Because of this bill, I am unable to earn Fulltime hours with benefits and my husband's insurance is basically only catastrophic insurance (5,000$ deductible. No copay for doctors or prescription drugs.)
However, I am one that can't stand b***ing and whining without any solutions.
So I put a list of together of ways that could improve this bill greatly.
Below are some ideas the Libertarian party as a whole has suggested since the discussion of the ACA as well with a couple of my own.
1. FREE UP THE MARKET FOR INSURANCE:
When the whole Hobby Lobby issue went down a few months ago, I asked my more left wing friends (who approve, still to this day of the ACA) why couldn't some of the employees just shop around on affordablehealthcare.gov for a new plan if the employees didn't like their insurance?
They all told me the same thing:
"Because those plans are too expensive". I was shocked to hear this from some of my friends. I knew this was true before they told me, but to hear it from them who I remember just a couple of years ago, they all posted on their pages "WE NEED TO EMBRACE OBAMACARE!!".
So, one way to make private insurance more affordable would do like what we do with car insurance and open the market of insurance nation wide instead of just sate wide.
For example:
Say you live in California. You need health insurance, but your hours have been cut to part time.
So you look online and look at companies for your state. They are WAY more than what you can afford to pay with very real benefits (say about 12,000$ deductibles with no copays). But then you find a company from Idaho. Premiums are a lot lower and you actually get copays.
You so You call them up and purchase that plan. Other in the state find out about better plans from different states and purchase them and drop their state's insurance. In order to compete, the California plans have to bring down and have to add a few benefits (like copays) to them as well.
There IS a reason why auto insurance can be so affordable, and it's because the market is open for them instead of limited.
2. GET RID OF THE MANDATES:
There is another reason why if you look on healthcare.gov shows you insurances that are so expensive, and it's because of the different mandates that have to be covered. Under the insurance my husband has, he has to be covered for hysterectomies, and when I'm added, I have to be covered for testicular cancer.
Anyone find the humor in this?
Again, I need to make the comparison to auto insurance. When you have a car, you decide with your auto insurance company of how much coverage you want. Shouldn't Health be the same thing.
Another good example can be found here on ReasonTV:
Individuals should be able to discuss with their insurance companies of what they are willing to pay for or not.
My husband and I don't have children so we don't need to worry about pediatricians or OBGYNs right now that we don't need to worry about having that covered right now. But maybe we decide to change that in the next year or two. We should be able to get with our insurance company at least once a year and discuss what coverage we are wanting to add to our plan and pay for coverage we need and drop what we don't need.
3. PUT THE FINES ON A CARD:
This one I highly doubt will ever happen because they fines are not meant to help those who don't have insurance. However, my Dad was telling me that where he works, their plan offer debit like cards for younger, lower income employees to put money on so it builds up and is able to assist with paying Co-pays for doctor visits since their plans don't include them.
So instead of taking money for the lower middle class or lower income individuals, use that money towards doctor and hospital visits instead of them being 50-100$ or more out of their pockets with nothing to show.
These are just some ideas. I haven't met a lot of people who are happy with the current system we have right now. The current ACA in act right now are hated by unions, small business, doctors, and those of us that have been horribly affected by this bill. Even if you don't think it shouldn't be appealed, you have to admit, it needs a MAJOR facelift!
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