Robert Ariail for October 26, 2016

Uh for a long time before ACA, my premiums on my group plan averaged 15% increase a year. After: the raise was 3%. Yes, costs go up, but not nearly as much. The cheapest accounts btw are the ones going up that 22-25%. And there’s more people covered, and at reasonable cost, and the insurance companies still have guaranteed prime profits.

Hm, perhaps if the Republicans had let Obama have single payer and the ability to negotiate prices of drugs this wouldn’t be happening.

You can blame it on the insurance companies. They can raise prices to whatever the market will bear. The ACA has no way whatsoever. And as long as you’re blaming the insurance companies. you can blame the Republicans for not supporting a single payer system.

Hmmm, price increases by the private health insurance companies. Well, now is another chance to blame President Obama for that.

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Time to vote out the republicans and urge a single payer system. Will that happen, not as long as the rich rich have our government in their greedy hands.

As long as medicine operates on the profit system, no re-arrangement of labels will have much effect. Medicare for all is the only real solution, and the money-rakeing medical establishment keeps people afraid of that. Impasse.

This is what yo get when you take a great idea that has worked for centuries in some parts of Europe. Then try to copy it by running it by a republican congress and have the states meddle in it. All to feed the precious insurance companies. (I could have used the term ‘industries’, but that would imply an actual product).

This may sting a little bit, but like other shots your systemic health will improve. If you want to have a healthy populace, they need access to their Doctors. If we can’t afford the treatments, we need insurance. Do we propose not allowing access to health care due to costs and pre-existing conditions? Do we propose allowing the insurance companies to decide what procedures are necessary? Do we want to go back to the old health care system of “just don’t get sick”? We tried that and it didn’t work, Obamacare may not be the best system, but it is a step better than what we had. We can work to improve it together. Or tear it down because it was a black guy’s idea.

Mr Blawt

An even better system is just north of here. Indeed, you can almost adopt it as is by just changing two words, “province” to “state” and “Canada” to “United States”.

Sometimes it has been hard for some people to get enrolled. Some people pay too much.But for the people who couldn’t be seen by a Dr. at all, those who had pre-existing conditions find it a life saver.Being Poor causes earlier death because of lack of medical care and it has saved lives.It needs to be improved, but,, the only way seems to be is to force the pharmaceutical near-monopolies to behave in a moral and reasonable way. If it costs pennies to produce a drug and it is sold for hundreds of $$ that should not be legal and is not moral.Same thing with health insurances. They benefit from the ACA, their cut should also be fair, moral and reasonable.the lust for more money by the haves are cheating those who are what is called “the Deserving needy”.Some cheating by patients happens, but most people who need help have valid reasons. 40% of the poor are kids and the other big segment are the old, and “OLS” comes a lot sooner than you would think.You can’t always tell who is disabled, mental illness for example usually doesn’t make a person Look different.Would people rather have a big group of people go without because a few are cheat?Who are the "needy and who are the “Deserving needy”.Does being human count? What about animals? Do pets deserve to live with injuries because they are not people?Or does being a sentient being count or not?

One of the conservatives recently posted an article about a woman in California who was upset that her insurance company refused to cover an experimental treatment, but would cover drugs for physician assisted suicide. Putting aside the fact that insurance companies have always used cold hearted math to decide what treatments they will cover, I noticed something else.

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She has been in terrible health for several years, requiring a great deal of in home care. She is obviously unable to work. Her husband quit his full time job, so he could care for her & their children. Yet, they are still able to afford insurance to cover the costs of her care. Anyone who has experienced that type of situation knows that the bill for in home hospice can run into tens & even hundreds of thousands of dollars. Before the ACA, their choice would have been either he kept working, so they wouldn’t lose insurance or they would burn through any assets they had & hope to transition to Medicaid. And, they would have to worry about their insurance being revoked if the insurance company had the slightest pretext to do so.

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Anyone who thinks what we had pre-ACA was better, could not care less about people like that woman & her family. The ACA needs to be fixed, because there is no going back. Clinton at least has a plan. Trump has empty promises.

Fact: Healthcare spending as a whole, is growing much more slowly since the ACA passed. Even more slowly than it’s architects predicted.

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http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/health-care-spending-growth-urban-institute-study

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http://fortune.com/2016/06/21/us-health-care-costs/

Well if the Republican Congress actually cared, they could fix it!www.nytimes.com/2016/10/26/opinion/the-acas-premium-increases-are-a-fixable-problem.html