with something that works for everyone.

    1. Unfortunately, there has been massive propaganda campaign against the affordable care act. My best friend is a doctor who treats really sick patients. Most of his patients who had the affordable care did not know they had it and loved it. But, when they found out it could be taken away, they became frightened, because they will have to stop all medical treatments. Before they had it they could not find treatment. There will never be a plan that everyone likes. The one the government just came out with will take about 95% of ACA insured off the insurance, and there will be a massive collapse of the healthcare industry with a few million jobs lost. Some people did not understand how to choose the right plan.

  2. Author Brandi Kennedy

    This, like all others, is a two sided coin. Sure, there are people who buy propaganda and don’t do their own research, and there are those who signed up for plans they didn’t understand, or didn’t receive subsidies because they didn’t know they could. On the other hand, there are people who followed all the rules, who did everything they were supposed to do, and saw the healthcare they had once paid for without any trouble at all, double or even triple in cost, while cutting benefits by half and sometimes more. I saw this in my own family, from those who are upper-middle class to the poorest poor, and it was all with horrifying effect. Before ACA, my disabled mother was getting by alright, able to live on her income and receive adequate care and medication. She is now drowning in bills and copayments, has lost relationships with doctors she desperately needed in her life, and is barely hanging on due to inadequate coverage. This is NOT better for her. Another close person in my life is now unable to go to doctors for even the basic care, because after having paid the exorbitant bills for coverage for herself and her son, there is hardly enough money left over to live on.

    1. The ACA was only for the uninsured, not the insured. It closed the donut hole in medicare, and it opened up many healthcare clinics. The deductible is not applied to office visits or preventive tests. Many people did not use their insurance before the ACA because the deductible was applied to office visits and preventive test. Many people have insurance from small private companies that have nothing to to with the ACA, but they are told it does. No one has to have the ACA, it is voluntary. They can pay the year end penalty and get no insurance at all or keep an old plan. Before the ACA insurance companies were constantly changing, merging, going out of business, charging excessive fees. The employer plans went up 87% before the ACA, after the ACA they only went up 37%. Most people had no clue about what their insurance covered until either they got 1. real sick or 2. they got the ACA that demonstrated all the benefits and nuances. With the ACA, like all insurance, you could choose a very low deductible and higher premium or high deductible(only charged to major treatment) and low premium. Many of the people who were insured under the ACA either could not get insurance because of pre-existing conditions or they used their limit if thy got really sick. The old limit was, for most people 1 million dollars. Now the limit is unlimited. Some kids with cancer would use their limit before they were done with treatment under the old plan. Many hospitals went out of business before the ACA because a lot of people without insurance thought the hospital emergency room was free. Hospitals that were on the verge of collapse but are now solvent employing millions of people. Instead of real sick people owning 2 million dollars to their healthcare, now they owe their deductible and percentage — those payments are manageable. Also, many nurses and doctors were hired in rural areas. I have many doctor friends, I am a retired doctor — I know the healthcare system.

  3. Sara Normand

    “It encourages Americans to visit the doctor on a regular basis and go to the hospital when needed.” – This is SO true. I never thought about this consciously, but I unconsciously avoided the doctor and hospital to avoid paying huge gap fees! I live in Brazil and the healthcare system here is the best I’ve seen. I’ve been to so many “checkups” and have not paid a single dime! And it costs around $100 USD per month, though it’s paid for by my company!

  4. Richard Bivins

    I think everyone wants affordable health care. My problem with what we have is that is no longer affordable for me. I need it…. I’m diabetic and have a form of MS called Myasthenia Gravis so if any changes are made to the law I hope they keep pre-existing conditions. I went from paying about $20 per week before “Obamacare” to just under $600/month now. My income bracket keeps me from getting any additional savings. My hope is that they open the markets to cross state lines and encourage competition and for the US to be able to negotiate pharma costs with international providers. We have to make changes but we cannot scrap it all together. Just my opinion.

    1. Before Obamacare insurance rates were always changing. The private insurance companies in the Obamacare exchanges are cost that are associated with the private insurance companies in the Obamacare exchange. Obamacare is not an insurance, it is only an exchange for buying private insurance if you make under $50,000 you will age a tax subsidy to make your premiums. I don’t have Obamacare, but our company plan has gone up every year for 20 years, and so have all others. The new federal government plan that came out just 2 days ago will take most of the previously uninsured Americans back off health insurance, the cost will be prohibitive.

  5. Cynthia Nicoletti

    I honestly do not know much about this subject since I have private insurance. I do know it has affected my mom last year. She could not see the doctors she was used to seeing. I also feel bad for the people who honestly can not afford insurance to pay penalties.

