Trump and the Republican party are an abomination. He and they should all be voted out of office beginning in 2018, 2020, and 2022 until none of their kind is left in both Houses of Congress. Of course it won't happen because there are still plenty of White Supremacists sympathizers left in this country. But it's a start. One by one, down they go to defeat. Now that's a goal to shoot for.
DD
Manhattan
6
When people like Trump lie, it's not political to call him a liar. It's truth-telling, it's holding him accountable, so that public discourse can flourish under rules of objective evidence. Republicans show themselves to be anti-democratic--again--by not challenging his lies on the ACA. If they are concerned about Americans' health care, they should repair the law that exists, not complaining about a fantasy "repeal and replace" that will never be better because it has always been a fraud.
Why can't the media and the Dems call it such, openly? This is their contribution to the assault on our democracy. Truth-telling must be uplifted as an aspirational ideal.
4
I just hope at some point Americans wake up and start to understand Trump and the Republicans are just making life worse for so many people. Young voters need to decide whether they will have a future full of anxiety or one that the promise of the American dream lives on. People must wake up, fast!!!
4
Higher premiums for health insurance & higher deficits. #Winning
Incredibly, (well, maybe not, since we're talking about Trump), his latest executive order makes the biggest flaw in Obamacare even worse by penalizing those who earn too much to qualify for premium breaks and aren't covered by employer plans. This is the group that, by far, was forced to bear the burden of covering those who couldn't afford insurance premiums; now, Trump has exacerbated their plight.
To the extent that those who are thus impacted are Trump voters, this latest action may finally test their patience.
5
There isn't any reason to celebrate. People without full or any insurance coverage will get medical care but, as before it will be the most expensive care - from a long delayed trip to the ER. This will probably result in another wave of bankruptcies for those with the audacity to get sick when they know they cannot afford medical care. Once the medical care providers have exhausted all methods to get paid their Charge Master rates they will hand the bill to the local, county, state and federal governments which will have our tax dollars paying for the most expensive care.
We will have more sick people who aren't the most productive employees. We will have medical care providers laying off staff and professionals as 17% of the economy goes into a tailspin.
Trump, McConnell and Ryan will blame the Democrats and claim that the ACA failed of its own accord and that Trump's actions had no effect on the medical care industry other than to make it more competitive.
To me this is just one more part of the vendetta of Trump for the public humiliation laid on him by President Obama as the Press Dinner some years back. As Trump loves to tweet: SAD!
11
Oh, make no mistake, it's dead, no matter how long you hang on
3
Trump said ACA was going to implode on its own. If so, why is he working so hard to sabotage it?
9
I always thought the President was supposed to uphold the law, not deliberately train wreck it.
9
If insurance can operate across state lines can "blue" states band together to create a common product based on what would be a greater risk pool?
3
Of course the insurance companies are not running for the 'exit' yet. They are receiving billions in unjustified and over-priced premiums from subsidies.
The question that should be asked is not why or if subsidies should continue - and under the ACA, they grow year over year - it's WHY ARE SUBSIDIES NEEDED IN THE FIRST PLACE?!!!
There are and will always be people that need at least temporary assistance when faced with an unexpected tragedy. Loss of job, loss of ability to work, for example. However, most receiving subsidies are working families that actually make enough to be able to buy insurance - IF it didn't mandate that everyone must buy a policy that covers everything, most of which they don't need, and IF it didn't allow for high out-of-pocket spending before coverage even starts!
Are readers here so naive and the NYTimes so dishonest as to not recognize root cause when they see it? Most that I know on the exchanges won't go to the doctor as they cannot afford to, even though they (and the government) spends thousands a year on a 'policy.' Shame on those that care more about partisan politics than a solution. Same on Congress, Trump, Obama, and most importantly, DC for pretending this is about healthcare. It's about the fact that the ACA did NOTHING to reduce the actual cost of healthcare, they just shifted the payer.
2
Actually, Ma, the actual health care costs under the ACA have come down relative to the expected increase.The CBO recently announce a further decrease in spending from their projections.
