Americans wary about Obamacare

[Yamato]

Three and a half years after the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act - also known as Obamacare - , Americans remain unconvinced that it will improve their own health care or the nation's, according to an NBCNews/Wall Street Journal poll. The survey results come as the Obama administration and states prepare to offer insurance through "health insurance marketplace." Their ability to persuade Americans that are currently uninsured to sign up will be critical to the ability of those marketplaces to keep rates affordable.

Just 31 percent of Americans say the new health law a good idea, while 44 percent say it is a bad idea. The proportion of those praising the law has declined from 36 percent three years ago.

(Read more: Obamacare penalty: Your family could pay more for insurance )

How can we stop this socialistic rhinoceros that's already gored a chunk out of Medicare's rear-end just to get started? I think we're capable of improving the system without Obamacare. Returning to free market principles will bring costs down once these knuckleheads have to compete with each other.

[Rafterman]

I agree.

I happen to like the current approach being taken by some in Congress to outlaw all of the exemptions that have been granted to unions and certain large organizations. Clearly the goal of the White House is to push the implementation of this monstrosity out beyond 2014 for obvious reasons. Personally I think it's going to be a huge issue in the 2016 elections as people will have seen how it has impacted their families.

I have also been shocked to learn that, even at full implementation, we'll still have roughly 40 million uninsured Americans. Isn't that pretty much the same number we had PRIOR to Obamacare's implementation?

[Gromdor]

Sad to say, but Obamacare was born because free market principles were unable to bring costs down.

[Simbi Laveau]

Companies are already making more positions part lime, and part timers will get no coverage.

So no, no one likes it. Go figure

[Yamato]

When you can charge whatever you want, prices always go up! That's not the free market by any stretch.

[Jeremiah65]

People are starting to see the favoritism and the "glad handing" going on in the back rooms. Giving exemptions to big corporations is not fair. They should give an opt out option to everyone.

There was a few good ideas in the package. being able to keep a college student on your insurance till age 26 is a good idea and should have been that way all along. The bad thing is...most of the insurance the average person can afford has huge deductibles and are basically worthless for anything but major medical...but you are going to pump a nice chunk of your income into them anyway.

The whole thing is a train wreck. I have said before that if they were actually more concerned with the health and well being of us serfs and peasants...they should have offered a pure single payer system. We all know that there would have been wailing and gnashing of teeth. I think this confusing disaster is to give leverage to that..."Fine, the people don't want to pay profits to insurance corporations and Wall Street securities...we'll go with a universal single payer system."

I'm self employed. We get our insurance through my wife's employer. Not great, but not terrible. We plan to see how this evolves and if the employee obligation raises. If it does, we'll have to re-check our options.

[CyberKen]

Companies are already making more positions part lime, and part timers will get no coverage.

So no, no one likes it. Go figure

Look for the big picture. Part timers make less money.

People who don't make anything can't buy anything. Consumer spending is 2/3rds of the U.S. Economy.

Ripple Effect: Our economy is flat lining................................

We will see 1% - 2% growth until ObamaCare disappears.

[CyberKen]

People are starting to see the favoritism and the "glad handing" going on in the back rooms. Giving exemptions to big corporations is not fair. They should give an opt out option to everyone.

There was a few good ideas in the package. being able to keep a college student on your insurance till age 26 is a good idea and should have been that way all along. The bad thing is...most of the insurance the average person can afford has huge deductibles and are basically worthless for anything but major medical...but you are going to pump a nice chunk of your income into them anyway.

The whole thing is a train wreck. I have said before that if they were actually more concerned with the health and well being of us serfs and peasants...they should have offered a pure single payer system. We all know that there would have been wailing and gnashing of teeth. I think this confusing disaster is to give leverage to that..."Fine, the people don't want to pay profits to insurance corporations and Wall Street securities...we'll go with a universal single payer system."

I'm self employed. We get our insurance through my wife's employer. Not great, but not terrible. We plan to see how this evolves and if the employee obligation raises. If it does, we'll have to re-check our options.

The Canadian Public Option will not come to the USA.

ObamaCare will have to be repealed. 90% of Americans were satisfied with the old system.

Sad to say, but Obamacare was born because free market principles were unable to bring costs down.

Bring Costs Down = Tort Reform

[Rafterman]

Sad to say, but Obamacare was born because free market principles were unable to bring costs down.

I would argue that the problem was the free market wasn't allowed to work in healthcare given that so much of the pricing was driven by government refund rates. Also, true costs were always hidden from the consumer.

