General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: How affordable are the Health Care Exchanges really? [View all]KentuckyWoman
(7,404 posts)People are going to be paying a lot for "coverage" and if they actually need to access medical care services they may or may not be able to cover that cost. However, before this we had insurance companies taking excruciatingly high premiums and then when the time came to access services refuse the pay for the bills.
The provider got the shaft.
The patient got the shaft.
The dozen or so people who hold 90% of whatever insurance company's stocks made out like bandits.
This is not the perfect step ...... and quite frankly I'm not happy with this at all..... but it does a few really good things.
1. Gets people in the mindset that medical insurance is personal and has nothing to do with where, or if they work. The benefits of that mindset are huge.
2. Will eventually get people to ask more difficult questions of providers with regards to the need for multiple expensive medical tests and the alternatives to expensive medical intervention.
3. Will eventually get tweeked just like Social Security was to include more people as employers do what they generally do .... looking to profit an extra dime by screwing their workforce. There will be more and more companies drop kick medical insurance benefits for employees... forcing them into the exchanges. Over time the vast majority of Americans will be in the exchange and maybe then will demand universal single payer instead of this complicated mess we are putting in place now.