Health care reform

[maat55]

I'm still searching for the free market cost reduction part of the bill. Appearently, what's good for electronics is not good for healthcare.

[jIM_Ohio]

According to the Washington Posts graphic the new Bill wont effect me I guess. It said I would be assisted if I had premiums over $2200 dollars. Currently my premiums are only $65 a month, well under $2000 a year.

I'm not sure what they mean by this though... "Your maximum out of pocket cost for deductibles and co-payments would be capped at 30% of the total cost." I currently have a $1,000 deductible I believe. Does this mean it is only a $300 deductible now? And my co-payments for doctor visits are 100% of whatever the cost is. My last doctor visit cost me $78, I guess this means it would now be only 30% of $78?

you need to know the total cost of a given doctor visit- we have an HDHP so we pay all the bills first (first $3000 each year is on us).

It means plans where person pays 90% or 50% of cost are now eliminated (that must be maximum of 30%). Most plans were 80-20 and this year my plan is 90-10.

[jIM_Ohio]

A temporary reinsurance program is created to help companies maintain health coverage for early retirees between the ages of 55 and 64. This also expires in 2014.

Changes for 2018
The Cadillac health care tax: 40% excise tax on health coverage in excess of $10,200/$27,500 (subject to adjustment for unexpected increase in medical costs prior to effective date) and increased thresholds of $1,650/$3,450 for over age 55 retirees or certain high-risk professions, both indexed for inflation by CPI-U plus 1%; adjustment based on age and gender profile of employees; vision and dental excluded from excise tax; levied at insurer level; employer aggregates and issues information return for insurers indicating amount subject to the excise tax; nondeductible.

can anyone explain the two pieces I included in my quoted reply?

[cptacek]

Does anyone know what this means? NY already has this for under 29 but all it means is that you can be a dependent on your parents Insurance policy but the parents have to opt in for this and they have to pay a premium. Will the same premium apply to this? If someone has a family plan would adding thier child under 26 raise thie rates?

No, I think it is going to be totally free for everybody. To pay for it the unicorns are going to poop out clumps of gold.

[cptacek]

Don't buy insurance and pay the penalty. If you ever do get sick, buy insurance at that point. You cannot be denied.

Eventually, only sick people will be on insurance....and so ends private health insurance. Only a matter of time.

We are kicking around doing just this. I think the penalty is only $700. If that is true, and no one can deny you from going on insurance no matter what, and you don't go to the doctor that often, it makes total sense.

That and I refuse to pay for abortions.

[Andrew Jackson]

That and I refuse to pay for abortions.

Won't you be paying for abortions by paying the penalty money though? The penalty is basically a tax that goes towards the health care reform right?

[cptacek]

I don't know. Are you telling me that there is no way around my tax dollars paying for abortions? That sickens me.

[KTP]

I don't know. Are you telling me that there is no way around my tax dollars paying for abortions? That sickens me.

Are you telling me there is no way around my tax dollars paying for some crackhead teenager having 2 or 3 kids on public dole? That sickens me.

[cptacek]

I do not have to justify my outrage. You can say whatever you want KTP. I am for life in all its forms. Your ability to rank people's right to live by their parents' situation in life says something about you, don't you think?

[EEinNJ]

Thank you, dannin for posting the tax provisions of this bill. While in principle I am very much in favor of health insurance reform, the devil is in the details.

While the top line is that supposedly someone in my situation would see no tax or benefit changes, the reality is there are middle class tax increases.

The first is the increase in the threshold for deduction of medical expenses. That would absolutely have cost me this year, and certainly will when it kicks in.
The second is the 40% excise tax on "Cadillac plans"- the threshold is so low, and my tiny employer's cost is so high, and rising so quickly, that by the time it kicks in, my premium will probably be double the threshold!

Oh, and then there's the 10% tanning tax- I guess they don't have a good lobby! My wife, and sometimes I, like to get some "bulb time" in the winter- good for the mood- that will become a thing of the past.

[disneysteve]

I don't know. Are you telling me that there is no way around my tax dollars paying for abortions? That sickens me.

This is no change from the current system, though. Your tax dollars pay for all forms of medical care today. That includes abortions. As long as pregnancy termination remains a legal medical procedure, it will be included in medical benefits plans. None of us get to pick and choose which types of medical care we want delivered and not delivered. I can think of a lot of things that shouldn't get done but it isn't up to me.

[cptacek]

That is not true DisneySteve. We have had 30 years of laws forbidding the federal government from paying for abortions, until now. It's called the Hyde Amendment:

Passed by Congress in 1976, the Hyde Amendment excludes abortion from the comprehensive health care services provided to low-income people by the federal government through Medicaid. Congress has made some exceptions to the funding ban, which have varied over the years. At present, the federal Medicaid program mandates abortion funding in cases of rape or incest, as well as when a pregnant woman's life is endangered by a physical disorder, illness, or injury.

from: Public Funding for Abortion | American Civil Liberties Union

Also, we had executive orders preventing us paying for abortions oversees, although those get signed and then recinded depending on who is in office (called the Mexico City policy, signed by Reagan, Bush I and Bush II and recinded by Clinton and Obama).

[disneysteve]

That is not true DisneySteve. We have had 30 years of laws forbidding the federal government from paying for abortions, until now.

Federal funds may not pay for it but state funds do.

[cptacek]

Kansas doesn't. Your state might.

[disneysteve]

Kansas doesn't. Your state might.

Yes, NJ definitely does. I believe PA does, as well. Patients on state Medicaid definitely have access to pregnancy termination in NJ.