I am 2 years to young for medicare. Too broke to pay $800 month for piss poor insurance. My bills are upwards of 65k and the surgeon still has to do the left side. He said don't worry about paying the hospital they have plenty of money. I make payments to him at 50 bucks a pop, don't want him cutting me and thinking, cheap bastard.

tarheel

This is incorrect. We've deducted between $17,000 and $40,000 in medical costs every single year since 2009. You get to deduct only the amount over 10% (used to be 7.5% a couple years back,) not all of it.

This is not to say I'm opposed to ACA, in that I think these premiums were already on a path to rise in exactly this same way, because premiums and costs have both been skyrocketing long before Obama got into office, and also because I believe in my heart the whole point of going through with ACA after the Republicans killed single payer was to make things worse and get people onto the concept of single payer after all.

Apologies again; I did misread that web page.

I agree.

Is it working?

Not for me. I'm this close >< to paying the fine. Seriously - I just don't have the money in my budget.

But I mean, is it working to put you in favor of single payer? Would you vote for the politician who promised to enact a single payer system?

I have no insurance to pay 187k in hospital bills and the left artery is still to be done. I have applied to emergency medicaid. If not approved I will pay $50 month forever. Still cheaper than insurance. I don't file taxes, have no visible income and don't have to pay a fine. By the way the 2nd stroke was lighter than the first and all is back to normal.

tarheel

I'd prefer it without the deceit but I could vote for that. As a country we'd have to not let every coverage and $ discussion derail it, which means grown-ups in the House of Representatives which seems unlikely. I remember the death panels nonsense and know we have to be better.

Pre ACA my insurance PPO with BCBS, through my Fortune 500 employer was going up 20% each year, with declining benefits, higher co pays and calendar year minimums.

Since ACA its been 3-4%.

I believe something had to be done, ACA isn't what anybody wanted but it's all they could get done, intended to be fixed later to a better system

Don't forget that ACA is very similar to one of the repubican plans which was proposed to counter Hillary's plan in 1993

Honestly, I'm not sure. I see where other peoples situations have gotten better, but for the most part many are paying far more - I am certainly one of them. It seems as though they could have addressed the few that needed better/expanded/any coverage without screwing so many more that were happy.
I couldn't keep my doctor, I'm not saving $2500 yr and I now don't have dental nor vision because I cannot afford it. Just to name a few.

We're all paying more. The rates just keep going up and up and up.

But I think Beest is right. While I haven't crunched my own numbers, my recollection is that Beest's 20% increases per year before Obamacare was pretty close to my own situation.

Obamacare slowed the rate of the increases.

Sure, many of the promises of ACA were unrealistic. But never mind the past; single-payer could improve your personal situation now, yes?

Perhaps Clod, depends on the outcome.

glatt - my increases were nowhere near that prior to the ACA. This is what amazes me - my experiences seem to be polar opposites of others here. strange world indeed.