Anonymous wrote:If I'm a doctor, I'll just stop working. The govt will not dictate what I charge. If I'm a pharma company, I just move my Enterprise overseas. You will not dictate my business. If you don't want it, don't buy it.

Anonymous wrote:If everything is given,. Why should I bother working?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To me, this is a huge thing that will deeply affect my family. We currently have great health insurance and pretty much immediate access to any specialist we need. Deductibles are minimal.

Most of the Democratic candidates' plans will mean worse healthcare access for us, and I assume many folks. I find this really frustrating! How is this considered a winning issue. I'm not going to vote against my own self-interest.

You are lucky. Despite having access to employer health insurance, the plan options have gotten shittier and shittier and more expensive. We had a plan like yours maybe 10 years ago. Now it’s not even a choice. It’s expensive PPO or slightly less but still expensive HDHP, both with massive deductibles.

Check your privilege (and we are white, well educated and well employed!)

+1

Anonymous wrote:Just for health coverage (medical and pharmacy), my company and I pay a combined 15K a year for myself and my child. This doesnt include co-pays or pharmacy costs. Copays are 25-35, most medications are 10/month, urgent care is $50, ER visit is $175. I dont get dental coverage because it is less expensive to put the total premium amount in the FSA and either use new patient promos to get regular cleanings/xrays or go to a dental school for cleanings. This may change when my kid has more teeth but since he is under 2 the pediatric dentist visit is just a check and exposure so it costs me 50-60/yr.

Basic vision is covered by my employer but I still pay 100% for contacts and glasses. My biannual exam still cost me $80 at Costco.

We have pretty good insurance but with the premium per paycheck and estimate medical costs I easily spend 4600 premiums, 500 co-pays (sick visits, wellness visits at PCP, PT, sons allergist, etc), buffer in one urgent care visit (50), hope there are no ER visits for the year, assume $50 in medications since we arent on prescribed regular medications (covering possible antibiotics/etc) but you can assume with regular prescriptions an annual cost of 120-240 for one to two people, dental OOP is 500, vision care and associated glasses/contacts/etc would average out to 800 every 2 years - if I were to get new glasses, which I dont.

I would MUCH rather pay 1000-2000- or even 5000 extra in taxes for EVERYONE to have healthcare. Its a known cost that can be budgeted. I have to budget for the knowns and the what-ifs every year when I calculate my FSA.

Also, companies could stop including health insurance in the total compensation package. They wouldn't need to spend time or resources negotiating every year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What percentage of Americans currently have really great employee sponsored health care?

About half of our population has employer sponsored healthcare.
And, the majority of those are quite satisfied with their coverage.

So screw the other half, right? That's 163 MILLION PEOPLE - many of whom are CHILDREN - who don't have employer sponsored healthcare. The world doesn't end at the end of your nose.

DP here. It isn’t true anyway. Most people on employer health insurance are NOT satisfied. Maybe that was true 10 years ago. Most people I know have high premiums, high deductibles and a fraction of the coverage they used to have.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To me, this is a huge thing that will deeply affect my family. We currently have great health insurance and pretty much immediate access to any specialist we need. Deductibles are minimal.

Most of the Democratic candidates' plans will mean worse healthcare access for us, and I assume many folks. I find this really frustrating! How is this considered a winning issue. I'm not going to vote against my own self-interest.

You are lucky. Despite having access to employer health insurance, the plan options have gotten shittier and shittier and more expensive. We had a plan like yours maybe 10 years ago. Now it’s not even a choice. It’s expensive PPO or slightly less but still expensive HDHP, both with massive deductibles.

Check your privilege (and we are white, well educated and well employed!)

Did you vote for Obama twice?

Then, YOU check YOUR well-deserved privilege.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To me, this is a huge thing that will deeply affect my family. We currently have great health insurance and pretty much immediate access to any specialist we need. Deductibles are minimal.

Most of the Democratic candidates' plans will mean worse healthcare access for us, and I assume many folks. I find this really frustrating! How is this considered a winning issue. I'm not going to vote against my own self-interest.

We have magical heath care. Every time I hand my insurance card over and then they check our benefits, the person always asks in a hushed voice: where do you work?? No copays, ever. No referrals. My children have truly tested our coverage (two different rare disorders and all the hospitalizations that come with them), and we truly have never had anything but 100% coverage via our insurance.

I would guess you only get health care this good if you work for a powerful union (which are dwindling in number) or in a high-powered, high-paid industry were you have oodles of other benefits too.

All this to say: you can take away my excellent health care and people like me will still have access to the private market to fill the gaps. But millions of people have inadequate coverage that still bankrupts them if they have the audacity to be sick. When my oldest child almost died, she was hospitalized and running test after expensive test to find out what’s wrong. I had the luxury of not having to stop then to ask the price. That’s the way it should be for necessary medical treatment.

We should be worried about the millions rather than the few unicorns.

Amen, sister!

I am almost as fed up with "I got mine, so the rest of you go F yourself" attitude as I am with my private health insurance. Let me break this down for you:

I'm 30 years old, trying to balance growing a career with the prospect of getting married/starting a family.
In the past five years I have had two jobs and three different health insurance plans, because of companies getting acquired and "integration" and "synergies."
I've had Cigna, Blue Cross, and UHC, never by my own choosing. None of these plans I chose for myself, they were chosen by my employer. A doctor I like one year can be out of network the next and I have to start all over again.
And last year, our PPO premiums DOUBLED, so I had no choice to go onto a silver plan with a higher deductible. This is such a regressive system, because healthcare premiums are a bigger chunk out of my paycheck than out of the paycheck of someone who makes more than me. Which means those who make less have to go for a riskier, high-deductible option.
God forbid I don't get pregnant, injured, or sick with a serious illness. I would go bankrupt within a month. When the rest of the civilized and developed world has some form of public health insurance, we're stuck with this regressive system that kicks the poor while they're down and punishes people for leaving their jobs or for getting sick or pregnant.

