Officials Say HealthCare.gov Site Now Performing Well 644
The much-discussed health care finance sign-up website HealthCare.gov has benefited from the flurry of improvements that have been thrown at it in the last several weeks. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid spokesman Aaron Albright told Fox News Saturday that "[w]ith the scheduled upgrades last night and tonight, we're on track to meet our stated goal for the site to work for the vast majority of users." CMM spokeswoman Julie Bataille. "said the installation of new servers Friday night helped improved the response times and error rates, even with heavier-than-usual weekend traffic." If you've used the site this weekend, what has your experience been like?
Re:Here's What I Know (Score:3, Interesting)
I saw the same issue when I turned 50. The cash price for a colonoscopy was between 3 & 4k (didn't get an exact figure), but they settled for $1000 from my insurance company.
Re:Officials say? (Score:2, Interesting)
The main reason the premiums of those health insurance policies cost less is that they were bad policies. They didn't cover you for some of the problems you would be most likely to have, and when they did cover you, you wind up with enormous deductibles, co-payments and exclusions.
In the insurance industry, they used to call them "herd of buffaloes" policy. They only cover you if you get run over by a herd of buffaloes, and then only if it's on Main Street, and only if it's at noon.
But actually, most people will pay lower premiums for equal or better insurance, and most of the Obamacare horror stories aren't true. http://www.salon.com/2013/10/18/inside_the_fox_news_lie_machine_i_fact_checked_sean_hannity_on_obamacare/ [salon.com]
Where you paying the entire cost (Score:5, Interesting)
At least not in my case. I was paying $165 for a better than platinum level plan.
Were you paying the entire bill for that plan? Did you have a large deductible? Most people that get health insurance have a major portion of the tab picked up by their employer. They think they pay $165 or whatever their price is because they never see the actual full cost of the plan. I've spent a LOT of time looking at health insurance plans in recent years. I have NEVER seen anyone get a plan with that much in the way of features for that kind of price unless they were paying a huge deductible. I had a catastrophic coverage plan a few years ago that had a $5000 deductible but had pretty good coverage after that and the price was around $150/month. But that first $5000 was entirely on me.
I run a manufacturing company. We provide health insurance for our employees and have picked up 50% of the cost. Our group rate for a pretty good 80/20 HMO with a zero deductible (roughly equivalent to a gold plan) cost about $525 per employee per month. Net cost to our employees is around $260/month since the company pays half. The plans we've found under the new regulations for the Affordable Care Act will give similar coverage for about $200-300/month (varies with age but always a lot less than current cost) or almost a 40% reduction in total premium over what we pay now. Furthermore a lot of our employees will qualify for subsidies so the coverage will cost even less.
While this whole roll out has been a fiasco, at the end of the day the people who work for me are mostly going to end up with similar or better coverage for less money. Furthermore their coverage will not be tied to their employment with us which is LONG overdue. No one should EVER lose health coverage just because they lost a job.
Re:Officials say? (Score:3, Interesting)
What you say is anecdotal evidence. Insurance is based on statistics and actuarials. There is 50% chance you would have ended up bankrupt if you actually had to file medical claims. Have you filed substantial claims exceeding the premium any year? Was it paid without hassle?
More than half of the people who ended up bankrupt because of medical costs, had health insurance and thought they would be covered. But when they file the claims the fine print demon strikes back and they are left holding huge bills.
Re:Officials say? (Score:3, Interesting)
you aren't immune to sickness and accidents
if you don't get insurance, and break your arm, you avoid the bill because you can't pay it, or you declare bankruptcy
and that makes you an irresponsible freeloader, because the rest of us have to bail out the hospital for unpaid bills with our taxes
insurance rates should be, and are, graded according to risk, like life insurance or car insurance, so chill out and get your health insurance
unless you are telling us your real motivation is to be an irresponsible freeloader, and avoid your hospital bill if you get hurt or sick
Re:Officials say? (Score:5, Interesting)
I do not think a civilized person can think "let them die in the streets" to be an option.
CNN's 2012 GOP Presidential Debate
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yva0VSN1_T4&t=41s [youtube.com]
Wolf Blitzer: Congressman [Ron Paul], are you saying that society should just let him die? ::laughter::
Audience: Yeah!
Ron Paul: No.
Audience: YEAH!
Audience:
Ron Paul: I practiced medicine, ummm, before we had medicaid in the early 1960s, when I got out of medical school.
I practiced in Santa Rosa Hospital in San Antonio and the churches took care of them.
The audience members didn't have to dissemble like Ron Paul did.
Re:Here's What I Know (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: Privacy Issues (Score:1, Interesting)
They are actually using data from this http://finder.healthcare.gov/services which was rolled out with the first version of healthcare.gov
Re:Officials say? (Score:4, Interesting)
Gawd, the amount of Obama boot licking going in that post is unbelievable.
You guy lied. He lied deliberately. Democrats believed it and supported the law. Now, you say only idiots believed it. Well, that just happens to be the Democrats in Congress.
Yes, yes, yes, how could I be so blind??? Romneycare GOOD, Obamacare BAD. I see the LIGHT!!!!
You do realise, don't you, that Obamacare IS Romneycare with some more of the 'gotchas' removed?