"Getting married will make it harder for many to get health insurance." Is this an unintended consequence or is it deliberate? Socialism always attacks the family because strong families are the foundational building block of a strong society. Destabalization and disintegration enable the move to socialism.
Chalk up one more assault on the family from the Obama administration and one more disastrous impact from Obamacare.
According to the many reports I read in Consumer Reports and Newsweek, my middle class family and most of my friends and acquaintances will benefit from the health care reform. Those friends who don't directly benefit have very cushy incomes and don't need help.
ReplyDeleteHow will it make it harder? Can you give specifics? I am very glad of the health care plan as I can now get coverage for my (still-student) 23 year old and can now also get coverage for an eye condition that was previously considered a "pre-existing" condition and thus exempt from my employer's medical plan. I have read extensively about the health care initiatives and can find no evidence that it will be more difficult for married couples to have coverage either via employer or another program. Where I DO see it to be more difficult is for UN MARRIED couples to obtain joint coverage if one person is not employed.
ReplyDeleteWhat's a "cushy" income, Sarah? That kind of comment just sounds like class envy. We have five children. My husband made a good income. But I did day care to make ends meet when we had kids in braces and in Catholic schools and I still had pre-schoolers at home. We made those choices and didn't expect the government to pick up our bills. We also refinanced our house to get the cash to cover our expenses, something that is increasingly hard for couples to do because of the destruction of the housing market.
ReplyDeleteAs for your question, Anonymous, if a single with a $40,000 income sharing expenses with a roommate can get a subsidy for health care, but two working married individuals can't with an $80,000 income -- who is finanically better off? Do the math. That creates a dis-incentive to marry and an incentive to shack up.
And that is one more blow to society because families create stability, a lesson of history. Are you familiar with the collapse of the Roman empire? Immorality, welfare, constant wars, and filling the Roman army with members of barbarian tribes are primary causes for its disintegration. Does that scenario sound familiar?
But not to worry. Everyone will have insurance, but there will be no doctors left. In a survey last year the New England Journal of Medicine (not a conservative source) found that over 46% of primary care doctors expected to be driven out or desire to leave medicine if Obamacare passed. Maybe you can get your health care from a vet. Be prepared to pay for it though.
A friend's mother-in-law, a nurse, who had shingles in the eye which can lead to blindness had Medicare refuse her expensive prescription drug in favor of a generic, then refuse the generic. Her supplemental wouldn't pay b/c Medicare wouldn't pay. So...her option...blindness or pay out of pocket for the drugs. But then, she's old and somebody in the bureaucracy decided she's just not worth it. I hope you're young and healthy.
http://www.themedicusfirm.com/pages/medicus-media-survey-reveals-impact-health-reform
ReplyDeleteCorrection: The survey was not run by the New England Journal of Medicine, but by a national physician recruitment organization that partners with hospitals, health care centers, etc. seeking medical personnel. They surveyed about 1200 randomly selected doctors about their opinions and plans on Obamacare.
ReplyDeleteI'm just not seeing the disaster. Everyone I know to ask (all working, middle to upper-middle class families) benefit from the recent changes. My state is trying to make it illegal on the ballot and I, for one, am going to vote to keep it in place. And so far the polls say that my swing state is agreeing with me. It's saved us thousands from having to purchase separate insurance for our daughter.
ReplyDeleteI am a health insurance agent.
ReplyDeleteAll of my clients (both small group and individual) have had enormous increases in their premiums. All of the "great' added features come with a cost. If your adult child is allowed to stay on the plan at no extra cost, if you now have no copays for Preventative care, if there are no life time limits etc. - someone has to pay for it - by additional costs to the employer or individual in their premiums. (And now who will pay for all of the free contraceptives) As well as Catholic organizations - schools etc who are now forced to offer these on their plans. I know that a surprising number of Catholic colleges did not offer them before and not just the super conservatives ones.
There use to be really low cost polices for young people - they are almost non-existent because fewer people utilize them and they are no longer cost effective for insurance companies to offer them.
It is almost impossible for a married couple who wants to get pregnancy coverage to get an individual policy and when they do it is unbelievably expensive. When I have young Catholic couples come to me who need to purchase individual policies - I steer them to Kaiser because they are the only ones offering affordable policies that give decent pregnancy coverage. Or the woman goes on the expensive policy and the husband and children on a cheaper one.
Believe me a lot has changed and when this healthcare reform goes all the way through - we will find that our countries deficits will be unsustainable.
I have lived with socialized medicine (10 years in Canada) - I personally don't mind it but I am a minimalist when it comes to health care. Having to bring my own stuff - diapers etc and being in an ugly dormitory type of room with 4 others after having a baby didn't bother me. Honest - but I have a lot of clients who would be horrified.
One more thing that is frightening to me is that the 2000 plus page health care bill gives incredible authority to the administration and health and human services secretary. There are somewhere around 700 times in this legislation where it states that either the administration or the secretary of health and human services shall determine.
ReplyDeleteOne of those "shall determine' was the recent decree on birth control - everyone has to offer it in their plan for free. There are no conscience rights - that means your daughter at her Catholic college can get contraceptives for free on the health care plan you are paying for - as a Catholic that bothers me a lot.
Also Obama was able to exempt the unions and his friends from implementing some the the expensive health care reforms because he can 'determine' that too.