Your idea that most working families are able to buy insurance if they could get a stripped down policy doesn't comport with the reality that most lower income working people didn't have and many couldn't get any insurance before the ACA passed.
Many of those people who have gotten stripped down policies in the past were among the many who had to go through bankruptcy when their medical needs were beyond their policy coverage. We know that bankruptcies have declined by about half since the ACA went into full effect — except in Mass. Their bankruptcy level declined in ~ 2004 when their similar mandated insurance law went into effect.
What happens to those who might choose a skinny policy when a person needs what is not covered? Who pays? For the most part the state and local taxes have to cover unpaid hospital bills.
As far as the deductible and copays being too high: your friends could have chosen a policy that had lower out of pocket costs usually by paying a slightly higher premium.
Shop carefully this year: The insurers have expected that Trump would be Trump & refuse to pay at the last minute after they have got their plan schedules in. They have baked in that assumption & have juggled things so that fewest people would be hurt. However it will cost the government more.
6
No type of insurance allows you to buy just what you need. There are drivers who have not had an accident in over forty years, yet they are forced to buy liability insurance in NYS or yo firego driving. Prople who live miles away from water saw their premiums on their homeowners go up after Sandy.
1
I see that as always, the people yelling at Obama are the loudest are a) in the 55-64 age bracket, b) living in a state that did not build its own Exchange and expand Medicaid.
That's what you voted for, folks. Oh, and this also just in: a) Trump's allowing pruchases across state lines won't help you, because insurers were always allowed (and in fact encouraged by the PPACA) to build associations across state lines, and b) the effect of yanking the subsidies will be to leave you behind in a higher-risk pool.
That's what ya voted for, folks. Enjoy.
13
I think its so cool the way Trump is showing how the current system isn’t doing so well, quoting his tweet: ObamaCare is causing such grief and tragedy for so many. It is being dismantled but in the meantime, premiums & deductibles are way up!”
I understand that he doesn’t want to pay insurance companies to subsidize, why he’s approving those hideous junk policies.
You know why?
Because he is making the case that MEDICARE for EVERYONE is the way to go!
4
The Fake President, in eliminating the cost-sharing subsidies, did so on the sole basis that insurers were making too much money off of these federal payments to them, without citing any supporting data. So, NYT, what are the actual numbers, including profit margins, which these companies are allegedly swimming in? It would, of course, come as no surprise that this is but another instance of a Trumpian fabrication. I assume that this data is readily available to the public, and could be set ideally forth for your readership in one of the paper's excellent graphics. Thank you.
3
Trump knows he is going down in the Russian scandal and the vindictive man is going to hurt people on his way out the door in Puerto Rico and California and with nuclear calamity in North Korea and Iran and by taking healthcare away from millions of people.
7
This former Obama and Hillary voter appreciates this move by Trump. Barack Obama wanted universal healthcare as did Donald Trump. But, Congress didn’t deliver it, so the next logical step is to blow up Obamacare. I don’t care what the consequences are, because the system is unfair. I’m tired of liberals trying to defend Obama’s legacy using numbers. If we’re not going to have healthcare for all, then we shouldn’t have a healthcare system at all, because it means that some people are paying for other people’s insurance, but being left out themselves. It’s not morally right, which is why this sham Obamacare system needs to go.
1
How can so many other countries get health insurance right and we can't even begin to find a solution? I've lived in 4 different countries including the US and we Americans have the worst system I've seen. It's great if you're rich but horrible if you make less than 500k a year - and I don't. Ridiculous, laughing stock of a country we are becoming.
7
"Despite President Trump’s best efforts, the Obamacare market hasn’t imploded yet."
The President made these moves just over 24 hours ago. You give a cavalier assessment like this while the body is still warm? Really?
