Open Thread | When It Comes to Healthcare, the GOP Means You Nothing But Harm

Posted on September 23, 2019 by rikyrah

This Admnistration and the Republicans have done nothing but try and sabotage Obamacare. Every step that they’ve taken has been done to harm and try to destroy it. That they are putting people back in this untenable position where they foolishly believe that they’ve bought cheap insurance, when in actuality, they’ve bought JUNK INSURANCE.

Health Insurance That Doesn’t Cover the Bills Has Flooded the Market Under Trump
The administration’s moves to weaken the Affordable Care Act have taken hold, and companies are cashing in
By Zeke Faux, Polly Mosendz, and John Tozzi

Early one Friday morning two years ago, David Diaz woke up his wife, Marisia, and told her he didn’t feel right. He asked her to pray with him. Their son called 911, and within minutes, Marisia was tailing an ambulance down the dirt road away from the couple’s house on the outskirts of Phoenix to a hospital in the city. David had had a massive heart attack.
Before being wheeled into surgery, he whispered the PIN for his bank card to Marisia, just in case. But the double-bypass operation was successful, and two weeks later he was discharged.
On her way out, Marisia gave the billing clerk David’s health insurance card. It looked like any other, listing a copay of $30 for doctor visits and $50 for “wellness.” She’d bought the plan a year earlier from a company called Health Insurance Innovations Inc., with the understanding that it would be comprehensive. She hadn’t noticed a phrase near the top of the card, though: “Short-Term Medical Insurance.”
The Diazes’ plan was nothing like the ones consumers have come to expect under the 2010 Affordable Care Act, which bars insurers from capping coverage, canceling it retroactively, or turning away people with preexisting conditions. But the law includes an exemption for short-term plans that serve as a stopgap for people between jobs. The Trump administration, thwarted in its attempts to overturn the ACA, has widened that loophole by stretching the definition of “short-term” from three months to a year, with the option of renewing for as long as three years.

 

 

 

I found this article through this Twitter thread:

Josh Dorner (@JoshDorner) Tweeted:
1/ Bloomberg has a must-read story out today on short-term, limited duration junk insurance plans that the Trump administration is promoting as an alternative to comprehensive ACA plans. The story highlights how bad these plans are for consumers. https://t.co/QAH7zHvXGg https://twitter.com/JoshDorner/status/1173980883679895552?s=17

2/ First, they are called junk plans for a reason. While ACA plans are required to cover Essential Health Benefits, junk plans Deny access to basic benefits, such as prescription drugs, maternity care, and mental health and substance use disorder treatment.

3/ And when it comes to pre-existing conditions, they are doubly bad for consumers. Junk plans can set higher premiums based on age, gender, and health status, charging older people, women, or anyone with a history of physical or mental health problems more.

4/ Junk plans can also deny coverage outright for your preexisting condition, both when you purchase the plan and even later when you make a claim and then they retroactively rescind your coverage. This happens to be people in real life.

5/ For example, a woman in Illinois went to the hospital with heavy vaginal bleeding resulting in a five-day hospital stay and a hysterectomy, only to be denied coverage under her junk plan on the ground that her menstrual cycle constituted a pre-existing condition.

6/ A man in D.C., purchased a junk plan with a stated maximum payout of $750,000; when he sought coverage for a $211,000 bill resulting from a hospitalization, however, he was paid only $11,780, in part due to a denial of coverage based on his father’s medical history.

7/ Junk plans also don’t even serve as adequate catastrophic coverage. Insurers are allowed to set extremely high deductibles and to cap what they pay for health care, exposing enrollees to high out-of-pocket costs. Plus this comes with the aforementioned denials and exclusions.

8/ Under the ACA, regular insurers are required to spend 80-85% of premiums on actual medical care. If they don’t, they have to give the money back in the form of rebates. Because of this rule, consumers are getting $743 MILLION back just this year.

9/ But junk plans are exempt from this rule, called the medical-loss ratio. A recent study found that some junk plans spend as little as 9 cents on the dollar on medical care. Again, that’s compared to 80-85 cents on the dollar for ACA plans.

10/ Aggressive marketing of junk plans is also confusing for consumers, who think they are getting real insurance but instead end up with a junk plan.

11/ A study found that, “Consumers shopping online for health insurance, including those using search terms such as ‘Obamacare plans’ or ‘ACA enroll,’ will most often be directed to websites and brokers selling STLDI or other non-ACA compliant products.”

12/ Another problem with junk plans, and one of the reason the Trump admin dramatically expanded their sale, is that they undermine the ACA marketplaces by drawing out healthier people. That leaves sicker people in the ACA risk people, driving up premiums.

13/ @CenterOnBudget wrote about the risks of rising premiums for sicker people and the many other problems associated with junk plans.

