Boboro
Well-Known Member
It looks like smokers will pay 50% more for insureance. If you lie its fraud. A felony.
Afordable care act and you
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winston-smoker
Well-Known Member
This is "old news" ... the surcharge for smokers was known before the 2012 presidential election, but nobody was paying attention. It is up to the insurers to decide how much of the surcharge, whether the full amount or less, they will impose. This will almost certainly lead to employment discrimination against smokers too. This was the anti-smoking zealots' agenda all along, to leave us uninsured, unemployed, and reduced to poverty, and powerless, left to die until the last one of us gives up the ghost.
Brown Thumb
Well-Known Member
Thank God my group policy has not been cancelled yet.
Rates stayed the same also. My agent said most went up 10 to 40 percent.
I guess I was overpaying.
Rates stayed the same also. My agent said most went up 10 to 40 percent.
I guess I was overpaying.
Boboro
Well-Known Member
Yet.
winston-smoker
Well-Known Member
I've been worried that my policy will either be canceled or that the premium will increase to non-affordability. I pay $557 a month for an HMO plan as it is, and that doesn't include dental or vision coverage. A friend of mine in Virginia, I just learned earlier today, had his policy canceled (he's a 45 yr. old smoker). And, correct me if I'm wrong, the surcharge is for tobacco use, not just tobacco smoking. I'm guessing e-cig users will get away without being penalized, because they are not using tobacco. I suppose a marijuana user, who is still in violation of federal law, also gets off "scott free" too ... besides being an irony, what a colossal injustice! I wonder how many smokers voted for Obama's reelection? Had smokers just closed ranks for once, Obamacare would have been repealed, or at least defunded, by now.
Brown Thumb
Well-Known Member
I said Yet. Better to keep my mouth shut on this one.
Boboro
Well-Known Member
I knew about it, but know that its happenin I think ppl. are wakein up its somethan new ever day. I just don't think this will end well for eneybody.
Brown Thumb
Well-Known Member
Ditto
winston-smoker
Well-Known Member
Boboro, my friend, you have said a mouthful!
We can only hope that Obamacare collapses under its own weight before it does too much damage. If it doesn't, then "game the system": remain uninsured, pay the federal tax penalty (and what an injustice that is: having to pay a penalty that will be used to subside insurance coverage for other people that you yourself do not have), pay routine medical costs out of pocket (using the savings from not paying monthly insurance premiums), and then, if a costly medical condition arises, sign up for insurance then, as the new law mandates coverage for pre-existing conditions.
We can only hope that Obamacare collapses under its own weight before it does too much damage. If it doesn't, then "game the system": remain uninsured, pay the federal tax penalty (and what an injustice that is: having to pay a penalty that will be used to subside insurance coverage for other people that you yourself do not have), pay routine medical costs out of pocket (using the savings from not paying monthly insurance premiums), and then, if a costly medical condition arises, sign up for insurance then, as the new law mandates coverage for pre-existing conditions.
skychaser
Well-Known Member
You can be a crack smoking, alcoholic, heroin addicted prostitute with no penalty.
skychaser
Well-Known Member
You got it brother! The only way to kill this monstrosity is to not feed it.
Starve the Beast!
Please feel free to present facts or misconceptions or whatever you like about the health care act. But do avoid sliding into politics--difficult, I know, with this subject.
Thanks,
Bob
Thanks,
Bob
My opinion is if the doctors and hospitals didn't price gouge the sick or hurt people then insurance might be more affordable .
If the gov looked into price gouging then things might get better .
Most Hospitals and doctors have a different price for cash or insurance billing .
A couple of weeks ago my wife had some test done . The hospital sent me their bill for $240 .
We walked into the hospital to pay the bill .I asked them how much cash it took to pay it off today and they said they give a 50% discount for cash paying customers. The total wound up being $120 .
The doctors office gives 20% discount ( Supposedly ) .
If the gov looked into price gouging then things might get better .
Most Hospitals and doctors have a different price for cash or insurance billing .
A couple of weeks ago my wife had some test done . The hospital sent me their bill for $240 .
We walked into the hospital to pay the bill .I asked them how much cash it took to pay it off today and they said they give a 50% discount for cash paying customers. The total wound up being $120 .
The doctors office gives 20% discount ( Supposedly ) .
A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take everything you have.
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Boboro
Well-Known Member
I think taken every thing you have and your freedom is in that big bill They had to pass to find out what was in it.
winston-smoker
Well-Known Member
FmGrowit & Boboro,
Right, and well said. Our founding fathers must be rolling in their graves.
