In the United States we spend approximately $8,000 per person per year on health care but rank 15th in the world for overall health. The country that ranks No. 1 spends less than half of what we do per person. Are you and I getting our money’s worth? Will the Affordable Care Act help us?
The Supreme Court’s decision presents Mainers with a remarkable opportunity. The
court endorsed a full set of new benefits — free preventative care, lower-cost Medicare prescriptions, the path to universal coverage and much more. Furthermore, everyone who has a personal physician and a good insurance program will be able to keep them.
Over time we can do this without increasing the cost of medical care.
Starting in 2014, the Affordable Care Act will pay Maine to expand MaineCare, our version of Medicaid, which we created years ago to provide health coverage for people with low incomes. The feds will pay 100 percent of the cost for three years, 95 percent for two more and then permanently 90 percent of the cost of this expanded network. The act opens doors for more Mainers to have dependable and secure medical care with minimal cost to us.
Even though the Supreme Court removed the legal uncertainties surrounding the Affordable Care Act, Maine’s work is just beginning. The act’s opponents lost the legal battle but their concerns are real and need to be addressed. At their heart is a fundamental moral question: Is health care a right or a privilege? We are going to have to publicly discuss and answer this question, as well as many practical questions: Can we afford the Affordable Care Act? Can we not afford the Affordable Care Act? Is health care better delivered by for-profit insurance companies, such as Aetna and Cigna with their 22 percent to 33 percent overhead, or government programs such as Medicare, with its 3 percent overhead? What are the alternatives?
Regardless of whether health care is a right or a privilege, there should be no doubt that everyone should be insured; 85 percent of Americans agree that it should be so. My fellow physicians and I see all too frequently what happens to people without insurance. They are good, hardworking Mainers, just like you and me. We have seen how they fail to get preventative care, fail to get the medicines they need, and postpone — sometimes for years — needed doctor’s visits.
Long ago we as a society decided that nobody should be left to die on the streets.
Therefore, the uninsured have the right to go to the emergency room for care. They do so, frequently late in the course of their illnesses. The emergency room is hugely expensive. Hospitals recover their costs by raising fees for the rest of us, resulting in large insurance deductibles, higher premiums and reduced benefits. Even now we all pay for the uninsured one way or the other.
Mainers have an important choice facing them. In its original form, the Affordable Care Act required all states to participate in Medicaid expansion. The Supreme Court, in its only significant change to the law, said states could not be forced to take the federal money. It allows them to find some other way — at their own expense — to offer insurance to those who lack it.
The Affordable Care Act is enormously complex but is a work in process, aiming to improve on 60 years of both superb and deeply flawed for-profit health care. The better Mainers understand the act the better they will be able to engage in thoughtful dialogue.
The rational step is for Maine to join the states that are choosing to accept the federally funded health care expansion. This will assure Mainers access to low-cost insurance options and efficient, fair use of their health care dollars.
Given the opportunity to be fully informed, Mainers will make the wise choice and
embark, fully alert, on the process of designing a health care system that meets all our needs. The process must be transparent, inclusive and pragmatic. We must draw upon our local knowledge of what works. Decision makers have to be held accountable. Drafts of bills must be openly shared across the state, among groups of health care consumers and providers — this is not a time for secret deals or partisan bickering.
This transition will require our best and most thoughtful minds. The benefits for our own health, that of our children, the economy and our country will be enormous.
Those working on this task — surely one of the greatest challenges for Maine in several generations — will succeed if they seek practical solutions rather than political advantage. I am hopeful that all our political leaders are up to the task. The stakes could not be higher.
Geoffrey Gratwick is a candidate for Maine State Senate District 32.
Hi, I’m from the federal government, and I am here to help you.
Hi, I am from the Insurance Industry I have a “Free Coupon” for you!
Hi, I am from the Democrat Party and we have nothing to offer people except higher taxes and a more equal, crappier existence.
The RepubliCAN’T Party:CAN’T govern
CAN’T plan a war
CAN’T tell the truth
CAN’T stop spending
CAN’T stop pampering the rich
CAN’T stop corporate welfare
Hi! I’m from the Republican Party and I want your vote!
