Thread Drift

[Blueberry]

Sad that people can't know that ACA and its nickname Obamacare... are the same. Are the public that....clueless?

Absolutely yes.

Don't know if this is for real, but I could definitely believe it.

[shootingstar]

Absolutely yes.

Don't know if this is for real, but I could definitely believe it.

I read the pertinent thread section, Blueberry.

Very sad. To kill ACA but with no better/similar replacement. How stupid. Trump is reacting to and pandering to emotion of people. It's abit terrifying....this is your health. Someone ought haul a child dying of cancer in front of him from a family that will be bankrupt... I think this is what it takes..a completely innocent helpless person that if he shouts down the child...

A sister has worked for many years simply at patient intake...for a pediatric cancer ward in a large pediatric hospital. It's 400 beds and is Canada's largest teaching research pediatric hospital.. for various pediatric diseases. Even in Canada, given its size like U.S., patients (with parent(s)) have to fly from smaller cities/rural areas in Canada. Flight, etc. is not covered by our public health insurance system.

[Crankin]

I saw that thread on Facebook a couple of days ago. The ignorance is chilling.
I guess I will keep living in my bubble and am thankful for 2 things: I live in the bluest of blue states, and when I thought I might need the ACA, it was an option.

[emily_in_nc]

As for going without health insurance, everyone must remember accidents happen, as shootingstar points out -- it's not just for disease-related issues!

The only time I had a serious need for healthcare services was when I had a bike accident in 2005, fracturing my pelvis in 3 places. One was serious enough to require orthopedic surgery, and I still have a 5" plate and four pins in my ilium to show for it. I was in the hospital for five days. Between that and after-care, I would have been out over $40K if I'd had to pay out of pocket. As it was, I had employer health insurance at the time that paid 90% of everything. The last 10% I paid out of pocket and could afford, no problem. In the end, that ended up being paid by the homeowners insurance co. of the folks who let their dogs run loose in a county with a leash law, which caused my crash. It was the principle of the thing more than the money, really.

[Crankin]

Exactly. To think that you can go without health insurance is just irresponsible. Sure, I could pay for a physical, a mammogram, and and a colonoscopy. And maybe a couple of office visits a year. But, every year I get sinusitis and occasional UTIs. Medications for those things, without insurance are crazy expensive. As an adult in my 60s I am comparatively healthy, but I have allergies, a history of asthma, and I have just one prescription in addition to the inhaler I have for just in case. That one prescription is over 1,000.00 without insurance and I pay 120.00 a year for it.
Just because one's relatives lived to a ripe old age with little issue, it doesn't always mean you are free. Generally good genetics help, but my mom died at 67 from a horrible liver disease (autoimmune) and a failed transplant. Every other member of her family lived until 90+. My dad was unemployed and working in a retirement type job with no benefits. If it wasn't for MediCal, they would have been in jail from the medical debts. She was not old and wanted to move forward with treatment. I could not have helped pay for that.

[Catrin]

My concern is the action taken last week by the Republicans did not retain the protection regarding preexisting conditions. There was a time when I would have been denied any coverage at all, so yeah, I'm a bit on the nervous side. I'm fine as long as I'm with my current employer but if they don't replace that protection I am looking a a potentially serious problem in the future. There has also been a change at work where we are no longer paying premiums for the next month but for the current - so our insurance coverage ends the last day of our employment instead of extending one month in the future.

Time well tell, part of me wants to think they REALLY wouldn't remove that protection but this is a new political landscape, it's hard to know what will happen. And, on the scale of serious preexisting conditions mine are on the lower end of that scale, there are many lives that would be seriously impacted if the insurance companies were once again allowed to choose who they would cover.

What I am saying is the situation is far more complicated than those who have the ability to get insurance of some kind and choose not to do so for some reason.

[ny biker]

<sigh> Just got a call from the doctor. I have to go back and repeat the mammogram I had a few days ago because "the image is incomplete and there is an asymmetry on the right side." No indication of a mass, just something that causes 10% of us to be called back for more pain. And the insurance doesn't cover this. I went through the same thing a few years ago and had to pay out of pocket for it. The technician looks at the images when she takes them and there was a time when they would take another image on the spot if things didn't look clear enough. Apparently now they just send you home so you can come back and pay extra for the privilege.

Mad props to the doctor for calling me before the letter arrived from the radiology place. He's at a new practice now where he has to do a lot of things that were handled by nurses and assistants at the last practice. But he still makes the time for these sorts of phone calls to minimize the anxiety that these situations can cause.

===

Update, insurance company says I have a $200 deductible for "outpatient radiology."

I had it scheduled for Tuesday but had to call them back and reschedule for Thursday so it would fall into the next credit card cycle.

