Thread: What will happen to PPACA (Obamacare) now that Trump's been elected?

Originally Posted by Minotaur

Unless something unusual happens like Democrats not caring if people die too, they can't get the 60 votes they need to repeal it but they can remove protections at will because they don't need a super majority to do that. I suggest everyone watch this closely because even with that limited ability they can still let people die. The most vulnerable are those making $60,000 or less annually. Watch it close if you want to live.

I agree. They must propose something better and persuade everyone to support it.

Originally Posted by Kontrary

If you dont want pre existing conditions gone, then you cant look to free market forces to work at all.....you cant have vibrant market competition if you force them to take pre existing conditions. Only the big winners can do it and there will only be a few companies...bye market competition. But Trumps plan is all about letting the free market fix it and why he holds to the ideal that companies being able to sell across state lines is a good idea..but its dead with the mandate they have to accept pre existing conditions.

He cant do the impossible..no one can, even if they promise you they can.

I trust that Trump will figure it out.

There is no doubt the ACA is a failure and needs to be repaired but not necessarily repealed. The fine is going up to 2000 this year, that is unacceptable but so is taking away pre-existing conditions.

Trump has a lot of work to do.

Originally Posted by pragmatic

Obamacare isn't going particularly well. And the problems are getting worse.

So the new administration has to do something to stop the bleeding.

Believe Trump did mention the topic in his "First 100 Days" document. (but am too lazy to go dig it up at the moment.)

The problem will never be solved until you remove private insurance from the equation. How much of that $1000/mth premium is profit for the insurance company? Why would it not make sense to have an insurance company (the federal govt) that doesn't need to make a profit, it only needs to collect enough in taxes to pay the bills? Have the law say if we do not have enough in the kiddle to pay those bills then the tax goes up and if we run a surplus it goes down? It would HAVE TO be cheaper than the current system. The expense of those dozen or so secretaries sorting through those hundreds of different plans at the hospital would also be gone so there is one more HUGE cost that would be eliminated. Anywhere in the country you walk into a hospital and give your SS# and they type it in and either hand you a bill if you have not met your deductible or if you have treat you and say have a nice day. The millions upon millions of dollars in simple salaries to that bureaucratic nightmare would be gone reducing those healthcare costs even further. Why this doesn't make sense to everyone I will never understand. I think it's because it would be socializing healthcare and just that word scares the shit out of rightwing dumbshits, they think it means we would all become communists.

Originally Posted by HCProf

It would be impossible to repeal now, we are in too deep and many medical facilities have made the necessary adjustments to accommodate it, such as technology requirements. You also have millions of Americans who depend on it. I think it may evolve to what Medicare has done...it was far from a perfect program when it first started and look at it today. There is a lot of junk that was included in the bill, such as the mandates, those are easily remedied and could have been done already. The next hurdle are the insurance companies and the premiums. They need someone who cannot be bought off by lobbyist's and can play hard ball with them.

I like how people talk about it being easy to remove the mandates. That's ridiculous and those saying it don't understand that's the only thing making the plan feasible to begin with.

Originally Posted by Wonderer

Trump's First 100 Days: Here Is What The President-Elect Wants To Do : NPR

I don't really give a shit what the dumbshit does, I quit trying to push for doing what is right. His plan is more a gravy train for me, fuck everyone else.

Originally Posted by April15

All those whiners about rates for insurance haven't sen shit yet. When rumpy ends it capitalism will take Americans to the cleaners and no one will get insurance worth a .

You got it! Healthcare costs were soaring before the ACA and to think that will stop by repealing it is the height of stupidity.

Originally Posted by Kontrary

My guess is that he might try to get rid of it and make it an "open market", allowing insurance companies across state lines.....like thats some magic bullet. There will be some tax credit for it, and an endorsement of medical accounts and all the pay that goes to that account is not counted as your income at all and is not taxed.

I think thats what he will go for.

Can someone tell me in which state health insurance is so much cheaper so that when they repeal the ACA I know where to go buy it? The claim that going across state line means it will somehow be cheaper is about one of the fucking stupidest things that the rightwing dumbshit swallows. That and tort reform that experts argue over whether it would save 1% or 2.

Originally Posted by pragmatic

To this point most/all the focus of Obamacare has been to get coverage for more people (whether they want it or not).

There has been little attention/action given to controlling/reducing the overall cost of health care in this country. Until cost of care is addressed the mess is going to persist.

I don't give a shit whether or not they want it, I want them to have it because if they don't the taxpayer, that's me, pays their fucking medical bills. Maybe if the govt were to break that expense down and include how much YOU paid to carry those medical bills on your tax return or tell you how much higher YOUR health insurance policy is in order to carry them they might say "wait a minute". It's like the right is saying they are against a subsidy but if you hide it in my tax bill or in my health insurance premium then it's ok, they feel better.

Originally Posted by Pragmatist

If buying it statewide has any fucking effect whatsoever that means somewhere it must be much cheaper, where is that? That is nothing but rightwing bullshit swallowed by the ignorant. All it takes is one person getting a policy for $680 a month instead of $700 for the right to say see I told you so, and the dumbshits will believe it. Or maybe do a little tort reform and lower it to $675 a month. Then next year when another 10 million drop coverage that $675 will go to $750 but the right will still think they solved the problem.

People that live in small states take a hit not being able to buy across state lines. People don't realize it. Especially now with the big players, Aetna, Cigna etc pulling out. That leaves customers like myself having to buy local HMO type insurers that nobody has ever heard of. So if the worst happens and I get cancer and need to get treatment in Boston, I am out of network. That makes my costs skyrocket. Also if I travel out to CA on vacation, will the hospitals there take Hitchcock insurance when it only has 45,000 customers and no one has ever heard of it? Believe me I have tried to use it out of state and often times they say "yea pay first and then you get reimbursed."

Originally Posted by metheron

Nothing other than a government subsidy of some sort, putting the actual pre-existing condition into a group plan of its own. So that one would have a plan covered for their general good health and a separate plan covering the pre-existing condition. Not sure if something like that could be arranged.

Yes. Something along those lines.

A point to remind ourselves. An Insurance Company is a business. They employ actuaries to assess risk on which to base premiums. Insurance is designed to protect against unexpected loss. Signing on those people with pre-existing conditions without factoring that condition into their premiums violates the basic Fundamentals of Insurance.


Am all for compassion and accommodation. But those folks with pre-existing conditions cannot be dropped into the general pool without just discarding the pretense that we are even talking about "insurance" any longer.