How does "affordable" figure in the Affordable Care Act

So... maybe some of the 285 Bound users who have a good grasp on the ACA can answer a few questions.

Currently my family pays a little over 700 dollars a month for health care insurance.

1) How does the ACA make health insurance affordable to folks that can't pay such a monthly premium like we do?
2) Will the ACA help decrease my monthly payment, make it more affordable?
3) Will the ACA lower the cost of medical care for non-insured folks who walk-in to a clinic or emergency room?
4) Will health care insurance cost be the same for everyone... more affordable?
4) In general, how does the ACA make over all health care more affordable?

Take your pick.. I would be interested in your answers.

I'm sure the president will be addressing these important questions any day now while he's campaigning... any day now.

I'm no expert on the ACA but I think it depends on the meaning of "affordable".

From what I have read so far, the ACA will allegedly make healthcare "affordable" for those who can't currently afford it. For some it sounds like it will be "free" making it VERY "affordable".

Unfortunately, and I don't know if this is hyperbole, it sounds like the ACA will make healthcare LESS "affordable" (read more expensive) for those who currently have and can afford healthcare (people like you). This may not be the case at first...but as the program makes private healthcare "unaffordable" all will be receiving equally crappy "affordable" healthcare. As is offered in other socialist set ups like you see in Canada and Europe.

Since this is really about class warfare and winning another election and little to do with providing "affordable" healthcare I will be interested to see what sort of answers the "experts" here provide. I think most of the liberal responses are readily available on HuffPost or other equally "balanced" news agencies.

One thing is for sure. The ACA sure doesn't sound "affordable" for a country or its states that are already struggling to balance their books. But as I mentioned before, when did the Affordable Healthcare Act have ANYTHING to do with providing "affordable" healthcare.

lionshead2010 wrote: I'm no expert on the ACA but I think it depends on the meaning of "affordable".

From what I have read so far, the ACA will allegedly make healthcare "affordable" for those who can't currently afford it. For some it sounds like it will be "free" making it VERY "affordable".

Unfortunately, and I don't know if this is hyperbole, it sounds like the ACA will make healthcare LESS "affordable" (read more expensive) for those who currently have and can afford healthcare (people like you). This may not be the case at first...but as the program makes private healthcare "unaffordable" all will be receiving equally crappy "affordable" healthcare. As is offered in other socialist set ups like you see in Canada and Europe.

Since this is really about class warfare and winning another election and little to do with providing "affordable" healthcare I will be interested to see what sort of answers the "experts" here provide. I think most of the liberal responses are readily available on HuffPost or other equally "balanced" news agencies.

One thing is for sure. The ACA sure doesn't sound "affordable" for a country or its states that are already struggling to balance their books. But as I mentioned before, when did the Affordable Healthcare Act have ANYTHING to do with providing "affordable" healthcare.[/i]

That's precisely why I asked the question. Who will benefit, who will see higher premiums, where does "affordable" figure into this... will I have to pay MORE... I'm really open to some answers... because at this point, I can't find those answers.

I know we have some 285 Bound experts on this, I hope they can help.

Crickets?

Refer to 1984.

Affordable will cost you more money,
War is Peace, etc.

Entitlement Whore wrote: So... maybe some of the 285 Bound users who have a good grasp on the ACA can answer a few questions.

Currently my family pays a little over 700 dollars a month for health care insurance.

1) How does the ACA make health insurance affordable to folks that can't pay such a monthly premium like we do?
2) Will the ACA help decrease my monthly payment, make it more affordable?
3) Will the ACA lower the cost of medical care for non-insured folks who walk-in to a clinic or emergency room?
4) Will health care insurance cost be the same for everyone... more affordable?
4) In general, how does the ACA make over all health care more affordable?

Take your pick.. I would be interested in your answers.

Your questions didn't include specific info which you need to know to fully answer the question so I'll try to answer them in a different way. The info needed includes:

Is it group or individual insurance we are talking about?
What is your income (not asking you specifically, but you need that info to answer the questions)?
Are you healthy?
Do you currently have insurance?

