Well, I guess zero is “affordable”
In Casa de Uncle, I am the primary bread-winner. I own three companies, one of which is this blog. This blog, btw, sucks as far as companies go in terms of making money but I have two more that earn us a modest living. The Mrs. has a part time job at a local health care concern and, basically, she goes there to work, get away from kids, and for the benefits. She was told today that, effective 1/1, she could no longer purchase insurance on their plan. Now, it’s a good plan but it’s not cheap. Us and the two rug rats runs just north of $1,000 a month. But even that rate won’t be affordable under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare.
I long ago noted that insurance shouldn’t be tied so much to employment but it is. Now, I get to pay a fine or purchase my own. Not so sure. I will not be purchasing from a government exchange. Hell, I don’t even buy government approved toilets.
And the funny thing is, I talk to my insurance guys, lawyers and financial guys and not a one of them knows what to do. Seems all this nonsense is still up in the air among professionals until the .gov provides additional guidance or unfucks itself.
Hope and change!
March 27th, 2013 at 9:03 pm
Bug, or feature?
March 27th, 2013 at 9:03 pm
Too bad my sympathies don’t amount to jack, but they’re there anyway. I’m not where you are…yet. Don’tcha just love it when the few ram down their personal fantasies down the majority’s throat? And it’s not in the form of a tongue depressor or mother’s little helper.
March 27th, 2013 at 9:18 pm
The problem with using words like ‘affordable’ means they need to have a perspective on what that means for most of us, who aren’t rich like they are.
March 27th, 2013 at 9:18 pm
Regime uncertainty.
America has now joined the third world.
March 27th, 2013 at 9:20 pm
I know; let’s get married! Then we can add y’all to Lissa’a insurance! A family is defined by it’s members, right? The idea that marriage should be limited to two people is archaic, repressive and racist. (Not sure why it is racist, but isn’t everything these days?)Social conventions be damned; I think plural families are a great idea!
March 27th, 2013 at 9:22 pm
But the teleprompter said we could keep our insurance if we liked it.
March 27th, 2013 at 10:24 pm
jdrush, sure, you can KEEP it; you just can’t AFFORD it.
March 27th, 2013 at 10:44 pm
Sorry dude! My premium for my self-employed insurance policy, which I believe over covers me if I am run over by buffaloes while chewing gum, DOUBLED last month thanks to ObamaCare. I did get free pregnancy benefits, however, and I understand they’ll drop ship me that tattooed chick from GIRLS if I’ll only pay a small handling fee.
Michael B
March 27th, 2013 at 11:29 pm
I blame our parents for voting in all these morons
March 27th, 2013 at 11:30 pm
Waiting for the .gov to unfuck itself may take a while.
Call your freindly BC/BS in the meantime for a quote for insureance & compare their rates to others.
Meanwile, plan on bartering ammo for food in the new Obama/Mad Max economy.
March 28th, 2013 at 12:28 am
They keep using that word. I don’t think it means what they think it means.
March 28th, 2013 at 12:46 am
I work in the insurance and finance field and I will echo what your professionals have stated. While not employed with a health insurance company, I do some business with one of the major companies. The reps that I speak with basically say it will go up in cost but nobody knows how much. They had one family insured that had medical bills near $2 million in a single year. One family. $2 million. That will increase the rate real quick for the healthy folks.
One other neat side effect from all of this is that they will no longer need underwriting depts to review and rate risks. I’m assuming that will mean some massive layoffs for health underwriters nationwide. They won’t need them since everyone gets approved and no conditions can be excluded.
March 28th, 2013 at 8:07 am
David brings up a scary point there. For a brief period a lifetime ago, the nation was oversupplied with engineers. Engineers ended up in charge of everything, including a bunch of stuff about which they have no, erm, competency. Then it was mathematicians, as the space program and arms race wound down. Suddenly they were everywhere, with their silly charts and equations for everything.
Humanities-studies specialists, MBA’s, educators, and programmers have all had their turn. Nobody wants this status, as it proves you’re useless in the field you wanted to be in. So a little revenge comes into play.
Imagine a sudden glut of the same guys who brought you the end of convertibles and playground equipment, and tried to outlaw motorcycles. The future looks like an iron actuarial table slapping a human face — forever.
March 28th, 2013 at 8:24 am
We use Golden Rule…it’s fairly sucky, and has a real high deductible. But after deductible coverage is pretty good.
We did the math, $265 for my family (I’m on a separate plan through work). Even putting $415/month into an HSA to cover the $5,000 deductible. We’re still under $700/month. BUT…if we don’t get sick, and don’t use up our HSA. That rolls over into the next year.
Look into it…it’s REALLY the way things should be.
***
Also, while we pay out of pocket. Most of our bills are greatly reduced by “agreements” the insurance company has with providers.
So a $150 doctor visit gets adjusted to like $67 which we pay out of pocket.
March 28th, 2013 at 8:30 am
You can thank your fellow Americans, Look on the bright side, we kept that Mormon out of the White House.
March 28th, 2013 at 9:13 am
“I understand they’ll drop ship me that tattooed chick from GIRLS if I’ll only pay a small handling fee.”
Careful — they’ll probably just send you a gay longshoreman instead. It’s a natural mistake, after all.
March 28th, 2013 at 10:02 am
The good news is that you can just forgo insurance, pay the fine, then just walk into an ER any time you need a checkup. When something big strikes, call Humana on the way to the hospital to set up a new account.
