Republicans Ready to Repeal and Repla... Well, Repeal Obamacare

@comp_atkins: All of those groups have multiple other platforms in which they make money. They would have been far more profitable if it weren't for the Affordable Care Act. Lets just look at the ACA numbers, which will tell you why they left in the first place.


- HUM lost nearly $1 billion in its ACA exchange business in 2015


- AET lost $350 million in its ACA exchange business in 2015


- UNH lost $720 million in its ACA exchange business in 2015

Many even predicted these losses could have doubled in the coming year if they did not substantially reduce their role in the exchanges. Why? Healthy, younger Americans were not enough to balance out the older, less healthy folks making claims since the ACA took effect. Insurance companies set their premiums far too low based on optimistic projections of enrollees. Also hospitals and 3rd party companies that provide healthcare equipment and services have been forced to pay additional taxes and fees to balance the costs. This has caused things like pay freezes, staff cuts and made it impossible for hospitals to update their ageing facilities and equipment. I see/live this everyday being in healthcare myself.

to be clear, they are allowing the ACA to, as they say, "sunset". That is while they do not have a replacement, and while they are going to repeal it, it will not be taken out of action. So it will still remain in effect.

So, as is customary with Republicans, they have done nothing and managed to waste money while trying to save it.

Trump's expertise of healthcare continues to show. Not only will he repeal the ACA and replace it with nothing. Making a bad situation worse. But following this,

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/trump-meets-anti-vaccine-activist-after-raising-fringe-theory-trail-n705296

And then followed by a prominent anti-vaxxer supposedly getting chair in a vaccine related commitee. This is beyond disturbing.

The ACA act put an increased emphasis on preventative care, and even required non ACA plans to do the same. Increasing coverage for visits to primary care physicians in order to encourage people to get regular checkups. The intention was to reduce the number of people getting hospitalized down the road because they couldn't afford the non-emergency doctor visits.

Basically, the ACA actually did what you just suggested it should have done.

I mean, it's unfortunate that they were loosing money on ACA marketplaces, but like the other poster showed, they were still making a ton of money overall. That's kind of how private insurance works. You loose money on people who get sick, but pool it in with healthy people to make up for it. If making less profits, but still massive profits is considered failure, that says to me that private sector thinking doesn't mix well with medicine.

Yes, what you quoted was my response to what the replacement of the ACA should include.

He knows. He's saying the ACA already incorporates those aspects.

Which is the conundrum the GOP is in right now. They've been stating it's terrible and needs to be replaced. but the problem is that the ACA was built on their own proposals. It is, quite literally, the market based healthcare reform they championed for years as an alternative to a single payer or public option system, and now they they've painted that reform as a socialist takeover of the healthcare system they have no other significant options.

That's why they were touting the repeal and delay tactic. Unfortunately Trump didn't get the memo and insisted today that he wants both the repeal and the replacement to occur ASAP.

What does this mean for the price of of my medication and doctors visits? They've been almost entirely covered by my insurance since obamacare took effect.

@mattbbpl: Thanks, I couldn't have said it better.

For the near future, it will most likely stay the same. Insurers won't make any major changes to policies until they know for sure what Trumpcare will look like. It could be a while before that coalesces into something clear cut. After that, it's kind of up to them. Some will roll back coverage for particular medications and treatments quickly, others will see the benefit of encouraging regular doctor visits and keep plans fairly similar.

Nothing will change for at least a year.