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One man's ObamaCare nightmare


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2013 Sep 24, 4:39am   23,130 views  105 comments

by zzyzzx   ➕follow (9)   💰tip   ignore  

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/09/24/one-man-obamacare-nightmare/

Andy and Amy Mangione of Louisville, Ky. and their two boys are just the kind of people who should be helped by ObamaCare. But they recently got a nasty surprise in the mail.

"When I saw the letter when I came home from work," Andy said, describing the large red wording on the envelope from his insurance carrier, "(it said) 'your action required, benefit changes, act now.' Of course I opened it immediately."

It had stunning news. Insurance for the Mangiones and their two boys,which they bought on the individual market, was going to almost triple in 2014 --- from $333 a month to $965.

The insurance carrier made it clear the increase was in order to be compliant with the new health care law.

"This isn't a Cadillac plan, this isn't even a silver plan," Mangione said, referring to higher levels of coverage under ObamaCare.

"This is a high deductible plan where I'm assuming a lot of risk for my health insurance for my family. And nothing has changed, our boys are healthy-- they're young --my wife is healthy. I'm healthy, nothing in our medical history has changed to warrant a tripling of our premiums.

"Well I'm the one that does the budget,” said his wife. "Eventually I've got that coming down the pike that I gotta figure out what we're gonna cut what we're gonna do, to afford a $1,000 a month premium."

Their insurance company, Humana, declined to comment, but the notice to the Mangiones carried this paragraph:

" If your policy premium increased, you should know this isn't unique to Humana -- premium increases generally will occur industry-wide.

"Increases aren't based on your individual claims or changes in health status," it continued. "Many other factors go in to your premium including: ACA compliance, including the addition of new essential health benefits."

ACA, of course, is the abbreviation for the President's new law, the Affordable Care Act -- which for the Mangiones will be anything but affordable because the law adds a new tax on every insurance policy and requires a list of additional benefits the Mangiones didn’t want to pay for.

Robert Zirkelbach, spokesman for American Health Insurance Plans, which represents insurers,explained that "for people who currently choose to purchase a high deductible, low premium policy that's more affordable for them, they are now being required to add all these new benefits to their policy.

That," he says, "is also going to add to the cost of their health insurance premiums."

#politics

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25   FortWayne   2013 Sep 25, 2:43am  

Usually this is done by insurance companies who are not part of the state exchanges.

It's a dirty trick, but it's on the news already. They try to scare existing clients into renewing faster (by threatening higher fees next year if they don't renew this year asap). So that they would not go to state exchanges. Sneaky.

26   Blurtman   2013 Sep 25, 2:50am  

APOCALYPSEFUCK is Comptroller says

Homeboy says

I guess Fox Noise's new strategy is to pretend like everything was great before Obamacare, completely ignoring the fact that the system was broken and that we were having DOUBLE DIGIT annual increases in premiums under Bush.

You should know that before the ACA, doctors paid me to show up and receive a savage blow job from nurses who looked exactly like Christina Hendricks. Now, I wake up and Michelle Obama is trying to climb in through the window with a pitch fork waving a clip board with a Death Panel list that bears my name.

Yes, yes....ohhhhh...what is Michelle wearing??? Please, every detail...

27   Homeboy   2013 Sep 25, 5:38am  

lakermania says

Do you really think the rest of the nation pays the same price for health care and insurance that we morons here in California do? Because the rest of the nation does not pay what we pay here in California, might explain why such a large percentage of them are against the ACA. Their insurance, while still high, is nowhere near as insane as it is here.

It's not hard to figure out why, for instance in Modesto, where they collect on less than 10% of the bills they issue(in large part due to illegal aliens), a heart attack without complications costs $92,000, while the same procedure in Danville, Arkansas(who doesn't have the same demographic problem) costs $3300

Actually, individual insurance in California is cheaper than it is in Arkansas.

http://kff.org/other/state-indicator/individual-premiums/

Ouch! Sucks to be you, huh?

28   Homeboy   2013 Sep 25, 5:47am  

The amazing thing is, for people who are committed to hating Obamacare, facts don't matter at all.

29   freak80   2013 Sep 25, 5:49am  

Homeboy says

The amazing thing is, for people who are committed to hating Obamacare, facts don't matter at all.

Whoa whoa wait...

There was a time when facts mattered?

30   HydroCabron   2013 Sep 25, 6:07am  

sbh says

freak80 says

There was a time when facts mattered?

