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800,000 Using HealthCare.gov Were Sent Incorrect Tax Data

mpicpp sends this report from the NY Times: About 800,000 taxpayers who enrolled in insurance policies through HealthCare.gov received erroneous tax information from the government, and were urged on Friday to hold off on filing tax returns until the error could be corrected. The Obama administration, under heavy pressure from congressional Democrats, also announced that it would give several million people more time to buy health insurance so they could comply with federal law and avoid tax penalties. The incorrect insurance information is used in computing taxes. Consumers can expect to receive corrected data in the first week of March. With the new data, officials warned, some taxpayers will owe more and some will owe less. Officials said they did not know why the error had occurred.

44 of 211 comments (clear)

  1. News by Orgasmatron · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm tired of all this bad news about Obamacare. Could we maybe just all agree not to talk about it any more until there is some good news to report?

    --
    See that "Preview" button?
    1. Re:News by Dan667 · · Score: 2

      all these people using Obamacare are not being screwed by private healthcare. How's that?

    2. Re:News by halivar · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Oh, no. There were tons of us saying our government could not be trusted with shit this important, and we were right. "But Europe!" they said. Well, we don't have a European government. We have an American government, with all the heft and agility of the Titanic. Crony-capitalism under a veneer of pretend-socialism and you have a recipe for guaranteed disaster. Now, is it the end of the world? Not really, just for the poor marks that bought Marketplace insurance plans.

    3. Re:News by halivar · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Technically, they are. Marketplace insurance is just a private plan with an extra layer of government collusion. Crony-capitalism at its finest.

    4. Re:News by digsbo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You should be modded insightful. The main source of bias in the press is not what's reported, but what's not reported.

    5. Re:News by g0bshiTe · · Score: 2

      Private sector can be punished for improper dealings, politicians can not.

      Think Lerner emails, in the private sector during let's say an audit what would happen if emails were requested and they mysteriously were destroyed due to "hardware failure" of the users drive no less.

      --
      I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
    6. Re:News by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Technically, they are. Marketplace insurance is just a private plan with an extra layer of government collusion. Crony-capitalism at its finest.

      But here's the thing.

      Other countries are somehow managing to give their citizen's healthcare. And Beelzabub hasn't risen to claim their souls.

      We were in a death spiral, positive feedback loop regarding health insurance. As people fell off the bottom rung of the ladder, their healthcare was being provided by the Government anyhow. Small employers health insurance costs were occasionally doubling every year. And if you had a pre-existing condition, you were fucked - and not in th ehappy fun way either. But that's what happens when a lot of people use Emergency Rooms as basic healthcare - it gets billed back to insurers through billiong magic, and we pay for it, but eventually the system collapses as all positive feeback loops do.

      The scary part for those who can't handle the idea of universal healthcare is that this cockamamie system we've implemented is just good enough to work, but tweaking it leads to the inescapable.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    7. Re:News by Albanach · · Score: 3, Insightful

      their premiums more than double thanks to obamacare

      Do you ave any evidence to cite that justifies this as the reason for the increase? Or is it possible their employer saw an opportunity to screw the workforce and blame the President?

      Obamacare did little to change most employer plans, so unless your friends had extremely limited insurance coverage, a > 100% increase seems implausible.

    8. Re:News by halivar · · Score: 2

      In the free market, I am allowed to not purchase products from companies I cannot trust. Or, at least, I could.

    9. Re:News by bondsbw · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Whoa there. Just because we don't want the government running every little detail about our health care, doesn't mean we want anarchy.

      I'll put it the way a friend put it to me: "Regulations aren't bad. Bad regulations are bad." The ACA is a regulation that has good parts but where the bad outweighs the good.

      Not only is it bad, but it's not likely to get better. It was passed in such a polarizing fashion that nobody wants to fix it; the Republicans want nothing except to repeal it completely, and the Democrats feel it is so sacred that it should not be touched.

      --
      All my liberal friends think I'm a conservative, all my conservative friends think I'm a liberal.
    10. Re:News by eepok · · Score: 4, Insightful

      In what universe is this an "insightful" comment. Let's just take it apart:

      "I just don't understand how Slashdot can be flooded with stories of US government incompetence and malfeasance at every level"

      -- That's called bias. Slashdot can be flooded with stories about anything as biased by story submitters. There is no implication that the frequency of stories is directly correlated with the truth or severity of an event. Moreover, can you show that Slashdot is actually "flooded" with stories of government incompetence? How does the frequency of those stories compare to the stories of government competence. Or are stories ever really written about government competence?

