This weekend everyone was using the word supermoon, which occurs about every 14 full moon cycles, (next one August 2014) so it’s not rare, and because the moon is closer to the earth than at other times, the moon appears larger, which of course, it’s not.
Supermoons are neither new, nor rare, nor do they reflect anything significant about anything but the appearance of the moon’s size. And so it is with Obamacare, and dare I say, our President himself.
As we begin to experience the cost-shifting and tepid reforms put forth by an Administration eager to sell its first “change” to the American people, we’ll realize that not only hasn’t the affordability of care changed, but that it was merely a shift in costs and lots of press that made Obamacare appear promising.
Here on earth, health insurers have been warning since at least January 2013 that 2014 is preparing to be a whopping year of increases for the cost of insurance plans as insurers pass the cost of Obamacare’s tax on insurance companies onto consumers.
(Look up AHIP, America’s Health Insurance Plans.org) Specifically read January 2013 reports of how increases will be passed onto individuals and employers and this week, June 17th reporting, “Majority of US House of Representatives Supports Repeal of Health Insurance Tax.”
As 2014’s insurance year begins, we’re about to see health CARE take its next steps into what has been done by Obamacare, the expansion of the divide between rich and poor in this country in terms of affordable health care.
As people settle into trying to obey the law and buy their 60 percent bronze, or 70 percent silver level health plans that cost more as insurers charge more justifying increases based on everything from covering the cost of essential health benefits to covering the costs of the tax that begins in 2014 and increases every year thereafter, ordinary citizens will be met with the availability of less health affordable care in the event of illness (not a checkup) and will find bankruptcy closer than ever before in the event they become ill. And the rich, who neither worry about paying for needed healthcare nor about the increases in the cost of insurance plans, they will have options that poorer sick people can only dream about.
Is there anything we can do? In my opinion, there are some common-sense steps. Begin by purchasing employer-sponsored healthcare if it is available to you, which though perhaps more expensive is likely to be a better plan than what you’ll get on the exchanges.
Second, if you must use the exchanges, either state or federal, determine whether you are eligible for premium assistance.
Third, if your state voted against the expansion of Medicaid, vote for candidates who will support the expansion. While the federal government is contributing the most money to such expansion in the early years, making it actually STUPID that some states opted out, each year your state can choose to participate and each year your state waits, the federal contribution declines.
Fourth, take advantage of essential health benefits, but don’t be blinded by the “appearance” of change. While you won’t pay copayments or other outlays of cash directly for such checkups, insurance companies will be working the expense of such “essential health benefits” into the amounts you’ll pay for actual care in the event you get sick. It was NEVER the cost of a checkup that prevented people from getting care, it was the cost of getting needed medical care if you are sick.
Finally, check your statements. As discussed, reporting fraud is not worthy of your time in most cases, but if you are being charged a copayment or coinsurance payment for treatment you didn’t get or that is not described accurately, that IS money in your pocket.
