Abuse Obamacare, here is how.

Originally posted by aimlessly
I have spent a few minutes thinking about this.....and have a theory, not saying it's right.

If people use the "pre-existing" clause in the bill, and wait until they are sick to buy insurance, this will effectively kill the insurance companies in a short period of time. Money going out, but not enough money in premiums coming in to offset.

This is exactly why I was so surprised that the insurance companies were behind this bill. There will STILL be thousands without insurance because they will not be able to afford the premiums, even with the subsidies. I checked on insurance last year. A monthly premium for an individual (me) was averaging $400.00 a month for a major medical coverage kicking in at $5,000.00. So why would I want to pay an extra $400.00 a month when I can barely afford my regular doctor visits every few months for my prescriptions? Each doctor visit is $150.00 just to get a refill on my meds. And he insists on every four months to personally refill. That's an additional $600.00 a year on top of the med premiums of $4,800.00. So my medical outlay at a minimum would be $5,200.00 each year, forbidding any other medical needs. Nope, I can't afford it. I also will pay the penalty and keep paying as I go to the doctor.

Originally posted by daniel_g

You see, under the new health law insurance companies cannot deny service based on pre existing conditions, this means you can buy insurance the minute you get sick and still receive full benefits. If you are healthy, like I am, there is really no point in buying insurance, just pay the new tax and wait until you get sick to pay for insurance. This could be 1 year, 5 years, or even 20 years. It will save you a lot of money but you will still be relatively safe. **NOTE: This will not work if you become disabled in an accident, and if you are worried about that by all means pay the insurance**.

www2.ljworld.com...

I talked to a coworker about this and he called me irresponsible. I ask, how am I irresponsible if I am paying whatever the law is requiring me to pay? I recon that if enough people do this the healthcare system will go bankrupt, but is that really a bad thing?

Yes. And you're irresponsible.

The reason healthcare costs are through the roof is insurance comanies. Medical facilities can charge all they want because they know insurance companies will pay them. If insurance companies can't pay them anymore, doctors will be forced to either charge a lot less for care, or go hungry because Americans will not be able to afford medical care.

Lets look at the empirical facts. More than ever, Americans are far more liable for personally paying their medical bills, and yet the costs are exploding outrageously, more than any other country. In any other country "medical bankruptcy' means that a hospital or something goes bankrupt, not a person. In the USA people, even with insurance, go bankrupt because they can't afford the remainder.

And yet the costs go up and up and up and up.

What's the difference? Only in the USA of all developed nations are providers, and insurers, allowed to be profit-maximizing institutions. It's true that insurance companies have as much motivation to lower overall costs as much as a casino has in lowering gambling expenditures.

This would mean a lot less research and development, but you will finally be able to walk into your physician office and pay $50 for a checkup without insurance and not the $200~$300 they currently charge in my area.

And when you get cancer?

Originally posted by Kangaruex4Ewe
Does anyone know how this will work for the folks who don't work and therefor do not pay into the system at all?

I have been wondering the same thing.

Or how about the ones that work but do not pay income taxes because the are paid in cash? How will their penalty be collected?

Is there gonna be a national health ID card? How will they know if a person is receiving free health care without paying the penalty tax. That is my major concern. At this point I honestly think (if this health care law holds) everyone should have to have a medical ID card to receive any care. And those cards should only be issued to those that buy insurance, pay the penalty tax or are receiving the free government ride. No card, no care.

Might sound harsh, but there needs to be some sort of accountability.

OiO

Originally posted by karen61057
reply to post by daniel_g

 

I left a job in 1991 that paid 100% of my health insurance costs. Not one penny came out of my pocket. Since that time my family of four has lived without health insurance. I swear. We pay for medical costs out of pocket and thankfully we are all very healthy and the only expenses in the past 21 years has been an ear infection that required a doctor visit, a cut knee that needed stitches, and a case of pink eye that needed drops.
How much money have I saved not having insurance all these years ? Did we take a risk ? Yes we gambled and we came out on top. I dont recommend it for everyone but we really didnt and still dont have money for health insurance.

Thats so dangerous because if one of your children (god forbid) were to get really sick, not just a cold or flu type sickness but something more serious you would have been financially ruined. Under the new system you'd still be able to live somewhat as comfortably as you have in the past.

One of the biggest expenses of medical care is paying the people who do the paperwork so that the hospital or doctor can get paid by the Government or the Insurance company. In Harrisburg there are several large buildings full of people who do nothing but process the paperwork for the State run medical insurance. I'm pretty sure that every other State has their own buildings. Go down I-270 into Washington DC. There is a huge complex of buildings, where Medicaid claims are processed. I heard an estimate one time that only $0.22 out of every dollar spent by the State and Federal Governments on medical care, goes to the people who actually provide the care. The rest is spent in ADMINISTRATION, you know those people who work for the Public Sector Unions. The same unions who give the DNC millions upon millions of dollars in campaign contributions. The same unions who stand to gain more employees to administer this SCAM called Obamacare.

So you're proposing to abuse the plan by using the plan in the legal manner for which it was intended?

Seems you actually like Obamacare, only your cognitive dissonance has created a situation where you are abusing it rather than using it exactly as it's designed.
You aren't going to be doing anything that is against the grain here.