The Truth about Obamacare

[old timey villain]

CNN contributor Sally Kohn dug up some details of Americans who have seen their health plan dropped due to Obamacare.

Deborah Cavallaro was making the rounds on television complaining about how her current insurance plan was canceled under Obamacare. So Los Angeles Times columnist Michael Hiltzik talked to her. Her current plan cost $293 per month but had a deductible of $5,000 per year and out-of-pocket annual limits of $8,500. Also, the current plan covered just two doctor's visits per year.

Dianne Barrette also popped up on television on a CBS news report in which she lamented that her $54-per-month insurance plan had been canceled under Obamacare. But Nancy Metcalf at Consumer Reports investigated Barrette's story and found that her current policy was a "textbook example of a junk plan that isn't real health insurance at all." According to Metcalf, if Barrette had ever tried to use her insurance for anything more than a sporadic doctor's visit, "she would have ended up with tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars of medical debt."

Yes, Obama lied and I'm pissed. Yes, I feel sorry for these people. But it looks like a lot of them had pretty unsubstantial plans that weren't good for much in the first place. They likely would have been dropped at some point regardless but now they have the Obamacare option, which I still believe will benefit consumers as soon as the website improves.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/07/opinion/kohn-obamacare-journalists/

There is no way Obama can spin this positively. This is the lowest point of his presidency because it has hurt his political clout but also his personal credibility- which hurts the most. Still, I think the dust will settle and Americans will become generally happy with the ACA despite the bumpy rollout. He just has to ride out the storm and hope things improve by the midterms next year.

[Citizen (The) Doctor]

We've known this for a while, the insubstantial plans are being dropped to get people to subscribe to more substantial ones through the ACA. But the media isn't going to stop with this narrative -- they're  looking to bludgeon someone, and we will be hearing echoes of "Obama lied" for the rest of his presidency. He can only hope that this goes the way of Iran-Contra and people only regard this as a minor misstep in the annals of history.

[Likely Voter]

And of course all these stories are about the (very small) individual market, which was the most dysfunctional and unfair area in health insurance prior to the ACA. The fact that there were so many uninsured is proof of that since so many of them couldn't find or afford insurance in the indiv. market. For every person getting a cancellation letter on their (likely inadequate) individual policy there are many more who are being shut out of getting (the newly expanded because of ACA) Medicaid because their state happens to be run by the GOP.  THey aren't as newsworthy because 1. They are poor and 2. They aren't getting a letter they can wave at a TV camera....they are just continuing to get nothing.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

You can say Obama lied about getting to keep your health care coverage, but as I said before, these people we're talking about don't actually have health insurance. They think they have health insurance, but they have a junk feel-good plan that doesn't actually cover what a health insurance plan NEEDS to cover -- mainly, catastrophic events.

[pbrower2a]

Rip-off insurance policies don't pass muster.

It is not enough for people to pay $10 a week and get an insurance policy with a million-dollar deductible with exclusions that make practically certain that one will never get covered for anything and have that considered insurance in compliance with any mandate to have health insurance or pay a fine. The purpose of Obamacare is not to get people to buy worthless 'insurance'.

High-deductible policies are good for people who have high incomes and huge volumes of liquid assets. Few people have either, let alone the combination.

Insurance companies that exist first for profits of shareholders or for the enrichment of bureaucratic elites can't be put out of business lest they be bought out at favorable terms to those who own and manage them. We have Medicare because the insurance companies don;t want customers over 65.

[7,052,770]

He obviously shouldn't have made the soundbite statement, but having actual health insurance (not some "plan" that allows 2 doctor visits per year and only covers cheapo generic drugs) is a matter of personal responsibility and good citizenship.

What he meant, and should have explicitly said, is "if you like your plan, you can keep it, unless it's actually really sh**tty and you don't know better."

[Link]

This is the lowest point of his presidency because it has hurt his political clout but also his personal credibility- which hurts the most.

In what universe.  Most people are adults and change insurance policies like their underwear.  There is no fantasy area in America where the majority of the people on individual policies kept them for more than 2 or 3 years.   It's just a fact.  I went on a streak a couple of years ago where I changed my insurance four times in five years.

I don't know if what he did qualifies as a lie but if it does I don't think lying to get the American people insured is the worst thing a sitting president has done in my lifetime.  This has zero impact on my trust in the president.  He is dealing with a chunk of the electorate that thinks he's born in Kenya and a chunk of Congress that made up it's mind it's sole purpose is to destroy his presidency.  I would lie to.  Nice guys finish last.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Didn't BushOklahoma have a job selling junk insurance?