Overwhelming Incompetence: a.k.a Government Healthcare

[Tiberius Jim]

Here's a prime example of why you shouldn't rely on the U.S. government to handle your healthcare: My wife and I applied for Covered California for us and Medical for our 6 month old about two months ago. My job offers health coverage but at the tune of about $600 a month...or more than half a paycheck. I was told that due to Obamacare going into effect, the prices skyrocketed this year. Awesome. My wife works part time and is not eligible for benefits through work. So we turned to the option that was tauted as being the best way to go for people in our situation: low-income with jobs that do not offer benefits or offer benefits that are too expensive. We signed up two months ago...and still have yet to be signed up.

Although we did receive notice that they need more "verification" from us, in the form of birth certificates and, oh, items we already gave them when we signed up like my wife's photo ID and our social security info. And get this: we got this notice today, and the items they want are due on the 10th. So...they make us wait an estimated 45-90 days (yes that is the time range they gave as) but we have less than three days to snap to it and give them what they want.

It's been confusing as hell trying to get all of this done int he first place. When we were at the office asking questions, we were told that the receptionists were "just clerical" and that we'd have to ask the case worker...who we had no way to contact until now. It'd be like if someone came in to my store, a motorcycle gear shop, to buy a helmet and I told them that I couldn't help them but in 45-90 days someone who did know how to help would contact them to see if they were qualified to buy a helmet from us.

It's probably also just a matter of time before we get a notice that we've been fined for not having coverage, because apparently that is also a thing now.

So yeah, it might be the trendy thing to say now, but since I feel it's legit in this situation, I'll say it. Thanks, Obama.

 

[Amaris]

Hi, my name's John, and I'm alive because the PPACA expanded Medicaid into Ohio. Without it, I doubt I would live to see my 40th birthday.

Anecdotal evidence is a bitch, isn't it?

 

[Locutus of Bored]

You start with this:

Here's a prime example of why you shouldn't rely on the U.S. government to handle your healthcare...

And then you add this:

My job offers health coverage but at the tune of about $600 a month...or more than half a paycheck.

And this:

My wife works part time and is not eligible for benefits through work.

Which do not follow from the first part and make it clear that employer provided healthcare is not a feasible option for either of you (dubious claims from your employer blaming the situation on Obamacare which you unquestioningly lapped up aside). So, if you shouldn't rely on government healthcare and your employers are failing both of you, what third option would you suggest? At least the government one is going to provide you with affordable coverage, albeit it might be a bit of an inconvenience signing up, but it sounds like you're just looking for things to complain about in order to justify your negative preconceptions there.

Also, as said, condemning something based on a mild inconvenience and a sample size of one person is pretty dumb.

So yeah, thanks Obama, for providing me and my family with affordable healthcare that neither my own or my wife's employer felt we were worthy of, but which I'm inexplicably still defending/excusing them for, because I act against my own self-interest.

 

[Amaris]

The signup process only took 20 minutes over the phone, and I was fully registered. This was on day 3 of the PPACA rollout, which is really something, because it's far more difficult to qualify for Medicaid than it is to get standard coverage.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

You are clearly one of Obama's chosen people, because I have been informed from sources that have experienced it all of one time that government healthcare is also known as "overwhelming incompetence."

 

[Amaris]

You are clearly one of Obama's chosen people, because I have been informed from sources that have experienced it all of one time that government healthcare is also known as "overwhelming incompetence."

Well, I do own Billy Paul's album, 360 Degrees of Billy Paul.

The thing is, I'm not sure the OP is aware that the PPACA isn't actually "government healthcare." The government's only role is to enforce a number of standards to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to receive healthcare coverage, and that insurance companies can't just drop someone because they get sick. It isn't something that is actually managed and doled out by the U.S. government.

It would be like blaming the entire Health Department because when visiting a restaurant, your waitress messed up the drink order.

For the OP: Please read these pages for more information:

https://www.healthcare.gov/quick-guide/
https://www.healthcare.gov/health-care-law-protections/
https://www.healthcare.gov/health-care-law-protections/cancellations/

This will help on debunking some of those myths surrounding the PPACA. It's a bit old, but still accurate:
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2013/sep/24/top-16-myths-about-health-care-law/

 

[MacLeod]

Government Healthcare seems to work ok in other countries, not saying they don't have their own issues or problems.

