Biden Whopper of the Night: ‘Not One Single Person Lost Private Insurance under Obamacare’

 

I expected lies from Biden Thursday night. The guy’s whole career is a fiction. But the line about no one losing their private health insurance was, to me, the whopper of the night. My lovely bride and I lost our private health insurance under Obamacare. So did millions of others.

If you recall, Obamacare regulations required that all insurance policies provide at least a fixed set of coverages. Those included maternity care and pediatric vision and dental care. Surprisingly, as people over 55 with grown children who had their own insurance, our plan did not offer maternity or pediatric coverage. But for the things we needed it offered excellent coverage. No matter, our plan was cancelled.

From Ballotpedia:

  • NBC News reported that between 50 percent and 75 percent of the 14 million who buy individual health insurance would likely receive a cancellation notice over 2014 because their plans did not meet the requirements of the ACA.
  • CBS News reported that more than two million Americans were told they could not renew their insurance policies for 2014.
  • According to NBC News, the Obama administration knew in July 2010 that more than 40 percent to 67 percent of people in the individual market would likely not be able to keep their existing policies.
  • Health policy consultant Robert Laszewski estimated 80 percent of individual insurance buyers would have to find new policies.

In fact, in November 2013, Obama issued an apology to those who lost their health insurance to Obamacare regulations.

The insurance we bought to replace our old plan cost more and covered less of what we actually needed but, by God, if the miracle birth ever happened we’d have maternity care.

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  1. Flicker Coolidge
    Flicker
    @Flicker

    Western Chauvinist (View Comment):

    Flicker (View Comment):

    What gets me about the whole ACA repeal and replace argument is that people alwys ask, But what are you going to replace it with?

    This is a disingenuous misdirection. The medical insurance field worked, and could have used a few basic enhancements by deregulation. Such as the federal government allowing the sale of medical insurance plans across state lines. Tort reform. Offering low premium, high deductible medical insurance for catastrophic medical illnesses and emergencies. Inheritable HSAs. Uncoupling medical insurance from government tax subsidies; that is, making it paid for by the patient rather than offered as a perk of employment which gives employers a tax benefit.

    So medical insurance worked for most people, and could have been made better. Instead of coming up with a replacement plan, as the Democrats have phrased the debate, all we have to do is reinstitute the old system and in part deregulate and detax medical insurance. This will also tend to lower medical prices.

    I think this is what Trump is alluding to in his various plans depending on the SCOTUS ruling.

    Oh, it’s not just Democrat phrasing. I’ve been angry at Republicans for using the “repeal and replace” language from the get-go. Idiots.

    Get the damn government out of our healthcare!

    Yes, i guess I left that unsaid.  My comment was directed toward Republicans who buy into the ‘repeal and replace’ framing.  Trump says that no one will be denied due to preexisting conditions, but after that it looks like he has an a la carte approach to correcting the misadventure of 0bamacare.

    • #31
  2. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Kozak (View Comment):
    Does Biden think people don’t remember that?

    Why should he?  Evidently Biden doesn’t remember that!

    • #32
  3. Kozak Member
    Kozak
    @Kozak

    Front Seat Cat (View Comment):
    . Yes – healthy 20 year olds could get cheap healthcare, but many chose not to and still had to pay the mandate. The older people who need more check ups and good healthcare had un-affordable premiums and less care.

    You have it exactly backwards.

    Before the ACA young people could buy cheap insurance with fairly low deductibles.  Older people with preexisting conditions had to pay higher premiums and usually with higher deductibles and even exclusions.

    The ACA forced “community rating” which made the young and healthy pick up the tab for the others. It also mandated that every policy cover things like fertility services, pediatric dental and drug and alcohol rehab whether you wanted or needed those services or not driving up costs.

    • #33
  4. Headedwest Coolidge
    Headedwest
    @Headedwest

    Kozak (View Comment):

    Before the ACA young people could buy cheap insurance with fairly low deductibles.

