Forbes article "ways to protect yourself against Obamacare"

[bu villain]

We will all be subjected to it simply because we are in the US and forced to buy insurance. Obviously we are talking on a hypothetical scale right now, but it is already happening with reduced access for medicare/medicaid, it will get worse and be more far reaching when 12mil more people are added to the system.

The lower quality care will start with assembly line style consultations and low waits. When, not if, costs start getting out of control, it will further lower the quality as docs are forced to use cheaper, less aggressive or less efficient methods of diagnosing and treating their patients.

The reason we don't have to wait long now is because there are millions of people who aren't going to the doctor even though they should be. That is worse in my opinion than everyone having to wait for checkups, non lifethreating procedures, etc. The solution is to bring down costs and make it easier to train doctors, not to reduce access to healthcare.

Your average poor person can afford a major medical plan. They just have do decide which luxury item to do away with. Maybe its cigs, maybe its a smart phone, maybe its a new car every 4 years.

I just did a quick search and its possible to get a decent major medical plan for under $100 a month. BCBS offers one with a 2k deductable and an RX plan for about $75.

Yes a major medical plan is affordable for many people but not so much for others. First of all you are quoting a pretty optimal scenario (relatively healthy, young, individual as opposed to older, less healthy, family). The fact is that advertised plans on ehealthsurance.com or similar sites are often not the real cost once the application process is complete and they account for even the most minor health issues. Once you get coverage, that's just the start of your medical payments, not the end. Further, it is only as cheap as it is because people with significant health issues are disqualified from the get go.

There is a very long list of reasons health care is getting more expensive. One of the biggest is under payment for medicare/medicaid. Another is the use of emergency rooms for non emergency care. Neither of which will be improved under Obamacare. One of the articles I linked thinks it will actually get worse.

I agree that Obamacare doesn't do anything for cost. The big win from Obamacare is that preexisting conditions can't be denied. The mandate is an unfortunate necessity (otherwise everyone would sign up for insurance only after getting sick). For that reason alone I am happy Obamacare was passed. Now we need to focus on bringing costs down.