I doubt that there will be a lot of people sign up for the ACA on Tuesday.

[kentuck]

I think it will take time....maybe two or three years to work out the kinks?

Although I do not want to see the President and Senate fold once again on this extortion attempt, they might think it would be a good thing to extend it for a few weeks, to raise awareness and get more sign-ups?

But, would that not be a victory for the Tea Party and the Republican House if they extended it just a few weeks?

And would not a lot of Democrats turn on the Party if they fold on this issue?

[duffyduff]

1. The problem is few or no people can afford the "exchanges"

since the income requirements are so low. Most will simply pay the tax penalty and go without.

[kentuck]

2. Since the wealthy refuse...

...somebody has to pay taxes.

[pnwmom]

4. Wrong. When the incomes are low, the premiums will be low, because of subsidies.

I've checked for my son and he'll be able to get excellent coverage for about half of what COBRA is costing.

[notadmblnd]

13. its going to cost my son about 20 dollars a week

[xmas74]

22. That's cheaper than what (was) offered at my job

I hope I can find something decent.

[pnwmom]

50. The amount of your subsidy will depend on how high your salary is.

The lower your salary, the higher your subsidy. So some people will be better off on an exchange, depending on how much their subsidy has been at work.

[xmas74]

61. I don't make all that much as it is.

I would think that I would receive a decent subsidy, considering I also have a child to worry about.

[pnwmom]

63. good luck!

[xmas74]

64. Thank you.

I need it, especially since my company is "reevaluating" all of its employees and will probably reduce most of us to part time status.

[Peacetrain]

55. It depends on your state.. and if they put in the medicaid option

South Dakota did not.. my brother makes less the the poverty level.. and he is SOL

edit to add..from what we understand they cannot penalize my brother because the Governor of SD refuses to expand medicare.. if he made four thousand dollars more, he could get the subsidies.. it is a strange glitch in the program..

[pnwmom]

56. Here's an article someone passed to me yesterday.

I'm passing it on in case there's anything in it that could help your brother.

http://www.webmd.com/health-insurance/20130808/how-poor-might-qualify-for-obamacare-subsidies-in-states-that-dont-expand-medicaid

[Peacetrain]

59. Thank you

He will never make more than what he is making now.. and it is what it is, he is as honest as the day is long.. he would never spin the truth even for his own benefit..

Sad sad sad.. the ones that need it the most.. because of right wing governors.. will be the ones to be left out.. you know what he would have to pay if he went into the exchanges.. 52% of his income.. my Mom and I are just heartbroken.

Poor guy has worked since he was 14 years old in a car wash or dishwasher.. Never any insurance.. had to pay for any medicine or health care out of him meager earnings.. I could just cry

[pnwmom]

62. I'm so sorry, Peacetrain. What these governors and/or legislatures are doing is criminal. n/t

[Peacetrain]

66. Keep him in your thoughts

He is 49 now and needs the insurance. I do not know how these guys sleep at night.. If he had expanded the SD medicaid program like it was supposed to be.. My brother would be fine.. but no.. and they would reimburse SD 100% of the costs .. There is no sense to what that Governor Daugaard did.. and all the right wing governors who are making keeping people away from health care.

[pnwmom]

68. I will, Peacetrain!

[gulliver]

19. Wrong. Lots will get coverage absolutely free.

http://www.nationaljournal.com/health-care/obamacare-will-give-free-health-insurance-to-some-20130925

[NYC_SKP]

40. On the contrary, anyone predisposed to pay for coverage will chose ACA over their current plan.

For those of us who work and who want to see the ACA work, and to contribute to the system, but who don't have an employer-provided plan, ACA is a money saver in most cases.

In my case, my bill will drop from $1,432/month COBRA to less than half that amount for a Gold plan.

For those who chose not to have coverage and instead take their chances, pay cash, or use ERs as their backup plan, I guess ACA seems expensive.

[tiny elvis]

52. predisposed to pay, chose not to have coverage

your cobra bill is more than i ever netted
your gold plan will be more than half my income
it is the same for most of the people i know
you convey a terrific voluntary ignorance of our choices and predisposition

take their chances, pay cash
using ERs as a plan
aca seems expensive for those

i cannot say that you do not represent the party, but you are offensive
in a smiley, wavy way

[NYC_SKP]

53. Well that's odd.

I mean whatever it is you find offensive.