That’s if there are any hospitals to go to. Or any doctors.
March 28th, 2013 at 11:00 am
But you said the last election was worth voting!
I am sorry for you bad decisions but elections have consequences
March 28th, 2013 at 11:05 am
I’m really disappointed with “DAD’s” Mormon comment. What religion would be acceptable in your eyes?
I am Mormon. As a Mormon I do a few things that some would say are strange but I think I am pretty normal. Maybe it is considered wierd that I don’t drink alcohol or use tobacco. I am 32 and am married to one wife and have 3 children. I try my best to live everyday with integrity and treat my fellow man the way I would want to be treated. I try to follow the example Jesus Christ left us and I believe that he is our Savior. I pray to God everyday. I also donated 2 years of my life to serve people in Nicaragua. I received no monetary pay for this service. I did get Dengue fever, Dysentary, bacterial infections, and parasites. All of which did not kill me but made life there a little less pleasant. I gained a stronger work ethic, learned To speak another language fluently, and grew to love a people who live their lives in conditions that would shock many people here.
I also embody conservative beliefs. I support traditional marriage. I’m a big 2nd amendment supporter and firearm enthusiast. NRA and SAF member. I believe in the concept of earning a higher wage if you work harder than the guy next to you. I do not support the concept of freeloading but I do believe in helping a fellow when he/she is down. I volunteer on two local community boards and one service club. I also coach a kids soccer team. I attend church weekly where I have another volunteer position that allows me to serve others.
I’m nothing special. There are people who do way more than I do. My point is that I think that I do my best to contribute to society. I don’t understand why anyone would say “on the bright side, we kept that Mormon out of the White House.”
Does anyone really think Romney would have pushed Mormon beliefs on the rest of the country? Really? Do people think that he would golf or vacation more than Obama? I mean look at what he got in trouble for saying. He mentioned the 47% who will vote for Obama because they like his handouts. He said Jeep is moving some production to China. He said he would repeal Obamacare. He said there are enough gun laws in place and no more were needed. I’m trying to figure out how Romney in office would have been such a bad thing.
March 28th, 2013 at 11:56 am
David,
Get your sarcasm meter checked, dude.
March 28th, 2013 at 12:24 pm
If it was sarcasm, then please forgive my rant. My bad DAD. I get tired of the anti-Mormon comments and I don’t expect them here. I would much rather see a lot of people in office of any religion than the current guy we have.
March 28th, 2013 at 12:56 pm
Paying the fine, and just buying insurance on the spot from the exchange when you need it is still cheaper.
And the IRS is forbidden to act to collect that “fine”.
March 28th, 2013 at 1:12 pm
You losing your health insurance is the ONLY goal of Obamacare. For decades, middle class people opposed socialized health care because they were doing just fine. The point of Obamacare is to fail. In failing, the additional mandated costs will strip you of your insurance coverage, throw the insurance industry into disarray, and force us to go crawling to the government for a government-run program.
It’s a feature, not a bug.
(By the way, weren’t you also the guy saying last year that not supporting Harry Reid against a Republican was stupid politics? He is one of the main people responsible for forcing your family into Obamacare. Enjoy.)
March 28th, 2013 at 2:18 pm
The more cynical of us in the industry feel that breaking the current system completely is built in to the design. The only way to get to Single Payer (i.e., Socialized Medicine) was to completely break the current system.
When I started saying this in policy and planning meetings at our health system, I was called paranoid. Fast forward 2 years, and about 1/3 of the attendees say the same thing, and the rest don’t disagree.
I’ve always been a, “Never ascribe to conspiracy that which can adequately be explained by stupidity” kind of guy, but. . . . They’ve built self destruction into the system, and whether it is through incompetence or conspiracy is irrelevant at the moment.
All the trade journals and executive and strategic planning publications for my side of the healthcare industry are consumed by, “Where do we go from here” and “How do we survive this” articles. None have any positive spin. We’re getting a PLANNED 30% fee reduction, plus whatever else they decide to tack on at the last minute (another 2% showed up in the sequester). Nobody in our industry has a 30% margin. We’re all in for it.
FormerFlyer
FormerFlyer
March 28th, 2013 at 3:39 pm
5 Years ago we divorced our health insurance from our employment. We have a private plan through TN farm Bureau. Because we had it before O’care went into effect we are grandfathered in. That means all the pre-existing condition limitations and riders are still in force, but our premium is low. (~ $500 /mo for 2 adults and 4 kids) with a moderate deductible and a reasonable copay set.
Check with them on what is available now. You may be surprised.
Regards,
Pol
March 28th, 2013 at 7:40 pm
“elections have consequences”
And if Romney was president, Obamacare would totally be repealed and I’d have a rainbow-farting unicorn!
March 29th, 2013 at 4:03 am
David.
I was not putting down Mormons. I was being a smart ass because of the people that were using that as one of the excuses for not voting for Romney. I found it interesting that people used that as one of the reason with a known socialist running against him. They made a choice either not to vote or vote for Obama or Romney, now they are complaining about what is happening. All of the things you listed that you have done for your religion is exactly why Romney was the best choice over this tax and spend socialist. I was not a big Romney fan but I voted against the socialist. Sadly over three million fewer people voted this time as compared to the last election and him being a Mormon was one of the stated reasons.
“elections have consequences”
And if Romney was president, Obamacare would totally be repealed and I’d have a rainbow-farting unicorn!
I am not sure about the unicorn, I missed that promise but I do think Obamacare would have been history