      "yet people swear up and down they can be trusted with healthcare"

      -- But they're not entrusted with providing healthcare. The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) is not a healthcare system. It is not a set of hospitals. It does not train or employ doctors or nurses. It's a set of laws that requires actual insurance providers (who in turn employ healthcare providers) to abide by certain standards and creates a mandate that all citizens be enrolled in a qualifying healthcare plan or pay a fine (equal to the cost of enrolling in a qualifying healthcare plan). Setting health and safety standards and fining people for not meeting those standards is directly in line with the role of the US government.

      "Our government is filled with bad and/or stupid people"

      -- Really? And how did you come to that conclusion? Survey? Records analysis? Extreme bias? Who is "our government"? Are you considering just elected and appointed officials? What about day-to-day employees? Secretaries, analysts, programmers, coders, engineers, etc. Are they all bad and stupid as well?

      "The US government does not have your back. Ever."

      -- That's funny, because the various levels of US government has provided me with roads, plumbing, housing, access to safe water, electricity, dial-up and then high-speed internet. The US government made sure I had schooling, food in my belly, a roof over my head, and sufficient health care as a child. The US government paid for a major portion of my college education and made sure that I paid minimal interest on the loans I needed to fill the gap. The US government will also (eventually) help me buy my first home and provide the standards that will require the person selling me the home guarantee the safety of said home. Chances are that it has done all of the same for you.

      If someone fires a gun at my home, guess who will show up to assist in the capture of that person. A government employee.
      If I ever get thrown in jail and need representation despite having no money to pay for representation, guess who will try to protect my rights. A government employee.
      If I find out that a neighbor's child is being abused and I need to get that kid to safety, guess who will be there to help me do so. A government employee.
      If I want to travel from Los Angeles to New York in 5 hours with a near 100% guarantee of my safe transportation, guess who will make that possible. A crap ton of government employees partnering with private industry.

      You say that the US government does not have "your" back. I assert that the only reason most of us have the opportunity to to read or write such comments online so frivolously is the effort of a massive amount of government employees.

      Yes, the US government, from the president to the lowest municipal worker, is massive. Yes, it hemorrhages money at many points because bad people get employed (everywhere). But the only reason that our government is so massive is because you want such an extremely luxurious life and aren't willing to put in all the effort to sort it out yourself.

      Want to try it? Go ahead. Don't use ANY public services. No running water. No roads. No products affected by safety standards or food grown/raised with government-based safety standards. See how long you live and how happy your life is.

    11. Re:News by nobuddy · · Score: 2

      11.7M people who were uninsured now have healthcare coverage.

      Goodbye doughnut hole. Medicare drug plans (Part D of Medicare) stop providing insurance to people after their claims for covered drugs hit a certain level ($2,970 in 2013), and coverage doesn't resume until spending hits another level ($4,750 in 2013). Health care reform is closing this doughnut hole in annual stages, and it will be totally closed by 2020. Savings to Medicare beneficiaries will be in the tens of billions of dollars.

      Free Medicare preventive services. Health care reform greatly expanded the menu of free preventive services to Medicare consumers.

      Free preventive services to all women. Health insurance plans have added eight women's health benefits because of the law, in areas including breastfeeding, contraception, domestic violence, gestational diabetes, HIV screening and counseling, sexual diseases and wellness visits. These benefits are free, meaning they involve no co-payment or co-insurance, and women don't need to meet their plan deductibles to use these free services.

      Pre-existing conditions. No one can be denied health insurance because of a pre-existing medical condition.

      Premium equity. Insurers can't gouge people with pre-existing conditions by forcing them to pay unreasonably high premiums. The law also limits insurers' ability to impose age-related premium increases for private coverage.

      End of pre-existing restrictions on children's access to health insurance. The law has ended insurance denials based on pre-existing conditions for the roughly 20 million children under age 19.

      Adult dependent insurance coverage. Adult children up to age 26 can now continue to get health insurance on their parent's policies.

      Insurance payout limits. The law will end lifetime limits on insurance payouts. It also has been phasing out annual coverage limits, and these are completely outlawed for insurance plans.

      9. Minimum medical loss ratio for insurers. Health insurers must spend at least 85 percent of their premium dollars on health care (80 percent for smaller group plans) or rebate shortfalls to consumers.

