Will You Benefit Directly?

Nope, not in the least. I'll still be paying for my health care and more in taxes for other's health care.

I may not, but my BIL probably will. He developed ulcerative colitis at the age of 14 and almost died. He's doing well, now, but this is a condition that requires yearly scoping, monitoring, etc. to catch potential cancer.

No!!! Because my hubby is a small business owner we have private insurance and because of this terrible law our rates have skyrocketed....$2k a month.... & No just because he is a business owner we are not wealthy.....I don't owe anyone else a break or O. red cent more than I already pay. I agree that everyone should be able to gain access to healthcare but not because of my hard work. I'd like to know when my family will benefit LOL!

Yes, I will benefit, when everyone is required to have insurance and when there is a way for me to be part of a larger pool of people buying a policy. If you have a car, you are required to have car insurance - if you have a body you will now be required to have medical insurance - makes perfect sense to me.

I buy private individual insurance. I'm a soon to be 50 year-old woman. Right now, insurance companies can descriminate against women, especially older women in pricing. (The fact that we have "female parts" is seen as a pre-existing condition). I see more options in my future with the new laws.

My son will be able to keep coverage. He is only 11 now but he does have a pre-existing condition. If I lose my job, then if I do not have something to cover within 63 days, an insurance company can refuse to cover due to his condition for 6-12 months and I would still be paying the premium until he can be covered. And private insurance would outright refuse to even consider granting coverage. Also, the lifetime max for some children with a lifetime condition can be eaten up very quickly. My son's is $2 milllion but with hospital visits, expensive meds that are covered as major medical, regular doctor visits, possible ER visits, it can be gone in a snap. I could be considered pre-existing due to some infertility issues and treatments I went through. I don't agree on the required insurance purchase or else part thing though. If you cannot afford insurance and refuse to do something else, then you need to work with a doctor's office to pay the bills.

Everyone should benefit in the long run by everyone having insurance. So, yes, our family will benefit directly by people without insurance using public funded ERs.

Yes. I have pre-existing conditions and could never qualify for health insurance on my own. In fact, the only person in our family who could get independent insurance right now is our four-year-old daughter because she has no pre-existing conditions. Fortunate to have a group plan right now, but it's wonderful knowing I'll never have to deal with rejection letters ever again from insurers. Not quite as good as socialized medicine in countries like Sweden, but it's better than no improvements.

I have a cousin who's unemployed and can't afford outrageous health insurance rates who will now be covered. I have a friend who's self-employed with pre-existing conditions who will also now have access to care. Our daughter's former daycare provider will also be able to have health insurance.

My boyfriend will benefit when the new, lower cost options come into place. It would be nice to actually send him to a doctor when he gets sick.

I do want to comment though that unlike what people think, this is not a true socialist, government run healthcare program. There are things that I disagree with, but really, I wish people knew the difference. True medicare and medicaid is a true government run healthcare program and yet people would be throwing a fit if they got rid of that (and lately even those programs can't fall in that category as states have been contracting with other agencies to administer the programs). This is seperate as insurance companies are not going to dismantle and healthcare will be run entirely by the government, making doctors government employees. I don't think it's a perfect plan, but really, don't call it something it's not.

Oh, and part of me believes that insurance rates are currently rising not because of this program, but because they can blame the program for it. Insurance companies are still O. of the most profitable industries in the US, and just watch their profits be even larger this next year after they con us all into believing that healthcare reform caused us to pay more. Really, they are just greedy. But, I digress.

Nobody is being denied coverage for pre-existing.... they are just charged much more because they are a higher risk, or they are excluded for that particular problem. That's how insurance works, really. If you are a bad driver, you pay more for insurance. If you are unhealthy, same thing.

My personal premiums have jumped recently, and I co-own a small company whose premiums also have skyrocketed. It's making it very difficult to continue to pay for insurance for employees. Our agent advised us that it's BECAUSE of the new health care initiatives that premiums are going up. Also, I'm considering increasing my deductible and changing insurance for myself because of my increasing rates.

So the new initiatives have done squat for me, and will only make it worse for me and for my company to provide insurance at reasonable rates. All this "government sponsored" healthcare is BS. It's going to fall on the backs of companies and the middle class. Some companies can afford this. Mine cannot.

My taxes have also increased this year (personal and corporate). So while I'm more than happy to help out poor people in need, I'm extremely unhappy with healthcare funding in general right now. As always, the middle class takes it in the rear. Somebody has to pay for all this "free" stuff. And that would be me.

I have O. child with a rare and exspensive to treat medical condition. So my answer is...maybe.

Currently, it's a non-issue for us either way; I have good insurance through work. But if he needs treatment into adulthood and/or if he ends up with Cigna insurance as an adult (with its "lifetime maximum" costs for an individual), then it could mean the difference between him having or not having insurance.

Hi Denise, yes, I MAY benefit directly by a socialist syle national halth plan. It depends.....
if I am legally required to buy quality health insurance for which the premiums are....say $100 a month, this would be a GREAT benefit to me.
If I am a criminal because I cannot afford to buy the insurance available to me because it's $1000 a month, then, NO it will NOT benefit me.

I have a close eye on the White House with regard to this issue.

I lost my health insurance in my divorce. I've been a SAHM for nearly 20 years. I have two teenagers at home and am not ready to go back to work full time (considering the salary I might make will not supercede the fact that I'd have to leave the kids alone in the house for many many hours)

My household income is WAY WAY higher than the minimum required for Medicaid, I also would not qualify for NYS program for families since I have to report my SO's income, which then puts me WAY over the minimum again. I have looked into many other private options, all of which are out of my price range.

I agree with your previous post that we are all individually responsible for our own health care. Therefore, I just don't seek health care, since I cannot afford to pay for it out of pocket.

I will of course eventually be working again full time, meanwhile there is nothing I can do.

And yes, I DO have O. in college who is covered by his father's insurance until the age of 21, as the other two will be also.

And interesting side point....if I choose to marry my SO, I WILL be covered by his employer insurance, however my kids will no longer qualify for their Pell Grants which they get for college (the oldest has a $5000 a year Pell Grant towards his tuition) since they have to report Step Parent income on their FAFSA forms.

And will you PLEASE stop posting such important questions and getting such fascinating responses because I REALLY REALLY need to vacuum and get dinner started!!!!

:)

Yes. I am very blessed that my husband has very good insurance through his work, but my brother, who has been unable to get insurance, will benefit!

My best friend's husband will also benefit. He has epilepsy and has been "uninsurable" since he graduated from college (before then, he was on his parents' plan). In response to Patty K., they couldn't have afforded considerably higher insurance rates, but it didn't matter. None of the insurance providers were willing to offer them insurance, even at impossible rates. My friend and her husband repeatably received only rejection when they tried to purchase insurance. Perhaps insurers stated they would insure people who paid higher rates...but they didn't stand by that when my friend was applying.

UPDATED: Just wanted to add that while I know nothing about European health care, I spent several years in Japan, which has awesome government-run health insurance, much like the proposed (but rejected) public option. I used it regularly, and was always pleased. So I have hope.

No. My healthcare coverage costs and deductibles are going up considerably. It is not benefitting our family at all. My parents and my brother are small business owners, and it is hurting them considerably.

my mother will get health care now, she had the pre-existing condition of being a breast cancer survivor, so she couldnt get insurance before. They were having a hard time getting my 13 year old brother health insurance also, due to his pre-existing asthma.

No, I won’t benefit directly, but I think we’ll all benefit indirectly. I believe health care is a human right and that a humane society, which we claim to be, should do anything possible to ensure that all of its citizens have access to decent medical care. So having a system where everyone has access to healthcare is not socialist, simply being civilized and humane. Furthermore, costs may increase in some aspects, but they will decrease in others, such as ER costs by uninsured individuals, who often wait until the last hour to seek treatment because they cannot afford it. And if people could have more access to preventative care (well-baby checks, annual physicals, etc. which most who don’t have insurance can’t afford), overall costs would go down because people would be healthier.

And as a side note, not directly related to the question, but the issue of doctors going out of business - perhaps if doctors didn’t have to accrue hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans, they wouldn’t have to be paid as much as they are currently.

We have had socialized healthcare in the UK for 50 years, I worked for the NHS for 12 years, and I have to say it was great, you never had to worry about paying coz it was all FREE!!
My mother had 2 years of cancer treatment, operations chemo, nursing etc, FREE!
So to the person who said the healthcare system does not work in europe is wrong, it works, its free, and its great!

No, no O. from my family will benefit. We will, however, pay more in taxes (as if we don't already), and we will have to wait for hours to see a doctor or a specialist. I grew up in socialist country. I tell you what. The only time we went to the doctor is when we knew it was either go (and wait 8-10 hours to be seen) or die a painful death. I don't recall when I had ever been to the doctor while growing up. My mom was an herb person. She had tea for everything. I had the flu many times and was miserable recovering but never saw a doctor. I had chicken pox, then the disease that causes red spots (don't know what it's called in English), had endometriosis for years but never saw a doctor. It was not worth it. You got stuck in a small waiting room with hundreds of people, doctors frustrated, not really paying attention to your symptoms because they had to go through patients.
What I am wondering is how will the doctors' be paid? In true socialist system, doctors are government employees. So not really a lucrative position.
Anyway, I dread what will happen. For sure, the current healthcare system is not good, but what is being proposed is not good either. And I do not want to see higher taxes.

