Three Things Republicans Don’t Get About Obamacare

While taking the kids out during Spring break, I was monitoring the news and observing the conservative bloggers throwing constant hissy fits when talking about the Obamacare ? or Affordable Care Act (ACA) ? anniversary. ?Rolling my eyes and sifting through the predictable ?Abomination?, ?Un-American? and ?Commie? shrieks, I found very interesting information from the few in the right-wing bag?o?nuts who can articulate more than three insulting attempts: and these are the three main real reasons why they are so mad about having to pay for insurance.

 

image:obamacarefacts.com
image:obamacarefacts.com

3. Not everyone gets subsidies, so it’s not really ?Affordable?.

Yes, you read it correctly. The third main reason I compiled was that Republicans think that they should get subsidies, no matter what, which left me scratching my head???Isn?t this the same crowd that constantly criminalizes the poor who get food subsidies? In order to get a reduction in your Health Insurance payments, you are required to meet the following criteria, extensively explained on this page of the Obamacare Facts site;

Subsidies are based on Income and the Federal Poverty Level Guidelines ? so if you make under 400% the FPLG based on your Modified Adjusted Gross Income , you qualify for subsidies. In numbers, it roughly means that if you are a family of four and in 2014 you made $23,850 during the year up to four times that amount ($95,400.00) or less, you qualify for subsidies.

How much do these Republicans who are whining make if they do not qualify? And if they do make that much, why are they whining?

 

2. Health insurance premiums are more expensive now under Obamacare.

No, not really. Several agencies have researched and published about the subject. One of the most extensive articles about it show that the increase in premiums were nothing out of the ordinary and followed the trend that was observed within the Health Care market prior to the ACA ? an increase of around three to four percent. However, because of the mandatory inclusions in the ACA policies, Americans now are getting much more for the same amount of money.

Here’s a basic list of what Insurance Companies were doing to hurt you before Obamacare:

– Denial of coverage for people with ?pre-conditions? ? in 2010, one in seven application were denied coverage for having Asthma, Type 2 Diabetes, Heart Disease or Cancer.

– Denial of coverage if pregnant or increased rates if you were a woman of child-bearing age because of the possibility of getting pregnant. Getting insurance while pregnant was not possible and invariably families were driven to bankruptcy bearing the hospital bills.

– Annual and lifetime limits. Before Obamacare, Insurance companies would just stop cancer treatments or any treatment on patients if they reached their ?lifetime cap?.

– Insurance Companies could just drop you if you became sick. Now, by law, the can no longer leave you to die.

Essential Services like Emergency care, Hospitalization, Prescription drugs, maternity and newborn care must be included in every plan and cannot be part of the ?out of pocket? limit.

In other words, Obamacare will not let Health Insurance companies cheat you and pay for less services. Why aren’t the Republicans thanking Mr. Obama?

1. Republicans can no longer get treatment for FREE.??Believe it.

Under the hush-hush and the vitriol against Obamacare, this is the main reason why the right-wingers are mad.?The Health Care Law of 1986 ? or the EMTALA: Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act ? requires hospitals to provide emergency treatment to anyone, regardless of their ability to pay.
According to what I read and was told these past two weeks, you don’t need to get insurance if hospitals are obligated to take you in.??As usual, Republicans are showing their inability to understand how the law works, but they argue they can’t afford plans under the ACA.

Here’s some more clarification:??You do not have to buy insurance from Obamacare.

You can buy your plan directly from the Insurance Companies that offer them, like you used to do ? and if you really feel like you should not have insurance, you can opt for one of the Catastrophic Plans and pay around 90 dollars a month and still get the Ten Essential Benefits we all get.

I would also do some reading about how EMTALA works ? it would be bad to find yourself at home with a disease like Cancer and no one to give you care unless your organs fail.

Just sayin?.