Pre-Existing Conditions Provision in House Health Plan Divides GOP

Pretty good story on how boned the US is when it comes to health care insurance. There is very little that can be done to lower premiums, the cat is out of the bag and there is too much $$$ being made. I can't think of anything that is going to lower these costs in a sustainable fashion.

The big thing now is pre existing conditions. If the premiums are too high, people drop insurance and still get e-room care. Then bankruptcies happen and the hospitals will tack the lost $$$ from people who can't pay back on to the insured.... The US brand of capitalism and affordable health care cannot exist along side each other.
OR
People go on disability and then the tax payers pay the unrestricted profit driven medical industry.

A number of states would likely pursue waivers in the House Republican health plan enabling them to charge higher premiums to people with per-existing conditions who let their coverage lapse, health analysts said.

The waivers are the latest twist to the House GOP proposal that would topple most of the Affordable Care Act and replace it with a new plan that would bring steep Medicaid cuts and refundable tax credits to help people obtain health insurance if they don’t get it from their job.

www.wsj.com...

Giving insurers more flexibility will lower premiums. The only flexability that will work is omitting anyone who needs medical care. See simple.

Many Republicans say that giving insurers more flexibility in what kind of plans to offer, and how to price them, would create competition and drive down premiums.

The problem with pre-existing conditions is that it isn't strictly for pre-existing conditions as most people think of them.

The way it was written, it covered people who wanted to not bother paying for any insurance ... until they went to the doctor and he told them they had cancer. At that point, they wanted to get insurance to pay for the bills. The concept of insurance only works out if you pay in for a long time before you get sick, meaning you buy in when you are healthy.

Allowing such people to suddenly buy in under pre-existing rules made sure they could sucker the system and that drove premiums way up because those who tried to be responsible wound up paying not just for themselves but against the risk of suddenly having to pick up catastrophically ill people who would suddenly jump into the pool without having contributed prior.

I am guessing that what most people think of are the ones who have chronic illnesses or who were responsible and lost coverage midway through a cancer battle or shortly after.

Moderate Republicans like obamacare as it is. The pre-x is just the excuse of the moment.

Very deceitful bunch who lack integrity.

Republicans say that giving insurers more flexibility in what kind of plans to offer, and how to price them, would create competition and drive down premiums

You mean bring back the death panels, letting insurance companies kill and bankrupt people as they please.

originally posted by: carewemust
Moderate Republicans like obamacare as it is. The pre-x is just the excuse of the moment.

Very deceitful bunch who lack integrity.

The worst of it is that they only like it as it is because it sucks so hard. They want the power and control over people because they can then count on it as an election issue.

They can run on how horrible it is and how they can "fix" it just like they always do with education, and in the end, nothing will ever seriously get done.

originally posted by: CB328

Republicans say that giving insurers more flexibility in what kind of plans to offer, and how to price them, would create competition and drive down premiums

You mean bring back the death panels, letting insurance companies kill and bankrupt people as they please.

To-may-to, to-mah-to

You say the insurance companies do it, and the only allowed alternative is for government to do that same.

At least there are more insurance companies so I have a chance of picking my poison. You know, it might be nicer to use cyanide over strychnine.

originally posted by: CB328

Republicans say that giving insurers more flexibility in what kind of plans to offer, and how to price them, would create competition and drive down premiums

You mean bring back the death panels, letting insurance companies kill and bankrupt people as they please.

You mean like the VA during the last admin.

Medicare for those who want it and private insurance for those who want it.

Too simple for them. The fault is the voters ultimately for not demanding what we want.

originally posted by: CB328

Republicans say that giving insurers more flexibility in what kind of plans to offer, and how to price them, would create competition and drive down premiums

You mean bring back the death panels, letting insurance companies kill and bankrupt people as they please.

They're bankrupting people now just like before Obama.Care.

And the death panels are the same too.

The MSM just isn't telling you.

originally posted by: ketsuko
The problem with pre-existing conditions is that it isn't strictly for pre-existing conditions as most people think of them.

The way it was written, it covered people who wanted to not bother paying for any insurance ... until they went to the doctor and he told them they had cancer. At that point, they wanted to get insurance to pay for the bills. The concept of insurance only works out if you pay in for a long time before you get sick, meaning you buy in when you are healthy.

Allowing such people to suddenly buy in under pre-existing rules made sure they could sucker the system and that drove premiums way up because those who tried to be responsible wound up paying not just for themselves but against the risk of suddenly having to pick up catastrophically ill people who would suddenly jump into the pool without having contributed prior.

