Obamacare in a nutshell

mac · Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2016 10:39 pm Post subject:

It doesn't surprise me to see chatter about Obama care, with widely divergent views expressed--without attribution. Earlier this weak there was a report issued by a task force associated with Kaiser, reported in the SF Chronicle and referenced i the US News and World Report, that concluded Obama care costs were dramatically lower than had been predicted.
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-06-22/us-health-spending-has-slowed-dramatically

So I am sure that the conservative sources got their version of reality out there, and Ryan said that the Republicans finally had an alternative plan. It only took 8 years. Of course, no details of Ryan or Trump's plans are available.

The difficulties in getting beyond the talking points on both sides are myriad. I think we need to wait a little more to get some data that is not limited in value because of the recession. This is a very interesting, only slightly dated and non-partisan article that illustrates the difficulty of teasing a trend from daya through 2014. http://www.factcheck.org/2014/02/aca-impact-on-per-capita-cost-of-health-care/

As of 2015, even the Economist acknowledged that the rise in healthcare costs had slowed and Obama care was at least partially responsible.

But costs continue to rise, and some insurance companies are either losing money or have lower profits. It is impossible to tell whether those costs would have been higher without the ACA, and it is hard to tell which insurance companies have simply made bad business decisions. It is clear that increasing drug prices are a major part of those increases. In some recent years the profit margin for big pharma has been obscene (over 30%). The US pays far more for drugs than any other country, and the only way to secure the votes for the ACA was to agree not to go after pharma prices. A policy initiated by Bush with the expansion of Medicare, and agreed to by Obama to secure the votes of pro-big pharma Democrats.

I can't see any real progress in controlling costs without using the purchasing powere of Medicare to drive drug prices down. Can you conservatives name a single Republican willing to apply the business practices used by Amazon and Walmart to our prescription drug purchases?

isobars · Joined: 12 Dec 1999 Posts: 20935

Condensed excerpt from ObamaCare Death Spiral Update, by Jenkins in the WSJ 6 days ago ... Increasingly, the only customers for ObamaCare policies are those who are already very sick*. That's just one of many reasons ObamaCare is such a pending disaster that big insurers like Aetna, Anthem, Humana and UnitedHealth Group, initially supporters because they assumed taxpayers would make them rich, are dropping it like flies. In fact, however, ObamaCare policies have proved so unattractive and expensive (including deductibles and copays) that even customers eligible for subsidies are rejecting them as not being insured at all.

* i.e., those who understand that preexisting condition health care "insurance" is not insurance at all but is just unearned welfare. The classic Obamacare winners are those of us with a preexisting terminal disease. How many of you believe a cancer patient should be even allowed, let alone coerced, to sign up, collect hundreds of thousands of dollars in drug costs plus MANY other expenses, AFTER diagnosis ... just to extend his life by four miserable months?

jp5 · Joined: 19 May 1998 Posts: 3394 Location: OnUr6

At last report, all the Blue plans across the nation have lost 8 billion since inception.

isobars · Joined: 12 Dec 1999 Posts: 20935

swchandler · Joined: 08 Nov 1993 Posts: 10588

Sorry Charlie, Obamacare is only for folks under 65. It's only Tri-care or the Medicare system for you.

isobars · Joined: 12 Dec 1999 Posts: 20935

In a windsurfing injury thread,

techno900 · Joined: 28 Mar 2001 Posts: 4161

Hard to find details on this, but it looks like the estate recovery plan - death/estate tax is for Medicaid recipients, not ACA subsidized persons.

However -

techno900 · Joined: 28 Mar 2001 Posts: 4161

some more details:

isobars · Joined: 12 Dec 1999 Posts: 20935

mrgybe · Joined: 01 Jul 2008 Posts: 5180

Obamacare is in a death spiral. The major insurers are bailing because of massive losses. Enrollment is way below predictions. Premiums and deductibles keep moving up. For most, the choice of companies is much smaller than before the law. By any rational measure, it is a failure. Why on earth didn't anyone foresee this outcome?.........Oh, wait!