Whenever he has been promoting Obamacare, President Obama has always said, “If you like your current plan, you can keep it.” Under my current health care plan, I pay a premium that I can afford and now, because that plan doesn’t qualify for the minimum coverage required by Obamacare, my insurance company sent me a letter saying that they are ending that plan. That is not fair, it makes me sick to think I supported Obamacare…though unfortunately my current plan won’t cover that.
I happen to like my existing plan and the current regulations. Okay, it has a $10,000 deductible, only provides co-pays of 60% after I’ve paid out that $10,000, and allows my insurance company to stick me with the entire bill for a major health problem by finding a way to link it to a pre-existing condition…but at least I can afford it!
Some people have asked me, why would I want to keep a health insurance plan that provides little to no benefits to me and if ever needed, could evade covering me and bankrupt me and I explain to them, “It was a bargain!”
When it comes to health care plans, some people are focused on coverage and others are focused on price. For me, it’s always been price. I bought my home insurance policy with a $300,000 deductible that only covers damage and liability from a dinosaur stampede. Why? Because it was the best price.
Next thing you know, the government will prevent me from continuing my Alien Death Ray Life Insurance policy which is incredibly affordable and protects my family’s finances in case I am shot and killed by an alien death ray.
This is America, I should be free to have whatever health insurance plan I want whether or not it provides me with any actual benefits. It’s my money and if I want to spend it on a policy that won’t cover a $5,000 bill for an emergency room visit so I have to walk out on it and force the rest of you to pay for it through premium increases, I should have the right to infringe on others’ rights!
Why should government be able to insist on minimum standards for health insurance? Just to make sure that people receive a necessary baseline of care? I don’t buy it. At least I haven’t bought that before and I’m afraid to start now.
Look, we all know how important it is to have health insurance. What we don’t agree on is whether that insurance should provide any benefits in return. I’m just content knowing I have health insurance, I’m not one of those nitpickers who insist that it has to cover their medical expenses. If I was a soldier, I’d just be content having a rifle as I went into battle, I wouldn’t make myself crazy worrying about whether or not I had any bullets.
The main cause for bankruptcies in the US is due to health care debts. Has Obama or any of his Admin considered how hard the economy would be hit by an avalanche of unemployment in the bankruptcy attorney sector? Of course not.
Or have they considered the cost to society of healthier citizens? The longer lines at Jamba Juice and more senior citizens at the park in spandex? Is that a future we really want to see?
Some people say, “You’ll get back the extra amount you pay in premiums and far more than that through better coverage and benefits.” To them I say, “If I wanted better coverage and benefits, do you think I would have been paying for an individual health insurance plan in the first place?”
Why should I have to look at the big picture to see savings? Really? I have to think about how much less I’d spend over a year with an Obamacare policy instead of just looking in the short term at my monthly premium bill? Hey, I don’t have to look long term to come to the most sensible conclusions, I’m an American!
Even so…in this increasingly tyrannical government, I suppose I have no choice but to pay more for health insurance than I was paying just to get it to provide me with something in return.
Okay, I’ll pay it but when I’m lying in the hospital racking up a $130,000 bill, knowing my insurance company is suffering from a pre-existing condition of responsibility for paying it, all I’ll be able to think about is the poor care they’re getting for my money and what a rip off it is that I’ll have to pay them $50 dollars more next month than I used to pay.
Marie Antoinette much? The insurance that worked for the individuals is gone? Meh. Let them eat the cost of what’s left.
Huh? You’ll need to prove your point with some legit documentation.
I don’t see how those terrible insurance plans “worked” for individuals. Through them, insurance companies denied claims, raised rates up to 25% a year, raised deductibles and threw people off of their insurance.
People were paying hundreds a month just to be able to say they had insurance yet when they needed to use it, they often were denied. Most individuals received little to no benefit from it year in and year out.
As I joked about above, are you saying that paying hundreds a month but getting nothing for it is better than paying more and getting many benefits from it…which end up saving most people money over their old plans…because “it’s a bargain”?
