Skimpier health plans could be costly
By Michelle Andrews, NPR
People are worried about being able to pay for health insurance. So the insurance industry and a group of Democratic senators have proposed offering cheaper, skimpier “copper plans” on the health law’s marketplaces that could draw in people who were unhappy with the cost of available plans.
But consumer advocates and others who study the insurance market suggest that there may not be a big demand for these plans and that they could expose people to unacceptably high out-of-pocket costs if they got sick.
“It’s a false promise of affordability,” says , project director at Georgetown University’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms. “If you ever have to use the plan, you won’t be able to afford it.”
Coverage through the Affordable Care Act is divided into five types of plans that require different levels of cost-sharing. Platinum plans pay 90 percent of medical expenses, on average; gold plans, 80 percent; silver plans, 70 percent; and bronze plans, 60 percent. Tax credits to help pay premiums are available for people with incomes up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level ($46,680 for an individual in the 2015 plans). In addition, a catastrophic plan is available, mainly to people younger than 30; it covers only limited services before the deductible is met and isn’t eligible for subsidies.
Quit serving us up to the insurance industry, go single payer. The insurance industry can offer Cadillac plans to the wealthy, and offer travel insurance ie they can become specialized, not be the core insurance system of the citizens of the US; which they have become a huge failure at.
4 decades of increased meddling by the Federal government into the health insurance industry and it is now a shambles.
The Veterans Administration is a cruel and criminally incompetent system we’ve provided for our solders. Not much to be proud about. Obama care is taking us all down this road. Hardly a word about this on these pages.
On top of that add the out of control border problems with all the kids coming to the country, have you heard about that? that is going to make the health system even worse. Again, not much on this issue on these pages either. Amazing. Soulless news source.
An over reaching government took what was once the world’s best health insurance system 40 years back and delivered us this… this mess of a failure full of lies and deception.
And it will get worse…
Liberalism has undermined the souls and the honor of so many Americans.
Americans use to be a caring lot. Not so much anymore.
This is the ultimate “moral hazard.” These people want to pay nothing for insurance because they know they don’t have to pay the consequence. Current insurance holders have to also cover the costs of the uninsured in the costs billed to their insurance company. That’s how come an Ace bandage cost me $75 at Barton.
We pay 50% more than any other nation, and rank at the bottom for results. Pay more, get less. By all metrics, we fail horribly. And these right wing bozos want us to keep doing what isn’t working. They won’t even acknowledge the disparity of what we spend and compare it to the ‘socialized’ systems.
Also, CJ is a plagiarist.
A plagiarist, how is that.
Well since I can’t fix my postfor some reason I will rewrite it…
A plagiarist, how is that?
As for the right wing bozos wanting to keep doing what we were doing — where did you get that from? Do you have a reading comprehension problem?
Returning to a free market competitive system is in no way continuing to do what isn’t working. What we have been doing is the result of 40 years of government meddling…
It is the collusion between big government and big business that is in large part the problem.
Returning to a free market based system would enable the 1000 plus companies to compete and thereby bring back the needed competition in the insurance industry. That competition has been undermined by our corrupted liberal government and led to the problems we face.
AND IT WILL get worse under the governments control, period…
Look what the Government did to the VA …
cosa I will not respond to you unless you deal honestly with the facts and stick to the issues.
CJ. The VA has had a LONG history of problems since it was created as the Veterans Bureau in 1921, through the March on Washington in the 1930’s, the resignations of Frank Hines in the 1940’s, the attack on Omar Bradley and shoddy care in the 1940’s, the waste and fraud of the 1950’s, the Hunger Strikes of the 1970’s, the Agent Orange problems in the 1980’s, the Human Subject Research problems of the 1990’s, the 6 month Waiting List problems of the early 2000’s and the current Make the Waiting List look good problem now. Vets get great care on the Battlefield and recovery, this has to be some deeply seated Military problem to last almost 100 years.
Problems on the Borders is nothing new.
You live and are protected under the umbrella of the Social Safety of America, don’t like it, leave.
“Problems on the Borders is nothing new.” You apparently do not know what is going on at the border… it is new and it was predicted … You might want to change your news source to one that is more reliable.
As for the problems at the VA, they are at a zenith under Obama and it appears that it is a now a criminal enterprise.
Regardless, lets say the problems are not new. Why then are Americans turning the entire health system over to a government that can’t run the VA in the first place?
However, the problems are at a zenith now and Obama has done nothing to fix it … people are mad and should be.
Our government at many levels is failing the citizens.
Outside the world of SLT the news today is that Obama is considered the worst president in 70 plus years.
How it took so long for people to realize that is a mystery.
As far as leaving, NO. Instead I am fully engaged in the next election and we freedom loving people that understand what the nanny state is doing to the soul of the country will take it back and we will fix it.
“Obama is considered the worst president in 70 plus years.”
By 33% of the people polled in Quinnipiac Universirty poll.
Not an overwhelming percentage. And a Quinnipiac University poll?
