So now that Obama's won..

[The Top Crusader]

Your job doesn't provide healthcare?

They offer a poor healthcare plan if you are willing to give up about 2/3rds of your pay... so its relatively pointless.

And whose fault is that? The business she works for. The government had nothing to do with that, I would like to point out to you conservatives in the audience. ;D

Was someone saying this was the government's fault? The government DID however make it law that we have to pay a tax that increases every year because we choose not to give up half our income for nearly worthless insurance.

Darcie NINJA POSTED and I don't feel like quoting it... but yeah I think for full timers there is an "okay" healthcare option. Nothing astounding but better than part timers can get... or at the very least the full timers make more money so they aren't giving up MOST of their pay, only half of it.

[darcie]

Ha, NINJA post that took me like 30+ minutes of research.

And then I was going to add more, but you NINJA posted. So... I think things will get better for you after this actually. I'm still looking, but the intent behind the law was for people with employment like you two to not have to live without insurance because it's stupid expensive.

Under the Affordable Care Act, beginning in 2014 employers with at least 50 full-time employees (or equivalent full- and part-time workers) will have to provide "qualified" health insurance coverage to their full-time employees and their dependents. Qualified coverage means that plans are comprehensive (pay at least 60 percent of health care expenses) and affordable (cost less than 9.5 percent of employees' household incomes).

http://www.healthaffairs.org/healthpoli ... rief_id=42

And then when the exchanges are available:

As noted earlier, the ACA uses an affordability test to determine which individuals with access to employer coverage may nevertheless shift to subsidized coverage in the individual exchange. If a worker’s premium contribution for single coverage is more than 9.5 percent of income, the worker may shift to the subsidized exchange
while the employer pays a $3,000 penalty.

http://www.academyhealth.org/files/nhpc ... FINAL3.pdf

[WindowWasher]

Remember when B.O. said Americans would still have a choice whether they wanted to keep their private healthcare or not? Well, he lied. A few months ago my company told us that when Obamacare kicked in, insurance premiums would increase significantly. As a company, they would have 2 choices. 1. pass the increases to the employees or 2. pay the penalty and dump mus into the gov. plan. I have no choice. I don't want the gov. running my health care. They can't even balance the budget. Don't people understand that the more gov. tells you what to do the less freedom you have?! There is no perfect system out there. Capitalism gives you the most freedom but like other systems it's flawed due to man's sinful nature. There will always be greed. Even though I'm a strong advocate for letting the free market dictate things there does need to be SOME gov. restrictions to keep employers in check and to protect employee from abuse. The problem is where to draw the line. I want the gov. to be involved as little as possible in my life. Liberals complain about how "evil" corporations are. Well, they helped put them in power! If you don't like what a certain company is doing, don't buy their products! I shop at Walmart. Why? Because they have the cheapest prices. I live in NJ, one of the most expensive states to live in. Between high property taxes, high car insurance and 7% sales tax, I can't afford to shop anywhere else. I don't want gov. handouts. I just want an opportunity to pay my own way. Another thing I can't understand, why would a born again christian vote for a party that is anti-God, anti Israel, pro abortion and pro homosexual? It has to be the brain washing from our wonderful public education system.

[Aeva]

I wonder how long it will take the government to hunt down all the people who choose to pay the fine for not having health insurance instead of buying insurance. (Hey, maybe Obamacare will actually create jobs since the feds are going to need a task force to find everybody!)

[Laurie]

My guess is that they have already started creating the task forces. I have health insurance so I figure I'll either have to change insurance or change doctors. I'm guessing both. The sad thing is premiums are only going to go up not down no matter what plan you have. I don't want the government plan that's for sure, but I most likely won't have a choice.

[The Top Crusader]

I'm excited to start paying extra fines!

[Sherlock]

I don't want gov. handouts. I just want an opportunity to pay my own way.

That's great from an idealistic standpoint, and very laudable if you can pay (I don't believe people who can pay for X should recieve subsidies) but the fact is that this country is full of people who simply can't afford the inflated cost of health insurance. Is it really reasonable that families are paying upwards of $1000 per month for a high-deductable plan? There's no reason that the price of health insurance needs to be as high as it is, but unfortunately the government itself is composed of Big Health lobbiests who will continue to vote in politicans who will support the existing system. Health care is an EXTREMELY profitable industry. In this case, Obamacare is simply the marriage of government and private health insurance which, like student loans, will likely result in skyrocketing costs as the Federal backing gives the private insurers the confidence to charge whatever they want.

I'm actually not at all opposed to single-payor, but I think Obamacare is a far cry from that, virtually ensuring that our overpriced, private system will stay in power, a virtual Sallie Mae/Freddie Mac-esque system of health care. I wouldn't be surprised if we start seeing federally subsidized "healthcare loans". If that happens, we're in trouble. HillaryCare was a much, much better idea. Marriage of government and private industry has always been a recipe for corruption. High prices meet federal enforcement, and the system feeds itself.

Another thing I can't understand, why would a born again christian vote for a party that is anti-God, anti Israel, pro abortion and pro homosexual? It has to be the brain washing from our wonderful public education system.

