<p>Isn"t the goal of ACA to suck everyone in eventually. Emanuel says it is. He wants an end to employer insurance, too. Yikes…</p>
<p>I think they force people to be on Medicare. My husband’s health insurance covers retirement but if he doesn’t sign up when he is 65 and sign up later he will pay more premium.</p>
<p>In my experience (with my inlaws–who had many chronic illnesses), those who are 75 aren’t getting a whole lot paid for by Medicare. Medicare payments hardly covered the medical bills that my inlaws incurred (both had chronic respiratory illnesses). Much more of the cost was picked up by the supplemental health insurance plan that they had and it was something that they paid for out of pocket. Plus, seniors do make a monthly payment for Medicare, it’s not free.</p>
<p>I think it’s about $104 per month, but it depends on the income it could go up to $300.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Why is ending the employer linkage to medical insurance a bad thing, in comparison to someone choosing to buy an insurance plan suited for his/her needs among a greater number of choices on the market, independently of his/her employer?</p>
<p>Well, for starters it’ll be so costly that very few will be able to afford it without subsidies and people like EE are making the rules. This is old news, though. He had made this all very clear, previously. </p>
<p>Medicare is expected to pay over $11,000 per enrollee in 2014. </p>
<p><a href=“The Mystery of the Missing $1,200 Per Person: Can Medicare’s Spending Slowdown Continue? | KFF”>http://kff.org/health-costs/perspective/the-mystery-of-the-missing-1000-per-person-can-medicares-spending-slowdown-continue/</a></p>
<p>
</p>
<p>It is called lowering the standard of everyone nonsense. </p>
<p>They do try, but just ignore it, do not use it and get a policy. My grandparents policies were gold standard and people were shocked about what they got, as compared to Medicare. Cannot buy that policy now for my parents, so we pay cash. To hell with the government telling me what my parents can receive. None of the government’s business, and I choose how to allocate my healthcare dollars toward the services I want.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That is the point I am making. </p>
<p>Emmanuel’s statement is only valid if he puts everyone under the same one size fits all plan. It is a false market construction saying that scarcity existed for everyone now when that was not true. As I stated earlier, my healthcare dollars are only scarce for me if the government thinks it owns my dollars and can send them elsewhere instead of leaving them with me, their owner.</p>
<p>awcntdb, you pay cash for your parents?</p>
<p>Go for it. Two friends had health care expenses of $1 million each recently.</p>
<p>My daughter’s was a couple of hundred grand. Another friend, several hundred thousand. </p>
<p>Cancer is expensive.</p>
<p>My husband was booted off the company plan of the oil company he worked for for decades as soon as he turned 65. (Long before the ACA). I’m still on it as a retirees spouse under age 65. I will get the boot as soon as I turn 65. Glad I have it now though it is not cheap. Coverage is actually not as good as his Medicare plus his F supplement plan.</p>
<p>Anyone who can pay cash for catastrophic health situations is in a completely different world to us financially. My recent gallbladder outpatient surgery was billed at $34k just for the use of the facility (not including the Surgeon etc). My best friend’s hospital stay for out of control asthma was over $40k. Which pales in comparison to her baby’s cancer treatments that were in the millions (diagnosed at 3 months with liver cancer - he turns 18 next month). And my husband’s cancer treatments were over half a million dollars after a few months. </p>
<p>The majority of people don’t have that sort of money and paying cash is just unrealistic for most.</p>
<p>We have retiree insurance but we have to pay copayment. Part B of Medicare pays the copayment. Plus I’ve heard we also have to get part B. If we don’t get part B and later change our mind it will cost is more. I think my husband has 3 insurance total and some covers overseas even.</p>
<p>Re: #105</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Supposed your employer paid you the premium amount if it did not give you a medical insurance policy. Would you prefer to buy the policy that meets your needs the best, or would you rather have the costs hidden from you and the choices limited by having your employer choose for you? Would you want to have any decision to change jobs complicated by having to compare employer provided medical insurance policies?</p>
<p>Perhaps that proves my point that most people have become accustomed to getting unlimited amounts of medical care paid for by a third party (either a government or private insurance company, and even the premiums for such medical insurance are hidden), so any hint of having to make one’s own decisions on costs is something to be feared.</p>
<p>Swimcatsmom, is your husband cancer free right now?</p>
<p>I have insurance but rarely use insurance so unlimited care is not the issue. I have regular weekly massage and that seems to help. If I have any structure problem I go to my acupuncture. Less side effect.</p>
<p>Yes, he is. His cancer has a low 5 year survival rate and a high recurrence rate, but he has been NED since May 2012 & we graduated from 3 month checkups to 6 month. Next one is November (thanksgiving week in fact) & we are suffering “scanxiety” already.</p>
<p>I understand that anxiety.</p>
<p>One of my wife’s best friends had esophagus cancer and she has been cancer free for over 5 years. She was told she had a very small chance to make it. I was told there are others in the community that also had esophagus cancer and have been cancer free for over 5 years. </p>
<p>I am wishing your husband and you the best. No more cancer.</p>
<p>Crossing my fingers for your husband, swimcatsmom.</p>
<p>I think the problem is that no one can tell the future. We have no way of knowing who is going to respond to treatment and who is not. My FIL is 83 and has survived 5 years with stage 4 colon cancer (aggressive treatment through the Mayo). My dad on the other hand was 74 and in better health and only lived 9 months after diagnosis of bile duct cancer. While I know that they were different diagnoses with different survival rates/treatment, etc., no one expect FIL to outlast my dad when they were both diagnosed. Quite frankly, we though FIL would be dead by 65 given all of his health problems! </p>
<p>So true megpmom. I’ve seen that with my husband. In an online support group I joined there was one lady I got close to who’s husband was diagnosed at the same time as mine with the exact same stage. He was much younger, much healthier (other than the cancer!), & a candidate for the generally recommended surgery which my husband was not due to other health issues. His chances seemed so much better than my husband. He died within 10 months and we are approaching the 3 year mark. You just don’t know.</p>
<p>Thank you dstark and Cardinal Fang :)</p>
<p>
I think it’s instructive to observe what “people” are spreading this article all over the Internet. I think the guy’s views on this point are nutty, but what’s happening is an obvious attempt to insinuate the false concept of “death panels” back into the public debate.</p>