      10. New consumer health coverage reports. Consumers have begun receiving a standardized report explaining their health insurance. This seemingly modest accomplishment is actually a big deal. For the first time, different health insurance plans have to present their coverage details in the same format, using the same language. Consumers can now accurately compare different health insurance plans.

      There ya go. The good stuff that the GOP does not want you to know about.

    12. Re:News by TheGratefulNet · · Score: 2

      fallacy of omission, right there.

      probably a few of them would not be ABLE to get ANY healthcare if they had 'pre-existing' conditions. at least they did get rid of that big problem!

      I have a PEC that made it (past tense!) very hard to get private insurance, so this is an issue near and dear to my heart. I know I won't have a low price on my insurance, but I will at least be able to GET SOME AT ALL.

      for those that don't have PEC's, you will never know the pain of being rejected, for no fault of your own, simply because you were unlucky.

      --

      --
      "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
    13. Re:News by nobuddy · · Score: 2, Informative

      Let us all look at this and note-
      THE EMPLOYER MANDATE HAS NOT GONE IN TO EFFECT YET.

      Oops. Looks like your employer decided to screw you and blame it on Obamacare. This has happened a lot. Time to confront your boss, eh?

    14. Re:News by XxtraLarGe · · Score: 5, Insightful

      But that doesn't mean that we are supposed to turn into Somalia.

      I love how the idea of reducing the size of the federal government is always compared to Somalia. Guess what? In addition to a federal government, most people are also under a state, county, and city/township government. Removing power from the federal government isn't going to result in bands of roving warlords and pirates. It would simply shift the balance of services provided from a bloated federal government back to the state & local level, where they belong and people have more opportunity to provide input.

      --
      Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
    15. Re:News by ganjadude · · Score: 3, Insightful

      it only had nothing to do with obamacare if you dont take into consideration the insurance companies making the changes to come into complience with obamacare.

      Just because they dont have to yet, it made more sense to get there sooner instead of later

      --
      have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
    16. Re:News by ganjadude · · Score: 2

      and the only one on that list that is worth anything is the pre-existing conditions. Why could they have not passed a 1 page law that says :"insurance companies cannot discriminate based on medical history"

      thats it, would have cost next to nothing to the people, and would accomplish the only good thing that obamacare has going for it. The rest of your list is fluff

      --
      have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
    17. Re:News by srichard25 · · Score: 2

      Obamacare REQUIRED insurance policies to cover conditions that were not previously required (ex: maternity care for a 60 year old woman). It also forced insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions that weren't covered before. It also forced insurance companies to cover young adults on their parents' policies. All of these policies HAVE gone into effect and have increased premiums.

    18. Re:News by srichard25 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Walmart can't haul me out of my bed in the middle of the night for questioning. Amazon can't use a drone to kill me without due process. Microsoft would get shut down if they spied on people as much as the NSA.

      The government has power over a person's freedom, privacy, and very life. Therefore, they MUST be drastically limited in power and completely transparent in all that they do. The people who founded this country understood that concept.

    19. Re:News by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 2

      It would simply shift the balance of services provided from a bloated federal government back to the state & local level, where they belong and people have more opportunity to provide input.

      Correction: It IS shifting services back to state and local level. The number of State bills to nullify overreaching Federal laws just so far this year is amazing. Many of them passed. And it's only just now really getting started.

      Check out TenthAmendmentCenter.com's bill tracking pages if you haven't already.

  2. Re:thanks by cayenne8 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Thank, Obama!

    You know, I used to warn people against the Govt being so involved with our healthcare. I likened it to putting the DMV in charge of you if you got the flu. The long wait times, the surly and non-helpful govt employees there staring more at the clock than worried about you getting new plates.

    But hell, I will at least admit the DMV does tend to get its mailings out on time and in proper fashion.

    I know its a pipe dream, but I wish we could move the govt (especially the Feds) back more to their constitutionally mandated responsibilities. At the very least, my dealing with them could and should pretty much only be once a year.

    1. Tell me how much tax to pay (simplify this).

    2. Leave me the fuck alone.

    I'd be 101% supportive of my federal overlords if they could just get to this point in their interactions with me. I'll be fine on my own to haggle and negotiate for my jobs, and my bill rates. I'l be happy to manage my own health care, and know what is important to save for (retirement, routine health needs, medical insurance for catastrophic needs, etc).