14/ Even Trump’s Council of Economic advisers admitted this in a report: “healthier-than-average members” are likely to leave the exchanges as a result of the STLDI rule. “their departure is expected to somewhat raise gross premiums for those who remain on the exchanges.”

15/ The Trump rule dramatically expanding the sale of junk plans turns the idea of “short-term, limited duration” on its head. It changed the definition of short-term from 90 days to 364 days and limited-duration went from 12 months to 36 months.

16/ Before, these plans really filled short-term gaps, but now they are being marketed and promoted as substitutes for comprehensive insurance. Expanding junk plans is also a way to get around Congress’ very clear intent in creating Essential Health Benefits required by the ACA.

At every turn, this Administration has done nothing but try to undermine Obamacare. And, the consumers are paying the price. These kinds of horror stories were all too common before Obamacare was passed. These kinds of stories were WHY Obamacare and its rules were created.

Make no mistake – the GOP WANTS TO TAKE YOUR HEALTHCARE AWAY.

They do not see healthcare as a right. If you can’t afford the best healthcare, then you deserve whatever you get.
Obamacare repeals.
The lawsuits.
The refusal to do Medicaid Expansion.

What more do they have to do in order to convince you that they mean you and yours nothing but harm, and should NEVER be given the benefit of the doubt. They are lying. They do not. Have not. Will not. EVER bring forth a Healthcare proposal that would benefit the PUBLIC.

You better vote like your life depends upon it in 2020…because, it does…..LITERALLY.

 And, just a reminder: the rest of the ” First World” doesn’t live like this:

Ian Millhiser (@imillhiser) Tweeted:
So, my wife is in Amsterdam and pinched a nerve. She spent the entire day in the hospital, was examined by a doc, and filled two prescriptions. She does not have travel health insurance.

The whole thing cost 50 euro.

Tell me again why the US health system doesn’t suck. https://twitter.com/imillhiser/status/1174672528125714432?s=17

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42 Responses to Open Thread | When It Comes to Healthcare, the GOP Means You Nothing But Harm

  4. rikyrah says:
    September 23, 2019 at 3:10 pm

    Author blows the lid off Mike Pence’s devious rise to power — and his scheme to take the White House

    Vice President Mike Pence has stood by President Donald Trump for three chaotic years, even as dozens of top administration officials have resigned or been fired. Pence does not appear to ever cross the president or rein him in, leading critics to assume that he doesn’t exert much power in the administration.

    PIETY & POWER: Mike Pence and the Taking of the White House, veteran journalist Tom LoBionco tells a different story. LoBionco views Pence as a savvy political operator who got on the 2016 ticket thinking Trump would lose, but that the race would catapult him to a position to run for president in 2020. LoBionco believes that Pence plans to run in 2024.

    Raw Story spoke with LoBionco about Pence’s life, political trajectory, his plans for 2024 and how he got on the 2016 ticket in the first place (in true Trumpian fashion it all starts with a billionaire who shilled tanning products and met his third wife when she jumped out of a cake).

    https://www.rawstory.com/2019/09/author-blows-the-lid-off-mike-pences-devious-rise-to-power-and-his-scheme-to-take-the-white-house/

    Reply
  5. SouthernGirl2 says:
    September 23, 2019 at 11:28 am

    A mistrial? OMG! DA knows damn better. Was this shyt deliberate? I wouldn’t put nothing past white supremacy. NOTHING!

    https://twitter.com/jdmiles11/status/1176169281614221312?s=20

    Reply
  6. SouthernGirl2 says:
    September 23, 2019 at 11:22 am

    Judge in the Amber Guyger trial ain’t playing with mofos today. Someone brought in a laptop. Judge is furious.

    https://twitter.com/jdmiles11/status/1176149965300801537?s=20

    Reply
  7. rikyrah says:
    September 23, 2019 at 10:59 am

    Candace Owens Is At It Again, Coming Out Her Black Face to Whitesplain Away the Impact of White Supremacy

    Dara Sharif
    Friday 9:30pm

    And she’s back. Auntie Ruckus, aka black conservative commentator Candace Owens, was back on the Hill Friday in her role as white-nationalist-denier, telling a House committee that white supremacy is simply “not a problem” for black folks.

    For some reason, Owens was invited by Republicans to appear before a House Joint Oversight Subcommittee on combating white supremacy to provide cover for right-wing racist intent her take on the situation, The Hill reports.

    Democrats in charge of the hearing tried to shut Owens down by simply ignoring her, but the Republican who invited her to the party, Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, ceded his time to her, allowing her the floor, according the The Daily Beast.

    And Owens commenced, pulling out all the tired, trite, and frankly debunked tropes she apparently could think of to avoid denouncing white supremacy and white nationalism; that bunk about missing fathers in black homes; “black-on-black” crime; and the need for “God, religion and shrinking government,” as the Daily Beast reports.

