White House: Get ACA Insurance Coverage, Launch Start-Ups

dcblogs writes that the Obama Administration is urging tech entrepreneurs "to sign up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, and said having the coverage will give them the 'freedom and security' to start their own businesses. 'There is strong evidence that when affordable healthcare isn't exclusively tied to employment, in more instances people choose to start their own companies,' wrote White House CTO Todd Park in a post to launch its #GeeksGetCovered campaign. Bruce Bachenheimer, a professor of management at Pace University and director of its Entrepreneurship Lab, said the effort is part of a broader appeal by the White House to get younger and healthier people to sign-up for Obamacare, and is in the same vein as President Obama's recent appearance on Between Two Ferns." Removing the tax structures that make companies by default intermediaries in the provision of health insurance, and allowing more interstate (and international) competition in health finance options would help on that front, too, aside from who's actually footing the insurance bill.

Comments

Re:I went back to corporate America because Obamac

[xxxJonBoyxxx]

>> few hundred bucks a month for health care

You don't have a family with kids..who occasionally get sick and broken bones, do you?

Why is it people utterly ignore history?

[jeff4747]

allowing more interstate (and international) competition in health finance options would help on that front, too

Yeah, how'd that work out for banking? Interstate competition was supposed to do things like drive down credit card interest rates.

Instead, almost every credit card in the US is issued out of Delaware or South Dakota. And interest rates are quite high. Why? Interstate competition also means competition between state legislatures for laws that are most favorable to banks.

So what would happen with interstate health insurance? Legislatures would compete for the most insurance company-friendly laws. Which would be the least consumer-friendly laws.

Re:I went back to corporate America because Obamac

[cayenne8]

$6K/year is about right for real health insurance. What you had previously was "junk insurance" - them paying for and covering the bare minimum. If you were diagnosed with leukemia, your HSA would have been wiped out in the first week and your insurance company would have dropped you as soon as it could legally get away with it. A course of leukemia is going to set them back a cool million bucks, so they'd do ANYTHING they could to retroactively decide you lied on your insurance application and they didn't have to do anything.

Not true, I know how to read for myself my policies. I had the same good coverage for an emergency that I have now on a W2 gig. The chief difference was that I just paid my own way for routine Dr. visits and meds.

Insurance is supposed to be there for EMERGENCIES, not to run you $10 copay for routine Dr. visits. That needs to be something you save and pay for, just like any other necessity of modern life, like utilities, food and gas.

This is the type of policy and situation that is usually perfect for healthy younger folks that don't need tons of coverage for routine things.

Re:I went back to corporate America because Obamac

[zarthrag]

The government doesn't set prices for procedures. The fed could extend the medicare pricing list to everyone instead of having to deal with each insurance company's "negotiated pricing" and arcane "most favored nation" contract rules. Or maybe employers could be required to offer up the cash that would have been spent on the company health plan so you can shop for yourself. Shopping for insurance across state lines would certainly be nice! Also, repealing state regulations that limit the size/capacity of hospitals.

My HSA should stay that way, if it's my money, no one should be able to take it but me! ...Actually, I wish my HSA could be grown and used as some kind of bond-like health insurance that also lowers my own premiums over time.

There are lots of political problems that could be fixed without repealing the ACA. 99% of it is removing greed, the #1 killer in America.

Re:Or Preexisting conditions.

[pnutjam]

I've turned down jobs with small companies because the insurance was enough to wipe out a 20% pay increase, going from a midsize company.

/say yes to single-payer (you would if you saw what the economies of scale allow large companies to pay for insurance)

Re:I went back to corporate America because Obamac

[pnutjam]

So we've got young and middle aged people carrying the burden of health care costs for their elders (been that way as long as I've been alive), the least you can do is kick in for contraceptives and maternity care. It's only fair. It's not like fairness and consideration for others is a cornerstone of a functioning society or anything.

Too many people would rather burn it all down if it isn't done their way, or it benefits people they don't value.

Government is not the root of all evil

[sjbe]

Why would anyone think the Government could run healthcare?

Let's see, maybe because they already do through Medicare and other programs. Maybe because governments around the world do a highly competent job of it for better outcomes and lower cost than we incur in the US. Maybe because reflexively assuming governments are incapable of doing anything well is demonstrably false. Maybe because health insurance is a marketplace that is used by everyone and CANNOT be operated effectively or humanely without government involvement.

Is there any sign of competence or efficiency in Medicare, Medicade, or the VA?

Quite a bit actually. Not saying they don't have their flaws (they do) but they are hardly the debacles you seem to be implying.

There is not one single thing that the Government of the US has ever done more efficiently than the private sector.

What a bunch of crap. There are plenty of things the private sector does an absolutely crap job of. Policing, firefighting, military, infrastructure, medical care for at risk groups (elderly and poor especially), basic research, the judiciary, banking regulation, environmental protection, and quite a bit more. Any time you have a situation where market forces do not work well, the private sector is demonstrably unable to deal with the problem. I'm all for doing as much with the private sector as we can but the argument that the private sector is always better is absurd, wrong and frankly damaging to our society.

Re:Or Preexisting conditions.

[geekoid]

Single payer would be nice. I think we will get there. Sadly there are a lot of people who don't understand economies.

Re:I went back to corporate America because Obamac

[Overzeetop]

I am. Cost me 12% more than last year. Which is about how much my plan went up 3 years ago, and about 4% more than it went up last year. I cover myself, wife, and child.

And you must be the shittiest consultant in the world if a 1% penalty (this year) or a 2.5% penalty (cap, in 3 years) on your AGI will cost you more than losing your consultant income. If you get taxed on $100,000 a year, it will cost you $1000 this year; $2500 next year. If you're not making at least 50% more as a consultant as you do as a grunt, you're doing it wrong.