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Kasz216 on 23 March 2010
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TheRealMafoo said:
Infamy79 said:
TheRealMafoo said:

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.


RealMafoo,

You'll have to excuse me as I'm in Australia and on a completely different time zone so may take a while to respond to your answer on my question on your bolded comment from earlier.

Do the people who choose not to get private health cover, get public health care for the 2.5% of their salary which will be taxed (or "fined" in your words)?

Also how much does it cost in the US to get a reasonable private health care plan for an average... say 30 year old male, healthy, non-smoker, etc?

I don't think anyone knows yet how that works. I think the answer is no. They will, just like today, get taken care of if they walk into a hospital, but they will get no preventative care (unless they pay for it out of pocket).

As for how much does it cost, going forward it depends on how much you make. If you make 44,000 or more, it will cost you a lot to get insurance on your own, but almost everyone in that salary range has insurance paid for by there company.

As that number goes down, the cost goes down. Up until you get to just over 10,000, and then you pay nothing.

 

The answer is no.  If you don't get insurance you get treated like you would today with no insurance... in adition to having to pay a 700 dollar fine or 2.5% whichever is higher.

So some quick math shows the 2.5 won't really apply to you unless you make over 280,000 grand.

 

Really it's the poor who will get hit hardest by this. The ones who don't qualify for aid. Or do qualify and don't take advantage. Afterall something like 12-20 million people without health insurance could in fact be on welfare right now and aren't.