The newest anti Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) story going around is nothing less than a personal attack on President Obama -- and sadly, it seems that a lot of the mainstream media is falling for it. It concerns a promise that President Obama made when the Affordable Care Act was being passed. He told Americans that if they had insurance they liked, they would be able to keep it.
Now we are hearing that some Americans are getting notices from their insurance companies saying their policies are going to be cancelled and replaced with new policies -- and that those new policies may come with a higher premium cost. The story is being reported as though it will affect most Americans who have insurance. Is this true? Did the president lie?
First, we must realize that although their are some cancellations, it will only affect about 6% of all Americans -- those who have purchased policies on their own. Employer-provided insurance plans are not affected. Next we need to understand why those policies are being cancelled. They are being cancelled because they do not provide the basic coverages now required by law. In other words, they were junk policies that people were scammed into buying.
Some might now say that they were happy with those junk policies. If so, it's only because they were lucky enough to not get a serious illness and need those policies to pay out for that illness. If they had gotten that serious illness, they would have been shocked at what little coverage they had been paying for -- and they would have been left out in the cold while the insurance companies refused to pay for their medical expenses.
So, are all of that 6% going to have to pay more for their new policies? A few will, but at least half of them (or more) won't be paying even more -- and some may actually pay less. That's because the insurance companies must now pay out at least 80% of their premiums in actual medical costs for their consumers (which is already resulting in premium reductions in many states). And many of those who do see their current premium rise will be able to find a less expensive policy in the insurance exchange -- a policy with all of the basic coverages now required of all insurance policies.
The president didn't lie to anyone. He just assumed that people wouldn't want a policy that was junk insurance, and didn't even provide the basic coverages all Americans really need. He underestimated the greed of the insurance companies, and their willingness to scam Americans into buying junk insurance with little or no real coverages.
These few Americans may be upset right now, and a few may even have to pay a little more, but they will all now have real insurance with the coverage they will need when they get a serious illness.
I do not just love irony, I am a connoisseur of it and this post and the one above are both dripping with it. So, President Obama is not liar because only 6%(?) of Americans lost the health policies he had assured them they could keep! Then above you accuse the GOP of being practitioners of dishonesty! Oh my giddy aunt ... simply too delicious!
ReplyDeleteAs an excuse for his lying you tell us that those, er, "junk policies" did not cover everything that the government has now mandated implying that the malcontents should be doffing their caps and saying, "Thank you, Mr. President." Probably, one of the items these 'junk policies' failed to offer was maternity cover for men!
I leave you with a more serious thought. Here you have a perfect example of socialism at work. The belief that a government and its commissars know better than you what is best for you. Thus, contracts freely entered into between buyer and seller are simply torn up by 'diktat'.
Pity poor America . . .
Spoken like a true right-winger. There is nothing "socialist" about the Affordable Care Act. It leaves insurance coverage (and medical decisions) in the hands of private insurance companies -- the capitalists. I wish it was socialist. That would be a lot better for everyone.
ReplyDelete"It leaves insurance coverage (and medical decisions) in the hands of private insurance companies"
ReplyDeleteExcept that the government dictates what should, or should not, be put into that insurance coverage. And that's what you call freedom?
I call it capitalist greed. Freedom would be to let the doctor make all medical decisions - not the insurance company.
DeleteBy 'diktat' Pres. Obama is saving the rest of us from having to pick up the tab for these people 'covered' by "junk policies" when they have to go to the hospital and find out that they aren't really covered for anything but two aspirin and a glass of water. "Contracts freely entered into between buyer and seller" now have to be transparent and actually pay for health care and not just the insurance company's CEO bonus!
ReplyDeleteWell said, GB.
DeleteThe doctor *does* take the medical decisions but the insurance company pays for what it contracted to pay on behalf of the client, no more and no less. Now your government has said that insurance companies WILL pay for what the government tells them. Consequently, your insurance companies will either cease offering medical insurance or they will raise prices to cover what the government has mandated. (The word 'suckers' comes to mind!)
