Do people in MASS like their new "universal" health care system?

[garybeck]

I heard this discussed on the radio and prior I had little understanding of it. I thought, finally at least one state is giving universal health care. Maybe some others will follow. But after listening on the radio it seemed like the reality was the complete antithesis. They said, instead of providing health care, the new law simply REQUIRED EVERYONE TO BUY HEALTH CARE BY LAW, just like we HAVE TO buy car insurance or we can be fined for not having it. I believe there was some assistance for low income folks but overall, I would be against solving this crisis by making everyone buy insurance. It just seems like another huge windfall for the insurance companies, and another expense for the middle class, one we cannot afford!

I'm afraid that when people in power try to fix our health care system, they're going to do something like this on a national scale -- solve the problem by just requiring everyone to purchase health care by law. This is NOT what we need! It would make things worse, not better! Could you imagine, having to supply proof of health insurance along with your tax forms every year?

[sarcasmo]

1. Please tell me this was a Republican idea. The only people who benefit from this

are the Insurance companies who will hold your health care policy and screw you when you become ill. Look what happened to the Insurance holders from the Katrina fiasco, they still have not received their money.

[RobofSWVA]

5. there are people who don't get health insurance

solely because they don't feel like paying for it. The concept of being able to afford HI and not buying it boggles my mind. I wouldn't put myself in such an insecure spot if I were in their shoes.

[Warpy]

7. Do you know what health insurance costs if you're over 50

and chronically ill?

In my case, I could afford health insurance if I went back to living on rice and root vegetables, although I'd no longer have to choose between having a home and having health insurance.

Plus, the only insurance I can get is Blue Cross, which covers 80% of costs after the deductible. Since I can go as bankrupt over that 20% as I can over the full amount, to hell with them and their overpriced coverage.

Single payer NOW. Nothing else will do.

[sarcasmo]

14. I understand health care costs. When you treat it like car Insurance how

can that help anyone but the Insurance company.

[antigop]

18. Even if you are not chronically ill, it's still expensive

The only thing the Massachusetts mandate for health insurance gives is a windfall to the insurance companies. All it does is force people to participate in today's broken system. Since the cheapest policies will be high-deductible policies, that's what many people will have to take. Big deal -- you can combine it with a health savings account to cover the deductible, but how many people can realistically do that?

[One_Life_To_Give]

22. If it had decent coverage

The 6.6% of income wouldn't be too bad.
But the deductibles and co-pays can easily dwarf the premiums on some policies.

But I also know couples in there 60's for whom COBRA coverage is well in excess of 20K/yr for Blue Cross.

[RobofSWVA]

23. COBRA is temp coverage though

It's designed to be a transition from private healthcare to Medicare or from one plan to another. It was created so that long term use would be expensive (up to 102% premium; 150% for someone who is disabled). The idea behind COBRA is to prevent a break in coverage in case something happens. If someone has high premiums because of COBRA it’s the former employer’s fault.

[Warpy]

24. 20K a year would be a bargain basement rate for me

When I get sick, I don't fool around.

They really, really don't want me on their rolls. So they price it prohibitively.

If you want any proof that the corporate "personhood" is a psychopathic one, just look at insurance corporations.

[sandnsea]

27. $750 max out of pocket

And that's for people at 2-300% of poverty.

http://www.hcfama.org/act/documents/CommowealthCare-200-300fpl-LowPremium-Benefits.pdf

[Sapere aude]

31. Why would someone who can afford health insurance go without it?

That is a myth my friend. A right wing talking point at best.

I am a controller at a medical clinic and we see people who have no health insurance. They have to pay more for care then if they had coverage. They don't have coverage because they work at a place with no benefits and those places pay around minimum wage or they are unemployed. They don't qualify for medicare or medical because they are not yet at the poverty level. At that point they are forced to go without food or shelter if they want health insurance. They may have had coverage but they lost a job and could not afford to pay COBRA ins.

[moc]

32. The willfully uninsured but financially capable individual is a myth.

Although such individuals exist, they comprise such an minute portion of the uninsured population to not be worthy of comment.

The vast majority of uninsured are the working poor whose employers don't provide insurance but who are too financially strapped to pay for an individual policy.

You might want to read up on some healthy policy before commenting on issues of lack of health insurance in this country.

[raccoon]

33. There are some people who can't get individual insurance, because

of a pre-existing condition.

Then there are others who can get an individual policy, but the insurance companies attach riders stating that they will not pay jack for pre-existing conditions the person may have.

[moc]

35. My dh has a cousin whose family was trying to purchase

an individual policy because the husband was self-employed. The insurance company they found wanted to include a rider that would exclude paying for a c-section in the event the wife ever got pg again because she'd had 3 c-sections for her 3 kids. :wow: Bastards. :mad:

[RobofSWVA]

36. as an Insurance agent...

I can assure you that willfully uninsured is no myth. There are plenty of people that are so self absorbed with the idea that nothing will happen to them they won't set up a plan. Sometimes I feel like I'm beating my head against a wall talking to them about their needs.

Also, as an agent, Let me state on record the guys in our office have discussed this new law. The general consensus was that it was indeed a bad thing for the lower class that simply can't afford coverage. If anything, it may raise costs for the middle class to subsidize the less fortunate. It's a justification for driving prices up even further by the larger insurers.

Before it's brought up: no I don't control costs. Those are set by the companies I represent. I try to write affordable plans that have the correct coverages and deductibles when I do health (95% of my time is with life though). No I can't refund my commission. That's illegal and I go to jail for doing that. Please don't blame honest agents for health care costs.