4
Trump (I can't bring myself to call him a president; he doesn't "preside" so much as destroy) is dismantling 300 years of a successful democracy in just nine months. Destroying healthcare may be part of a several-pronged approach. It's hard to believe that Putin isn't pulling the puppet strings even now, through some sort of back channel, giving Trump a play-by-play program on the exact moves needed to destabilize and destroy our country: threaten the media, take away healthcare for the plebes, give money to the rich via tax breaks, propagandize, and defund and decommission every government office, beginning with the state department, so that we no longer have allies left who are willing to protect us. With this healthcare debacle, the thinking is that unhealthy citizens won't be able to fight back because they'll be too sick. To coin a phrase, "Believe me!", Trump could not possibly have thought of any of this on his own.
Lee Beri, Trump has been trumpeting his plan to try to kill off Obama care and stop the subsidies. The insurers have already priced the decision into their policies for 2018.
It is no surprise. Trump bellows before he strikes. Claiming he likes being unpredictable he is actually on of the most predictable of politicians.
Insurers knew this was coming as did many of us who work in the field.
I will say I'm not sure how many will go for the skinny tho cheap policies now that they have had some time with full coverage.
1
It appears that this new policy will cost the government substantially because the tax benefits of those who get tax benefits will be increased to cover the higher premium. Those who make to much money to get the tax benefit will be paying much more. But the government (that means all of us) will also be paying more.
I understand that President Trump can't help trying to beat Mr. Obama. But even as he tries to destroy Mr. Obama's work, he just makes a mess and everything is worse. Mr. Trump shows himself as a weak man, a weak leader, and not having any idea of how to do anything better than Mr. Obama. Even if he does destroy the ACA (I hope it doesn't happen), he will be a destroyer not a builder. As much as I have been appalled at his behavior, I pity him. How awful to be Donald Trump. He must have a lot of pain to be so blindly destructive.
Congress - do your job.
5
Republican Hypocrisy is on show once again and here is the proof: Let the free market control meeting the required needs of everyone when it comes to the tragedies related to health issues. Anyone with a real education would see that making a choice for a vehicle or lunch is quite different from having to make a choice when it comes to a medical issue, that is for all of us who are not educated in the medical field. There are very few of us who seem to never need any medical attention but the rest of us are forced to deal with a number of medically related problems, quite often, and here is where the silly American government approaches to deal with this always fail. Not one of us knows when a personal medical issue will come calling and we then require help from a diagnosis and treatment specialist. At that time, we are not asking “How much?” but “Where do I go and who do I see?”. The concept of using a free market approach is totally silly here. Now, a well-run national health care system does require good management, a source of major flaws in so many of these systems in this world, but it can be done if you have a real professional in charge and that is the USA would be the President. Unfortunately, today not only are a significant percentage of Americans out of touch with the real world the executive in charge does not know that if a real national health care system was properly created the ... Go to my Facebook page for the rest.
2
This man, called a president, leads by bullying. He's not smart enough to lead in any other way. He bullies his Cabinet members, athletes, minorities, foreign leaders, Puerto Rico, any one who does not see it his way. This executive order hurts people, plan and simple, by bullying. He's impulsive and fails to think of the consequences of his actions.. Unfortunately, he has a lot of power. Unfortunately, enough of America did not and still do not see his immaturity and lack of empathy.
4
The President wants to make a deal? Ha! Let him take responsibility for the fall out on this one.
2
Some are underestimating Trump's cunning and destructive steps to dismantle the Obama achievements. He is a dangerous and vindictive foe- he plans every thing he does and some are assuming that he is impulsive. He is not - he will destroy the US to achieve his vile objectives. He is surrounded by like minded evil people - the country esp. those who voted for him should wake up to keep the US safe from war and economic ruin.
3
Just got the 2018 letter from our Trumpcare provider. A 34% increase.
6
It's like whack-a-mole. Or herding cats. This president, Congress and state insurance regulators keep trying every trick in their books to make insurance companies offer adequate health coverage to everyone, sick or healthy, young or old, male or female, employed or self-employed at prices they can afford on minimum wage without pricing out individuals with middle incomes. Isn't it obvious by now that government can't make for-profit insurance companies cover everyone at prices affordable for everyone without massive infusions of tax dollars, which Republicans don't want to do? Isn't it obvious by now that keeping for-profit insurance companies in the middle of the system is just plain stupid? How long will they keep beating their heads against the wall (and torturing sick people) before they see that a straightforward, government-run, tax-financed insurance program like Medicare can achieve universal coverage at lower cost for enrollees and for taxpayers that this convoluted, unmanageable private-public mishmash?
