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General News John Boehner Signs Up For Health Insurance Through ACA Exchange

Discussion in 'Current Events, World News, & LGBT News' started by AwesomGaytheist, Nov 22, 2013.

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  1. AwesomGaytheist

    AwesomGaytheist
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    Whoops! Obamacare turns out to be great deal personally for Boehner - Salon.com

    After a couple tries, John Boehner was able to sign up for health insurance through the hated "Obamacare" website. Of course, Boehner repeated his usual banter that the entire law is a failure because of a couple technical issues with a website, however, he bought himself coverage. I highly doubt he's going to die because he bought insurance through a government-run website.

    I actually got on the website and didn't have any problems, other than the fact they couldn't verify my Social Security number, and I'd've had to call Experian and verify my identity with them before I could see the rates. And also, if I didn't have to black so much of it out (and if it weren't a government website), I'd've shown you screenshots. Oh well.
     
    #1 AwesomGaytheist, Nov 22, 2013
  2. Stridenttube

    Stridenttube Guest

    John is right, the website is a joke and it's a terrible law. Millions of people have already had their current insurance plans cancelled.
     
    #2 Stridenttube, Nov 22, 2013
  3. GeeLee

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    *Hugs NHS*
     
    #3 GeeLee, Nov 22, 2013
  4. AwesomGaytheist

    AwesomGaytheist
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    The reason for the cancellations is because those plans are so bad that they're now illegal. And if your plan was cancelled, then get on the exchange and buy yourself insurance. This isn't rocket science.
     
    #4 AwesomGaytheist, Nov 22, 2013
  5. Chip

    Chip
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    Gaythiest is correct.

    The plans being cancelled were the substandard policies, most of which were really crappy catastrophic coverage policies that, in most cases (according to Consumer Reports and many other watchdog groups) had so many loopholes and exceptions that when you actually went to try and use the coverage you were carrying... you found out it covered only a small portion of your out-of-pocket expense.

    In a number of cases, journalists have actually tracked down and followed up with the people claiming their "wonderful policies" had been cancelled... and found that, in nearly 100% of the cases, these people could get much better coverage, for the same price or often thousands of dollars less per year than they were previously paying, by shopping on the insurance exchange websites. But many of these dumbasses never actually *checked* the ACA exchange because "they didn't want to have anything to do with Obamacare."

    It never ceases to amaze me how many of these ignorant, dumbassed, middle-america Republicans are so quick to condemn Obama and the Democrats, who are trying really hard to make their lives better, and are so quick to vote for and support Republicans, who have demonstrated over decades that they don't give a crap about anyone who is lower income.
     
    #5 Chip, Nov 22, 2013
  6. Mike92

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    Yeah, it is.

    We've been flooded with calls at my congressional office from people who are having a ton of trouble with the website.
     
    #6 Mike92, Nov 22, 2013
  7. Stridenttube

    Stridenttube Guest

    The problem is that people who don't need bullshit like birth control and other extra frills had their plans cancelled. It costs them more as well.
     
    #7 Stridenttube, Nov 22, 2013
  8. Tim

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    Except, as was stated, you already had substandard plans. They wouldn't have been useful in the long run.

    I live in California, we don't even use the ACA website. >_>

    California simply extended all of their own medical programs to act like the ACA.
     
    #8 Tim, Nov 22, 2013
  9. photoguy93

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    Wait a second...how is birth control a bullshit frill?

    I definitely agree that the site is problematic. However, that's just that. We don't know yet exactly what coverage will be like. People who are getting cut from their original plans are probably on bad plans. My whole understanding of the ACA was that it would end up covering more. Before we set out on a bashing fit, can we just get through some of next year before we try and get rid of it?
     
    #9 photoguy93, Nov 22, 2013
  10. Tightrope

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    I take it Boner is less than 65, or he'd be on Medicare. I have no clue how old he is. I do have a clue that he's an ass hole, though.

    This cancellation thing has been blown way out of proportion. In my particular jurisdiction, which has its own exchange, my policy has been mapped over to another policy. In most ways, it is slightly better. I'll explain in which way it is NOT better. It has a lower monthly premium as well. What they have done is organized into networks for cost control, making it seem more HMO-like. The copays are better (lower), too. Simply stated, plans have been cancelled and people have been moved over onto "ACA-compliant products," as I had it explained to me, so they haven't had their insurance policies cancelled.

    Also, when I called them in September, I was told I could keep my doctor. I was relieved that I could see him for that copay. A recent call told me he'd be out of network and I suspected the previous conversation was wrong because of the networks. I was correct. Well, I guess I'll be looking for a new doctor. I liked him because he was respectful of my intelligence, very practical, and his visit charges were billed by him at the lowest tier of level of service. I have not been exactly thrilled in that, when a doctor has a linear life (college grad at 22, finishes med school at 26, does residency, gets married, makes babies, and does the country club thing), they can't relate AT ALL to those whose lives haven't been as smooth. But, if I find a doctor I like next year, it will have been a good thing, overall.