    Reply
  8. rikyrah says:
    September 23, 2019 at 9:26 am

    Robert F. Smith Gets the Final Bill for His Gift to Morehouse—and the Number Is Stunning
    Michael Harriot
    Friday 5:00pm

    When philanthropist and entrepreneur Robert F. Smith offered to pay the entire balance of the outstanding student loans for Morehouse’s most recent graduating class, not only did the gift eliminate a burden from the backs of hundreds of students but it also sparked a much-needed conversation about student debt and its disproportionate impact on black college students.

    During a Friday press conference, Morehouse College announced the final tally for Smith’s generous donation:

    $34 million dollars.

    More than 400 students, parents, and guardians of the Class of 2019 will benefit from Smith’s act of kindness. While Smith’s largesse is embarrassing to me because I refused to donate the change from a recent trip to the grocery store to the Sick Children With Sad Kittens Adoption Fund (to be fair, I couldn’t tell if the money went to the kids or the kittens) his donation will also change the future for hundreds of HBCU graduates.

    ……………………………..

    “This liberation gift from Robert Smith—the first of its kind to be announced at a graduation in higher education—will be life-changing for our new Morehouse Men and their families,” Thomas said in a statement. “It is our hope that our graduates will use their newfound financial freedom to pursue their career goals, to lead and serve the community, and to remember the spirit of the gift given to them by paying it forward to support the education of future classes of Morehouse Men.”

    Reply
  9. rikyrah says:
    September 23, 2019 at 9:16 am

    2520’s King…..
    This is who they wanted.

    Donald Trump vs. the United States of America
    Just the facts, in 40 sentences.
    By David Leonhardt

    Sometimes it’s worth stepping back to look at the full picture.

    He has pressured a foreign leader to interfere in the 2020 American presidential election.

    He urged a foreign country to intervene in the 2016 presidential election.

    He divulged classified information to foreign officials.

    He publicly undermined American intelligence agents while standing next to a hostile foreign autocrat.

    He hired a national security adviser who he knew had secretly worked as a foreign lobbyist.

    He encourages foreign leaders to enrich him and his family by staying at his hotels.

    He genuflects to murderous dictators.

    He has alienated America’s closest allies.

    He lied to the American people about his company’s business dealings in Russia.

    He tells new lies virtually every week — about the economy, voter fraud, even the weather.

    He spends hours on end watching television and days on end staying at resorts.

    He often declines to read briefing books or perform other basic functions of a president’s job

    Reply
  10. rikyrah says:
    September 23, 2019 at 9:04 am

    Alayna Treene
    @alaynatreene
    · 15h
    Conservative leaders are circulating data to White House staff that claims adults who vape will turn on President Trump if he follows through with his planned ban on flavored e-cigarettes

    Reply
  11. rikyrah says:
    September 23, 2019 at 8:48 am

    FYI:

    Call your reps and tell them to support impeachment. GOP ones too — we need them to feel the fire. This tool is great — you can check to see if your rep is on board and then tweet, call or email them directly. They even give you a script:

    https://impeachmentinquiry.org

    Reply
  12. rikyrah says:
    September 23, 2019 at 8:47 am

    Every Receipt Proving Candace Owens is a Con Artist Following the Money

    https://newsone.com/3848636/candace-owens-receipts-con-artist/

    Reply
  14. rikyrah says:
    September 23, 2019 at 7:54 am

    Nate Silver
    @NateSilver538
    Nationally, Sanders is getting just 9% of Clinton 2016 voters. (And apparently, 0% of Clinton caucusgoers in Iowa, per the new Selzer poll.) Warren draws about evenly from both the Clinton and Sanders 2016 camps

    Reply
  15. rikyrah says:
    September 23, 2019 at 6:41 am

    Thread

    Filet Mignon with a nice Chianti (@epitomee) Tweeted:
    I just got off a conference call with family from Alabama regarding our upcoming family reunion next year, I can say without a doubt this isn’t true for them. They supported HRC due to Bill and her connection to the south. Warren has none of that. https://t.co/zPJLde66tE https://twitter.com/epitomee/status/1175828211646619648?s=17

    Reply
  18. rikyrah says:
    September 23, 2019 at 6:34 am

    Corey Bu-Shea (@coreybking) Tweeted:
    Black people when Reagan was calling Black mothers welfare queens, Liz Warren was a whole ass Republican 🙄🙄🙄🙄#LGBTQforum https://twitter.com/coreybking/status/1175232716213800966?s=17

    Reply
  21. rikyrah says:
    September 23, 2019 at 6:30 am

    Thread

    Joel D. Anderson (@byjoelanderson) Tweeted:
    old black people can sound incredibly and needlessly paranoid when you’re young. but it all starts to make sense when you hit, like, 30-something. https://twitter.com/byjoelanderson/status/1175815817532858373?s=17

    Reply
  36. rikyrah says:
    September 23, 2019 at 2:48 am

    Good Morning, Everyone 😄😄😄

    Reply

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