The problem with Obamacare is that it doesn't work economically. Health care costs are really huge. And with govt taking over the health insurance industry, dictating what they can charge, who they can cover, and when they can do it, Health Insurance companies are already quitting that business. Since 2008, they jacked up their rates 8 times and the current "high deductible" is meant to get people to voluntarily drop coverage rather than pay it. Especially if you're already healthy.
Obamacare can't work because there are too many people and too high costs. Even if you convince the Immortals (youth from 18-29 with no health problems) they should comply with the law and pay for health insurance, they won't because the tax fine is lower than the Obamacare insurance premiums, by quite a bit. In two years, that fine goes way up and all those Immortals will be angry enough to riot since in this crap economy, the Immortals are getting PT Minimum Wage jobs when they can find a job at all. Most are living with parents or couch surfing with friends. They're under or unemployed and can only deny their situation for so long. When Obamacare starts taking their entire income for health insurance they don't need? Oh hell no. Rioting at worst, voting against Democrats and anti-Democrat grafitti at best. You think the Immortals are annoying now, just wait till they have to pay fines.
And it gets worse. Because govt is now in the business of paying doctors and nurses for healthcare, it is in their interest to regulate their wages, since those are a big part of the costs. They already regulate drug research, having cut off research grants in Obama's first term in 2008, which is why Biotech jobs collapsed and you don't hear about wonder drugs anymore (other than those exotic poisons with 20+ bad side effects). That industry shut down thanks to Obama's big mouth during his first campaign. Drugs were a big cost soo Obama got rid of them. Presumably the number lives not saved was acceptable to his party and administration because the voters also put him back into office. If you're Immortal you don't need wonder drugs to cure your flesh eating bacteria infection or save your grandmother from cancer. So the death rate went up.
Insurance companies were put on notice then, which is why in 2009 they jacked up their rates dramatically and what was commonly a $20 copay to see a doctor suddenly becomes a $1250-4000 deductible, which means costs are out of pocket by the patient until that amount is met. You either want to spend nothing, in which case why pay for premiums at all or quickly reach that deductible so you get actual coverage like you're supposed to. Instead of getting screwed. Immortals can get unlimited texts and 4G data for that cost, and we know what they care about. So costs shifted even more away from the Immortals and onto the older sicker people and premiums went up. Some insurance companies found enrollment dropping over pricing and folded due to lack of business.
More are dropping health insurance under Obamacare laws, because they are mandated to include illogical coverage benefits: like forcing 50 yo men to pay for maternity care. WTF? And women to pay for prostate exams. Women don't have a prostate. WTF? Did anyone in the Obama Administration even check a textbook? Wikipedia has human anatomy info for FREE. Or was this all about Appearing to "do something". To the tune of $1,000,000,000 and counting, to the website company. A company that insists it's not their fault that after 3 years of preparation only 26,000 people have signed up for Obamacare when it needs to handle 300 million. And that's the official govt site. What about those companies trying to comply with this assinine law? 32 million people got their insurance policies cancelled already, in compliance with this Law of The Land.
Realistically, if I was in the Health Insurance business? I would quit. I would close the whole thing down, drop it on Obama's lap, and look into funding black market Concierge clinics for the rich, who would pay for health care with gold. And don't laugh. Those exist. Any clinic that refuses all Federal funding does not have to abide by the absurd Federal regulations forcing them to give care to anyone who walks in whether they pay or not. The catch is they must refuse Every Single Federal Dollar, at every stage, from every aspect. If you take one dollar, you have to abide by their rules.
Federal hospital mandate rules are a major issue in Southern California since emergency rooms are full of illegals and uninsured who don't pay after treatment and so hospitals CLOSE due to associated bankruptcy. See, the Federal govt MANDATES they care for anybody who walks through the doors but does NOT pay that bill or cover those shortfalls. There is no funding to cover that MANDATE, which is why MANDATES are EVIL. The result in Southern California is most emergency rooms closed due to bankruptcy, meaning victims of accidents or heart attacks often DIE, leading to angry relatives and increased racism in the area. So this Mandate caused death and racism. The eventual result is private emergency rooms that won't let anybody in without the right membership card or gold, and armed guards. This is what best intentions cause. And the poor citizens? They die in the waiting room or going to a hospital further away. Yet another reason to escape places like that.
Now we're in the next stage of Obama's plan. With govt paying for health insurance costs directly by, essentially, driving the insurance companies out of business, they MUST regulate all remaining costs in health insurance because the tepid US economy has no real jobs growth and stagnant or falling wages. It is the worst since Jimmy Carter or even Reagan's bad years. To control costs, his administration must tell nurses what they can be paid. And doctors, too. He's going to regulate wages in all aspects of health care, and it will be lower to make his plan look like it's working, like it saved Americans money even though its been a major disaster. All for the appearance of his "legacy", which so far has raised costs to all Americans and impoverished half the middle class since 2008. Nice going.
I want you to imagine you're considering starting school to become a nurse. An RN. This is a job that typically starts around $80K/year, after at least 2 years of schooling as an LVN, a year or two working, then another 2 years to get your RN education and pass the certification exam, at which point you've got 4 years of student loans to pay off, and medical school is expensive. That's $110K in loans, depending on your school. Not cheap at all. A fully licensed RN needs to be paid well to cover those loan payments and still afford rent, a modest car payment to get to work, food, and the all important malpractice insurance. That's not cheap. Everybody in health care needs that. And some jobs cost a lot more in premiums. Obamacare does not assume those costs or offer malpractice protection. So that's a major deduction out of your paycheck as an RN. On the scale of a car payment or even a mortgage if you're a surgeon or surgical assistant. You have to be paid a lot to cover that otherwise why be in medicine at all?
And that's where it all starts falling apart. Once you tell people what they can make to cover your own failure, you start driving away talent. This is exactly what happened with Air Traffic Controllers strike under Reagan. They were on strike for better wages because the job was killing them or driving them crazy. Reagan fired them, brought in scabs without skill or experience and planes crashed. Nobody goes into air traffic control as a sane career because govt tells them what they're worth and people go nuts doing that job. Medicine has some of the same stresses and costs.
Why go to Medical school and assume debt if you're likely to end up with a Minimum Wage lifestyle you would have if you did nothing but work PT as a Barista instead of Med School? And the Barista can still succeed as a trophy wife rather than assume $110K in debts you'd never pay off when wages falling by Unfunded MANDATE from the president everybody didn't vote for. All to protect his Legacy. Why work hard when you can work PT and do better financially, qualify for free stuff from Obama-stash, and not give up your looks? Duh! Obamacare is a strong argument against medicine as a career.
Congress is allegedly going to vote on dismantling Obamacare in coming days, by re-enabling insurance companies to ignore those strange requirements for Maternity Care coverage for Single Men and Prostate Exams for women. Insurance companies are burned, however, and they have costs associated with the last 3 years of compliance with The Law Of The Land so expect any policies offered to be far more expensive than you paid before.
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