Bye-Bye Obamacare, Hello An Avalanche of Medical Bankruptcies
 

As recently as 1981, only 8 percent of families filing for bankruptcy cited medical reasons. By 2010, when the Affordable Care Act was passed, medical bankruptcy was all-to-common. A 2009 study by Himmelstein et al, published in The American Journal of Medicine, revealed that 62.1% of all bankruptcies had a medical cause.Hospital bills were the largest single out-of-pocket expense for 48.0% of patients, prescription drugs for 18.6%, doctors’ bills for 15.1%, and premiums for 4.1%. The remainder cited expenses such as medical equipment and nursing homes. While hospital costs loomed largest for all diagnostic groups, for about one third of patients with pulmonary, cardiac, or psychiatric illnesses, prescription drugs were the largest expense.The New York Times and the Kaiser Family Foundation recently did a survey and found:

… roughly 20 percent of people under 65 with health insurance nonetheless reported having problems paying their medical bills over the last year. By comparison 53 percent of people without health insurance said the same.
A study last year by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that companies are shifting health care costs to their employees. Workers' share of health insurance premiums for their families rose 83 percent from 2005 to 2015, the survey shows. The amount employees had to pay for deductibles for individual insurance increased 255 percent from 2006 to 2015. The increases are far higher than growth in workers' wages.Medicare, like more and more health plans, leaves lot of expenses for patients to cover, says Drew Altman, CEO of the Kaiser Family Foundation.

"The public perception may be that, because Medicare is so popular, it is gold-plated Cadillac coverage," Altman says. "But people who are on Medicare know that those costs can really bite."

Altman says Obamacare has given nearly everyone in the U.S. access to health care. About 89 percent of people now have insurance in some form, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

The financial vulnerabilities reflect the high cost of health care in the United States, the most expensive place in the world to get sick.Attachment 66551

Bye Bye Obammacare, Good riddance!! My healthcare went from $750 a month to $1300 a month...I don't want to provide healthcare for the lazy!!

Want free Medicaid.... work... build a wall. ... lol

Lazy?
 

looks like you will pay even more.....and laziness has nothing to do with it...we all get sick or injured

1. Sicker sign-ups

In Tennessee, marketplace enrollees were a lot less healthy than insurers expected when they set their original rates in 2013. Covering their claims costs insurers a lot — so much that companies like BlueCross BlueShield lost millions of dollars in the first few years of the exchange. Raising the price of insurance is part of balancing how much it costs to insure these individuals.

Many people who use the marketplace to find coverage were previously uninsured. Before the Affordable Care Act, insurers were able to deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, which means if they didn’t have insurance at work, they weren’t able to find coverage at all. For example, an independent contractor with diabetes, or a part-time retail worker with pulmonary disease, might be denied coverage before the ACA.

A lot of people in that situation went without health insurance for many years, and their current state of health is not good. Many of these people are very expensive to cover now that they can get health insurance on the exchange.

2. Inflation of medical claims

Health insurance is used to pay for medical claims. Doctors and other providers submit claims to your insurer every time they perform a service for you, whether it’s a check-up, MRI or surgery. As the cost of performing those services gets more expensive, insurance has to get more expensive to cover it.

The prices of goods always rise as the economy grows, and health care is no exception. In fact, health care costs generally rise much faster than inflation. Specifically, health insurance costs in 2015 rose nearly 5 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, while the economy as a whole grew just 2.4 percent.

3. Consumers are still learning

So why are health care costs rising so fast? That’s a tough question to answer succinctly. One reason is that patients are still learning how to act like consumers. Some people do not use healthcare responsibly or cost-effectively, and this raises prices for the whole system. These are people who go to the emergency room for non-emergencies, or people who do not receive preventive care in a timely manner.

The uninsured rate has an impact on this, too. Many people who do not have insurance cannot afford to manage their conditions, like asthma or diabetes. They might not visit the doctor for check-ups or be able to afford to buy their insulin. Then they wind up in the ER in a diabetic coma, which costs a lot more to treat. These are just individual examples, but they happen every day, and it adds up.

All of this culminates in pricey premiums for consumers. Without drastic change to how people use insurance and health care, prices are likely to keep rising.

- See more at: Three reasons for rising health insurance premiums

More info about the actual cost to citizens of the proposed GOP replacement for the Affordable Care Act:

Analysis: GOP plan to cost Obamacare enrollees $1,542 more a year - Vox

Here's a little nugget from the Bible for all you good Christian right wingers to ponder:

Matthew 25:35-40English Standard Version (ESV)

"35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers,[a] you did it to me.’"

Need more? Here are some more:

What Does the Bible Say About Helping Those In Need?

