<p>It doesn’t help to have everyone insured if they aren’t enough doctors to care for them. The insurance companies collect the mandatory premiums but the newly insured can’t get appointments. Putting the cart before the horse.</p>
<p>There is too much delay in seeing doctors in some specialties already.</p>
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<p>Easy way to fix that: decriminalize drugs, stop wasting billions on jailing so-called offenders and the “War on Drugs,” and redirect resources to treatment and education.</p>
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<p>Frankly, this is the view of a person who is insured. 
Once I got insurance, I certainly had no problem getting doctors to see me in a timely manner, and neither has anyone else in the family. Certainly, there may be certain specialists who are difficult to get an appointment with.</p>
<p>I was uninsured for well over a year. I have ulcerative colitis and went completely off my meds. I was extremely, extremely lucky to have gotten through that year without needing to go to the ER. </p>
<p>I would NOT have been able to pay my ER bills. Not even a little bit. Know what I <em>can</em> afford? My medication… when I’m insured. Want to take a guess at how much my bills would’ve cost tax payers when I went to the ER rather than just getting my meds every month like I would in almost every other developed country? </p>
<p>With insurance (I’ve been on everything from incredible insurance to crappy insurance, and medicaid… which btw was the best insurance I ever had) I’ve never had an issue finding a doctor, a specialist, or medicine.</p>
<p>I am paying for my insurance out of pocket despite the fact that I work full time for the state (I don’t qualify for benefits). I have only extremely basic insurance, pay way too much for my prescriptions every month (to the point that I only take about half of them), and am holding off on another major doctor visit that is going to require labs (which I can’t afford and aren’t covered) until this August when I am a student at U of M and it’s covered. I can’t wait to see what’s wrong with me now and to see how much holding off is going to cost me but I just do not have a choice.</p>
<p>Romani…</p>
<p>Interesting. Glad it worked out for you. I thought medicaid sucked. Hmmmm</p>
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In looking at these numbers, it sounds like it might benefit everyone more if you pay the employees more, by something close to the 5500., and offer the less expensive insurance.</p>
<p>dstark, I was on MIChild when I was younger. It was great.
My dad is on Medicaid now and has been since a drunk driver left him permanently disabled in 2004. It’s been great for him, too. It might vary by state. We have no other programs for uninsured young adults so perhaps more of our funding goes towards children, families, and the elderly/disabled? Don’t know.</p>
<p>ETA: I firmly believe the ACA didn’t go nearly far enough, but I’ll take what I can get.</p>
<p>Can you offer to pay the deductible?</p>
<p>“t doesn’t help to have everyone insured if they aren’t enough doctors to care for them. The insurance companies collect the mandatory premiums but the newly insured can’t get appointments. Putting the cart before the horse.”</p>
<p>Neither you or anyone else will know that until everyone is covered. The insurance companies going into the health exchanges don’t seem too concerned. And it wasn’t much of a problem in Massachusetts either (except for mental health and chemical dependency professionals).</p>
<p>I have not read all the posts.</p>
<p>BUT… our rates went up very little this year for our 75+ employees and we expect them to hold steady for next year. That’s WITH a catastrophic accident for one of our employees (he’s paralyzed from the waist down as a result) and multiple cancer survivors covered. Those rates? Around $300/person/month, which includes dental, health (and it’s a very good PPO plan), vision, and disability.</p>
<p>We are fortunate here in Oregon that we are trying to do some innovative work with preventive care as a test for the ACA. [Oregon</a> health reforms start up in Portland area with new ideas, urgency | OregonLive.com](<a href=“http://www.oregonlive.com/health/index.ssf/2013/06/oregon_health_reforms_start_up.html]Oregon”>Oregon health reforms start up in Portland area with new ideas, urgency - oregonlive.com)</p>
<p>A few years back, when we had only about 25 employees covered, we discovered that self-insuring for the first $500/year/person reduced our per-employee insurance costs by about $750/year/employee.</p>
<p>This is probably why a lot of big companies self-insure.</p>
<p>Romani…</p>
<p>Sorry to read about your dad. I am glad medicaid is working out for him.</p>
<p>I agree with you about ACA.</p>
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<p>Poetgrl, your suggestions are not a replacement of Obamacare. Your suggestions are the REASON for Obamacare. If you can’t exclude pre-existing, then there is nothing to stop people from putting their cash back in their pockets and not buying any premiums until they get diagnosed with some dread disease. Imagine what our economy would look like if no one bought insurance until they got cancer. The mandate to buy insurance was an attempt to solve that structural problem. </p>
<p>By the same token, if you passed a law saying insurers can’t cancel a policy if the person gets sick - no problem. The Insurance company doesn’t cancel then. But your next premium might be $1 million. But of course, they’re not actually canceling…
This problem is why Obamacare has a provision that insurers must cap their overhead expenses to 15%. </p>
<p>Obamacare is a very complicated bill because it’s a very complicated issue. Believe me, if it were as simple as your 3 suggestions, it would not have been so difficult to get something passed.</p>
<p>Romano, I also have UC.</p>
<p>I feel VERY fortunate to have great health and drug coverage.
The meds I take run over two thousand dollars per month. My copy is 35.</p>
<p>Our adult disabled D is still covered on my employer plan but has Medicaid as secondary.
It covers her drug deductibles from my coverage. Those 2 deductibles would otherwise eat up her entire paychecks from her workshop job.</p>
<p>busdriver as I said I have no problem with your plan I want. Medicare for all and you can opt out or buy your own plan but you still pay taxes to fund the system.</p>
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<p>Hayden, it might not be as simple as I made it, obviously, but the reason the law is so “complicated” is NOT because the issue is that complicated. Have you read the law?</p>
<p>The reason it was so complicated to get it passed was because it was a political, lobbyist rich issue, just like bank reform. Both of which have counterpart laws from the past, medicare and glass steagall which had nothing to do with what we now call law.</p>
<p>The reason the bill is so complicated? Lawyers, lobbyists and insurance companies…</p>
<p>In the meantime, universal, single payor would cover everyone. Even the guy at the cash register at the mini mart, who really needs the help.</p>
<p>Or we could take the crazy profit out of treating chronic diseases for which a cure can be developed. You know, cure cancer, diabetes, and obesity rather than treating them forever?</p>
<p>But poetgrl–yes, some of the complications come from what you say-- a lot of them! but the mandates that are creating problems come from dealing with the issues hayden described.</p>
<p>Of course singlepayer would be better and make much more sense. But that had zero chance of passing at the time.</p>
<p>Now, it’s interesting because it would answer all the objections–maybe ACA educated more people on where the problems in paying for healthcare really come from.</p>
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<p>There’s a ton of work going on in curing cancer - a variety of approaches. I feel that we could cure just about anything that we set our mind and resources too as the tools to work on these problems get better and better.</p>
<p>Obesity? Get the department of agriculture out of nutritional recommendations.</p>
<p>Get Agri out of nutritional recommendations? How about get junk food out of reach? Restrict advertisers. We like to blame the system, we really don’t want to pay for the poor to get insured, for someone else’s expensive medical treatments for dread diseases, or underwrite the costs of producing more med students. And, when it comes to us or our families, we still want what we want.</p>
<p>First, you have to clarify just how much you would put your money where your mouth is.</p>