Saturday, November 19, 2016

Obamacare Again

Obamacare is an unmitigated disaster for people like me.  In order to supply insurance for the few, the many have to pay for insurance they can't use.  Don't believe me?  Look at the numbers.  The "Patent Predation and Unaffordable Care Act" has allegedly insured 15 million people.  How wonderful.  Out of 315+ million people, but at what cost?

My premium, paid by my employer in lieu of wages, is $9.84 per hour.  Let that sink in.  My health care premium is more than minimum wage.  It amounts to at least $400 per WEEK!  It continues to go up, 6-8% a year and the deductable is up over 1100% since this monstrosity was passed.  The more the premium is, the less money I take home.  This premium now swallows almost 1/3 of my hourly wage.  What do you think I get for this expensive coverage? (besides getting to subsidize the people on Obamacare)

I have a new $500 per person per year deductable out the gate, per calendar year, before the plan pays anything.  There are three of us, so a maximum of $1500 per year deductable before anything gets paid.  This is new this year.  It had been an 80/20 split until the NEXT deductable was met.

The next deductable is $5,000 per person per year, but they don't call it a deductable this year.  This year it's called "co-insurance."  The plan brags that this is payable through the 80/20 split.  The fact is, one visit to the emergency room will result in a $5,000 "co-insurance" payment, after the initial $500 "deductable".   So $5,000 per person per year and the $500 per person per year.  $5,500 dollars per person or $16,500 for the family.  There are lots of exclusions, so this number will be higher if we have a catastrophe or a serious of medical events.  On Jan 1 all of this resets.  I don't make the kind of money where this is in any way "affordable."  Especially not after the premiums are taken out of my check.

About that "co-insurance" in the previous paragraph...  Know what "co-insurance" is?  It's patient responsibility.  In the new American way, words and meaning are changed to suit whomever is trying to obfuscate the issue.  *I* am now an insurer.  I am curious as to what that designation is designed to do?  Is it simply to deflect or is it something more sinister?  As a "co-insurer" are there going to be tax issues in the future?  Am I going to be forced to have "capital" for my (co)insurance company or face fines, fees and penalties?  More forms to fill out?

So I have this fine, expensive insurance which is basically a major medical plan that I can't afford to use.  The government is salivating over the luscious taxes they can impose because of the "in lieu of wages" designation.  Now I wonder if the "co-insurance"verbiage will create new problems for me? With my salary, after all the bums get through with it, puts me at 130% of poverty level.  Slightly more than half my income goes for taxes and health care.

Maybe somebody can explain how this can be called a "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act." Can the Obamacare people use their insurance?   Or are we all forced to pay for insurance we can't use, to bail out the health care industry?

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