No, I don't expect this to change your mind about helping each other, because your money and your political party are far more important to you than Christianity or humanity.

Of course you take it out of context. It's NOT saying you HAVE to support the perpetually poor. The fakers who are ripping you off. An entire "race" who can never, anywhere get with the program...and support themselves. HALF the country gets something from the government, HALF the black population collects some form of welfare. It's too much, it's unsustainable.

of course, race has everything to do with being a moron
 

Everyone benefits from the government in some way....it cannot be segregated as you put it....but the "fakers" are but a small minority of those in need. Most of those "fakers" are wealthy business owners that bilk the government for $millions, and you complain about a few people who may, from time to time, get something with which you don't agree, and say that they are the problem. Most welfare recipients are children, then the elderly, and then the disabled. You are willing to sacrifice them for what? Evidently YOUR Christianity is different from mine, because mine says that you should love one another, not put a price tag on them.

I have one of those cool, Cadillac health insurance plans as a result of working for the State of NY.
My heart attack and stent 5 years ago was paid by insurance ($20,000).
Since then, I've paid that amount back in premiums...
I suppose I would be bankrupt if I didn't have that insurance.

Many/most people will use close to $1 million worth of healthcare in their lives...the majority at the end...the last year of their life. To "pay" for $1 million...you would have to pay over $1000 a month EVERY month for 80 years.

Healthcare simply costs TOO MUCH. We CAN'T afford it as it stands now.

Not for a minute do I believe it will, but if the Republican's plan results in just as many American citizens being covered and slows the rise of healthcare costs that have been rising for three decades now...then I'm all for it.

What I predict will happen though, is that premiums will actually increase at a greater rate than they have, given that preexisting conditions still have to be covered...but there is now no mandate that everyone has to participate to offset the higher risk pools.

How can they not? :oops:

I also predict that the bigger mess this creates compared to the ACA, will come back to haunt the Repub's...since they now own it. :D

It should be interesting to watch. :popcorn:

That $20,00 actually sounds very cheap (by a factor of 3 or 4)...given what you had done. :shrug:

I am 53 years old, healthy (no prescriptions, no doctor visits, no health issues), I go for preventive testing every 3 years (at a local hospital and pay out of pocket for testing of PSA, cholesterol, etc), I have had health insurance since I was 18.

Does it sound like I am the type of person that does not understand what drives prices in the health insurance market? My premiums went from $750 a month to $1300 since Obammacare was enacted. Of course my premiums had gone up from when I was 18 over the years but never had it gone up 80% in 3 years!!

I am not the only one that has this complaint, I have had many conversations with people that have experienced a similar rise in premiums and none were happy about that.

You must be a person that never had healthcare, you must be paying less than me for healthcare due to Obammacare??

Your answwer is let them die, maybe if it was someone you loved it would be different.

OK, then you enlighten me and tell me about what you think is the Biblical context. Show me where the Bible says anything about not helping the "perpetually poor" or "fakers who are ripping you off." Point out to me in your context where the Bible says that we don't need to help the poor and sick of a particular "race" as you suggest. The Bible says we should help the poor and sick to be Christian, and your imagined and made up "context" does not exist. You don't get to twist the teachings of Jesus into something that fits your distorted political philosophy.

I have had car insurance all my life, without a chargeable accident, never have I said, wow I'm being charged so much with no return. Also, maybe you weren't paying enough in healthcare to begin with, maybe your insurer is ripping you off, have you shopped? I'm on medicare A and B and D with supplemental so I do not know your situation, enlighten me.

You quoted my post, in which I expressed my healthcare premiums going up 80% in 3 years, with a bible verse intending to be a slap in my face??

I am Agnostic. Now don't go thinking that I worship the devil, because I don't believe in him either. My money is my money, I don't feel I owe it to Gods or lazy helpless bums. I need my money to continue to pay my way thru life without burdening others.

If your money is not as important why don't you stop taking tax deductions (that extra money you pay in taxes could be given to welfare recipients)? You are a typical liberal that wants to be generous with other peoples money.

You have to realize your dealing with fake Christians, they go to church on Sunday and when they leave, they leave the bible behind.

Why don't you explain how I have benefited and need to pay 80% more for health insurance...

The minute you need the government you will come crawling, just like all the others who speak like you.

Maybe you weren't paying enough to begin with.

Did your car insurance go up 80% in 3 years??

Of course I have shopped!!

Did you read the first line of my post that you quoted? I said I was 53 years old, that is too young to be on medicare (I believe that is age 65)...you are getting more than you pay for, you are on the other side of the fence.

I don't believe anyone can enlighten you...

The insurance company had been giving me an 80% discount and realized their mistake just when Obammacare was enacted...I said I was healthy, I said I had health insurance since I was 18, I said I have spoken to others that had the same issue...And your thought is I was not paying enough to begin with??

