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Old 10-31-2013, 09:59 PM
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"Another Obamacare Horror Story debunked"

http://www.latimes.com/business/hilt...#axzz2jMHyq100

CNBC ran a piece o' crap horror story and Michael Hiltzik of the LA Times debunked it.
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Old 10-31-2013, 10:20 PM
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Times are still a redirect for me for a while yet.


This one leaves me scratching my head. Fox News?


Quote:
In the interview, CBS' Jan Crawford spoke with 56-year-old Dianne Barrette who said that Obamacare was forcing her to drop her current insurance plan and face huge cost increases.

Fox News host Greta Van Susteren then interviewed the same woman on Tuesday, but this time Barrette's story sounded slightly different. Both Fox News and CBS' interviews come during a time of increased public dissatisfaction as many Americans are now being told that their insurance companies are canceling their coverage, even after President Obama originally said that they would be able to keep their current plans under Obamacare.

But Susteren's interview with Barrette still pointed out a few things right away that CBS left out, including noting that Barrette's current plan offered her very minimal coverage and that her cost increases would not be nearly as high as she had claimed.

“Your $54 a month policy is a pretty, you know, bare bones policy," Susteren said. "Why do you want to keep that one, except for the price? Maybe you can get something better with a subsidy?”

Barrette admitted that she was still "confused" about the terms of her plan.

"Your policy is like, you know, if you are walking across the street and someone runs a red light, you are in deep trouble under your existing policy," Susteren said.

"That is true," Barrette responded.


Susteren then suggested that Barrette might want to look into a "different policy" that was cheaper but offered her greater benefits, to which Barrette responded, "That is something I would like to look into.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/1...n_4177630.html


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Old 10-31-2013, 10:33 PM
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Here you go, Carl.

By Michael Hiltzik
October 30, 2013, 3:26 p.m.

"Deborah Cavallaro is a hard-working real estate agent in the Westchester suburb of Los Angeles who has been featured prominently on a round of news shows lately, talking about how badly Obamacare is going to cost her when her existing plan gets canceled and she has to find a replacement.
She says she's angry at President Obama for having promised that people who like their health plans could keep them, when hers is getting canceled for not meeting Obamacare's standards.
"Please explain to me," she told Maria Bartiromo on CNBC Wednesday, "how my plan is a 'substandard' plan when ... I'd be paying more for the exchange plans than I am currently paying by a wide margin."
Bartiromo didn't take her up on her request. So I will.
The bottom line is that Cavallaro's assertion that "there's nothing affordable about the Affordable Care Act," as she put it Tuesday on NBC Channel 4, is the product of her own misunderstandings, abetted by a passel of uninformed and incurious news reporters.
I talked with Cavallaro, 60, after her CNBC appearance. Let's walk through what she told me.
Her current plan, from Anthem Blue Cross, is a catastrophic coverage plan for which she pays $293 a month as an individual policyholder. It requires her to pay a deductible of $5,000 a year and limits her out-of-pocket costs to $8,500 a year. Her plan also limits her to two doctor visits a year, for which she shoulders a copay of $40 each. After that, she pays the whole cost of subsequent visits.
This fits the very definition of a nonconforming plan under Obamacare. The deductible and out-of-pocket maximums are too high, the provisions for doctor visits too skimpy.
As for a replacement plan, she says she was quoted $478 a month by her insurance broker, but that's a lot more than she'll really be paying. Cavallaro told me she hasn't checked the website of Covered California, the state's health plan exchange, herself. I did so while we talked.
Here's what I found. I won't divulge her current income, which is personal, but this year it qualifies her for a hefty federal premium subsidy.
At her age, she's eligible for a good "silver" plan for $333 a month after the subsidy -- $40 a month more than she's paying now. But the plan is much better than her current plan -- the deductible is $2,000, not $5,000. The maximum out-of-pocket expense is $6,350, not $8,500. Her co-pays would be $45 for a primary care visit and $65 for a specialty visit -- but all visits would be covered, not just two.
Is that better than her current plan? Yes, by a mile.
If she wanted to pay less, Cavallaro could opt for lesser coverage in a "bronze" plan. She could buy one from the California exchange for as little as $194 a month. From Anthem, it's $256, or $444 a year less than she's paying now. That buys her a $5,000 deductible (the same as she's paying today) but the out-of-pocket limit is lower, $6,350. Office visits would be $60 for primary care and $70 for specialties, but again with no limit on the number of visits. Factor in the premium savings, and it's hard to deny that she's still ahead.
Cavallaro told me a couple of things that are worth considering. First, what she likes about her current plan is that she can go to any doctor of her choice and any hospital. That's not entirely true, because her current plan with Anthem does favor a network. Plainly, however, it's broad enough to serve her purposes. She's concerned that the new plans will offer smaller networks, which is probably true, though it's not necessarily true that the new networks will exclude her favorite doctors, hospitals or prescription formularies.
She also mentioned that her annual income fluctuates. It can be substantially lower, or substantially higher, than it is this year. What if next year she earns too much to qualify for the subsidy? Also a fair point -- at her current income, the subsidy is worth more than $200 a month to her. But that's not the same as saying that "there's nothing affordable about the Affordable Care Act," because at her current income, the act is vastly more affordable to her than what she's paying now.
When she told Channel 4 that "for the first time in my whole life, I will be without insurance," it's hard to understand what she was talking about. (Channel 4 didn't ask.) Better plans than she has now are available for her to purchase today, some of them for less money.
The sad truth is that Cavallaro has been very poorly served by the health insurance industry and the news media. It seems that Anthem didn't adequately explain her options for 2014 when it disclosed that her current plan is being canceled. If her insurance brokers told her what she says they did, they failed her. And the reporters who interviewed her without getting all the facts produced inexcusably shoddy work -- from Maria Bartiromo on down. They not only did her a disservice, but failed the rest of us too."
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Old 10-31-2013, 10:40 PM
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Thanks!