1
dont know if this will make you mad or get a better understanding here. im 56 years old. i have a bronze plan. its deductible is right around 7k dollars. i pay for everything yearly up to that. my BCBST premium monthly is 780. my tax credit is 780 a month. my monthly premium costs me nothing out of pocket. all this BCBST plan helps me do is sleep better at night knowing if something really goes wrong with me healthwise i can pay on the 7k and wont lose everything i own to medical bills.
2
Let no one be deceived, the ACA, with all its flaws, is fixable. Remember what Republicans call Obamacare is really a conservative think tank's plan. President Obama calculated incorrectly Republicans would not vote against a plan they developed. But of course they did. They derided it, made reference to Hillary Care dubbed it Obamacare and they were off to the races, out to subvert, sabotage making it so weak it would fail. And they would blame President Obama for it.
Republicans should be ashamed, but they are not. They have too much chutzpah to be embarrassed by their actions. They nominated a jerk for president. They are peas on a pod, and they all deserve to be removed from office beginning in 2018, and then in 2020 and 2022.
DD
Manhattan
3
Ah... Even corporate America has a finer tuned moral center than our President!
Thank you for this. I do not need this service, but it is life and death for those that do. Meanwhile, the Leader of the American People has betrayed them all for 30 pieces of the icy silver of Vanity and Revenge.
Not My President! Sadly, not anybody's President!
A vast percentage of Trump's supporters will be hurt badly if he is successful. I wonder if they care. They may not. Perhaps it's good to be a betrayed pawn: at least you will belong to a group of some sort...
3
I am convinced Tom Price knew exactly what he was doing when he flew all over the place in government jets. As a longtime member of congress, he saw exactly what was coming and did not wish to be Health Secretary anymore, as this has become an object in Trump's playpen to ogle and fondle and turn over without a speck of understanding what it is.
We accept 130 billion dollars for weapons of destruction from Saudi Arabia to keep the country from drowning.
Saudi Arabia supplies Blackstone with 20 billion to keep automobiles shoved in every driveway as cigarettes were.
Hurricanes have massacred our shorelines in turn we leave Puerto Rico in the lurch again as Houston residents slop in a toxic soup.
Dioxane 4, 1 is in our drinking water, heavy metals in our air fall into our soil and food every time it rains.
The adventures that surround Mnuchin, Price, Devos while the massive orangutan awaits those who hold the keys to its cage built on personal debts to Russia all slowly close in on them one at a time as well.
In the meantime, we are held hostage in a playpen of mirrors and hammers.
1
Medicare for All. End this nonsense and let's move on, as has every other civilized nation on earth.
4
What an incredibly stupid move by the Trump Administration, which will hurt middle class people who do not qualify for subsidies.
Cost sharing subsidies are not paid to the poor. And they are only paid as a pass through from insurance companies to the medical providers that delivered the care to people who qualify for subsidies. Insurers are obligated to pay providers the subsidies, whether they receive them from the Federal Government or not. So, insurers have raised premiums to all policy holders to recoup the subsidies. What happens? The Feds pay higher premium subsidies for people who qualify (that will cost taxpayers $194 billion more) and middle class people who do not qualify for premium subsidies will pay the 20%-30% higher premiums that insurers are charging to make up the loss.
Real smart, Trump, you just shot your base in the foot again!
1
The insurance mafia know if they even think about jacking prices then Medicare for all will fall on the like a grand piano from the 20th floor.
1
So, call the remains what it is - TRUMPCARE! It shouldn't be called OBAMACARE any longer. Start associating the one who is responsible for the sabotage.
