Why America's Doctor Shortage Might Mean Trouble for Obamacare

[Shandris]

10. Yes, preventative for chronic was what I was...

...referring to in my example. I'm sorry I didn't specify that; it was merely an oversight.

But sadly, you're incorrect about insurance because fully half the states didn't expand Medicaid. Furthermore, if work offers a program then you can't even get a subsidy for shopping on the healthcare exchange -- you pay full rates, which makes the 'just barely legal enough to qualify by the skin of its teeth' insurance provided by work the only option (because the others are double and triple the cost in premiums). I understand ACA helped a ton of people, and I'm happy for them. But since no one could foresee the Republicans trying to cause problems (!!!), it -really- hurt a lot of lower-pay people, particularly multi-generational poor (since being carried on their parent's insurance isn't much better than what they could get on their own, and they're paying full price plus full deductibles).

I agree that the $6,000 is problematic, but that is beside the point. You can't reasonably expect someone who has literally nothing to be overly concerned about whether or not someone else has to wait a day to find out if a sore throat is strep. In a perfect world you could, but we don't live in one of those.

I'm not trying to make you 'get' it, or understand it from an angle of 'oh, yeah, that makes sense to live that way'. I'm simply telling you how it is, at least here (and presumable elsewhere, although I suppose I could be wrong on that).