I know we have a lot of self-employed members. Just out of curiosity, have any of you signed up for the Health Insurance Marketplace and if so what are your thoughts? Do you feel like it’ll benefit you?
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I have been trying since early yesterday morning, and have not been able to complete the application. My beloved Commonwealth did not see fit to create their own marketplace, so I have to queue up with everyone else in the country at the one (overloaded) federal site.
Walter
On Oct 2, 2013, at 2:32 PM, RavenManiac wrote:
I know we have a lot of self-employed members. Just out of curiosity, have any of you signed up for the Health Insurance Marketplace and if so what are your thoughts? Do you feel like it’ll benefit you?
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Same here. The Commonwealth of Virginia is also relying on the Federal Government’s site.
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I’m in South Carolina, where they have yet to admit they lost the Civil
War, let alone that the “internet” exists (and isn’t a gub’ment
con-spiracy)!
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Here in England we take our health service for granted. It’s far from perfect, but you can just turn up at a hospital and you will get treated and not asked for your credit card details. Your republicans would judge this to be a socialist policy - which in the US is no different from being a communist.
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If we were starting from scratch, developing a universal, government run healthcare system would probably be much easier.
What worries me the most about all of this is our government’s current track record with running other quasi-govermental companies, such as Amtrak, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, General Motors, and of course the USPS. If I’m not mistaken, none of those organizations are doing particularly well.
Still, we can’t continue on our current path of 25% healthcare premium increases every year. BTW, my thanks to our neighbors across the pond. I’m currently getting a lot of my prescriptions from the UK at less than 1/2 of what they cost here in the US, and that includes shipping.
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The problem with the Affordable Health Care Act is that it doesn’t even come close to resolving the problems it was supposed to address.
The pre-existing problem with the US health care system (no pun intended) is that there was already too much federal (and some state) involvement. The Feds already regulate where a hospital can be built, how big it can be, and to a certain extent what services it can provide. That kills competition right there (read, raises prices). Health litigation is out of control and causes doctors and institutions to order medical tests and procedures designed to cover their butts, not necessarily help the patient (read, raises prices). Federal law prohibited insurance companies from selling across state borders (read, raises prices). The list goes on.
The Affordable Health Care Act (which has had nearly 20 major changes to it to date) is a tangled mess that simply will not work. While sold on a number of promises (including participation would be voluntary), during the Supreme Court case it was argued by the administration that it was, in fact, a tax. Hmmmm.
I’m turning 59 and take no medications (an occasional aspirin). I eat well (read overweight — or under tall) but have a resting heart rate of 58bpm and my blood pressure is 110/70. I only need catastrophic health care insurance.
With Obamacare raising its ugly head, the cost to me is not as personal (in terms of health care) as it is a drag on the society in which I live. The problem with the cost of health insurance was created by bureaucrats and politicians in the first place. Why on earth would we think that the purveyors of all the agencies RavenManiac pointed out could “fix” the problem. I would add one more to the list (and there are others). The Energy Department was created under the Carter administration to assure that the USA would become energy independent within a decade. That turned out well, now hasn’t it!
[ Sorry for the lengthy rant, though this is “off topic” after all. ]
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I’m already covered through the V.A. for which I’m grateful.
Todd
Just out of curiosity, have any of you signed up for the Health Insurance Marketplace and if so what are your thoughts? Do you feel like it’ll benefit you?
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The problem with the Affordable Health Care Act is that it doesn’t even
come close to resolving the problems it was supposed to address.
The problem is that criticism of the ACA precedes the implementation of the
law. It’s a bit like telling people how your Christmas was, months in
advance of the actual event. I say let’s get it implemented and see if it
fails or not. Then let’s talk about fixing or scrapping it.
There was a recent poll which showed that while the majority of respondents
were against Obamacare, they were absolutely in favor of the provisions of
the Affordable Care Act. Let that sink in a bit.
I’m tired of all these “Obama-scare” talking points and endlessly parroted
falsehoods. Truth is most people don’t know what they’re talking about and
the idea that when we can’t get our way by means of the Constitutional and
Venerated Traditions of our Democracy we can just, I don’t know, go off the
deep end and hold the country hostage is just batshit crazy.
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It’s going to save us almost $1400 a month with lower company’s with my same provider.
If people are happy with their current plan there’s no need to change.
On Oct 2, 2013, at 1:41 PM, Todd email@hidden wrote:
I’m already covered through the V.A. for which I’m grateful.
Todd
http://xiiro.comJust out of curiosity, have any of you signed up for the Health Insurance Marketplace and if so what are your thoughts? Do you feel like it’ll benefit you?
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That’s “lower copays”
On Oct 2, 2013, at 1:47 PM, ginjg email@hidden wrote:
It’s going to save us almost $1400 a month with lower company’s with my same provider.
If people are happy with their current plan there’s no need to change.On Oct 2, 2013, at 1:41 PM, Todd email@hidden wrote:
I’m already covered through the V.A. for which I’m grateful.
Todd
http://xiiro.comJust out of curiosity, have any of you signed up for the Health Insurance Marketplace and if so what are your thoughts? Do you feel like it’ll benefit you?
