Can you afford Obamacare?
"My annual premium will be 3800 to 4k " Oh yeah? The Exchanges aren't even set up yet. Wait till they are and then check again. ##
Obamacare vs employer health insurance?
I was going to sign up for my employers health insurance next month. I work at a library and they have Anthem. I took it out once before and it was very expensive. Since my job is part-time and I had trouble finding a physician who would even accept it, I dropped it and went back to the VA since I'm a veteran. I now have nerve damage from a dental visit which the VA cannot treat and the pain clinic they out-sourced me to first cauterized the nerve and when that failed I had cyber-knife treatment (3 hours of radiation) still with no success. Now people are telling me to hold out until October when Obamacare kicks in to save money as the cost of the Anthem insurance is due to quadruple!? This is so confusing and I really need to find a doctor who can prescribe ongoing pain medication. (The VA has discontinued Oxycontin and replaced it with morphine which does nothing for severe nerve damage.) Thanks for all your answers from an Iraq/Afghanistan veteran.
The pros and cons of Obamacare?
My mom is thinking about signing up for Obamacare so she is able to get the medicine she needs cheaper. She is one of the few exempt from it but she might sign up willingly but I am not sure if I trust Obamacare. I dont know enough about it. What are the pros and cons of Obamacare? And for the love of god dont turn this into a political battle I dont care if you are republican or democrat I dont care. Just answer the question please.
What parts of Obamacare do people find most worrisome?
I find two different things worrisome. The vast amount of misinformation, including that I've read in the answers to this question. The claims made, with no support and no evidence, are tremendous. For example, Congress does have to participate in the exchanges, not receive employer provided health insurance from their large employer (Federal Government) like every large employer must provide. So, they exempted the Federal Government from a portion of the employer mandate, not themselves from participating in the individual mandate or the exchanges. (see Administration moves to limit, but not end, health insurance subsidy for Congress for more info on what Congress did to themselves).My biggest concern is that it is not single-payer. If you really want to bend the cost curve, you would go with single-payer. All the arguments about government rationing health care ignores the fact that currently insurance companies ration health care. Some of the rules of the ACA force insurance companies to stop doing some of the rationing activities (e.g., cover those with pre-existing conditions, remove lifetime caps), but setting deductibles, limiting the number of mental health visits, etc. are all ways that the companies ration health care. It is necessary if we want to bend the cost curve, but none of the ACA provisions really do enough to bend the cost curve. A big way is to eliminate all the administrative paperwork for filing for insurance claims by everyone. It is a total productivity loss for consumers and a huge administrative cost for the doctors. You can do that through single payer. And before someone jumps with the socialist thing, Canada is not a socialist nation and their businessmen think we are crazy (see Canadians don’t understand Ted Cruz’s health-care battle). Given our crazy political process that thrives on invective and rhetoric over facts, I guess the ACA is the best we can get, but I am most worried we don't have single payer (with a private insurance system for people who want "platinum" benefits). But, given where we are, I'd rather have people insured and it is working in Massachusetts without most of the negatives people are claiming. Wherever one stands on the law, I'd suggest folks look at some fact-checkers like A guide to Obamacare claims, pro and con. There is way too much misinformation in this debate.
Why are so many people against Obamacare?
I would like to understand why so many people are against Obamacare. I am guessing Obamacare could help sick people or other people with no ways to pay for health cares. So why do they wanna delay it for a year? Why not give the opportunity to everyone to have better care. This is not a pro Obama question, I just want to understand. I'm from Europe
Why doesn't every other person in the US pursue a medical degree, if this career pays such enormous amounts of money?
Medical school is extremely expensive. You're looking at an investment of about $200,000 in tuition in addition to living expenses over four years which might total $80,000. If you have $280,000 to invest, you're already wealthy and could invest that in something that would earn you more than $50,000 as a resident.Medical school is very time consuming. You might not get in the first year you apply, and when you do eventually get in you spend four years in school and then another 2-5 years in residency. While in residency, you'll be earning about the same amount of money that those with a bachelor's degree earn. Those who spend 1 or 2 years getting their MBA will be making $100,000 - $200,000 (while at the same time possibly working) and those with simply an engineering undergrad degree might be making $100,000+ in select markets such as San Francisco. Those with trade school education could be making as high as $250,000 in very selective markets. Those in mining might be making $100,000 with little-to-no education. Gross salary isn't the best measure of return-on-investment. Doctors typically make around $200,000. You spend four years in medical school while your friend spends four years working. During those four years, your friend might have started out making $40,000 per and climbed his way to $70,000 per year. Next, he goes to get his MBA and 1 year later is making $160,000 as a management consultant. You on the other hand are making $60,000 as a second-year resident with $280,000 in debt; he might have $150,000 in debt. By the time you're making $200,000 he'll probably be making the same. Either of you could make more than the other. A Harvard law grad might be making $160,000 after 3 years while you haven't even finished schooling.Skillsets. People with good soft skills can make a lot of money in sales. People with a balance of soft and hard skills can make it good in business. People with a knack for science and good soft skills can excel in medicine. People just have different skills. People with strong non-quantitative skills can excel in law.Boredom. Medicine is a highly specialized field, particularly at the highest levels of pay unless you go into admin/management. Generally speaking, the business pathway gives you more variability.Selectivity of schools. They purposely limit the amount of people they admit.