Deluxestogie,
A forum on tobacco law invites discussing policy underlying and surrounding the law. If that is considered a slide into politics, then as you acknowledged, it would be difficult to avoid. I think so long as discussion remains civil and doesn't cross over into exaggerated partisan rhetoric, some degree of forbearance is necessary.
Right, and well said. Our founding fathers must be rolling in their graves.
Deluxestogie,
A forum on tobacco law invites discussing policy underlying and surrounding the law. If that is considered a slide into politics, then as you acknowledged, it would be difficult to avoid. I think so long as discussion remains civil and doesn't cross over into exaggerated partisan rhetoric, some degree of forbearance is necessary.
DGBAMA
Well-Known Member
Well said.
As a type 1 diabetic this whole plan has made me nervous. I get a benefits package through work but it's through one of the biggest insurance (fraud) companies in the country. I don't make a lot of money, and definitely will be spending alot more if this act really takes hold. I already have a $1000 deductible and a 30% co pay. My insulin costs around $300 a bottle (which lasts me 3 weeks if my blood sugars are perfect).
As crooked as the insurance company is, some doctors and pharmacies are JUST as crooked. When it comes to insulin, I get X amounts of bottles for $90, the insurance and doctors offices dictate how many bottles of insulin I can get at a time. If I want 5 at a time I can (for $90), but if I want 6 it goes to $180.
All in all, this was BEFORE The unaffordable care act, we'll see if I can still keep my propane tank filled and electricity on when I have to go pick up insulin again.
Keep your mind on the end game guys. Do what we can to turn this country around.
*steps off soap box*
As crooked as the insurance company is, some doctors and pharmacies are JUST as crooked. When it comes to insulin, I get X amounts of bottles for $90, the insurance and doctors offices dictate how many bottles of insulin I can get at a time. If I want 5 at a time I can (for $90), but if I want 6 it goes to $180.
All in all, this was BEFORE The unaffordable care act, we'll see if I can still keep my propane tank filled and electricity on when I have to go pick up insulin again.
Keep your mind on the end game guys. Do what we can to turn this country around.
*steps off soap box*
winston-smoker
Well-Known Member
The only prescription medication I take is a generic ACE inhibitor to control my otherwise borderline hypertension. Of course, my doctor gives me a prescription for only a 90 day supply, without refills, because he wants me to make an appointment every 3 months, regardless of whether I have any specific reason for making an appointment. In the event I lose my health insurance because of the new law, I intend to dictate to him that I will see him only every six months and that I expect him to allow a refill on the prescription. If he refuses, then it's on his conscience that he will allow my condition to go untreated for three months at a time because I can't get the medication I require ... of course, that would mean I'd have to go searching for another doctor.
What burns me up is that I've had uninterrupted health insurance since I was 25 years old, and living in a state where: (1) all insurance, including health insurance, is expensive because of over-regulation, and (2) when I was still young, the state did not allow insurers to charge different premiums because of age. So when I was young, I was subsidizing the insurance of people much older than me, and at a time when my income was low. Now that I'm getting older, it is starting to appear like I may not be able to keep my insurance, just when I'll start needing it most, and then to add insult to injury, I'll be charged a tax penalty to subsidize the insurance of others when I won't have it myself!
What burns me up is that I've had uninterrupted health insurance since I was 25 years old, and living in a state where: (1) all insurance, including health insurance, is expensive because of over-regulation, and (2) when I was still young, the state did not allow insurers to charge different premiums because of age. So when I was young, I was subsidizing the insurance of people much older than me, and at a time when my income was low. Now that I'm getting older, it is starting to appear like I may not be able to keep my insurance, just when I'll start needing it most, and then to add insult to injury, I'll be charged a tax penalty to subsidize the insurance of others when I won't have it myself!
winston-smoker
Well-Known Member
Interestingly, the American Lung Association and the American Cancer Society, both of which support the "Affordable Care Act," are nevertheless opposed to the tobacco surcharge because they believe it will make insurance unaffordable for smokers. ALA's Jennifer Singleterry was quoted, "Tobacco surcharges are not proven to help tobacco users quit and there are major concerns that they will prevent people from getting health care coverage ... Charging tobacco users more in health insurance premiums, sometimes thousands of dollars more, studies have shown, will price smokers out of the market."
Smokers are the only group with projected higher-than-average medical costs that Obamacare penalizes ... drug addicts, alcoholics, and the obese (among others) are not penalized. Only 11 states have stepped in to prevent the surcharge (I don't which ones those are); in the remaining 39 states, insurers will decide the surcharge.
Smokers are the only group with projected higher-than-average medical costs that Obamacare penalizes ... drug addicts, alcoholics, and the obese (among others) are not penalized. Only 11 states have stepped in to prevent the surcharge (I don't which ones those are); in the remaining 39 states, insurers will decide the surcharge.
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