Do you have health insurance?

Yep. $650 a month for me, my wife and baby. Fucking pisses me off everytime I think about it. It still cost us about $7,000 out of pocket to have the baby.

BrutulTM_sl said:

If you din't have that "insane" insurance package you could be paid better. It always bugs me when people want the best insurance that they can get when they're not writing the check whether or not it makes fiscal sense. From your employers standpoint, it's all coming from the same pot.

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not necessarily. Employers can have huge leverage in cost/benefits. This helps people like Google, who can tour every insurance company and have absolutely everyone kiss their asses, and get the absolute best benefits paying the absolute minimum.

small employers are kind of fucked though. They usually have to choose from pre-made plans that cost way more, per person, than large employers.

if he has a union job, its likely its a very large employer, where they can offer some of the best benefits with very little cost to the employer. And its not like that cost would go straight into the employees hands, more than likely it would go towards acquisitions, expansion etc.

HSA account with work.

I've got it through work as well. My plan has a $1k deductible (after that is paid they cover 100%) and I think co-pays for dr visits and such are $40 a pop.

My wife just had to have her gallbladder removed. The bill I saw before insurance kicked in totaled to a little over $24k.

Are there really people stupid enough to think Obamacare is a good thing?

Burren_sl said:

Are there really people stupid enough to think Obamacare is a good thing?

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not sure if trolling..

it is a good thing.

walnut_sl said:

not sure if trolling..

it is a good thing.

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In the short term, it is actually driving insurance rates up.

http://www.sfgate.com/health/article...up-4079244.php

Problem is that insurance companies are basically stuffing their coffers because they will have to start covering anyone even with pre-existing conditions. Now all the healthy people entering the pool are suppose to offset that cost, but since the fine is relatively low ($600 a year starting in '14 I think) and health insurance prices are going to be so high (as much as doubled by '14 vs '12 rates) I think a lot of people are going to just pay the fine.

It is going to take several years before there are enough healthy people buying insurance to start subsidizing the unhealthy people and driving prices back down.

Mixtilplix_sl said:

'Obamacare' saves consumers nearly $1.5 billion

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Taken straight out of that article:

The average cost of an employer-provided family health plan jumped 4% to $15,745 between 2011 and 2012, a cost shared by employers and employees, according to an annual survey released in September by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research & Educational Trust.

There is substantial evidence that premium increases are driven largely by rising medical costs, not profit-taking. And insurance companies continue to vigorously oppose the standards.

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Some people got rebates thanks to the 80/20 rule. But the savings received via that have been dwarfed by the increases premiums most health-care consumers have been facing since Obamacare has started to phase in, with the biggest driver of premium increases still coming (no more denying pre-existing conditions).

opiate82_sl said:

In the short term, it is actually driving insurance rates up.

http://www.sfgate.com/health/article...up-4079244.php

Problem is that insurance companies are basically stuffing their coffers because they will have to start covering anyone even with pre-existing conditions. Now all the healthy people entering the pool are suppose to offset that cost, but since the fine is relatively low ($600 a year starting in '14 I think) and health insurance prices are going to be so high (as much as doubled by '14 vs '12 rates) I think a lot of people are going to just pay the fine.

It is going to take several years before there are enough healthy people buying insurance to start subsidizing the unhealthy people and driving prices back down.

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I'm one of those people with "pre-existing" conditions. Only, my "pre-existing" condition was diagnosed at 22. Right around when I was jumping off my parents insurance and trying to get my own. The cheapest quote I found for health insurance was $1300 a month. This was for an otherwise healthy, non-smoking 22 year old male.

I should note, this pre-existing condition is general epilepsy. I have had zero seizures since I was diagnosed and it is completely managed by medicine. Hell, when I was diagnosed I didn't even have a real seizure. All that happened was that I blacked out momentarily.

Obamacare isn't perfect but you can fuck off if you think requiring health insurance companies having to cover people with pre-existing conditions is a bad thing.

Yup, I guess a bunch of you did drink the Negro-Jesus koolaid and really do believe its a good thing. Tell me how awesome socialism and fewer rights as citizens is good too! Oh, and fill me in on the benefits of giving away what I worked hard for, so some lazy piece of shit can get free everything and continue to suck this country dry through mind-numbingly moronic welfare systems.

