You can read more about The Commonwealth Fund report here.
I just wrote about this for C-HIT. I’ll let you know when it runs.
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An acquaintance died last month because while she was working, she didn’t make enough to have insurance coverage and didn’t go for exams which might have discovered the cancer that might then have been treated.
I’m so sorry.
First…I think when referring to the ACA it would be more correct to say “if it becomes fully implemented.”
Second… is there a short answer to “How will the ACA substantially reduce health care cost exposure for all U.S. women by significantly expanding and improving health insurance coverage when there is no proof the ACA can control costs and provide adequate coverage…essential benefits…to meet the needs of currently uninsured women, or anyone for that matter?”
Or do I have to read the whole report.
i’m concerned the Commonwealth Fund makes the same old assumptions in its rush to promote the same political victory reformists and incrementalists have been pushing for the past 4 years:
People who cannot afford insurance now will somehow be able to afford it if the ACA becomes fully implemented.
The Medicaid Expansion will cover those who whose incomes are considered by the government too low to afford the 10-15% of their income to purchase what the government considers to be “adequate” coverage.
And most importantly…It assumes that health insurance is healthcare…which anyone who has had to deal with insurance companies in this broken, fractured commercial healthcare system knows is just not the case.
And I’ll bet my next month’s food allotment there’s not one mention in that report of Single Payer, the only true healthcare reform that provides universal access in a fair and equitable manner with no exclusions, rescissions, or institutionalized discrimination employing complex schemes to ensure profits are delivered before any healthcare is realized.
It probably would be better to read the whole report, but just off the top of my head: Contraceptives, in; gender rating (women being charged more for insurance simply because of their plumbing), out. There’s more to it than that, but there you are.
I am becoming more radicalized in support of The Party’s position on class unity versus identity politics.
Increasing calls by reformists and incrementalists for capitulation by Single Payer advocates in order to “move forward,” and “bury the hatchet” to reinforce Obama’s political victory by ensuring continuing corporate profits, leaving tens of millions Americans waiting for reform that will never come…ain’t helping my attitude one bit.
But I’ll read the report.
But I think I might send you some links on Obamacare and “gender-rating,” (coverage may be mandated by 2017, cost is not), and “age-rating,” (higher premium prices for young and old…disproportionately impacting women, whose incomes and savings are lower due to systematic wage discrimination).
Long story short, I made an appt. for a 5th year colonoscopy after I was laid off but still had Cobra. Then I got a job with benefits but with a 44 hour work week. Eye doctor, fine, cause I can make up 2 or 3 hours, but I don’t yet feel secure enough to ask for a whole day off. So I cancelled, fully intending to reschedule in the fall. Last week received a letter from the doctor himself, whom I have never met, only dealt with the PA, reading, in part, “Failure to keep your appointment could result in potentially serious harm or injury such as worsening of an existing medical condition or complications caused by a failure to obtain timely medical treatment. In some situations, this failure could result in permanent harm or in the case of a potentially fatal condition, even death.” He then threatened to “terminate” our relationship if I didn’t reschedule in a timely fashion.
I realize it’s a cya letter. It might look bad on his record if I suddenly died and his PA was the last person who saw me. But c’mon. If the medical-industrial complex were to design a health care system based on Henry Ford’s assembly line innovations, wouldn’t it look a lot like this? I don’t want to be “terminated” and get a rep as a bad patient, so, I called.
I have never heard of that in my life, a letter like that. Good Lord. I am currently embroiled in an insurance merry-go-round over my knee surgery in May. I do not expect the whole thing to be paid for, but I cannot accept that my insurance company is trying to pay for so little. I would like to move on with my life, but no.
Oh, and to bring it back to the subject at hand, I wonder if people without insurance get even one chance.
Good question. I’m currently in the process of losing a tooth, and I’ve had several office visits where my colleagues don’t appear to have dental insurance. It’s a whole other world out there.
Yes, it is. I spent 2 months researching individual health insurance plans, and it’s like something out of Alice in Wonderland. “Give us your money first, and then we’ll tell if we’ll insure you, what we’ll cover, and how much your premiums will be.” What other industry is allowed to do that??
A right-wing acquaintance sent me (by mistake?) a screed from the NRA about that socialist dictator Obama. Insurance companies are socialism?
Who knew? I need to check my Socialist Manual, or we can just ask Leftover for a ruling. Leftover? Are insurance companies in the Book?
No. Not in a classic sense anyway.
Obama promotes what many call “corporate socialism”…redistributing wealth and its benefits upward into the coffers of big business, banks, financiers and the like…instead of outward to the people who create wealth. (But I doubt that’s what the NRA is talking about.)
So insurance companies are on his list…not ours.
People without insurance get collection notices…if they’re lucky.