2020 Elections

[clean]

If having health insurance is a right

Please reread my quote:

IF Health Care is a Right (as I often hear these days) Then why isnt Having Health Insurance a Responsibility?

I will grant that one of the biggest arguments against "Obama-Care" was affordability of the plans that were obtainable, even though there were government subsidies

then it should be priced the same irrespective of whether you have have employment designated as full time, employment designated as part-time, or no employment. Or, if it were treated like progressive tax, then more 'affordable' to those with less ability to pay.

While my employer provided health care is ok, i think, it is not cheap for my employer. It costs more than $500 a month to insure single ole me, and I still have deductibles and copays.  The inability of the 'private market', even when subsidized by the government to find affordable plans was a problem.  Adding the young group (to subsidize the older crowd and those of us with preexisting conditions and no lifetime limits)  did not reduce the prices as much as hoped. I wont say "as thought" because I have no idea 'what they were thinking!'

[dismalist]

"Call me Clean.  A supporter of the ACA, including the mandate that people have insurance, even if subsidized by the government for those that are at the lower end of the income scales. "

Couldn't agree more. It is the mandate that makes something like Social Security work, for without it, only those who expect to live a long time would purchase such an annuity, killing the market. Health insurance runs this in reverse, in that only those who expect to be sick buy it voluntarily.

[The constitutional question is idiotic, arising only because the ACA promoters didn't want to call premiums a tax. Of course, they are an earmarked tax, just like the federal gasoline tax.]

[Those w/o health insurance are taken care of, for better or worse, by explicitly mandated care and implicit charities, so they are not subsidizing those with insurance.]

[Parasaurolophus]

Don't forget that the cost of insurance is not te cost of your premium. It's the premium plus the copay and deductible every time they're invoked, plus what's left over when you've maxed your coverage.

As for rights and responsibilities: it's a human right, and as with other human rights, it's the government's responsibility to guarantee them. Driving is a right, but not a human right.

[dismalist]

"Lifetime & Annual Limits

The current law prohibits health plans from putting annual or lifetime dollar limits on most benefits you receive.
Lifetime Limits

Under the current law, lifetime limits on most benefits are prohibited in any health plan or insurance policy. Previously, many plans set a lifetime limit — a dollar limit on what they would spend for your covered benefits during the entire time you were enrolled in that plan. You were required to pay the cost of all care exceeding those limits.
Annual Limits

The current law bans annual dollar limits that all job-related plans and individual health insurance plans can put on most covered health benefits. Before the health care law, many health plans set an annual limit — a dollar limit on their yearly spending for your covered benefits. You were required to pay the cost of all care exceeding those limits."

https://www.hhs.gov/healthcare/about-the-aca/benefit-limits/index.html

[mahagonny]

[Those w/o health insurance are taken care of, for better or worse, by explicitly mandated care and implicit charities, so they are not subsidizing those with insurance.]

Well I paid something like $2000 out of pocket for a crown on one of my molars some ten years ago. Maybe I'm an idiot and I didn't know I didn't have to? I didn't look into it. The dentist told me the cost and I thought 'I think she's a good dentist. Let's get it done.'  The amount was not enough to enter on my Schedule B form. Whereas insurance premiums are paid in pre-tax dollars. So yes, I am subsidizing the dental insurance for my full time colleagues.

[dismalist]

Not you personally, but uninsured people on average.

And yes, there is no reason at all that employer paid health insurance premia are not taxed as income. A fluke, from WW II, decided by the IRS alone.

[clean]

As for rights and responsibilities: it's a human right, and as with other human rights, it's the government's responsibility to guarantee them.

Not to be too argumentative, but Where is the List?  When were the listed items added to the list?  (Im behind the times, I suppose,)

(And remember, if you find my ranting post, I did suggest that it be ignored and that we return to normal 2020 election posting)

[mahagonny]

Not you personally, but uninsured people on average.

So the uninsured are having teeth pulled instead?

[dismalist]

Not you personally, but uninsured people on average.

So the uninsured are having teeth pulled instead?

Well, yeah.

[clean]

So the uninsured are having teeth pulled instead?

In my experience, dental insurance, like glasses insurance, is not cost effective(you pay a lot more than you ever, ever get) .  My dental policy is about as expensive as getting my teeth cleaned. However, when I needed a root canal and crown recently, it paid all of $750 toward the cost of the treatment.  AND that is all that I will have covered for the rest of the year, until September! 

Supposedly, IF I could find a dentist that took the coverage, then I would not have paid as much as I did, but my current dentist stopped taking our insurance long, long ago. I dont know of any dentist in my town that is taking it, but that is not to say that there isnt one.

Same with Eye Glass Insurance. Most are probably just as well off to pay for the glasses through the Health Care Savings account/plan.  When I had the glasses insurance, and found a place that took it, I was limited to only "these" frames . I now just pay out of pocket and get reimbursed by the Health Savings Account and I can shop anywhere for anything I want (for the most part) and I get the tax deduction for the health care savings contributions. While not a selling point,I can get the glasses in September when the plan year starts, and use the full health care amount and then have the deduction go over the rest of the year. 

[dismalist]

...

(And remember, if you find my ranting post, I did suggest that it be ignored and that we return to normal 2020 election posting)

By the way, there are these primaries tonight.

[mamselle]

Noting seems to be posted yet that I can find.

Or else I'm looking in the wrong places....but...."NYT?" is still ghosted with the 2016 results for comparison, no entries yet.

M.

[mahagonny]

So the uninsured are having teeth pulled instead?

In my experience, dental insurance, like glasses insurance, is not cost effective(you pay a lot more than you ever, ever get) .  My dental policy is about as expensive as getting my teeth cleaned. However, when I needed a root canal and crown recently, it paid all of $750 toward the cost of the treatment.  AND that is all that I will have covered for the rest of the year, until September! 

Supposedly, IF I could find a dentist that took the coverage, then I would not have paid as much as I did, but my current dentist stopped taking our insurance long, long ago. I dont know of any dentist in my town that is taking it, but that is not to say that there isnt one.

Same with Eye Glass Insurance. Most are probably just as well off to pay for the glasses through the Health Care Savings account/plan.  When I had the glasses insurance, and found a place that took it, I was limited to only "these" frames . I now just pay out of pocket and get reimbursed by the Health Savings Account and I can shop anywhere for anything I want (for the most part) and I get the tax deduction for the health care savings contributions. While not a selling point,I can get the glasses in September when the plan year starts, and use the full health care amount and then have the deduction go over the rest of the year.

I think I've probably paid more in premiums for regular health insurance that I got. It's to protect my home from being seized in the event
of the long serious illness.

[dismalist]

By the way, there are these primaries tonight. :-)

[mamselle]

Results showing now: CNN has Biden winning the 3Ms (Mississippi, Missouri, and Michigan; he's leading in Idaho with 1/3 of the results in (counting is going slowly), NorthDakota is also going slowly per 5-3-8, and they're also saying ABC gives 120 electoral college votes to Biden, and 64 to Sanders, with 181 still unallocated.

M.