Posted by tecwrg on 10/2/2013 1:41:00 PM (view original):
Posted by bad_luck on 10/2/2013 1:25:00 PM (view original):
Posted by tecwrg on 10/2/2013 1:16:00 PM (view original):
Posted by bad_luck on 10/2/2013 1:13:00 PM (view original):
Posted by MikeT23 on 10/2/2013 1:07:00 PM (view original):
Semantics. We are required to purchase a government mandated product(or have proof of similar product) and use said product at facilities where costs are not regulated. But congrats on playing the game in a way that allows you to skirt around any issue.
No one is required to buy insurance through an exchange.
If you do buy (or have) insurance, you are free to not use it at facilities where costs are not regulated.
Can you give us the the address of a U.S. hospital where costs are regulated?
Nothing in the ACA requires you to use your insurance, go to a doctor, go to a hospital.
Oh, wait...do you mean you might get sick or injured and need to seek medical care? I guess you will have to go to the hospital where costs aren't regulated if that happens. Good thing the ACA was passed so that you can...wait, you're saying you had health insurance before and would have gone anyway...well, then what does this have to do with the ACA?
Oh, I see.
Nothing.
So, in summary, you're saying:
a) The underlying healthcare costs were unregulated and out of control before the ACA
b) The underlying healthcare costs will continue to be unregulated and out of control after the ACA
c) All is good, nothing to see here. Move along.
I'm saying that you're focusing on the wrong problem. Maybe the ACA doesn't fix everything but it isn't causing the problem you are complaining about.
Also, regarding cost reduction:
One of the ACA's cost-cutting tools is financially penalizing hospitals by reducing government Medicare reimbursements to them if they have an excess number of patients who are released from the hospital and then readmitted within a month for heart attacks, heart failure and and pneumonia.
Another is requiring health insurers who spend less than 80 percent of the premiums they receive from customers on health benefits for them to reimburse some money to those customers. Insurers of large companies have to spend at least 85 percent of the premiums they receive on benefits or pay refunds.
In 2018, there will be a 40 percent excise tax slapped on health insurance plans whose premiums exceed $10,200 for individuals and $27,500 for families. This tax on so-called Cadillac plans is designed to tamp down overuse of medical care by people with those plans.
The law also encourages hospitals, primary care physicians and other medical providers to join forces in so-called Accountable Care Organizations, whose goal is to coordinate care for their patients and, if they meet certain quality targets such as keeping those people healthy and out of the hospital, get paid more by Medicare.
Obamacare also created the Independent Payment Advisory Board, which is empowered to recommend reductions in Medicare spending, in years in which Medicare per capita costs exceed specific targets including overall medical prices. Those reductions will take effect unless Congress comes up with another reduction that saves the same amount.
Obamacare's provision that insurers' policies cover things such as preventative care for customers is also geared to reducing overall long-term costs. The theory is that people who can obtain preventative care, and actually do with, will be less likely to suffer chronic health conditions that could end up costing much more.