Parkinson's & GOP Scrapping Affordable Care Act, continued

[Motal]

From the NYT this weekend:

Without Obamacare, I Will Get Sicker, Faster, Until I Die

nytimes.com/2017/01/14/opin...

[12stargate]

Motal Dear Friend;

Not so fast.

I hear you, trust me, but not so fast.

A lot can happen before, or if ever, Obamacare is repealed.

My plan is to take one day at a time, and trust that my needs will be met!

Peace, Eva G

[Motal in reply to 12stargate]

Greetings Eva,

"Not so fast," may've been valid a week ago... but then came that vote a few days ago which could set the stage to unplug the ACA/Obamacare without providing an alternative. Absent a replacement, that could mean, among other things, saying 'goodbye' to the Obamacare protection for patients with pre-existing conditions - such as PD.

For those of us who still have to buy our insurance - not yet being of Medicare age - this is no small deal. How much more would I have to pay for my premium? WIll I even be able to find a policy?

Seeing the speed with which the majority party rushed that vote does not inspire confidence. As a PWP, I'm absolutely with you about the need to keep a positive spirit in our personal lives. But politics i'n't beanbag - and by itself, hope-that-all-will-be-well as a strategy may lull folks until it is too late....

[Hidden]

Donald Trump promises 'Insurance for Everybody’ as Health Law Replacement, after he dumps Obamacare. How? Who knows, but he PROMISED. Going to be interesting ....... Hope it works for all who have benefitted from Obamacare.

[whack-a-mole]

Here below are a few of the promises made in the 'selling' of Obamacare/Affordable [sic] Care Act to the American people (the same ACA bill that had to first be passed in order to "find out what is in it").

I'd love to hear (from adoring supporters) which of these have proven true.

Promise #1: “If you like your health care plan, you’ll be able to keep your health care plan, period.”

Promise #2: “[T]hat means that no matter how we reform health care, we will keep this promise to the American people: If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor, period.”

Promise #3: “In an Obama administration, we’ll lower premiums by up to $2,500 for a typical family per year.”

Promise #4: “[F]or the 85 and 90 percent of Americans who already have health insurance, this thing’s already happened. And their only impact is that their insurance is stronger, better and more secure than it was before. Full stop. That’s it. They don’t have to worry about anything else.”

Promise #5: “Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase.”

Promise #6: “I will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits—either now or in the future.”

Promise #7: “[W]hatever ideas exist in terms of bending the cost curve and starting to reduce costs for families, businesses, and government, those elements are in this bill.

Promise #8: “I will protect Medicare.”

Promise #9: “I will sign a universal health care bill into law by the end of my first term as president that will cover every American.”

Promise #10: “So this law means more choice, more competition, lower costs for millions of Americans.”

[Motal in reply to whack-a-mole]

Whack,

The question on the table now is: "What plan do they have to replace the ACA/Obamacare?" Would they (sound effect here) roll back the clock to some point in time before the ACA/Obamacare? If so, when?

To 2008, when people w/o insurance went to ER's cos hospitals had to provide care (but would then jack up rates for all in order to compensate?) To the early1950's before the idea of your health insurance being attached to your job took hold, and raised prices in a now tilted playing field, where all was fine so long as you had a job with benefits, but not so good (no coverage, bankruptcy) when you didn't?

Or, does the party in charge have a new idea? Lower the age for Medicare so more people are covered? Raise the age for Medicare so the gov't pays less? Or would they give us the same plan they enjoy as Members of Congress? Where do I sign?

Pray tell, What. Is. Their. Plan? What will my health care look like in a year?

To say merely some variation of, "It'll be great." is not enough. Not enough to dispel the notion that the party in charge now is like my dog chasing a pickup truck. Once he catches up to it, and faced with having to do something, he loses interest and slinks away. He just chased it cos ... he just chased it.

But my dog's bad habit can't affect the health care of a nation. Alas, Congress can. If they repeal-without-a-plan, it will affect not just the millions who, under ACA/Obamacare were able to buy coverage, but all of us who have to buy insurance.

Just one example: for the past 2 decades of self-employment, I've bought, out of pocket, a high deductible plan. For most of that time, I was healthy, never met the deductible. Then in late 2014 came the diagnosis for Parkinson's and, as any reader here can attest, a life-change.