Facts ceased to matter after the fact that Obama won.

Obama won in 50,000 B.C.?

31   EBGuy   2013 Sep 25, 7:32am  

curious2 said: You have got to be kidding. They [Kaiser] are advertising constantly on TV to lure customers to replace the people who leave in frustration or die.
Right. Everyone hates Kaiser. Around the U.S., the commercial health plans of all eight Kaiser Permanente regions finished in the top 25 out of 484 plans ranked. Among the 405 Medicare plans rated, the five highest-scoring in the country were Kaiser Permanente programs.

32   everything   2013 Sep 25, 7:44am  

Your dealing with a monopoly of collusion plagued by group think, health care rankings in America are, according to WHO, quite bad, we spend oodles of money with less results than any other country, some rank the U.S. health care last in performance.

33   curious2   2013 Sep 25, 6:53pm  

Homeboy says

That has nothing to do with any ads run by Kaiser Permanente.

It's both funny and sad how addicts can believe anything that enables their addiction to continue. It's especially sad when they're addicted to toxic placebos that don't even bring them any benefit. Maybe take up smoking: at least nicotine has cognitive benefits, although you can't get them free off your subsidized insurance. (At least not yet - I remember the RJ Reynolds' "physicians who recommend Camels" and advertising for "your T-zone," T as in throat cancer.) The Kaiser empire foundation push-polling and repeatedly oversampling Democrats all have everything to do with shilling for mandatory insurance/HMO conscription for their "nonprofit" HMO (net revenue > $1bn, tax free) and their expressly for-profit practice groups.

34   freak80   2013 Sep 25, 10:26pm  

Call it Crazy says

It just FEELS that long......

Do you think having Romney as corporate-raider-in-cheif would be any better?

Would RomneyCare be better than ObamaCare?

35   freak80   2013 Sep 25, 10:30pm  

From what I'm reading, Kaiser sounds a lot like Guthrie here in the Southern Tier of NY. A monopolized, corporatized medical-industrial complex staffed with incompetent doctors and nurses. It's like going to Wal-Mart for one's health care.

36   zzyzzx   2013 Sep 25, 11:10pm  

freak80 says

From what I'm reading, Kaiser sounds a lot like Guthrie here in the Southern Tier of NY. A monopolized, corporatized medical-industrial complex staffed with incompetent doctors and nurses. It's like going to Wal-Mart for one's health care.

Actually, everyone I know who has Kaiser likes it. I liked it when I had it.

37   freak80   2013 Sep 25, 11:14pm  

zzyzzx says

Actually, everyone I know who has Kaiser likes it. I liked it when I had it.

I guess it's all anecdotal.

I had a very bad experience at Guthrie, our local Wal-Mart for health care. I ended up in the hospital thanks to some (legal) mind-altering drugs they prescribed for me.

38   Homeboy   2013 Sep 26, 4:30am  

freak80 says

Whoa whoa wait...

There was a time when facts mattered?

Yeah, back in the time before Fox News.

39   freak80   2013 Sep 26, 4:32am  

curious2 says

It's especially sad when they're addicted to toxic placebos that don't even bring them any benefit.

You mean SSRI's?

40   zzyzzx   2013 Sep 26, 4:39am  

Homeboy says

Yeah, back in the time before Fox News.

Obligatory:

41   freak80   2013 Sep 26, 4:47am  

Oh noes, Big Government!!!

42   curious2   2013 Sep 26, 5:11am  

freak80 says

You mean SSRI's?

Yes, they were advertised on TV as "not habit forming" until overwhelming evidence showed physical dependence, in fact some reports found them more addictive than cocaine or heroin. Hospital maternity wards report neonatal convulsions due to withdrawal from paroxetine, which is also a taratogen, but there is no easy advice for women who become pregnant on that drug because withdrawal can also cause miscarriage. Unfortunately, Homefool believes only the manufacturers' and dealers' paid verbiage, and dismisses all contrary evidence. Somehow the "not habit forming" phrase encourages prescribers, so it gets recycled a lot, from the original heroin (advertised as a non-addictive version of morphine) all the way through to Purdue's Oxycontin fraud (and notice the executives weren't imprisoned, even as teens resorted to prostitution and theft to maintain their habit and even Rush Bimbaugh got arrested).

43   freak80   2013 Sep 26, 5:27am  

I was put on SSRI's for anxiety disorder. The drugs only made the anxiety worse and I ended up in the hospital with a full-blown panic attack.