Then go crawl into a cave and die.
Edit: Quickly!
Hi, I’m from the stupid many that got sucked in to a fable and got the shaft. Bought health insurance for 30 plus years and never used it. Every year the premiums increased and the services was non. Finding out after paying for this monstrosity that we had to have both of the deductibles met, which was 15,000.00 each before we were entitled to use the plan. What a slap in the face. Before we dropped insurance we was paying over 550.00 per month. I would gladly buy health insurance if it was cost effective. After years of this stupidity i guess i got a bit smarter.
Hi I am from the Republican Party. I have NOTHING to offer you.
I am very confident that Obama will lose and that Romney will repeal this monstrosity. It is obvious to everyone but hard leftists that this country cannot afford this massive entitlement program. The CBO recently more than doubled its estimated cost to $1.76 trillion over ten years, and that number is likely to be much higher in reality.
PPACA will end up on the scrap heap along with so many other failed liberal utopian schemes.
Healthcare needs bottom-up reform, not an oppressive top-down stranglehold.
You must mean a reform like Romney had in Massachusetts. Wait, No, that would be like the much maligned Obama plan. Funny how when it was Romney’s idea it was great now that it has been presented by Obama it is utopian. I guess it is utopian to not allow insurance companies to drop your coverage when you get sick or deny coverage if youv’e ever had a hangnail. If that is the case, Bring on Utopia.
Who liked Romney’s idea? It is a massive failure because it was implemented by liberals who decided to mandate coverages for everything from gym memberships to plastic surgery. The problem in both isn’t really the mandate to buy insurance, it is the mandates on what kind of insurance you must pay for.
It has never been legal for companies to drop your coverage, unless you purchased coverage giving them the ability to do so. If you believed otherwise, you are naive.
who like romney? He is attached to the same strings as obama.
And Mass. has by far the lowest precentage of uninsured in the nation. What’s not to like?
In actuality it is working quite well for Massachusetts: http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2012/01/20/romney-care-massachusetts-healthcare-reform/
Not so fast KayakMomma. As Paul Harvey would say, “Here’s the rest of the story!”
http://money.cnn.com/2010/06/15/news/economy/massachusetts_healthcare_reform.fortune/index.htm
The goal of expanding health insurance coverage to all maybe noble, but to suggest it will reduce costs is illinformed or dishonest. The cost of care in Massachusetts is skyrocketing. The same is happening with ObamaCare. The CBO is already revising their cost estimates UPWARD by nearly $2 Trillion over 10 years!
And as Dirigo Health reminds us, you can lead Mainers to water, but you can’t make ’em sign up for free heath insurance coverage.
We can have an honest debate about whether we should or shouldn’t give health insurance to all, but lets at least be honest about the dramatic increase in costs if we do.
who the hell said dirigo was free? Mine costs ME, $1200. a month, do your research before you post
Did you do your own analysis of the data presented? You make $10,000 more a year and you pay $2500 more for your insurance. You are still ahead financially so it makes no sense to game the system with several low paying jobs. And it seems like Harvard Pilgrim is still in business https://www.harvardpilgrim.org/portal/page?_pageid=213,229752&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL . And from the Kaiser Foundation assessment, http://www.kff.org/healthreform/upload/8311.pdf , it is health care costs that are the problem. THAT is not caused by the reforms. In fact: Over the past year however (report is dated May 2012), premium growth in the individual and small group market has slowed markedly, possibly the result of decreased consumer utilization following the recession and increased pressure by state regulators on the industry. And, interestingly enough the Mass legislation was not written to address cost containment and this report indicates that subsequent legislation is addressing that. They conclude by saying: As those within Massachusetts continue to debate the most appropriate way to slow health care spending, other states moving forward with the implementation of federal reform, can draw on some of the state’s early successes and challenges.
And yes, but the CBO is also upping the expected savings. With the long term projection still bringing the deficit down. I think one thing we can agree on is that we are not a very healthy country. Our indulgences come with a price. We are not in the top 10 healthiest countries. And those that are? Either have universal health care or provide health care at a lower percentage to GDP. Interesting, huh. Think they have some cost containment going on?
