Insurance companies are the cost driver of healthcare

[ironchef]

You're doing fine it would seem, however your post is a rather extreme overstatement if you intended to suggest that it applies to everyone. There are millions in this country that only have access to ultra expensive, to everyone else, "treat and street" medical care via emergency rooms. They live in Red States with governors who have chosen, for political reasons, to let their State's citizens subsidize medicaid in Blue States while voluntarily receiving no additional federal medicaid benefits for their own States.

For those insured, Medicare, MediCal, traditional insurance, they are in good shape. they can essentially see any doctor, go to any hospital or have the latest/best drugs, medical implants... approved by the FDA. So, essentially they drive a Ferrari, live in Beverley Hills and eat at Spago every day.

If I make too much and cannot qualify for Medicaid but too little to afford health insurance, or think I have other higher priority items to spend my hard earned money, I am out of luck. For folks like that, by the time they seek medical help, it is usually too late and they are part of the bad statistics you referred to.

I think that is how unfair our system is. I admit I have a narrow and bias view but I am quite sure some of my fellow full time retail traders on ET face the situation I mentioned at least part of the time.

You didn't read my post that stated it only applied to those of us who have insurance and medicare. Those worst off are the working poor, earn too much income to qualify for medicaid yet couldn't afford health insurance.

 

[piezoe]

You didn't read my post that stated it only applied to those of us who have insurance and medicare. Those worst off are the working poor, earn too much income to qualify for medicaid yet couldn't afford health insurance.

My apology. I did not interpret your post correctly nor did I read all the posts. Obamacare is deeply flawed of course. I have interpreted its built in flaws as being a necessity to get it through both houses in any form. Then once it passed, it became under constant attack from the crazy wing of the Republican party. If they couldn't kill it off entirely, they were bound and determined to wound it as much as possible so that it couldn't work as intended. Thus that gap you speak of, made possible by the conservative court ruling in favor of the Republicans. That particular ruling allowed individual states to opt out of medicaid expansion, leaving millions making too little to qualify for premium subsidies, but either too much or with no dependents to allow them to qualify for medicaid in the Red States that failed to expand! It was a tactically brilliant, but at the same time reprehensible, strike by the Republicans against a core feature of Obamacare. Very few comprehend what happened, so the Republicans paid no significant political price. The attack hurt mainly a segment of voters that traditionally has low voter turnout. No doubt the Republican strategists took this into account.

 

[ironchef]

My apology. I did not interpret your post correctly nor did I read all the posts. Obamacare is deeply flawed of course. I have interpreted its built in flaws as being a necessity to get it through both houses in any form. Then once it passed, it became under constant attack from the crazy wing of the Republican party. If they couldn't kill it off entirely, they were bound and determined to wound it as much as possible so that it couldn't work as intended. Thus that gap you speak of, made possible by the conservative court ruling in favor of the Republicans. That particular ruling allowed individual states to opt out of medicaid expansion, leaving millions making too little to qualify for premium subsidies, but either too much or with no dependents to allow them to qualify for medicaid in the Red States that failed to expand! It was a tactically brilliant, but at the same time reprehensible, strike by the Republicans against a core feature of Obamacare. Very few comprehend what happened, so the Republicans paid no significant political price. The attack hurt mainly a segment of voters that traditionally has low voter turnout. No doubt the Republican strategists took this into account.

No apology needed.

You are so right.

I fear for our future. Both the right and left are getting more extreme, Whatever one side does is automatically bad for the other side and vice versa. There is no longer any dialog to find a middle ground, for any policy.

 

[Cuddles]

title is clickbaity but interesting talk

 

[caacapital]

I'm hoping that people on this page are just complaining ACA is not the reason cost are higher cost are there regardless insurance companies took the opportunity to pass more cost to the consumer as any company would do. Your employer also passed on an increase to you. If your an adult I would assume at some point you researched about insurance cost. Insurance cost go up each year. This is capitalism at work health is a vital component and when other capitalist companies get paid from unhealthy items(chips, pop, processed foods, fast food, etc). for people that dont believe look at heart Disease this is completely preventable in most cases. The Medical industry will have to be reworked from treatment to prevention first then treatment but with a lazy society that would rather have a fast solution and "freedom". People would rather blame than fix.

Opening up competition is a start but cost are cost at some point you cant undercut the entire system needs to change.

I've come to the conclusion that people just dont think to far in advance or outside of themselves in the moment. Who can say without a doubt that in 50 years if they are still alive they will have no health concerns because they will be able to fund each incident themselves. ACA makes your previous conditions not a factor for getting insurance btw. smh

For the non lazy or people that dont want to stay in ignorance links below

https://www.cdc.gov/heartdisease/facts.htm

https://www.healthsystemtracker.org...stantially-over-the-past-several-decades_2017

https://www.investopedia.com/articl...0615/6-reasons-healthcare-so-expensive-us.asp