But I guess that's a whole new topic.

44   curious2   2013 Sep 26, 5:46am  

freak80 says

But I guess that's a whole new topic.

Yes, for now, but I think that with this legislation the Congress crossed the Rubicon. For the first time, they can conscript everyone into contracts with their corporate sponsors, essentially for life. The false purported rationale (if everyone is required to buy whatever their sponsors are selling, then prices will magically be lower) can apply more readily to other markets. For example, if everyone were required to buy a Toll Brothers house, or a GM car, then those corporations could reap economies of scale and reduce advertising costs, and might conceivably pass those savings along to customers. Everyone needs housing - and a car of course, mustn't walk or bicycle anywhere. If everyone were required to eat broccoli and exercise regularly, they might be healthier, so medical costs might be lower with fewer unhealthy people shifting their costs onto everyone else; it will be interesting to see if insurers begin writing those requirements into their "Affordable" policies. Worse, with insurers buying hospital corporations and corporate practice groups, I wonder what "preventive care" mandates may creep into those insurance contracts, in order to comply with the MLR requirements. (Homefool Dislikes and then Ignores the fact that the corporate parent of an insurer can also own a for-profit provider, thus shifting the profit from the insurance side to the network provider side, e.g. go get yourself irradiated so our insurance subsidiary incurs a $1k "medical loss" while our provider subsidiary incurs a $1k revenue; don't worry if you can't afford it, we'll use you as a conduit for government subsidies. The implications are limitless, and I suspect the OP headline marks only the beginning of the nightmares that may flow from this legislation.

45   freak80   2013 Sep 26, 5:55am  

curious2 says

Yes, for now, but I think that with this legislation the Congress crossed the Rubicon. For the first time, they can conscript everyone into contracts with
their corporate sponsors, essentially for life.

So it sounds like America's health care racket (I mean system) will be even worse than before?

Right now we seem to have the worst of "socialized medicine" (high costs) and the wrost of "free market medicine" (lack of access).

But I guess the whole notion of going to a Canadian type system is just too "socialist" for God fearin' hard workin' 'Murricans.

46   Homeboy   2013 Sep 26, 4:32pm  

zzyzzx says

Obligatory:

Wow, you really believe that there's a "liberal" media bias, don't you?

Amazing.

47   Homeboy   2013 Sep 26, 4:51pm  

freak80 says

So it sounds like America's health care racket (I mean system) will be even worse than before?

How so?

Before we had:

1. Double-digit yearly increases in healthcare premiums

2. Anyone could be denied health insurance simply at the whim of the insurance company

3. If the insurance company deemed you a high risk, there was no limit on how much extra they could charge you for insurance (that's if they even offered insurance to you at all)

4. Even if you worked 40 hours or more per week, your employer didn't have to even offer you health insurance.

5. For jobs that did provide health insurance, many people were stuck at their job because they couldn't afford to lose the insurance.

6. Medical costs were the number one reason for personal bankruptcy.

7. There was no standardization of what coverage was offered and therefore no way to compare policies in an informed way.

So please, explain how it's going to be worse than THAT.

48   zzyzzx   2013 Sep 26, 11:14pm  

Homeboy says

Wow, you really believe that there's a "liberal" media bias, don't you?

Amazing.

Wow, you really believe that there's a "Fox News" bias, don't you?

Amazing.

49   zzyzzx   2013 Sep 26, 11:27pm  

Homeboy says

So please, explain how it's going to be worse than THAT.

I am sure that even you understand that we simply exchanged one set of problems for another set of problems.

Homeboy says

7. There was no standardization of what coverage was offered and therefore no way to compare policies in an informed way.

The standardizations were at the state level, now they might be at the national level (unless some states have requirements that exceed the federal requirements).

Homeboy says

6. Medical costs were the number one reason for personal bankruptcy.

Tell that to the people whose rates went up like the person in the article. They should be able to buy the same bare bones plan that they had before, but Obama decided differently.

Homeboy says

4. Even if you worked 40 hours or more per week, your employer didn't have to even offer you health insurance.

And they still don't under some circumstances. This will keep some small companies from expanding. Exactly how does that help?

Homeboy says

1. Double-digit yearly increases in healthcare premiums

Which will most likely occur under Obamacare as well.

