Mary's Mind...The Minister's Wife

THE ACA (Affordable Care Act) aka Obamacare!

December 2013

 

The origin of this law came from a Republican Governor, Mitt Romney (he ran for President against President Obama), who implemented this law in Massachusetts, and it is working very well there.  When President Obama took on the horrible health care situation in the United States, Mitt Romney’s model was used as the overall outline for the new law.  President Obama was pushing for a single payer system like Medicare, but faced stiff opposition from the insurance industry, the Republicans, the echo chamber i.e., Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Hannity, etc.   The Republicans, as well as a few Democrats who are bought and sold by insurance lobbyists, were afraid of losing their jobs in Congress, capitulated and thus the ACA (Affordable Care Act) was borne.

 

This ACA law gave rise to the now infamous “Tea Party Movement”.  These Tea Party Congressman recently shut the government down.  The shutdown, which lasted 16 days, stopped our economic engines to the tune of $24 billion dollars to taxpayers.

 

• Hundreds of thousands of federal workers bore the economic brunt of the shutdown.

•  Small businesses also suffered from frozen government contracts and stalled business loans.

• Tourism suffered from closed national parks, and military families had to cope without childcare and other services.

• Federal workers will receive back-pay under the deal, but contractors will probably not receive their lost wages.

• The stall in cash-flow could affect spending during the holiday shopping season.

                                         Reference CNN Money/Time Swampland Politics 10-17-13

                  
Twenty-four billion dollars could fix a lot of problems in our economy.  However, this money was lost because Republican congressmen who have such intense hate for anything that bears the name of President Obama, were willing even to destroy the economy or anything that bears the President’s name.

 

All is not lost however.  Even though this is a totally compromised bill, some very good things came about which eventually became law.  This law was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2012, even though it was watered downed even more by the very right leaning Supreme Court.

 

Some Provisions of the ACA Which are Very Important!

 

As of October 1, 2013, you could begin shopping for coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace with the coverage actually starting in 2014.  There are existing problems with the website that are grossly overblown and exaggerated, but this will be repaired. Remember when Medicare was instituted? Remember when Medicare Advantage was instituted?  Legislation like Medicare, Medicare Advantage, and the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) are ginormous and very complicated.  Medicare and Medicare Advantage (MA) had enormous problems on their rollout.  Did you see anyone trying to sabotage these laws?  No. Democrats worked together with Republicans to make both laws work better.  Medicare and Medical Advantage (MA) are now loved my many; just try to take these programs away!   Let’s give the ACA law a chance and see where it goes.  It is already working and doing something good for thousands and thousands of people already.

 

 

Some provisions of the law started as early as 2012.  The exchanges were set up to begin in 2014, which you are applying for now.  You are now in the qualifying stage for the exchanges.  On January 1, 2014, the actual insurance coverage kicks in.

 

Many people now have access to healthcare and are not DYING!!  Check out some of the provisions.

 

• You cannot be denied health insurance because of a pre-existing condition.  This is huge!  This means if you have diabetes, high blood pressure, or cancer you cannot be denied.  People who are bipolar or schizophrenic can now get coverage.  Can you believe people were denied health insurance because they were bipolar?  Children who have cancer will no longer have to die because their insurance company denied them coverage.   Again, this is absolutely amazing!

 

• Your health plan cannot place annual or lifetime limits on how much they will pay for your medical bills i.e., 1, 2, 3, 4 million.   People actually believed their insurance coverage would last forever.  This was believed because these people never had a catastrophic illness.  An illness like multiple sclerosis (MS) or cancer could have wiped out your lifetime benefits as in as little as 6 months to a year. 

 

Many of the people who are always yelling, “I don’t want President Obama and the government touching my insurance,” are doing so because they are under the falsehood that their insurance coverage is great and will never end. Trust me - they have not had a catastrophic illness.  When they do, they will find the insurance company is not their friend.  Currently, your coverage is not endless!!  Under the ACA law, all lifetime and annual dollar limits will eliminated in 2014!

 

• Your plan cannot charge you more because you are a female.  Insurance companies typically charged females, especially females of child bearing ages, more money for coverage.  These women had to purchase what is called “maternity coverage” if they wanted to have a baby, or pay higher premiums just being in that age group.  Now there is a level playing field and women pay exactly what men pay for their insurance coverage whether you want a baby or not!   This is wonderful news!

 

• You cannot be dropped from coverage if you get sick.

 

• Your children can stay on your family plan until age 26.  This saves parents from having to get insurance coverage for their children while their children are in college.  Prior to the law, these children could be denied coverage as well for weight, diabetes, etc.

 

• Insurance companies, before the ACA, increased with impunity your deductibles, copayments, and coinsurance.  Prior to the ACA, these costs could have reached $15,000.00 or more a year!  Now with the ACA these costs have a ceiling and will be more affordable.

 

• Most of the insurance dollars, at least 80%, has to be spent on you and your health, not on million-dollar bonuses for the insurance executive!

                                                                                                                                      Reference HSS.gov/HealthCare

 

Let me reiterate - this law is in no way perfect.  However, now you can see why the insurance companies and the people who make millions of dollars off of us taxpayers want to sabotage this law.  Do not believe everything you hear on Fox News (specious news).  They are liars and should be ashamed of themselves.  How can they or anyone want to deny children or the elderly from having insurance coverage?  Prior to the ACA (Affordable Care Act) some people died or went bankrupt because of medical bills.  As Americans, aren’t we better than this?

 

There is a lot about this law I would like to discuss.  I will continue to write articles about this in the near future.  Feel free to go to my Help Center page and make comments or ask your questions.  I will try to provide as many answers as possible.

 

Information about the ACA (Affordable Care Act) can be found on many, many sites.  Just use Google, Bing, etc.