The biggest domestic US vote of my lifetime is today...

[TheRealMafoo]

O-D-C said:

TheRealMafoo said:

O-D-C said:
I haven't been following this very much, what exactly does the bill change?

Are you guys getting free health care like us Canadians or is something completely different?

Nope. It's more about regulating the insurance companies. But doing it in the worst posable way.

How so?

The bill is 2,300 pages long, so there is a lot in it, but the highlights are this:

• Insurance companies are not allowed to deny or drop anyone for a pre-existing condition. So if I have cancer and cost 400,000 a year to treat, and go to any insurance company, they have to give me a policy and cover it.
• Insurance companies can no longer cap out. So if I get sick and it cost 10,000,000, they have to pay it all.
• Insurance companies are limited to what they can charge people based on a multiplier. Not sure what it is, but let's say it was 1.5. This means if the most healthy person in the world had a $2000 premium, the most you could ever charge anyone, is $3000.
• Americans are now fined through taxes if they don't get insurance. Something around 2.5% of there taxable income.
• Oh, and tacked on, is the complete removal in the student loan industry. It has nothing to do with healthcare, but they had to add it to get the votes they needed.

So, what this means, is everyones insurance is going up. Not sure how making something more expensive means more people will have it, but logic was lost in this exercise a long time ago.