2
Not so benign neglect. Please Proceed, GOP. Your sickening behavior WILL make Medicare For ALL happen faster. Can't wait until those buying
" Trumpcare " find out how truly worthless is it. Hmmm, just like their Dear Leader. They've been Trumped, Bigly.
2
When do we start calling the ACA Trumpcare? Time to shelve the Obamacare nickname. It now allows useless policies, doesn't cover birth control, and will be too expensive for most individual buyers and the very sick. Please make this your last headline calling it Obamacare.
1
The term "Obama Care" was created and applied by Republicans to deride the plan. But it basically just applies to the first two Titles of the ACA. There are 9 Titles total which for the most part cannot be repealed by the Republicans.
One of the more important parts is the no cost preventive medical care. Many of the covered items prevent illness or exacerbations which leads to higher costs as well as major health problems for the patient.
Democrats: where are you? This is sabotage. And your message is so unclear and weak
1
Let's just go ahead and call it "Trumpcare" now!
3
Maybe Trump cut off the cost-sharing subsidies out of his deep aversion to paying bills. As a builder, he had a habit of not paying his contractors. Now, it's insurance companies that somehow don't deserve "his" money.
Even though it will actually cost the government more to not make CSR payments. I wonder if he understands that.
1
Insurers make billions as they always have. Why not regulate the cost they can charge, working back from profits reported?
1
The ACA covers that, Sean. If the amounts an insurer pays in actual health care costs to providers plus the amount allowed for all administrative costs including profit exceeds the amounts of the premiums collected they must rebate the excess to the customer. Some billions have been rebated through the years from 2011 on.
President Obama owns this as much or more than President Trump. President Obama's failure to successfully negotiate with Congress (Congress' failure if you prefer) led to his unilateral approach and executive action. Taking a unilateral approach necessarily means that now the office holder has changed President Trump is free to undo the damage using the same unilateral approach. At some point legislators are going to have to work with the President or voters will throw them all out.
Most of the increases will hit Trump supporters in red states. They won't see it coming since they listen only to FOX News. Once this is completed, Trump and the GOP will move to eliminate both Medicare & Medicaid.
3
If we really operated from "Christian Values" universal health care would be our health care system. But our nation really worships money and our values are based on capitalism. The more cutthroat it is the more we cheer. The poor are sinners in this reality and deserve their plight. Successful "Christian churches" are money machines and push every aspect of capitalism as what is good for our nation and the world. The wealthy are not to be held accountable or responsible. They are celebrated when they throw breadcrumbs to everyone else as having taken pity on the sinful. I no longer can identify with Christians in this nation because their values have been sold. Our health care system and debate attests to this.
4
Such bravery, staying in the crooked markets they helped create to funnel millions of customers into their hands.
Meanwhile Anthem is busily sending Ohio marketplace users lovely little letters saying they’re gone in 2018 so good luck with your search—perhaps do some more digging and reporting on the timing of insurance companies’ departures.
1
Trump says that the subsidies he is slashing are meant to target the health insurance industry and the billions of dollars they rake in for covering lower income people. If this were so lucrative for health insurers, one would expect to see more participation in the exchanges. Insurance companies have no disdain for the poor, for people of color, or for Latinos. If there is money to be had for insuring anyone and they don't take it, they will be doused with gasoline and set on fire at stockholders' meetings.
Again there is no 'top end' the rich will pay for health, consequently there is no 'top end' to the cost of healthcare.
1
They're just waiting for a court injunction to negate DJT.
5
All this political finger pointing and wrangling over the Obama legacy and Trump's assertion of power for its own sake is obscuring the real issue - which is that health care services, as they are provided now, are too expensive for the public to pay for without seriously disrupting the economy. The ACA with its premium and insurer subsidies was enacted because the insurance market place is broken, employer insurer plans have increasingly higher premiums, more restrictive networks and higher deductibles, Medicare is going broke and Medicaid is a budget buster. The only ways out of the mess are to make services cheaper (read lower incomes for those in the healthcare sector) and/or reduce access to services (read fewer jobs in health care) or else accept that we will purchase health care services while lowering our standard of living in other sectors, like housing and consumer goods. Other countries that have universal health care coverage do a combination of those 3 things. Here, we expect everyone to get everything for nothing.