Costs for day-to-day care would drop dramatically if we took a major medical approach to health insurance. If folks paid out of pocket for things like annual exams, screenings, and standard office visits and left insurance coverage for major issues, we'd actually see competition come back into the medical market. Wouldn't it be great to see a "two for one mammogram coupon" for you and your mom to come in on Mother's Day for example. As it stands now, when is the last time anyone even ASKED what a procedure costs? That's not the free market.

The ironic thing is that an Obamacare that focused on major medical only might even be affordable and provide coverage to 100% of Americans.

Edited September 16, 2013 by Rafterman

[Leonardo]

Three and a half years after the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act - also known as Obamacare - , Americans remain unconvinced that it will improve their own health care or the nation's, according to an NBCNews/Wall Street Journal poll. The survey results come as the Obama administration and states prepare to offer insurance through "health insurance marketplace." Their ability to persuade Americans that are currently uninsured to sign up will be critical to the ability of those marketplaces to keep rates affordable.

Just 31 percent of Americans say the new health law a good idea, while 44 percent say it is a bad idea. The proportion of those praising the law has declined from 36 percent three years ago.

(Read more: Obamacare penalty: Your family could pay more for insurance)

How can we stop this socialistic rhinoceros that's already gored a chunk out of Medicare's rear-end just to get started? I think we're capable of improving the system without Obamacare. Returning to free market principles will bring costs down once these knuckleheads have to compete with each other.

Not unless govt regulates the industry beyond what it currently has (which is practically zero.)

Competition, as we have learnt through "free market principles", without regulation leads to cabalism.

In essence, the healthcare reform is meant to implement regulation to protect the public against the healthcare & healthcare insurance providers operating as a cabal. It was never going to be perfect and, due to the modifications made to allow the Bill's passage into law, it is now much less effective than it could have been.

The American people want the best of both worlds - minimal govt and a private sector that is ethical, self-regulatory and works to the benefit of all citizens. That won't happen. You either have to protect the people from abuse by the private sector via govt regulation (which the average American wrongly believes amounts to Socialism) - balancing that against the need for the private sector to operate profitably - or you encourage the sort of dog-eat-dog society that America is in danger of becoming.

[Michelle]

I would argue that the problem was the free market wasn't allowed to work in healthcare given that so much of the pricing was driven by government refund rates. Also, true costs were always hidden from the consumer.

Costs for day-to-day care would drop dramatically if we took a major medical approach to health insurance. If folks paid out of pocket for things like annual exams, screenings, and standard office visits and left insurance coverage for major issues, we'd actually see competition come back into the medical market. Wouldn't it be great to see a "two for one mammogram coupon" for you and your mom to come in on Mother's Day for example. As it stands now, when is the last time anyone even ASKED what a procedure costs? That's not the free market.

The ironic thing is that an Obamacare that focused on major medical only might even be affordable and provide coverage to 100% of Americans.

We ask because we're self pay patients. We canceled our insurance because it was going up from $1200 a month to $1400 for the two of us. In essence we told them where to shove it. We own a small business so we don't have the option of getting insurance through an employer.

We've found out that the doctors charge insurance companies almost twice as much for the same tests and the average office visit. Some of the tests are also not as "necessary" as they were when we had insurance. When doctors have access to almost unlimited amounts of money they will take advantage of it and justify any tests they deem fit.

[CyberKen]

We ask because we're self pay patients. We canceled our insurance because it was going up from $1200 a month to $1400 for the two of us. In essence we told them where to shove it. We own a small business so we don't have the option of getting insurance through an employer.

We've found out that the doctors charge insurance companies almost twice as much for the same tests and the average office visit. Some of the tests are also not as "necessary" as they were when we had insurance. When doctors have access to almost unlimited amounts of money they will take advantage of it and justify any tests they deem fit.

Democrat Howard Dean revealed that there is a Death Panel in ObamaCare.

It's called iPAB.

Independent Payment Advisory Board

iPAB will stop certain treatments by simply setting rates to levels where no doctor or hospital will perform them.

Rationing

[Rafterman]

We ask because we're self pay patients. We canceled our insurance because it was going up from $1200 a month to $1400 for the two of us. In essence we told them where to shove it. We own a small business so we don't have the option of getting insurance through an employer.

We've found out that the doctors charge insurance companies almost twice as much for the same tests and the average office visit. Some of the tests are also not as "necessary" as they were when we had insurance. When doctors have access to almost unlimited amounts of money they will take advantage of it and justify any tests they deem fit.

Exactly, you're proving what a free market system in healthcare would look like. But I'm not sure I'd throw it completely at the feet of the doctors due to liability concerns and patient demand for such tests. If cost to you is not object, then by all means, run 100 tests. And if, as a doctor, you feel that they are unnecessary, you still run them because you don't want some lawyer questioning why you didn't.

