ACA and Canceled Policies for New York Professionals

This is too rich...

Many in New York’s professional and cultural elite have long supported President Obama’s health care plan. But now, to their surprise, thousands of writers, opera singers, music teachers, photographers, doctors, lawyers and others are learning that their health insurance plans are being canceled and they may have to pay more to get comparable coverage, if they can find it.

They are part of an unusual, informal health insurance system that has developed in New York, in which independent practitioners were able to get lower insurance rates through group plans, typically set up by their professional associations or chambers of commerce. That allowed them to avoid the sky-high rates in New York’s individual insurance market, historically among the most expensive in the country.

But under the Affordable Care Act, they will be treated as individuals, responsible for their own insurance policies. For many of them, that is likely to mean they will no longer have access to a wide network of doctors and a range of plans tailored to their needs. And many of them are finding that if they want to keep their premiums from rising, they will have to accept higher deductible and co-pay costs or inferior coverage.

The people affected include not just writers, artists, doctors and the like, but also independent tradespeople, like home builders or carpenters, who work on their own... many of the New York policies being canceled meet and often exceed the standards, brokers say. The rationale for disqualifying those policies, said Larry Levitt, a health policy expert at the Kaiser Family Foundation, was to prevent associations from selling insurance to healthy members who are needed to keep the new health exchanges financially viable.

It is not lost on many of the professionals that they are exactly the sort of people — liberal, concerned with social justice — who supported the Obama health plan in the first place. Ms. Meinwald, the lawyer, said she was a lifelong Democrat who still supported better health care for all, but had she known what was in store for her, she would have voted for Mitt Romney.

It is an uncomfortable position for many members of the creative classes to be in.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/14/nyreg ... .html?_r=0

"It is an uncomfortable position for many members of the creative classes to be in." OH BOO HOO.

I hope they can keep some sort of insurance so they can have those bleeding hearts fixed?

What was it that Nancy Pelosi said when trying to sell this turkey to the American public.

Think of an economy where people could be an artist or a photographer or a writer without worrying about keeping their day job in order to have health insurance or that people could start a business and be entrepreneurial and take risk, but not job loss because of a child with asthma or someone in the family is bipolar—you name it, any condition—is job locking.

I guess she didn't say what would happen if your day job WAS as an artist or a photographer or a writer...

At this point I don't see how ANY LIBERAL can support they way the administration and the Democrats outright lied this law into being.

If you're a liberal and are proud of this law, that says more about your character, how you really don't care about your fellow Americans and the selfishness of your personal politics and ideology then anything else could.

Walter L Newton wrote:
At this point I don't see how ANY LIBERAL can support they way the administration and the Democrats outright lied this law into being.

If you're a liberal and are proud of this law, that says more about your character, how you really don't care about your fellow Americans and the selfishness of your personal politics and ideology then anything else could.

I don't blame liberals for climbing up the stern of the ship as it goes down instead of jumping off... to do that would be to admit that big government policies can't fix everything, which shoots big holes in their overall ideology. But this bad law is an equal opportunity trainwreck and even the unions will eventually feel the same pain. So if a change in thinking can only come with a very painful law, I'm beginning to think the ACA is the best thing to happen to this country in a long time. Some will still cling to the rails as the ship goes down, and that is their choice, so I wish them a good trip to the bottom. (taliking more about the stubborn politicians)

Cheering for the ship to go down rather than working to repair the ship? Yeah, that sounds like what the GOP has been pushing for the last 5 years.

archer wrote: Cheering for the ship to go down rather than working to repair the ship? Yeah, that sounds like what the GOP has been pushing for the last 5 years.

FACT: The GOP included MANY markups to the bill before it was passed and the Democrats voted down EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM.

FACT: (July 29, 2013) "In an interview with the New York Times last week, President Obama dismissed the ongoing criticism and attacks by the GOP against the Affordable Care Act, saying that the law would become more popular among voters once it is fully implemented and "all the nightmare scenarios" have been proven wrong, the Times reports."

I'm not cheering for anything. I'm discussing the outright LIES and misdirection that the administration pulled on the American public.

And thanks for NOT discussing the content of the article. I know... it was just more of that far-right-wing-New-York-Time criticism. I guess they want it to fail too!!

archer wrote: Cheering for the ship to go down rather than working to repair the ship? Yeah, that sounds like what the GOP has been pushing for the last 5 years.

You ever consider that the ACA was designed to fail so the Democrats could institute full socialized health care for the US? Or do you think that this administration is so inept that they never saw any of these problems coming?

archer wrote: Cheering for the ship to go down rather than working to repair the ship? Yeah, that sounds like what the GOP has been pushing for the last 5 years.

NO, that's not my point AT ALL. My point is for the population to learn a lesson about how government can't fix all our problems. If the greater good of more liberty is an eventual result, I'll gladly feel some short term pain so we can get back to how this country was intended to be run. You and I differ greatly on how we see government's roll in our lives, it doesn't make me mean or uncaring.

Walter L Newton wrote:

archer wrote: Cheering for the ship to go down rather than working to repair the ship? Yeah, that sounds like what the GOP has been pushing for the last 5 years.

You ever consider that the ACA was designed to fail so the Democrats could institute full socialized health care for the US? Or do you think that this administration is so inept that they never saw any of these problems coming?

