Obamacare Meltdown

[VRM]

Originally Posted by cobra de capell

If millions 'need' health insurance, put them on Medicare until they get back on their feet - those that cannot afford it - put them on Medicaid.

As to private insurance - tweak it - by law - extend Cobra coverage until the covered person secures a new job or goes on Medicare, eliminate pre-existing conditions as a way to turn down coverage, assist self-employed persons to establish 'group coverage' for buying power and about 200 others tweaks that will not cost the government one dime.

Most people cannot afford Cobra coverage. Extending it is not going to help. I was laid off last year and collected unemployment for 2 weeks before landing a new gig. I qualified for the max unemployment number (about $625 per week back then). Paying for Cobra coverage would have been about $1700 per month.

The unemployment benefit comes to $32500 per year - but that benefit still gets taxed.
The Cobra coverage cost would have been $20500 per year.

Under this scenario a family of 4 with a single income who gets laid off is screwed. Do you decide to pay for medical coverage, or food and a place to live? Wanting to extend Cobra indicates a lack of understanding of the root cause of the problem; health care is too expensive.

I do not know how to fix this particular scenario without it costing something, but I would like to figure out a way to cover people in this situation until they can get back on their feet. Maybe something like a medical loan plan that works something like unemployment benefits.

A group coverage plan for small business is a good idea and will help reduce administrative costs.

Electronic records will also help reduce costs in the long term, but there will a spike in costs to implement it. HIPAA regs could also make it a bit of a thorny issue, but one that companies familiar with network security could take advantage of. I would not mind seeing some sort of incentive to encourage modernising. This could increase the need for educated people to do this sort of work, and also add jobs.

Steve

[cobra de capell]

VRM - Yes, Cobra is expensive when one needs to pay 100% of the premium when they are jobless, but people need to be responsible by saving for a rainy day, as does government. Those that are not responsible have a tuff road ahead. Why should 'we' (the government) have to step in when someone cannot pay the Cobra premiums?

One way to reduce this problem would be to have a catastrophic policy when one becomes jobless with the premium significantly less. There are tweaks that can readily be made within the current system. There simply aren’t sufficient funds to take care of all the circumstances that people get themselves into during their lifetime.

If we go down the Obama road we will all be responsible for every citizen from birth the death – we don’t want to go there.