    1. Obamacare is an exchange where ONLY UNINSURED AMERICANS can buy insurance from private insurance companies, and get a tax credit immediately on their monthly payments. It covers people who could not get insurance due to pre-existing conditions, and they get a life-time of unlimited financial benefits. If they have insurance, they don’t qualify for insurance through the Affordable Health Care (Obamacare) exchanges.

    2. People who can’t afford to buy insurance can get expanded Medicaid or terribly low insurance payments. It is not unusual to see poor people with premiums of $29 or $39 a month with their tax subsidy from the Obamacare exchanges. If they don’t buy insurance, the tax penalty is to help pay for emergency rooms where uninsured go for what they THINK is free care.

  6. Lauren Michelle

    I don’t know much about this topic as I am still insured under my mother’s company, but reading about it makes me want to know more. I think this is a very important topic that everybody should be taught whether in school or at home. Thank you for a good read.

  7. David Elliott

    I have a hard time dealing with this subject as I understand both sides of the issue. I get that for people with pre-existing conditions that it has been a life saver. For others, cost curves are causing spiking in the prices in upwards of 100 percent per year. Finally, major insurers are getting out of the market because they are no longer getting their kickbacks from the government, which bends the cost curve even higher. I know they have been able to paper over some of these changes but the outlook from almost everyone is that the future of the ACA is grim at best. Some people want tweaking. Some people want overhaul. The truth is the government can’t afford to subsidize like it would like to. And if we do, we run the risk of bankrupting ourselves even more quickly. 20 trillion dollars in debt and climbing is not a sustainable model. So what can and should we do? I don’t know. But I’m not sure I like the answers from both sides.

    1. Do you feel that congress, the senate, the cabinet and President should be getting their salary, lifetime pension and healthcare paid by taxpayers – even though many are rich? They do.

      Do you feel that wealthy farmers and oil companies should be subsidized by federal tax dollars (free money)? They do.

      Do you think that no one should borrow money to buy a home, car, go to college? They do.
      This country has always run a deficit and always will.

      The government just announced $1 trillion dollars for an infrastructure project. $20 billion dollars in government contracts to private companies to build a wall (the actual cost will be about $50 billion). Most immigrants don’t come to this country on foot over the existing wall, they come by plane, boat, car, or walk across the legal border crossing. They come for vacation, or to visit and never leave. They have also said they are going to create other very expensive projects that will run up the deficit.

      The government just announced that they are taking money out of agencies that goes directly to benefit taxpayers to place $54 billion dollars in an already over-funded military industrial complex. (That’s where private companies get tax dollar’s now unregulated).

      The ACA is for; 1. Uninsured only 2. pre-existing conditions 3. get unlimited life benefits (before there was a short cap on insurance), 4. closed the donut hole in Medicare costs 5. gives subsidies only to those who make under $50,000. 6. Is only for the previously uninsured. If you had insurance, you are not a part of the ACA. 7. Try to get rid of fake insurance companies that offer ridiculously low rates, but don’t pay for major treatment they promise.

      Insurance costs went up only 37% under the ACA, previously it went up 87%. Much of that cost was from those who went to the hospital emergency rooms with no insurance, it was passed on to those who were paying and had insurance.

      The ACA is tax dollars working for the tax payers.

  8. Kimberly C.

    I think healthcare is extremely important. Let’s hope that the president comes up with a wonderful way to replace Obacare.

  9. Peachy @ The Peach Kitchen

    Affordable healthcare is important especially to those who cannot afford it. I hope it comes back to the way it is.

  10. CourtneyLynne

    I am someone who was not a fan of this! I went from having amazing insurance to horrible insurance through my hubby’s work. I hope a replacement will come a long that works for everyone.

    1. Exactly, the money previously went directly to the hospitals and clinics in subsidies. They did not use it as they should. The ACA was created so taxpayers could benefit directly from their own tax dollars. Also, for decades, as the uninsured and those with no money, go the hospital for “free” to “steal” their care, the cost is passed onto those who have insurance and pay cash. The issue has been politicized, so the money can be put in places that don’t benefit taxpayers, but instead the wealthy corporations who put the politicians in office.

  11. HealthyBooklet

    No matter who you are, chances are you’re benefiting from an improved health care system thanks to the Affordable Care Act. You may not realize that there’s a lot to lose if Republicans succeed in repealing this law. Here’s a look at a few different scenarios that reflect the lives of many Americans, and what happens with and without this law in place.

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