 

[JWPlatt]

...the prices skyrocketed this year....

When ACA became active, my premium went from $1265 per month to $293 because of subsidies. How is that skyrocketing? Yep, I'm another anecdote. I've had a few issues and glitches with the system in the process, but I've been helped and those issues have been corrected. I'm sure there will be more. It's well worth the trouble to have my family protected. And I'm glad I have to defend my identity and financial position because it gives me more faith that others do too.

There is the list price, which is indeed extraordinary here in the US, and there is what you actually pay. Just like cars and college education (but some countries have free health care and college education). The prices are a baseline from which personal circumstances bring them down. Any time the government becomes involved, it is easier to game the system because of the massive scale and the inherent difficulty of management and oversight of individuals. It results in such things as $2000 hammers or $3000 toilet seats invoiced from defense contractors. The same holds true for the health industry because there's no getting around the need for medical care; it's not optional like movies and dinners out. The government is Of The People, and the people are greedy. Blame ourselves and our human nature. The costs aren't going up - the ease of free money to the corporate health care providers is going up and they take advantage of it with great enthusiasm. But don't confuse them with the front lines of your family doctor. It's all skimmed off before they see any of it; they've become the grunts.

 

[Jedi_Master]

Flux, navigating the wilds of the bureaucracy can be very, very frustrating, but it is worth the wait and the effort.

 

[Tora Ziyal]

I was told that due to Obamacare going into effect, the prices skyrocketed this year.

In my experience, health insurance premiums were skyrocketing for years before the ACA came into existence.

Hi, my name's John, and I'm alive because the PPACA expanded Medicaid into Ohio. Without it, I doubt I would live to see my 40th birthday.

Anecdotal evidence is a bitch, isn't it?

Indeed.

President Trump, your Halloween persona is truly terrifying. I'm tempted to become President Carson for a couple weeks. You know, the guy who says the ACA is the worst thing since slavery.

 

[JWPlatt]

I was told that due to Obamacare going into effect, the prices skyrocketed this year.

In my experience, health insurance premiums were skyrocketing for years before the ACA came into existence.

Indeed. In my previous post, I said that before the ACA, my premium was $1265. Just three years before that, it was about $550. It's easy to forget yesterday's truth when today's is more convenient to the agenda.


As the Miles Drentell character said on the series Thirty Something:

You know what I love about this country? Its amazingly short memory. We're a nation of amnesiacs. We forget everything. Where we came from, what we did to get here. History is last week's People magazine, Michael. So don't pretend to cry for Randy Towers --- no one really cares. ...

We calm and reassure. We embrace people with the message that we're all in it together, that our leaders are infallible, and that there is nothing, absolutely nothing, wrong.

That is what we do. It's what we've always done, and under your gifted stewardship, what we will continue to do, onward toward the millennium. In return for our humanitarian service, we are made rich.

I'm sorry if you misunderstood the nature of this covenant, but you've done so well up till now.

I thought you knew.

 

[Karzak]

I registered with the ACA last fall here in California and had no trouble whatsoever getting through the process. About the hardest part for me was having to wait for an open appointment time to see my GP for my checkup. I was able to finally address some medical issues that had plagued me for years and which my previous providers would not treat me for because they were "pre-existing conditions." I cannot begin to tell you what kind of improvement in my life this has been, both long term and on a day-to-day basis.

I'm sorry to hear the OP has had such difficulty, but it also strikes me that $600 cost of the insurance through your job is likewise not the worst deal in the world when you're talking about coverage for three people. Before Obamacare I paid something like $160 a month just for myself through Blue Shield.

It may be inconvenient, I don't dispute that, but I'd suggest trying to keep an open mind and give the ACA option a try if you really can't afford the other option.