Really?

I have accused you of being dumber than a box of rocks...I stand by that accusation. You are an annoying idiot that can not read and comprehend. Now everyone (including myself) makes mistakes on here from time to time, but you are one mistake after another. It is a wonder an idiot like you lived to be old enough to enroll in medicare.

Thank you, that fact seems to be lost on this group of posters. The person who paid $20,000 in premiums in 5 years for his NY retirees insurance is a lot better off than he thinks. My wife and I paid well over $20,000 in 2 years. Our premiums cut in half when I went on Medicare this month so our costs dropped significantly. That said healthcare cost did not drop so who is making up the difference? Regardless if we "paid into Medicare and social security all our lives" both programs are out of money and out of control regardless of what our elected leaders say about trust funds. Although the for profit medical industry we allowed to grow out of control has given us the most advanced care in world it also only works if someone else is paying, like government for instance.

Premiums MUST go up...to cover the ever increasing cost of healthcare. $1 million spread out over 80 years...is over $1000 a month.

You've been paying too little and they're increasing premiums to cover the current costs. Over $1000 EVERY month for 80 years equals $1 million, an average amount of healthcare costs in a lifetime.

It's inevitable. You CANNOT spend a $ million per person. Especially when they're elderly and all you're getting is a few extra months. It's has to stop...it will stop.

You'll know it's coming when they start showing, getting us accustomed to...end of life alternatives...in movies and TV. Euthanasia. The religious are the ones who are against it. But I think we will see it. Healthcare is simply TOO EXPENSIVE to treat everyone.

Well first off...the "Bible" is basically the Jewish Torah with the "New Testament" which is basically...all PAUL...thrown in to pretty much contradict everything in the "original" OT Bible.

It's ALL fiction. The OT based on older stories. The NT a creation of Paul who is the REAL founder of "Christianity". There is NO evidence that the "Jesus of the NT" ever existed let alone did all the "miracles" he's accredited with doing. PAUL wrote most of the stories about Jesus and the parables. The "books" supposedly written by John, Luke, Mark, etc...are anonymous often rewritten and changed. What you are reading has been changed and shuffled around to no end. Entire "books" of the NT were taken out. Words changed...things left out...things added. It's all FAKE. Done by "church scholars" who wanted to ensure they'd get their 10% cut...their tithings...you are being fooled.

The Jews weren't fooled by Paul. There is NOTHING in either religion that PROVES Jesus (as seen in the Bible) EVER existed. Flavius Josephus? He NEVER met Jesus, he wrote DECADES later that he'd "heard of a Christ". NOBODY contemporary to Jesus writes of him. There are no Roman records of him or the trial/crucifixion. There is NOTHING but YOUR "records"...church records. And they are...ALL...VERY...post Jesus.

I was simply making a point that your Bible does not specifically mention being "nice" to blacks or fakers. Back then...not many knew blacks existed...they weren't "discovered" until much later. Some Arabs had found them, enslaved them, maybe the Egyptians too...who REALLY knows because there is so much disinformation out there.

All I DO know is what they do to a school when they show up in numbers...what they do to a neighborhood...a town...a city...a COUNTRY. They DESTROY them all and they'll end up destroying here too if they're allowed to keep breeding like they are.

Disagree? Lets hear of their great contributions to civilization.

They are NOT us...but we're stuck with them.

"Conservative backlash threatens to sink new GOP health bill"

The repub's can't get their ducks in a row. LOL

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/g...082555224.html

Why DOES "God" need money? I mean really...supposedly KNOWS EVERYTHING past present and future. All powerful, created the entire universe.

So WHY does he need money?

So some bugs sitting on a lonely rock can "spread the word"?

Human nature...like people will turn to religion when times get tough.

I WOULD if they suddenly HAD to insure 50 million people who didn't have it before. At 1/12th the actual cost to insure them. Obamacare SHOULD be charging $1000 a month. It charges $1000 a YEAR.

LOTS of things get lost on them...

Medical costs are increasing almost exponentially...premiums must too to keep up.

They are lost to the fact that Hispanics are taking over too. THEIR populations are growing almost exponentially...they'll be the majority and change the country completely in another 30 years.

Like I said...lots gets lost on them...age...dementia I guess.

LOL? Why is that funny to you??

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Much of the healthcare costs can be attributed to those who run out and get a lawyer the minute they are not restored to perfect health. I know doctors who have given up their practice because they REFUSED to pass along the outrageous costs incurred by them for malpractice insurance. They chose instead to stay with the career they loved by going into research. How do I know this? They were MY doctors, that's how. Our primary doctor had to drop several of his patients because he was making too many referrals to specialists when it was out of the range of his expertise. That is exactly WHY I will never again participate in an HMO system. When we retired, we had no choice in order to keep our company insurance there.

