Pulaski

That's what happens when you allow people to think that they are getting something for free, and that they have a "right" to it.

rpjs

Round here most of the coppers look like overweight semi-retirees from the NYPD, which I think most of them are...

OnwardandUpward

I know there is an aspect of 'grass is always greener', and NHS has its issues ( my stepmum has been waiting all year for a hip operation and still no hospital date ) I'm just frustrated that it's so expensive and so difficult to pick a policy.
Did finally find one after hours of reading which has some doctors/ hospitals near me, that's a Platinum plan in Texas. One is double the price another- but the cheaper one has virtually no hospitals and they're all miles away which won't be very practical.

I can afford it for a year but ongoing I don't know what I'll do if I can't keep working.

Sally Redux

People have the right to healthcare, but I actually don't think it should be free at the point of delivery. People should have to pay and then reclaim the cost, thus gaining at least some idea of its value.

We also have the problem that anything that is wrong is the fault of the whole NHS system, whereas in the US it is seen as a problem with one doctor or hospital.

They set fire to a patient at one hospital where my husband worked for Christ's sake, amongst myriad other blunders. That's leaving aside the fact that many people couldn't even get near the place until ACA, and the fancy hospitals still try to keep lower-income people out.

markonline1

WTF?????

Sally Redux

Not sure I should have put that on the internet as they have a system of pay-offs (not much use to a crispy corpse though) and ways to cover stuff up.

paul32x

Personally, I am grateful and thrilled to have health insurance provided through the ACA. For the previous 6 or 7 years prior to the ACA I was priced out (they wanted £1,500 a month) and then when I decided I had no choice but to go for it, completely refused health insurance, because it transpired I had a high PSA level, which I didn't know about, from a blood test TEN YEARS EARLIER! I appealed the decision, to no avail. When the ACA came along, I grabbed it with both hands, got me a nice Humana policy, $71 a month with a $900 deductible. Within three months, March this year, I was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer. Humana have been fantastic, no qualms about any treatment I have needed at all. One tumour in my chest has disappeared completely and the other has shrunk to a tiny size, so I am doing really well, still working every day and optimistic as I can be about life. All right, I have to start from scratch again next year, fortunately the same policy is available and I willl have to pay the $900 deductible again -- though I reach that pretty quickly with my treatments -- but to be quite honest, I don't mind. In fact, looking on the website today, my premium is actually going down by $9 a month.

Sally Redux

All the best with that, Paul.

I am also very grateful because my son would have been at the mercy of a very patchy and expensive policy through his university.

Presumably if you get a Republican president next time the whole thing is out the window.

paul32x

Thanks. Having a Republican president next time worries the hell out of me, as well as this coming Supreme Court challenge in March! I'm fortunate in that I get a decent subsidy, but being in Florida, that could all go out of the window, as you say, next year. I suppose all we can do is hope that the Supreme Court see sense --- I just wonder if that's too much to ask!

Sally Redux

Fingers crossed. A republican president will mean we'll probably all get blown to Kingdom come anyway

a18ion

Poster child story for Obamacare. Very happy for you. Best of luck!

nun

That's why I chose to buy health insurance from my former employer when I retired rather than buy Obamacare. The employer's plan is very comprehensive and costs about $200/month more than a reasonable Silver plan through the ACA, but I thought that was worth getting insurance that wouldn't change with a Republican administration.

paul32x

That's a good idea. Unfortunately I'm self-employed, so that option isn't open to me! I ended up with a Silver plan on the ACA, so I'll just have to keep fingers crossed.

Hotscot

I'm very lucky at the moment as I'm covered by Mrs H's plan, and it's excellent but when she leaves teaching to join my evil empire we'll have to buy our own.

(Hers isn't 'free' mind you. Her pay is reduced to pay for it.)

a18ion

The problem that might sink Obamacare is probably less a Republican administration, but the failure of the individual mandate. I mean, in the end, the money collected in insurance premiums has to exceed the health care paid out. And for that to work, lots of healthy people have to pay premiums but not use any services.

I did a little reckoning of my own experience in the last 3 years, but wearing the insurance company's glasses. The insurance company collected $25,800 in premiums from us over 36 months. They paid out $38,600 on our behalf (that is, that's what they actually paid, not the "list price" for these services, which was $80,000!).

So the insurance company is in the hole to the tune of $12,800 by insuring us. Someone else has to pay for that, or the company eventually goes broke. Other people who sign up but don't get sick. Young people!

In the pre-Obamacare world, unsurprisingly, the insurance company would have cancelled our insurance by now. But they have no choice now. And it only works if healthy people sign up.

So if the Republican party, or simply widespread non-compliance by young folks, ends up killing the individual mandate, either premiums will skyrocket, or the system falls of its own weight.