Obama Care Part II
 

So we had the debate if Obama Care would work and if it was good for the country. Well now its here and starting to go into effect I thought it would be a good time for part two. I'd like to here people experiences good or bad with how its affecting their coverage and premiums. Also any news about Obama Care.

Re: Obama Care Part II
 

Remember Obama said you could keep your plan? Well he lied.

[url=http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/29/21222195-obama-administration-knew-millions-could-not-keep-their-health-insurance?lite]Obama administration knew millions could not keep their health insurance - Investigations[/url]

Re: Obama Care Part II
 

I have a couple of friends who love the ACA. They got health insurance which was comparable to what they had before but MUCH cheaper.

That said, the web site problems are a fiasco.

Re: Obama Care Part II
 

My premiums are going up in January but that was part of our CBA well before the ACA even went through congress. Some of my coworkers are quick to put the blame on Obama as oppossed to municipalities cutting costs.

Re: Obama Care Part II
 

To be fair any increases prior to Jan. 1, 2014 would not be on Obama Care. I've been told my current plan will go up 20 to 25% which will be about a $250 increase. I'm looking at a new plain to purchase in december so I buy myself another yr before ACA hits my pocket.

Re: Obama Care Part II
 

[quote=Lotus;1036962]I have a couple of friends who love the ACA. They got health insurance which was comparable to what they had before but MUCH cheaper.

That said, the web site problems are a fiasco.[/quote]

How much of their premium is being paid for them?

Re: Obama Care Part II
 

[quote=firstdown;1036906]Remember Obama said you could keep your plan? Well he lied.

[URL="http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/29/21222195-obama-administration-knew-millions-could-not-keep-their-health-insurance?lite"]Obama administration knew millions could not keep their health insurance - Investigations[/URL][/quote]




Not to me he didn't .
I kept my plan and nothing has changed my wife is still on it ,also a plus my kids all have plains and love them .Only the people that hate him think he lies .

Re: Obama Care Part II
 

[quote=firstdown;1036984]How much of their premium is being paid for them?[/quote]

I don't know. They didn't tell me that part.

Re: Obama Care Part II
 

[quote=Giantone;1037051]Not to me he didn't .
I kept my plan and nothing has changed my wife is still on it ,also a plus my kids all have plains and love them .Only the people that hate him think he lies .[/quote]


Well I guess the entire media is not reporting us the truth when they say that thousands will be loosing the plans Obama said they could keep. You act like I'm making this up. When a person says that everyone can keep their plans they have when they know that's not true its a lie.

I guess your policy has renewed and stayed the same?

Re: Obama Care Part II
 

[quote=Lotus;1037054]I don't know. They didn't tell me that part.[/quote]

So you don't really know if the premium is cheaper or we the tax payers are paying a portion of the premium?

Re: Obama Care Part II
 

[quote=firstdown;1037078]So you don't really know if the premium is cheaper or we the tax payers are paying a portion of the premium?[/quote]

I know that my friends are paying cheaper premiums and that is what affordable health care is all about. That's all I know.

Re: Obama Care Part II
 

[quote=firstdown;1037077]Well I guess the entire media is not reporting us the truth

I guess your policy has renewed and stayed the same?[/quote]


Why , are you in the media ?

You seem to do a lot of that , ...guessing and assuming .All I know is my policy is staying the same .My youngest has a policy from Kaiser Permanente and she pays $145 a month and that covers everything hosp , dental and eye , she loves her Doctor and she has a $20 co - pay .

Re: Obama Care Part II
 

To be honest I am okay if my premiums go up. I think everyone should have access to health care and if it means I have to pay a little more so be it. I am also a big advocate for user pay for our society. I should pay more for the roads I use, the parks I go to etc.

Re: Obama Care Part II
 

[quote=Giantone;1037098]Why , are you in the media ?

You seem to do a lot of that , ...guessing and assuming .All I know is my policy is staying the same .My youngest has a policy from Kaiser Permanente and she pays $145 a month and that covers everything hosp , dental and eye , she loves her Doctor and she has a $20 co - pay .[/quote]

Not sure how you can say that both of your policies are staying the same unless you have received your 2014 renewal.