4
While it's generally true that you can't set up a health system that's free and hands everybody everything, the basic prob with your argument is that none of your facts are actually facts.
1
"consumers who rely on subsidies ... will be insulated from the changes, as long as carriers don’t flee."
What about quality of service? With $50 million in expected losses for that example in MD, how on earth can consumers expect the same levels of staffing in customer service, claims departments and all the parts of the insurance bureaucracy?
Anyone who has spent hours, days, or weeks trying to straighten out billing with an insurance company has got to be worried about what operational cuts insurance companies will need to make. That money has to be cut somewhere.
This is no small annoyance. Insurance determinations hold huge power over personal finances and sway over someone's hope vs. anxiety in our healthcare system.
7
If won't be cut from CEO salaries.
Good. Everyone's happy then.
Insurers will continue to provide coverage and taxpayers won't be on the hook for it.
2
Reading the article would have pointed out to you that left alone, Trump's latest stupidity will cost taxpayers around $194 billion.
2
I'm self-employed, pay my taxes, have never taken a dime from the government, and make enough money that I don't qualify for subsidies. My insurance cost this year was $ 9600/year with a $7000 deductible- so basically $17,000 before I get any additional medical care. So now on top of that, I am going to pay additional fees for those of us who make less money. Why are the self-employed considered a separate pool where we alone pay for those costs? The obvious solution is to let the self-employed pay into Medicare.
23
You do. Part of your Form SE tax goes to Medicare.
2
If you are self-employed you area already paying into Medicare to fund your retirement Medicare when you are old enough to receive it.
With health coverage dependent on "for profit" businesses, be they insurance companies, self-insured large corporations or private groups, they seem to maximize profits and reduce losses. No way to run a railroad.
8
Single payer is the answer! Involve the insurance companies in the development of various plans which would suit everyone is all 50 states for all ages, income levels, not dependent on what type of employment. If millions lose their insurance coverage - whether the individual and/or government is paying for it, well then the insurance companies lose money too when people go without insurance. Raising rates to compensate for it seems less profitable than insuring everyone at lower rates.
One would think that our legislators could get beyond the irrational belief that people should have the "freedom" to choose whether or not to have insurance. Instead they should figure out how to insure everyone for lower costs per person, hold the pharmaceutical industry responsible for costs like other countries do, and make hospitals more accountable for their expenses. Many hospital administrators are not even doctors anymore and it is all about profit over doctors' deciding how best to treat the patient. The whole system from top to bottom needs to be reworked.
17
The present system is deliberately designed to boggle everyone with too much disinformation.
1
The Affordable Care Act, not Obamacare. It's surprising how many people don't realize they are the same thing. If Everyone referred to it as the ACA or the Affordable Care Act it would make a real difference to peoples' perception of the situation.
32
"Not Dead Yet" but Trump is making Walking Dead out of middle class people who don't have an alternative to individual insurance.
Stopping the cost sharing subsidies does not hurt those qualified for subsidies (i.e. earning less than 250% of the Federal Poverty Limit). Trump didn't repeal Obamacare, and the law still requires insurance companies to pay subsidies (to the doctors and hospitals that treat people qualified for subsidies) whether or not the federal government reimburses them for the subsidies. That is why insurers are raising premiums to everyone.
And that will hurt people earning more than 400% of the FPL. They don't get premium subsidies so will pay the full increase. The federal government (i.e., taxpayers) will also have to pay higher premium subsidies for people qualified for premium subsidies (earn less than 400% of FPL). They won't be hurt - just the middle class.
Trump probably doesn't understand this and very likely wouldn't care if he did.
26
I keep hearing of these "soaring losses" causing the insurance companies to leave the marketplace. However, they are continuing to remain in the marketplace for health insurance for employer plans as well as insurance for Auto and Property where they continue to have "soaring profits"
The solution is simple. If an insurer sells employer plans, then they must sell in the marketplace. And if they leave the marketplace, then they must also leave the extremely profitable employer plans.
