Nearly one million people signed up for Obamacare coverage this spring.

[vegas giants]

No...

I find it hilarious that the left claims to have put millions of people on the ACA as a victory march, but at the same time created millions of healthcare poor.

Is Obamacare actually affordable?

High deductibles have some middle class Obamacare enrollees questioning how affordable it is.

money.cnn.com

Same shit, but with a different stink.

The Republican plan was to give them no insurance at all

 

[Port & Starboard]

The Republican plan was to give them no insurance at all

I'm not defending the spineless republicans either.

All hat and no cows.

 

[vegas giants]

I'm not defending the spineless republicans either.

All hat and no cows.

So you admit some insurance is better than nothing. It was a step forward

 

[snakestretcher]

They're all checking the interwebz to see Trump's big beautiful healthcare plan that he said he would release in 2 weeks.

That was only back in August 2020. What's the rush?

 

[JasperL]

No...

I find it hilarious that the left claims to have put millions of people on the ACA as a victory march, but at the same time created millions of healthcare poor.

Is Obamacare actually affordable?

High deductibles have some middle class Obamacare enrollees questioning how affordable it is.

money.cnn.com

Same shit, but with a different stink.

It didn't "create" healthcare poor. That's the high cost of healthcare in this country and if it's not subsidized, like employer plans, the costs of insurance are out of reach for just about anyone not wealthy.

The good news is that the ACA legislation passed this year helps those in the article, and it's hilarious instead of noting that as a good thing, you have to throw more rocks at Democrats who actually did something for those families, versus doing like the republicans and telling us lies and being too damn lazy and incompetent to get anything done.

 

[JasperL]

I'm not defending the spineless republicans either.

All hat and no cows.

They're not spineless. The GOP are either maliciously and deliberately destructive, or too stupid to tie their own shoes. Everything the GOP did during Trump, except for repealing the tax on the uninsured, was designed and intended to make the costs of insurance go up, to undermine the ACA, make those buying on the exchange worse off, with nothing to replace what they were taking a wrecking ball to, very deliberately.

 

[Port & Starboard]

They're not spineless. The GOP are either maliciously and deliberately destructive, or too stupid to tie their own shoes. Everything the GOP did during Trump, except for repealing the tax on the uninsured, was designed and intended to make the costs of insurance go up, to undermine the ACA, make those buying on the exchange worse off, with nothing to replace what they were taking a wrecking ball to, very deliberately.

The middle class were going broke in the middle of funding those health exchanges.

But...we all could save $2400. a year you all said.

 

[JasperL]

The middle class were going broke in the middle of funding those health exchanges.

But...we all could save $2400. a year you all said.

If you have an idea to do it better, write your Republican member of Congress. I don't have a lot of patience with "THEY DID IT ALL WRONG!!!" for a damn decade, and those whining have no idea in the world how to do it better, or care that it is done better. All they can or want to do is bitch about how bad the other guy screwed it up. It's pathetic.

This last bit of legislation directly helped the "middle class" you are referring to and instead of noting that, just want to throw rocks at the Democrats for actually doing something. If you don't like it, fine. Boo f'in hoo.

 

[JasperL]

Subsidizing employer insurance is also wrong. Because the federal govt taxing one person to pay for someone else is wrong. Why should i be "pleased that the health system is working better to serve more people" when its without my consent?

OK, you are a libertarian, so maybe this makes sense to you. But the downside of no government subsidies for health insurance is no one but the upper middle class and above can afford health insurance, and almost none of the bottom half or so. There's a reason EVERY industrialized country, all of them, 100% of them, heavily subsidizes healthcare, directly through single payer or other 'socialized' healthcare, like Medicare and Medicaid or other non-profit provider, public or private, or indirectly like with the tax exemption for employer provided health insurance in this country paired with employer mandates for covering the bottom end of a group of employees that qualify a company for those subsidies.

And government does all kinds of stuff, roughly everything, without our 'consent.' We elect representatives, and that's the extent of our 'consent' for what the federal government does.

But the bigger point is if you ask 100 people with health insurance, maybe 90% or more of them, including all those working good jobs in the 'free market' have had THEIR health insurance subsidized by government, and the vast majority for every single year since birth they've had health insurance. That's just how it works in this country. So in the reality based world, it's not whether we should subsidize health insurance or not - we do and have for DECADES - but how best to subsidize those who don't get heavily government subsidized insurance at work.

 

[Greenbeard]

Subsidizing employer insurance is also wrong. Because the federal govt taxing one person to pay for someone else is wrong. Why should i be "pleased that the health system is working better to serve more people" when its without my consent?

If you value your perception of your consent (whatever that means) more highly than the lives of millions of Americans, then I suppose you wouldn't have anything to be pleased about, would you? I'm sorry this has happened to you.

No...

