So as a self employed person, how will this help and lower

[mmonk]

my costs? I'm a little unclear. And if the public option is for those that don't currently have insurance and will occur in 4 years (a lot can happen in 4 years), I'm not sure how my and my family's shitty status changes. Would someone who is informed in such matters post in this thread. I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks in advance.

[villager]

1. as another self-employed person, I"m thinking "4 more years"

...until the first crumbs start to show up...

[Lars39]

2. He offered catastrophic insurance in the meantime.

[dflprincess]

14. Which you're more apt to use if you can't afford

preventative care and any "routine maintenance" that might be required for a chronic condition.

[Lars39]

20. Use it, but go heavily in debt if you have a serious illness or accident.

[dflprincess]

25. See, this bill will be a boon to the credit card companies as well

as many will still have to use credit to cover medical expenses. It's a win for two sectors of the economy! - Just not for us.

[aaronbav]

18. The they should also offer BURIAL insurance - without

care for CHRONIC conditions a lot of us MAY NOT make it those 4 years.

[Lars39]

21. I hear ya.

Catastrophic coverage doesn't do squat for regular care. :(

[Cassandra]

3. I'm wondering, too...

how much of my money will be skimmed off by BCBS, rather than being spent on my business.

[TransitJohn]

4. It won't lower your costs.

It'll help slow the rate of growth of your costs. Oh, and it'll actual raise your initial costs, as you will be required by law to give your money to private for-profit corporations. But your costs will grow slower than they would have.......or something.

[liberalpragmatist]

5. You would be eligible for the insurance exchange

Right now, individual insurance is 3x as expensive as employer-based plans. You would be pooled with other self-employed people and employees of small businesses to get rates comparable to health insurance offered at major companies.

You would have an option of choices like what members of Congress currently receive. Most of these would be tightly-regulated private plans (like what members of Congress choose from), but if a public plan passes, you would also have the option of a public plan.

You may also be eligible for subsidies to purchase coverage. In the House bill, if you make 400% of poverty-level, you would get subsidies. In the Senate Finance Committee bill, it's 300% of poverty-level.

[mmonk]

8. Thanks for that information.

I was hoping for a little something better but better than nothing I guess. I guess the incentive will be to make less so I can get some relief. But then, how much less? Hopefully, the pool will help lower my costs. However, holding steady at this expensive rate ain't exactly nirvana.

[liberalpragmatist]

10. Well health insurance for everybody is ridiculously expensive in this country

I mean, employer-based coverage is not cheap either. But at least this way those are the kinds of rates you'd get instead of the ridiculously high rates in the current individual market.

Longer-term, if we can reduce the cost of health care and expand the public option (hope it passes), then costs may go way down. But it'll take some time.

[virgogal]

9. Your summation was excellent. Thanks.

[kenny blankenship]

6. If you're currently self-insured you can buy through the exchange 4 yrs from now

and if there is a public option, you'll be eligible for it.

Will you be able to afford it? That I can't tell you.

[global1]

7. I With You - I Pay BC/BS $12,000/year For A $3000 Deductible Policy.......

if this doesn't kick in for 4 years - they're into me for another $60,000 at present premium level - but I'm thinking they're going to try to get as much as possible from me in the meantime and they will raise my premium. They also know that in 4 years that I be eligible for Medicare. If I remain healthy in the meantime - they will have fleeced me of money and never ever have to pay dollar one for me. That sucks.

I was looking for some immediate relief - and it don't look like we'll be getting it.

Watch you mail for premium increases until this thing kicks in - if ever.

[mmonk]

11. Yep. This sucks. I'm going to remain a single payer advocate.

[Horse with no Name]

12. With all due respect

The insurance companies have to have a little time to recoup the $1.4 million PER DAY that they lobbied for this exact "change".
You didn't think they weren't getting that back, did you?

[Uzybone]

13. How soon did you think the public option could appear as part of the full insurance exchange?

6 months? 1 year? 2 years?

[mmonk]

15. I don't understand your question. I didn't design this plan.

[Uzybone]

17. Well you are not happy it will take 4 years for the exchange to be in place

how soon were you expecting it to be enacted?

[mmonk]

24. I'm about to turn 53 years old. My out of pocket expenses

currently are above $14,000.00 a year. I wouldn't mind it being being quicker. How long did it take to conquer Iraq? And in four years, I get to have my premiums level off from sharp increases as if four more years of increases is ok?

[dflprincess]

26. It took 11 months to get Medicare up and running after the bill

was passed and signed. And then they were starting from scratch with a single payer system (contrary to what Obama claims now about a single payer system being "starting from scratch").

It shouldn't take years to get this bogus system going. I think the poster above is correct about it being done this way so the insurance companies have time to recoup the money they spent bribing, I mean lobbying, Congress on this deal.

[treestar]

16. So am I

I don't see my status changing either, but then it's not all about just me.

If more people are insured that is good. It's not about just improving my personal position.

I'm wondering if we could qualify for the public option though. We don't have insurance from employers so we are technically uninsured unless we pay for it ourselves.

[liberalpragmatist]

23. Yes, you'd be eligible

See my reply above. You would probably be required to buy insurance, but you would be eligible for the insurance exchange. And if there's a public plan, you'd be eligible for that as well.

[polpilot]

19. Nothing changes. Healthcare lobbyists rule. No leadership here to lead to a

universal healthcare for Americans. As a small business owner I have individually purchased insurance that covers nothing, basically. My premiums, with no health changes, increased 70% over 3 years. I currently need scans totally around $5K to 7K. None covered by my plan, I have a $3,500 deductible, $7K out of pocket. So...I wait until January to get scans and then if surgery or procedures are needed I will try to do it all in 2010. The system is criminal.

[Zoeisright]

22. I don't think it will.

I'm in the same boat, and I'm very disappointed.

[dflprincess]

27. On Rachel Maddow's show Barbara Boxer just said the current

system was unsustainable and would collapse if something wasn't done.

I say do nothing, let it collapse and then there will be no other option but extend Medicare to all.

[unc70]

28. Hard to know if you or my small biz get anything

Just got the renewal proposals for my small biz -- over $20k per employee / year !!!! I was treated successfully for prostrate cancer this past year so I sm very sensitive to pre- existing conditions. While he said you could not be denied coverage, he said nothing about s
what they might based on your risks.

While I think his speech was effective at a superficial level, I have to see a lot more details and carefully parse what Obama actually said rather than what we were manipulated to believe he had said but really had not. I posted about this problem a lot during the primaries