[CyberKen]

Exactly, you're proving what a free market system in healthcare would look like. But I'm not sure I'd throw it completely at the feet of the doctors due to liability concerns and patient demand for such tests. If cost to you is not object, then by all means, run 100 tests. And if, as a doctor, you feel that they are unnecessary, you still run them because you don't want some lawyer questioning why you didn't.

Limit the liability. Texas already did it!

Many doctors are moving to Texas!

We need Tort Reform.

[ninjadude]

When you can charge whatever you want, prices always go up! That's not the free market by any stretch.

The exchanges, aka regulated markets, have already been shown to have lowered prices than are currently available.

[ninjadude]

Limit the liability. Texas already did it!

We need Tort Reform.

There are parts of the ACA that talk about tort reform. But for the millionth time, any meaningful amount of tort reform will be less than .001 percent of several trillion dollars. It's just not the most effective thing to do. Which is why you are being ignored.

Edited September 17, 2013 by ninjadude

[Jeremiah65]

It's still a psy op to **** the monds of many...their is not fine option.....I had to say that....enjoy those that want the truth....

[ninjadude]

I'm self employed. We get our insurance through my wife's employer. Not great, but not terrible. We plan to see how this evolves and if the employee obligation raises. If it does, we'll have to re-check our options.

. you would most likey continue to get insurance where ever you do now - unless they drop the benefit completely, you quit or get fired.

Then you can get insurance on the exchange.

[CyberKen]

. you would most likey continue to get insurance where ever you do now - unless they drop the benefit completely, you quit or get fired.

Then you can get insurance on the exchange.

The unions will align themselves with the Tea Party and repeal ObamaCare altogether by the end of the month.

The Trumka sweetheart deal was denied.

Double Dipping is illegal.

[spartan max2]

People need to stop blameing their bad policies on capitalism.

Heathcare has not been a free market.

[CyberKen]

People need to stop blameing their bad policies on capitalism.

Heathcare has not been a free market.

The 160,000 Walgreens employees will blame iPAB.

Why are you handing me a pain pill?

[Leonardo]

People need to stop blameing their bad policies on capitalism.

Heathcare has not been a free market.

It's not entirely true that capitalism is innocent of any blame in the cost of healthcare and healthcare insurance in America. It is an extreme 'dedication' to capitalism that has seen the healthcare market effectively become a cartel, via opposition from all sectors (business, govt and public) to introducing and enforcing necessary legislation/regulation to prevent that happening.

Edited September 18, 2013 by Leonardo

[ninjadude]

The unions will align themselves with the Tea Party and repeal ObamaCare altogether by the end of the month.

again how? The Democratic Senate and Obama are not going to repeal anything. Do you even know how government works?

[Yamato]

Obamacare is the result of politicians identifying a problem that proved very popular in polling (The biggest goal of all was: How are we going to beat the Republicans?), making it a part of their platform to solve this politically-popular problem. In doing so, they create 50 new problems, which will require 50 more band aids. And business is good if you're growing band aid trees. And a lot of people are. Good thing they have many naive devoted followers.

US health care is a complicated problem and the more government gets involved in it, the more certain it becomes that a totally socialized system is the only possibility in the future. I don't know about you folks, but if we're going to trust government to take care of us, I need a more caring institution than one that bombs children overseas because they were upstairs and across the hall from a "militant" or a "suspect". I know they're not the freedom fighters they used to be when they were fighting the evil Bolsheviks for us, but this isn't exactly a passing grade in the trust department. The institution that hands out tobacco subsidies is going to be in charge of taking care of my health? What's next, my wellness? My fitness? How big a soda am I to be bestowed upon to drink from a single cup, m'lord Bloomberg?

[Startraveler]

When you can charge whatever you want, prices always go up! That's not the free market by any stretch.

Psst:

Medical-Price Inflation Is at Slowest Pace in 50 Years

September 17, 2013

Medical prices are rising at their slowest pace in a half century, a shift in the health-care industry that could provide relief to government and businesses' budgets while also signaling consumers are being left with a larger share of the bill.

The prices paid for medical care in July rose just 1% from a year earlier, the slowest annual rate of growth since the early 1960s, according to Commerce Department data. Health-care increases now trail overall inflation, which itself has been historically slow in recent years.

The price data help explain why growth in overall health spending has slowed down in the past several years. The trend, if continued, has big implications for the government's finances because health-care costs are the biggest long-term driver of the federal deficit.

Medical Costs Register First Decline Since 1970s

June 18, 2013

U.S. consumers’ health-care costs fell in May [2013] for the first time in almost four decades, the latest evidence that government policies and an expansion in generic drugs are holding back prices.