I find it hilarious that the left claims to have put millions of people on the ACA as a victory march, but at the same time created millions of healthcare poor.

Is Obamacare actually affordable?

High deductibles have some middle class Obamacare enrollees questioning how affordable it is.

money.cnn.com

Same shit, but with a different stink.

The middle class were going broke in the middle of funding those health exchanges.

But...we all could save $2400. a year you all said.

Thing is, we've saved a lot under the ACA. The growth of out-of-pocket spending fell in the ACA era. As did cost growth for private insurance, including the most common form of it for the middle class (employer-sponsored insurance), and the public programs. Health care cost growth across the board plummeted in the ACA era.

	1990-1999​	2000-2009​	2010-2019​
Average annual growth in out-of-pocket spending (via deductibles, etc)	4.1%​	4.8%​	3.2%​
Average annual growth in per enrollee costs - total private health insurance	6.6%​	7.3%​	3.6%​
Average annual growth in per enrollee costs - employer-sponsored insurance	6.3%​	7.7%​	3.2%​
Average annual growth in per enrollee costs - Medicare	6.2%​	7.1%​	1.9%​
Average annual growth in per enrollee costs - Medicaid	6.7%​	2.6%​	1.5%​

If you add up the savings from dropping from the pre-ACA cost growth rates to the lower ACA cost growth rates, it averages out to about $1,000/year for all private health insurance, and over $1,200/year for employer-sponsored insurance in particular. That's per enrollee, so if you've got two people in a family enrolled in an employer plan that's over $2,400 in savings per year over that first decade of the ACA.

It's 2021 and rightwingers are still bringing out this talking point as if the savings didn't materialize. They did!

 

[uptower]

Even when its not more affordable to the rest of us and its all funded with debt and massively increases govt power and interference? The people signing up are being subsidized by me (or debt). So im paying for my healthcare, and theirs too. Hows that a good thing for me?

That's really the only objection isn't it? I don't want my taxes to pay for other people's well-being? Why should other tax payers pay for your road if they never drive through your neighbourhood? Your kids school if they live in another district? Those tanks and warplanes thrown all over the world even though they don't get a hard on when brown children are bombed? There's just no good excuse when other developed countries have demonstrated it can be done.

 

[Port & Starboard]

If you value your perception of your consent (whatever that means) more highly than the lives of millions of Americans, then I suppose you wouldn't have anything to be pleased about, would you? I'm sorry this has happened to you.




Thing is, we've saved a lot under the ACA. The growth of out-of-pocket spending fell in the ACA era. As did cost growth for private insurance, including the most common form of it for the middle class (employer-sponsored insurance), and the public programs. Health care cost growth across the board plummeted in the ACA era.

	1990-1999​	2000-2009​	2010-2019​
Average annual growth in out-of-pocket spending (via deductibles, etc)	4.1%​	4.8%​	3.2%​
Average annual growth in per enrollee costs - total private health insurance	6.6%​	7.3%​	3.6%​
Average annual growth in per enrollee costs - employer-sponsored insurance	6.3%​	7.7%​	3.2%​
Average annual growth in per enrollee costs - Medicare	6.2%​	7.1%​	1.9%​
Average annual growth in per enrollee costs - Medicaid	6.7%​	2.6%​	1.5%​

If you add up the savings from dropping from the pre-ACA cost growth rates to the lower ACA cost growth rates, it averages out to about $1,000/year for all private health insurance, and over $1,200/year for employer-sponsored insurance in particular. That's per enrollee, so if you've got two people in a family enrolled in an employer plan that's over $2,400 in savings per year over that first decade of the ACA.

It's 2021 and rightwingers are still bringing out this talking point as if the savings didn't materialize. They did!

They saved the poor and screwed the middle class.

You can tweak the stats all you wish.

 

[Greenbeard]

They saved the poor and screwed the middle class.

You can tweak the stats all you wish.

No need to "tweak" anything, the numbers are the numbers. Cost growth fell after the ACA passed and everyone benefited. Americans collectively have saved trillions over the first decade of the ACA era due to the great--and largely unexpected--health care cost slowdown.

Your concern (apparently) is with the small sliver of the population that doesn't have access to employer-based coverage and makes more than 400% FPL. Guess what? The American Rescue Plan was specifically designed to modify the ACA to help out that population and it's already doing so. See the maps JasperL posted above.

You can pretend to care about that issue or those folks, but if you get indignant when policy changes are made to address it and get those people coverage it sort of gives away the game. The ACA was good and successful before. The Biden-era American Rescue Plan-enhanced ACA will be better and even more successful.

 

[Port & Starboard]

No need to "tweak" anything, the numbers are the numbers. Cost growth fell after the ACA passed and everyone benefited. Americans collectively have saved trillions over the first decade of the ACA era due to the great--and largely unexpected--health care cost slowdown.