Quote:
The sad truth is that Cavallaro has been very poorly served by the health insurance industry and the news media. It seems that Anthem didn't adequately explain her options for 2014 when it disclosed that her current plan is being canceled. If her insurance brokers told her what she says they did, they failed her. And the reporters who interviewed her without getting all the facts produced inexcusably shoddy work -- from Maria Bartiromo on down. They not only did her a disservice, but failed the rest of us too."

QFT



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Old 11-01-2013, 06:44 AM
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How exactly was health insurance so different the automotive? In I carry uninsured/under-insured coverage now due to others not paying their way. Getting the bare minimum coverage, leaving others to pay the way when they can't.

On a side note, my Tparty BNL big talk now is hiding their assets to get free insurance. See's nothing wrong with it. How do you get through to someone willing to even consider saying such nonsense.



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Old 11-01-2013, 06:53 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Oerets View Post
How exactly was health insurance so different the automotive? In I carry uninsured/under-insured coverage now due to others not paying their way. Getting the bare minimum coverage, leaving others to pay the way when they can't.

On a side note, my Tparty BNL big talk now is hiding their assets to get free insurance. See's nothing wrong with it. How do you get through to someone willing to even consider saying such nonsense.



Barney
So he is hiding his assets to get a government subsidy - under a program that he bashes?

Regards,

D-Ray
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Old 11-01-2013, 06:56 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by d-ray657 View Post
So he is hiding his assets to get a government subsidy - under a program that he bashes?

Regards,

D-Ray
I never said getting through to him was easy. Just some people will work harder to get out of something.


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Old 11-01-2013, 07:01 AM
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It all started that night when he informs me a friend of ours has all his assets protected. Can't even be sued everything is in someone else's name. Just how cool is that he believes it to be.

My sister and him own land, property and a business and think hiding will work? Just talk talk talk....



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