[moc]

37. What proportion of the uninsured are willfully uninsured?

Do you know? How much do they have to pay out of pocket to have a reasonable health policy?

I don't want your anecdotal information, I want to know what the stats are at the national level for uninsured.

The fact remains that the VAST number of uninsured are uninsured because their employer doesn't provide it and they earn too little to pay for it out of pocket. I know what my (self-employed) physician sister pays for health insurance for a family of 7 (not a great policy either), and there's no way in hell most working poor can pay those kinds of premiums.

Yep, it's a right wing talking point. "Personal responsibility" crap at its worst.

[hughee99]

12. They may try to stick it on Romney...

but nothing in Massachusetts can get passed without the Democrats in the statehouse. I'm sure if this turns out to be a disaster (or at the very least, unhelpful) Romney will get all the blame in the short term, but Patrick will have to do something about this when he gets in, because he'll end up assuming a good part of the blame (when it is shown to be ineffective) if he does nothing.

[valerief]

15. Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Romney the Repuke. nt

[Freddie Stubbs]

20. It was passed by the state's overwealmingly Democratic legislature

So perhaps it is not as bad as you are are speculating.

[sandnsea]

28. It's a good start

The only people who could possibly bitch are those who don't know anything about it or are ideologically driven. Anyone who knows what it is to need tens of thousands of dollars to stay alive, isn't going to be bitching about $18-$106 monthly premiums.

[One_Life_To_Give]

21. Unfortunatly Sal DeMasi

The Bill for Healthcare was created/sponsored by Senate Speaker Sal DeMasi.

[endarkenment]

2. RomneyCare will be a disaster.

Hopefully Patrick will work out some replacement that is both funded and functional and not a huge giveaway to BigHealthCo.

[bluerum]

3. The insurance companies love Mitt Romney. They will put him in

the white house if we don't nip this in the bud.

[rox63]

4. They haven't really got it going yet

We have a new Dem governor coming in January, and I'm hoping he'll fix the thing so that it works for the people, and not just the insurance companies.

[garybeck]

8. so I guess my interpretation is right, it's really as bad as it sounds?

what happens when they try to shove this down our throat on a national scale?

[Cleita]

6. It looks like the HMOs and health insurance companies wrote this

law and that it was sponsored by Republicans. (I don't know for sure but am making some basic assumptions.) It's like the POS prescription drug bill we Medicare recipients got thanks to the health care lobby in Washington.

:puke:

This is not universal, single payer health care. It's still privatized health care. This was the plan John Kerry was pushing when he ran for President. Did he have anything to do with this? The only way to get meaningful health care reform in this country is to outlaw private corporate insurance companies from selling health insurance and any for profit HMOs. Then extend an improved Medicare to cover everyone.

[papau]

17. I agree - perhaps start with "free" Medicare for 0 to 18 yr olds, and buy in for the rest

of us -

We can pay for it by increasing the payroll tax income base by including investment income in the income against which the payroll tax rate is applied- no need to increase the tax rate as long as only modest preventive and critical care benefits for the new folks.

A full blown Medicare for everyone would be an additional 8% (split 4 and 4, and it may be a 5 and 5) increase in the tax rate.

[sandnsea]

26. Is that what you support?

Because that's pretty much what the Mass program is.

[OzarkDem]

9. And health insurance isn't the same as health care

There's a concern that many of these policies people are forced to buy may end up not covering very much.

[Cleita]

10. Health insurance cherrypicks the young and healthy to lower

thier risk, which keeps coverage from the people who need health care, the sick and elderly. It's a bad system.

[papau]

16. The policies will not cover much - and strippeed down insurance does little to

improve health care.

[newscott]

11. I think it's a crappy idea. Health Care should be free.

Especially for those who can least afford it.

[sandnsea]

29. Gosh. It will be in Mass. n/t

[Romulus]

13. THANK YOU!!!!!

I have argued around and around with people that the "universal health care" was really a boondoggle for the insurance companies.

I am glad that SOMEONE sees what I see.

[endarkenment]

19. This plan is corrupt.

UHC does not have to be corrupt bullshit.

[moc]

34. You're right. There's a difference between universal health care

and single payor. The solution is to get rid of the (resource sucking) insurance companies altogether.

[sandnsea]

25. Commonwealth Care

Familes of 4, with household incomes under $60,000, could get health care assistance. Adult couples earning up to $40,000 a year, who don't qualify for medicare, could get health insurance for less than $200 a month.

http://www.hcfama.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Page.viewPage&pageID=588

Once again, I have to say people who bitch about this plan are people who have health insurance or are young and don't understand what it is to have typical aging diseases and not be able to see a doctor. We have a similar plan in Oregon and I'm on the waiting list. If there were a law that I had to have insurance, then the program would be fully funded and I'd have insurance and health care. Until people hate their health insurance, it isn't going to go away.

[area51]

30. Newt

It was Newt Gingrich's wet dream to create a law forcing everyone to buy health insurance. I'm sure psychopaths like him think that people are "too lazy" to buy health insurance unless forced (whatever happened to the nazi party "getting the govt. off of people's backs?). Rich bitches like Gingrich don't know what it's like to not be able to have enough money to buy healthcare, put food on the table, etc. We need to put the insurance cos. out of the healthcare equation, and start on the road to becoming a civilized nation by providing healthcare for everyone. We already pay enough in taxes to get it; there's no need for a tax raise.