 

[JWPlatt]

For my small premium, with subsidy, I have coverage for a family of five. If $600 being more than half of the OP's income is not just hyperbolic argument, making his annual income $14,400 at best, then I would have a big problem with his premium at work. It is indeed outrageous. I'll assume the wife makes less in her part-time position. Let's assume her income is $10,000 annually. And just for fudge factor, assume their total income is at most a generous $30,000 per year, allowing for hyperbole and false assumptions. For a family of three, the ACA should provide a premium less than mine and far less than the $600 for the employer's health insurance. But I do not see where he OP shows the ACA cost, so we do not have the facts yet to know whether his efforts will be worthwhile. But I very much suspect they will be, and it will be "affordable."

 

[sidious618]

The ACA is far from perfect, it's really just a baby step in the right direction, but the idea that less government supported health care is mind bogglingly ignorant. There are thousands of people who would simply die without it.

 

[Kor]

For my small premium, with subsidy, I have coverage for a family of five. If $600 being more than half of the OP's income is not just hyperbolic argument, making his annual income $14,400 at best, then I would have a big problem with his premium at work. It is indeed outrageous. I'll assume the wife makes less in her part-time position. Let's assume her income is $10,000 annually. And just for fudge factor, assume their total income is at most a generous $30,000 per year, allowing for hyperbole and false assumptions. For a family of three, the ACA should provide a premium less than mine and far less than the $600 for the employer's health insurance. But I do not see where he OP shows the ACA cost, so we do not have the facts yet to know whether his efforts will be worthwhile. But I very much suspect they will be, and it will be "affordable."

The OP said the $600 is more than half of a paycheck, not half of his entire income. Presumably there are at least two paychecks in a month, so that would make the premium about a quarter of his income.

Kor

 

[JWPlatt]

Oops, yep. I was thinking monthly paychecks. Adjust accordingly. Saying it is half of one paycheck misled me without knowing (hence the poor assumption) the paycheck frequency. Maybe assume 26 paychecks per year to double his own income to about $30,000, but they could just as well be weekly and he'd be very well off with $60,000 annually and $600 per month healthcare payments. OP?

 

[BillJ]

The Republicans would just tell the OP to pull himself up by his bootstraps. Get a second, and if need be a third, job!

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I was told that due to Obamacare going into effect, the prices skyrocketed this year.

In my experience, health insurance premiums were skyrocketing for years before the ACA came into existence.

Insurers are happy to blame the ACA for rising premiums, and to an extent it's true, but it's not because the insurers (or Obama) suddenly became extremely greedy or something. It's because insurers have to pay for more stuff. If you are a healthy young adult with no significant medical problems, guess what? The ACA is kind of a loser for you. It wasn't meant to help you, because you were already getting a really good deal. You have to pay more now because you're helping pay for all the people who aren't so healthy, who have pre-existing conditions, and who could previously not afford decent insurance at all.

In that sense, the ACA more closely resembles a socialized healthcare system, as everyone is expected to carry a share of the overall load rather than what they, personally, incur in healthcare costs. The benefit for the healthy individual, of course, is if you ever have an unexpected, large medical expense, it'll be taken care of because you'll have a reasonable level of insurance.

I'd rather have an actual single-payer system but anyone who thinks the ACA is substantively worse overall than what we had before is kidding themselves.

 

[Amaris]

Sure, younger people who are in good health get a bit of the short end, but if they'll just look ahead, they will see that the benefit will catch up to them in the long run. Hell, even in the short run, should they fall ill for some reason, they're covered! There's no "surprise, asshole, your procedure will cost you $100,000! Hope you saved up!" to kill your bank account.

Before the ACA, insurers wouldn't touch me with a ten foot pole. No amount of money would get coverage. Now, my medications are covered, and the diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, high triglycerides aren't going to bankrupt me and leave me in ruin. Are there problems? Hell yes. Like RobMax, I'd much rather have single payer, but until such time as Congress gets its collective head out of its collective ass, this is a good first step.

 

[JWPlatt]

Sure, younger people who are in good health get a bit of the short end, but if they'll just look ahead, they will see that the benefit will catch up to them in the long run.

Similarly, let's hope that:

1. The ACA will not end up being as unstable as Social Security.
2. Social Security will also still be there in the long run.