The Future of US Healthcare

[Vexx]

Much depends on what State you're in. Many states under Republican control have refused to set up health insurance exchanges or take the funds to help their people get insured.

Some states (as well as the federal government) got shafted by software contractors who seem to have failed to deliver required working websites (Oregon is one) in the time they assured would be met. They're having to provide workarounds (doing it by paper&pen, providing extra time, etc).

If your employer provides health insurance, they likely have a corporate health exchange and they should have already gone through the process with their employees weeks ago.

[Netto Azure]

Well yes, it s state specific. But if the state did not take Federal funds to set up the exchange themselves, typically the Healthcare.gov website is where you go to.

But yeah, it's no longer October, and the State/Fed websites are working relatively fine now.

[Guernsey]

I live in Ohio so I am I required by law to get insurance even if I don't have a job?

[Netto Azure]

Well you're supposed to be covered by the Medicaid expansion. Just go to healthcare.gov and see if that applies to your state. Can't remember if Ohio accepted the Federal funds.

[Urzu 7]

With affordable care act being bad, how much of it was the president's fault and democrat's fault, and how much of this is the republican's fault? Because correct me if I'm wrong, but when they were forming the healthcare reform, didn't the republicans purposely gimp/hurt the healthcare reform as much as they could all in an effort to make it not get enough votes to pass in the first place (which it did end up passing)?

Why is this affordable care act doing so badly? Why are so many people losing their insurance when they were supposed to keep it? Is it purely the failing of the affordable care act, or does it involve the insurance companies doing shady things for the sake of more money? I don't know, I need someone to break down some things about all this and why this healthcare reform is doing so badly. I also want to know how much of the failing is from flawed healthcare reform from the democrats and how much of it is from others mucking things up.

[Xellos-_^]

Originally Posted by Urzu 7

With affordable care act being bad, how much of it was the president's fault and democrat's fault, and how much of this is the republican's fault? Because correct me if I'm wrong, but when they were forming the healthcare reform, didn't the republicans purposely gimp/hurt the healthcare reform as much as they could all in an effort to make it not get enough votes to pass in the first place (which it did end up passing)?

it is the republican's fault because they won't compromise even after Obama bend over backwards.

it is Obama and the democrat's fault because they compromise too much and didn't take the case to the people. The bungle explaining the Health Care act to the public. They allow the tea party and people palin to set the tone for the debate.

Why is this affordable care act doing so badly? Why are so many people losing their insurance when they were supposed to keep it? Is it purely the failing of the affordable care act, or does it involve the insurance companies doing shady things for the sake of more money? I don't know, I need someone to break down some things about all this and why this healthcare reform is doing so badly. I also want to know how much of the failing is from flawed healthcare reform from the democrats and how much of it is from others mucking things up.

The Health Care act is doing what it is suppose to do which extended coverage for more people. However there are going to be side effects. Young people are going to be subsidizing the less health and those who earn just above the limit for subsidies are going to be the most squeeze.

PS. if you talking the roll out f*ckup that is clearly on Obama. It was his administration who pick the vendor to create the health care exchange websites and they either didn't give them enough time and/or put enough oversight on this company.

[Urzu 7]

Originally Posted by Xellos-_^

it is the republican's fault because they won't compromise even after Obama bend over backwards.

it is Obama and the democrat's fault because they compromise too much and didn't take the case to the people. The bungle explaining the Health Care act to the public. They allow the tea party and people palin to set the tone for the debate.

Is it true that Obama and the democrats have been trying very hard, maybe even bending over backwards, to make compromises with the republicans; not just on healthcare, but things in general? I mean, that is what I've heard and I believe it because I've heard it multiple times, but I still see the anti-Obama people (who usually don't have so many facts straight) get all angry and be like "Obama/the democrats have been so unwilling to compromise on anything with the republicans!". It is B.S., right?

And the republicans don't know what compromise is.

[mangamuscle]

Originally Posted by Urzu 7

And the republicans don't know what compromise is.