    I seriously don't need you to play nanny state with me, I don't need you to suck up so much of my money and waste it.

    I don't need you spying on me.

    --
    Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
  3. Amended Returns by dunnomattic · · Score: 2

    I fear this will not end well for those who happened to already file. I have previously dealt directly with the IRS for three filings, two of which were multi-month-long processes. In the worst case, I spent the better part of 13 months corresponding via phone and U.S. Mail regarding an amended return -- they owed me money.

    I'm not sure what percentage of filers end up owing taxes versus owed refunds. I imagine the number is fewer, so perhaps less than 400,000 people were even motivated to file early. But for those that were, I could see the amendment process dragging on until 2016.

    --
    ...when everything is a crime, everyone is a criminal.
  4. Methinks healthcare.gov may need some new staff by NotDrWho · · Score: 2

    They seem to be having some difficulties.

    --
    SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
  5. Re:thanks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    No one is forcing an insurance company to be involved with your healthcare, idiot. Actually, now they are as a result of Obamacare.

  6. Oh darn... by DarkOx · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Obama administration, under heavy pressure from congressional Democrats, also announced that it would give several million people more time to buy health insurance so they could comply with federal law and avoid tax penalties.

    I really hope the King v. Burwell case goes against the government. The executive branch needs to learn they implement the law congress passes not the one they wish congress passes. If Obama and lefties suddenly are not allowed to continue to make up the rules as they go along maybe the other half of America will realize this law for the ill considered, abusive over reach of authority and corporate give away that it is.

    --
    Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
    1. Re:Oh darn... by jratcliffe · · Score: 2

      "The executive branch needs to learn they implement the law congress passes not the one they wish congress passes"

      Except they ARE implementing the law congress passed. Nobody without a prior axe to grind, looking at the law as written, in the context of how and when it was passed, could reach the conclusion that the passage was designed to do what the plaintiffs claim it was. In cases of ambiguity in a specific phrase, the courts are obliged to look at the legislation as a whole and at the context in which it was passed in order to resolve the ambiguity.

    2. Re:Oh darn... by jratcliffe · · Score: 2

      I'm aware of the one Gruber comment. Counterbalancing that is the weight of comments by all the key drafters and authors that this is not what they intended. It's poorly written, no doubt, but it's an incredible stretch to argue that the authors and backers of the law clearly intended to hide away a time bomb within it. Absent clear evidence that they did, the IRS's interpretation of the law looks entirely reasonable and in line with Congressional intent.

  7. Re:thanks by Jawnn · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You are clearly no student of history (like most of the Rand fanboys here on /.) . You have not a clue as to how much better your lot is because of the many things "the government" regulates. No longer can someone sell you "medicine" that is not only ineffective but would stand good chance of hurting or killing you. No longer do a large number of our fellow citizens suffer from food-borne diseases because of shoddy processing and storage practices. And if you think you can negotiate on your own for effective health care coverage, you are clearly ignorant of the realities of that marketplace.

  8. The big picture by sjbe · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Marketplace insurance is just a private plan with an extra layer of government collusion.

    It's a private plan with regulations to keep the price reasonable because it wouldn't be otherwise. Now your ability to get health insurance is not tied to your continued employment. No one should lose health insurance just because they lost a job. Criticize the details all you want but that part of the ACA is unequivocally a Good Thing.

    Crony-capitalism at its finest.

    Since these insurance companies wouldn't insure millions of people at a reasonable price until the government forced the issue it eludes me how this is "crony capitalism". It's not as if the insurance companies were lobbying in favor of insuring poor people.

    1. Re:The big picture by SuperKendall · · Score: 3, Informative

      It's a private plan with regulations to keep the price reasonable because it wouldn't be otherwise.

      Right, that's why a lot of middle class families are now paying more for worse insurance than they were before Obamacare...

      Nice revisionist history there.

      --
      "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    2. Re:The big picture by jratcliffe · · Score: 2

      Since these insurance companies wouldn't insure millions of people at a reasonable price until the government forced the issue

      Also, the government introduced the insurance mandate, thereby sharply reducing the adverse selection problem associated with the individual insurance market.

    3. Re:The big picture by Major+Blud · · Score: 3, Insightful

      "Now your ability to get health insurance is not tied to your continued employment"

      Help me out here, because I really don't understand how it works....but how are you supposed to pay for private health insurance if you lose employment?