My husband suffered a stroke following surgery 15 years ago. One lady here in TV asked me why he cannot carry on a conversation. (It is called Expressive Aphasia.) When I told her the reason, her first words were "I bet you guys are fixed for life after that lawsuit!". My words to her were, "What lawsuit? He knew the risk going in and was willing to take it. It was not the doctor's fault! It happens and that is why the possibilities of what could happen were explained beforehand."

Medicine is not what it was in the horse and buggy days. Like any other business, yes it is a business, there are many other expenses besides just his/her fees and malpractice insurance. Doctors of old did not have to deal with that. They did not have office staff, cleaning services, nurses, supplies, equipment, outright office purchase or lease, expensive medical school, etc. The list goes on. Why should doctors and hospitals, etc. not bring in enough to meet those expenses? Think of all the ones that get the care and never pay a penny because they won't, not can't. Yet, the hospitals cannot turn them away because of it. Thank the deadbeats in your blame, too. Too many won't even pay their doctor bills because they don't want to give up their lifestyle. And I am not talking about food and medicine, but the latest electronic gadgets, nice car, etc.

Insurance, especially Medicare, will pay only so much. If they get billed for the exact cost, then they will still only approve a portion and then pay a portion of that approval. Unless the charges are well above, then doctors and hospitals cannot even recover the actual cost. I know of no business, public or private, that can sustain by operating at a loss year after year.

Many complain about the Morses. Why should they invest all the money, take all the risks, and then just say, "Come and get it....no charge because we have wealth."? There are plenty here that think that very thing. Would you do it if it was your business? Didn't think so.

try

Now tell me how you really feel.

Where did I say funny? Just like trump make things up.

Perhaps folks shouldn't have a "right" to $1 million of other people's money.
Besides which, the ACA never addressed the cost of healthcare. Only who was going to pay for it, and billions of dollars for crap like new streetlights.

You mean the streetlights that those same minority poor people stole the copper wire from?

stealing copper from street lights - Google Search

I just wonder why a Healthcare bill has tax breaks for the rich hidden in it?

Because they wrote it? Or more accurately...had someone write it for them...the people who WORK for them...our lawmakers...our Congressmen.

Hey window licker, LOL stands for Laugh Out Loud. People LAUGH OUT LOUD to things they consider FUNNY.

Why do you think a delay in the new Healthcare program is funny??


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AARP, a group that advocates for senior citizens and other older Americans, shares her concern. The organization sent a letter to Congress yesterday saying the proposed bill would "dramatically increase health care costs for Americans aged 50-64."

Many seniors could face a significant increase in health care premiums, since insurance companies will be allowed to charge seniors five times as much as for younger people for a comparable plan. Under the current Affordable Care Act (ACA), insurers are limited to charging three times as much. The tax credits proposed in the AHCA, which would be dispensed mainly on the basis of age and income, would be smaller for older Americans compared with under the ACA, making insurance even more expensive for them.

"Taken together, premiums for older adults could increase by as much as $3,600 for a 55-year-old earning $25,000 a year, $7,000 for a 64-year-old earning $25,000 a year and up to $8,400 for a 64-year-old earning $15,000 a year," AARP said in its letter. The group said a typical senior seeking insurance on a state exchange has an annual income under $25,000.

The Bible also says that if you don't work you don't eat.

There's a big difference between helping people who are temporarily in a bind and work hard to get out of it, or those who are permanently disabled or elderly and supporting a large percentage of the population who are just too lazy or under educated or irresponsible.

How much has the cost of healthcare gone up? The cost of an operation is higher now...an office visit costs more. EVERY part of healthcare costs more now than when we started making insurance payments. People use an average of $1 million in healthcare costs in a lifetime. That's 80 years, 960 monthly payments, of over $1000.

You could buy a car with very low payments in the 1960s...you can't get a NEW car today for that same payment because cars cost more today. Same with health insurance...the cost of healthcare has skyrocketed, the premiums must too.

Obamacare, subsidizing 50 million poor people, IS causing YOUR premiums to go up even more. You're getting the normal price inflation PLUS picking up a $ multi-billion albatross around your neck. We decided to support them...now we're stuck with ever increasing costs.

Should we all provide healthcare for everyone with NO responsibility on their part? They can be obese and slovenly, participate in dangerous activities...and WE pay 100% of their healthcare? The POOR, living on foodstamps and subsidized housing...ISN'T paying a cent for healthcare...we are.

It comes down to cost...CAN society afford to cover everyone, many for free, when it costs over $1000 a month per person?