People who can't afford it get subsidies up to and including full coverage if they are destitute.

But there are people, usually republicans, who defy contributing, who don't declare income and who won't pay taxes and who will milk the system.

For us on the right side of things, we have a safety net.

ACA, however, requires everyone do their fair share.

[tabasco]

67. Bullshit

Cite data or hit the road.

Oh, by the way, the marketplaces are not open until October 1.

[Wounded Bear]

3. Not the point...

It's the law. Obey it. Somehow our Repub friends don't understand this simple concept.

Any delay is a Repub victory. That's all they care about. If the Dems fold on this I would expect another 2010 debacle next cycle.

[pnwmom]

5. Sign up is for six months, through March. Why would it need to be extended by a few weeks?

[mazzarro]

69. Thank You For The Clarification

Somehow I got the impression that the sign up was just for a day or two.

[pnwmom]

70. You're not the only one. There's still a lot of confusion out there. n/t

[ljm2002]

6. I am not a huge fan of the ACA...

...because of its reliance on private insurers, and its failure to provide for public exchanges across the board. But it's the law we were able to pass, and now is not the time for cold feet. If it's going to be implemented then we have to jump in at some point. There will be snags and kinks along the way no matter when we start. The time has come, and I say, just do it.

[gulliver]

18. Not true. There are public exchanges across the board.

All states have them or the Feds provide them.

[kentuck]

20. I think many are working thru the community health centers?

The infrastructure is already in place, including the doctors and nurses.

[gulliver]

26. There will be good plans available in every state.

The states that refuse to try to get a better deal for their citizens (Republican led) will still have plans available through the federal exchange.

[ljm2002]

36. Sorry, I used the wrong terminology...

...I meant to say there is no public option, i.e. no government supplied insurance. The public exchanges allow private insurers to contract with the government to provide coverage, which is not the same thing -- although I'm glad the ACA at least has that much.

In any case, we have what we have and we need to press ahead. All the more so because the idiot Republicans are trying to sabotage everything and delay, delay, delay so they can try and gain seats and kill it next year. The hell with that.

[rurallib]

45. think he meant public option

which would have been wonderful - didn't Lieberman kill that one?

[pnwmom]

21. All Americans will have access to a public exchange -- either a state exchange,

a joint state-federal exchange, or a federal exchange.

[ljm2002]

39. Please see my reply to gulliver above...

...I used the wrong terminology. I meant to say there is no public option, i.e. no government supplied insurance. The public exchanges allow private insurers to contract with the government to provide coverage, which is not the same thing.

But we must go ahead with what we've got, and to hell with the saboteurs on the right. This legislation passed, it was declared constitutional, and parts of it have already gone into effect. They are just a bunch of sore losers, who can't win on the merits so they are willing to drive us all over a cliff.

[pnwmom]

41. You're exactly right. They're a bunch of sore losers.

I read a long article yesterday from 2011 talking about why the public option didn't go through. In short, the way we managed to have a majority in the House at that time was by having a bunch of DINO's win election in conservative districts. That benefited us because it meant we had the majority in the House, with the right to make all the Committee assignments, and with Pelosi as majority leader. But we couldn't count on the DINO's to always vote progressively, of course, and this is one of the situations where they didn't.

Still, with today's debacle under Rethug House leadership, the wisdom of the Dem's support for DINO's in conservative districts is becoming clearer and clearer.

[steve2470]

7. as a computer nerd, I see the exchanges crashing a lot or freezing the first day

Hopefully the respective governments have made reasonable plans for this. However, I'm afraid that no matter what the governments do, there will be such a huge volume that only, MAYBE, Google could withstand the load.

[Buns_of_Fire]

15. I expect a few logjams and hiccups the first couple of days, too.

Which is why I intend to hold off for a little while before contributing to it. For coverage starting January 1, the deadline is December 15, so I figure it won't hurt to put it off temporarily and let the kinks get worked out.

I figure I haven't had health insurance since 1993 or so anyway, so maybe I'll last another few months before anything serious breaks. *fingers crossed*

[steve2470]

28. hopefully on Oct. 2nd, if not before, the servers will be totally stable....