Your concern (apparently) is with the small sliver of the population that doesn't have access to employer-based coverage and makes more than 400% FPL. Guess what? The American Rescue Plan was specifically designed to modify the ACA to help out that population and it's already doing so. See the maps JasperL posted above.

You can pretend to care about that issue or those folks, but if you get indignant when policy changes are made to address it and get those people coverage it sort of gives away the game. The ACA was good and successful before. The Biden-era American Rescue Plan-enhanced ACA will be better and even more successful.

The cost still went up on the backs of the middle class.

But thanks.

 

[Greenbeard]

The cost still went up on the backs of the middle class.

But thanks.

Righties have been practicing this talking point for twelve years but never stopped to check what actually happened!

 

[JasperL]

The cost still went up on the backs of the middle class.

But thanks.

If it happened, and all you've done is assert it, the new legislation reduces the costs to the "middle class." Instead of celebrating that achievement that will mean $thousands in savings for millions of people, you just want to throw bricks at Democrats, as a partisan exercise.

 

[Greenbeard]

Looks like boomers in Nebraska and Wyoming are making out like fatcats on this. And they'll still vote hardcore republican.

Exactly the voters that the trainwreck of a GOP health bill that Trump backed in 2017 would've ravaged. Go figure.

 

[HangLow]

Biden's special enrollment period continues to gather steam as the premiums shoppers pay are falling.

Nearly one million people signed up for Obamacare coverage this spring.


The HHS news release notes that many people are buying up to more generous plans, lowering their out-of-pocket liabilities (like deductibles):

********

********​

 

[jonny5]

If you value your perception of your consent (whatever that means) more highly than the lives of millions of Americans, then I suppose you wouldn't have anything to be pleased about, would you? I'm sorry this has happened to you.

Yes, I value my liberty more than other peoples need for healthcare. So does the constitution. I am sorry that everyone else doesnt value the law or personal freedom. Must be nice to be able to not care about others concerns.

 

[Kushinator]

Why should i be "pleased that the health system is working better to serve more people" when its without my consent?

If you were a decent person, you would appreciate more people getting healthcare and at a cheaper price.

Nobody needs your consent... elections have consequences... remember?

 

[Moderate Right]

Biden's special enrollment period continues to gather steam as the premiums shoppers pay are falling.

Nearly one million people signed up for Obamacare coverage this spring.


The HHS news release notes that many people are buying up to more generous plans, lowering their out-of-pocket liabilities (like deductibles):

Just more liberal wet dreams. The solution to everything for them is to just charge it to Uncle Sam, causing the runaway inflation we are just now beginning to see. Healthcare costs too high? Just increase subsidies and add those subsidies on to the national debt. Nobody ever seems to want to actually decrease the cost of healthcare.

 

[Napoleon]

It didn't "create" healthcare poor. That's the high cost of healthcare in this country and if it's not subsidized, like employer plans, the costs of insurance are out of reach for just about anyone not wealthy.

The good news is that the ACA legislation passed this year helps those in the article, and it's hilarious instead of noting that as a good thing, you have to throw more rocks at Democrats who actually did something for those families, versus doing like the republicans and telling us lies and being too damn lazy and incompetent to get anything done.

I don’t think it’s really attributable to the legislation as much as it is people who quit or were laid off during the pandemic and no longer have employer plans with COBRA expiring.

 

[Greenbeard]

Nobody ever seems to want to actually decrease the cost of healthcare.

Lots of people want to slow the growth of health care costs, and have been working on it for some time. That's the other half of the ACA.

The slowdown in health care cost growth in the ACA era has shaved a cumulative ~$3 trillion off of health care costs in the ACA's first decade.

 

[JasperL]

I don’t think it’s really attributable to the legislation as much as it is people who quit or were laid off during the pandemic and no longer have employer plans with COBRA expiring.

What you think isn't all that relevant. You'll need to show your work. The legislation very deliberately targeted costs at the upper end of the subsidy scale and allowed those beyond 400% of FPL to get subsidies. That's just what the legislation did do and the results are in the numbers, in the OP and elsewhere.

I'm also not clear how people with COBRA expiring lowered premiums, and OOP costs for people on the exchange. Where is that link? How does this work?

 

[Napoleon]

What you think isn't all that relevant. You'll need to show your work. The legislation very deliberately targeted costs at the upper end of the subsidy scale and allowed those beyond 400% of FPL to get subsidies. That's just what the legislation did do and the results are in the numbers, in the OP and elsewhere.

I'm also not clear how people with COBRA expiring lowered premiums, and OOP costs for people on the exchange. Where is that link? How does this work?

You’re demanding a level of evidence that you don’t have for your own position. What you have is a correlation not causation. I’m pointing out that there are other correlations that better explain a sudden influx in Obamacare participants. Namely that millions of people lost their jobs last year, their employer insurance went with it, and their COBRA benefits are expiring.