Why Obamacare is a Failure

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_health_coverage_by_country

My gold plan is working out well so far. I hope it's still there next year.

Only in the way that the Tories have to fend off accusations that they're out to destroy it. There's a long term dispute going on between junior doctors and the govt over working hours.

We look at UHC the same way you look at children's education. It's a right. America's healthcare is used as an example of what goes wrong when you don't have UHC. As far as we're concerned the American system is just one story after another of people being denied healthcare because of poverty. We don't want that over here.

Thanks Izzy, interesting stuff. I fear this is another scenario as 'muricans where a precedent has been set, and one that'll take way too long to chip away. The fact that many here have been – to my mind – duped by politicians and their financiers into believing that affordable health care for their fellow citizens is a bad thing is nothing short of reprehensible.

And many people don't believe education is a right so much as a right to public babysitting while they go off to work

And are you on a plan through work, or are you buying health insurance directly?

We've had it since 1946. It's an institution, closest we've got to a national religion. NHS nurses were a big part of the London Olympics opening ceremony

Just throwing my 2 cents in.

I've taken Obamacare insurance since it's inception, and have been nothing but pleased with what I've gotten.

When I wasn't working and my countable household income was low, but above the threshhold for Medicaid, I got my insurance at an extremely low cost, practically nothing. I gotten well woman exams, blood work several times, a mammogram or 2 all at zero cost out of my pocket. I get 3 month supplies of medications for just a few dollars each.

I've had to see a specialist twice, and the cost for that I can't even remember, so it couldn't have been much.

If it weren't for Obamacare, I would have been stuck with no insurance.

Now I'm doing some contract work, so my premiums have increased, but to a fair amount for what I'm making. My out of pocket costs have not changed.

I found the initial and yearly applications easy and straightforward.

That was good to hear, and congrats!

As Obamacare choices dwindle, feds face consumer, political backlash

USA Today

Up to 2.1 million people will likely have to change plans for 2017 due to insurers leaving states' Affordable Care Act marketplaces, up from more than 1.2 million who had to find new insurers last year. That doesn't include the millions who bought new plans because they found a better deal.

The new estimates, from data expert Charles Gaba of ACASignups.net, come as another analysis shows five states are expected to have just one company selling insurance on the 2017 Obamacare exchanges. Consumers in most counties in nine other states won't find any competition for their exchange business either, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

These latest assessments show how leery insurers are of the costs and rules associated with selling on the ACA exchanges — the centerpiece of the health law — and the risks this reticence present to their future. Insurers including Aetna, UnitedHealthcare and many smaller insurers and cooperatives have either decided to leave states and counties or have failed. Julie McPeak, who was appointed insurance commissioner by the Republican governor, told The Tennessean that the ACA marketplace for the state was "very near collapse."

The turmoil is putting intense pressure on federal regulators to stabilize the system, lower costs for consumers and reduce risks for insurers — often conflicting challenges that create a Catch-22. Among other changes, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services proposed Monday to have its risk adjustment program factor in prescription drug usage data and the people who drop their coverage before 12 months are up. Insurers complain too many sick people sign up to get health care and then drop plans after their treatments are complete.

Insurers need healthy people to buy insurance to offset the companies' costs of covering sicker ones, but healthy consumers who don't qualify for high subsidies won't sign up unless the prices are more affordable, says Paul Howard, director of health policy at the free market Manhattan Institute.

"It's important that enrollment continue to grow," so the ACA sign-u

Obama-care is a failure, because Mr. Obama is a failure.

However, Ms Valeri Jarret is a success. In fact, she might be able to defeat Ms Clinton, is she were to run against her in the upcoming election.

Washington (CNN)Bill Clinton criticized President Barack Obama's signature policy reform Monday while on the stump for his wife, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, calling Obamacare "the craziest thing in the world." But he attempted to temper his criticism at a Tuesday rally.