Re: Obama Care Part II
 

[quote=BaltimoreSkins;1037123]To be honest I am okay if my premiums go up. I think everyone should have access to health care and if it means I have to pay a little more so be it. I am also a big advocate for user pay for our society. I should pay more for the roads I use, the parks I go to etc.[/quote]

I'm with you. I won't receive Obamacare since I get health insurance through my job. Nonetheless, Medicaid withholdings from my paycheck have increased to pay for it all. And I'm good with that. If some poor person now can get health care, it's worth it.

Re: Obama Care Part II
 

[url=http://www.buzzfeed.com/stevefriess/company-behind-troubled-obamacare-website-donated-heavily-to]Company Behind Troubled Obamacare Website Donated Heavily To Republicans In 2012[/url]


:laughing-

Re: Obama Care Part II
 

[quote=NC_Skins;1037169][URL="http://www.buzzfeed.com/stevefriess/company-behind-troubled-obamacare-website-donated-heavily-to"]Company Behind Troubled Obamacare Website Donated Heavily To Republicans In 2012[/URL]


:laughing-[/quote]

I haven't seen Rep. saying that the company got the deal because of ties to Obama. Why would they need to? All they have to do is show (which they have done) Obama knew there was issues with the system long before it rolled out and that's what has been brought into question. To me the roll out is to par with everything else done by Obama.

Re: Obama Care Part II
 

[quote=firstdown;1037182]I haven't seen Rep. saying that the company got the deal because of ties to Obama. Why would they need to? All they have to do is show (which they have done) Obama knew there was issues with the system long before it rolled out and that's what has been brought into question. To me the roll out is to par with everything else done by Obama.[/quote]

I do think the roll out was embarassing and mishandled. I heard an interview with a representative (not sure of affiliation) and he said the biggest problem was that the government couldn't afford the quality of workers required for a site of that magnitude. They are all working for google, yahoo or facebook and not interested in a 40K a year job.

Re: Obama Care Part II
 

I have a few quick things to input into the conversation.

1) The website debacle. When speaking to the availability of the site, this is a tough topic. They could have taken precautions to ensure the load didn't crash the site, however the hardware costs for the project would be through the roof. A good analogy for the launch of this site is a brand new video game. When a brand new video game launches, it typically crashes a lot. The reason for this typically isn't technical ignorance, it's hardware. Very rarely will your game (or site) see the amount of traffic it will see the first couple weeks. The decision you make is if you invest in a ton of hardware that keeps you up during the huge spike in demand early, or have plenty of resources to maintain down the road and deal with some up front issues with availability. Many games/sites that have to make this decision opt to save money on hardware and deal with some customer inconvenience. As a tax payer, I'm okay with them not wasting thousands upon thousands on unnecessary hardware. Perhaps a system only allowing people with certain info registering at certain times would have helped, but I don't have enough information to make that recommendation.

2) My company has sent some e-mails barely disguising their hate for ACA and the massive impact it has on the company. After comparing the exact same plan between last year and this year the total paid went up 10 dollars a pay period. Here's the fun part. The company pays 4 dollars a check LESS this year and the employee pays $14 dollars more this year. Either way, a fairly small jump all things considered, but it's better for the business than before.

Re: Obama Care Part II
 

[quote=firstdown;1037140]Not sure how you can say that both of your policies are staying the same unless you have received your 2014 renewal.[/quote]


That is just it, you don't know .You believe what you want to and damn everyone else .No you don't know anything about my one policy I do and I know what I pay for(it is a self funded plain) and what I get and I know it's not changing , as for my daughters policy she has had it a year and was just there 2 weeks ago and no nothing has change .

Re: Obama Care Part II
 

[quote=Daseal;1037206]I have a few quick things to input into the conversation.

