Did you notice no discussion of Obamacare in the Clinton-Trump debate? We know that Hillary Clinton has well documented plans, we also know those plans have changed on her website in her sales pitch to voters omitting the $5,000 credit she promised the government to give to exchange enrollees including illegals whom she wants to be able to buy in (in stark contradiction to the original bad plan of Obamacare). (for cites see post, "Now You See it, Now You Don't: Hillary Clinton Changes Her Health Policy Campaign," http://conoutofconsumer.blogspot.com/2016/09/now-you-see-it-now-you-dont-hillary.html.
Donald Trump has presented less and therefore doesn't face the same untrustworthiness of simply changing his "presentation," but repeal is not enough and Republican plans that have emerged are often as bad for consumers as what we have.
As consumers, the fight should be for the middle class and neither Trump's trickle down from the top nor Hillary's trickle up from the bottom economic plans will help the middle class. Direct help is needed and neither of these candidates shows an interest in the middle class that will protect us from them.
So where are the questions: For Clinton: You have not mentioned modifying the cost-cutting to Medicare features of Obamacare that will strip benefits available to seniors over the next 10 years, what would you do to protect seniors and becoming-seniors from the 10-year strip-down of Medicare that is part of the law of Obamacare?
Mr. Trump, you've said that waiting five days to see a provider is too long for veterans. Do you intend to make sure that the rest of America is provided with the same protection where they can see any provider after five days and have their health insurance cover it or are you creating another entitlement?
Ms. Clinton, if you prop up enrollment in Obamacare by allowing illegal immigrants to "buy in," will you also coordinate such health insurance registration with a requirement to pursue becoming legal in this country by sharing information with immigration and law enforcement or are you merely providing a perk to illegal immigrants unavailable to the majority of Americans who are not on the exchanges?
Mr. Trump, the Republican suggestions for replacing Obamacare have included continuous coverage requirements that permit insurance companies to charge individuals more for lapses in coverage. This would penalize those who have no insurance for some period of time from EVER, year after year, getting low rates, which would be more punitive financially than the individual mandate that penalizes not having insurance on an annual basis only. What would you do to protect consumers from a permanent increase in health insurance costs simply because at some point their insurance lapsed?
Ms. Clinton, you've talked about getting more people into Obamacare by allowing individuals regardless of legal status in this country to buy in. Your website originally also promised a $5,000 credit to exchange users only to keep those enrollment numbers up. Why did you suddenly change your website and would you consider giving that $5,000 credit to all Americans?
Ms. Clinton, why has nothing been done for the family glitch that prevents some employees from being able to get health insurance coverage for their families because of no price limit on what can be charged for such coverage been fixed in the six years since Obamacare? That fix would be easier than letting illegals join the exchange with a simple EXEMPTION provision, allowing those families to without penalty opt OUT of Obamacare's individual mandate OR by providing those families with the gross income opportunity to enroll in a cheaper exchange plan even though the employee is offered health insurance by his employer.
These are just SOME of the questions we should be getting answered instead of the garbage we were exposed to the other night.