But because of the ACA/Obamacare, one thing I didn't have to worry about was losing my coverage or being denied coverage down the road for my new "pre-existing condition." In piecing together the ACA/Obamacare, that protection came as a tradeoff for the mandate that everyone buy insurance. So if they repeal the mandate, where does that leave tens of millions of us with pre-existing conditions?

The prospect of losing that pre-existing protection is daunting. Which is why I am insistent in my question:

What is their plan beyond repeal?

[whack-a-mole]

Motal, It's not too surprising that a bill that had to be hurriedly passed BEFORE people/congress could "find out what is in it" - a bill, incidentally, dependent upon "the stupidity of the American voter" to pass - will contain something somewhere within its 2700 pages of "tortured" legalese that would appeal to those same American voters. The problem is, the bill as a whole is an abysmal failure that only gets worse as time goes on.

At the moment there ARE in fact several well formulated versions of the plan that will ultimately replace it (if you truly were concerned about "their plan", a simple Google search will lead you to them). The best of these alternatives, of course, address those very issues people favor most i.e., pre-existing conditions, children insured to 26yrs etc. It may be wise in the meantime, however, for the people who need it the most to keep the hyperbolic hyperventilating to a minimum until the final version of that alternative is concluded.

FLASHBACK - Words of wisdom from the Obamacare mastermind: youtube.com/watch?v=G790p0L...(Not working as expected?)

[Motal in reply to whack-a-mole]

Cordial greetings, Whack. Let me see if I'm reading this right.

You share grievances you have with what happened 7 years ago to put ACA/Obamacare in place. I trust you were bringing them up as something to learn from - and not merely to disparage those who are worried about the game of Jonku being played with our health coverage right now. It’s not about cutting off discussion, or diverting attention from what the men now behind the curtain are doing, right? It’s about shedding light and transparency..

The lesson you want us to take away from back then is that the time to press for nitty gritty details is at the beginning, yes?

So here we are in 2017 and the party now in power is poised to perform major surgery on the health care system. To avoid a botched job, we should be paying close attention to that operation, rather than distractedly picking at an old scar. At least, that's the salient point inferred from your comments.

Cheers.

[whack-a-mole in reply to Motal]

Hah! "Grievances"? (so trendy, Motal!) I merely added a bit of context to the increasingly dire mess that the American healthcare system currently finds itself in in order to ease the excessive fretting about its ultimate replacement.

With a gov-centric 'single-payer' system as the ultimate goal, ACA passed (as revealed in subsequent tapes/testimony) only by virtue of an intentional lack of transparency and a calculated exploitation of "the stupidity of the American voter".

I realize that most are concerned solely with what serves their own particular interests and I'm happy for any of those who were able to derive some benefit from some aspect of the particular category they happened to fall into under ACA.

The problem (and the reason its backers were so roundly trounced in 2012/2016) is that - for MOST policy holders - ACA's costs of coverage continue to soar as quality and choice continue to dive. A better system in which costs/benefits actually are more proportionate and more fair to ALL is still possible. ACA clearly failed miserably in this and every other regard.

In order to distinguish oneself from Obama/Gruber's target audience, it would be best to recognize this unfortunate reality and stifle the anticipatory hysteria over what may or may not occur under its 'Trumpcare' replacement until the new guy actually assumes office and finally has a chance to address the mess.

Rare glimpse behind the curtain: youtube.com/watch?v=TG7gYNE...(Not working as expected?)

[Beckey]

I couldn't care less what Gruber says. I care how my health is affected. For me, ACA saved my life.

[Enidah in reply to Beckey]

Amen! For the first time in years I actually had insurance. I am one of the people who benefited mightily from Obamacare. Now I have Medicare and feel very fortunate that I won't be deeply affected by the shenanigans going on in Washington, I hope. Pity all of us who are affected by the rannygazoos going on in politics.

[Burlingtongal]

I too, am concerned about ACA becoming a single payer system. I have friends in Canada and the UK who have to wait months for appointments and then are not guaranteed good care when they finally get to see someone. My daughter has been on ACA since it's inception and every year she has to change insurance companies because the company she's with is dropping out and it always costs more. Every time government gets involved in our lives they make a mess of things. Let's hope they get it right this time around for all of our sakes.

[Motal in reply to Burlingtongal]

B'tongal.

Granted, the AcA/Obamacare is not perfect. Fine tuning is needed.

But for any honest debate to take place, we should consider the history of healthcare in the US and govt's role in it.

In re your comment- "every time government gets involved in our lives they make a mess of things."

A question: Would you want the Senate plan to also repeal Medicare ?