Here are some insurance stats from the US Census:

http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s0155.pdf

As you can see, most people have group insurance through their employer. If they have decent insurance (>60% of medical bills are covered and you coverage costs <9.5% of your income) then in general the ACA will not help or hurt what they pay for their insurance.

If you qualify, the ACA can reduce what you pay for individual insurance, and in some cases possibly for group insurance if you have a crummy policy from your employer. The ACA reduces what you pay by giving you refundable tax credits each year you qualify (you get the credits even if you owe no tax).

In order to qualify for the ACA tax credits, your income must be in the range of 139% to 400% of the federal poverty level (FPL). If it's less than 139% (or if you are unemployed), you can go on Medicaid and the ACA did expand that coverage, but the Supreme Court turned that down, so it looks like it will vary by state.

If your income is over 400% of the FPL, you will not get any credits or subsidies. 400% of the FPL is about $45K for singles, $60K for a couple, and $90K for a family of four.

Here is who will generally benefit the most with the credits:

People in the 139% - 250% range of the FPL get the biggest credits and their premiums after the credits will generally be much less than they are today for a healthy person, and far less for an unhealthy person. Many people in this range currently do not have health insurance.

In the 250% - 400% range you'll probably save a little or break even if healthy, but save more if not healthy.

Some unhealthy people (or people with pre-existing conditions) cannont get individual insurance today (varies by state) or have to pay a much higher premium, and they will benefit with the ACA because they will be able to get insurance and pay the same premium as a healthy person (the only thing health related that can raise your premium with the ACA is if you are a smoker).

Here are the people that would generally be hurt by the ACA due to thier premiums getting higher:

People that are healthy, make more than 400% of the FPL, and have individual insurance (includes self employed people, employed people with no insurance from the employer, and early retirees). If you are in that group, your premiums could double from what they are now. There is no sliding scale either. Once at 400% you have to pay the full premium, so a single person making $50K pays the same premium as a person making $1 million. Also, younger people will generally see their premiums go up more as a percentage than older people since the ACA only allows a 1-3x age multiplier for premiums while the actual multiplier should be about 1-6x.

If you are unhealthy, make more then 400% of the FPL, and have individual insurance, then it depends on which state you are in. From the rates I saw, it looks like our current high risk insurance in Colorado is close (maybe a bit less) than the ACA rates.

If you have a job with poor insurance, then things get murkey. Many large companies with lower paid employees and low end insurance are getting ACA waivers and won't have to offer better insurance in 2014. Once those waivers expire, it will be interesting to see what happens. Some companies will just drop insurance and pay the ACA tax (which will usually be less than the low end premiums they were paying). Others will offer better insurance, but pass part or all of the increased cost to the employees. And some might just offer better insurance.


So in summary, most people have group insurance and will not be affected by the ACA, low income people will get very low premiums, and healthy self employed people with middle class incomes can see their premiums double. Less healthy people will generally benefit with the savings very good for the low income, and less good for higher income (depending on state). Also, if all works as planned, there should be less uninsured than today.

Bottom line, it's pretty complicated. Maybe that's the only answer needed.

You forgot to mention the tens of millions of people who are on government assistance (welfare). They will now have full coverage health insurance. How will this be paid? No new taxes?

This is the elephant in the room.

pineinthegrass wrote:
[snip]

So in summary, most people have group insurance and will not be affected by the ACA, low income people will get very low premiums, and healthy self employed people with middle class incomes can see their premiums double. Less healthy people will generally benefit with the savings very good for the low income, and less good for higher income (depending on state). Also, if all works as planned, there should be less uninsured than today.

Bottom line, it's pretty complicated. Maybe that's the only answer needed.

So the bottom line is that the ACA will benefit a small sector of the population and will not effect the rise or fall of current health insurance policy holders. This doesn't sound like health care reform to me. What have they fixed? The cost of my policy will probably still rise. My level of care will be the same. The prices of drugs will still increase and somewhere in all this there are penalties and taxes designed to pay for all these new rules, regulations and bureaucracy. The ACA doesn't sound like it has much to do with affordability at all.

And your taxes will skyrocket.