Then from there, we go to the application for the first person and that is three pages plus. And if it is a 4 person family, there are a lot more pages to fill out---18 of them. I don’t see anyone wanting to fill this information out unless it is money in their pocket. Why even bother?
Page one, "Are you pregnant?"
Page two informs you;"If you don't file taxes, you can still qualify for free or low cost insurance through Medi-Cal."
Page three; "Do you have a job?"
What bothers me about the form, is the fact that you're not buying health insurance, you're documenting that you don't have the funds to pay for it. I've never had any trouble buying something I wanted. You usually want to know the price before you buy. I walked into a service station one time to get a tire repaired and the guy pulled out a notepad and started writing down all the charges and by the time he finished, the total was $24. Further down the street, another mechanic looked at me in the eye and said, "Pay me what you think it is worth." I got the tire fixed and paid him $15.
After you submit all of this information they will present you the monthly cost of your plan. You're not going to be able to tell them you don't want it because it costs too much. They have your name, Social Security number, cell phone number and the address of where you live. You will get the bill if one is generated. With the system armed with all of that new information, you could get nailed for wants and outstanding warrants, alimony and all sorts of other goodies. Do you get the feeling that the government is not being very transparent with this program? Put another way, are we being conned?
It kind of reminds me of when FDR started the Social Security retirement plan. Before that time if you owed taxes, they had no way of collecting; they didn't even know who you were. With the Social Security tax, they got your employer to deduct it from your wages before you got paid. From there taxation became a lot simpler for the government to execute; the employer had to follow the government directives.
So here is what it boils down to. If you don't have insurance, they will withhold the (Bronze, Silver or Gold--your choice) amount from your paycheck and you will have to fill out a form each year to get a refund for overpayment. Why do I think this will happen about April 15th every year?
The real question for this year, Can half of the people filling out the form complete it correctly enough to apply for benefits successfully? It sounds like a very simple task doesn't it? This is the real hurdle not fully comprehended or anticipated by the government bureaucrats.
As a post script, I don't have to worry about Obamacare, I'm 67 years old. The youth of this country (those from the age of 18 to 45) are going to enable Congress to kick the can further down the road with a whopping $4,000 a year tax increase. Call it whatever you want, the Supreme Court got it right, it's a tax.
11 comments:
" I don't have to worry about Obamacare, I'm 67 years old." Does that mean you use Medicare, Jim?
We use the NHS. Its standards are erratic: its best seems pretty good to me, its worst woeful. One advantage of the endless pressure on taxpayers to stump up for it is that there is probably less needless treatment than there is in the US. We still, however, have some recognisable nonsense such as politicians being wedded to the idea that preventative medicine is the route to saving billions. So we get mass screening for breast and prostate cancer, rather than a focus on the people most at risk; we get redefining of conditions to justify more interference in our lives - e.g. diabetes; and we get a drive to mass statination. From some of man's folly there is no escape.
Here's some news from the NHS; a political nonsense from the Toni Blair era goes down in flames.
It might be of interest to Americans just at the moment.
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/nhs-pulls-the-plug-on-its-11bn-it-system-2330906.html
Hi dearieme
No Medicare, I work full time and my employer pays half of my health insurance. Of course with group rates, everyone pays the same rate, which turns out to be super low for me at my age.
Hi dearieme
Thanks for the link. Kind of sounds like what is happening with the computer programing on our end of the pond. Great visions, but reality is a cruel mistress.
It will take 3-5 years for America to see that Obamacare is a total abomination. The internet glitches are nothing compared to what is coming (the gov has wasted billions of dollars on this internet system). The unintended consequences of Obamacare will be horrific. American business and the rest of the private sector will be soooo pissed.
It is as if this is a setup for a collapse of the health care system resulting in the people wanting it abolished or reformed so that the government can then do what it has really always wanted to do... single payer healthcare run TOTALLY by Uncle Sam.
Socialism to Communism to Fascism.
