Paul outlines Obamacare replacement as Sanders rallies Democratic supporters

[progree]

8. Well, let's look at this great plan

They’ve put in all these mandates that say every policy has to have things like pregnancy and dental coverage and all these things, which are great, but they add cost. They put people out of the market.”

So reproductive age women should have to pay extra for insurance? As for dental care, there isn't any in the ACA (other than say like for traumatic injury).

Paul said his plan would “legalize the sale of inexpensive insurance”, adding: “That means getting rid of the Obamacare mandates on what you can buy.”

One of the greatest things about the ACA is that there is standardization of benefits and plans can be compared to each other when shopping. And that there isn't any "junk insurance" on the exchanges.

Whereas before, on the individual market, there was a ton of crap insurance with severe limitations on annual or life-time amounts, and very high or unlimited out of pocket maximums, and so what you had was placebo care. Something that was good if you had an ordinary illness or accident, but nothing that was going to matter if you had like a $200,000+ cancer treatment or coronary bypass etc. (So when a RWer or JPRer tells you about the cheap individual insurance plan (s)he had before the ACA, well, that's exactly what they had -- cheap "insurance&quot .

Also, young healthy people would generally buy the cheap policies, which would raise the cost of the more robust health policies for e.g. middle-aged and older needing serious health insurance.

The senator said his bill would help people with health savings accounts and a tax credit,

The health savings account is just a tax dodge for relatively well-off people who can save significant amounts long-term -- savvy people with money to sock away long-term know that what's best is to pay their health costs from their regular accounts, and to let the money in the HSA's grow with tax-free compounding for decades like a super-IRA (one that combines the best features of a traditional IRA and a Roth IRA). Their tax features are of little help for most people unable to save large amounts long-term.

The tax credits are great however -- that's how the ACA subsidizes insurance for those below 400% of poverty. (Refundable tax credits are a gift that works dollar for dollar regardless of one's income, unlike deductions which benefits higher income people more than lower income people).

but that it would also help insurance companies that he said were losing money.

That's what the risk corridors thingy in the ACA that you fuckheads keep obstructing or refuse to help fix was all about.

He said his legislation would allow small businesses to band together to buy insurance for their employees.

I didn't know the ACA forbade that.

I'm surprised he didn't throw in the perennial RW bromides of "tort reform" and "selling insurance across state lines".

I didn't see anything about pre-existing conditions ... these are the people that have to be sacrificed so that the rest of us can buy "inexpensive insurance"?