lansbury

Has been ruled constitutional by the Supreme Court.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/28/politi...html?hpt=hp_t1

sir_eccles

Odd you should use a CNN link as they are getting roundly panned for their own "Dewey beats Truman" moment earlier this morning as they tried to be first to break the news.

Sally Redux

They should be ready to start catching up with the rest of the developed world within the next 20 years.

SanDiegogirl

I still have my doubts as to whether it will be "Affordable".

There does not appear to be anything in the legislation which holds down costs.

Who is going to control the medical profession to reign in their ever higher charges?

sir_eccles

It strikes me that no one actually knows what the Affordable Care Act does and everyone is just repeating what they're told by which ever news outlet they read.

The fact that many people think moving to Canada is the only option left to them speaks volumes for the lack of understanding not only of local/national affairs but what goes on in the wider world.

lansbury

I saw it on The Oregonian web site, but looked for a more national link. CNN was the first to come to mind.

lansbury

Agreed, but as it seemed those that claimed to be able to read the Supreme Court were predicting it would be struck down, it is a start.

Bob

I do like reading about the naysayers, mostly going on about how their taxes are going to go up because of this and how will poor people pay for this.

Bit of a oxymoron really. Actually, no, they're just mostly morons.

dakota44

Roberts is certainly an occasional surprise on the Court, and a flea under the collar of right wing conservatives who expected him to always be the reliable Republican political hack, a job that now falls to Scalia, Thomas and Alito. Now if only he had voted against Citizens United.

CNN was not alone their poor reporting as FOX also botched the announcement and originally said that the mandate had been struck down.

guitarmaan

My wife and I would love to know what this will actually mean for ordinary people like us, not rich and not dirt poor either. The figures and detail of "Obamacare" seem hard to come by.

But it's bring out some very strong opinions, that's for sure!

dakota44

It depends. If you have kids over 19 and under 26 they can stay on your policy, if you have one. If you have insurance at work, or insurance on your own, you are unaffected by the law except that you may get a subsidy for insurance you pay for out of your own pocket. If you do not have insurance and you fall into certain income categories you will receive financial assistance to buy affordable care. If you have a pre-existing condition, you cannot be denied coverage or charged more. Your coverage cannot be dropped, nor your premiums raised simply because you become ill. It prevents insurance companies from deciding to cancel your policy if you have, let's say cancer, simply because you forgot to include on your application some totally unrelated and minor medical treatment or illness when you were a child, or whenever. Seniors get a reduction in drug prices. There is much more of likely benefit to you. Bottom line, it is not perfect but it does away with many of the problems associated with affordable health insurance. Hopefully it is a gateway to a single payer system in the future.

lansbury

One thing in Oregon changed a few weeks ago. My wife who is in the Oregon high risk pool (OMIP) was notified that as of 2014 that it would no longer be offered as insurance companies wouldn't be able to refuse due to preexisting conditions.

Problem is while Blue Cross/Blue Shield administered the OMIP, the State mandated a cap on the premiums at plus 25% of the normal premium. As of 2014 what the premiums will be is anyone's guess.

Michael

You can use the following calculator to estimate costs in 2014. Unfortunately the calculator only estimates for single and family of 4 but if you use the family of 4, it should cost less than that for 2 people.

http://healthreform.kff.org/SubsidyC...spx#calcParams

dakota44

The law prohibits insurance companies from charging a higher premium due to preexisting conditions. That's why the high risk pool is no longer necessary. Also, there is a cap on what percentage of your income is used to pay for health insurance, and subsidies kick in. It is based on percentage of Federal Poverty level. Here is a chart that gives the numbers.

Here is a link with a decent brief explanation of the benefits etc. It includes some I forgot to mention, such as capping the amount of out of pocket expenses you can be required to pay. http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Blog...t-of-2010.aspx

lansbury

Thanks, useful link. It would be a single person because I would be on medicare by then. It's about a 15% increase on what is is paying now.