Premiums and deductibles will go down but so will coverage. Will we know we've been screwed?

[Hamlette]

The only way for premiums and deductibles to go down is for states to set coverage at basically nothing. So, you'll have health insurance but it won't cover much, if anything.

And Rep. Cole said on All In tonight that it will take years for Trump Care to go into effect. Then, it may take many years for most Americans to learn that the cheap policy they got doesn't buy anything.

Unless Americans turn on this bill fast, like they did on the first version, we are screwed. Remember, the Senate can cave just like the house did. And idiots who don't read the fine print will see their premiums go down and think Trump and Ryan are heroes.

I hope I'm worried for nothing. Talk me down!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. The idiots who don't read the fine print

will figure out they've been had as soon as they actually try to make a claim and it gets rejected.

[BannonsLiver]

2. +1 exactly. These things have a way of working themselves out.

[PA Democrat]

3. I read their bill and found no protection against insurance companies pulling that oldie but goodie

scam where the first time you get seriously ill they scour your medical records to fabricate some "proof" that your illness was a preexisting condition. This was standard operating procedure for people who purchased their own coverage in pre-ACA days.

[herding cats]

8. I read it as well, and I didn't see it either.

It's a health insurance company's dream exit, and it's back.

[LompocDem]

9. December 2007 I had a life threatening event.

I had health insurance in a 'group' plan that had me and my wife as the only participants. Thru Blue Cross it was very costly at $750 each per month. The plan provided 100% coverage for emergency procedures. 2 years after getting that insurance I started getting severe but short chest pains mostly after eating. I visited my nurse practitioner, never the doctor, with my complaints and had several in office EKGs ($150 each out of pocket) and trip to another doc who did a stress test ($1500 out of pocket) but they saw nothing wrong. After further complaints my PPO sent me in for an esophageal endoscopy ($700 out of pocket).

December 27th, 2007 my brother in law and I took a motorcycle trip from Santa Cruz and Lompoc to Tombstone AZ. During that trip I had several bouts if what I believed by their diagnosis of indigestion. Downing multiple bottles of Mylanta during the trip and the digestive problems that that caused I found myself at the end of our trip at the Rose Bowl. 2008 Illinois vs USC. As California dude sitting among mostly Ilini fans I was happy with the outcome but my BIL was a UI alum and was subdued because of the trouncing USC gave to UI. It took about two hours of standing in line to get on the buses that took you back to the parking garages but on the walk out of the stadium to the queue lines for the buses I was only able to walk 50 yards at a time before having to stop until the chest pains subsided so I could continue on. Finaly getting back to our bikes and planning for an overnight in Camarillo we stopped for gas in Thousand oaks and I had another event while gassing up. We decided to ride straight through to Lompoc to his home. The next day I rode to my home in Santa Cruz solo. That was Tuesday Jan 2. My BIL rode up to Santa Cruz to purchase a HD on Wednesday the 3rd and convinced my wife that I had a major medical problem. She immediately called and demanded to speak to my PPO provided doctor who I had never seen and he directed her to contact a cardiologist on our insurance plan. The next day he answered her voice mail around 11 am and after hearing of my history of complaints and present condition, I couldn't walk for more than a few tens of yards without having to stop and rest, he told her to take me to the Marion Medical Center in Santa Cruz and meet him there immediately. Long story shortened a bit. I was in surgery on Friday morning for a triple bypass that they did because it was needed but my main problem was a mitral valve that needed repair. The chest pains were not heart attacks but the result of over or under pressure in my left ventricle or atrium. I never learned which.

That insurance policy, while very pricey at the time, paid 100% of the cost of the surgery and follow up cardiologist follow up visits. My out of pocket was $200 total for that event.

Now I have a pre-existing condition and I'm 64 years old. I hope that at the very least I'll get a reach around while getting because I and so many people like me are going to get screwed and that $750 a month premium that my wife insisted we pay would be either unaffordable because of the increases in premiums since then for such a policy that most likely will not even be offered as a choice with exception to those who can pay thousands of dollars a month for individual private policies.

I was lucky back then. I won't be again unless my next heart event happens after we take the House, Senate and Presidency and they finally give us not for profit single payer government funded health care. Diagnosing health issues should never be cost/profit driven!

[Cracklin Charlie]

4. Of course premiums will go down.

There will be no premiums for those with no insurance.

[octoberlib]

5. Plus, employer plans may now have lifetime limits.

Go over the limit and you're kicked off insurance. Let's hope the Senate plan is better

[subterranean]

6. I'm not sure deductible and premiums will go down.

Before the ACA, the deductibles were pretty damn high for any plan that I could afford. If anything, I would expect deductibles to go up since the limits in the ACA will be removed.

I'm not even sure premiums will go down much, if at all. If the mandate is repealed but the guaranteed issue provision remains, people will only buy health insurance when they expect to incur high medical costs, and that will push up premiums to sky-high levels. Washington State, where I live in now, experienced that in the 1990s. The state required everyone to get insurance and insurance companies to provide it (and they couldn't charge more for pre-existing conditions). Republicans later repealed the mandate, but insurance companies still had to issue insurance to anyone who applied, and the result was a disaster. The ill-conceived plan that passed the House today will be a disaster too, if it makes it through the Senate.

Sorry if this does not ease your worries.

[Wounded Bear]

7. Premiums and deductibles will go down for the wealthy and the healthy...

after all of us sickos get shuffled off into the high risk pools, premiums for the "good guys" will go down.

[Tatiana]

10. We will. They won't. Until they get sick or pregnant.

Looks like too much money has been promised. There are several vulnerable Rs who voted for this plan that lead me to believe they were bought off. Consequently, they could care less if they are re-elected or not because they will likely receive a big payday if they are voted out of office. The way they "celebrated" was too craven for me to think otherwise.