    Our son had one of those policies for a few years. He would have to pay most bills, but it protected him in case of a catastrophic illness.

    • #34
  5. Miffed White Male Member
    Miffed White Male
    @MiffedWhiteMale

    Headedwest (View Comment):

    Ekosj (View Comment):

    I’m old enough to remember how health insurance used to work …

    You’d go to the Dr.

    You’d get a bill.
    You’d pay the bill.

    You’d submit all that to the insurance company and they’d reimburse you.

    I’m older than you. When I was a kid in the 1950s, you’d just pay the doctor for a visit. If there was a prescription, you’d pay the pharmacy. All of this was within the means of an ordinary family.

    Health insurance was Blue Cross & Blue Shield. But it was called “hospitalization insurance”. If you had to go to the hospital for treatment Blue Cross paid the hospital and Blue Shield paid the doctors at the hospital. The hospital was where the costs could escalate past what you could pay, so the insurance covered those extreme events.

    The idea that you would have to have insurance to pay the doctor and buy some pills would have confounded my parents.

    In other words, medical insurance used to be “insurance”, something that covered unexpected costs, not routine maintenance.  The way it’s supposed to be. 

    Our health care system would be a lot healthier (no pun intended) and cheaper if we went back to that.

     

    • #35
  6. Miffed White Male Member
    Miffed White Male
    @MiffedWhiteMale

    Headedwest (View Comment):

    Kozak (View Comment):

    Before the ACA young people could buy cheap insurance with fairly low deductibles.

    Our son had one of those policies for a few years. He would have to pay most bills, but it protected him in case of a catastrophic illness.

    Because young people as a group cost almost nothing in the health care system.

    When I was in my twenties I think I saw a doctor twice, aside from routine physicals.  Once when I got the flu, and once when I sprained my ankle playing softball.

     

     

    • #36
  7. Buckpasser Member
    Buckpasser
    @Buckpasser

    Miffed White Male (View Comment):
    In other words, medical insurance used to be “insurance”, something that covered unexpected costs, not routine maintenance. The way it’s supposed to be

    Double plus yes.

    • #37
  8. Chris O. Coolidge
    Chris O.
    @ChrisO

    Susan in Seattle (View Comment):

    I’m self-employed. I lost my health insurance and the doctor I liked under the ‘ACA.’

    Likewise. The ACA priced us out of the market.

    • #38
  9. Clifford A. Brown Member
    Clifford A. Brown
    @CliffordBrown

    Ekosj:

    I expected lies from Biden Thursday night. The guy’s whole career is a fiction. But the line about no one losing their private health insurance was, to me, the whopper of the night. My lovely bride and I lost our private health insurance under Obamacare. So did millions of others.

    If you recall, Obamacare regulations required that all insurance policies provide at least a fixed set of coverages. Those included maternity care and pediatric vision and dental care. Surprisingly, as people over 55 with grown children who had their own insurance, our plan did not offer maternity or pediatric coverage. But for the things we needed it offered excellent coverage. No matter, our plan was cancelled.

    From Ballotpedia:

    • NBC News reported that between 50 percent and 75 percent of the 14 million who buy individual health insurance would likely receive a cancellation notice over 2014 because their plans did not meet the requirements of the ACA.
    • CBS News reported that more than two million Americans were told they could not renew their insurance policies for 2014.
    • According to NBC News, the Obama administration knew in July 2010 that more than 40 percent to 67 percent of people in the individual market would likely not be able to keep their existing policies.
    • Health policy consultant Robert Laszewski estimated 80 percent of individual insurance buyers would have to find new policies.

    In fact, in November 2013, Obama issued an apology to those who lost their health insurance to Obamacare regulations.

    The insurance we bought to replace our old plan cost more and covered less of what we actually needed but, by God, if the miracle birth ever happened we’d have maternity care.

    Everybody knows.

    • #39
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