Yes, I have considered the idea that they passed a bill so onerous that single payer, medicare for all, would be the only fix. I don't condone the tactics, but I would welcome that result.

I didn't comment on the OP because my son is one of those, he has a graphic design company in NYC, they get their health insurance through one of the societies mentioned in the article, so I texted him to get his experience,sorry he wasn't quicker getting back to me. He and I had talked about this a while ago and I wanted to know if that conversation was still accurate. Quick summery, his plan was changed, they do not qualify for assistance, not surprising as his company is very successful. He uses only contract professionals so health insurance is only for his family. Their new policy costs about the same as their previous policy, a few dollars less per month, the coverage is what he calls comparable, their doctors are all covered, they still get it through the society's insurer, and their max out of pocket is lower. Not a win, not a loss.

Rick wrote:

archer wrote: Cheering for the ship to go down rather than working to repair the ship? Yeah, that sounds like what the GOP has been pushing for the last 5 years.

NO, that's not my point AT ALL. My point is for the population to learn a lesson about how government can't fix all our problems. If the greater good of more liberty is an eventual result, I'll gladly feel some short term pain so we can get back to how this country was intended to be run. You and I differ greatly on how we see government's roll in our lives, it doesn't make me mean or uncaring.

You are not the GOP...... But your post read to me like an echo of the last 5 years of GOP tactics.....can you honestly say they haven't been working actively to sabotage anything Obama does? From nominations, to budget, to deficit reduction, to health care reform, and immigration.... Its been no, no, no. I don't think that is an unfair assessment, they themselves pledged to make him a one term president, an understandable goal but a disastrous tactic for the country.

Walter L Newton wrote: This is too rich...

Many in New York’s professional and cultural elite have long supported President Obama’s health care plan. But now, to their surprise, thousands of writers, opera singers, music teachers, photographers, doctors, lawyers and others are learning that their health insurance plans are being canceled and they may have to pay more to get comparable coverage, if they can find it.

They are part of an unusual, informal health insurance system that has developed in New York, in which independent practitioners were able to get lower insurance rates through group plans, typically set up by their professional associations or chambers of commerce. That allowed them to avoid the sky-high rates in New York’s individual insurance market, historically among the most expensive in the country.


I think for those that are left to pay higher costs for insurance , there should be some revisions for those that fell thru the cracks
But under the Affordable Care Act, they will be treated as individuals, responsible for their own insurance policies. For many of them, that is likely to mean they will no longer have access to a wide network of doctors and a range of plans tailored to their needs. And many of them are finding that if they want to keep their premiums from rising, they will have to accept higher deductible and co-pay costs or inferior coverage.

The people affected include not just writers, artists, doctors and the like, but also independent tradespeople, like home builders or carpenters, who work on their own... many of the New York policies being canceled meet and often exceed the standards, brokers say. The rationale for disqualifying those policies, said Larry Levitt, a health policy expert at the Kaiser Family Foundation, was to prevent associations from selling insurance to healthy members who are needed to keep the new health exchanges financially viable.

It is not lost on many of the professionals that they are exactly the sort of people — liberal, concerned with social justice — who supported the Obama health plan in the first place. Ms. Meinwald, the lawyer, said she was a lifelong Democrat who still supported better health care for all, but had she known what was in store for her, she would have voted for Mitt Romney.

It is an uncomfortable position for many members of the creative classes to be in.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/14/nyreg ... .html?_r=0

"It is an uncomfortable position for many members of the creative classes to be in." OH BOO HOO.

I hope they can keep some sort of insurance so they can have those bleeding hearts fixed?

What was it that Nancy Pelosi said when trying to sell this turkey to the American public.

Think of an economy where people could be an artist or a photographer or a writer without worrying about keeping their day job in order to have health insurance or that people could start a business and be entrepreneurial and take risk, but not job loss because of a child with asthma or someone in the family is bipolar—you name it, any condition—is job locking.

I guess she didn't say what would happen if your day job WAS as an artist or a photographer or a writer...

At this point I don't see how ANY LIBERAL can support they way the administration and the Democrats outright lied this law into being.

If you're a liberal and are proud of this law, that says more about your character, how you really don't care about your fellow Americans and the selfishness of your personal politics and ideology then anything else could.

archer wrote: I didn't comment on the OP because my son is one of those, he has a graphic design company in NYC, they get their health insurance through one of the societies mentioned in the article, so I texted him to get his experience,sorry he wasn't quicker getting back to me. He and I had talked about this a while ago and I wanted to know if that conversation was still accurate. Quick summery, his plan was changed, they do not qualify for assistance, not surprising as his company is very successful. He uses only contract professionals so health insurance is only for his family. Their new policy costs about the same as their previous policy, a few dollars less per month, the coverage is what he calls comparable, their doctors are all covered, they still get it through the society's insurer, and their max out of pocket is lower. Not a win, not a loss.

Interesting archer that you always seem to have a personal positive anecdotal story in contrast to overwhelming information in the news regarding the ACA problems. (The Obama people should hire you for PR) LOL I have no reason not to believe you as you seem trustworthy, although its impossible to verify personal stories and easy to leave out selected details.

Did your cost comparison include taxes? Its about a 30% or more savings with an employee group plan vs individual exchange if you don't get ACA subsidies.

Also, under what authority does the government disqualify associations from organizing group health plans, but allows businesses to have them? I am just curious since this is new info to me. Another "find out what is in it" moment.