People are too dumb to realize that when the inevitable happens, they will be thankful they have some type of coverage better than the 50.00 Crappy Policy they have. They seem to forget that Insurance of some type is a NECESSITY. I have been in far too many hospitals and watched people skip out on bills, forcing the rest of us to pay. In my opinion this plan is a GREAT first step to repairing a broken Health Care Delivery Model -I just wish it would have been Universal, but I know, baby steps.. I say if you don’t want it, fine -but don’t use any healthcare facility for treatment and don’t expect me to care because you don’t know what your current crappy plan covers, and when you find out, don’t whine to me about the ‘corrupt Insurance Industry’ because you were too lazy and stupid to take the time to READ YOUR POLICY and know what was covered… This article is BRILLIANT in it’s tongue-and-cheek approach to point out the lowest common denominator many of us deal with EVERYDAY. Bravo! You
ckid70 , thank you for your comment and let me extend a warm welcome to The Planet. We hope to be seeing a lot more of you here in the future. Welcome aboard.
Hey ckid70, nice to see you! And thanks so much for the kind words!
The MSM is partially complicit in this BS, some do come out and explain that the plans these people have are crap and worthless so they are going from throwing their money away to getting something in return for it.
Others however are just acting as a megaphone for the Repubs because they’re dedicated to conflict and ad revenues instead of delivering news and truths.
The real meme should be, “I want to throw my money away on a worthless policy because it’s a lower monthly premium than paying for a plan that actually provides me with benefits.”
The BS about those claiming Obama lied because they can’t keep their plan if they want is so dishonest, insurance companies change the plans for individuals frequently, none of these people have the same plan they were on 3 years ago! For many, it’s not the same as it was 1 year ago!
And the irony is that they seem to be mad at Obama for government having control over insurance while complaining that they don’t have enough control to force them to keep and not change any of their individual plans that are crappy.
“We are the “real” Americans, we eat at McDonalds and shop at Walmart, we WANT to spend our money on crappy things and that includes health insurance!”
Man…sometimes I do wonder if we wouldn’t be better off letting all these types secede and run their own country until it and everyone in it is broken down.
It does not make a lot of sense.
Trying to understand it is a mostly futile effort.
agrippa, I think some of the complainers are genuinely upset that they can’t keep their crappy health care because at least the premium is lower. They are so ignorant, they don’t consider that over a year, with so much not paid for by their crappy plan, they will end up spending way more money on health care and eventually when they have a big issue, they will get buried in at least tens of thousands of debt they can’t pay.
Others are just afraid of change or looking for a reason to be upset at Obama and the Dems.
The ones that really get me are those who wail, “I’m young and healthy, why should I have to pay more then I otherwise would, just to help the poor and older people?”
My response to them would be, “Because dimwit, you’re a citizen of a nation and you have a duty to all of those who sacrificed for you to have all the freedoms and opportunities you do to give back. All you have to sacrifice is a nominal amount of money (which you get back anyway when you’re older as younger people help to reduce your premiums then). Other Americans are sacrificing their lives and limbs in the military and you whine about fifty bucks?”
Lastly, there are the Repubs/Baggers who don’t need reason or fact to howl against Obamacare. Even when it is saving their lives and their savings, they will howl continuously. No point in ever trying to figure them out because there is no thinking involved with their decision making, it’s all hatred and prejudice.
In a year, most Americans will see that none of the horror stories of the Repubs were true. Some people’s premiums will have gone up but annual increases will stay low because of most Americans now being covered and not sticking everyone else with their unpaid bills.
I think by Nov 2014, the Repubs will be stuck running on an anti-Obamacare platform where they will be all alone.
I think that the law is good enough and will benefit people. As long as people make good use of it, they can complain all they want.
I would just remind the young and healthy that it takes one motorcycle rollover like the one that stopped traffic for an hour yesterday to turn you from “Invincible” to “vegetable”. And you’re kinda gonna want help when that time comes – any minute now.
The young are NOT subsidizing the old. We have paid your education and all other costs, and now we’re asking you to take – gasp – PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY for making sure your bar fight patch ups are not put on OUR backs.
Health insurance is like liability insurance on your car – it assures the world that you’re not stiffing the rest of us. Suck it up, admit you’re not immortal, and pay a small premium if you’re poor to get insurance that keeps us all free of YOUR debts.