It was also a state decision, Veg, not a federal one to be imposed on other sovereign state populations.
Seems to me a reform would take care of those issues like denial of coverage etc. It certainly could be done with less than 2700 pages.
And under what wisdom would Romney repeal ACA (even if he could)? And what about RomneyCare?
Let me start with a bottom-up comment. The oppressive strangle-hold has been in place for years. ACA addresses just that. The CBO projects that the deficit will be brought down by this reform effort as well as the cost of health insurance. Of course it is going to cost, but costs will be offset. It will not be repealed. It would cost too much to do so. The
Massachusetts reform plan that Romney signed into law is working quite
well for them. So commentary like this is just spitting in the wind.
You are right, Danny. And Mikey Michaud needs to answer whether or not he would have supported this crappy legislation as a TAX on the middle class, which is what SCOTUS says it is. Those saying it cannot be repealed are trying to establish a false narrative. Good for Governor LePage in joining several other states in not implementing this monstrosity until after the New Year. What a great Independence Day!!
HAPPY DEPENDENCE (on federal government) DAY!!!
Wonderful article with regard to having an open discussion about healthcare. Dr. Gratwick’s assumption made in the first paragraph needs to be challenged. Are we 15th in the world for overall health because not enough money is being spent or because our healthcare delivery system is so bad? Or could it be that our lifestyle choices are so bad that 14 other countries are healthier than us? Is our abuse of drugs and alcohol worse than the other 14 countries? Can we measure personal responsibility in our country as compared to the other 14 doing better than us? I have read stress causes the majority of our illness. Are we more stressed in this country? I agree wholeheartedly with Dr. Gratwick that we need to look at healthcare without the political spin. We need to take an honest look at cost and ask do we want to spend a limited amount or an unlimited amount on healthcare for individuals regardless of their stewardship of their own health. Do Fed dollars spent cost less than Maine dollars spent with regard to Maincare expansion? I know I write two big checks every quarter for taxes, and the Fed one is much bigger. Getting Fed money still comes from the tax payer. The government doesn’t have money. It comes from us, so we need to have an honest discussion of what we are willing to pay and balance that with what responsibility level are we willing to hold individuals to for their own health.
Since you bring up money, there is no question that healthcare in the US is more expensive than that of any other western country and that is one reason why so many people go without or don’t seek medical care until a point where treatment becomes most expensive. That in turn causes increased spending of our tax monies. The most significant difference between our system and that of so many other countries? Our for-profit healthcare system that doesn’t just reward the innovators and most talented but also grossly overpays so many run-of-the-mill service providers and other players in our healthcare “industry”.
I think I understand what you are saying. There are so many non-providers skimming money out of the actual doctor-patient event that it dilutes the amount of care received for the dollars spent. I often think we would be better served if all the tax dollars spent on healthcare went to paying the education of doctors, we could have so many doctors that supply and demand would force some of them to under served areas, and patients would learn who were the best doctors.
Holy cow ! A for real idea that actually has both merit and practicality. Out in Kansas this is happening a lot more often in the rural area’s. They have their Medical School’s student’s on their final year working out in the rural community’s, working under the daily supervision of the Medical School’s Attending’s and Teaching Doc’s via video conference (Gee, where’s that pesky Fiber-Optic Internet system when we really need it !), and providing much needed health care service, and the actual patient treatment experience that go’s along with it, to these community’s. What’s really encouraging is the these same Med Student’s, when they finish their 4th year and move out into the Real World as Doc’s, have pretty much stayed right where they worked, in their community’s. Now why can’t Maine be that smart ?
Agreed. One point that addresses one of your questions. Tanning bed facilities will be taxed heavily. Why? Because melanoma are showing up at an alarming rate in people who have used them. The reason we hiked cigarette taxes. To pay for the cost of the associated illnesses.
no we hiked cigarette taxes to deter smokers from smoking. because some liberal do gooder social nannies wanted to tell people how to run their lives. Guess what smoking rates are still extremely high. The tax recepits for smoking were around $25 billion in 2010 probably still in the neck of the woods now. That is a drop in the bucket next to a proposed 1.7 trillion dollar increase in entitlement spending not to mention the 17 trillion dollar deficit. Tax from cigarettes if anything might offset the cost for anti-smoking bureaucracy programs which kinda sorta work.
