Quote:
Originally Posted by Rupert Pupkin
That is correct. Anthem no longer offers the plan I had before. It didn't meet the ACA standards. I think I'm getting a terrible deal. I have a high deductible and Anthem never pays for anything. I don't think they've paid a single penny for any doctor's visits I've made for the last couple of years. I'm spending $4,500 a year for nothing. A couple of times I had some minor running injuries and I needed an MRI. I paid cash. It was much cheaper that way. The only way the insurance will help me is if I get some type of catastrophic illness. I guess the insurance also saves me some money on medication but I'm not on any medication. If I go for a yearly physical it will only save me money if I go with one of their doctors. They don't cover my doctor any more.
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I did some more googling, to try to see how this is the fault of the ACA, and I'm just not seeing it. If this plan predated 2010, which is when the ACA passed, and then continued until the start of this year, that means it was one that was grandfathered in, in which case it was Anthem's choice to stop offering it because it wasn't profitable enough for them. As someone on the political right, I am sure you understand and support their need to make a profit off of you. Anthem could have chosen to offer the plan for as long as they were not raising your premiums a lot, or making severe changes to the plan. If they cancelled the plan now, in 2015, it has nothing to do with the ACA and everything to do with it not being profitable, which they could have chosen to do before ACA, too. Currently, grandfathered plans are being honored through 2017, unless your state has elected to enforce the original 2015 deadline, which is your state's choice, not the ACA's.
If you got this plan after 2010, then it has nothing to do with the ACA because the regulations were already in place, and so it's always complied with the ACA.
As to the premiums, that's because in California, unlike many other states, health insurance companies do not have to get rate increases approved by a government regulator. So, insurance companies in California can raise their fees to whatever they want them to be, and trust in the free market to sort out if they're charging too much. Again, as a right-side guy, I'm sure you support and endorse this business model.
In fact, Proposition 45, which was on California's ballot last year, asked voters to approve appointed a regulator who would have to approve increases in health insurance premiums, and it was voted down, 60 percent to 40. Which way did you vote on it, Rupert? (the health insurance industry spend many millions of dollars to get it voted down).
I know this is long-winded, and not as agreeable as durr Obamacare sux durr, but that's the way it goes when you take time to look into an issue.