ReplyDeleteWell done, Grama, now you will be paying for everyone to have a 'Rolls Royce' policy - awfully nice of you! When I say 'you' I mean 'you' because from now on less and less employers will be contributing anything to their workers.
Of course, all Federal employees, including Congressmen, will be on the very best policy of all at no cost - to them!
The best of all possible worlds is for every American to have what Federal employees, including Congressmen, have..."the very best policy of all at no cost - to them!" Right now we are in the process of covering @50 million people who have not had access to affordable health insurance like you have in GB or like our neighbors in Canada have. It's sad when the corporate profits of insurance companies or propagating a conservative ideology are more important than the health and well-being of people.
DeleteThe doctor can only make the decision the insurance company will allow (pay for). Fortunately, Obamacare will make them pay for more of what the doctor thinks is necessary.
ReplyDeleteWhere is your dog in this fight anyway? As a "subject of the Queen" (as you once described yourself) you probably already have decent health care assured by your government. Why would you want to deny that to U.S. citizens?
Ah, now you raise a point, Ted, of some importance. Why would I, a Brit living with the National(ised) Health Service deny that to my American 'cousins' for whom, I should add, I have much admiration and liking? The answer is simple - because it is a crap service! True, it does the bare minimum for just about a majority of people - but only just. At its worst, it is decrepit, wasteful, extravagant, cruel and uncaring. Should you doubt me, check out this:
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stafford_Hospital_scandal
And please note that this is not *un*typical. Let me remind you again, governments, that is, ALL governments of Right, Left or Centre, could not run a piss-up in a brewery! Even just the example of your government attempting just to *launch* this health scheme that they have 'planned' for decades gives you just a teensy-weensy clue as to what the actual service is likely to be!
WAKE UP! And ask yourself is there is anything that governments do well?
We can argue about whether something is done "well" or not, but government does do some things better than private companies do. Examples are national defense, social programs, and yes, medical care.
DeleteBy the way, what is either truthful or honest about this remark repeated, I believe, several times:
ReplyDelete“If you like your health-care plan, you’ll be able to keep your health-care plan. Period.”
I believe I answered that in my post.
DeleteTranslation: “If you like your health-care plan, you’ll be able to keep your health-care plan...as long as WE like it, because YOU can't possibly know what you should like, and WE know best. Period.”
ReplyDeleteCome on CT. You know its an effort to protect people from getting ripped off. Here in Texas, it's a requirement for drivers to have auto insurance, but the state won't let an insurance company rip you off by selling you a junk policy that has inadequate coverage. This is much the same. Consumers are being protected from wasting their money on junk policies that offer no real protection. Of course, if you believe corporations should be allowed to rip people off then you'll disagree.
DeleteTed, What's at issue here is not whether consumers are being "protected," - that's a whole other issue. As the title of your post so simply put it: "Did President Obama Lie About You Being Able to Keep Your Insurance?" This is what he said - on something like 29 separate, videotaped occasions:
Delete“If you like your health-care plan, you’ll be able to keep your health-care plan. Period.”
Full stop. No exceptions. Subject of both clauses: you. If you like your health-care plan, you'll be able to keep your health-care plan. Period." [Emphasis added] A simple "if, then" statement. As clear and unambiguous as George H.W. Bush's statement at the 1988 Republican Convention: "Read my lips: No new taxes."
Last night (November 4, 2013) during a speech at the St. Regis Hotel in Washington, DC, President Obama said the following:
“What we said was you could keep it if it hasn’t changed since the law was passed."
When? Where? Citations? Video clips?
Ted, by insisting that the President didn't lie, you're engaging in what George Orwell called "blackwhite":
"Applied to a Party member, it means a loyal willingness to say that black is white when Party discipline demands this. But it means also the ability to believe that black is white, and more, to know that black is white, and to forget that one has ever believed the contrary. This demands a continuous alteration of the past, made possible by the system of thought which really embraces all the rest, and which is known in Newspeak as doublethink." [Emphasis added]