If You Like Your Drugs...

1. I have never had a policy (neither group nor individual) where I had a deductible for prescriptions (other than an HSA for 2 years). Many of the Obamacare policies do and pay nothing for your drugs until you reach it. Yes, I had copays, but they were fixed amounts in the $5-$40 range. Many of the Obamacare policies have a fixed copay for generic drugs, but for expensive higher tier drugs you have to pay 20-50% of the total amount. That is a far higher cost for drugs and you can reach your very high max out of pocket very fast. And I've never had a policy with a max out of pocket anywhere near $6350 for an individual or $12,700 for a family. In fact I've never had one even at half those amounts. I consider policies like that to be catastrophic insurance, but I see Obamacare has redefined the term.

2. And we will still pay for millions of people with no insurance under Obamacare. It's supposed to be much fewer people, but we'll see about that. The point about all the people with huge out of pocket expenses stiffing the hospitals is something new I just read about and hadn't heard of before. Well see how much that will cost as well.

Pine- your analysis is right on, this is the "find out what is in it phase" Most of the perceived comprehensive benefits are an illusion with a high deductible, which is exactly why individuals choose major medical plans and health savings accounts. But the ACA authors know better for us dumbed down citizens.

There will be a disappointment phase when the citizen subjects try to use their Obamacare plans and find out they still are paying the bill, like before.

Also regarding the non-payments, check out the 90 day grace period regulation, the HC providers are pretty worried about that too. No way to know if someone is really insured and the insurance co is only responsible for 30 days.

All great points, but there is something else that most people probably don't know about (Pine probably covered this already)... of all the plans, in most states, they all use the same doctor network. So you may think that having the top plan will give you more choices of doctors, but that's not what you get. And the better plans mean lower deductables, but the premiums are higher so you are just prepaying your deductables. There are some added benefits to the better plans, but if the doctor pool keeps shrinking due to low reembursement rates, we're all going to shaft at some point.

The problem I see with these high deductables on drugs (and some costs that don't go toward deductables), is that people will avoid getting them when they really should due to the financial burden.

All these probems will be countered by the left by saying "see, we should have single payer!" and they will NEVER admit this law was created by idiots who didn't think it through. I can't wait till Nov. 2014!!!!

I envy you Rick, you know what the left is thinking before they even have a chance to think it, you also know what the left doesn't know, add to that your knowledge of what the left will never admit, and what doctors will do in the future... Well I am just in awe.

archer wrote: I envy you Rick, you know what the left is thinking before they even have a chance to think it, you also know what the left doesn't know, add to that your knowledge of what the left will never admit, and what doctors will do in the future... Well I am just in awe.

Obviously your in awe. Such awe that you couldn't actually address the main point in his comment.

Walter L Newton wrote:

archer wrote: I envy you Rick, you know what the left is thinking before they even have a chance to think it, you also know what the left doesn't know, add to that your knowledge of what the left will never admit, and what doctors will do in the future... Well I am just in awe.

Obviously your in awe. Such awe that you couldn't actually address the main point in his comment.

Which main point would that be? The one about out of network doctors? That's nothing new, I have changed doctors several times in the past because my insurance no longer had them in network. No one likes to change doctors, but that isn't anything unique to the ACA, is been happening for decades.

Our maybe you meant the point about people not getting drugs because of high deductibles ? Would they be more likely to get those drugs without insurance ?

Or were you referring to his last point on the 90 day grace period? I'll have to check it out, I'm unsure what his point on that is, but I'm sure Rick will tell me what I think about it.

archer wrote: I envy you Rick, you know what the left is thinking before they even have a chance to think it, you also know what the left doesn't know, add to that your knowledge of what the left will never admit, and what doctors will do in the future... Well I am just in awe.

So be honest archer, if the ACA fails because it was poorly thought out, what will liberals who now support it say when it crashes? Will you say it's the Republicans fault, Obama's fault, or will you say "see, we need a more simple single payer system"? I'm just as entitled to my opinion as you are archer, and I'd just prefer you tell me why I'm wrong rather than make a snide remark about me... which is done to deflect from my point instead of countering it.

I just checked the Colorado health exchange and looked at the best plan I could find. As it turns out, they only offer one top-of-the-line platinum plan.

For example, for a 40 year old in Park county it runs $532 per month. And even it has a $100 deductible for drugs. On top of that brand name drugs have a $35 copay while specialty drugs have a $250 copay.

Even when I had individual insurance I had no deductible for drugs and much lower copays (not to mention a much lower premium).

Rick wrote:

archer wrote: I envy you Rick, you know what the left is thinking before they even have a chance to think it, you also know what the left doesn't know, add to that your knowledge of what the left will never admit, and what doctors will do in the future... Well I am just in awe.

So be honest archer, if the ACA fails because it was poorly thought out, what will liberals who now support it say when it crashes? Will you say it's the Republicans fault, Obama's fault, or will you say "see, we need a more simple single payer system"? I'm just as entitled to my opinion as you are archer, and I'd just prefer you tell me why I'm wrong rather than make a snide remark about me... which is done to deflect from my point instead of countering it.

There you go again Rick, you give 2 choices of what I , or other liberals, will say if the ACA fails. I agreed you are entitled to your opinion, but you are not entitled to tell me what my opinion is, or will be. The honest answer is neither of those choices...... It would simply be, and has been since day one, ..... What do we need to do to fix any issues that crop up. I know single player is not on the horizon, I also know that scraping ACA is a terrible option, it would be a giant leap backwards. If, and when, we can get the two parties to work together for positive changes to the ACA, then maybe we will start benefiting the American people. Look at all the changes that have been made to SS and medicare over the decades to make it better, if the politicians would ages to do the same with the ACA, I'm sure it too can be successful.

Archer,
Consider this, there are myriad lefties who have different opinions and many of them are paid to tell us what they think every day, same for conservatives. So you thinking that us here on the board don't know what the Left is doing implies we don't get to hear them. And after decades of personal experience of both sides, you can even figure out what they are trying to hide.
And just because you personally don't think like most of the left wing in this country, doesn't mean that our guesses behind their real intentions are wrong. There are recorded speeches of Obama(as a senator) where he wants to implement a single payer system. Has he given up these dreams? Or does he consider ACA just a stepping stone?