Obamacare, or, I might be up a creek w/o a paddle

[gimmethesimplelife]

Something I am learning about ObamaCare - not everyone shares my economic reality. This has been a hard pill to swallow, it really has. Coming from an economically challenged background to put it nicely, I see the ACA as a miracle. The fact that I am going to qualify for expanded Medicaid is just unbelievable to me. It really is and given that I would have health care automatically in any other developed country, to me it is both reality that is long overdue and it is a real trial to find forgiveness for America that until very recently, human life has not been worth something like the ACA. This is my reality - I really don't know how to forgive America for this.

BUT OTOH, not everyone shares my reality. I wonder if I had experienced more economic stability in my life, and if I had had insurance coverage non-stop, would I see things differently? I'm guessing I very well might. I believe my take on ObamaCare given my background is valid - but why should the takes of those who have lived much more stable lives and have not know the fear of not having insurance be any less valid? Like so many other things, I am seeing this as a social class issue.

Even more interesting - my goal is to make enough money to move off of Medicaid and get onto the exchages as self employed person. Two things here that strike me - I am so so so very grateful that via ObamaCare insurance is starting to de-link even more from the workplace.....and that I can get onto a policy with pre-existing conditions. To me this is indeed miraculous. OTOH, I see some unpleasant deductible numbers which makes me realize that my days of going to Mexico for health care are not over. ObamaCare for me is going to be a sleep better at night kind of thing but I still will be comparing costs to Mexico - once I move off of Medicaid, which I don't care to stay on for a long period of time, as I want my income to increase.

So my big shocker here is that I understand not everyone shares my reality as not everyone shares my economic background.....Very interesting. To those who don't share it with me, all I can do is ask that you understand that not everyone shares your economic background and therefore there are those who are going to view ObamaCare very differently. Rob

[iris lilies]

...Like so many other things, I am seeing this as a social class issue...

And I see this as a "choices we've made" issue.

For sure we are going to view this and many things differently.

[Tradd]

Gee, Rob, tell that to part-time Trader Joes employees who have now lost their employer-provided health insurance.

http://swampland.time.com/2013/09/17...r-part-timers/

Or those who buy private insurance who are now facing much higher rates because of Obamacare.

I know many people who originally thought Obamacare was a good thing. But due to the "unintended consequences," they are now, to put it bluntly, screwed.

It's affecting the finances of one couple so badly, they are investigating going to the husband's home country (UK) and the wife renouncing her American citizenship. I have no details about their situation, other than what's in the previous sentence.

[gimmethesimplelife]

Gee, Rob, tell that to part-time Trader Joes employees who have now lost their employer-provided health insurance.

http://swampland.time.com/2013/09/17...r-part-timers/

Or those who buy private insurance who are now facing much higher rates because of Obamacare.

I know many people who originally thought Obamacare was a good thing. But due to the "unintended consequences," they are now, to put it bluntly, screwed.

It's affecting the finances of one couple so badly, they are investigating going to the husband's home country (UK) and the wife renouncing her American citizenship. I have no details about their situation, other than what's in the previous sentence.

Tradd, correct me if I am wrong.....I understand that in the Trader Joes instance, the workers are being pushed onto the health care exchanges, and since they are PT, they are more than likely going to get heavy subsidation, so what the actually pay for premiums is not going to be all that bad. They are also getting a one time check of $500 from Trader Joes to help with premiums. If they end out paying something like $78 a month, that $500 will go a long way in covering them. I would not be at all surprised to see more companies doing this and I for one embrace this as it means not having health insurance linked to employment. Just think! This means that you need you employer a little less if you have some savings! To me this is incredible.....but then the American work ethic, work above most all else, has never worked for me either, so it's only natural I'd want insurance to be separate from work. Rob

[gimmethesimplelife]

Tradd. also I forgot to mention, in the case of the married couple debating moving to England and the wife giving up her US citizenship - how ironic that the UK has socialized medicine. They would be moving to a place with socialized medicine due to changes in US laws trying to get more of the population covered! What bitter irony this must be for them if they have realized it/seen it. Rob

[bae]

Or those who buy private insurance who are now facing much higher rates because of Obamacare.

I pay for my family's own, minimal, catastrophic coverage out-of-pocket.

Shortly after Obamacare was passed into law, my rates went through the roof, seemingly because they raised them the maximum they could get away with, and at every opportunity after that. Presumably to establish a nice solid baseline before the law went into effect.

[try2bfrugal]

Gee, Rob, tell that to part-time Trader Joes employees who have now lost their employer-provided health insurance.

http://swampland.time.com/2013/09/17...r-part-timers/

If frugalone's employer stopped offering insurance like Trader Joe's did, she could get a better deal on the exchanges. Trader Joe's did their part time employees a favor by not offering them health insurance any more. Now most can get better, highly subsidized insurance on the exchanges, instead of the inferior policy that was the best TJ's could offer.

[try2bfrugal]

It's affecting the finances of one couple so badly, they are investigating going to the husband's home country (UK) and the wife renouncing her American citizenship. I have no details about their situation, other than what's in the previous sentence.

If you have no idea about their situation, then what is your point, other than they are better off moving to a country with universal health care?

[Alan]

To me this is incredible.....but then the American work ethic, work above most all else, has never worked for me either, so it's only natural I'd want insurance to be separate from work. Rob

And luckily for you, you can now simply add the cost of your healthcare to my tab. Would it be out of place for me to ask that you exercise more and eat better, you know, positive steps to limit my liability?

[ApatheticNoMore]

More employees going part time is not a good idea unless they have the hourly rate to support themselves on that. Sure people that bring in money might be ok with going part time, because they can afford it.

..Like so many other things, I am seeing this as a social class issue...

And I see this as a "choices we've made" issue.

For many people it's not a choice, someone growing up in the ghetto to a crackhead mom probably never had a chance anyway (and the worst of them don't end up complaining about healthcare, but end up behind bars - where hey they do have full healthcare - yea we better all envy them ). There's very little that is a choice as life progresses quickly and most decisions that actually matter are made very early on (long before you've worked out the damage of your upbringing). The only ones that genuinely annoy me are those who deliberately chose lower paying jobs than they could get and then want to complain about it. Basically people who had advantages and deliberately throw them away and then complain. The advance degree set are especially ridiculous since I've always did whatever I had to survive in this world without that stuff (though I do realize it is harder for young people these days, so I'll cut a certain handicap for being a 20 something ).

The thing is absolutely noone would care about these issues at all with regard to medical care if there was good Medicare for all that they knew they qualified by merely by being a citizen, because then they'd be benefiting too, but hey if you have to create a system written by the insurance companies with weird subsidies that creates winners and losers (almost randomly), what do you expect really.