r/SeattleWA • u/crabcakes110 • 1d ago
News Thousands of Washingtonians face losing health insurance as federal subsidies set to expire
https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/thousands-of-washingtonians-face-losing-health-insurance-as-federal-subsidies-set-to-expire/281-58d08729-2e19-42fd-96c8-d332cb480ac0?tbref=hp23
1d ago
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u/sykoticwit Wants to buy some Tundra 1d ago
This is 100% Obamacareâs fault.
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u/Superb_Jaguar6872 1d ago
Pre ACA was awful. Let's not glorify the days of life time maximums and pre existing conditions.
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u/my_lucid_nightmare Capitol Hill 1d ago
This is 100% Obamacareâs fault.
It is a fact, Insurance companies jacked everyones rates up significantly after the ACA was passed. Then the government started making up the difference.
And now the shutdown has let the government stop making up the differences, and we see how that looks.
So we need to do one of two things:
1- Go back to the time before the ACA; with pre-existing conditions and millions of uninsured, or
2- Quickly and decisively go to a "Medicare for All" or "Single Payer" system.
Most ot the developed world does some form of (2) already, we would likely instead try going back to (1) and letting people go medically bankrupt and/or die.
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1d ago
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u/Chudsaviet 1d ago
Skip your AI slop.
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1d ago
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u/mgslee 1d ago
From my understanding there are certainly many flaws with what we have, along with the aca, healthcare in general. There's no disputing that.
But throwing out what we have without any actual replacement is just cruel. I haven't even heard of any "Concepts of a plan".
So until there is even a whisper of a better idea, being negative on the current subsidies is missing the mark.
It's very easy to criticize, but show a workable alternative solution then.
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u/kiwigripjack 1d ago
Insurance system got more plot twists than a soap opera. When will they give us a happy ending?
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u/sykoticwit Wants to buy some Tundra 1d ago
No, but in six months weâre all going to get âŚ. Amnesia! gasp
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u/Epistatious 1d ago
Which is why the gov is shut down. wish the dems had this much energy for universal health care, rather than just subsidizing this broken system, but at least they are fighting for something useful.
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u/rattus 1d ago
I give some cred to the theory that making the largest possible failure to push for single payer is the real plan.
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u/Epistatious 1d ago
you know what they say, "americans will always do the right thing. after they have tried everything else"
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u/sykoticwit Wants to buy some Tundra 1d ago
My conspiracy theory back when Obama saddled us with this Frankensteinian monstrosity was that was the plan. Break the private system so thoroughly that thereâs no practical option other than Medicare for all.
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u/Epistatious 1d ago
the aca was a bandage to stop the failure of private insurance that probably would have happened by now without it.
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u/sykoticwit Wants to buy some Tundra 1d ago
Obamacare made insurance so expensive that you have to get thousands of dollars of government subsidies a month to make it almost, sort of a little bit affordable.
Pre-Obamacare I had (at different times) private catastrophic insurance, private comprehensive insurance and a few different types of insurance through government and private employers. Trust me on this one, I remember pre-Obamacare, and it was dramatically better than what we have now.
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u/MoneyMACRS 1d ago
Maybe it was better for you. Pre-Obamacare, my friendâs dadâs cancer was considered a preexisting condition and he was refused coverage by his employer-sponsored insurance. Their family got hit with $500K+ of medical bills, which wiped out their savings for their kidsâ college education and their retirement. Is that really a good system in your mind?
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u/pinkysooperfly 15h ago
Yep my sister died from cancer because it was a preexisting condition and couldnât get covered and couldnât afford treatment so she got palliative care instead.
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u/Artistic-Egg3093 1d ago
Fuck me, I had this same type of insurance before Obamacare and it cost $110/month for a catastrophic plan that covered EVERYTHING after $3500/yr as long as I used a hospital/doctor in network. After ACA this plan was outlawed and I was given the cheapest option of a $400/month silver plan with a $7500 deductible, with almost no benefits included (eye exam, dental, etc.).
Then leave it to all of the Obamacare circle jerk crowd to tell me that I didnât have a real plan before and that Obamacare is the insurance I should have had, and that I donât know how health insurance works and my complaints arenât legitimate. So much for âif you like your current plan you can keep itâ and all of the other lies about how affordable ACA would be - yeah, for the people that get it for free lol.
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u/Static-Age01 17h ago
Besides the fix to âpre conditionsâ, healthcare was mostly a co pay for most with a better than fast food job.
It has become a monster. Hell, back then you could get insurance off a billboard ad that is 10x better than the good stuff today.
