Our Chinese Water Torture

[Supsalemgr]

http://www.inquisitr.com/433349/obamaca ... t-workers/

The more we learn about Obamacare the more we find out how much it will cost all of us. Being in the insurance business I knew the cost to insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions had to be paid for. Here is how. I am also suspect this "surcharge" will go away in 2017. If someone can tell me why covering pre-existing conditions will go down as we proceed and this "surcharge" can be eliminated I would be very interested in knowing?

[Supsalemgr]

Thanks for the comments.

[neoplacebo]

Yeah, that $63 a year for a few years no doubt heralds the certain end of our republic. Having lived in TN most of my life, I had never been subjected to "property tax" being paid every year on the car you paid tax on when you first bought it, nor had I ever been forced to pay the state every year to "inspect" my car for its suitability to drive on the substandard roads in NC. So, my question is why such a monumental whine about a temporary cost that has yet to be paid by anyone and not a peep about being taxed every year on something you already paid tax for when you purchased it, and not a peep about having to pay the state every year for a so called inspection of your vehicle. Thanks.

[Supsalemgr]

The subject is Obamacare, not the condition of roads in NC. Nice try at a diversion though.

[O Really]

There isn't a lot of "old style" pre-ex exclusions anymore anyway, with the HIPAA portability provisions. But bottom line is that unless lots and lots of people waited until they had serious and expensive diseases to get into a health plan the simple statistics of the covered population makes any significant increase due to covering pre-ex negligible, particularly in comparison to all other cost factors.

An insurance company takes the same statistical risk for everyone. You might know that a guy who just went on the plan today has been diagnosed with cancer - but you don't know the guy who went on the plan yesterday gets diagnosed with cancer today. What you do know - if you've got a real actuary - is what your probable financial risk is in a given population.

[billy.pilgrim]

wow - $63 whole dollars a year. will I ever recover

add that to the $42 per day I pay my health insurance for health care that doesn't allow me to move to a new state or see a doctor not on some approved list and it is like a grain of sand in a really big bucket


I have lots of problems with the new health care law, but this just ain't one of them.


is suckermanager trying to make a point or just trying to look stupid?

[Leo Lyons]

is suckermanager trying to make a point or just trying to look stupid?

Don't worry, he'll never out do you. You've got stupid all sewed up.

With the exception of O Really, all response to this thread were attacks.

[billy.pilgrim]

...With the exception of O Really, all response to this thread were attacks.

Good point, even Supsalemgr's own article was an attack on Supsalemgr. Poor cons.

this isn't the first time suckermanager posted an article that he only thought he understood


I also notice that lil leo had nothing to say - as usual

[neoplacebo]

The subject is Obamacare, not the condition of roads in NC. Nice try at a diversion though.

Money is money; especially money that's paid out for nothing tangible.....my point is that you and me and everyone else that drives are being robbed by the state on a continual basis. You evidently are ok with that, but you bleat and prance and priss about an as yet to be paid temporary charge for something that actually matters. You're just a goddam bigot that can't stand anything associated with Obama. How many different ways can you find to hate America? Gee. Do your Christmas cards say "I hate America" and have a picture of a dead dog on them? Just curious.

[O Really]

So Super-S - Are there any other factors affecting the cost of healthcare and healthcare insurance other than "Obamacare"? If so, what might those factors be?

[rstrong]

wow - $63 whole dollars a year. will I ever recover

So Super-S - Are there any other factors affecting the cost of healthcare and healthcare insurance other than "Obamacare"? If so, what might those factors be?

This is just one place where the Republicon talking points are highly dishonest. BEFORE ObamaCare, health care costs were climbing fast and had been for decades. They were rising even faster in recent years.

Republicons make their cost comparisons as though, had ObamaCare never existed, health care costs would have magically stopped rising in March 2010.

ObamaCare costs the taxpayers LESS than the old system. Costs will rise, just as under the old system, but they won't rise nearly as much, and a lot less people will be left out.

[O Really]

ObamaCare costs the taxpayers LESS than the old system. Costs will rise, just as under the old system, but they won't rise nearly as much, and a lot less people will be left out.

Obvious to the Canadian - oblivious to the Republicans.

[Supsalemgr]

So Super-S - Are there any other factors affecting the cost of healthcare and healthcare insurance other than "Obamacare"? If so, what might those factors be?

