<p>dstark, that’s terrible what happen to your daughter. I am glad she seems to feel better now.</p>
<p>Can you tell me how Obamacare affected your daughter? Also, are all the doctors and hospitals or any other facility she may have used in the network of your 2014 exchange plan?</p>
<p>So Sorry about your daughter, too Dstark. My mother had a brain tumor as well, at about age 62. It was removed via an amazing device inserted above her two front teeth. She recovered completely and lived a healthy life until she died in her sleep at 85. Wishing you and your D the best.</p>
<p>Dstark, I am so glad your daughter came through surgery successfully. I wish all four of you the very best. I’ll be thinking of you.</p>
<p>Thanks, calmom, for your reply back in post #1281. (This thread moves fast! I get away from the computer for a couple of hours and when I come back there are 4 pages of new posts.) One of the advantages of the HSA deduction for us is that it brings our AGI down and thus more cost-sharing reductions – if we can use HSA and CSR at the same time.</p>
<p>When I go on the Washington (state)'s exchange site, I see double – like text on top of text. Is it just me? And if I “compare plans” I can only put in one person. Maybe because I haven’t registered yet? Should I just be more patient and wait for the bugs to be fixed? Anyone else having that trouble with Washington?</p>
<p>Washmother, if your income is this low, how can you afford to contribute to a HSA account?</p>
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I also would have preferred a different approach – along the lines of medicare for all or public option. I think a public option plan could have had sliding scale premiums that would have been simpler and avoided all the confusion about AGI and tax refunds as well. You’d be quoted a price based on current financials and have to resubmit the financials on a periodic basis and that would be it. </p>
<p>But we have what we have. </p>
<p>It’s not as if this is the first time in my life that the government has done something that cost me more money. I live in California. We have an income tax. The tax I pay has more than doubled because the income taxes rates were raised by voter initiative. (Which I voted “yes” on, knowing full well what the impact would be) At least I got a vote – but the people who voted “no” on the initiative also had their taxes go up as well. </p>
<p>There are also all sorts of things that government has done for me that saves me money. Like giving my kids Pell grants. Or that free public education I took advantage of from K through 12. Or, for that matter, letting me deduct my mortgage interest for the past 25 years – another example of a government tax subsidy that indirectly benefits a private corporation (currently Citimortgage) … although the loan is actually owned by Fannie Mae. </p>
<p>I’m probably going to pay more than I would like for health insurance over the next 5 years, and then I will turn 65 and get Medicare. If I live to be 85, that’s 20 years that I will probably benefit from paying out far less in premiums than I actually use in medical costs. If I live to be 85 and never have any major medical expenses in all that time… then I will have something else besides money to be thankful for.</p>
<p>“We have what we have”.</p>
<p>If it’s no good, why not delay and fix it?</p>
<p>My husband is retired, I’m semi-retired, and we are pulling money from our IRAs to live on. We have traditional IRAs, Roth IRAs, HSA accounts, and regular (non-retirement) savings. If we contribute to HSAs in 2014, I would take money from a Roth to do it.</p>
<p>My husband lost his job in the economic recession 3 years ago. We have no pensions or employer-provided health insurance. We’ve been buying individual insurance (HDHPs) and the exchange plans look good to us.</p>
<p>Washmother, I don’t see a problem at the [Washington</a> Healthplanfinder | Washington Healthplanfinder](<a href=“http://www.wahealthplanfinder.org%5DWashington”>http://www.wahealthplanfinder.org) site – I’m using a Chrome browser – overlapping text can be related to the type of browser you are using and to the window size. I was able to add an extra person but it was tricky to figure out how – when you get to the page where you enter in financial info, there’s a little box that says “Add Household Member” at the bottom of the page next to the “Show Plans” button – it took me a while to find it. </p>
<p>I do see a potential issue with the HSA being used to qualify for CSR – but again I don’t think there’s an official document that I can refer to that answers that question one way or another. Maybe when I have time I’ll root around in the regs – I do have the legal stuff in a PDF file on my computer, but it’s a lot of verbiage to dig through.</p>
<p>^^ I was replying to Goodenpooch’s question.</p>
<p>Thank you, calmom. I’ll give it a try again.</p>
<p>Goldenpooch, in answer to your question in post #1321, without Obamacare, the daughter likely would have no insurance at all. DStark wouldn’t have been able to keep daughter on his family plan until age 26 (if he did) – and if daughter was getting employer-provided coverage, she probably would not have been able to keep working after the brain surgery; she might have faced an exorbitant COBRA premium and then been without insurance when the COBRA ran out. Because she had a brain tumor, she would have a “pre-existing condition” that would probably preclude buying individual health insurance for the rest of her life.</p>
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<p>Because too many people need health insurance now. Right now.</p>
<p>riprorin - because the call for delay is not to fix but to end it. I hope they all get together and work on fixing what needs to be fixed.</p>
<p>Okay, Washmother, I understand. It occurred to me, however, what if someone else was in your situation but they had substantial assets (over $500,000) in their retirement accounts. I guess they too would qualify for all these subsidies.</p>
<p>Fixes also take time and many need something they can buy NOW. It can still be fixed while its being implemented.</p>
<p>calmom, your are making lots of assumptions, let’s wait to see what dstark has to say. I am also curious to see if her doctors and other healthcare providers are in the 2014 exchange plan.</p>
<p>BTW, I never said I didn’t want to find a solution to the problem of preexisting conditions. Can’t be just one way to solve the problem.</p>
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<p>And as a result of this law everyone will be insured? That’s not my understanding.</p>
<p>Many more than before enactment.</p>
<p>Calmom isn’t making any assumptions. Pre-Obamacare, a person who had had a brain tumor could never ever buy insurance on the individual market. Dstark and his daughter have to live with the knowledge that the tumor might recur, and that’s bad enough. But at least now he doesn’t have to worry that the tumor might come back and be treatable, but his family couldn’t afford the treatment even if they bankrupted themselves. Emergency rooms don’t treat brain tumors.</p>
<p>This is not theoretical. I like to go on bike tours, and I can’t tell you how many little towns I’ve been to where in the one cafe, or the one convenience store, there’s a sign for a fundraiser for so-and-so’s health care for their cancer or their accident. We shouldn’t have to have bake sales to pay for our neighbor’s tumor.</p>
<p>(Dstark, I’m so so glad that they were able to take the tumor out. I hope that your beautiful darling girl makes a full complete recovery and never looks back.)</p>