I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKbFb6TPVEA

Interbane wrote:

Thanks for asking.

To be honest, I would have never tackled healthcare. A majority of Americans already had it, and there were options if you did not.

You're dismissive of a problem that was massive by anyone's account.

I'm not meaning to be dismissive, Interbane, and I respect your passion on this issue, but the President just gave all these health insurance companies new customers. Can anyone see this for what it really is?

Despite Glitches, Obamacare Profit Windfall To Insurers Well Underway

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/ ... 7355.story

By the way, I don’t buy into conspiracies.

I just think he chose an easy out.

I'm not meaning to be dismissive, Interbane, and I respect your passion on this issue, but the President just gave all these health insurance companies new customers. Can anyone see this for what it really is?

Actually, that wasn't dismissive at all. It reaffirms my belief that we should have tried to fix the problem in the opposite direction. Really, if profits are going up, what is the justification for raising premiums on people? It's not to cover costs, apparently.

Well, we are into the thick of the healthcare maze/mess. I just signed up for the new Humana Plan most similar to the Humana Plan I have with Medicare that they are canceling. $44/mo down from $52/mo. You could have knocked me over with a feather! And it was done over the phone after only a minimal wait.

My wife then called Humana for coverage. They don't offer coverage for her; she is not under Medicare, has no insurance, and she/we are not in their coverage region in Louisiana. Go figger. So she checked Blue Cross Blue Shield $134/mo. Found her way to a broker, $525/mo for what he called "that Obama thing."

The sharks are in a feeding frenzy among the minnows. It's crazy. Or natural. Take your pick.

Interbane wrote:

I'm not meaning to be dismissive, Interbane, and I respect your passion on this issue, but the President just gave all these health insurance companies new customers. Can anyone see this for what it really is?

Actually, that wasn't dismissive at all. It reaffirms my belief that we should have tried to fix the problem in the opposite direction. Really, if profits are going up, what is the justification for raising premiums on people? It's not to cover costs, apparently.

Well, ultimately, and this just may prove to be a bright side, the ACA limits the health insurance company's profits.

"They are also required to spend at least 80–85% of premium dollars on health costs and claims instead of administrative costs and profits; rebates must be issued to policyholders if this is violated."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patient_Pr ... e_Care_Act

Thanks for the clarification Geo. That's good to know.

Also, thanks for sharing your story Nick. Sorry to hear about the increase.

Read this article NYT: Say, ObamaCare doesn’t really lower costs in rural areas

http://hotair.com/archives/2013/10/24/n ... ral-areas/

Question. If your premium goes up are you supposed to just be happy about it?

I get the impression that a lot of people are wanting to focus on the positives, with the only negative being the website, but fail to consider the folks who are living on fixed incomes and are getting kicked off plans they freely chose to have. What about them?


Question. If your premium goes up are you supposed to just be happy about it?

My father used to say, “It's not a crime to be poor, but it's a sin to make a person feel poor."

I live in rural America where money is tight. Sure, people could move, but where one chooses to live is a choice.

I feel like people are putting rural Americans down because of our lack of opportunities.

Seems this law is punishing people who can barely get by.

As an American who cares, I think we can do better than divide the country.

Question. If your premium goes up are you supposed to just be happy about it?

Of course not, but that's also not a reason to have stood still on the issue of healthcare. A person going bankrupt after their insurance company cancels their policy when they are diagnosed with cancer is a bigger evil than a person having their premium raised.

I feel like people are putting rural Americans down because of our lack of opportunities.

Seems this law is punishing people who can barely get by.

I don't follow your logic.

The fiasco so far is what we've recently learned. That millions will not be able to keep the (perhaps substandard) plans they have has shaken my faith in the President. I could overlook the website malfunctions, and I'm willing personally to pay a little more if it means that we move into the company of the rest of the advanced world, but his repeated assurances that no one would be forced out of their plan I can see no way to mitigate. He either lied to us hoping we'd be too happy with the ACA to hold it against him, or he's guilty of near-impeachable ignorance about his own plan. I'm deeply disappointed.

for some reason or other i keep hearing this in my mind's ear

You know something, they don’t want people that are smart enough to sit around their kitchen table and figure out how badly they’re getting fucked by a system that threw them overboard 30 fucking years ago.” – George Carlin

http://investmentwatchblog.com/if-this- ... st-moment/

It boggles my mind to hear of something (health coverage) which is too expensive for our Government to afford.
Too expensive? With our Government's full taxing power available to fund it? I can't imagine such a thing.

What I can imagine is that they are chicken about the political impact of raising the necessary taxes and are looking to offload the problem onto someone else's shoulders.

The private health care industry will gladly pick up the burden (for a Government guaranteed profit) and the Government will gladly add yet another bureaucracy (called overhead) to "manage" the health care industry -- two additional unnecessary expenses.

So the private sector will gladly accept all the new customers, do the dirty work of raising taxes (erm, premiums), collect their profits and laugh all the way to the bank.

What a way to "solve" a problem!

And they say Republicans are friendly to business. /shaking head/