There are so many things that are potentially dangerous or toxic or maybe bad for us. However we are adults and can make those decisions on our own.
Automobile accidents are #3 in leading causes of injury among 15-70 year old people and #5 in overall death. We should tax the hell outta cars to pay for all the injuries! I am not talking 5 or 6% sales tax and w/e piddly excise tax I mean cigarette tax 120% ! $45,000 civics!
Actually they go into State Children’s Heath Insurance program. We are both wrong. Um, I think that is why you are required to carry car insurance. If you don’t have it you pay, guess what? a penalty. Or, call it a fine. Same difference.
{At their heart is a fundamental moral question: Is health care a right or a privilege}
Ask any 1% er,
Theirs is a Right, Yours is a Privilege!
I agree with your sentiment that their is a moral question here.
I disagree with your continued demonetization of the top 1%. I think you will find that more of the middle 60% believe healthcare is a privilege. Philanthropists tend to come from the most affluent areas of society and believe in uplifting the lowest area’s of society and often have the most askew humanist viewpoints. The working class and by this I mean burger flippers to middle management everyone who more or less lives check to check. Odds are though the top 1% will be largely indifferent.
The people who really believe it is a Right would be the bottom **% of the population. Those who don’t work, cant work, and have no way of affording healthcare. Because those people don’t have a choice of buying healthcare or not. So if it becomes an “American Right” to have healthcare then that removes the whole choice paradigm and they are taken care of.
However, healthcare isn’t a Right. Not yet anyhow. Look at the Bill of Rights and show me where it says “The federal government will control the healthcare system and administer free unlimited healthcare to every U.S. Citizen”
It just isn’t there. I shutter at the thought of it because expanding entitlement programs will be the final dagger in our economic system. Right now the government is going to try and regulate and force insurance companies into unprofitable positions as far as insuring people and providing care so eventually this will lead to the collapse of our insurance system (which is crappy and corrupt anyhow). This will break ground for a universal public healthcare system which will be just as crappy because it will be run by the same bureaucracy that has brought us such awesomeness like the USPS USDOT USDEPED etc.
We have an unsustainable system and in the words of Albert Einstein “No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.”
Collectivist government/political action from the left or right will not be able to fix this problem.
The Constitution says that “among these rights are….” That presupposes that there are other rights that aren’t enumerated. I suggest that clean water, enough food, adequate shelter, and care when sick are the basic rights of all people.
I believe you are referring to the declaration of independence. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,
that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
So wrong document… healthcare could be interpreted as a right to life however, the Declaration of Independence is not a legally binding document. It only asserts our independence as a nation.
Closest thing you have in the constitution is the 10th amendment
Social Security isn’t in the Constitution.
Very well put…? Thank you for this quote. I also have never seen within the constution that 1% of the population were intitiled to all the wealth.
No, the health care system as it existed was strangling this country. And, many western countries are doing that (providing tax supported health care) and their citizens rate among the happiest. But I think the question is wrong. It is neither a right or a privilege. It is something we all need, for some, now and then. For others with chronic illnesses (just step into a children’s hospital and tell me we do not need this service) it is a necessity. Many countries have very limited health care services. We call them third world countries.
{ However, healthcare isn’t a Right. Not yet anyhow. }
The Bill of rights was only written in response by continued protests by those who fought for Americas Freedom.
It was widely theorized at the time that basic inherrant rights where to numerous to be listed and that by enumerating rights it would be presumed that the abscense of enumerated rights listed would mean an absences of those rights.
Your comment solidifies that theory!
which comment?