      --
      If you post as Anonymous Coward, don't expect a reply.
    4. Re:The big picture by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      B$. My family of 5 coverage was $160 per month, $35 copay, no deductible. Here comes Osamabinladencare, one adult person is now $1200 per month for almost the same coverage, kids are forced to take medi-cal, which is free but will recoup any/all medical bills from my estate. No choice on this, it's this or pay the full outside price which is 10X what it was.

    5. Re:The big picture by ganjadude · · Score: 3, Interesting

      prices go up and obamacare is NOT there to stop or help with that.

      we were told that the avg family would see 2500 a YEAR in savings. when the trust is they are spending about that much more.

      --
      have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
    6. Re:The big picture by tompaulco · · Score: 2

      It's a private plan with regulations to keep the price reasonable because it wouldn't be otherwise.

      Right, because my insurance was going up by 10-15% each year, severely outpacing inflation. But thankfully, Obama put a stop to that with the Obamacare plan, which only made it go up 400% the first year and 25% the next year. Those are the only two years of data points so far. I admit there is every possibility that next year, my insurance could drop by a factor of 6 putting it in line with what my insurance formerly was trending.

      --
      If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
    7. Re:The big picture by gzuckier · · Score: 2

      B$. My family of 5 coverage was $160 per month, $35 copay, no deductible. Here comes Osamabinladencare, one adult person is now $1200 per month for almost the same coverage, kids are forced to take medi-cal, which is free but will recoup any/all medical bills from my estate. No choice on this, it's this or pay the full outside price which is 10X what it was.

      One person, $1200 a month? not including subsidies?
      http://money.cnn.com/infograph...

      --
      Star Trek transporters are just 3d printers.
  9. Regulatory discretion by sjbe · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The executive branch needs to learn they implement the law congress passes not the one they wish congress passes.

    If Congress isn't specific in their statutes then it is to the discretion of the administration how they handle the regulations. Very few laws are passed with enough specificity that the executive branch doesn't have considerable discretion in the interpretation of the statutes.

    If Obama and lefties suddenly are not allowed to continue to make up the rules as they go along maybe the other half of America will realize this law for the ill considered, abusive over reach of authority and corporate give away that it is.

    You're accusing the left of corporate giveaways? Methinks you have the left and right mixed up. Abusive overreach of authority? I direct your attention to the actions of the previous administration, particularly post 9/11.

    1. Re:Regulatory discretion by DarkOx · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You're accusing the left of corporate giveaways? Methinks you have the left and right mixed up.

      No I don't have my left and right confused. I dare say most the GOP is confused about being on the right. Almost all regulation is a form of corporate give away. If it has no other effects, one certain effect is it creates a new barrier to entry in some way. Its a give away to the existing players because it keeps other out.

      Think about this. Do you think it would be easier to setup a new health insurance company in 2015 than it was in 2009? I am not suggesting it was easy in 2009 but its certainly harder now. Who is that good for? -- existing insurers.

      --
      Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
  10. Re:thanks by LWATCDR · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Actually I am a student of history and I am not a Rand fanboy but I did like Fountianhead but I also know that it is fiction.
    Like most things in life it is all a matter or degree.
    The goal of government is to put in just enough regulation to keep a free competitive marketplace that works but so much regulation that it makes doing business a nightmare.
    For example why is crap like Airborne "cold medicine" allowed to be for sale when the label says it does nothing. On the flipside when one of the military services wanted to buy a piece of software I worked on the "bid" came in a 50 pound box.

    --
    See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
  11. Give FIXES, not gripes by Tablizer · · Score: 2

    The reality of healthcare politics is that a majority have and still do want some kind of gov't managed insurance to pool risk. Only about 1/4 want to go back to the way things were before ACA (link below).

    IF a political entity rants to change or repeal it, they need to first specify in detail what to replace it with or change.

    Every known non-trivial change will sock it to one group of people in order to benefit another, and thus wouldn't be an easy sell.

    Griping is easy; presenting viable alternatives is not.

    And each state CAN run it's own exchange site if it doesn't like the federal one.

    http://politicalticker.blogs.c...

  12. Re:thanks by Bengie · · Score: 2

    The average person can't manage their own healthcare. The do so at the detriment of all others. It costs more to not have people on insurance. Ideally, we'd have a national insurance that covered everyone via taxes, but we have a hybrid system. The biggest issues with ideals is that they're not always practical.