50   SiO2   2013 Sep 27, 1:02am  

EBGuy says

It's pretty clear from the article that they had some type of catastrophic care plan. In fact, if you look at articles that are critical of ACA, most compare catastrophic plans for the young and healthy to what will be available under ACA. It's somewhat sneaky, as it's not an apples to apples comparison, but it is also legitimate as many of the catastrophic care plans will no longer be offered. The ACA limits premiums for older folks to 3x those of younger folks. The younger generation does take a bit of a hit.

Also, don't forget that pre-aca, some policies had a lifetime cap. So, have an expensive ailment, hit the cap, goodbye.

And, through the magic of recission, when someone files an expensive claim, the insurance company then could look for some overlooked pre-existing condition and cancel the policy retroactively. Without returns of premiums of course. "Oh, I see that you forgot to mention that you went to the doctor for the flu on Nov 2, 2002. So of course this is a pre-existing condition, and we can't cover your cancer treatment."

And in both cases, it would be difficult to impossible to get another policy.

But yes, it did only cost $333 per month.

51   zzyzzx   2013 Sep 27, 1:31am  

SiO2 says

Also, don't forget that pre-aca, some policies had a lifetime cap. So, have an expensive ailment, hit the cap, goodbye.

The lifetime cap was a good thing. Eliminating that means they we will be paying millions so that someone can live an extra few weeks.

52   curious2   2013 Sep 27, 5:10am  

SiO2 says

through the magic of recission, when someone files an expensive claim, the insurance company then could look for some overlooked pre-existing condition and cancel the policy retroactively.

Insurers can still do that. The ability to rescind for "fraud" was preserved specifically, so don't forget that headcold or yeast infection you had as a teenager, they can say you "defrauded" them. I lose patience with Obamadrones who drone on about "no more pre-existing conditions" as if their snake oil was going to cure everyone of everything, heal the lame, etc. All you've done is handed the same people with the same incentives more money and more money and power than ever before. As Homefool's own statistics showed, premium increases had been slowing because they were already too high; costs should have fallen, but Obamacare stepped in to push them even higher than would have occurred under prior law. Morons who know nothing about math fell for scary headlines about how premiums on their prior rates would go higher than total GDP, a mathematically impossible event, but it became somehow a rallying cry to increase spending further than had ever been possible before. This being a real estate forum, Obamacare is like requiring everyone to sign a 125% mortgage backed by Fannie & Freddie so you can overpay for your mandatory house that's badly built on a shoddy foundation and with a leaky roof but it costs triple because you have to buy it no matter what and don't worry if you can't afford it the subsidies will shift the costs onto your neighbors' kids.

53   Homeboy   2013 Sep 27, 5:26am  

zzyzzx says

Homeboy says

Wow, you really believe that there's a "liberal" media bias, don't you?

Amazing.

Wow, you really believe that there's a "Fox News" bias, don't you?

Amazing.

Ha, I see what you did there. Man, you are so fucking clever.

54   Tenpoundbass   2013 Sep 27, 5:26am  

Homeboy says

So please, explain how it's going to be worse than THAT.

You clearly wouldn't understand, as you thought Romney would be worse than Obama. At this point, what would be the quantifier?

Eat your shit sandwich and shut the fuck up already. When shits fucked up, it's a fools task to try to assess the situation by defaulting the outcome to "The best of the current offerings".

When you're lost at sea, you would expect drinking salt water would be better than nothing, as well. But you'd be deadly mistaken.

55   Tenpoundbass   2013 Sep 27, 5:34am  

What I don't get is how people defend Obamacare, by citing the rash of shit that Homeboy so dimly outlined above.
I mean yeah, we had pre-exsiting clauses, but NO premiums weren't raising every year until the Liberals did a number on it.
And yes one would go bankrupt if they are caught with a major catastrophic ailment with out insurance.

But let me put it to you like this. What good is an insurance if paying the premiums requires your last budgeted dollar, when in the event you might need major medical care, but you haven't met your yearly deductible, copay and co insurance payment.

Most clinics, hospitals, and doctors are going to want any portion you are required to pay upfront.

So basically Obamacare already bankrupts people long before they ever get fucking sick. It's going to be Obamacare its self that is going to make people the sickest the most.

56   Homeboy   2013 Sep 27, 5:40am  

zzyzzx says

I am sure that even you understand that we simply exchanged one set of problems for another set of problems.