    Doesn't Boner get insurance through his job, and financed by the taxpayers? I thought all Capitol Hill types did, as in "I've got mine."
     
    #10 Tightrope, Nov 22, 2013
  11. BryanM

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    :eusa_clap:eusa_clap:eusa_clap:eusa_clap

    Thank you for actually saying it.
     
    #11 BryanM, Nov 22, 2013
  12. AwesomGaytheist

    AwesomGaytheist
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    Effective January 1, 2014, all members of Congress have to buy their insurance through the exchange. Blows a pretty big hole in the most commonly repeated Republican lie that "CONGRESS IS EXEMPT FROM OBAMACARE!!!!!"

    In 2009, Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, introduced an amendment to the health care bill mandating that members of Congress buy their own insurance through the marketplaces.

    And if you're having trouble on the website, then call and talk to a live person. I don't know if I can post said number, but just google it. You can call and talk to a live person and get your coverage that way.

    To say that the entire law is a failure because of a few people in the IT department is like saying that just because we got a little rain, that a huge flood is coming.

    "This is a great guide, if I may say, for any of you out there who feel so confused by all of these right-wing commercials that are just permeating through your television screen, and also on the sound culture of the country with the right-wing talkers of America. If you are a Glenn Beck disciple and you hate President Obama, then the website would be healthcare.gov/dumba**."

    -Ed Schultz
     
    #12 AwesomGaytheist, Nov 22, 2013
  13. Mike92

    Mike92
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    Not every Republican has said this.

    In fact, the staffers for the representative I work for have been trying to communicate to constituents that MC's/staff aren't exempt from the ACA, which isn't an easy task.
     
    #13 Mike92, Nov 22, 2013
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  14. AwesomGaytheist

    AwesomGaytheist
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    Every single thing I've seen on Facebook sent around by my Republican friends is that we should pass the 28th Amendment to say that Congress isn't exempt from any laws that they make. Then again, I'm from one of the most conservative areas in the state (Oakland County, MI), and live in a very conservative area of the country (West Michigan), where most people in the editorial sections of the newspaper parrot Allen West's zany statements.
     
    #14 AwesomGaytheist, Nov 22, 2013
    Last edited: Nov 22, 2013
  15. Argentwing

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    I'm not a fan of ACA (and I don't even care too much about the website glitches), but I am glad that he signed up for it. That does mean it's at least a little palatable.

    However, I'm still not okay with a law mandating that I buy something or pay money anyway. It's legislative extortion in a way that's worse than a tax. Not to mention I literally cannot afford it by any means if I tried to apply, and the government will have to attempt to get their blood from a stone. Or does that mean I might be eligible for free care? I still don't like it because it means other people are having to go without so that I get maybe necessary treatment.

    *addendum* I'm also not at all pro-insurance companies. They are just as evil as anything a politician can come up with. I might just not know how an insurance business model works, but I've easily come out ahead by paying out of pocket whenever the need arises.
     
    #15 Argentwing, Nov 22, 2013
    Last edited: Nov 22, 2013
  16. Byron

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    I don't know about anyone else, but at my university all of the student workers just had to take a mandatory cut in hours down to below 25 hours a week at minimum wage because the university could no longer afford to offer those of us who were working full time health insurance.
     
    #16 Byron, Nov 22, 2013
  17. Chip

    Chip
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    You're buying a red herring argument from someone that clearly had no real understanding of the ACA and what it does, which is typical of most of the uneducated Republican constituency that's against it. They have no idea what it actually does.

    The cost of things like family planning is a tiny, tiny portion of the added benefits provided by ACA. And, by the way, the family planning benefit includes a lot more than birth control, and is a cost containment tool, that is designed to reduce the need for abortion, which is something that Republicans are supposed to be in favor of... but because it's part of Obamacare, apparently they oppose it on principle.

    The reason these substandard plans were cancelled has nothing to do with so-called "frills", as many other plans also didn't cover those services, and simply added them to become compliant. The substandard plans were cancelled because the actuarial calculations on which the premiums were based factored in the lifetime cap (sometimes as low as $500,000, which could be blown through by one complicated illness lasting a month), the lack of payment for any preventative care (which, again, has been shown to reduce overall costs by catching and treating illness before it becomes expensive, something republicans should be applauding, and because the plans can no longer be cancelled after they're issued, once the insured gets sick and actually tries to claim on the policy (something that happened a lot with these cheap plans.)

    But again, if you simply listen to Fox News, or to dumbassed Republicans like Michelle Bachmann, spouting nonsense... you'd never know any of this stuff.

    The plans that were cancelled were shitty plans. They gave you the illusion of protection, but when you went to actually use them, the coverage often wasn't there. Companies could exclude you or back-date cancellation when you became ill for the most ridiculous or insignificant reasons. The slightest prior illness would exclude you from coverage. Anyone that wants to keep one of these plans is a dumbass, because s/he does not have decent coverage. And if you look, the lowest-price plan on the new structure provides significantly better coverage, and in better than half of the cases, the cost is often half of what the shitty coverage cost. In nearly every case, it is either less than, or the same as, the cost of shitty coverage, but providing much greater protections, no lifetime cap on payouts, no exclusions on preexisting conditions, generous preventative care to reduce long-term healthcare costs and provide a better quality of life, and many, many, many other good features.