Get real CJ!
caso, i dont think this is a right wing or left wing thing, it is much much more than insurance co, its hospitals, doctors, nurses, court system, drug co, medical devise co and patients that come in for every bump. Patients that want to chose their own doctor. And your 50% more number is way way too low.
If we went to a socialized medicine it would take decades otherwise it would be a huge shock to the economy if we did it too quickly, most like a huge recession or depression.
the insurance cos. are required to spend 80% of premuim on health care the over 20% is for overhead ie claims, payroll, commissions, n profit. There is nothing that gives them a higher profit to lower health cost.
CJ. You want to just forget that: the Mexican-American War of 1846 was fought over The Border, we have the most Border Patrol Agents (20,000) ever guarding The Border, Millions of cars and trucks pass through The Border every year, we are still operating The Border under Operation Wetback from the 1950’s?
Changing wait times by Doctors is not a “zenith.” Veterans marched on Washington in 1932 and were shot by Police for demanding bonus pay promised for World War I. Then Hoover ordered MacArthur and Patton to roll in the Tanks, tear gas, fixed Bayonet Infantry and Cavalry. Now, THAT is a Zenith of a Veterans Problem.
The same Quinnipiac Poll also said President Obama was the 4th BEST President since FDR. However, Gallop puts Confidence in the Congress at 7%; a record Low.
93 Percent of Americans are working; since when is that your nanny state?
Did Republicans fix Bin Laden, Iraq, Afghanistan, our Economy, the Stock Market, the Auto Industry, the Housing Market, the Health Insurance Market, Marriage Equality, stem cell research, anything? The only thing Republicans know how to FIX are Elections.
For the last 3 years I have pointed out… “From here it gets worse” and not one person has ever questioned that assertion. Not once. Does anyone question that now? Will America get better in it’s current direction? I think not. What say you?
BP, apparently the Quinnipiac Universirty poll does not measure up to your standards. However, they are a long standing and well respected polling group known throughout the industry for decades now, perhaps you were not aware of that.
As far as the boarder is concerned I am talking about the mass migration of young children coming to the boarder alone, without parents. They found a mass grave in Texas just last week and another body two days ago. . This is a current situation that began to come to light in the past 6 weeks. Bringing up the mexacan American war that was 160 plus years ago is hard to understand. Are you not aware of this NEW situation.
r4t- I should have made it more clear, I am talking about the new revelations at the VA hospitals and the treatment of our Vets… Today. It is all over the news for over a month now, I figured people would know about it. Your reference to the 1932 event has nothing to do with the VA hospitals and the mistreatment going on today, it was more than 80 years ago and it wasn’t about the VA hospitals. I am talking about today, as in NOW, as in the corruption that has festered at the VA in just the past 4 years.
For those that do not know about it I’ll say this, I am not aware of any time in history that the mistreatment of our veterans was a criminal racket for government bureaucrats to get bonuses. Yet that is what is happening, Veterans are left to die without even getting an appointment to see a doctor in order to get bonuses for the administrators. Add to that the fact that the Attorney General is not willing to pursue criminal investigations into the situation is just more evidence of the how corrupt Holder and this administration is. Our corrupt government continues to hold itself and the government employees above the law.
93 percent of Americans are working… are you serious? Do you make this stuff up or what? Anyone with a modicum intuitive thinking will realize that is absurd. Are you actually using the unemployment rate. You know that is a bogus cooked number, right. Serious analysis would be to use the labor force participation rate.
The Bin Laden thing is over stated and killing him like assassins is not something to be proud of. Justice would have been better served in a more appropriate manner, like a military or some form of trial. Until then it had been illegal for an American president to assassinate an unarmed person hiding behind his wife. THe more tell part of the ordeal is how we abandoned the doctor that helped us find him, I think he is still in prison and we did NOTHING. Not a thing. Now all those efforts are for not anyway, you heard the news on that right?
As far as the economy being fixed and the reference to the stock market. THe central banks around the world have printed somewhere in the neighborhood of TEN trillion dollars in new currencies… that is not fixing anything.
However it has made the income divide the worst it has been in modern times…
When did the republicans ever fix an election? Are you referring to AL Gore? Where he wanting to count the votes a third time so that he could fix it…
No I don’t buy your logic, your time frames or your points of view.
I’ve stated my case and I find your arguments way off the mark. I will not bother returning to see what else you come up with.
Hey CJ. You said “problems at the VA, they are at a zenith” NOT me. You did not put a time clause on your statement. So you meant “Zenith” since say January of 2009? We understand you hate President Obama and history before 2009 does not count… with you.
You aren’t aware… that’s understandable. Try looking up Robert Nimmo and Agent Orange. Or, “Born on the 4th of July.”
Unemployment is at 6.3%; I rounded. Oh, but you have a CJ number that differs… how cute… I mean “absurd.”
Yeah sure that Bin Laden thing is overrated… BY YOU AND YOUR ILK!
Yeah, those Stock Market idiots with their money are sure a bunch of losers for doubling and tripling their investments and driving their fancy sports cars. And those people with 401k’s are sure fixed with all the bonus money they are getting.
Yeah, do us all a favor and don’t bother returning.