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Re:Why 23andMe Terrifies Health Insurance Companies by jonknee on Wednesday November 27, 2013 @07:01AM (#6807613)
This is just fake posturing by insurance companies, their risk is unchanged in the post-ACA marketplace. Policymakers aren't all stupid, this scenario is exactly why having health insurance is now a requirement. As you noted, it's quite risky to both cover all pre-existing conditions and not have a mandate.
Re:Why 23andMe Terrifies Health Insurance Companies by yummyfajitas on Wednesday November 27, 2013 @07:27AM (#6807679)
Not everyone will buy insurance even with ACA (I don't plan to, now that cat coverage is illegal) and genetic tests can cause people to select Platinum vs Bronze plans (or whatever the exact categories are).
Re:Why 23andMe Terrifies Health Insurance Companies by jonknee on Wednesday November 27, 2013 @08:57AM (#6808018)
It's not perfect yet because true universal coverage was not politically viable (even this giveaway to private companies--formally the GOP's desired solution--was politically unacceptable to the GOP). Choosing plans will happen annually, it doesn't take a genetic test to figure out you'd save money with another plan.

Why aren't you going to get coverage? If you mean catastrophic coverage, the exchanges have them if you are young (under 30) or poor. It's not a terribly smart plan to have now that the other plans are available, but to each his own:

https://www.healthcare.gov/can-i-buy-a-catastrophic-plan/

If you're not poor you really should buy insurance, besides the obvious health benefits you're going to be paying 1% of your household income as a penalty in 2014, 2% in 2015 and 3% after that. Many people would pay more in penalties (and get nothing in return) than they would for getting insurance, it's a no brainer.

Re:Why 23andMe Terrifies Health Insurance Companies by yummyfajitas on Wednesday November 27, 2013 @09:19AM (#6808110)
Your own link shows catastrophic plans are not really catastrophic plans - they cover all sorts of non-catastrophies like preventative care, a therapist, maternity, etc (https://www.healthcare.gov/what-does-marketplace-health-insu...). It's moot since I'm over 30. In any case, I was never able to figure out what insurance would cost me, since the website doesn't work.

Also I only live in the US part of the year, and it's unclear which state I'm even allowed to buy insurance from (I have no US address right now). I'd certainly be paying for months of care I couldn't use since you can't buy month to month.

Lastly my income is low right now since I'm building a startup, so 1% won't hurt me much.

Re:Why 23andMe Terrifies Health Insurance Companies by jonknee on Wednesday November 27, 2013 @10:29AM (#6808541)
> Your own link shows catastrophic plans are not really catastrophic plans - they cover all sorts of non-catastrophies like preventative care, a therapist, maternity, etc

... Only a percentage (60%) and only after you reach the deductible (in my area that's over $6k), which is how these sort of high-deductible plans work (and is what I currently have because that's what was available before the exchanges). Again, from my link:

> A catastrophic plan generally requires you to pay all of your medical costs up to a certain amount, usually several thousand dollars. Costs for essential health benefits over that are generally paid by the insurance company.

Unlike a high-deductible plan that you may have now, the new ones do provide for 3 primary care visits annually as well as preventative care (essentially screenings and vaccines which end up saving everyone money).

> Lastly my income is low right now since I'm building a startup, so 1% won't hurt me much.

Since your income is low you would qualify for a subsidy and likely be able to get insurance for little to no cost. Or you could be bankrupted by some bad luck and pay a penalty for the privilege.