Little noticed but super important provision of the #AmericanRescuePlan:

[soothsayer]

Link to tweet

?s=21


Chris Murphy
@ChrisMurphyCT
Little noticed but super important provision of the #AmericanRescuePlan:

It dramatically lowers premiums for ACA health plans. Caps premiums at 8% of income, no premiums for anyone 150% of poverty or below.

That's HUGE. And so important in the middle of the pandemic.
2:56 PM · Mar 6, 2021

[Johnny2X2X]

1. Republicans were right to hate this bill

It does all kinds of good.

[AZ8theist]

16. The ACA name should be OFFICIALLY changed to "Obama Care"...

Just to stick it up Doturds fat ass....

ANOTHER parting gift to go with all the coming indictments....

[woodsprite]

2. Is that permanently or just until they deem the pandemic over? nt

[WhiskeyGrinder]

13. Until 2023.

[magicarpet]

3. The only Republican Party Healthcare Plan....

[paleotn]

44. Texas by mid March....

Gee, thanks, Greg Abbott.

[Celerity]

4. Is that for all private health insurance plans, or just ones purchased through the exchanges? TIA

[dsc]

5. I am pretty sure exchange only

[Celerity]

11. well, its better than nothing, glad to see the ACA policy holders get a nice break for a change.

It covers about11.4 million people (as of mid 2020)

the 2019 caps for the silver plan:

An 8% cap only seems to affect people making around 63K usd or so per year and up

and is negligible overall as the max cap for anyone was 9.86% of income (75K and up)

it saves a person making 75K per year 115 usd a month or so (IF they are even on a plan that costs the max % of income, which many are not)

between 38K usd or so and 63K usd or so in income, it has no effect, 63K to 75K usd a very little effect (around 18 to 22 usd per month, so they can go have a free lunch each month, lol)

[flamingdem]

46. Thanks for clarifying, it's too soon

to celebrate. Thought for a minute my premiums would go down!

[PatrickforB]

31. Sad. Like most who are still lucky enough to be working,

I have crummy, rationed healthcare with financially crippling copays. My employer and I together pay my HMO, which shall remain nameless, 19.1% of my gross.

But that is just the premiums! Oh, no, it gets better...

Here are my copays:
Primary care - $30
Specialty care - $50
Urgent care - $60
Emergency - $350
Hospital - 20% co-insurance up to the 'out-of-pocket maximum' of $4,000. Each.

So, worst case scenario, I am out $28,000 with premiums and the financially crippling 'co-insurance.'

But...wait...

That is not the worst case. The new agreement between the HMO and my employer leaves them wiggle room on the out-of-pocket maximum - if I require something like a hip replacement, which their bean counters now say is 'elective surgery,' my 'coinsurance' can go up dramatically, leaving me in danger of bankruptcy.

WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY is there SO much resistance to Medicare for all Americans? A single payer plan paid for with tax dollars? Like what they have in Britain? Or Canada? Or Australia? Or pretty much any other advanced industrial democracy in the entire world?

Oh, because we would not be able to choose our doctor!
Well, I have to choose between a bunch of HMO in-system docs. I cannot go to anyone out of system without paying an arm and a leg. So that excuse does not cut it.

Oh, because we have to wait too long for basic surgeries!
My wife's left hand is useless because of arthritis, and after the rigamarole we had to go through to finally get her an appointment for surgery, we are looking at several months. And in terms of a scar-tissue surgery from her failed knee replacement, we are looking at never, because the doctor does not want to do such a surgery. So that is a myth.

Oh, we do not want the Federal Government running our healthcare!
Oh, ok. So we would rather have a public sector CEO who makes $17.2 million with around $11 million of that tied to shareholder profits running our healthcare? For profit insurance companies whose interest in maximizing shareholder profits is in direct conflict with my best interests as a patient? Maybe with some nice MBA bean counters working with nurses to deny care? That is what we have now.

I want better healthcare. We should not even have to worry about going to the doctor. We should just be able to go in, get the treatment we need, and be done. The profit motive needs to be removed from healthcare because it is a public good.

[erronis]

33. ++++ Excellent !!!! Please make this an OP.

Your set of rhetorical questions from the devils advocates and your answers are perfect.

[Beartracks]

34. Agreed: this should be an OP! n/t

[Celerity]

47. I am so sorry that you (like over 100 million others) are getting absolutely fucked over by a broken

wealth extraction system known as 'for-profit American health care'


Here in Sweden, the max you can pay over a rolling 12 month period is (FOREX rates vary daily) around 125 usd for ALL healthcare, and 240 usd for ALL pharma cost, no caps, no hidden charges, plus choice of physician. and so many never max out, there are no premiums (what a fucking scam those are!!) That 365 usd total potential outlay is basically like the co-pay for EVERYTHING, including massive surgeries that would cost 1, 2 3 million usd in the USA if you had to pay out of pocket. The Swedish government also pays pennies on the pound for the drugs, as we can negotiate prices using scales of economy leverage, something that a massive part of the the US government-run healthcare cannot do, due to a 2003 law.

The Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 created the Medicare Part D prescription drug program, which is administered through private insurance plans. The law prohibits the Medicare program from negotiating the price of drugs with manufacturers.

https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=108&session=1&vote=00457#position

[Cha]

6. Yay.. Rt TY!

[abqtommy]

7. Meanwhile tRUMP and the reTHUGS are gonna roll out their mostest and bestest

health care plan next week.

[bamagal62]

22. I thought it was 2 weeks!

Right after infrastructure week.

[abqtommy]

28. ;O)

[Irish_Dem]

8. We are not used to WashDC giving us help.

All seems so amazing.

[soothsayer]

9. I know, it's bizarre

[Irish_Dem]

10. A government which really cares about the people and helps them.

Quite novel.