Speaking at a Democratic rally in Flint, Michigan, the former president ripped into the Affordable Care Act (ACA) for flooding the health care insurance market and causing premiums to rise for middle-class Americans who do not qualify for subsidies.
"So you've got this crazy system where all of a sudden 25 million more people have health care and then the people who are out there busting it, sometimes 60 hours a week, wind up with their premiums doubled and their coverage cut in half. It's the craziest thing in the world," Clinton said.
On Tuesday, he tried to clean up his criticism.
"Look, the Affordable Health Care Act did a world of good, and the 50-something efforts to repeal it that the Republicans have staged were a terrible mistake," Clinton said at a rally in Athens, Ohio. "We, for the first time in our history, at least are providing insurance to more than 90% of our people."
"But there is a group of people -- mostly small business owners and employees -- who make just a little too much money to qualify for Medicaid expansion or for the tax incentives who can't get affordable health insurance premiums in a lot of places. And the reason is they're not in big pools," Clinton said. "So they have no bargaining power."
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said Tuesday he bet Clinton "went through hell last night" with his wife, then added: "Honestly, there have been many nights when he's gone through hell with Hillary."
Bill Clinton, whose efforts with his wife to overhaul health care in the 1990s were stymied by a recalcitrant Congress and the insurance lobby, told the crowd the insurance model "doesn't make sense" and "doesn't work here."

Touting his wife's proposal to allow people without access to subsidies to buy into Medicare and Medicaid, he also acknowledged that market-based solutions would not solve the country's problems with insurance costs and coverage.
"On the other hand, the current system works fine if you're eligible for Medicaid, if you're a lower-income working person; if you're already on Medicare, or if you get enough subsidies on a modest income that you can afford your health care," Clinton said. "But the people that are getting killed in this deal are small business people and individuals who make just a little too much to get any of these subsidies."
Post debate, Clinton takes the lead
Angel Urena, Clinton's press secretary, defended the former president's stance on Obamacare on Tuesday, saying he had consistently supported the legislation since it was enacted in 2010.
"President Clinton spoke about the importance of the ACA and the good it has done to expand coverage for millions of Americans. And while he was slightly short-handed, it's clear to everyone, including President Obama, that improvements are needed," Urena said in a statement.
The White House said again Tuesday there were changes they would like to see made to the ACA.
"President Obama has of course acknowledged that with cooperation from Democrats and Republicans in Congress, there are some things that could be done to further strengthen the law. That's something that Sec. Clinton has vowed to pursue if she is elected President of the United States," press secretary Josh Earnest said in a briefing.
But he insisted Obamacare remains a top accomplishment of the president's tenure.
"The Affordable Care Act continues to be a source of pride for people who work here in the administration in terms of that significant legislative accomplishment. That's essentially our position," Earnest said. "You'd have to talk to President Clinton about exactly what message he was trying to send."
When asked whether the former president went too far in his criticism against the ACA, Earnest responded he's "not sure what argument (Clinton) was making."
And when asked if he wished Clinton hadn't used "crazy" or "craziest" to describe Obamacare, Earnest said, "Of course."
CNN's Athena Jones, Kevin Liptak, Michelle Kosinski, Daniella Diaz and Allie Malloy contributed to this report.

Also, FactCheck on ACA.
http://www.factcheck.org/2016/09/groundhog-friday-12/

I am not looking for sympathy with this post but want to get out some information about Obamacare. At the beginning of the year my wife broke her arm and had to have an operation to repair it. $22,000. I paid $450. Seems there was so much damage that they had to do a reverse shoulder replacement. Total cost for both operations $158,000. My cost $1000. Than I had to get into the act and had heart problems cost, of hospital visits $25,000. My cost $1,000. Without insurance I would have had to sell my house to pay these bills. Obamacare sure as hell wasent a failure for me and my wife.

Edit: I pay about 280 bucks for my insurance. My wife pays 150 bucks.

But but but ..... my premiums went up $646 this year and my deductible that I didn't use was $4000.

You didn't have insurance previous to the ACA? Unbelievable.

Why is that unbelievable? 20 something million people are now covered who weren't. The ACa removed the ability for insurance companies to block insurance tomsick people and ensured that their premiums couldn't be more than 3x a healthy persons.

That is a huge deal for people who have chronic illnesses even though is a huge cost driver for healthy people.

That's what insurance is supposed to do. Spread the cost over the general population. The problem with ACA was that everybody didn't participate as they expected.

Was Rabel one of those? Do you know that or are you just rousing the rabble?

Is that $53.83 a month? My costs were monthly also. I havent checked on my 2017 costs yet. Kind of afraid too.