    No matter what, we benefit by having more people with quality insurance. Just with the number of reduced trips to the ER for preventable issues, it will pay itself back in spades. Trips to the ER are magnitudes more expensive than going to the doctor for a scheduled appointment.

    the other big issue is that people are worth more than they get paid. A person making $40k/year may be worth over $100k/year to the economy as a whole. If people got paid what their actual value was, there wouldn't be an issue in the first place.

  13. wrong century. Democrats control Seattle 80 years by raymorris · · Score: 4, Informative

    Seattle hasn't had a Republican mayor for about 80 years. The city council is all Democrats except for the one socialist.

    If you don't like the government there - surprise you don't actually like Democrats, regardless of what your govrrnment-school teacher told you.

  14. Re:thanks by circletimessquare · · Score: 2

    so you want people to live shorter more painful lives and the system to cost 10-100x more than countries that handle healthcare responsibly

    the simple truth is healthcare and healthcare insurance is not voluntary. it's mandatory

    because you can spout eloquently all you want about independence and freedom, but you don't understand the subject matter. when you break your arm, you're not shaking it off and going on with your life, you're going to the hospital

    and we're not refusing you if you can't pay, because we're not sociopaths

    and when you can't pay your bill you're shafting us

    being an irresponsible freeloader is the actual real life effect of your uneducated "ideology", not real freedom

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  15. Re:thanks by lsatenstein · · Score: 2

    Thank, Obama!

    You know, I used to warn people against the Govt being so involved with our healthcare. I likened it to putting the DMV in charge of you if you got the flu. The long wait times, the surly and non-helpful govt employees there staring more at the clock than worried about you getting new plates.

    But hell, I will at least admit the DMV does tend to get its mailings out on time and in proper fashion.

    I know its a pipe dream, but I wish we could move the govt (especially the Feds) back more to their constitutionally mandated responsibilities. At the very least, my dealing with them could and should pretty much only be once a year.

    1. Tell me how much tax to pay (simplify this).

    2. Leave me the fuck alone.

    I'd be 101% supportive of my federal overlords if they could just get to this point in their interactions with me. I'll be fine on my own to haggle and negotiate for my jobs, and my bill rates. I'l be happy to manage my own health care, and know what is important to save for (retirement, routine health needs, medical insurance for catastrophic needs, etc).

    I seriously don't need you to play nanny state with me, I don't need you to suck up so much of my money and waste it.

    I don't need you spying on me.

    I live in Quebec Canada and I love our system. It is one reason I would never relocate to the USA. My health care costs me about $100/mo each for my wife and I. My daughter and her husband pay about three thousand in taxes for the two of them and their three kids. And we have a drug plan too. I could go private or public, and chose public. Our plan will never bankrupt me or require me to choose between drugs or food.

    Drugs
    It costs me about $15/mo each for my wife and I plus I get my prescribed drugs at 20% of cost. I can elect to chose generics, if they are available and I do so because it saves me some money. And we have a ceiling on what our drug expenses are, before our copay pay becomes zero.

    My daugher has MS and her drugs are $30,000 per year (not a typo, 30k). Her out of pocket drug cost is the rate / month with $2k per year ceiling, for life.
    Our doctor visits are free, as are prescribed mri scans, xrays, hospital stays. In other words, medicare (single payer system) works.

    We include free ambulance service. And no, unlike the negative antagonistic thinking against affordiable care, people in Canada do not abuse either the medicare, drug plan or ambulance services.

    Dentistry is excluded for children under the age of 8, as are eye exams. Free eye exams and some lenses for seniors who are 65+.

    I will be needing hearing aids within 5 years. Some of my older friends have pacemakers. I believe I have an allowance of $2k for hearing aids. Re pacemakers, the doctor chooses from a list of pacemakers. It and the installation costs the patient a big zero. Included in our public insurance are things like wheel chairs, installation of in-home stair elevators (for those whose bedrooms are on a second floor, and other things that would allow an person/couple to remain autonomous.)

    By the way, more or less the same plan is provided in Europe, Russia, Australia, Mexico, Cuba, Israel, and other places. I know not about your medicaid. Is it similar?

    Lets hope your opting out is worth it. With the rapid changes in technology today and in the future, there is not guarantee you will have a steady job after age 55. There is no guarantee your employer will provide a comprehensive a medical plan if your enrolment in the government plan will cost less for the business. Your life expectancy is today, beyond age 80.

         

    --
    Leslie Satenstein Montreal Quebec Canada