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On 2 Oct 2013, 8:46 pm, The Big Erns wrote:
The problem is that criticism of the ACA precedes the implementation of the
law. It’s a bit like telling people how your Christmas was, months in
advance of the actual event. I say let’s get it implemented and see if it
fails or not. Then let’s talk about fixing or scrapping it.There was a recent poll which showed that while the majority of respondents
were against Obamacare, they were absolutely in favor of the provisions of
the Affordable Care Act. Let that sink in a bit.I’m tired of all these “Obama-scare” talking points and endlessly parroted
falsehoods. Truth is most people don’t know what they’re talking about and
the idea that when we can’t get our way by means of the Constitutional and
Venerated Traditions of our Democracy we can just, I don’t know, go off the
deep end and hold the country hostage is just batshit crazy.
I would tend to agree. Although I’m a little skeptical my family really needs affordable health care—especially since I’m self employed and the only income provider in our home.
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… I’m a little skeptical my family really needs affordable health care …
What? Does your family need unaffordable health care? 
There’s a debate about whether we have healthcare system or a sickcare
system.
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I was paying nearly $2,000/month for HMO coverage until last year, when I finally got fed up and went hunting for something cheaper. Currently paying a bit less than half that, but the coverage is so bad that it doesn’t even qualify as minimum coverage under the ACA. If I can ever get past the stupid account validation issues (Backbone.js is probably not what I would have chosen for building this site – it’s barely out of diapers) then I can see what my premium will be. Fingers crossed.
Walter
On Oct 2, 2013, at 5:09 PM, Ernie Simpson wrote:
… I’m a little skeptical my family really needs affordable health care …
What? Does your family need unaffordable health care?
There’s a debate about whether we have healthcare system or a sickcare
system.
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Same here. I’ve tried three times and each time something crashes. Reminds me of a few days ago when I tried to upgrade my iPhone to IOS 7.
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On 2 Oct 2013, 9:09 pm, The Big Erns wrote:
… I’m a little skeptical my family really needs affordable health care …
What? Does your family need unaffordable health care?
There’s a debate about whether we have healthcare system or a sickcare
system.
You’re too funny.
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This might be of interest: What Does Obamacare Mean For Photographers? | Fstoppers
Its not something that effects me being in the UK but thought this an interesting and open minded article.
s
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On 2 Oct 2013, 8:46 pm, The Big Erns wrote:
The problem is that criticism of the ACA precedes the implementation of the
law. It’s a bit like telling people how your Christmas was, months in
advance of the actual event. I say let’s get it implemented and see if it
fails or not. Then let’s talk about fixing or scrapping it.
Erni, really?
How’s this for your scenario. On October 15th, you get a letter from your sister telling you that she’s coming to visit you for two weeks, December 15th through New Year’s Eve. She will be there with her deadbeat husband, five ill behaved kids, and two dogs (who crapped all over the place and ate your sofa last time). Your wife already agreed to having her stay (in your bedroom, you and your wife will be sleeping in the garage loft where the heater still doesn’t work). That’s all on top of the notice you just received from your boss that you are being cut back to 25 hours per week.
Still think you’re going to have the same Christmas as before?
Some aspects of the ACA are unpredictable, many more are. For a 2,900 page law that nobody read before they voted for it (plus the nearly 10,000 pages of regulations that have been added), there is much more not to like than to feel good about.
The more proper comparative isn’t predicting how your Christmas is going to be. Rather, your 10 year old son tells you he is going to learn how to juggle using three razor sharp Bowie knives. I don’t think we take a wait and see approach to figure out how disastrous the results may be.
There was a recent poll which showed that while the majority of respondents
were against Obamacare, they were absolutely in favor of the provisions of
the Affordable Care Act. Let that sink in a bit.
There are three kinds of liars: liars, damned liars, and statisticians. Speaking as a degreed statistician, the vast majority of polls aren’t worth spit. So, you’ve not persuaded me at all on this one.
I’m tired of all these “Obama-scare” talking points and endlessly parroted
falsehoods. Truth is most people don’t know what they’re talking about and
the idea that when we can’t get our way by means of the Constitutional and
Venerated Traditions of our Democracy we can just, I don’t know, go off the
deep end and hold the country hostage is just batshit crazy.
I agree that most people, including the politicians at the center of this mess, don’t know what they are talking about. The media isn’t doing a good job of reporting, they’re too obsessed in who is going to do what when rather than an honest investigation into “the facts.”
It is open for debate as to which political faction your “deep end” comment is targeted (though I have a hint from your use of the phrase Obama-scare). I’m all for playing by the rules of our democracy within a republic. I just wish all of the politicians would follow the Constitution and Bill of Rights as they have sworn to do.
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… So, you’ve not persuaded me at all on this one.
Somehow I’m un-astonished that I wasn’t able to. You’ll know I’m equally
unconvinced of your knowledge and experience with how well the ACA is
working. Whenever it actually takes effect, that is.
And - just to end any speculative debate - I am a proud Liberal… not one of
those fake “liberals” who pretends it’s okay for their party to do the
things they rail at the other for doing. I’d rather have Single Payer like
Canada than Obamacare… BUT it IS the settled law of the land, passed by a
Constitutionally-elected majority of our Legislative Branch, signed by the
Constitutionally-elected (twice) Executive branch, and upheld by the
Constitutionally-appointed Judicial Branch. So it’s all been above-board,
fair-and-square, by the rules, let’s just get on with it and find out if
it’s good or not and leave off with the kamikaze politics.
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Perhaps I should start a thread about religion. 
According to the latest polls, there are 48 million uninsured people in the US. Hopefully, this new healthcare plan, perfect or not, will help some of our fellow Americans.
p.s. Nice post from seoras. I found that very interesting.
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