Worse or better with ACA?

[tea and ease]

Does anybody have a story about how the ACA (Obamacare) has hurt or helped them? I'm obviously asking because it has helped me, but those of you who are against it, why?

 

[apeman33]

Neither. I had shirtty insurance before Obamacare and still have shirtty insurance now — it just costs more and pays for less.

 

[DanOregon]

The biggest misunderstanding of Obamacare was that it was "free healthcare" - it really was just a way to provide cost certainty to stabilize soaring medical insurance costs by bringing more people "in." People were dropping "out" due to higher costs, which lead to more people dropping out and raising costs higher etc. Unsurprisingly, the efforts to bring down or at least control specific healthcare spending (drugs etc.) has been blunted. Even Trump's EO was never accepted or agreed to by the drug companies, it's just a piece of paper with his signature.

 

[LanceyHoward]

Neither. I had shirtty insurance before Obamacare and still have shirtty insurance now — it just costs more and pays for less.

What benefits did you lose?

 

[tea and ease]

Neither. I had shirtty insurance before Obamacare and still have shirtty insurance now — it just costs more and pays for less.

That's what I need to hear. I want to know who it didn't work for. My story is opposite, so I don't want to be in an echo chamber where I think everyone has my experience. Can you share more about your story?

 

[Baron Scicluna]

I have a child who is developmentally delayed and has multiple physical health issues. The law removing the cap on benefits and disallowing preexisting conditions denials is and will continue to be a huge help.

 

[Oggiedoggie]

We were able to keep our daughter insured on our policy until she was 26. She was then able to go onto the ACA insurance portal in her state and get a fairly reasonable rate even though she is self-employed.

An member of our extended family who is a cancer survivor no longer has to jump through hoops to avoid higher premiums due to her existing condition when she changes jobs.

Overall, directly and indirectly, the ACA has been helpful for many people.

The ACA still needs work. Health insurance on that scale is complicated and would time to make it work really well. That would also take cooperation and the GOP want to see it fail, no matter who it disadvantages. Yet the GOP offers no alternate solution.

 

[JimmyHoward33]

Neither. I had shirtty insurance before Obamacare and still have shirtty insurance now — it just costs more and pays for less.

this is me too. I'm sure the cost would've gone up EVEN MORE without the law tho. That's what the Dems tell me anyway.

 

[User 150927]

I would say our employer based insurance has gone up in smaller amounts since the ACA passed.

 

[ChrisLong]

I'm sure I don't understand all the ramifications of this and am very naive. I was always the last one at work to figure out the health insurance coverage, etc.
We are/were on Covered California, which is our state's version of Obamacare. The rates were discounted, it was a pain in the ass to set up and I spent many hours on hold. But the savings seemed significant.

At tax time, we usually got $1,000-$2,000 back, maybe as much as $4,000 some years. I retired in 2014 (age 62, I wanted to work 3 more years but it wasn't to be). I started on Medicare in 2017, my wife isn't there yet. My daughter finished school in 2018, got a job in 2019 with health insurance.

When my accountant was doing my 2018 taxes, he said there was a regulatory change. The reductions in health care costs, through Cov.Cal/ACA, were now a "tax credit" and it had to be repaid. He knocked me out of the chair saying that I owed $11,000 (not a typo) to the Fed on my 2018 tax return. We made a couple of minor adjustments to my income, but for 2019, I still owed $8,000 to the Fed. I said "fork You, Trump." Accountant shook his head and said his policy is to not talk politics with clients.

I don't know how 2020 taxes will shake down. We terminated Cov.Cal and were paying the whole premium for my wife each month, nearly $1,000. But a couple of months ago, the bill came saying the premium was $600+ so I think something reverted back to Cov.Cal. They are going to get the money regardless, whether it's every month or during tax season.

 

[LanceyHoward]

One of the big problems with the American health care system is that it so damned expensive. Which means people in their 60's are going to pay a lot of money for insurance, with or without Obamacare. Obamacare subsidizes the premiums of 60+'ers with higher premiums for younger people but the cost for the 60 year old cohort are still eye watering.

My solution. Start Medicare at 62.

 

[apeman33]

What benefits did you lose?

No benefits lost. Just pitiful benefits that covered very little for a lot of money that eventually covered almost nothing at all for a shirt ton of money.

It was one of those plans where you have to cover 100-percent of your costs up to a certain amount before 100-percent coverage kicked in. Then after a bit of 100-percent coverage, it became "traditional" insurance the rest of the year.

That certain amount started at $2,000 and was at $3,000 when I left. I reached that 100-percent coverage point exactly once in the eight years I was on the plan and never had enough costs to get to traditional coverage.

This plan was basically good for discounts on some medicines and catastrophic events. Nothing else.