1) The website debacle. When speaking to the availability of the site, this is a tough topic. They could have taken precautions to ensure the load didn't crash the site, however the hardware costs for the project would be through the roof. A good analogy for the launch of this site is a brand new video game. When a brand new video game launches, it typically crashes a lot. The reason for this typically isn't technical ignorance, it's hardware. Very rarely will your game (or site) see the amount of traffic it will see the first couple weeks. The decision you make is if you invest in a ton of hardware that keeps you up during the huge spike in demand early, or have plenty of resources to maintain down the road and deal with some up front issues with availability. Many games/sites that have to make this decision opt to save money on hardware and deal with some customer inconvenience. As a tax payer, I'm okay with them not wasting thousands upon thousands on unnecessary hardware. Perhaps a system only allowing people with certain info registering at certain times would have helped, but I don't have enough information to make that recommendation.

2) My company has sent some e-mails barely disguising their hate for ACA and the massive impact it has on the company. After comparing the exact same plan between last year and this year the total paid went up 10 dollars a pay period.[B] Here's the fun part. The company pays 4 dollars a check LESS this year and the employee pays $14 dollars more this year. Either way, a fairly small jump all things considered, but it's better for the business than before[/B].[/quote]


You do know the employer mandate was postponed for a year.

[url=http://dailycaller.com/2013/07/02/obamacare-employer-mandate-implementation-postponed/]Obamacare employer mandate implementation postponed | The Daily Caller[/url]

Re: Obama Care Part II
 

Care to get another more credible link ?

Re: Obama Care Part II
 

[quote=firstdown;1036904]So we had the debate if Obama Care would work and if it was good for the country. Well now its here and starting to go into effect I thought it would be a good time for part two. I'd like to here people experiences good or bad with how its affecting their coverage and premiums. Also any news about Obama Care.[/quote]


I was sent a letter about a month and a half ago that my plan will no longer be available in 2014 (a HSA plan). As of right now I have no idea what type of insurance I will be offered through work. I hope as much as the next guy that obamacare fails, but at the end of the day I don't really care and don't want to waste my time worrying about it.

On another note, im a financial planner and something we have taken notice of is how obamacare can benefit our clients. A lot of people wait until 65 to retire because that's when Medicare starts. Before Obamacare it was very costly to secure insurance as a 55-64 year old, because old people cost a lot to insure. Now that the oldest age group will be subsidized by the younger groups the most a 55-65yo can pay is 3x what the youngest demographic pays.

We have already started bringing it up with some of our clients as something advisors are starting to talk and think about. Obviously if the younger guys don't sign up it wont help those that want to retire early, but its something everyone is starting to pay attention to as the financial service industry is driven by baby boomers. And the first baby boomer hit 65 in 2011, so its great if you can help the millions of boomers retire before reaching traditional full retirement.

Re: Obama Care Part II
 

My only comment is this is quite frankly unacceptable. I supported the health care act, but looking back it might be a mistake. This adiministration is on a huge losing streak. Very disappointing presidency imo. The only thing that will overshadow it, will be the GOP's antics and lack of leadership on the otherside aisle. Its a pathetic government folks.

The thing that pisses me off as well is the countless government workers/contrators who participated in this (fraud) set up, sit around collecting the tax payer's money. Im sure they will be no consequences and they will enjoy their highly overpaid jobs.

Re: Obama Care Part II
 

[quote=Giantone;1037220]Care to get another more credible link ?[/quote]
[url=http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/03/politics/obamacare-delay/index.html]Obamacare delay emboldens repealers, makes it 2014 issue - CNN.com[/url]

You really didn't know they postponed the employer mandate? That was half of the battle with the goverment shut down. The Rep. said if they postponed that part of the ACA then they should also postpone the individual mandate. If you notice the employer mandate was postponed until after the next election. Also people questioned how Obama could pick and choose what part of the law he wants to inforce.

Re: Obama Care Part II
 

Nobody said change is easy.

People freak and can't even handle it when Facebook makes changes.

Re: Obama Care Part II
 

[quote=firstdown;1037349][URL="http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/03/politics/obamacare-delay/index.html"]Obamacare delay emboldens repealers, makes it 2014 issue - CNN.com[/URL]

You really didn't know they postponed the employer mandate? That was half of the battle with the goverment shut down. The Rep. said if they postponed that part of the ACA then they should also postpone the individual mandate. If you notice the employer mandate was postponed until after the next election. Also people questioned how Obama could pick and choose what part of the law he wants to inforce.[/quote]



I was under the impression that it was for a few months ,that is on me not the President .

