Affordable Care Act (AKA Obamacare)

[Leroy]

Technically the government shuts down every Friday and we survive

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

http://money.cnn.com/2013/08/29/news/ec ... index.html

There's been a lot of talk on here like the ACA is actually decreasing costs. I just wanted to post this article as a reminder that it is not.

Starbucks' CEO Howard Schultz told CNN Tuesday that Obamacare may raise the company's insurance costs, but that Starbucks will not change its coverage.

While there's no doubt Obamacare comes with increased costs for employers, health reform can only be blamed for a piece of the price hike, experts say.

This isn't really scientific, but my give a [expletive] is pretty low on fighting the masses on this point. So, here's what UPS has to say regarding the extra costs vs. typical inflation.

United Parcel Service (UPS, Fortune 500), for instance, recently told employees that health reform is contributing a 4% increase to the cost of coverage for 2014, while health care inflation adds another 7.25%.

The 7.25% is a bit over what was cited earlier. I don't really care to parse numbers right now.

But, more to the point, it's not just me I'm worried about broncos (which was a stupid point anyway). It's apparently quite a few other employees who rely on their employer for health insurance.

Oh, and also, I'll just toot my own horn here and said this loss of benefits would be coming. Actually I posted something int he Obama thread about how we just took a survey about what benefits with which we were most willing to part.

[heyzeus]

Technically the government shuts down every Friday and we survive

Do Air Traffic Controllers get laid off, and the military stop getting paid every Friday? Do the national parks shut down for good every friday?

[Joe Shlabotnik]

Funny, I've cursed a good amount of workers on interstate highway's on the weekends. Do the astronauts come back to earth from the space station on the weekend? I don't recall that. And I swear I've crossed the border into Canada on the weekend before.

Is that right Leroy or am I just mis-remembering?

[Vidor]

http://money.cnn.com/2013/08/29/news/ec ... index.html

There's been a lot of talk on here like the ACA is actually decreasing costs. I just wanted to post this article as a reminder that it is not.

it is

http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/07/18/new-sign ... nce-costs/

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

http://money.cnn.com/2013/08/29/news/ec ... index.html

There's been a lot of talk on here like the ACA is actually decreasing costs. I just wanted to post this article as a reminder that it is not.

it is

http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/07/18/new-sign ... nce-costs/

I guess this is your point:

In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday that people buying their own coverage will see prices fall by more than half when the state’s new insurance exchange opens this fall. And in a new report released Thursday, analysts at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found that next year’s rates are coming in nearly 20% below projected levels in the 11 states where insurers have posted their offerings.

So...yes & no. More no.

[pioneer98]

This is kinda funny:

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/08 ... rovisions/

The Huffington Post’s Jason Cherkis reports on a remarkable encounter between Reina Diaz-Dempsey, a Kentucky public health worker signing people up for insurance coverage under health care reform, and a middle-aged man who approached her booth at the State Fair. After Diaz-Dempsey explained that he will either qualify for tax credits to buy insurance through Kynect (the state’s new insurance marketplace) or an expanded Medicaid pool in October, the man seemed pleased and mused, “This beats Obamacare, I hope.”

So we now see how the Republicans have a way out. If they get back in power, they can pretend to repeal Obamacare and put in their own system. In reality, all they'd be doing is making a very minor tweak to Obamacare, but most importantly, they'd call it a different name (maybe "Rubio-care"). Then BANG: suddenly its the best thing since sliced bread.

[pioneer98]

But, more to the point, it's not just me I'm worried about broncos (which was a stupid point anyway). It's apparently quite a few other employees who rely on their employer for health insurance.

Oh, and also, I'll just toot my own horn here and said this loss of benefits would be coming. Actually I posted something int he Obama thread about how we just took a survey about what benefits with which we were most willing to part.

I had my deductible jacked up from $500/year to $4300/year back in like 2005, and my premiums also went up slightly at the same time.

Predicting that companies might cut benefits is not hard to do, and may or may not be tied to the ACA. It could just be tied to the fact health care costs are out of control.

[Leroy]

Who cares what is called, its awesome. So awesome that the people who wrote the bill essentially wrote themselves out of it.

(Room for 25 articles to refute.)

[Jocephus]

and i thought i was cynical