18 Reasons the Affordable Care Act Is the Greatest Achievement for the Middle Class

[paulo537]

Originally Posted by Riot

The Affordable Care Act instituted consumer protections against price-gouging, one being that insurance companies must spend at least 80% of your insurance premium dollar on actual health care (rather than, oh, golden parachutes and management bonuses).

Oh, my - you are getting a rebate! That is reason to

A) Be happy your insurance company can no longer price-gouge you
B) Hate the law that protects you from price-gouging
C) Get help for the cognitive dissonance - at least you're covered for that now, by law

You seem to think that being in the health insurance business is just a racket for price-gouging, unethical evil doers. If it was so easy, why have all but 5 major comanies stopped writing group health insurance nationwide?

With your logic, we should be surprised that there are not 20 or 30 doing so, like there was 25 years ago.

By the way, there is absolutely nothing in the new law that insurance companies cannot manage. No annual maximums?.... ok, raise rates. No rating up for pre-ex conditions? .... no problem, raise rates. "Free" PReventive Care? ... sure, ... raise rates.

Health insurance rates are going to skyrocket. The pool of all insured people
through commercial carriers is going to deteriorate, health-wise. It has to.

The only question is whether the modest number of positives in the bill outweigh the higher cost for every person who is insured. Maybe that happens.

This is what is happening now:

1. Small Employer (<51 emps) plans will drop like flies. The penalties are just too soft.
2. Nothing has been reformed in health care. Just health care insurance has been reformed.

If you think that increased screening during preventive care and covering the kids until they are closer to an AARP card than their first birthday outweighs the unadressed reasons why HC itself costs so damn much then you should be a very happy person.

If you think insurance companies are shaking with fear at the new law, think again.