Vote for Republicans to show our dissatisfaction, or vote for Democrats, who might actually try to increase funding and shrink the deductibles?
WASHINGTON (AP) — They have health insurance, but still no peace of mind. Overall, 1 in 4 privately insured adults say they doubt they could pay for a major unexpected illness or injury.
A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research may help explain why President Barack Obama faces such strong headwinds in trying to persuade the public that his health care law is holding down costs.
The survey found the biggest financial worries among people with so-called high-deductible plans that require patients to pay a big chunk of their medical bills each year before insurance kicks in.
Such plans already represented a growing share of employer-sponsored coverage. Now, they’re also the mainstay of the new health insurance exchanges created by Obama’s law.
Edward Frank of Reynoldsville, Pennsylvania, said he bought a plan with a $6,000 deductible last year through HealthCare.gov. That’s in the high range, since deductibles for popular silver plans on the insurance exchanges average about $3,100 — still a lot.
“Unless you get desperately ill and in the hospital for weeks, it’s going to cost you more to have this plan and pay the premiums than to pay the bill just outright,” said Frank, who ended up paying $4,000 of his own money for treatment of shoulder pain.
“The deductibles are so high, you don’t get much of anything out of it,” said Frank, who is in 50s and looking for a new job.
Yeah, paying the deductibles is a pain but at least you get the insurance discount which in my case reduced a hospital bill from $36,000 to around $6000 that I paid about $4000 on. It’s IMHO a crooked racket but apparently is the way the world works these days…
It was the fucking democrats who wrote the damn bill that lets insurance companies act this way and the same damn democrats who pushed people into high deductible plans.
And point me to one democratic pol trying to push for lower deductibles. You can’t.
darms makes a good point.
But I have to say I’m with willf on this one. The Dems didn’t have to make this mess. For two solid farking years they had majorities in both Houses and the Presidency. But they waited until they could try to blame the Repubs for handing us all over to BigInsurance. Why would they do anything different during take two? Have they given any sign of remorse?
They’re never getting my vote again until they straighten up and fly right without it. Words don’t count.
The ACA is a useless, worthless piece of crap. There is no such thing as a “free market” or “free market forces.” Hand your health care system over to the Capitalists (1%) and they will find a way to take your last dime. Legally. Like the vice presidency, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party aren’t worth a bucket of warm spit. Medicare for all.
The ACA let my brother leave an estate instead of a huge pile of bills when he died this summer. He was diagnosed w/liver cancer last December and did not have health insurance. Because of the ACA he was able last January to buy affordable health insurance even though his pre-existing condition was terminal liver cancer. Yeah it’s not single-payer or Medicare for all and I don’t appreciate the greedy corporations taking their large profits but… it’s a damn sight better than what we had before this January.