14
I assume the insurers would be expected to use the funds from employer plans to offset their losses on the ACA plans. That would be a step in the right direction. The ACA imposed high costs on the individual market buyers. If that cost were shared across the 20 times larger employer market the premiums/deductibles for individual market buyers would move down to more reasonable levels. Don't look for that to happen, though. Too many voters would be negatively impacted. That is probably why it did not happen when the ACA was enacted.
My daughter works in the industry---as she describes, the insurance industry over the years have constructed a huge health care infrastructure, based on Obamacare principles, that in the short term are impossible to change/damage. Now over the long term, the industry will start adjusting, the problem, is insurance in particular and business in general, do not work well in uncertain environments---translation--Trump's erratic behavior will make America poor again.
31
In retrospect, we can say President Obama’s "biggest bone-headed move" was not his comment about "guns and religion," but his roasting of Donald Trump at a White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Trump's efforts to dismantle Obamacare, and all his other moves to unwind Obama’s legacy, I believe, are payback for that humiliation.
40
That certainly adds to it but the main factor is that Trump consistently does nothing to improve life for the majority of Americans. His policy appeases the 1% financially while hurting the country & environment and promoting discord. He is basically just a disruptor without positive solutions.
3
Trump is a toddler and you are blaming Obama’s roast of him for this?
3
Trump had already attacked Obama relentlessly with his racist birther lie, and his questioning of Obama’s academic credentials. Nothing Obama did at the correspondent’s dinner would have changed what Trump is doing now. Obama’s biggest mistake in Trump’s eyes is the color of his skin.
7
In your article you say some policies are increasing up to 20%. I just received a letter from CareFirst BCBS that my monthly premiums are increasing by 50%. I am self-employed. My monthly premium is going from $1200 to $1800. That's an increase of more than $7,000/year! Shouldn't there be some cap on increases? The health benefits of all congressman who don't support Obamacare should be rescinded. Let them experience life with no health coverage.
84
Look at the exchange plans carefully, Helen. Some of the insurers are loading the increases on the silver plans.
Look at the higher level plans like the Gold. Shop carefully & don't make any assumptions. Start early.
We have had to buy private healthcare for years since we had our own small business. My husband retired and I just lost my coverage. The cheapest plan on the ACA exchange that comes with a $6500 deductible is just over $700. It's not a great plan. To get a slightly better one with a more reasonable $2500 deductible I have to pay over $900. Before the ACA was enacted we paid less then that amount for a family of 5 with no deductible. I can see many women in my situation forgoing health insurance until they qualify for medicare. It's not a good situation and yet congress refuses to make it better.
28
Less than $900 per month for a family of 5 within the last decade almost certainly means you had limited indemnity insurance. That kind of scheme should be required by law to call its something other than insurance. It's absolutely useless unless you're rich or never hospitalized.
4
Also, many of the numbers I see tossed about (and complained about) by the self employed don't seem out of line with the total bill (employee paid plus employer paid) for the non self employed. I would love to see hard data on this.
1
You will soon be able to buy brunches healthcare insurance, but it probably will not cover any the "female" related medical conditions you are likely to face. You are going to be taken advantage of with the full approval of the Trump government.
2
I already pay more than the monthly rent on a one bedroom apartment for my individual health insurance - and with a $5K deductible to boot- meaning I still have to pay $5K more should I have to be hospitalized. At 60, it’s either that or risk bankruptcy. It’s getting to the point where I have to wonder if it would be better to be poorer or older. Sad.
36
Exactly. I have reasoned with myself that I don't need to grow to old age because it will probably bankrupt us.
