Obamacare

Hundreds of years ago-- when I was 25 years old, my husband was hit by a tractor trailer. (He was 25 also.) I'm glad he had insurance, we would have been in debt for the rest of his life. He was able to get care, recover..... and now he works and pays taxes. It's a beautiful thing.

Crap happens folks. We should all have health insurance coverage. I'm sorry to those of us who complain of being fined for being uninsured but it's for our own good.

The problem is there are still people who cannot afford it and don't qualify for medicaid or medicare. Seems like the new system is working fine for a lot of people but it still allows people to fall through the cracks, not sure a fine is the best way to handle it.

sometimes I wonder if this benefits health insurance companies more than it does people.

One plus side is that forces people to find resources they did not know they had. Some vets my parents for instance were unaware that they could basically get free Healthcare through the VA.

I agree Hellion. It's too bad that some states (such as mine here in FL) have refused the Medicaid expansion because then people would be covered either thru the Marketplace or thru Medicaid. That's not the fault of the ACA, it's the fault of the Supreme Court and partisan politics.

Remember to vote everyone!

The headaches continue. Despite the innovations, I have that junk policy that covers nothing - over $1000 a month and a $7500 deductible per individual - so despite wanting to hang in there, I'm stuggling massively to fund a way to hang on. Can't afford to cover 25 employees...for me, it's a mess. Be grateful that you are in the "was small business" rather than in small business.

When health insurance became a thing, right after WWII, Congress struggled with the question of whether or not, or how to regulate them. They eventually decided not to regulate them. This means that insurance companies were allowed to increase premiums without justification. So therefore premiums went up much faster than inflation.

Fast forward to now and my state Florida has passed legislation to force our state Insurance Commissioner to approve ALL health insurance rate increases. (The job of an insurance commissioner is to challenger rate hikes from insurers and make them justify their increases.) My (unfortunately) red state wants to make Obamacare look bad by allowing insurance companies to raise their rates as much as they want, and of course-- rates are going up 15% this year alone. This is so that Republicans can say that Obamacare has raised insurance rates. My understanding is that other red states have, you should check yours.

Anyway, that's when the junk policies appeared. Insurers not only raised rates, but they also severely cut back coverage. I didn't know they had done this to me-- until I needed it.

Follow the money. It's no wonder that Blue Cross/ Blue Shield of Florida-- called Florida Blue-- gave $5M to Republican Rick Scott's campaign for governor. Now the insurers have been rewarded.

If you find yourself in a junk policy, my advice would be to drop it and pray you don't get too sick. That's what I did, because my local insurance companies offered me no other solution. I was otherwise uninsurable and was told specifically that I could have no other plan. I can't blame our president for what the insurance companies have done.

Hate to say this, but social security has had a small raise the last 2 years.....we went quite a few years before that with no raises (can't remember exactly how many years without a raise).....but these last 2 have definitely been smaller than previously because they are based on the cost of living calculated raise.

I haven't seen much change in the actual cost of services & what I'm paying on medicare. I have basic medicare & the only medication I'm on I get covered by the patient assistance because I couldn't afford the medication even with the part D because I was in the donut hold by the 2nd month of the year & couldn't afford $8000+ a year for medication....medication Im on was costing over $2000/month.....& I refused to take any other meds because I couldn't afford them without insurance......in a really stuck place.....but the patient assistance really has helped me continue to have my quality of life.

Wish I could drop the junk policy; but due to the individual mandate, I have to have something. So, I'm trapped in a mess. This whole nonsense of insurance is harmful to most consumers and only benefits big insurance and big pharma. I wish that there was some other option...

No, you could pay the penalty, nothing if you make less than approximately $10,000, $95/year for between $10,000 and $20,000 and 1% of your income if more than that. If you don't like the junk policy and think you'd pay less on your own or want to gamble with whether you'll get sick or not, do that.

Only the first year. Penalties go up the following year, & I think again the year after that.

Still, it's a drop in the bucket. A one time charge verses $1000/month for nothing. It's a no-brainier.

Not giving an opinion. Just providing information so others will have it.

I kinda of don't want this thread open any more.

Can you ask to have it closed since you started it?

idk.......