So you all can take your gold-plated private health insurance and shove it.

You think you will gain choices with single-payer?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m PP

We are also in DC.

Prior to ACA, you me employer had many more options of private plans. All gone now and forced to buy crap Obamacare plans at higher cost.

Word

Prior to ACA we couldn't get private insurance due to pre-existing conditions. ACA allowed us to become self employed.

Similar to this R in AZ:

Jeans told Ryan that he has campaigned for Republican candidates and, when the ACA was passed, told his wife that he would close his business rather than comply. The real-estate company he and his wife owned operated in two Midwestern states

"Then, at 49, I was given six weeks to live with a very curable type of cancer. We offered three times the cost of my treatments, which was rejected. They required an insurance card," Jeans said. "Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, I’m standing here today alive.

"Can I say one thing? I want to thank President Obama from the bottom of my heart because I would be dead if it weren’t for him," Jeans said as the audience applauded.

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2017/01/14/sedona-jeff-jeans-obamacare-aca-cnn-paul-ryan/96553138/


Pre ACA insurance plans had a lifetime cap at $250K, which you could easily reach if you had cancer. I know someone who did, and they died penniless and could no longer afford the treatement. That could be you one day.

-word..

Ah, the tactics of anecdote-driven fear.

What about the 2 million people who lost their insurance because of ACA.

Or the 7 million who had to pay a thousand bucks FINE not to have to buy overpriced insurance they didn't want.

Or the dozens of millions who had to pay those overpriced premiums.

Or the dozens of millions who realized their high-deductible "bronze" plans were essentially a scam.

Yeah yeah, let's f#ck 50 million people so that I don't end up penniless -- as if there were no other options on the table.

You know.. some of you are really pollyana about your health and life, like that R from AZ who got cancer. When I was younger (I'm 50), I thought the same as you - I'm healthy, why should I get insurance. Then I had kids and got older and realized that anything can happen.. like getting hit by a car or getting cancer. You think.. well, tough sh1t, that's on you. That's the mentality of people like you. It's like the wild west and every man for himself mentality. No wonder our country is going down the tubes.

I think we've all been waiting for other options that Trump and R promised. But .. "who knew healthcare was so complicated".. that the Rs couldn't even get their own healthcare plan to pass because some in their own party couldn't stand behind it. But, I'm sure you know more than Trump and healthcare professionals. So, let's hear it.. what's your great idea?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To me, this is a huge thing that will deeply affect my family. We currently have great health insurance and pretty much immediate access to any specialist we need. Deductibles are minimal.

Most of the Democratic candidates' plans will mean worse healthcare access for us, and I assume many folks. I find this really frustrating! How is this considered a winning issue. I'm not going to vote against my own self-interest.

You are lucky. Despite having access to employer health insurance, the plan options have gotten shittier and shittier and more expensive. We had a plan like yours maybe 10 years ago. Now it’s not even a choice. It’s expensive PPO or slightly less but still expensive HDHP, both with massive deductibles.

Check your privilege (and we are white, well educated and well employed!)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To me, this is a huge thing that will deeply affect my family. We currently have great health insurance and pretty much immediate access to any specialist we need. Deductibles are minimal.

Most of the Democratic candidates' plans will mean worse healthcare access for us, and I assume many folks. I find this really frustrating! How is this considered a winning issue. I'm not going to vote against my own self-interest.

Neither my DH nor myself could vote for Sanders or Warren or Harris on this alone.

And it's not just because of us. It's because abolishing private insurance would create such havoc in our healthcare system that would make life worse for EVERYONE.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What percentage of Americans currently have really great employee sponsored health care?

About half of our population has employer sponsored healthcare.
And, the majority of those are quite satisfied with their coverage.

So screw the other half, right? That's 163 MILLION PEOPLE - many of whom are CHILDREN - who don't have employer sponsored healthcare. The world doesn't end at the end of your nose.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We also have great healthcare. But I’ve also been in the position of having none, and so I know what that’s like.

It’s an ethics question. You have to decide what your values are. Are you willing to put aside your own interests for the greater common good?

Most people in this country are not. And so here we are. [u]

Nailed it. American exceptionalism my A**. Our "rugged individualism" IMO is just another way of saying irredeemably selfish.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What percentage of Americans currently have really great employee sponsored health care?

About half of our population has employer sponsored healthcare.
And, the majority of those are quite satisfied with their coverage.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We also have great healthcare. But I’ve also been in the position of having none, and so I know what that’s like.

It’s an ethics question. You have to decide what your values are. Are you willing to put aside your own interests for the greater common good?

Most people in this country are not. And so here we are.

You first.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To me, this is a huge thing that will deeply affect my family. We currently have great health insurance and pretty much immediate access to any specialist we need. Deductibles are minimal.

Most of the Democratic candidates' plans will mean worse healthcare access for us, and I assume many folks. I find this really frustrating! How is this considered a winning issue. I'm not going to vote against my own self-interest.

Vote for your and your family interest first. If you are a democrat and really care about paying for someone's healthcare, just purchase a plan for a neighbor and pay for it.

OH for F**K'S sake. Grow up, PP. I work in philanthropy and I am sick to death of people like you who think personal charity is the answer to everything. Government policy is not and should not be substituted by the non-profit sector.