Affordable Care Act- The Non-political Thread

[Strazos]

So, I pay something like $43 per pay period - I have no idea if this is good or what, but I was pretty much forced to buy a premium plan in order to handle things like translating foreign medical bills and such.

[MahrinSkel]

So, I pay something like $43 per pay period - I have no idea if this is good or what, but I was pretty much forced to buy a premium plan in order to handle things like translating foreign medical bills and such.

If you aren't paid weekly, it doesn't sound like a bad deal.

--Dave

[ghost]

Hell, even weekly that is spectacular for a premium plan with a reasonable deductible.

[Ragnoros]

Whats Premium? What is your pay period?

Last job I had that offered insurance it was like $130 a month for the shittiest of shit coverage. Like $50 co-pays on routine visits, 80/20 for most services, 5k deductible, and that didn't include vision/dental. This is off the top of my head from paging through the flyer 3 years ago, so I could be way off.

But yeah. You probably have a god tier price to service ratio.

[ghost]

The deductible is a huge issue.  A 5K deductible is going to destroy 85% of the US working population financially.

[Trippy]

Yeah, however they are much more affordable (assuming you don't actually use it ) than the low deductible plans.

Here in Silicon Valley the trend for small startups is to switch to these high deductible plans for employees but then setup HSA accounts for employees that the company funds. In many cases that turns out to be cheaper for the company than going with a low deductible plan and no HSA.

[Nebu]

Here's what I expect: Young, healthy people will opt for high deductible plans or bypass the system by paying the penalty (if it's less than a high deductible plan) if they aren't covered by workplace insurance.  This will defeat the purpose of mass coverage as it won't provide the necessary buy-in to reduce the costs of care for everyone.  It's a design flaw in the ACA brought about by compromises required to get the thing passed.

[ghost]

It's a steaming pile of shit. 

[Strazos]

Sorry, I misquoted myself - it's about $86 every two weeks, pre-tax.

Here is my plan - I'll let one of you more-enlightened folks tell me how much I'm getting ripped: http://www.fepblue.org/benefitplans/standard-option/medical-benefits.jsp

[Ghambit]

Here's what I expect: Young, healthy people will opt for high deductible plans or bypass the system by paying the penalty (if it's less than a high deductible plan) if they aren't covered by workplace insurance.  This will defeat the purpose of mass coverage as it won't provide the necessary buy-in to reduce the costs of care for everyone.  It's a design flaw in the ACA brought about by compromises required to get the thing passed.

It provides revenues, which flaw or not is better than nothing.  Cost reductions will be determined by how those revenues are spent of course.  Which in GOP talk means cut taxes to make up the difference.