Re: Obama Care Part II
 

[quote=Chico23231;1037322]My only comment is this is quite frankly unacceptable. I supported the health care act, but looking back it might be a mistake. This adiministration is on a huge losing streak. Very disappointing presidency imo. The only thing that will overshadow it, will be the GOP's antics and lack of leadership on the otherside aisle. Its a pathetic government folks.

The thing that pisses me off as well is the countless government workers/contrators who participated in this (fraud) set up, sit around collecting the tax payer's money. Im sure they will be no consequences and they will enjoy their highly overpaid jobs.[/quote]

Keep in mind most of those contractors did not get back pay. They were allowed to go negative in regards to vacation time. Depends on contract vehicle and the contracting company. Pretty complex.

Re: Obama Care Part II
 

[quote=Daseal;1037395]Keep in mind most of those contractors did not get back pay. They were allowed to go negative in regards to vacation time. Depends on contract vehicle and the contracting company. Pretty complex.[/quote]

sounds like it and I would know zero bout that. What do you think about the Gov bringing in some big private companies to solve the issue?

Re: Obama Care Part II
 

[quote=Chico23231;1037399]sounds like it and I would know zero bout that. What do you think about the Gov bringing in some big private companies to solve the issue?[/quote]

So you would rather hire hundreds of thousands more government employees? There is an important place for contractors in government work. It allows the government to expand and contract as necessary. It puts the stress on the contractors rather than the federal government.

There was a reason those big companies were called the beltway bandits. They made obscene profits on government work. That has since changed. They do make money, but it is competitive and prices are going way down. However, as prices go down, so does the quality of the talent you can attract. Thus leading to a worse overall product for the government.

There are a few other issues. First, contracts. It really depends. The scope of what we do here goes far beyond what our contract stipulates, but we give it the best effort we can based on current staff and expertise. Other contracts are an amazing value to the government, but have started pulling out the contract and telling the government "No, we will not do that. It is not part of our contract." Secondly, the requirements put forward often require a bachelors degree minimum and the ability to obtain certain clearance levels. Cleared personnel typically are able to demand more money because it's something that is difficult to get and necessary to even walk through the doors of most facilities.

There are issues with contractors, but don't act like every person drives a Porsche to work and cleans up. My charge rate the the government is pretty high, but in that it is expected my benefits and salary will be taken out along with a cut for my company to make a profit. That money goes into things such as R&D for other Government work. It's a complex exosystem and it's difficult to say it's good or bad.

Re: Obama Care Part II
 

The roll out was a complete disaster. The buck stops with President Obama on this one. You don't campaign for several years on your signature legislation and just hand something of this magnitude and consequential over to bureaucrats and government contractors without fierce accountability along the way. This has been poorly managed and, frankly, reflects badly on the president's executive skills.

All of that said, the kinks will get worked out and people will enroll. To say Ocare is a failure or a success without any deep knowledge of changes taking place in the marketplace and how many people will ultimately enroll is premature. We simply don't know at this point. Drips and drabs of data here and there will inform us, but we can't conclude a whole lot. We might not know for a few years. My guess is premiums will rise in some states and fall in others. People will cherry pick the data to suit their partisan purposes. What we do know is that more red states are starting to warm up to the Medicaid expansion, which will help.

Here's a good link from a credible source breaking down winners and losers.

[url=http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/chart-winners-and-losers-from-obamacare]CHART: 'Winners And Losers From Obamacare'[/url]

Re: Obama Care Part II
 

[quote=Daseal;1037480]So you would rather hire hundreds of thousands more government employees? There is an important place for contractors in government work. It allows the government to expand and contract as necessary. It puts the stress on the contractors rather than the federal government.

There was a reason those big companies were called the beltway bandits. They made obscene profits on government work. That has since changed. They do make money, but it is competitive and prices are going way down. However, as prices go down, so does the quality of the talent you can attract. Thus leading to a worse overall product for the government.