1
The predicted increase in premiums for non-subsidized buyers because of an increase in costs for subsidized buyers starkly reveals the central conceit--I would say the central insanity--of the ACA: making the non-subsidized buyers on the individual market provide the totality of the premium-reducing subsidy for the latter group. (I say premium-reducing, not premium reimbursement, which comes from tax revenue.) In any rational system, when the costs for the subsidized group go up, it would be only their premiums which would go up, and that premium increase would be fully offset by increased subsidies. But no, the ACA put all buyers on the individual market in a single risk pool, which makes the non-subsidized buyers pay the higher costs of the subsidized group, and this out of after tax income. In the meanwhile, the 15 to 20 times larger group who get their insurance via their employers remained unscathed by the ACA, and continue to get their tax subsidy from the feds. The ongoing exodus of non-subsidized buyers is about to turn into a stampede, unless the recent executive order actually succeeds in turning the situation around.
9
The subsidies are paid as tax credits, and they go up as premiums increase, for people whose income is below 400% of the poverty level. People's premium expense is limited to 9.69% of their income for people at 400% of poverty level, and a smaller percentage for people making less than that.
If someone makes more than 400% of poverty level, they aren't eligible for a subsidy. But if they can't afford to buy insurance, they could apply for a hardship exemption so they can buy lower-cost catastrophic insurance.
10
Trumpcare will exacerbate the problem and expose hundreds of thousands to medical bankruptcy, especially those younger healthy folks who will develop cancers or have serious accidents...no more protection, no more insurance
1
Getting closer to single payer by this move. Trump clearly has no idea what he wants nor how to deal with people. Lawsuits by responsible States will be forthcoming.
57
I think you're right about getting closer to single payer. If millions of people lose coverage because they can no longer afford it, government will have to step in and subsidize hospitals due to the sharp increase in unreimbursed care - or the whole house of cards collapses.
3
The Montana Health CO-OP is running to the exits because they appear not to be allowed to refile rates.
3
So, how many of the people that will be adversely affected by Trump's actions voted for him?
42
Exactly. Could those of us (most of us) who voted for Clinton be exempt from this madness.
3
If there are roughly 10M individuals enrolled under the ACA (and not Medicaid expansion), and if less than 20% of these individuals do not qualify for subsidy, how does that equal 8M unsubsidized, affected individuals in the market, as referenced in the article?.... Are there truly that many individuals in non-compliant individual plans today? Some accurate reporting would clarify.
7
Mr. Trump's opening bid is a healthcare plan that will cost taxpayers $200 Billion over ten years in order to increase premiums by a minimum of 25% for everyone and cost 10 million people their healthcare all together. Where is the "art" in this deal?
84
Where is the "art" in this deal? Medical centers have been expanded and jobs created to provide newly affordable health services. The art of Trumps executive deal is that it allows the medical facilities to learn to apply Trumps business model of exiting in bankruptcy. No problem, the local bond holders eat the loss and the workers can move on.
3
Trump's only artistic skill is that of a con artist.
2
How mean spirited can this man be? As I have said before, anything, any law associated with the name Obama is subject to attack by this Neanderthal who sits in the White House. What more can he do I wonder? World War III maybe?
69
Insurance companies have a chance to be heroes in this. Bite the bullet, accept that profits will still be large but may not meet "expectations," and keep coverage and copays affordable. Someone has got to protect vulnerable Americans. The GOP won't. Maybe business leaders will.
41
Some facts would be helpful. Collectively, health insurers have lost billions (not reduced profits, but absolute losses in the ACA product). Most remaining insurers in the ACA market are "not for profit", which by the way is also true of the "not for profit" health system cartels that reward their execs multi million dollar bonuses for massive provider consolidation and raising prices to insurers.... Perhaps you might focus your attention on these "not for profit" cartels that in fact, are responsible for the exorbitant health insurance prices (and private health care prices) we pay--- and which indeed generate hundreds of millions in profits to pay the "not for profit" execs their multi-million $ bonuses
19
Republicans own Trump care 2018.
76
Yes. They are on track to gain seats in the Senate (maybe even a filibuster proof majority) while keeping the House.
2
Despite good intentions, Obamacare was weakened by reliance on insurance companies, and by the Supreme Court enabling governors to opt out of Medicaid.
Combined with GOP maliciousness, it's still amazing Obamacare has done as well as it has.
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