General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums"My healthcare has skyrocketed" --help debunking healthcare cost
I have a friend who is FINALLY coming around to at least discuss actual issues. I have taken care of welfare fraud, housing costs, the stock market and several other issues she brought up.
But I am having a hard time finding any information on PERSONAL healthcare expenses under the Affordable Healthcare Act. She says her paycheck is taking a hit because of healthcare costs and that her co-pay is only $20 less than the cost of the visit.
I can find info on budgetary spending, blah blah blah, but actual information on how the changes are effecting individuals is harder to find. Anybody got anything??
Panasonic
(2,921 posts)thanks to Obamacare...
ehrnst
(32,640 posts)She should absolutely ask her employer why they are going up.
The employer should ask the insurance company.
frazzled
(18,402 posts)On a PERSONAL level, our health care costs have remained stable (premiums did not rise) and been reduced (we experienced free, no copay preventive services this year, including physicals and expensive lab tests, e.g., a 2,300 colonoscopy). We even got $40 back from the insurer through my husband's employer--not a big amount, but proof that the cost-cutting is starting to come into play.
We, of course, have good group insurance through an employer. We chose the HMO plan, which has no deductibles and low copays ($20 for PCP, $40 for specialists, $0 if it involves preventive care services.)
So you can tell her that while she may have crappy insurance, she needs to see her employer, or if self-insured, needs to find a better plan. Other people are already benefitting (you can cite my PERSONAL experience.) Secondly, you can tell her that the main provisions of the ACA have not yet gone into effect, and that she should be seeing improvements in the future.
sinkingfeeling
(51,275 posts)Health expenditures in the United States neared $2.6 trillion in 2010, over ten times the $256 billion spent in 1980. [1] The rate of growth in recent years has slowed relative to the late 1990s and early 2000s, but is still expected to grow faster than national income over the foreseeable future.[2] Addressing this growing burden continues to be a major policy priority. Furthermore, the United States has been in a recession for much of the past decade, resulting in higher unemployment and lower incomes for many Americans. These conditions have put even more attention on health spending and affordability. [1]
And therefore, premimums continue to rise:
http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/story/health-care-premiums-rise-5-year-increase-131-decade
progressivebydesign
(19,458 posts)unreal.
enlightenment
(8,830 posts)Take a look at this website - the statistics they are reporting are cited. This doesn't mean that the ACA is bad, but it does suggest that the insurance companies are doing their damnedest to position themselves before the majority of the legislation kicks in.
http://medaccessforamerica.wordpress.com/2012/07/05/health-insurance-companies-raise-premiums-by-181-4-since-health-care-reform-passage/
Much of the legislation that will affect the average individual won't go into effect until 2014, which may be why you are having difficulty finding the information you want.
renie408
(9,854 posts)Since she automatically assumes it is, I need some kind of countervailing argument.
enlightenment
(8,830 posts)Hopefully, some of the links in the article will help you develop an argument - unfortunately, there really isn't enough control over the insurance companies at present and they are taking advantage of the lag between the passage and the implementation of the law.
renie408
(9,854 posts)to give a shit WHY their costs have gone up, just that they have. And they WILL be blaming Obamacare and I am not sure I can blame THEM for that.
ehrnst
(32,640 posts)but you don't, you blame the people gouging you while you still don't have any other option.
mike_c
(36,213 posts)...by any means open to them. Period. No amount of "reform" is ever going to make for-profit health insurance a good deal.
cbdo2007
(9,213 posts)though there was the provision that they must spend 85% of the cost of the insurance on actual medical costs.
At least not initially. The main goal was to have more coverage for all the people that need it, with the hope that with more people in the health insurance pool it would lower costs in the long run. Just tell her it isn't going to happen over night but if she isn't happy with the plan provided by her employer, she should blame them rather than President Obama. They are the ones who are probably hoarding millions of dollars in cash while offering their employers the plan that is cheapest for THEM not for you.