Obamacare......anybody know EXACTLY what it is???

[Arkansota]

Problem is, in a compassionate civil society (we try) no one is refused treatment. So you opt out of buying healthcare and tomorrow you drive off the road (while sexting, no doubt) and need multiple surgeries. We all pay for that already, through high medical fees and taxes.

Here's a map of countries that provide some form of universal healthcare:



The only "developed" countries that do not are: the USA, Belarus, and a few Balkan states. This tells you something about how skewed our priorities are here in the US. I think the Affordable Care Act is worth a try.

I understand why people support it, but it is contradictory to my principles so I oppose Obamacare

[dfiant1]

Still havent seen any explanation of what the hell it is.

So, you either pay for THEIR healthcare plan, or they fine you. Either way, they are sucking you dry.
And if you cant afford any of it????? What, you go to jail?????

Maybe that is why Government is closed...no one actually understands what it is so instead of trying to figure it out they just go on holidays and hope by the time they come back it will be all forgotten?

[dfiant1]

I'm not sure how it works anywhere else in the world or what Obamacare is, but here in Australia we have 'Medicare'

Every Australian who earns over the set 'minimum' wage pays 1.4% of the income as a medicare levy. This allows Australians affordable health care for everything from an every day GP visit to a hospital stay for emergency surgery. It only allows you the basic human rights as far as medicine is concerned and unless you pay a premium you have to use the Public hospitals which means that for non-life threatening surgery, you could be on a waiting list months to years.

However, if you elect to have Private Health Insurance, you can pick and choose your doctor, you get rebates on Specialist Care and elective or non-life threatening surgeries are usually done in day to weeks at the most, so basically as a Private Patient, you get the premium service.

[Geminize]

Still havent seen any explanation of what the hell it is.

As I understand it, the Affordable Care Act is an attempt to provide increased government regulation on the healthcare industry, particularly insurance companies, along with subsidies to make healthcare affordable for low income people. Everyone is required to participate because otherwise it just wouldn't work, financially. However, there are exceptions for those with very low or no income. You will not be thrown in jail if you can't afford it.

Private insurance companies will continue to offer plans, much like they do now. The act requires that they present their policies in a way that makes them easy to compare for us "consumers". Each state has a different mix of companies and plans available. These are called your "marketplace" or "exchange". If you follow the link in my previous post you can find your state marketplace online, enter your zip code, birthdate, and income, and view a list of available plans with their monthly cost. You don't have to identify yourself or commit to anything to do that much.

Here's the best simple explanation I could find online. It's a pretty good, politically unbiased, 9-minute animation. Grab some popcorn and enjoy!

Watch This! -----> http://healthreform.kff.org/the-animation.aspx

[Beau]

I already pay enough taxes. I pay for my own healthcare insurance. I don't want to pay for everyone else's as well.

[nfisher1226]

There's a basic flaw with the premise of the question "What is it?", relating to the basic flaw in the bill itself. The bill is so huge that even it's authors couldn't sum it up nicely for you. It is very far reaching, has plenty of pork in it, and may or may not actually work. Time will tell.

As for the responses so far, I agree with the standpoint that the government should not have the right to tell you to purchase something from a private company. I understand the arguments in favor, and after weighing them it still doesn't sit right with me. Never will.

The map of "developed" countries with and without public healthcare policy is humorous in a few ways. Mexico counts as a developed country if you ask me, which is flaw 1. Also, the countries don't fall into neat little black and white "have healthcare" or "don't have healthcare" categories and more than they fall into "developed" vs. "undeveloped" categories. It's not black and white, the world has a lot of shades of gray. Or rainbow if you prefer In other words the comparison sucks and smacks of deceitful propoganda.

The best solution to the problems we're facing in the USA happens at a lower level. Make the economy strong enough that companies are forced to increase wages and benefits, because there are enough jobs to go around and the workers can actually up and leave if their job sucks. A lot of people in this country have gone their whole working lives in what is an "employers" job market as opposed to an "employees" job market, so that they think that's how it has always been and always will be. Well it wasn't always that way. Right now when you apply for a job the employer has all the leverage, because there's anywhere from dozens to hundreds of other applicants. They can pick and choose, and they have no motivation to pay you what you're worth because there will always be someone cheaper. In my opinion acts like the "Affordable Healthcare Act" are always just bandaids to the huge flaws in our economy. Also in my opinion, nothing that either party proposes goes anywhere near getting the job done.

[elad12]

It also does not allow Insurance Companies to not insure people with pre-existing conditions. If you fall into that category you are pretty much screwed now, especially if you own a home because if you go for treatment and can't pay the hospital you can easily loose your home. I had a loved one with cancer and at the price of chemo treatments, without health insurance there is no way we could have paid the $20,000.00 per treatment and that was for just one days treatment. She probably had over 30 treatments not to mention radiation. The price of healthcare in this country is out of control. If you are not insured you can't afford it. If you have a home or a little savings you can loose it all if you choose to get treated. If you are poor then you end up in the emergency room and we all end up paying it anyway.
That's how I see it anyway.

[elad12]

Just wanted to add in all honesty and I'm just speaking for me personally, when I was younger I really would not have given a shit about having or spending money on health insurance. I was healthy, I never went to the doctor and had nothing to loose. It's not until I reached somewhere between 40 and 50 that I realized I had to have some kind of insurance to protect me, my loved ones and my assets.

[MisterTinkles]

As I understand it, the Affordable Care Act is an attempt to provide increased government regulation on the healthcare industry, particularly insurance companies, along with subsidies to make healthcare affordable for low income people. Everyone is required to participate because otherwise it just wouldn't work, financially. However, there are exceptions for those with very low or no income. You will not be thrown in jail if you can't afford it.

Private insurance companies will continue to offer plans, much like they do now. The act requires that they present their policies in a way that makes them easy to compare for us "consumers". Each state has a different mix of companies and plans available. These are called your "marketplace" or "exchange". If you follow the link in my previous post you can find your state marketplace online, enter your zip code, birthdate, and income, and view a list of available plans with their monthly cost. You don't have to identify yourself or commit to anything to do that much.

Here's the best simple explanation I could find online. It's a pretty good, politically unbiased, 9-minute animation. Grab some popcorn and enjoy!

Watch This! -----> http://healthreform.kff.org/the-animation.aspx

Thanks very much for that video!!!

I understand the basics now, but it didnt answer any of my questions though.

[East]

I do not believe in high taxes at all so I don't support Obamacare.

The right to property is the ultimate right, IMO. Property includes money.

By the way, if people don't want healthcare, they shouldn't be forced to buy it

...and so if you are in a horrible car accident and have no insurance...who do you think pays for your treatment?

Maybe the doctors shouldn't be "forced" to give you any treatment...and let you die. Why waste the taxpayer's money on a person who doesn't want insurance? You do realize that currently the uninsured are given medical attention on the taxpayers dime...or maybe you don't?