[Eden]

Absolutely yes.

Don't know if this is for real, but I could definitely believe it.

That may be a hoax, but the idea that people either did not understand that "Obamacare" and the Affordable Care Act were one in the same or simply did not believe that the program could be dismantled is totally real - here's an actual piece of journalism - http://www.vox.com/platform/amp/scie...bamacare-trump

I work in a hospital. I'm sure we will see the effects of this sooner than later. We are a non profit and no child (it is a children's hospital) is ever denied care on the basis that they cannot pay, but I would guess our uncompensated care fund will soon be once again tested it's limits... The expense of medical care is no joke. We've got one family that is not what you would think of as disadvantaged, but having a child with a complex medical condition, they hit the lifetime limit for their health insurance before he was two..

[Blueberry]

That may be a hoax, but the idea that people either did not understand that "Obamacare" and the Affordable Care Act were one in the same or simply did not believe that the program could be dismantled is totally real - here's an actual piece of journalism - http://www.vox.com/platform/amp/scie...bamacare-trump

I work in a hospital. I'm sure we will see the effects of this sooner than later. We are a non profit and no child (it is a children's hospital) is ever denied care on the basis that they cannot pay, but I would guess our uncompensated care fund will soon be once again tested it's limits... The expense of medical care is no joke. We've got one family that is not what you would think of as disadvantaged, but having a child with a complex medical condition, they hit the lifetime limit for their health insurance before he was two..

I believe it. I'm a med student associated with a state hospital that serves all regardless of ability to pay. I have no idea what will happen, but I'm sure it won't be pretty. As I've said before, it's a terrifying time to be going into medicine. If things are as destabilized as some hospital groups are predicting, I worry about whether there will even be jobs - not something I was ever worried about. Scary on so many levels.

[ny biker]

Emily, my insurance covers one non-3D mammogram per year. I already had that, and paid $50 extra for 3D. In the past when I declined the 3D mammogram they made me come back and get one because the regular one was not good enough. So now I pay the extra $50 (with clenched teeth) -- that's what I had the other day. But now they are saying I have to come back for another one and that will be treated as regular radiology, which under my plan (which has lots of "grandfathered" exceptions to ACA requirements) means a $200 copay. I got more information yesterday when I called to reschedule the appointment into the next credit card cycle -- they said something is different from prior images which is why they want to do another one.

Smilingcat, I share your anger. It galls me that the party claiming to represent Christian beliefs is really so greedy and uncaring. And so willing to look the other way with a president who has already violated the Constitution.

So yeah I'm going to the march tomorrow. Still not sure of my specific plans, but I think I will be walking there from a friend's house a few miles away. It will be a long day and I'm sure more than once I will have to find a spot on the sidewalk to sit down and rest my feet and back. But I think a big turnout is important. And I am optimistic that we will have it -- I've lived here for 19 years and I've never seen an event that so many people I know are going to.

[emily_in_nc]

Thank you, NY, for explaining about the radiology -- I do know that anything outside a very specific list of procedures and checks is not covered by the ACA preventive regulations, and since you're having to have a second one, that's how they get around it. Sigh. Seems like they'll do anything to avoid actually helping people.

We were pleasantly surprised when DH's recent colonoscopy was covered in full. Yes, they are supposed to be covered as they are preventive, in general, but since DH has had pre-cancerous polyps removed during colonoscopy procedures before, he's on the 5-6 year return cycle rather than 10 years, and last time, we had to fight tooth and nail to have it covered. This was through my employer insurance and prior to the ACA. The insurance goons insisted that it was not preventive since it hadn't been 10 years since his last one, but we argued that indeed it was, because the whole reason his GI doc wanted him to have one on a shorter cycle was to prevent colon cancer. After two appeals, they finally paid.

This time, with the ACA, they just paid (different insurance company, tho). No questions asked.

And people wonder why I love my Obamacare!

[shootingstar]

Unless physician sees something abnormal, one gets a colonoscopy in the province where I live..every 10 yrs. I had mine about 55 yrs. on the doctor's referral. The only thing I had to pay, was the awful liquid laxative to drink to "prep' myself.

Otherwise no other out of pocket expenses not required.

[ny biker]

They want me back in 5 years for another colonoscopy, due to polyps IIRC. I hadn't thought about whether insurance will cover it. But who knows what my insurance will be by then. The company I work for was sold --again-- it happens every 2-3 years. At a recent meeting our new CEO said that taking care of employees' health is a worthwhile but unquantifiable benefit. It will be interesting to see if that translates to better insurance coverage next year.. assuming the client for my project doesn't decide to lay me off...

Anyway it's time for bed. I've got some woman marching to do tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes.