If You Were Forced to Buy Healthcare, Would You Be Able to Afford It?

I pay for my health care and my employees' health care now. Under the Affordable Care Act, I will continue to cover myself and my employees. I see it as doing the right thing by the people who work for me.

ETA:
For those who say they can't afford it, the whole purpose of the act is to make health insurance more affordable and to provide a means to the poor to get it. It also provides a means for those with preexisting conditions to get it. Those who currently don't have health care could not afford it _prior to this law_. This law would have enabled them to purchase it (i.e., made it affordable). If portions of the law go away (as seems likely), it is likely that many will continue to not be able to afford it. Which means that I will be covering some of the cost of their health care (since I have insurance).

To LiisaG, the youngest and healthiest should definitely be getting health insurance. Basically what you're advocating is that they don't get insurance when they are young and their health care costs probably cost less than insurance would. You want them to wait until they are older with more medical issues and insurance would cost less than their medical bills. If everyone did this, then insurance would be paying out more than they are taking in, which obviously won't work. That is why everyone, young/old/sick/healthy needs to be in the system. And young adults can have catastrophic events (or even just a broken leg) that would require expensive health care.

Why is there so much misinformation about this act out there?

End of ETA.
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The reason why insurance costs so much is because the hospitals still have to provide medical care to those who have no insurance and have no means to pay. The cost for that medical care then gets incorporated into the medical care costs of those who can pay (e.g., those who have insurance), and the cost for the insurance goes up. Therefore, those with insurance end up paying more because of the folks who don't have insurance.

If everyone had to have healthcare, the overall costs would be spread more evenly (instead of forcing us with insurance to pay for those without insurance) and insurance costs would go down on an individual basis. Admittedly, those who ended up having to pay for their healthcare costs because they then had to buy insurance would be paying more.

There would be options and assistance provided to those on the bottom rungs of the economic ladder to help pay for the insurance. As there should be.

Everyone (yes everyone) will require health care at some point. Therefore, everyone (yes everyone) should be required to pay into the system.

I couldn't get insurance because of my diabetes.

If my wife's job didn't have insurance, I wouldn't have insurance. If Obamacare goes into effect, our taxes would double and then we couldn't afford a home or a car or gas.

If the government can force you to buy health care what will they force you to buy next?

You can't trust the politicians. Not at all. They lie like a rug . . straight and flat out. When they convinced the states to ratify the Constitutional ammendment allowing an income tax, they said those making less than $100,000 per year would never be taxed AND that was in 1913.

When Johnson talked congress into passing the "Great Society" program he promised welfare would never exceed $30,000,000 per YEAR. Now we spend more than that each day.

When FDR talked congress into passing Social Security, he promised the SS taxes would never exceed 2% and it would ONLY be a retirement program. Now we are taxed at over 15% if you are self employed.

And now Obama got Obamacare passed on more lies. Hold on to your wallet, the taxes are coming. We will spend more money than we have or be taxed into such a deep depression that last little depression will feel like Good Times.

Good luck to you and yours.

If you're uninsured and you end up in the county emergency room, can I afford the increase in taxes to pay your hospital bill?

Yes. I don't think we as a society can afford NOT to be covered.

We have insurance through my job, and that would continue, so no change for me.

My understanding is that people who had low incomes (cannot currently afford) would: a) Have more options for affordable care, and the states are going to be setting up some sort of help system to help you identify a good choice for you b) can get subsidies to help them afford insurance c) if they are truly low-income would qualify for medicare (medicaid?) which is now only open to certain classes of people, no matter how low the income

So, the fact that you can't afford your $1500/mo "cobra" insurance doesn't mean that you'd be forced to pay that under "Obamacare." It is primarily designed to help more people get healthcare that they want and need. And if you REALLY just hate the idea of getting heathcare for yourself, you pay a small penalty on your taxes to defray the cost to the rest of us for your eventual hospital visit.

Let's see, we currently spend 5k a year on health insurance. This is through my husband's company.

If this mandate goes through, health insurance should become CHEAPER. In fact, premiums should go down by over 1k a year!
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/insurance/2009-0...

I don't see why I should be penalized by those who don't have insurance. This is a total infringement on MY FREEDOM and rights.

From what I read on this. Those who will be required to pay or penatly are being required to pay next to nothing for coverage. I mean yes if you make 35K and have to pay $200 in health covereage with small co-pay you are no worse off then someone who makes 60K with say $800 mo coverage cost, 3Kdeductable and outrageous co-pays. It's how you budget. I really don't think healthcare should be an option and why healthcare has stayed an "option" longer then car insurance is something I have never understood!

My husband got laid off so we had to get private health insurance. We are paying $250 each month for a family of four (though the price would be the same for any number of kids). Totally worth every penny to me because I think not having insurance is too scary.

Yes, my family already has excellent coverage through the university that employs me and I imagine that will continue. If not, yes, we would be able to pay for it ourselves.

The people that have insurance right now are paying $1k more a year to help pay for those who don't but still visit hospitals. I have a feeling that if preventive care is available for all, people will not put off going to the doctor. When you put off going to the doctor, little things (or curable things if caught early) become costlier.

And 8kidsdad, it is now illegal to deny coverage for pre-existing conditions.

There's a reason I don't have it now.

ETA- We have an emergency fund. If I had to go to the Emergency room, we could pay off our bill very quickly. I don't stick my bills on ANYONE.

The health care we purchased individually is cheaper and better than that "provided" by the company my husband worked for. So we can actually afford it better now than before.

I think it's funny that people assume that 'healthcare for all' translates to 'FREE healthcare for all'...

...and I'm broke as a joke. No, I wouldn't be able to afford it, there's a reason I don't have insurance for myself right now. So if I was forced to have it, I would struggle, and that's the truth.

However, NOT having insurance, I don't have any outstanding medical bills. Why? Because I'm responsible.

I see it like car insurance... here in VA, you HAVE to have insurance. So really, having to HAVE to have medical insurance really isn't so far out there, you know?

That is what I find funny about everyone thinking Obamacare is going to save them, it still isn't free.

Even though I have great insurance it will go up under Obamacare because high deductible insurance plans are a no no under the law. :(

I can afford whatever they throw at me but what about those that have never carried insurance. I worry they will be in for a rude awakening.

Of course if the mandate is thrown out and the rest of the law stands we are really screwed!!! Everyone's insurance will double or triple since those of us dumb enough to carry insurance all the time will be insuring everyone else 100%. :( Pretty much everyone will drop out and then buy insurance only when they need it which is about the dumbest thing I have ever heard but that would be what is left of the law.

We could afford it -- it would stretch us but we could do it -- but couldn't get it due to preexisting conditions (have already been turned down before, so know this for a fact). We need the related provisions of so-called "Obamacare" the most.

Not without my employer subsidizing it, but if I made less and didn't have insurance through work, I would qualify for low-cost insurance through my state's insurance exchange. Health insurance here has been mandated for several years and it seems to be working, at least at the individual and employer level. Whether or not the government subsidies that bring individual insurance down to an affordable level are going to bankrupt the government is another story. My family policy through my employer is about $1700 a month total and I pay $425 of that. A family plan through the state would be about $900 a month without a subsidy (at our current income) but if we were poorer, we would qualify for lower cost insurance. Whether or not an employer offers health insurance is a major factor in where I choose to work. I hope I'm never in the position of not having this benefit subsidized by an employer.

We pay a lot every month for insurance, have high deductibles, semi-decent co-pays and poor coverage. It totally sucks. So, it depends on what mandated healthcare would cost and what it would cover. There SHOULD be a way for everyone to have effective, reliable, affordable and honest healthcare... but it's just another business, isn't it? And besides, taxpayers have to pay other's healthcare... I know I can't afford that if I can barely afford my own.

With the way my premiums and co-pays keep increasing I think it may be cheaper to pay the penalty. Then if I get sick or injured insurance providers will be forced to insure me. What a great system:). Seriously though it looks like Obamacare is going to be declared unconstitutional, so this will be a non-issue.

Hopefully we won't have to worry about this topic. We have insurance from my husband retiring from the military. We pay for that but is inexpensive. I have no idea what the cost would be for our family of 6 so I couldn't tell you if we'd be able to afford it if we were forced to pay.

K. B
mom to 5 including triplets

We are not able to afford for our family to go on my husband's work health plan so my son and I have our own plan. I don't think people realize there are independent plans out there that are very reasonable. We pay only for the coverage we want. E.g., since I no longer have ovaries, I don't pay for any maternity coverage. As I make more money, I have been able to add to my plan and add more coverage, but at least I have always been able to afford the minimum.

With ObamaCare, I don't know how that will change. You hear so many different scenarios since it is so complicated.

One thing I know for sure, there are people who could afford coverage now but don't have it (young adults, for example) because they would rather have a car, phone, internet, etc. I can't blame them. They don't usually have health issues. So they should not be included in the "millions who cannot afford health care."

hmmm, depends on the cost! Right now, for our part of the family premium + monthly RX copays......we're hitting over $1000/month. Our insurance is thru my DH's employer....a very small company which has to fight for decent coverage/premiums every single year. Totally sucks!

Nope I will not be able to afford it.

But I can not afford it now, either.

As it sits right now we are in the middle of filing for Bankruptcy DUE to medical bills.

My hope was to be able to afford some type of healthcare soon. Reality is though my own personal plan is still going to be at it's CHEAPEST $364 a month. with a $10k Deductible. So it truly makes no sense to buy a plan now....When in a year or so I will be forced to buy a plan and hope for a cheaper option.

To add my commentary....I do not think we went far enough with the healthcare issue. I think it was a Fail for not making sure even those who could not afford to be forced to pay still were covered.

This is America............We should not have a third world standard healthcare system. Right now for alot of Americans that is what we have.

When we can not get everyone into a doctor that needs it...Regardless of ability to pay....and I mean more then just ER visits and what not...I mean the whole shabang bang boogy. Well Checks and preventative care......We have failed.

I cant afford to spend money on ins. Whether it is mandated or not. If you dont have it you dont have it. Are they going to pay my trash bill? or Power so I can afford the care?

NO

If they don't put money into free clinics and more low income clinics where the poor can afford to pay for it they are accomplishing NOTHING. Poor people could care less what they do in congress or higher.

If they have no money they do not have money.

I can honestly say that if they don't provide health care for everyone that is either free or very very low cost then there are going to be hundreds of thousands of people dropping dead from the flu, treatable illnesses, cancer, all manner of illnesses.

People who do not currently have health care can not afford to have health care or the would have it.
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I have a very dear friend, one I have made friends with through the store in the past year. She is divorced and in her papers it states "He" must provide full health insurance for her for the remainder of her life. He does this through his work. He pays hundreds of dollars per month for her insurance. It is top dollar insurance.

She works 2 jobs and takes care of their teen son who has severe autism when he is not in school all day, there is one young adult that lives with the dad and one elementary school age child that lives one day with mom and one day with dad.

She works her hiney off. They have joint custody, iron clad, if his job moves him she has to pull up roots and follow along or give up the kids, she does not get child support or spousal support, he gives her nothing for the kids at all.

She drives a vehicle in winter with no working heater and puts blankets on the kids if they are going somewhere across town for anything. She wears thrift store clothes and buys the same type stuff for the kids, she does without anything for herself to buy for the kids. She is a loving caring person.

She got sick last year and finally went to the ER and was diagnosed with Bronchitis. She was called back a day or so later and had to go back...yes, something was bad wrong. She had a growth in her lungs the size of a banana, yes, I said banana. She saved her change for months to be able to pay her $30 co-pay. She took some medicine and the growth went away. It was never considered to be more than something treatable. She could have had something that needed to be surgically removed and would not have been able to be treated. She has some of the best insurance around and cannot use it due to not having money for the co-pay.

We have great insurance. If we had to pay for it, we could.

No, I would not. Which is why so many people have NO insurance, they can't afford the premiums. We are covered by my husbands company--right now--but to afford our premium we had to settle for a high deductible plus we lost our prescription co-pay so we pay full price (or what the insurance covers)which is so much that we've had to stop lots of our meds or switch to $4 ones. Not all our meds were on the $4 so we changed meds on some. They don't work as well but you do what you have to do. To fine someone for not being able to afford the insurance in the 1st place is absurd. And would it be more cost effective for some companies to stop offering insurance and just pay the fine?