See, I think it's dangerous to blur the lines between political and religious positions or to think that any one political party represents the Christian ideal. Support for Israel is very arguably a purely political position, a person may or may not agree with it, but Christian doctrine does not demand that we support current US policies regarding relations with Israel.

The fact of the matter is that both of our major political parties, Democrats and Republicans are deeply flawed institutions composed of corrupt individuals, special interest groups and self-serving career politicans. To think that any one party is virtuous or moral only feeds the system that has given us so few choices in the first place. The two parties work together to create a false dichotomy, a "false choice" for the American voter by representing that one party is the party of progressivism and inclusivity while the other party is the party of traditional values and Christian principles. Neither is true, both are a lie, and sadly the only losing party is the American people who think that they are being given a legitimate choice when, in fact, they are merely being presented with different heads of the same political monster.

Soo. Yeah.

[The Top Crusader]

I just want to say "umm... what?" to it being blamed on the public education system. Most of the liberals I know were homeschooled. I vote Republican but not for moral reasons, personally...

[WindowWasher]

I don't know what part of the country you live in but here in NJ it's completely opposite!

[darcie]

In theory, the more people that buy in to insurance, the lower costs will be. That combined with new rules against charging extra for being female and so on, the only reason for rates to go up is price gouging. So my feeling is either your company is freaking out or the insurance company they use is doing so. And then passing the freak out onto you. While the ACA isn't perfect, it should make major improvements and lower costs to the consumer. People have already gotten money back since it was passed.
Also, no on the hired gun "Task Forces" to impel you to pay your ObamaCare tax. Basically, if you can afford healthcare but choose not to get it, you'll have an extra tax obligation starting on the taxes due April 2015. Again, you have to be able to afford the insurance, I believe at a rate of less than 10% of your income. Starting shortly after the end of 2014, your insurance company will provide a letter to you, like a W-2 or 1099, that verifies for the purpose of tax preparation that you've paid for health insurance for the previous tax year.

[Sherlock]

Basically, if you can afford healthcare but choose not to get it, you'll have an extra tax obligation starting on the taxes due April 2015. Again, you have to be able to afford the insurance, I believe at a rate of less than 10% of your income.

Haha, so kind of like forced tithing.

I'm still thinking that, despite the good intentions that may or may not have been behind it, this thing is going to most negatively affect low to middle-income folks:

http://www.thelundreport.org/resource/t ... oregonians

And a somewhat more academic take:

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm? ... id=2067138

I just can't see how anything good is going to come out of forcing low to middle income people to participate in our breathtakingly overpriced private healthcare system. Basically, my prediction is that we'll see a lot of people avoiding the ACA "tax" by purchasing cheaper, high-deductable "catastrophic" plans. That's about $70 a month minimum right now if you're young, healthy and lucky. With the aid of federal enforcement (the "tax"), the private companies and HMOs are, in effect, being given full license to charge essentially whatever they want, and the consumer will have to pay for it, with the force of federal law behind it if we don't. If prices go too high, we'll probably see some federally-backed healthcare loans to help people pay, and then we'll have created another student loan-esque bubble as people are forced into a corner to take out loans they can't afford to pay back. The corrolation with college here seems to close to ignore. I think we're in danger of seeing an open-market healthcare premium spike in the same way we saw a tuition spike once federal loans were introduced. Marriage of the federal government and private companies very frequently results in higher prices, corruption and greed. And why not? There's nothing quite as horrific as capitalism let loose with the government's blessing.

And ultimately, while more Americans will have hopsitalization covered, preventative care will still ultimately dwindle, as high-deductable plans offer little to no coverage for annual checkups, prescriptions, and still don't cover vision, dental or other "non-essentials." Essentially, once lowish income people are done paying for their monthly "insurance", they probably won't have a lot leftover to spend on things like preventative visits, eye exams, dentist visits, etc.

I really hope I'm proven wrong on this.

[darcie]

I'm still thinking that, despite the good intentions that may or may not have been behind it, this thing is going to most negatively affect low to middle-income folks:

Well, what we needed was a single-payer system, but this is what got passed through. I'm hoping this is the beginning of more change, not only the outcome of change.

[Sherlock]

I'm still thinking that, despite the good intentions that may or may not have been behind it, this thing is going to most negatively affect low to middle-income folks:

Well, what we needed was a single-payer system, but this is what got passed through. I'm hoping this is the beginning of more change, not only the outcome of change.

Bleh, I think it's taking us in the opposite direction, like how the cost of college in this country is so high, while other parts of the world either subsidize college or cap tuition at something reasonable.

Once the private insurers get their teeth into us to essentially force us to buy their corporate product, they're never going to allow for single payor, because there's no way a single payor system could ever charge the kind of premiums we're seeing right now, nor have as great a profit margin in the private sector.

[Metal15]

I'm just gonna sit tight, and pray that God will protect us all.

[Movieman]

I'm already living in South Korea. Perhaps I'll delay my return another 4 years.

[The Top Crusader]

You'll regret that when Yongary makes his triumphant return.