No O. well really benefit. People with pre-existing conditions could alwyas
get insurance, you would just pay more. Have a daughter with juvenile
diabetes. We checked. 32 more million people will have insurance and
no more docs to treat. When you add 32 million on someone has to pay
for it; that will be us. My daughters insurance went up $250.00 a month
(she is self-employed). The wait to see docs will be incredibly long.
Medicare is being cut by 500 million (that is 1/2 billion) dollars. You know
that will impact the elderly. So important studies will be rationed because
they are expensive. Everyone states you need car insurance so why are
people complaining. If you chose to get a car, you need to get car ins.
If you do not want to buy ins. you do not buy a car. As far as the 26 yo
who can stay on your insurance; let me state if I have a 26 yo who wants
to be on my insurance, trust me he will need insurance. So as you can see
I feel the Obamacare needs to be revised.

My answer is no my family will not benefit from it at all. Europe has tried this healthcare that Obama has jammed down our throats and it is a complete failure over there. What makes him think it'll work here? If you think the insurance companies already dictate what procedure you can and can't have just wait. You will now have the gov't doing that. If you think the wait at the dr's office is long now, you have no idea. My mom worked for a doctors office and with all the regulations and the amount of money that the new healthcare reform will pay the doctors it will be almost impossible for a lot of the doctors to stay in business. If you are familiar with medicaid, the doctors are only paid a small fraction by medicaid for their services and this is what this new healthcare will be like. So not only are we going to provide all this healthcare for everyone there will be a shortage in doctors. So much for the healthcare that everyone will get. As you can tell, I am totally againist this healthcare reform. As many has mentioned below, this healthcare will also hurt the small businesses and it will hurt the middle class as well. There are reports coming out stating that these promises are nothing but lies. Here's an example of O.: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/01/26/medicare-actua...#

If he's going to want to regulate our healthcare, what's next???? If you pay attention, our freedom is slowly being chipped away.....

I find it funny that those that 'would' stand to benefit from this plan, those with pre-existing and previously uninsurable conditions, are NOT signing up for this. Enrollment in most parts of the country is WAY down from what they predicted. Some believe that this is a foreshadowing of how this new plan will play out as all elements kick in.

Yes Denise, you are right. I've never seen so much misinformation on a subject in my life. I work with insurance companies on a daily basis so I actually do know something about how the system works. I would love to know where someone with cancer as their pre-existing condition can buy a private health insurance policy? Insurance companies will no longer write policies with a medical exclusion. The system works great when you are young and healthy, but not so well when you are not. I don't know what the answer is, but the current system is definately not working.

Absolutely no benefit. My co-pays went up, so now we think twice even going to the doctor. And the thought of needing a surgery terrifies me (because of co-pays). The premiums went up too - so we pay more money for less coverage.
The costs of health care are high because people use Emergency and hospital services too much and the Emergency or hospitals cannot turn away the uninsured so they end up giving up free care (because no O. pays the bill) this gets transfered to those who can pay by increasing our cost of care.
Even with availability of preventive care people do not use it properly and do not follow doctor's advices and the US population in generaly is obese and not sporty or healh oriented. So no initiative can help here. Unless the people will take their health matters in their own hands. Or somebody will start measuring people's waists like in Japan (but, Oh! that cannot be acceptable in America because we are free to get as obese as we want and the health care is our right but we carry no responsibility).
Also, as someone said correctly, the biggest cost for doctors - their insurance premiums. And for someone to suggest to pay doctors less??? Do you have any idea how many years they put into study and training? They deserve the pay. In Europe where the doctor's pay is capped no O. is going into medicine - they import doctors from poorer countries.
Yes, in some european countries the health care is free.... but these same europeans coming to Chech Republic, Hungary, Brazil, China.. etc. for health care so they do not have to wait for procedures in lines at home or because the quality is better.
And guess what? The goverment wants to provide health care even though the companies cannot? So the companies will drop all the people, pay the fines(better then paying premiums anyway) and let the goverment shoulder all the health care costs. Who will ultimately pay? Those who can still pay - the shrinking middle class. Those who cannot pay - not paying anyway, even today, they will not pay tomorrow... but they will be telling all of us that health care is their right. But for me it is the privilage now - because I actualy pay for my health care.