Only fair. We already paid for your education. Now use it.
CL, I really like your post. We have raised the young , fed them clothed them, educated them, and loved them. Now all we ask of them is to take responsibility for their health insurance and let us live our lives caring for ourselves.
I don’t think it is asking too much. It is for their benefit after all.
AdLib, brilliantly executed jumbled logic that defies survival skills and I’ll bet you a tub of Belgium choco flake chocolate ice cream that some/many are actually thinking this about the ACA, if thinking is the proper term. It’s like buying a car with only three tires, no engine and no steering wheel and then being prepared to go bankrupt to keep it and push it. Might just as well flush your money and misguided logic down the loo.
Are brain transplants covered by Obamacare, and can these people be saved from themselves ?
Hey Kalima! Mmm…I would love to take you up on that bet if I thought I could win that ice cream but you’re right, many small minded people are no doubt thinking just that.
I like the car analogy, another version would be paying very little for a car that doesn’t have an engine then complaining that you were being forced to pay more for a car that has an engine and can actually be driven places.
Good question, I don’t know if brain transplants would be covered by Obamacare but even if they were, I think the Tea Partier’s heads would reject the transplant…or the brains would escape at their first opportunity out of self-preservation.
😆 Gives new meaning to the once widely used term, “Brain Drain”. I like your car analogy much better. I’d give you a tub of ice cream just for that. 🙂
ACA did not cause cancellations. Cancellations caused ACA.
ACA did not cause massive premium hikes. Massive premium hikes caused ACA.
ACA did not impose service and coverage caps. Coverage caps caused ACA.
Why do you have maternity care if you’re a guy? Because it’s a package. Women have PSA and proctology coverage. It’s a package. Doesn’t cost less without those. Doesn’t cost more with them. I hope never to use dialysis or open heart surgery – it’s just there.
Grow up GOP and snarky people. This is not free market stuff – you do not pay more for anything in the plan, and you’d only jack to costs if you tried to remove it. Get a grip – this is cheap, affordable, and comprehensive. You never had it so good.
Excuse me choicelady but I was talking about the people AdLib describes in his post, the ones who would rather hold on to crappy healthcare plans which costs more, rather than opting for ACA. If this was perceived as “snarky” the snark was directed at the whiners and not at those enrolling for the ACA. Sorry that wasn’t clear enough but at least AdLib understood the meaning.
Oh no, Kalima! Sorry – the reaction was general and NOT directed at you at all! I agree with you – just venting about the crap-o-la I’d heard over the last couple of days.
I’m so sorry if it seemed I was directing at YOU as opposed to, whoever they are, the ranting and raving naysayers.
YOU are WONDERFUL.
Well thank goodness for that choicelady, I was about to reach for my smelling salts and vacate to the chaises longue to combat a case of the “vapours”. 😉
Thanks for clearing that up because I am 100% for the ACA and have friends in places where the Repubs won’t implement it who are uninsured and chronically ill. So I care a lot.
A story I posted on MB this morning but will the whiners understand it? When hell freezes over.
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Here Is What’s Wrong With That Story About Obama Knowing That Your Health Care Policy Would Get Cancelled
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/10/28/2850061/wrong-story-obama-knowing-health-care-policy-cancelled/
You never know for sure when you will need that umbrella. But, even if the sun is shining, it is still nice to know you have one available when you need it. I never smoked but I got cancer. And, I have news for men, you, too, can get breast cancer! Insurance is something you have and hope you will never use but you sure feel a lot more comfortable with it.
Amen, Sally, amen. I’m so sorry you got cancer! I trust you are now well? That’s shocking because, yes, it CAN happen to anyone. I knew an older couple who led the most abstemious of lives. He lived to be 103 but 20 years earlier had a heart attack and prostate cancer, and she died at 90 of a brain tumor. Things happen to even the BEST of us, and insurance keeps you from having to deny yourself the treatments you need to keep going.
Crap insurance is NO insurance. And if the companies cancelled people – well, so what? having high deductible bare bone treatment plans is being robbed BY the insurance companies. Why do people think that’s better?