    The same mentality of ignorance and stupidity in those who are against the ACA was found with the passage of the Civil Rights Act, the Medicare Act, the Social Security Act, the various consumer and financial protection acts, and most other laws that have been enacted to protect and guarantee certain basic rights to US citizens. The Republicans have always been on the losing side of progress and, frankly, pretty vehemently against anything that benefits people who make less than 100K a year. And the ACA's most overwhelming benefit is to the very people -- the disproportiontely lower-income, lessser educated Republicans -- who so hate it. Perhaps when they discover that they have better health coverage, better and more efficient medical care, they will come to appreciate it as much as senior citizens now appreciate Medicare.

    But it's frustrating when people spout ignorant stuff abut "frills" and such that they're just pulling out of their asses, or repeating verbatim from some asshat on Fox News who knows full well he's lying his ass off.
     
    #17 Chip, Nov 23, 2013
  18. Stridenttube

    Stridenttube Guest

    The website admin of a support form taking the time to personally attack me. Cool chip, that really reflects well on the whole site.

    So let me get this straight, so people who had no problems with their health plans and had what they needed, are now having their plans cancelled. Which Is also a broken promise that Obama made "if you like your current health plan you can keep it." Just like that broken promise about being able to keep your doctor. ‘You Can Keep Your Doctor’: Obamacare’s Next Broken Promise? | TIME.com


    I had one of my old professors that I was talking to. The rates on his newborn to get health insurance because she was born after a certain date and not grandfathered to a set of rules was outrageous, he couldn't pay it because it was so incredibly expensive.
     
    #18 Stridenttube, Nov 23, 2013
  19. AwesomGaytheist

    AwesomGaytheist
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    The thing about the individual mandate is that the law wouldn't work without it. If we didn't require every American to have health insurance and then said, Insurance companies have to sell you insurance at the same rate as everyone else, and can't turn you down if you have a pre-existing condition, and no lifetime caps, and they can't drop you because you get sick, then everyone would just wait until they got sick and then get insurance, which would bankrupt insurance companies. So it's there for a reason.

    The exchange and Medicaid expansions are there so that insurance plans are compared side-by-side, kind of like using Orbitz to book a flight. They show you every price of every flight on every airline that serves the route you want to take. And you get to choose accordingly. This creates direct competition, which drives the prices down.

    But in your case, there was a plan to help people like you, however almost every Republican-controlled state has rejected it, and that is the Medicaid expansion. The plan was that if you were low-income, you would either A. be eligible for Medicaid if your income was less than 138% of the poverty rate, or B. you could get a subsidy to buy yourself private insurance, based on your income, much like the way Section 8 housing is run.

    Of course, most Republican states refuse to do this, and as South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley so eloquently said, "We will NEVER expand Medicaid in this state! EVER!" You especially are screwed by this, RSwordsman, with the approach your governor and legislature has taken on this matter. Considering Rick Scott is a former health insurance exec, it's almost a conflict of interest. In fact, only one state in the original Confederacy, Arkansas, has set up an exchange and expanded Medicaid. But surprisingly enough, some red states are moving forward with the exchanges. My state, Michigan, has a Republican-controlled House, a Republican supermajority in the Senate, and a Republican governor, and they passed the exchange. Of course, people in my hometown were freaking out because their beloved Republicans "didn't stand up to the dictator" and reject his plan that would have insured most of said complainers.

    ---------- Post added 23rd Nov 2013 at 10:16 AM ----------
    That's another lie. You can choose your own doctor, just like before. I know this because not even that long ago, I went doctor shopping when I moved out here. Once again, that's a Fox News/Rush Limbaugh/Sean Hannity lie.

    And honestly, as well as it worked in Massachusetts, it'll work at the federal level. Considering Mitt Romney bragged about his health plan while running for President in 2007, pledging to apply it to the entire nation if elected President, then in 2009 said on CNN, "I see the President is copying my health plan, and I'm glad to see that." The GOP is only against it because they're against all things Obama. Just like how when the Violence Against Women Act was reauthorized almost unanimously in both houses of Congress over the years, when Obama is President, all of a sudden, all these Republicans are against it.
     
    #19 AwesomGaytheist, Nov 23, 2013
  20. Stridenttube

    Stridenttube Guest


    I'm not even a republican!!! I sure as hell don't get my news those morons. I do however do my research! If anyone on this site is biased it's you. You believe everything any democratic congressman says. Hell, even the most bleeding heart liberals are starting to see how bad this whole law is, People are losing their doctors, I know these people!

    I even included a link to Time magazine. Everyone knows are freaking liberal they are. This law sucks and people are finally starting to realize how screwed we are.
     
    #20 Stridenttube, Nov 23, 2013
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