Thursday, October 13, 2016

Should they scrap Obamacare and throw people with preexisting conditions under the bus?

Over the past couple of years, many health plans have become less comprehensive. Allowing for less doctor visits, dental coverage and so forth. Obamacare gets lots of blame, but an underlying problem is more the culprit. Healthcare, in America, is too expensive for a large percent of the population. This has to do, in part, with the wide income gap in society. Obamacare has tried to address this problem, but, to some extent has just moved the problem around.

One important change that Obamacare has brought to our system is forcing insurance companies to include people with preexisting conditions. This puts sicker people into the insurance risk pools forcing everyone else to pay more, or get less coverage.

On the other hand, denying coverage to people with preexisting conditions; barring the door and keeping out the sick and needy (like was happening before) is mean spirited.

As to my own situation, I went many years with no insurance. My low end employers didn't provide it and premiums on the private market were too high. More recently, working full time, I started having coverage. Most employees, where I work, were part time and didn't get coverage. Also, I was grandfathered in (so to speak) with coverage while even some newer full time employees didn't have it. For a while, there was a golden era when my coverage was fairly comprehensive. Most recently (the last two years) it has become less comprehensive. Many insurance plans offer less, but more people have insurance, these days, than ever before. One can say the plans we have now are more diluted. Diluted as sicker people are now included in the risk pools so the money has to stretch farther.

Luckily, my own health remains quite good from my bicycling and diet, for the most part, but maybe my diet isn't totally PC, so to speak. I do burn more calories than most people; especially my age.

There's an old phrase that goes, "an apple a day keeps the doctor away." Of course everyone isn't that fortunate. Some folks have, for instance preexisting conditions.

One place where Obamacare is hoping to save money is by having more people covered so they can have preventative care, rather than having to wait till they end up in the emergency room thus passing those costs to everyone. Maybe that part has worked, but there are too many sick people out there, so to speak. What do you do? Bar the door? I was one of those without insurance for many years.

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