Donald Trump said he has opposed Obamacare since ‘before they even voted on it.’ That is a lie.

[highplainsdem]

Source: Toronto Star

In fact, Trump issued no such scathing criticism. He had positive things to say about Obamacare, along with some warnings about costs to corporations, even on the 2010 day it was approved by Congress. His views on that day can best be described as ambivalent.

His false insistence that he was opposed to the law back then, in the face of contrary evidence from an interview at the time, is similar to his false insistence that he had opposed the Iraq invasion, which an interview from the time shows he had at least tentatively supported.

-snip-

Trump soon began criticizing the law more directly. Days later, according to Twitter posts at the time, he complained of its cost on Fox. His words that week, after the law’s passage, surprised one conservative tweeter who currently identifies as a Trump supporter: “NOW Donald Trump is speaking out more firmly against health care bill? Where has he been? I keep asking,” the person, who tweets under @Kansaspider, wrote on March 27, 2010.

Before he became a vehement opponent of Obamacare, Trump was a vehement supporter of Canada’s singer-payer health system, which he now deems a failure. In 2000, he advocated even greater government involvement in health care than the Democrats eventually approved in 2010.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2016/10/26/donald-trump-said-he-has-opposed-obamacare-since-before-they-even-voted-on-it-that-is-a-lie.html

[sharp_stick]

1. Donald Trump has been fully on

both sides of every damned issue we now face and he and his supporters simply ignore the positions they don't like. The most pathetic thing about this is that we have no idea what he would actually do or support once he's in office.

Personally I don't know if Trump himself has a clue what he thinks about most issues. I don't think he has a damned clue what most of them actually are.

[Moonwalk]

2. What's one more lie between a would-be dictator and his sheep?

[Angry Dragon]

3. Trump has stock in flip-flops

[BlueStreak]

4. Well, we really need to get real about "Obamacare"

Our health insurance system in this country sucks -- at least for anybody who does not have Medicare or participate in an employer-based group plan. Obamacare did get some subsidies that allowed millions to get covered. That is great. That just means that the taxpayers are footing the bill for a really horrible system.

Of course, what the Republicans want is to go back to the the same horrible system minus the minimal protections that Obamacare did give us. That's no solution.

But if we can't improve things substantially (and I don't see how we can), this whole thing will collapse under its own weight.

Here's my situation, and I'm sure this is shared by millions of others. I am a few years away from Medicare, but have retired early. I have to buy my own insurance, but don't qualify for any subsidies. I'm not complaining about that. I am very fortunate to have the means to do that. I am complaining about having to pay twice as much as any other advanced society for this coverage.

As I look at the plans for 2017, there are 4 companies writing in my area, and my current policy will no longer be offered. I will have to change companies. I'm certainly OK with that because I have had UHC and they are nothing to brag about.

The most equivalent plan in the 2017 exchange is $1800/mo for 2 people versus$1500/mo today. That's a 20% increase. My current policy and the $1800 policy are HSA policies. I can get a non-HSA policy for about $1300/month, which I will consider. The problem is that business about "If you like your doctor, you can keep him or her." No, that is simply not true. I have been researching the networks. I have found policies that include all of the specialists I have ever seen, but don't include my PCP. I went through this same thing last year. I had to pay an extra $300/mo to get a policy that included my PCP.

It is almost impossible to figure out who is in what network. I have called the group practice for my PCP to simply ask them if there are ANY exchange plans they will honor. They can't tell me. It may take weeks to get this answer.

The bottom line is that I like my doc and I am willing to pay a little extra if necessary to continue to see him. But nobody can even tell my how to do that.

"Obamacare" did not cause this problem. I would probably have the same issue if there were no exchange. But the whole thing is f*cked up beyond belief. By not insisting on real solutions to the key issues, Obama has left this whole thing open to very easy and effective criticism. I am not convinced either Obama or Hillary gets this.

[moose65]

5. I'm sorry to hear that!

I have health insurance through my job, but I've always wondered about all those "in-network" vs. "out of network" things. What is the reason for that? I don't understand why insurance companies should have the right to interfere in our health care decisions by dictating where we go and who we see. It's crazy - and it's one thing that needs to be changed. I hope we can get some things done in the next 2 years!

[BlueStreak]

6. Money

the "networks" are the insurance companies' way of crunching down on the providers. This crept in under the guise of "HMO", but it quickly became a way of offering cheaper policies that would only pay for services with providers who would work cheaper.

What is bewildering to me is the fact that the 6 specialists I have seen in the past 10 years are all in the networks, but my primary care physician is in a group that is not in network.

This group is affiliated with (or maybe actually a subsidiary of) the major hospital that is closest to my home, and would be the natural place I would go in an emergency. If this medical group is not in network, that makes me wonder if NONE of the docs practicing at that hospital are in network. That would not be acceptable. There just isn't any easy way to find this out.

Obamacare should have required that the networks are either identical or else very well documented. But of course, the bottom feeder insurance companies don't want you to be able to discover this on your own. They want you to commit to the policy. Then when you need services, you will find out that you have to pay the out-of-network rates. And my guess is the out-of-network rates end up with me paying the majority and the insurance paying little or nothing for most services.

[riversedge]

7. ANOTHER lie to add to the growing Trump bucket of LIES!