What IS unsustainable is the enormous gap that just keeps growing between the top and the bottom. You have bought into the cool aid of the republican right wing. Too bad. This is a very rich country and it can afford good,basic, secure health care for all of its citizens.
you don’t know me or what I believe dude. You have bought into the left right paradigm coolaid. you think we actually have choice and free will. you think ACA will mater. centralizing more and more power and enabling the fractional reserve banking system is all people like obama and romeny care about.
true, I do not know you and do not wish to….
however I do hope that you do not blow a gasket…
“Everyone who has a personal physician and a good insurance program will be able to keep them.” – uh what? Did we just legalize slavery? You can’t possibly argue that people will be able to keep their physician when we add 40 million new people to the mix, many of whom will also want to use the same physician. Most likely the good doctors will start denying service to those with government coverage and choose to treat those who pay privately – like what is happening with Medicare now.
Not the reputable ones. Just the ones that have a profit motive behind their service. You know, those all-about-me-people. This is not an all-about-me-issue. It is a huge social issue that has cost us dearly and I mean in dollars.
Ask your doctor–“When more people are able to afford health care, and some of them want you to be their doctor, will you drop all your existing patients in favor of the new ones?”
Somehow I doubt that will become most doctor’s policies.
The feds will pay for 100%…
Dude where do the feds get the money?! Why does it mater if my federal tax or my state tax is going towards expanding a program that is already bloated and failing. That I will not qualify for another 40 years if the economy doesnt implode by then.
Forcing healthy younger working people to pay for insurance they do not want or will not use is going to reduce early attempts at saving for things like homes and cars. It will further stifle entrepreneurship.
punish success reward failure; the new american dream.
It is the mantra of the democrat party.
The RepubliCAN’T Party:
CAN’T govern
CAN’T plan a war
CAN’T tell the truth
CAN’T stop spending
CAN’T stop pampering the rich
CAN’T stop corporate welfare
neither can the democratic party. you should start looking beyond the left right paradigm we have been living in for years and realize the mainstream candidates the media props up arent all that different.
I took care of my children’s health needs. I do not want to take care of other people’s children. They can pay the penalty and call it good if they want to, but they best be putting money away to pay for that broken arm, lacerated leg, mote in the eye. At that point they will see the wisdom in cutting their losses. I did not use the tens of thousands put into my health insurance plan by my employer and myself over the years. But when I or one of my children needed care I was very glad I had coverage. A home, a car……. all wonderful goals. But it is the state of the economy that will prevent that from happening….. not the small penalty they will pay for not carrying insurance if they CHOOSE to bank the $4-5k annual cost of a bronze plan instead of purchasing it.
1% of income or $95 or which ever is greater. Then in 2016 it will climb to 2.5%. It is just a new way to tax people who work for their money.
You took care of your children’s health needs? You made a choice to buy insurance to care for them or did you sign up for mainecare? because then I took care of your children. I don’t have kids and probably won’t any time soon with the way the economy is. Passing laws like this just make it harder for me to start a family in 2016 if I get the pay increases I expect I could be paying as much as health coverage in penalties. So obviously the savy business decision is get the insurance so I am getting something for the money I worked for. This is just a form of extortion but its ok because our leaders say so.
being able to save $500-1500 a year can make a large impact over the course of 5 to 6 years if investing.
No, I have paid my way out of my own earnings and with the help of my employer. So stop assuming everyone that supports this reform plan somehow is looking for a free ride. You do not seem to be doing that either. You do not want insurance. Fine. Pay the penalty and bank the rest. And your decisions will not be based on that small penalty. It will be based on an economy that punishes the middle class. Are you saddled with student loan debt? Have your wages been frozen? Are your merit increases low? Have your hours been cut? Did your 401K lose money when the bottom fell out? All of that was and is happening and not because of ACA. The facts are there to support the cost to me of carrying those who do not contribute. I already have been penalized… for years. I will not recoup that money….. ever. But this will stop the bleeding.
didnt have a 401k I try to invest in real assets to hedge against infaltion. so when bottom fell out it didnt affect me directly. but yes I do have a large amount of student loan debt which I am not looking for handouts to repay.
The ACA is just another burden to the middle class. Penalty or forced purchase of health care either way we are being extort by a broken system.
The bleeding also stops when the heart stops.