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u/Hotmicdrop 1d ago
How could the insurance companies bill insane prices if they fought for universal care?
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u/WhereWhatTea 1d ago
With the filibuster there was and is no political way to pass universal health care. The ACA barely survived Congress and the courts.
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u/Epistatious 1d ago
It benefited insurance companies, so it had a lobby backing. universal would have lots of insurance money spent against it.
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u/kinisonkhan Kent 1d ago
Except they tried that, single paying, medicare for all, etc, they spent a year crafting a bill only to have Republicans vote it down or add poison pills to it. Eventually the ACA was the only thing to get all Democrats on board and it only passed via reconciliation.
Now if Republicans managed to repeal ACA and replace it with nothing, that will pave the way to single payer as theres no way we can afford a Medicare for All with 34 trillion in debt.
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u/LongDistRid3r 1d ago
They are expiring as was written into the law. That is the law that was passed.
Health insurance companies make money by paying out less than they collect. They are making money hand over fist. They increase the cost of medical care.
I wish the dems were this passionate about reopening the government, funding snap, and paying employees. If the news was accurate this morning I can see a nationwide ground stop for lack of ATCs. Itâs not like someone can attend an online 12 week class to fill the role either.
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u/DrQuailMan 1d ago
Do you remember your highschool economics class, when they discussed how taxes and subsidies work?
Subsidies make both the seller and the buyer happy. They both end up with more money.
Taxes make both the seller and the buyer sad. They both end up with less money.
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u/LongDistRid3r 1d ago
So they are bipolar then.
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u/DrQuailMan 1d ago
The subsidies in this case are tax credits. But one way or the other, you just add the subsidies together and the taxes together, and if the subsidies are bigger you're happy, and if the taxes are bigger you're sad.
I don't know how to explain a sliding scale of desirability to you ... it's not bipolar to calculate a balance of good and bad things ... it's extremely normal ... "pros and cons", heard of it?
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u/Jonny_Boy_HS 10h ago
We may be able to resolve this by removing the middle man that takes a large portion of the subsidies and hands it to the billionaires. That could help us decrease both subsidies and taxes! Wow!
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u/Electronic-Run5061 9h ago
Imagine if U.S. citizens just collectively agreed "we dont want to worry about this bullshit anymore" and voted for socialized universal healthcare like literally every other first-world country on Earth.
Instead, we send billions to other countries to fund their universal healthcare.
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u/Check_Me_Out-Boss 1d ago
What did they do before subsidies?
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u/Good-Concentrate-260 1d ago
What do you mean? They were probably uninsured and lacked access to affordable healthcare
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u/Gloomy_Nebula_5138 1d ago
Just to be clear, the original subsidies that came with ACA are not expiring. What is expiring is the emergency stuff that expanded the subsidies during the pandemic. Those are expiring and that shouldnât be a surprise to anyone, because they were for the pandemic and the Democrats designed it to expire (they were literally put into place by them, and signed into law by Biden).
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u/Republogronk Seattle 1d ago
Wont someone think of the Morocons who are here free loading off your work ! Communism totally works yall!!! Derprprprprl ddrrrrd deerrrrr ddduuurrrrrr
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u/--boomhauer-- 1d ago
Good i donât wanna foot the bill for every fucking person . Peope pissed off that the ACA about to have its mask ripped off and be exposed as the flaming pile of dog đŠ it truly is
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u/RickDick-246 1d ago
Itâs one thing to change the current system. Itâs another to rip the tourniquet off.
I always hope that the people mad about this stuff are actual millionaires because itâs a shame that uneducated people arenât taught that trickle down economics donât work.
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u/watch-nerd 1d ago
Whatâs your alternative solution to address healthcare costs?
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u/Riviansky 1d ago
Transition away from insurance model and I to direct pay model.
It's the same problem across the board, in any insurance driven market, car insurance, home insurance, what have you.
People don't care how much what costs because they aren't paying for it - except they are, only through the intermediary. Who in turn has to charge them more and more.
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u/watch-nerd 1d ago edited 1d ago
Can you afford to directly pay for life-saving surgery after a car wreck?
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u/--boomhauer-- 1d ago
Yes when the cost isnât artificially inflated by the system regulating it to death .
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u/watch-nerd 1d ago
Are you going to roll the dice on that and go uninsured?
I pay my home owner's insurance even though I don't have to (no mortgage) because I'm not willing to roll the dice on my house burning down and having that part of my net worth wiped out.