[XanaDUer2]

43. it's like a dream nt

[WhiskeyGrinder]

12. And that provision expires in 2023.

[BigmanPigman]

14. I am really loving the "new guy"

in the W House. I no longer get an ulcer while watching or reading the news.

[sandensea]

23. +1

We haven't seen such a dramatic contrast and improvement between one president and the next, since Hoover and FDR.

If not Mad King George and Washington.

[BobTheSubgenius]

17. That IS huge. HUGE!

How is this not known far and wide???

[Hekate]

18. Fan-tastic

I hope to hear more as the days go by!

[DENVERPOPS]

19. All of the major TV stations

should give Biden 30-60 minutes coverage everynight, just like they did with Trump for months on end.

Trump told them he had to report on progress daily about the Covid Pandemic. He would start with one or two sentences about covid, and then go into an endless rant of lies about all the shit he was doing for the people in the U.S.

Seems Biden could do the same thing. If they don't give him the time nightly, the Dems should tell the world about the networks Hypocrisy....

[dickthegrouch]

27. Please make this an OP /nt

[progree]

20. March 2 article on the ACA changes

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100215179617
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/obamacare-would-get-big-quiet-overhaul-covid-relief-bill-n1259343

... [currently] The tax credits can go a long way for those who qualify — in many cases, it's possible to find a plan with zero premiums. But everyone making more than 400 percent of the federal poverty line ($51,520 for an individual) falls off a "subsidy cliff" and has to pay full price. Premiums vary widely depending on local health care costs, and plans often are so expensive that customers forgo insurance.

For the next two years, the American Rescue Plan would expand the tax credits to higher earners and cap the maximum premium anyone is expected to pay at 8.5 percent of their income. It would boost tax credits at lower incomes, as well: People making less than 150 percent of the federal poverty line ($19,320 for an individual) would be expected to pay $0 in premiums for a benchmark plan, for example.

For those with lower incomes, the bill would boost incentives for states to expand Medicaid by having the federal government pick up the tab for new recipients. Twelve states, including Florida, Georgia and Texas, have refused to accept Medicaid dollars through the ACA. It's unclear whether the bill would affect their calculations.

... The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that the added subsidies would cost $34 billion and that they would insure 1.3 million more people by next year.

[questionseverything]

40. So

That is $26,153 to insure each person, not to actually treat them, just to insure them

[LudwigPastorius]

21. Another important part of the American Rescue Act:

It provides funding relief for Multiemployer Pension Plans that are in "critical and declining" status.

After working for 20 years, and fighting hard to get our union's pension plan established, 2008 happened, along with declining contributors due to demographic change. I (and my brothers and sisters in the union) was facing a near 20% reduction in earned benefits in order to keep the pension fund from going broke.

Now, thanks to Democrats in the House, Senate, and White House, I won't have to eat cat food in my old age.

[MontanaMama]

24. I pay $1500 a month for my little family of 3.

I can’t wait until we can get reasonably priced insurance.

[Trueblue Texan]

36. That's freakin' insane!

Unconscionable!

[MontanaMama]

38. I agree.

There are only two companies who offer insurance on the individual market in MT so there’s no competition. $1500 per month and that carries a $4000 per person deductible.

[Rhiannon12866]

25. Twitter reply :

Link to tweet

[questionseverything]

42. When they talk percent of income

I wish they would clarify wether they mean gross or agi

Makes a huge difference

[dalton99a]

26. Kick

[betsuni]

29. K&R

[Mersky]

30. 👀 WOW

I wonder if an adult with cerebral palsy in Texas who draws SSI could qualify for real health coverage rather than the insulting skim of weird Medicaid they currently have available to them?

Otherwise, I know two sets of folks who will find this to be huge for them.

[area51]

32. Chris Murphy is wrong.

I went to healthcare.gov and there are no free premium plans, & I'm not in a state which expanded Medicaid. Sucks to be me, I guess. Gee, I only want Medicare for All so that people don't have to die due to lack of healthcare.

[Mersky]

35. It's too soon for it to be implemented on the website

What Murphy laid out is great, and it will help a lot of people when it gets turned up.

Now, states that haven’t expanded Medicaid are another matter, entirely. Is a scandal that republicans would continue to let people go uncovered and whither in the gap, all while watching small hospitals close, etc.

I see lots of room for more people to get coverage in those quoted numbers.

[questionseverything]

37. Medicaid can be a nightmare all by itself

High co pays, lack of providers

As long as capitalism determines healthcare it will be horrid for the poor

[Mersky]

39. Oh, I'm not saying Medicaid is the ultimate answer

It’s that too many people are denied access to even that program. Whether carved out because income is slightly too high or given some weird selection of doctors in another city for one or two appointments a year, states that haven’t expanded to offer even regular, crappy Medicaid are kicking folks that are already down.

Now, I don’t much like talking about healthcare in terms of capitalism, because the rwing media has rendered their followers as zombies incapable of defining what is or is not a free market setup.

The current scheme is a protected market. I mean, you can’t order healthcare like you can a hamburger. As if anybody ever walked up to a menu, and said, “I’d like to cover a six month flirtation with prediabetes, two colds, and a side of a possible broken leg this year.”

The ACA isn’t perfect, but it is a step towards more rational, ethical healthcare coverage/access, and maybe we can get to something that approximates Medicare for all.

[questionseverything]

41. Big employers give their employees insurance

There employees do not have to pay income taxes on that benefit

So those people don’t want anything to change

Seniors have medicare , medicaid so they don’t want anything to change

And while I can’t afford insurance my taxes do subsidize both of those groups

Biden campaigned on lowering medicare to sixty....that would be a good place to start

[Blue Owl]

45. K&R