Isn't the real issue, the overpricing of STANDARD medical treatments? Many years ago my (US) brother needed to buy antibiotics for a sore throat. $100 for a week's supply.
Something like 200 drugs (if that), most of them out of patent, could take care of the majority of ailments for which drugs are a help. Basic dentistry, simple operations (like removing a prolapsed uterus, which before the NHS imprisoned many women in theor beds for the rest of their miserable lives), it shouldn't cost so much. Keep the lawyers out as much as possible, and trim the doctors' fees and insurance and drug companies' profits.
Some people will go on about "socialised medicine" as though we're Communists like the once that drove my grandparents off their farm; nonsense. That's like saying one man, one vote is socialised politics. Freedom is freedom of the citizen, not the freedom of large corporations using monopoly positions to rip you off. How can the citzenry be free if there is such inequality that most of them can't afford healthcare?
Just imagine what a boost it might be for demand for other goods and services if the people and their employers weren't sucked dry by medical costs.
I am talking about basics here, not liposuction, sex changes or prolonging people's deaths by hugely expensive end-of-life care.
Again,Obama outsmarts lesser minds. There are 2 parts to Obamacare..1) More people on single-payer (more on Medicaid and because the US is aging, more on Medicare). 2) Rest, pure insurance run.
Actually, more complicated...includes reform all to be patient-centric, quality over quantity, more cost efficient, plus more preventive stuff.
Plus, over time, obviously changes will be made, maybe Medicare expanded to under 65, premiums based on ability to pay.
But, key thing for now is to get more covered. Believe it or not a healthier workforce is good for the economy.
Before FDR, no American even had the thought that the government is in any way responsible for their wages, jobs, healthcare, etc.
As it should be.
We went off the rails back then.
Pharmaceuticals, doctors, treatments, etc. would all be at affordable rates if they were subjected to the free market.
A strong dollar and a prosperous economy with a high standard of living, and costs continuing to lower, depends on having a small government and true capitalism in a free market system where production, manufacturing and services are not manipulated or interfered with.
This system in America is crashing and burning in slow motion. Hopefully the next system will be the result of the lessons of history.
Our "politicians" who are a bunch of incompetents with self-serving agendas, NONE of them being leaders, still have most Americans fooled (such as Oppenheim here on this thread). Obamacare will be a disaster on many counts. The sad thing is that it will take 3-5 years for everyone to suffer the results and wake up to it (and then the nightmare of "reform" will have to occur). Our politicians are dealing with everything OTHER THAN the key internal and external issues at hand that threaten our country.
The American people have elected and continue to elect career politicians that have no experience with the real world and real economy. They are all bought and paid for by the huge lobbys and are all working for the big multi-national corps. The Zionists also exercise great control over them to the detriment of our country. The academic neo-classical economists are and have been in charge for too long and they have headed us towards a brick wall at 100 mph.
It is all so crazy that one couldn't even make this stuff up if they wanted to write an outlandish fictional account of government at its worst.
This blog is a good one but it sure moves slowly. Not enough posts by the owner and not enough of an audience responding with comments.
Hi Anon 7:04
You hit the nail on the head.
You're right, I don't publish enough, but that's because I have a day job. It takes about three hours for me to write each article. Sometimes I write something that rambles and decide not to publish it. The worst thing a blogger can do is bore the reader just because he feels the need to publish so meting new.
Many bloggers think that people read every line they write, if they knew the real score, they'd write a lot less.
I'll put some new batteries in my ink pen and see if I can be a little more prolific.
Thank you for your complements, take care
"Believe it or not a healthier workforce is good for the economy."
Fascist, Corporatist, whatever you want to call this, is never good for the workforce over the long run. It only benefits the few, which I assume is you.
Have you researched the heathcare workforce? It is shrinking due to this fiasco. More demand, less supply, and a government in between to make it all better.
The free market is a stream running downhill. Obamacare is thousands of pages of regulations to make water run uphill. It can be done... at a great waste of a countries resources.
Post a Comment