Republicans: Gimme half your lunch.
Democrats: ok *gives half of the lunch*
Republicans: *eats the lunch* Hey, I told you to give me half your lunch!
Democrats: I already did
Republicans: No you didn't, you know what? 4u, you do not know what compromise means, I can't work with people like you *applause of Rabid tea partiers*

[Urzu 7]

Originally Posted by mangamuscle

Republicans: Gimme half your lunch.
Democrats: ok *gives half of the lunch*
Republicans: *eats the lunch* Hey, I told you to give me half your lunch!
Democrats: I already did
Republicans: No you didn't, you know what? 4u, you do not know what compromise means, I can't work with people like you *applause of Rabid tea partiers*

Then Republicans gets up from the table, runs pass Libertarians, heads out to the front of the building, and throws poor, poor America under the bus.

*tea partiers applause Republicans, saying "keep up the good job!"*

[solomon]

It is true that the Obama administration deserves the ramifactions for huge egg on their face.

There was bad vetting for contracters to work the website. I'm in DC so I know that happens from time to time, but they could not afford to have it happen on such a huge program.

Also they did a terrible job educating the public on the complicated nature of the law.

Now this is weither you think the government should have taken up the entire problem in the first place.....then it's another discussion all togther.

My pal thinks that at best, it's a dry run to providing a real public option some time in the distant future at worst it's a fiasco that will be rolled back in some way (probably everything except the Medicare expansions) in a few years.

[Top Sergeant]

What I find truly tragic is that it took LESS time for the US to mobilize millions of men, equip them, train them, and transport them to the other side of the world, take on two of the toughest militaries the planet has ever seen, both at the end of supply lines thousands of miles long to win a war on three fronts, at a time when half the American farmers still used draft animals, than it has for the current administration, with all the benefits of modern technology at its disposal, to set up a functioning health care website.

[aldw]

Originally Posted by Top Sergeant

What I find truly tragic is that it took LESS time for the US to mobilize millions of men, equip them, train them, and transport them to the other side of the world, take on two of the toughest militaries the planet has ever seen, both at the end of supply lines thousands of miles long to win a war on three fronts, at a time when half the American farmers still used draft animals, than it has for the current administration, with all the benefits of modern technology at its disposal, to set up a functioning health care website.

As a case in point, the various Naval acts for the USN buildup during WWII passed through Congress took up about 34 pages in length, while the drafts for the Healthcare plan took nearly 12,000 pages.

[Irenicus]

From my conversations with everyone who work in the nonprofit and public healthcare sectors, they may have gripes about the law and the absolutely astounding messup that was the launch of healthcare.gov website, but they are all in unison about the fact that millions and millions of Americans will, for the first time, have a proper insurance because of this.

Rolling back this law is going to be a declaration from Congress for those millions of the working poor to go fuck themselves, die poor people, We R le 1 Percent, etc.

The nonprofit sectors (the non-Tea Party part that evil, evil IRS supposedly went over in that made up scandal) are also in unison about sheer partisan insanity of many Republican-dominated states, which rejected FREE FEDERAL MONEY to expand Medicare and Medicaid because lolObama. That means a genuine barrier for their working poor to benefit from this. Fortunately, Nevada, despite the precarious partisan balance (Las Vegas, international melting pot that it is, is blue...the north and the rural areas are red), was wise enough and Nevada Republicans more or less reasonable enough to expand it, though.

Originally Posted by Top Sergeant

What I find truly tragic is that it took LESS time for the US to mobilize millions of men, equip them, train them, and transport them to the other side of the world, take on two of the toughest militaries the planet has ever seen, both at the end of supply lines thousands of miles long to win a war on three fronts, at a time when half the American farmers still used draft animals, than it has for the current administration, with all the benefits of modern technology at its disposal, to set up a functioning health care website.

Total fail, no question from me, but it's actually working nowadays for those who need it.