There are a few other issues. First, contracts. It really depends. The scope of what we do here goes far beyond what our contract stipulates, but we give it the best effort we can based on current staff and expertise. Other contracts are an amazing value to the government, but have started pulling out the contract and telling the government "No, we will not do that. It is not part of our contract." Secondly, the requirements put forward often require a bachelors degree minimum and the ability to obtain certain clearance levels. Cleared personnel typically are able to demand more money because it's something that is difficult to get and necessary to even walk through the doors of most facilities.

There are issues with contractors, but don't act like every person drives a Porsche to work and cleans up. My charge rate the the government is pretty high, but in that it is expected my benefits and salary will be taken out along with a cut for my company to make a profit. That money goes into things such as R&D for other Government work. It's a complex exosystem and it's difficult to say it's good or bad.[/quote]

No i would like to simply cut both. I respect the work and understand its why, but not everything in between. Im sure its alot bs you deal with and its not easy, but its compensated. The government contractors i know, father and son, traveled during the shutdown.

Re: Obama Care Part II
 

[quote=Daseal;1037206]I have a few quick things to input into the conversation.

1) The website debacle. When speaking to the availability of the site, this is a tough topic. They could have taken precautions to ensure the load didn't crash the site, [B]however the hardware costs for the project would be through the roof. A good analogy for the launch of this site is a brand new video game. When a brand new video game launches, it typically crashes a lot.[/B] The reason for this typically isn't technical ignorance, it's hardware. Very rarely will your game (or site) see the amount of traffic it will see the first couple weeks. The decision you make is if you invest in a ton of hardware that keeps you up during the huge spike in demand early, or have plenty of resources to maintain down the road and deal with some up front issues with availability. Many games/sites that have to make this decision opt to save money on hardware and deal with some customer inconvenience. As a tax payer, I'm okay with them not wasting thousands upon thousands on unnecessary hardware. Perhaps a system only allowing people with certain info registering at certain times would have helped, but I don't have enough information to make that recommendation.

2) My company has sent some e-mails barely disguising their hate for ACA and the massive impact it has on the company. After comparing the exact same plan between last year and this year the total paid went up 10 dollars a pay period. Here's the fun part. The company pays 4 dollars a check LESS this year and the employee pays $14 dollars more this year. Either way, a fairly small jump all things considered, but it's better for the business than before.[/quote]

Your going to compare a 650 billion dollar investment into this site to a video game? the ACA is messing around with about 20% of our nations anual spend and you think Obama worried about the cost of the site. Tells alot about this president.

Re: Obama Care Part II
 

[quote=12thMan;1037492]The roll out was a complete disaster. The buck stops with President Obama on this one. You don't campaign for several years on your signature legislation and just hand something of this magnitude and consequential over to bureaucrats and government contractors without fierce accountability along the way. This has been poorly managed and, frankly, reflects badly on the president's executive skills.

All of that said, the kinks will get worked out and people will enroll. To say Ocare is a failure or a success without any deep knowledge of changes taking place in the marketplace and how many people will ultimately enroll is premature. We simply don't know at this point. Drips and drabs of data here and there will inform us, but we can't conclude a whole lot. We might not know for a few years. My guess is premiums will rise in some states and fall in others. People will cherry pick the data to suit their partisan purposes. What we do know is that more red states are starting to warm up to the Medicaid expansion, which will help.

Here's a good link from a credible source breaking down winners and losers.

[URL="http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/chart-winners-and-losers-from-obamacare"]CHART: 'Winners And Losers From Obamacare'[/URL][/quote]

That's about as bias of a chart as I've seen. Its say's "cancellation notices for stripped-down individual market plans that failed to meet the benefit requirements of the ACA". That's not all true. If my plan changed from a 20% co pay to a 10% copay anytime after they grandfathered plans I will not be geandfathered and reguired to purchase a new plan. I like how they also use the term stripped-down plan. So if we elected not to carry a coverage like maternity because we will not be having any more kids then our plan will get dropped because it does not meet the requirments. So I guess having choises of what we need and don't need is considered a stripped dow plan. It also assumes that employers will not take measures to cut back cost. It also seems they assume prices will stay the same. Well who the hell is going to cover the people who cannot affored coverage, have reduced rates, etc...

