Wouldn't be surprised if Ryan intentionally wrote this bill to be disgusting knowing that it would get rewritten by the Senate to something more in tune with what he wanted. By comparison, the Senate bill would look great despite it still being a terrible piece of legislation in objective terms.

that Cassidy guy on Kimmel basically seemed on board with single payer, no?

No. Read between the lines. He seemed pretty on board with cutting that 3.8% ObamaCare tax, after that he doesn't GAF what happens to you or yours.

It's extremely obvious that this is the strategy they're using + their leader probably taught them what not to do when negotiating.

DumpCare is decent.

"For example, I have mild asthma that costs WAY less than $4,000 a year to cover (like maybe $100, if that). I've never had a serious attack, never needed emergency care, etc. I'd gladly take that off my insurance coverage to save $4,000. I'd take it off to save $200."

From a docs point of view this is......questionable.

I can't see how you can allow someone a Chinese Menu plan without opening a lot of doors that you maybe don't want to open. For example, in your case, you de-select asthma to save a few bucks. From a medical perspective asthma is reactive airway disease - if six months later you get exposed to something that causes a reactive airway problem, is your coverage any good? Asthma is in the family of COPD - if 30 years from now you develop emphysema (and you don't have to smoke to do so) does your opting out 30 years ago mean you're now stuck with honking bills you have no way of paying?

MM MD

What could he say?

His plea may have been effective because of the emotional appeal, but I'm sure he knows next to nothing about healthcare. Not really going to be able to hold someones feet to the fire.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/08/o...its-1984.html?

Yeah I think some are confused about pre-existing conditions. Patients don't get to choose. If someone has asthma they don't get to opt out. If they don't disclose it the insurance company can and potentially will deny paying for any or all claims, even ones not directly connected to asthma. It is considered fraud.

The more nefarious part is the insurers will absolutely collect premiums for as long as possible and then deny paying claims.

But again, if you allow people to opt out of these different things, it's going to dramatically raise the costs for those who need them. The whole reason why these things work is because everyone is contributing. It's just like with cable - we get so many channels because we are all subsidizing each other by paying for channels we don't watch. If cable goes to completely a la carte, we're suddenly looking at paying something like $30 for just ESPN. Add in a few more channels and packages and we're suddenly paying more for fewer channels. Cable isn't a necessity so there's good reason to push back on costs and possibly the packaging vs a la carte option; but with health care it's better for everyone if we package together as much as possible to spread out the costs more equally.

That's fair, it could be worded more strictly like not covering inhalers/maintenance medication and putting an $X cap on emergency coverage for it. Some people need that stuff constantly, I use it maybe one week a year. So, if they take away price protection for pre-existing conditions, I'm paying WAY more in increased premiums than I'm getting back in coverage.
The COPD point is a big concern with this kind of stuff. I also have sleep apnea, and the problem is due to the correlation for heart problems, cancer, etc, it's difficult to imagine writing sleep apnea out of a plan and being covered for that stuff.

My main point was that if insurers are required to cover it, I don't mind people being able to opt out. But the only reason to do that would be to save money, and if they can't punish you for pre-existing conditions, then there's very little point in opting out anyway.

No, I understand. I wasn't even going to be able to get insurance before Obamacare (it was right around the time I could no longer stay on my family's plan). They literally wouldn't price plans for me and wouldn't remove anything to make me an offer. The free market was rejecting me entirely.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/09/politi...inkId=37399635

Isn't that an indirect admission that the Republicans are knowingly stripping the plan and making it worse for Americans rather than actually attempting to improve it?

Of course not, they're merely giving Americans a little shove to get them to start pulling on those bootstraps instead of being dirty moochers.

Somehow I don't believe the GOP solution to this public awareness problem will be increased transparency, given this WH's track record on tax returns & visitor logs & business dealings.

I am going to be totally ageist here but lots of old people should not be holding jobs of importance.

Of course maybe hatch was an idiot in the room.

https://twitter.com/ThePlumLineGS/st...21369854930944

Ironic the highest approval ratings are the age groups it'd screw the most...

Oh hey, it's that time of year again...surely nobody could have predicted these things!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...004_story.html


So Aetna has left the market altogether now, BCBS companies (the "stable" group of companies) are jacking their rates sky high, and many areas will only have one (or zero) companies to choose from.

How many healthy people are going to keep paying these prices again? At these rates an average family will be looking at $1500-2500/month for a garbage plan with a crappy provider network and high deductible. Even the sick people are going to stop buying insurance at these prices.

How do you feel about Trumpcare? Or are you not paid to have an opinion on that?

I think it's terrible. Chances are I can make a lot more money under Trumpcare than ACA depending on how things go. But it will still be terrible and at this point I really have no interest in continuing to sell health insurance except to help my existing clients. None of these bills addresses cost containment in any way, shape, or form, which means rates will continue to skyrocket as long as there is no medical underwriting. No prescription drug negotiations, no capping costs based on a percentage of Medicare charges, nothing. I understand that Trumpcare may allow states to go the medical underwriting route, but now that the cat is out of the bag, it isn't really politically feasible now.

...

Are you saying that Aetna is not losing money on ACA policies? Do you think that companies are making money on ACA? Maybe they are allergic to profits and are all running away from ACA because they are simply making too much cold hard cash!

http://money.cnn.com/2017/05/10/news...are/index.html

cuserounder - Chronic conditions like asthma also have a tendency to get worse -- sometimes suddenly. I have had an auto immune condition since '08 that up until about 6 months ago I would have gladly signed the same waiver you are referring to.

That would have been bad, given that I am now getting some pretty expensive treatments.

Dunno if I am reading right. Is this suggesting that our president or our government are, directly or indirectly, working behind the scenes to blow up Obamacare? Or are their fingerprints not on this one at all?

Have you tried prayer?