Obama kinda had to go, oops, I fucked up, and ended up calling his old guard -- the savvy 2008 cohort that built the world's best data-election-machine-complex -- to fix shit up. It's fixed now, working and very useful, too. It's the new portal for Medicaid -- America's limited version of the national public healthcare system, subsidizing the poor -- and it's also that insurance marketplace-and-public info site it was supposed to be.

But, like Google+, this might be one of the great timing misses of the decade, due to good old American greed and porkery. Thanks Obama.

[MrTerrorist]

How Anti-Vaxxers Manipulate Twitter To Spread Their Dangerous Message

[AnimeFan188]

Fed-Up Hospitals Are Starting Their Own Drug
Company so They Can Lower Generic Drug Prices:

"A coalition of U.S. hospitals has decided to take matters into its own hands in the
face of ever-rising drug prices: The group is going to start its own drug company to
compete with big pharma.

On Friday, several of the largest hospital systems in the country announced their plan
to pool together their resources in order to create a not-for-profit company that will
make and sell certain generic drugs back to hospitals at lower prices. It would also
help stabilize the supply of these drugs, presumably preventing shortages that have
been used in the past as an excuse for higher mark-ups. The company, which has no
name yet, would seek to be approved by the FDA as a drug manufacturer and either
produce the drugs itself or subcontract production to a reputable third-party business.

“This is a shot across the bow of the bad guys,” Dr. Marc Harrison, the chief executive
of Intermountain Healthcare, the Utah-based nonprofit hospital chain that is leading
the initiative, told the New York Times. “We are not going to lay down. We are going
to go ahead and try and fix it.”"

See:

https://gizmodo.com/fed-up-hospitals...-so-1822249628

[justinstrife]

Originally Posted by Irenicus

From my conversations with everyone who work in the nonprofit and public healthcare sectors, they may have gripes about the law and the absolutely astounding messup that was the launch of healthcare.gov website, but they are all in unison about the fact that millions and millions of Americans will, for the first time, have a proper insurance because of this.

Rolling back this law is going to be a declaration from Congress for those millions of the working poor to go fuck themselves, die poor people, We R le 1 Percent, etc.

The nonprofit sectors (the non-Tea Party part that evil, evil IRS supposedly went over in that made up scandal) are also in unison about sheer partisan insanity of many Republican-dominated states, which rejected FREE FEDERAL MONEY to expand Medicare and Medicaid because lolObama. That means a genuine barrier for their working poor to benefit from this. Fortunately, Nevada, despite the precarious partisan balance (Las Vegas, international melting pot that it is, is blue...the north and the rural areas are red), was wise enough and Nevada Republicans more or less reasonable enough to expand it, though.

http://galen.org/2013/why-states-sho...pand-medicaid/

"The initial 100% federal match rate for the expansion population is very tempting, but the match rate starts to decline in three years and falls to 90% by 2020. In addition, the state must pay all added administrative costs as well as its higher share of coverage for other eligible citizens outside the expansion band who are not now enrolled but who would likely do so after the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate triggers in 2014.

Medicaid spending will increase dramatically as the federal matching rate for the expansion population begins to drop. Adjusted for inflation, Medicaid spending has increased more than 250% since 1990.[7] Expanding Medicaid would cost states an additional $118 billion through 2023, according to a recent congressional report.[8] The additional spending surely would crowd out funds for education, transportation, parks, public safety, and other vital state needs."

This is also a reason why many states didnt accept the Federal money.

As someone who lost my employer paid insurance January 1st, 2014, I've been paying the mandate ever since, through my taxes. Obamacare is an added tax to the middle class. It also did nothing to lower the overall cost of healthcare, which should have been the goal in the first place.

The Republicans couldn't come up with a plan if their lives depended on it. But on the other hand, the Democrats are all about transfer of wealth, and making a problem 10x more complicated with Government regulations, taxes, and administration costs. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. It's why I switched my party affiliation to Independent, back in 2008.