Re: Obama Care Part II
 

[quote=firstdown;1037517]Your going to compare a 650 billion dollar investment into this site to a video game? the ACA is messing around with about 20% of our nations anual spend and you think Obama worried about the cost of the site. Tells alot about this president.[/quote]

FD,

It's a fairly accurate analogy. The scope is not exactly the same, but the technical challenges remain the same. Both will have traffic that is significantly front loaded but will quickly dissipate to an level that is easy to manage. If we had spent an extra 500,000 - 2,000,000 on the necessary hardware to support the types of loads its seeing, you'd be complaining about that. I'm not saying the rollout was perfect, I'm also saying that no technical implementation will be perfect. Part of my job is to work new tools into a fairly complex environment. Every piece we add has challenges you prepare for, and challenges you do not foresee, regardless of the planning put into place. To take something like a website up to the Presidential level is simply ridiculous. You can't point a finger directly at him for screwing it up. I don't expect my President to understand highly technical situations, I do expect people closer to the situation to understand, and I believe they did a fairly decent job given the constraints they were under.

** I do want to make it clear, I have no connections to this website or its development. That's not my area, but I was interested in what happened and why.

Re: Obama Care Part II
 

Yeah that chart is complete garbage. And it not breaking down anything. Its just a pie chart some dude made off of guesstimates of generalities summarized in a dumb downed cartoon publication for liberals from a short conversation between a liberal author and an obamacare friend, supporter and architect.

The most ridiculous part of the whole thing is how its divided up. The 6% that is split 50/50 as either losers or those without consequence, is specifically refereeing to people who already have insurance through the individual market place, NOT people with insurance through work (most Americans).

Secondly, its impossible to know what Gruber is referring to when he says 80% of people are unaffected, but he is definitely not talking about ANY of the people who are receiving cancelation letters in the mail from their group insurance providers. Not to mention the fact that at least 15% of that 80% HAVE TO BE people who are covered through Medicare.

And 14% of people are clearly not clear winners. Of the 14% or so of people with or without insurance, many of them don't want it. To broadly state that all of them are "clear winners" is completely disingenuous.

This graph isn't a reflection of anything more than off the cuff optimistic liberal water cooler talk.

Re: Obama Care Part II
 

[quote=mlmpetert;1037534]Yeah that chart is complete garbage. And it not breaking down anything. Its just a pie chart some dude made.[/quote]


From M.I.T., the dude .

Re: Obama Care Part II
 

I have to admit I have beaten up Obama for his statement about being able to keep you insurance if you are happy with it, but I like that he did man up, although I would like a little more formal of an apology. I know his critics will still ridicule him, but that comes wioth the territory.

Re: Obama Care Part II
 

I got another letter in the mail over the weekend....

This time is was an announcement from my doctor, a primary care physician/ internist, that his practice was going to a concierge service.

For those unfamiliar with concierge type doctors, all it means is that they charge a yearly fee on top of the standard cost of a doctors visit. Basically a retainer to go to your doctor. In the past most of the doctors did this to cater to wealthy and/or demanding patients who wanted to spend more than 10 mins with their doctor each visit or perhaps to call them to get a prescription instead of going in for something minor.

Its become much more common place in the last few years with the growing shortage of doctors. I also personally believe established doctors are going concierge to cut back their hours without significantly cutting back their incomes as they transition into retirement. It probably makes sense from a succession planning perspective too. And now with Obamacare its never made more sense. With more patients on the immediate horizon (increasing demand) and an aging physician population (reducing supply), doctors are now in good position to charge all of those who can afford it (the middle class) a retainer.

Re: Obama Care Part II
 

[quote=Giantone;1037545]From M.I.T., the dude .[/quote]


The dude who made the pie chart wasn't from MIT. The MIT dude was the obamacare friend, supporter and architect who spoke in generalities with a liberal "reporter".

Of course, GW went to Harvard so im sure you must think hes right about everything too.