What I'm about to say is 90% fact. It can be falsified and if you find me compelling data saying otherwise, I'll consider changing my position. I doubt it because what I'm about to say shouldn't controversial, but for some reason many conservatives live in a fantasy world. So for my friends who are conservative, please read this and if you disagree, then find the evidence that proves me wrong (hint: it probably doesn't exist.
1. The Affordable Care Act led to a rise in premiums because people with pre-existing conditions were forced onto plans. I mean this is just insurance 101. The way insurance works is you have a pool of people, some high risk, some low risk and the low risk people essentially subsidize the cost of the high risk people. In the case of healthcare, most young people pay for older folk who are in a system. However before the ACA many plans would straight up deny people with pre-existing conditions that would prove to be too costly. The ACA forced companies to do the right thing and accept those people. Naturally since there were more high risk people, the low risk people had to pay more. Ta da! Higher premiums. So unless your solution includes letting people with cancer die because they have cancer (which makes you an asshole), there is no way around the rise in premiums seen... unless
A. We remove standards in the ACA. So the ACA created a benchmark for the type of care a medical plan must cover. Disaster plans, which made a lot of sense for young people, were essentially banned by the ACA. There are two ways of looking at this. One could argue that this is creating some sort of market inefficiency, proven by the hordes of people who choose to take the penalty in taxes, than shell out money for healthcare plans. Another could argue that if plans don't provide these services, the cost is going to eventually be shifted to hospitals when some of these delusional young people do come down with sickness. If the young person's plan doesn't cover basic doctor visits, the ER and other essential resources could be misappropriated to those who could have been treated earlier and cheaper. Republicans have an argument here...kinda
B. The magic of the invisible hand... HA HA. Ok come on. Since this is something I don't know, I'll consider it the 10 percent of things I don't know. (But it can be falsified.) My guess is that insurance companies, like every other company in this country will collude to ensure that price gouging doesn't occur. Meaning no scheme of opening up state borders for purchasing insurance is going to magically lower prices. This is the crux of the conservatives plans. They truly believes the free market will allow for more favorable outcomes.
Side bar: Notice how when dealing with healthcare, good outcomes are not determined by true valuation, but instead by filling a need. Healthcare is a necessity, regardless if you think it should be a privilege or not. It's impossible for us to lead healthy lives without it. The cost of keeping someone alive will eventually hit the tax payer. Either in the form of an amoxicillin prescription or an IV drip strapped to someone in an a 1,000 dollar per day hospital bed. I don't know about you, I'll pay for their antibiotics. The point is whether the price is "good" or "not" for essential treatment doesn't matter if you need it to survive. Hospitals will do what it takes to keep people alive and if you don't have the money to pay the taxpayer pays for it. If I'm gonna foot the bill, might as well make it as cheap as possible.
There are so many things I could say about the ACA, but I'll stop here.
Recap. Premiums went up due to a mass of high risk people being added to insurance companies, while requirements made it so that many low risk people have decided to forgo insurance. Unless you are deluded and believe the invisible market is going to lead to competition and lower costs, the only logical course of action is to keep many of the provisions that exist in the ACA.
1. The Affordable Care Act led to a rise in premiums because people with pre-existing conditions were forced onto plans. I mean this is just insurance 101. The way insurance works is you have a pool of people, some high risk, some low risk and the low risk people essentially subsidize the cost of the high risk people. In the case of healthcare, most young people pay for older folk who are in a system. However before the ACA many plans would straight up deny people with pre-existing conditions that would prove to be too costly. The ACA forced companies to do the right thing and accept those people. Naturally since there were more high risk people, the low risk people had to pay more. Ta da! Higher premiums. So unless your solution includes letting people with cancer die because they have cancer (which makes you an asshole), there is no way around the rise in premiums seen... unless
A. We remove standards in the ACA. So the ACA created a benchmark for the type of care a medical plan must cover. Disaster plans, which made a lot of sense for young people, were essentially banned by the ACA. There are two ways of looking at this. One could argue that this is creating some sort of market inefficiency, proven by the hordes of people who choose to take the penalty in taxes, than shell out money for healthcare plans. Another could argue that if plans don't provide these services, the cost is going to eventually be shifted to hospitals when some of these delusional young people do come down with sickness. If the young person's plan doesn't cover basic doctor visits, the ER and other essential resources could be misappropriated to those who could have been treated earlier and cheaper. Republicans have an argument here...kinda
B. The magic of the invisible hand... HA HA. Ok come on. Since this is something I don't know, I'll consider it the 10 percent of things I don't know. (But it can be falsified.) My guess is that insurance companies, like every other company in this country will collude to ensure that price gouging doesn't occur. Meaning no scheme of opening up state borders for purchasing insurance is going to magically lower prices. This is the crux of the conservatives plans. They truly believes the free market will allow for more favorable outcomes.
Side bar: Notice how when dealing with healthcare, good outcomes are not determined by true valuation, but instead by filling a need. Healthcare is a necessity, regardless if you think it should be a privilege or not. It's impossible for us to lead healthy lives without it. The cost of keeping someone alive will eventually hit the tax payer. Either in the form of an amoxicillin prescription or an IV drip strapped to someone in an a 1,000 dollar per day hospital bed. I don't know about you, I'll pay for their antibiotics. The point is whether the price is "good" or "not" for essential treatment doesn't matter if you need it to survive. Hospitals will do what it takes to keep people alive and if you don't have the money to pay the taxpayer pays for it. If I'm gonna foot the bill, might as well make it as cheap as possible.
There are so many things I could say about the ACA, but I'll stop here.
Recap. Premiums went up due to a mass of high risk people being added to insurance companies, while requirements made it so that many low risk people have decided to forgo insurance. Unless you are deluded and believe the invisible market is going to lead to competition and lower costs, the only logical course of action is to keep many of the provisions that exist in the ACA.
