Thank Obamacare for that, and that only kicked in on 2011. Prior to that, insurance recission was a real and pervasive issue for those with preexisting conditions.

You have to wonder how long 'Obamacare' is going to last now with a Republican president, congress and senate...

> You have to wonder how long 'Obamacare' is going to last now with a Republican president, congress and senate...

I don't think the Republicans have enough people in the Senate to block filibusters. So I assume the Democrats will use the filibuster to block repeals of the healthcare law.

NYTimes has an article describing how they can effectively dismantle large portions of Obamacare:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/10/upshot/the-future-of-obama...

Why in the world would the GOP ever leave the filibuster in place? Mitch will remove it at the beginning of the 115th Congress.

Boom. Now Obamacare can be repealed with simple majority. I bet you dollars to donuts that insurance prices, however, will not go back down to pre-Obamacare prices. Because profits.

The fact that prices went up at all shows there is a huge problem. We're already paying more than anyone else in the world, why can't we get something for our money instead of having to pay even more?

Because politicians don't represent you, they represent the people paying their bills.

Sounds simplistic but if you look at the system as a whole, ask who its benefitting the most, doesnt seem to be the electorate.

We have the same problem in the UK, it got us Brexit and you folks Trump.

As Michael Moore said when he predicted a trump win, "It's the biggest fuck you they can send".

To give you an example - my dad had to take 2 boxes of Glivec per month to keep him alive(he was predicted to survive 3-6 months, thanks to Glivec he lived another 8 years). Glivec, last time I checked, is currently 12 thousand dollars a box in US. And sure, most health insurance in US would cover most of that. But if you have to take two $12k boxes per month, and insurer says they will cover $10k per box, you suddenly have to find $4k per month just to buy your life saving medicine. In effect sure, you have insurance, but unless you are rich, you are fucked. The whole idea of deductible on health insurance is pretty much a US-only invention, and it literally kills people who are in theory "covered".

As a fairly young US citizen I'm curious, I thought that most health care plans have an out of pocket maximum that is usually in the low to mid thousands per year. Would this situation not be one that limits the yearly cost that way?

US median individual wage is $39K/yr for males and $26.5K/yr for females [1]. That amounts to an after-total-tax (for a California resident) of $28K/yr for males and $19K/yr for females.

Average rent ranges from $500-$3600/mth though for illustrative purposes (taking into account people in expensive places share) let's use $1K/mth for our hypothetical person. [3]

That leaves you with $16K/yr (male) and $7K/yr (female) for food, transportation and incidental expenses.

Obamacare backed health plans have a maximum out-of-pocket of $7K/yr for individuals.

Yeah, I'd say the median American is pretty much SOL if they get sick even if they have insurance. And those figures don't take into account the price of the insurance itself if your employer elects not to provide it to you.

In the UK your NHS annual out-of-pocket maximum is $0.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_income_in_the_United_...

[2] https://smartasset.com/taxes/california-tax-calculator

[3] http://mentalfloss.com/article/81296/average-cost-one-bedroo...

[4] https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/out-of-pocket-maximum-li...

> website crashes on election n...

US median individual wage is $39K/yr for males and $26.5K/yr for females [1]. That amounts to an after-total-tax (for a California resident) of $28K/yr for males and $19K/yr for females.

The tax calculator you reference includes estimates of sales, property, and fuel taxes (which make up much of the tax total at the incomes here), which are actually rolled into rent, transportation, and general purchases, so you are double counting some expenses.

Ah good catch. Probably still not wildly off for illustrative purposes.

But with such a low income you will receive either a Medi-Cal which is almost free or a substantial government subsidy to pay for your health plan.

Yes under 40k or so income insurance is free with no copay. Varies state by state etc.

Obamacare required all plans to have an out-of-pocket maximum. That may well go away now.

I think the ACA also introduced the out-of-pocket limits.

No the older plans mostly had out-of-pocket limits, too.

At least the standard employment sponsored plans.

Hmmm...perhaps the ACA changed the limits or something.

I thought my first (awful) plan had a benefit limit, as in you're getting a maximum of $1.25M from us, regardless of what happens.

Obamacare added three provisions in particular that affected my family. Annual and lifetime caps on coverage were banned, dropping sick policyholders was banned, and all plans were required to set maximum out-of-pocket costs.

My family has easily hit the pre-Obamacare lifetime coverage limits and fairly frequently would've hit the annual ones. Our $4k out-of-pocket cap saves us from 10-50k in coinsurance/copays depending on the year. As a result, they'd drop us in a heartbeat if they could.

Soon, it looks like they'll be able to.

> "Soon, it looks like they'll be able to."

Based on what? You are just speculating now

Based on Republican control of House, Senate, and White House, their having explicitly stated they'd repeal Obamacare, and the ability to do a lot of damage to the law without risking a filibuster (which they can do away with entirely, incidentally). http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/10/upshot/the-future-of-obama...