The projection of those who will not carry insurance is very small. Most people in fact do have health insurance so you cannot say the whole middle class will be burdened. ” According to a March study, http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/412533-the-individual-mandate.pdf?utm_medium=email&utm_source=et&utm_content=http%3a%2f%2fwww.urban.org%2fUploadedPDF%2f412533-the-individual-mandate.pdf&utm_campaign=1385624_209355_RNC%20Research , by the Urban Institute, if the health care law “were in effect today, 94 percent of the total population…. would not face a requirement to newly purchase insurance or pay a fine.” The study found that of the “181 million Americans under the age of 65 who are subject to the mandate, 86 percent are estimated to have health insurance without reform…. 95 percent of those with some type of insurance coverage (employer, nongroup, public) without reform will have the same type of coverage under the ACA . So the 86% carry the 14% . Seems like the middle class already is burdened.
meh its ok we can just print more money to pay for everything anyhow. so in the end our debate is useless.
They are going to spend money on something and when it proves to expensive they will print more so might as well have something to keep us healthy when a loaf of break costs $1000!
My husband and I have decided to close our business and let go of 6 employees due to this ruling. We both will apply for welfare, EBT cards and go on Obamacare, like the rest of the lefty liberal do nthing layabouts.
Wow with wit and intelligence like you just displayed I am surprised you had a business in the first place. Name calling is always so not-flattering.
Neither is unwarranted stereotyping.
Not much wisdom here either, especially if that’s your only reason for closing your business. And all beneficiaries of ACA are “lefty liberal”? Hardly.
You are in a minority. Thank goodness. http://money.cnn.com/2012/06/29/smallbusiness/health-reform/index.htm . I have a feeling something else actually is behind your decision.
Why would you do that? The ACA does not affect employers with less than 50 employees.
My guess is that this is just another lying troll post from a conservative think tank.
Please, give us the name of this “business” you are about to close.
Make stuff up much?
LOL!
…
having my small business taxed at 41% while watching the drug dealers of the town getting welfare and now since they make less than 9500 as far as the government knows, now free healthcare too. how did we ever get so backwards?
Geoffrey I hope you win that Senate seat. Thank you for supporting comments I have made in response to those who wish to shred this reform effort.
>>>>>>>
The ACA is only the beginning of government meddling into our personal lives. Eventually it will lead to forced abortions, euthanization of those who are “too sickly” to treat like other “progressive” countries – be it Canada or China. Socialized medicine is great if you are politically connected or stay healthy your whole life. Otherwise it’s a raw deal and endangers the live of innocent people. In the interest of “fairness”, it will eventually restrict coverage to those who need it the most when money runs short. Anyone who understands the reality of socialized medicine is sick to advocate such a form of tyranny on our personal lives. We are still citizens – not subjects.
OK, you can start by proving that Canadian or French or British or German women are forced to have abortions.
Oops, that part was a lie? Why do you figure we’d believe anything you say?
The people in charge of trolls aren’t giving them very believable lines these days.
he said eventually… It is a slippery slope argument. I think something a lot more likely to occur first is a national ID card and a national RF ID chip as a requirement to receive universal healthcare which yes I am aware ACA is not universal socialized medicine but is opening the door for it because, once ACA fails to do all the great things its reported to do we will pass more laws and expand government more because thats how we fix problems.
It’s conceivable that some sort of ID card might be provided–I certainly have to use my insurance ID card to pay (part of) my health care.
You seem to fear that the program will require tweaking as time goes by. That’s how everything works, whether in government or in corporations. Do you worry about “expanding corporate power in our lives”?
I would welcome a national health insurance program that’s single-payer. I encourage you to take a look at the Physicians for a National Health Program website (http://www.pnhp.org/). As they note, ” private insurance bureaucracy and paperwork consume one-third (31 percent) of every health care dollar. Streamlining payment through a single nonprofit payer would save more than $400 billion per year, enough to provide comprehensive, high-quality coverage for all Americans.”
an insurance policy card is a far cry from a national ID card.
I fear anything about this. I seek to better understand it through research and discourse. Obviously it will need tweaking.
I am very aware of expanding government-corporate-media power triad in this country and it is concerning indeed.
Liberals want to replace fascism with socialism… conservatives want to replace socialism with fascism… the end of the day they are both ideals that will centralize power and strip us of freedom. collectivist thinking will not solve our problems. This isnt a matter of left or right.