Just for one, defensive medical measures to prevent malpractice lawsuits.

[rstrong]

So Super-S - Are there any other factors affecting the cost of healthcare and healthcare insurance other than "Obamacare"? If so, what might those factors be?

Just for one, defensive medical measures to prevent malpractice lawsuits.

Obamacare does this.

Under the old system, when an American doctor makes a mistake, he can render a patient uninsurable for life. The NEXT medical problem the patient encounters could send him and his family to the poor house. So, the settlement must cover not only fixing the mistake, but future health care costs too.

Under the Canadian public system, not only is fixing the doctor's mistake covered, but the patient will never be denied coverage because of it. This is why medical lawsuits in Canada are much smaller, and doctors' malpractice insurance costs much less.

Under Obamacare the victim of a doctor's mistake - like everyone else - is covered regardless of preexisting conditions (excluding tobacco use). The doctor's mistake won't render them uninsurable.

[O Really]

So Super-S - Are there any other factors affecting the cost of healthcare and healthcare insurance other than "Obamacare"? If so, what might those factors be?

Just for one, defensive medical measures to prevent malpractice lawsuits.

Or, the same issue phrased differently, performing and billing for unneeded and/or unnecessary or duplicate procedures. Sure. But do you know what percentage of total costs to run a medical practice or hospital is malpractice insurance? I'm sure wneglia does. I'm betting you'd be surprised. It varies by specialty, of course.
Do you know how many of the malpractice claims resulting in more than $100,000 in settlement were frivolous or fraudulent? Do you know that while it is easy to bring a lawsuit for malpractice that it is one of the most difficult cases to win? Do you know the percentage of malpractice lawsuits won by the defendant? You'd maybe be surprised at that one, too. (about 80%).

You know what medical service providers could do to cut down malpractice lawsuits other than to not malpractice? Provide some other means of redressing issues. Right now, a lawsuit is it for the most part. Some individual practices might have their own process, but it's not the norm.

[Supsalemgr]

I'm sure Doc can comment on some of your questions much better than me. I do have a question from one of O Reallys posts. Are doctors immune from suit by Obamacare? I don't think so, but I am sure O Really can show where that is the case.

[Wneglia]

I'm sure Doc can comment on some of your questions much better than me. I do have a question from one of O Reallys posts. Are doctors immune from suit by Obamacare? I don't think so, but I am sure O Really can show where that is the case.

Are doctors immune from suit by Obamacare?

[O Really]

I'm sure Doc can comment on some of your questions much better than me. I do have a question from one of O Reallys posts. Are doctors immune from suit by Obamacare? I don't think so, but I am sure O Really can show where that is the case.

No, and why would they be? "Obamacare" is primarily insurance regulation changes. There is no control over individual medical procedures. Obamacare may require that an insurance carrier cover, without additional individual charge to the participant, procedures like colonoscopy, but it has no way of preventing the person doing the test from puncturing your colon.

[neoplacebo]

It would seem he not only hates America, but he hates his industry and his job as well. Consistent.

[neoplacebo]

The subject is Obamacare, not the condition of roads in NC. Nice try at a diversion though.

It's a comparison, just like the comparison in your article that I asked you about and you've been diverting away from.

It gets worse, neoplacebo. When I moved to CA 20+ years ago the state wanted a $350 (if I recall) "impact fee" for bringing a car in, but they don't give it back if you move away with the same car. I just stayed registered in the far cheaper western state that I'd left and moved back to 3 years later.

Heh, when I lived in Japan, the young Japanese guy who owned the bar I frequented owned a Pontiac Trans Am car; this was 1975 or 76. Maybe 1 or 2 of 100 people in Japan have drivers licenses (they don't physically have room for everybody to have a car, plus their public transit systems are better than excellent) and if you have one, you're considered a professional....like a doctor or a lawyer. What I'm getting at is that the Japanese guy with the Trans Am had to endure an incredible ordeal to just be able to buy that American car. The Japanese authorities will take any foreign made automobile completely apart and inspect everything about it and they will come to your home and make you prove to them (by actual measurement) that you actually have a physical place to park the car....all this before you're able to legally use it in Japan. I think he told me he paid about $25,000 for the car; they cost about a third of that here when new.