Tuesday, October 21, 2014

If... Where the Economy Meets Health Care 01

Some people in Congress — you know who they are — have fallen strangely silent about the Affordable Care Act  (that's pronounced Obamacare by my sneering drunk unclebecause they misled us (even if they merely served the whims of others who manufactured the lies) about what a disaster the law would be for the U.S. economy.

If I'm glad -- and quite impressed given the obstacles -- that the Affordable Care Act has so far cost less than projected by its most fervent advocates, and saved more than the most optimistic pre-calculations, then why, why, why would I vote for someone whose party wants to repeal it, or at least gut it, for reasons that confound reason?

And why wouldn't I get out on November 4th to vote for a candidate whose party is determined to protect and extend affordable, quality, health care to all Americans? 

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

on january 1 my new insurance "presidential care" went from 279 a month with great coverage to 604 per month with about 75% of my original benefits. thats a big raise in premium isnt it? then on on april 2 2014 i notified my insurance company that i hadnt received a bill for march. they told me my insurance was cancelled because i was over 30 days late. that the "new" law had "just" changed from 90 days. consequently, i havent had insurance since then because in this health care economy i cant actually even apply for insurance until November 2014 and then I wont have it until 2015. I dont care how much Im told things are better i dont believe ANYTHING without facts. the fact is this administration has told lie after lie and said its truth. it does evil and calls it good. i think theres at least one book that says people that sin (we all sin) and call it good (we dont all) and encourage others to do the same are the spirit of anti-christ. and that there will be many in the end times and there are, heres proof.

Jim Hancock said...

Dear Anonymous,

It's clear that you're upset and suspicious. Other details are less plain. If I were an expert on individual coverage — I'm not — I'm sure I would need to know more than you've outlined in your comment. Like: where you live, your employment situation, the number of people in your household, your age, income, and so on.

The current law puts much of the control over information and services about coverage in the hands of the individual states - as Congress insisted. In my state there are three ways to interact directly with human beings to get answers about what works and how to access affordable, quality health coverage: in California, we can talk with Certified Enrollment Counselors, Certified Insurance Agents, and/or County Human Services Agents. We can find these people through the state health care coverage clearing house website: .

I presume your state has something like this, though I understand that some states have been more enthusiastic than others - and therefore more intentional - about getting everyone covered. For example, some states have so far declined to accept money from the federal budget to expand medicare to qualifying citizens - which is too bad since portions of that money came from those states. If your state elected officials are dragging their feet, they're making this harder and more stressful than it is in states that went all-in from the beginning.

Here's this month's analysis from PricewaterhouseCoopers of state-by-state rate decreases and increases: . Your individual situation will determine where your coverage costs actually land.

Anyway, I'm sorry you haven't managed to make this work for you yet. I hope you have a better experience and outcome going forward.

Jim Hancock said...

Dear Anonymous P.S.

Hmm... The web pages I tried to point to in my response to your comment got scraped off.

If you're interested, let me know here, and I'll figure out how to post the Covered California page and the PricewaterhouseCoopers analysis page.

Anonymous said...

i Am in cali. thanx. what i have found out is that when i tell pharmacies,u care and the lab that i dont have any insurance and explain why, theyve heard it before and i get really good deals for cash. at this point im leaning toward paying the annual fine and hoping i never get really sick.