You didnt respond to my comment on the RF ID chip. Doesn’t the idea of being microchiped like a golden retriever bother you?
Where on earth did you get the notion of a microchip?
Here’s one site debunking that urban legend–http://metabunk.org/threads/497-Debunked-Obamacare-RFID-Chip-Implant-Law-Hoax?s=d7671e4c39d3013fedcf440563c8eb2f
And Snopes has this to say about it–“This warning is just as false as all such previous rumors, a combination of someone’s using inapplicable source material and also misunderstanding the meaning of the information contained within that source.”
[http://www.snopes.com/politics/medical/microchip.asp]
The quotation you may be referring to was taken from a bill that was never passed. It had to do with creating a registry of devices such as pacemakers, in order to track their effectiveness, and to facilitate the distribution of manufacturers’ recall notices.
The problem is I have GREAT insurance and am VERY happy with it. It does not need “tweaking” thanks to Omama care I will lose it..
If your insurance is through your workplace, it could be probably changed or dropped at any point, at the will of your employer. That’s the way it’s always been.
Obamacare ensures that if your employer does decide to stop offering health insurance as part of your benefits package, you will have other possibilities for health insurance–even if you have a pre-existing condition.
Has your employer stated that when Obamacare is in effect, they will stop offering health insurance? If so, they might be misinformed. Businesses with fewer than 50 employees are exempt from penalties that otherwise will be imposed for not covering their workers. Small businesses with fewer than 25 workers and average wages of less than $50,000 get tax credits to help cover their workers. The state health insurance exchanges, which go into effect in 2014, will also allow small businesses to buy coverage there.
The battle of the supreme court decision may have gone to the president; but never fear….the war is not over.
Yes, the Republicans will not stop their war against the poor.
All those of you who like this more power to ya you won and I accept that and all I can do is hope for change and repeal. If I do not get my wish and this sticks please let me know in 10 years how much you still like it. I assure you what you THINK your getting and what your going to get are very very different.
I don’t think here in LaPage Maine this health care system or any other is going to fly, as, our supreme Govn’er belives in the fit of the fittest. Those of us who can’t work should not anything be it food, shelter. or health care. Anyone who can’t work sould just die in the street were he would be most happy just to step over the body’s.
Regretablly Barb, that is the exact position that the GOP in The Senate have taken for the last 3 years. ‘Stay healthy but if you get sick, please, die quickly so we don’t have to be bothered by you’ has been there battle cry. Mitch McConnell has it down to almost an ad ‘jingle’. Paul Ryan is right behind him too. Everytime the GOP, and the ‘Chicken Little’ Democrat’s, come out demonizing Obamacare they are asked the same question, namely, ‘What’s your alternative to it and where is it in writing ? ‘. So far that anyone has seen or heard, NO ONE HAS MADE ANY EFFORT TO SHOW IT ! This leaves us all with the inevitable that no one wants to discuss but is rapidly being seen as the only real, on paper, option left, that being Public Option. Like it or hate it, it’s the only real option that is there. Anyone got something better, on paper and ready to go, don’t be bashful. We’re all looking for it.
I thank Dr. Gratwick for his column and the support shown in many of the comments. Healthcare is a very important issue as it affects everyone. A few things to remember as we discuss. Our healthcare system is very expensive..we spend around 17% of our country’s income on healthcare. Europe averages around 7-9%. As noted, for profit admin costs run over 22% and gov’t care around 3%. The ACA is a step towards reducing admin costs. Our neighbor Vermont has passed a law to implement single payer. Just having one clearinghouse for the admin side would be helpful in lowering overall costs. As for the comments about gov’t running things, we’ve had the for profits running things for decades with expensive results. The ACA requirement that people obtain insurance or pay a penalty was originally a Republican idea promoted by the Heritage Foundation no less. Let’s keep our eye on the goal of expanding access to care (which will reduce costs in the long run) and value the doctors and nurses who are on the front line supporting efforts to improve health care. Unfortunately, Maine’s Gov has chosen to literally do nothing to establish a health insurance exchange and this will leave Maine with fewer options moving forward. That’s a big mistake.