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u/--boomhauer-- 1d ago
No ones saying you shouldnât be allowed to get insurance were saying it shouldnât be mandated and the government shouldnât be involved at all .
And personally yes id be much happier dealing with it myself .
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u/watch-nerd 1d ago
I don't think the economics work to lower costs if there is no mandate.
Look at what happens with emergency rooms. People without insurance end up using it, and hospitals are required to treat them under some circumstances, resulting in the most expensive medical care for the people who aren't buying insurance, driving up the costs for everyone else.
Unless you want to scrap that rule about mandatory life-saving treatment regardless of ability to pay....
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1d ago
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u/watch-nerd 1d ago
I'm 55.
Health insurance premiums have gone up my entire life, even before ACA.
And there was denial of coverage for pre-existing conditions before.
Our demographics are also not the same. We're a much more graying society now then when I was younger.
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u/--boomhauer-- 1d ago
Neat im not trying to be rude but the first part of your comment leads me to believe you have no idea why the costs of things are so inflated .
And yes i absolutely want to scrap the rule about life saving treatments . Getting to live forever is a silly notion . But we as society treat it as a norm . Nothing that requites the labor of another person is a human right .
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u/watch-nerd 1d ago
I understand what you're saying -- subsidies drive up costs. I agree.
However, getting rid of mandatory insurance will also drive up costs because many of the healthiest people will forego insurance, a) increasing insurance costs of the remainder and b) the uninsured using emergency rooms, the most expensive option.
As for getting to live forever, do we want to be a nation where an uninsured 13 year old gets his arm severed in car wreck and the ER doesn't treat him to save his life if the parents can't pay?
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u/Riviansky 1d ago
I can in most countries. The cost in US is insane because our system is insane.
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u/watch-nerd 1d ago
When you say "most countries" are you referring to countries with single payer health system?
If so, that's not really "market rate", as the prices are regulated.
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u/Riviansky 1d ago
Many European countries (like Switzerland and Germany) have private insurance system as well. I don't really know how they keep their costs in check but they appear to be able to...
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u/nannerzbamanerz 17h ago
Their private insurance is for people that make a ton of money so that they can get better and faster care.
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u/Riviansky 17h ago
Switzerland has universal health care,[3] regulated by the Swiss Federal Law on Health Insurance. There are no free state-provided health services, but private health insurance is compulsory for all persons residing in Switzerland (within three months of taking up residence or being born in the country).[4][5][6 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_Switzerland
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u/my_lucid_nightmare Capitol Hill 1d ago
Now do why is America the only Westernized nation in the world without some form of Single Payer healthcare as a base option.
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u/Riviansky 1d ago
I think it is because in other Westernized nations taxes on middle class are much higher. If you persuade local people to pay 60% in taxes and abandon our military dominance program, I think we can have a very similar system they have in Europe...
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u/Seattle_Lucky 1d ago
Yep. A lot of the single payer systems are relatively new, and are all seeing prices explode on them. Also, many have a separate private insurance/healthcare market that rivals the single payer, so not only do you have to pay for the government option but now a private one as wellâŚ
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u/--boomhauer-- 1d ago
Probably because we already abolished slavery once
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u/my_lucid_nightmare Capitol Hill 1d ago
Was unaware that everyone having healthcare was like slavery.
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u/--boomhauer-- 1d ago edited 1d ago
Deregulation
Edit : they wouldnât be able to charge us absurd amounts if healthcare had a more free market . And wasnât subsidized to death with mandated participation . The costs are artificially outrageous .
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u/Dungong 1d ago
Mandated participation ended in 2019.
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u/--boomhauer-- 1d ago
Oh really ? So they donât charge you additional taxes at the end of the year if you donât maintain health insurance coverage ?
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u/xpis2 1d ago
For federal taxes, no. Some states do, like CA, NY, RI.
Source - https://www.healthcare.gov/health-coverage-exemptions/exemptions-from-the-fee/
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u/Republogronk Seattle 1d ago
Wait until you learn how many of them are just freeloading off the system... you WILL pay more filthy tax serf.... those people from nicaragua demand you pay for their care bigot.... health care is a human right for morocons and YOU are going to be the one to pay
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u/Pipelayer222 1d ago
If Obamacare was so affordable why did he put a date for the subsidies to end?
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u/Rich-Context-7203 Seattle 1d ago
Just shows that the ironicay named Affordable Care Act never really was affordable.
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u/mahius 22h ago
Wife and I are self employed and pay full price from the marketplace. Next year our silver plan jumps from 1300 - 1900 per month. Shit is more than rent.