Obama Care vs Republicans

[Lamplighter]

I did not see this last September... but here is something of a surprise (at least to me).

Forbes
9/15/13

Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest employer, announced Monday that
35,000 part-time employees will soon be moved to full-time status,
entitling them to the full health care benefits that were scheduled to be denied them
as a result of Wal-Mart’s efforts to avoid the requirements of Obamacare.

While some analysts believe that the move comes as Wal-Mart is attempting to deal
with the negative view many Americans have of its worker benefits program,
a closer look reveals the real reason for the shift—

Wal-Mart’s business is going south due to the company’s penchant for putting politics
and the squeeze on Wal-Mart employees ahead of the kind of customer satisfaction
that produces prosperity over the long-term.<snip>

The result?
Empty shelves, ridiculously long check-out lines, helpless customers
wandering through the electronics section and general disorganization at Wal-Mart store locations.

I'll count each of those 35k improved health care plans indirect WIN's for the A.C.A.

[glatt]

This whole health care topic is spread through about a dozen threads here. I don't know where to post.

This should possibly even go in the post whore thread, because it's really not contributing to the discussion. But...

It's open enrollment here at work. Today I got the breakdown of the 3 plans I can choose from: the good expensive plan, the crappy expensive plan, and a new high deductible plan that is slightly cheaper but it so crappy, it's almost like not being insured. It only kicks in after a $3000 deductible. But then you'll be glad you have it, because you are SICK.

Anyway, looking at the price tags on all these plans, it occurred to me that when you count my employer's premium contributions, and my premium contributions, and also consider that we recently refinanced our house for a lower payment, we are now spending about double for health insurance what we are spending for housing here in expensive Arlington VA.

We are healthy, and we(including my employer) are spending twice as much for health insurance as we are for housing. I think that's messed up.

[Lamplighter]

This should possibly even go in the post whore thread,
because it's really not contributing to the discussion. But...

Well, excuse me ~

[BigV]

Originally Posted by glatt

This whole health care topic is spread through about a dozen threads here. I don't know where to post.

This should possibly even go in the post whore thread, because it's really not contributing to the discussion. But...

It's open enrollment here at work. Today I got the breakdown of the 3 plans I can choose from: the good expensive plan, the crappy expensive plan, and a new high deductible plan that is slightly cheaper but it so crappy, it's almost like not being insured. It only kicks in after a $3000 deductible. But then you'll be glad you have it, because you are SICK.

Anyway, looking at the price tags on all these plans, it occurred to me that when you count my employer's premium contributions, and my premium contributions, and also consider that we recently refinanced our house for a lower payment, we are now spending about double for health insurance what we are spending for housing here in expensive Arlington VA.

We are healthy, and we(including my employer) are spending twice as much for health insurance as we are for housing. I think that's messed up.

holy shit.

[Adak]

Good for Wal-Mart! As we get into the ACA practice, we may find it's better than we thought.

Of course, it would have been nice to have seen it in action in a pilot program first, and to have the website for it working alright, but I digress.

[classicman]

[classicman]

There is nothing to discuss with Obama and what he said dozens of times.
My insurance with BC is being terminated. My son's plan (no, not Dan) with Coventry (now part of Aetna) is also being discontinued. The alternative plans on the exchange are 2-3X the cost of what we had, we could afford and what fit OUR needs. We are basically being forced to go without insurance AND as an added kick in the nuts, I get to pay a penalty because of it. FUCK YOU OBAMA, I regret voting for him almost as much as Shrub.

[BigV]

Originally Posted by Lamplighter

Why "Shit" ?

--snip

Why? giving classicman the benefit of the doubt that he's compared apples to apples as far as is possible, an increase in his insurance costs by a factor of two or three makes me say "shit". I don't know how you could have missed it, but since you did, I'll quote him here.

Originally Posted by classicman

There is nothing to discuss with Obama and what he said dozens of times.
My insurance with BC is being terminated. My son's plan (no, not Dan) with Coventry (now part of Aetna) is also being discontinued. The alternative plans on the exchange are 2-3X the cost of what we had, we could afford and what fit OUR needs. We are basically being forced to go without insurance AND as an added kick in the nuts, I get to pay a penalty because of it. FUCK YOU OBAMA, I regret voting for him almost as much as Shrub.

[BigV]

That sucks, man. What was it about your old plan that made it invalid? I forget, does PA have their own exchange? And did they decide to expand Medicare?

[classicman]

Gov Asshole - Corbett(R) chose not to expand Medicare.
I am not sure what SPECIFICALLY is the reason. The letter states very clearly that the policy is no longer in compliance with the UN-ACA regs, but not why.
Here is the letter my son received. We have not received any more feedback from them since. I called twice, but the wait times were ridiculous and I hung up.

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by classicman

Gov Asshole - Corbett(R) chose not to expand Medicare.
I am not sure what SPECIFICALLY is the reason. The letter states very clearly that the policy is no longer in compliance with the UN-ACA regs, but not why.
Here is the letter my son received. We have not received any more feedback from them since. I called twice, but the wait times were ridiculous and I hung up.

Apparently, a number of companies are taking advantage of the situation to upgrade the plans more than required by the ACA, and people have been able to get plans that aren't initially pushed by the letters that announce the dropped plan. This may not be the case in your situation, but a number of the people who showed up in the news with stories that largely matched yours were later able to get much better deals if they didn't accept the insurance company's hard sell.

[BigV]

shit.

[Lamplighter]

Originally Posted by BigV

shit.

Why "Shit" ?

The letter is clear that his policy continues thru the end of 2014
... and at that time an ACA-compatible policy will be available.

Mr Whiner has returned...

Five or six years from now, Mr Whiner's son will turn 26, and no longer be on his parent's policy.
But even with "pre-existing condiotions" he can still have insurance due to ACA.
His son's income will be taken into account, and will probably
have very little, maybe zero, out-of-pocket premiuml payments.

For some people, this is the Obamacare they see...

From 1988:


For others, the world is more like this...

As of July 2013, a total of 5,677 Airbus A320 family aircraft
have been delivered, of which 5,481 are in service.
In addition, another 4,135 airliners are on firm order.
It ranked as the world's fastest-selling jet airliner family according to records from 2005 to 2007,
and as the best-selling single-generation aircraft programme.[9][10]

The A320 family has proved popular with airlines, specifically low-cost carriers (LCC).
British LCC EasyJet purchased A319s, and A320s, to replace its Boeing 737 fleet.
The family competes directly with the Boeing 737, 717, 757 and the McDonnell Douglas MD-80.

[xoxoxoBruce]

I wonder how many insurance companies are pulling a Humana.

The Kentucky Department of Insurance has fined Humana $65,430 because it offered policyholders an unapproved opportunity to amend their insurance as part of a letter that regulators have called “misleading.”

The department investigated letters sent in August to 6,543 individual plan policyholders in Kentucky. The letters said they needed to renew their plans for 2014 within 30 days or choose a more expensive option that complies with the Affordable Care Act.

But regulators last month called the letters misleading, arguing they did not make sufficiently clear that policyholders could compare and choose competing plans on the state’s health insurance exchanges, which open on Oct. 1, and for which they could be eligible for federal subsidies.

Another.

Damn, they're a serial offender.

[glatt]

Well if they were only fined $65k it makes business sense to do continue sending those false letters. Assume that 10% of the 6,400recipients took the letters at face value. That's 640 people, who let's assume paid $5k each, or $3.2 M total. That's an easy choice. $3.2M vs $65K. And those are conservative estimates. If 50% of the recipients followed the letter's instructions and renewed, it would be $16M the company would make.