Best wishes to you !

[Buns_of_Fire]

34. Thank you. And same to you.

[CTyankee]

65. Oh, geez, get your coverage asap...you never know what will happen! Even very

healthy people can get sick or injured. Just for your peace of mind get SOMETHING...

Of course, there will be revisions and minor hiccups as you put it, on the way. It happened with SS and it happened with Medicare. So what? Those are incredibly successful programs! And the ACA can be the same!

[Sedona]

8. I'm logging in the minute it opens

I'm ready to save $5K a year on my privately purchased , pre-existing condition rates thank you very much.

[jberryhill]

37. Same here

Like a lot of self-employed folks, I'm very interested to see if I can get a better deal than I have now.

[Hoyt]

9. I agree. Insurance is not effective until Jan 1. A lot of people will look, the begin evaluating ACA

[Journeyman]

10. I probably won't sign up for at least a month or two. We have until March . . .

It will take my wife and I at least 6 to 8 weeks to decide which plan is best for us. We've been looking for a few months now, but premiums won't be set until October 1, and until they're known it'd be foolish for us to make a decision on a plan.

But when the numbers are known, we'll all have at least three to five months to make our decision. How much more time does someone need? If they're incapable of deciding in the next 20-some weeks, they're incapable, and all the time in the world won't help them.

[SheilaT]

11. Everything I read indicates that huge numbers of people

will be signing up from the very beginning.

The "holdouts" will be those who simply don't know what's happening: they don't know that the ACA is out there, they don't know they need to sign up, they don't have access to computers, they live way out in rural areas or even off the grid.

Those last are a very small number. But in cities and urban areas most people know about what's coming, and many are very eager to get signed up.

I also think the bigger risk is that the computers will crash because of so many attempting to sign up.

[steve2470]

12. agree about the servers crashing nt

[bhikkhu]

14. The window for signing up is six months

there's no penalty at all for not signing up before March. I think that's plenty of time, though of course it does depend on how the various state governments have handled things. The phasing-in process has already gone for years...I think another delay would just give the "repeal it!" crowd more to crow about going into the next election, and there's really no need.

In Oregon the exchange was up a year ago so people could go in and get all the information, and use the calculator to plan what they would do. I'll have no trouble at all, but I know some people with higher incomes who plan to just pay the small penalty and wait a year. That's ok too.

[Buns_of_Fire]

35. Something to remember about those penalties...

I keep hearing that $95 figure tossed around, and that's true. The penalty is $95 (for an adult) -OR- 1% of the taxable income -- whichever is greater -- up to $285. And it gets a little stiffer for 2015 and beyond.

https://www.ehealthinsurance.com/affordable-care-act/faqs/how-much-are-the-tax-penalties-for-not-having-health-insurance-and-when-do-they-apply

Since there'll no doubt be a new box or two or three added to our friendly 1040s, I'm also sure the folks at the IRS will make sure it's collected.

[Maeve]

16. I'm signing up Tuesday

We've been without proper insurance for three years.

[Live and Learn]

23. I personally know quite a few that can't wait to sign up.

And that includes quite a few parents whose young adults aren't currently insured. These parents will gladly help their "kids" pay the costs and are eager to get them covered.

[rurallib]

46. me too (including me) the first week if not the first day

One guy told me he wanted to get signed up before Republicans fuck it up and take it away from us.

[gulliver]

24. You are going to be extremely surprised.

There are going to be tons of people doing it. It is a great deal.

[kentuck]

25. I hope to be surprised.

[xmas74]

27. I plan on logging on within the week.

I just found out Friday that I will be losing my insurance through my employer and I need to get insurance for myself and especially my kid asap.

[kentuck]

29. Why are you losing your insurance??

If I may ask?

[xmas74]

32. Because my company found a way around everything.

ACA states exactly how many hours a full time employee must work in a week, a month and a year. My company has downtime at Christmas and in the summer-just enough to qualify us all at two hours under full time on a yearly basis. We've all been advised to look at the marketplace. The insurance will be there but no longer subsidized, since we are now part time employees.