Kargon_sl said:

Obamacare isn't perfect but you can fuck off if you think requiring health insurance companies having to cover people with pre-existing conditions is a bad thing.

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No need to get angry, we can be civil. I didn't say that part specifically was bad. However, people like you are going to drive prices up. That is simply the way it is. Obamacare is suppose to offset this increase by forcing everyone to buy insurance. Healthy people will subsidize the costs for all the people with pre-existing conditions coming into the system. But as I stated, with pricing already rapidly rising thanks to the unknown cost impact all these pre-existing condition people will bring, most healthy people who already don't buy insurance because it is to expensive, will still not enter the system and instead will pay the fine.

The main problem with all of this is that businesses are being expected to shoulder the lions share of the health-care costs. So in a terrible economy, with other operational costs (cost of goods, labor, etc) also on the rise, many businesses might not be able to bare the burden of this cost while waiting for health care prices to drop down thanks to healthy people finally entering the market. Specifically, low-margin businesses are going to be hit particularly hard by this.

I'm not saying that people with pre-existing conditions should not be able to get health insurance. What I am saying is that the implementation of Obamacare is going to make health care prices worse before they get better, and with the economy in the shape that it is in, this is probably the worst time to be driving up health-care prices and forcing people/companies to pay for it.

edit* (My solution to this was simple. They should have started with the individual mandate first, either forcing healthy people into the system or generating revenue via the fines to subsidize this eventual cost increase, then slowly started adding in the cost drivers such as allowing children to stay on their parents plan till age 26 and not allowing insurance companies to deny coverage, but that ship has sailed.)

Fuse_sl said:

Yep. $650 a month for me, my wife and baby. Fucking pisses me off everytime I think about it. It still cost us about $7,000 out of pocket to have the baby.

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You should look at going to a concierge doctor it will save you quite a bit of money. Here is a link to an article about ithttp://hereandnow.wbur.org/2012/12/1...ne-health-care

Fidlen_sl said:

After reading this im quite happy to be living in Canada.

A buddy of mine who lives in Omaha asked me when I had my kids how much they cost me because it was going to cost him 3k ish out of pocket. I told him $20 for gas and $11 for parking.

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Heh.
I got ripped off.... paid at least ?30 in parking (?5 per day).
And ?50 to spend the first two nights with the wife & kid.

? 0 on the c-section and everything else.
wife even has additional insurance for 2-bed-room, so with me in it we had our private room. after i was gone (she had to stay for a few more days because of the c-section) they just didn't bother putting someone else in there with her.

But then we pay for healthcare and it's mandatory. You have work --> you pay. Or rather, your employer pays.

No.

My "work" is all the grants I weasel my way into at school.

I have some amazing insurance through my employer. Comes out before taxes so once it kicked in, dont even notice it because I still get the same amount per week. Biggest thing we used it for was my wifes pregnancy. It was at the main Cleveland Clinic campus, big private room everything was covered 100%. Got a statement in the mail about how much the total cost was, because she had a c-section it ended up being close to $20,000. I get a statement a week later saying how much I owed and fist pumped when I saw $0.00

Insomnia_sl said:

I have some amazing insurance through my employer. Comes out before taxes so once it kicked in, dont even notice it because I still get the same amount per week. Biggest thing we used it for was my wifes pregnancy. It was at the main Cleveland Clinic campus, big private room everything was covered 100%. Got a statement in the mail about how much the total cost was, because she had a c-section it ended up being close to $20,000. I get a statement a week later saying how much I owed and fist pumped when I saw $0.00

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Shit you had a kid and all they tried to throw at you was a 20k bill?!

I had a 45 minute surgery that cost $50k. My insurance at the time told me to fuck off since "you can live with 9 fingers".

Insurance is such a shitfuck asshole business

Packing my shit up and leaving once I'm done with school. I'm too accident prone for the insurance system in the US.

Eventually, something will have to be done (and by done I mean regulation wise) about premiums. Anyone who thinks the insurance companies wont continue to raise them till nobody can afford it is an optimist. Blue Cross weaseled out of the premium rebate that was supposed to help keep them affordable this past year. They will do it again next year.

At least we have the someplace to start health care wise now. Hopefully the AFA isnt the end of health care coverage change in the US, and only the beginning.