I am guessing that what most people think of are the ones who have chronic illnesses or who were responsible and lost coverage midway through a cancer battle or shortly after.

Exactly, people don't understand how insurance works. People would think you are crazy if you wanted to buy homeowner's insurance AFTER your house burned down. However, because people are so emotional about health insurance, they don't seem to understand that is what is happening with pre-existing conditions.

Insurance is a financial product. You are betting you need it and the insurance company is betting you don't. People purchase insurance because they know the financial risk of not being covered against an unexpected disaster.

originally posted by: carewemust
Medicare for those who want it and private insurance for those who want it.

Too simple for them. The fault is the voters ultimately for not demanding what we want.

I agree with this... I'd like to see medicare expanded for all and then allow the private insurance market to work untethered by removing all the crazy regulations.

Predictably, what will happen is that the medicare will probably not be accepted by a lot of doctors due to the bureaucracy and low payouts, while private insurance will be a better alternative. Once this becomes clear, you will get the social justice warriors hamstringing the private insurance companies in the name of equity...

Pre-existing conditions are whatever the insurance company says they are, and this means that they can say that just about anything is a pre-existing condition.

For example, when Obamacare was passed, it simply meant that I couldn't be turned down for a pre-existing condition. It did mean that they could charge me an insane amount every month for insurance, raise the deductible to over $5K, and make the co-pay ridiculously expensive.

I told them that I had a hysterectomy years prior. They said that was a pre-existing condition, and as such, my rate per month was $1400 per month. I asked them, if they took everything out, how could they consider that as a condition? Do all the parts grow back?

Needless to say, I am uninsured due to this. I pay cash for my doctor's visits, and I pay cash for my prescriptions. Many prescriptions on Wally world's $5 list are awesome, I get my blood pressure meds for only $3.98 for a month's supply.

Having worked for medical insurance companies and in the government doing both medicare and medicaid, I have to say they are in the business to make money. As the decades have rolled by, they have made it nearly impossible to afford care, they have dictated how doctors treat patients, and they take forever to reimburse the health care providers.

Obamacare, IMO, is a failure for me. I do not know what the answer is, but it is definitely isn't having the government force me to buy something I cannot afford from a private company, who is only in it for a profit.

originally posted by: FissionSurplus
Pre-existing conditions are whatever the insurance company says they are, and this means that they can say that just about anything is a pre-existing condition.

Insurance is the biggest scam there is. I'm 'fully covered' by the military. I pay out of pocket too. It's easier and far cheaper in the long run. The clinics I go to ... I don't think I've dropped over $30 bucks on any visit.

I guess if I wound up in the hospital, Tri-Care would have me covered, and I had (what I would consider) a significant surgery a few weeks back that cost me 12 dollars.

On top of that, I've lived in places with 'free' healthcare. The trick to those places is Medical Costs come right off the top of the paycheck. I guess if people don't see the government's hand in their pocket, it's not as painful.

Insurance has always been about the Haves paying for the Have Nots ... and the rich (those above the law) avoiding paying in their fair share.

a reply to: Edumakated

They could boost the Medicare payments just like they boosted the Medicaid payments here in Illinois so that more doctors would accept it.

Thanks Obama. This debacle is entirely on him. He took an imperfect system and FUBARed it royally, to the point where just going back to where we were before the FUBARing is nigh unto impossible.

The only solution at this point is to deregulate the insurance industry, adopt some manner of indigent care system for the folks who can't or won't pay no matter how cheap, and let the rest of us move on with the free market and competition setting rates at the lowest point agreeable to the majority.

a reply to: CB328

The panels are there right now. It is called mortgage, gas, electric, prop tax, home insurance, auto insurance, food......

Sorry there is only so much $$$$, and medical needs it's wings clipped. This crap has gotten way out of control.

Anyone who stands on a mountain and yells that US medical system is great, isn't paying attention. There are many other countries that have far better outcomes for much better prices.

a reply to: carewemust

Boom the truth... agreed.

a reply to: Edumakated

Do you have a source to show me how this works?

a reply to: burdman30ott6

That is not the only solution.

Let's look at other countries and see how they handle this seemly insurmountable problem.

There is no other country that spends as much as the US. But we seem to be ok with coming in a crappy 30something when it comes to outcomes.

Our system is not good. It needs stern leadership to correct this problem. We have none.

a reply to: ketsuko

Some pre-existing conditions such as PTSD or autism might not be the patient's fault, and they may have had these conditions for years before getting health insurance, even since birth. And a lapse in health insurance coverage could be due to a lack of necessary funds to pay for health insurance for a few months or a few years, not for nefarious reasons.