The question was, how does Obamacare make those specific problems I itemized WORSE? I see you are unable to answer the question.

zzyzzx says

The standardizations were at the state level, now they might be at the national level (unless some states have requirements that exceed the federal requirements).

Wrong. There WAS no standardization "at the state level". Insurance companies offered 15 or 20 different plans, each with different amounts of coverage and different premiums. There was no way to compare different companies' insurance plans side by side. You can pretend to yourself and try to revise history, but everyone with a brain and a memory knows what you're saying is complete bullshit.

zzyzzx says

Tell that to the people whose rates went up like the person in the article. They should be able to buy the same bare bones plan that they had before, but Obama decided differently.

If they can't afford insurance, they will get a subsidy. A family has to make over $90,000 before they are ineligible for the subsidy. Sorry, but I've got no sympathy for people making six figures complaining they can't afford stuff. You can afford it; you're just being pussies.

Nobody should have to have a "bare bones" health insurance policy. That's ridiculous. We have an inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and those 3 things require good health. We all have a basic human right to receive quality health care, not "bare bones" healthcare.

zzyzzx says

And they still don't under some circumstances. This will keep some small companies from expanding. Exactly how does that help?

That is your claim, but you have not proven it. I have seen no statistical evidence that business growth has been impaired by Obamacare. You do understand that anecdotes are not data, right? God, please tell me you understand that.zzyzzx says

Which will most likely occur under Obamacare as well.

That is your claim, but you have not even a scintilla of evidence to support it.

57   zzyzzx   2013 Sep 27, 5:44am  

Homeboy says

The question was, how does Obamacare make those specific problems I itemized WORSE? I see you are unable to answer the question.

When someone goes from paying $333 a month to $965 a month, don't you think that's worse???

58   zzyzzx   2013 Sep 27, 5:45am  

Homeboy says

That is your claim, but you have not proven it. I have seen no statistical evidence that business growth has been impaired by Obamacare

I have seen on TV small business owners saying that they will not expend beyond the limit where Obamacars kicks in.

59   zzyzzx   2013 Sep 27, 5:46am  

Homeboy says

Nobody should have to have a "bare bones" health insurance policy.

Why do you hate freedom???

60   Homeboy   2013 Sep 27, 5:51am  

CaptainShuddup says

What I don't get is how people defend Obamacare, by citing the rash of shit that Homeboy so dimly outlined above.

Why I don't get is how mouth-breathing Fox News junkies just outright MAKE SHIT UP THAT ISN'T TRUE.

CaptainShuddup says

I mean yeah, we had pre-exsiting clauses, but NO premiums weren't raising every year until the Liberals did a number on it.

That is just a complete, utter fabrication. It amazes me that you have no qualms whatsoever about simply lying to our faces. I know you are aware of the truth, because I have posted the data on this forum many times. I can only conclude that you have no morals and that making up complete bullshit doesn't bother you in the least.

And it's "rising", not "raising".

CaptainShuddup says

But let me put it to you like this. What good is an insurance if paying the premiums requires your last budgeted dollar, when in the event you might need major medical care, but you haven't met your yearly deductible, copay and co insurance payment.

More crap. The coverage will be BETTER, not worse. There will now be limits on deductibles, co-pays, and out of pocket expenses.

You know what this is REALLY about? Rich fuckers being afraid they aren't going to have the upper hand on everything anymore.

61   Homeboy   2013 Sep 27, 5:52am  

zzyzzx says

I have seen on TV small business owners saying that they will not expend beyond the limit where Obamacars kicks in.

Yup - I seen it on the TV.

The plural of anecdote is not data.

62   Homeboy   2013 Sep 27, 5:58am  

zzyzzx says

When someone goes from paying $333 a month to $965 a month, don't you think that's worse???

I think that article is bullshit propaganda, and I already explained why. Nobody is getting insurance for their whole family for $333 a month. If they really are getting that price, it's some catastrophic plan that essentially isn't any better than no insurance at all. How is that "better"? How is paying for so-called "insurance" that doesn't actually cover anything better than getting real insurance that DOES cover your healthcare? Lakermania thought insurance was that cheap in Arkansas, until I pointed out that insurance is actually MORE expensive there. This is the level of ignorance I'm dealing with here.

Really, Fox News should be the Goliath in that cartoon, because they obviously are succeeding in making a lot of people believe their propaganda.

63   zzyzzx   2013 Sep 27, 5:59am  

Homeboy says

Nobody is getting insurance for their whole family for $333 a month

Those people were.

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