We also lost our vacation, our sick time, our holiday time and stock options. I've also heard our 401K will be gone shortly, though the official "flyer" sent to us from corporate doesn't say that-yet.

[pnwmom]

42. Fingers crossed that you might end up with better insurance than your company used to offer

This could happen, depending on the choices available on your exchange.

It's rotten that you lost all your other benefits, though.

[xmas74]

58. It is rotten

but I'm not surprised.

[CANDO]

43. Sounds like a call to a local union hall is in order.

eom

[xmas74]

60. I tried to bring in a union a couple of years ago.

No one would speak with the rep-not a single person besides me.

It'll never happen around here. Unfortunate but true.

[malaise]

30. I disagree - just like the elections

the more ReTHUGs try to block people from signing up is the more people will sign up.

[cali]

31. no. it's absurd to even contemplate delaying it.

first of all, quite a few pieces of the ACA are already in place.

I don't get what exactly you think should be delayed.

[Rstrstx]

33. But I bet there'll be a lot of people looking

I have a friend who needs insurance and I'm trying to help him out. I doubt he'll sign up for a plan on Tuesday but will sure be doing a lot of window shopping for the first couple of weeks.

The private companies almost surely have their plans ready that they're going to roll out, the only thing that might take a couple of years is for word to get around as to which company is giving the best deals with the best service.

Obama and Reid aren't going to cave on their signature legislation that has been decades in the making, it's survived impossible odds and they aren't going to punt on first down at the one-yard line just because the other team is acting like a bunch of crybabies.

Now they MAY push it through with the Vitter amendment in place but that's only because Congress is so unpopular and it would get the ACA up and running for everyone else (it would just be a publicity stunt anyways, they'd just quietly reinstate their insurance before Jan 1 or give themselves enough of a raise to pay for the Gold level coverage)

[Pretzel_Warrior]

38. You act like they are inventing a new product out of thin air

They are not. They have had about 4 years to implement health exchanges and have models such as Massachusetts to use as a guide.

It is pretty dam simple to sign up. And cheaper than most craptastic individual insurance. People with that need would be crazy not to sign up in droves.

[Zorra]

44. There is a six month enrollment period. nt

[chowder66]

47. I'm on Major Risk Ins. in CA and it is ending

on 12/31/13. I looked it all over yesterday and I might actually be paying about $45.00 more for a platinum plan since it is the closest to the plan I'm on as far as co-pays and Rx's. I'd have to make less money to qualify for the enhanced silver plans for those making less than I do.

So yes, I was hoping my costs would go down but they won't and that is because I'm making a little more money now. With that said I could opt for a plan that costs less and that is a HUGE relief to me in case things ever get financially creepy again. So peace of mind is a big benefit.

What's better about these plans are the no limit's on the lifetime cap so if anything major comes up I don't have to have that worry either.
I'll be one of those buying a plan at the highest rate because it is important to me. My health is on track and getting better thanks to the MRMIP program and Kaiser which has had electronic records for a long time now and it works great. They have been very efficient but I do think they are working on implementing some new changes based on the ACA so things have been a little less than perfect lately.

Anyone who signed up for the Pre-existing state program rolls over to the exchanges I believe and all of us on the MRMIP will need to pick from the menu of choices. I look forward to the exchange growing and offering more plans and hopeful that some of the premiums will decrease over time as it settles in.

[uppityperson]

48. Sign up is a 6 month period. Servers may be over full the first day, but we have 6 months

to assess and sign up. It doesn't happen all on Tues.

[jwirr]

49. Minnesota is ready and many of us may not sign up on the first day but within several weeks. The

family I live with are planning to sign up.

[CC]

51. I know a few people that feel

like Tuesday is taking to long to get here. They are uninsured and can't wait to get the process going so they can afford to get something as simple as a check up. Some that are so poor they will qualify for free coverage once it starts. I think it will depend on how well each state has informed its citizens of what is available and how to go about it. Oh and it might matter if they know that enrollment happens even if the Fed govt. is shut down by the GOTea.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

54. Sign up period is

Oct 1 to March 31 I think. There is no reason for the Prez to compromise. This is the time to call the bluff!

[Rex]

57. Hmmm...that is a hard prediction to make imo.

nt.