Transcript: Special Statement by me on the Affordable Care Act also known as Obamacare from my Show

[stevenleser]

http://steveleser.blogspot.com/2013/10/special-statement-on-affordable-care.html

Special Statement by me on the Affordable Care Act also known as Obamacare from my Show this week
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/lesersense/2013/10/20/gov-bill-richardson-rep-barbara-lee-and-special-on-obamacare

And now a special brief statement by me on the Affordable Care Act also known as Obamacare.

I’ve been doing a few cable talk shows this past week to talk about the Affordable Care act also known as Obamacare. I’ve noticed that the conservative guests I have been on with have a couple of standard negative talking points that I want to address and in general I want to debunk a lot of the falsehoods going around about this important new program.

First, it’s important to remember at whom the Affordable Care Act is aimed. For 60%-70% of us who are either over 65 and have Medicare, or who have a healthcare plan provided by our employers, the Affordable Care Act barely affects us at all. We won’t see much change beyond free checkups, although that in and of itself saves a fair amount of money per year.

The affordable care act is aimed first of all at those of us under 65 who were not covered by an employer provided health care plan and had trouble affording a health care plan on their own. The vast majority of those folks are lower income people and those with pre-existing conditions or both.

That is why the Affordable care act prevented folks from being excluded from plans for pre-existing conditions and also included premium subsidies for people who make up to 400% of federal poverty level. In other words, if you are a family of:

1 person and make less than $45960
2 people and make less than $62040
3 people and make less than $78120
4 people and make less than $94200
5 people and make less than $110280

You get a subsidy to help pay your premium. The lower your income under the numbers I listed for each family size, the more help you get with your premium.

Now, since the median household income in the US is right around $50,000 a year, you can see from the numbers I just mentioned that well over half of the households in the US, the lowest earning half, would be eligible for substantial subsidies to help pay with their healthcare premiums. For those families earning more than that, a huge percentage, probably 95% or more have one or more adults who get healthcare through their employers and thus would not be buying healthcare through the Obamacare exchanges.

Now that you understand that, let’s look at the numbers that the Heritage Foundation put out. The Heritage Foundation is a conservative think tank that seems devoted to attacking President Obama 24 hours a day 7 days a week. The Heritage Foundation compiled a list of the average premiums under the affordable care act exchanges without subsidies and announced that Obamacare would cost people more money than they were paying before.

Now if you understand what I said just a few moments ago, you know that’s not true. Obamacare is not aimed at higher income households, most of whom don’t need it and will not be buying it because they get health insurance through their employers. Now, there is a small percentage of households where there are one or two adults who are independent contractors earning a lot of money and yes, they will pay more because Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act mandates more and better coverage. It enforces a new standard of better care in health insurance policies.

Still, it’s unfortunate that a fair number of folks in households where the income is greater than 400% of federal poverty level will end up paying more. That’s the main hole in Obamacare. It’s one that could have been fixed in the last two years, if Republicans had been willing to work with the President to improve the bill instead of doing everything possible to kill it. If you are in that category of 400% or greater of federal poverty level and don’t have an employer provided health insurance policy, chances are you might be paying more.

But we are now talking about a very small percentage of people. Remember 60-70% of people are insured through an employer provided plan and most of the folks who are left earn less than median income in the US and will get large subsidies through the Affordable Care Act to get insurance. I’ll talk about Obamacare more in upcoming shows but that, folks, is the no-nonsense truth regarding the Affordable Care Act. Now without delay, here is my interview with the incomparable Bill Richardson...

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/lesersense/2013/10/20/gov-bill-richardson-rep-barbara-lee-and-special-on-obamacare

[Thinkingabout]

1. K & R

Thanks for your post. I realize there are some problems with being able to sign up right now but this will be corrected. I don't have all the proven information but on the Medicare program this is not free and with Social Security on average about $1200 a month and the premium to those on the average is $105 a month. My point is for some folks this is the money they get monthly and they are paying the premium and I would think others should find it is possible to pay similar premiums. I am not complaining about retirees paying this amount. At least retirees has some coverage.

[SharonAnn]

7. Except in states that didn't approve Medicaid expansion, where

people below the poverty level but above their state's current Medicaid level can't get the subsidy. That means that they will have to pay more than people who make more them them, but still low enough to qualify for the subsidy.

It's a special kind of "donut hole". Of course, it;s the fault of the state, but they'll blame it on Obama Care.

[Thinkingabout]

9. I was talking about Medicare but your point is well taken on the medicaid. I hope for

Something similar to Medicare for all, it works quiet well in other countries.

[stevenleser]

12. Actually, there is an easy workaround for that. I plan to talk about it next week. You can estimate

your income for 2014 at just above the poverty level for your household size. They have said they will not come after you if you overestimate your income. Only if you underestimate it substantially.

An individual with a $12,000 estimated income for 2014 for instance would pay $12 a month for a silver plan.

[solarhydrocan]

2. You mentioned the Heritage Foundation but failed to point out

that Obamacare's roots come from the Heritage Foundation

Kind of like when people talk about the Kochs while forgetting that the Kochs funded the DLC

The health insurance mandate in the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is an idea hatched in 1989 by Stuart M. Butler at Heritage in a publication titled "Assuring Affordable Health Care for All Americans".[20] This was also the model for Mitt Romney's health care plan in Massachusetts.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heritage_foundation#Policy_influence

The Rightwing Koch Brothers fund the DLC -- article from '06
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x498414

According to SourceWatch, a project of the Center for Media & Democracy, the brothers are "leading contributors to the Koch family foundations, which supports a network of Conservative organizations and think tanks, including Citizens for a Sound Economy, the Manhattan Institute the Heartland Institute, and the Democratic Leadership Council."

http://www.democrats.com/node/7789

"You can fool some people some times, but you couldn't fool all the people all the time" -- Bob Marley

[stevenleser]

5. Not Obamacare's roots. One small part of the Affordable Care Act seems like it might come from that.

Either way, doesn't have much to do with the thesis of my statement, which was to debunk misstatements currently being made by conservatives about the ACA.

[Thinkingabout]

10. Looks like job security in the coming months. I heard a senior lady complaining just

Shortly after the ACA was passed, "we had good health care system until we got Obamacare" while she was in the waiting room using her Medicare. Of course she was watching FOX at the time.

My friend broke her ankle in France, went to the doctor there, was referred to orthopedic Dr, leg put in cast and out in three hours, took 12 days to get an appointment after returning to the states, now we know where the lines are.

[mrsadm]

3. Me me me me me

Could you please be a little less self promoting?

[stevenleser]

4. Thank you for kicking my OP!

Oh, and welcome to my ignore list! If you don't like my posts you might want to do the same. Of course, since I won't be seeing what you do it wont matter to me either way.

[Demo_Chris]

8. Steve and I disagree about many issues...

--But I suspect we would agree about this: your post was juvenile, mean, and unintentionally ironic.

[mrsadm]

11. No, it was not

I believe in humility.

[okaawhatever]

6. Thanks Steven. Besides the free check-ups isn't there birth control, maternity, mammograms and a

few things that deal with men's cancer? I've had good insurance through a Fortune 500, but i've never had birth control or maternity. Between paying for bc and check-up deductibles, that would save about $1000 per year.

[stevenleser]

13. Yes, you are right. I wanted to go into that more but I didn't have much time for that piece.

I summed it up under "a mandated better standard of care" but those things are true and are important and save a fair amount of money per year.

I've lately been suffering from too much material and not enough time. I guess that means I'm ready to go from a one hour show to a two hour show!