These reforms ensure that no one will have to face financial ruin because of high health care costs

[mdmc]

Question: how?
The bill caps out of pocket expenses at $6200.oo
The problem - I am very sick and dont have $6200.oo
I am so sick that I have been prescribed treatment that costs me $520.oo per month (this is doctor co-pays and medication co-pays).
I cannot afford $520.oo per month. I can afford about $140.oo per month tops. And that is with pb&j lunches and salad dinners.
I currently cannot afford the medical treatment that has been prescribed for me.
I go without medical treatment.
Eventually I will be disabled due to this lack of medical treatment.

How does this bill keep me from facing financial ruin? How does it keep me from becoming disabled? How does it increase my access to affordable medical treatment?

Here is where I got my data http://energycommerce.house.gov/Press_111/health_care/districts/new/NY22.Hinchey.pdf

[kenny blankenship]

1. "Waterboarding! A first plank in the strong house of Democracy."

I think I've got the official style down now.

[Cleobulus]

2. Don't expect a straight answer, I haven't gotten one yet. n/t

[mdmc]

3. I finally got it

there is nothing in there for me. If I was able to afford my care, I would get it capped. I can only afford $2000 per year (and that would be very tight for me).

Too bad I am poor and sick. If I was rich I would be able to afford care. If I was healthy I wouldnt need expensive care..

Wish we had single payer, but the corporations wont allow that.. oh well..

[FrenchieCat]

4. It really depends on how much you earn annually and how old you are.

No one here or anywhere for that matter could provide you with answers to your queries if they don't know the particular key data needed to make even a rough calculation.

Kind of like someone wanting to have their taxes done, but not providing their W-2 and pertinent financial and personal info necessary to make even a rough guess.

[mdmc]

7. here is my scene

38 years old
NYS
male
single
earn 37500 per year..
insured through my employer

My doctor has prescribed about $6240.oo in medical treatment. I can afford about $2000.oo per year.
I got my data on the HCR from
http://energycommerce.house.gov/Press_111/health_care/districts/new/NY22.Hinchey.pdf

[Hello_Kitty]

13. Since you have no kids you'll get very little sympathy on DU.

Childless people are viewed as walking wallets to subsidize families. You'll be told you're "rich" and to stop whining and being "selfish".

[bornskeptic]

15. The out-of-pocket max is irrelevant with your expenses.

Insurance with a 70% actuarial value would typically have something like a $1000 deductible and 30% coinsurance, so your out-of-pocket costs would probably come to somewhere around $2600 annually, or about $220 a month.

[Cleobulus]

16. How is the out of pocket max irrelevent if you max it out in a year? n/t

[Cleobulus]

10. People still haven't given me a straight answer even with that information given...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7940916

[NC_Nurse]

5. Maybe you'd qualify for Medicaid.

[FrenchieCat]

6. The only hint is that mdmc says he's poor......

so it depends on what poor in this case means in dollar terms, I guess.

[Hello_Kitty]

14. He didn't say he was poor. He said he didn't have an extra 6 grand lying around.

Most of us don't.

[FrenchieCat]

19. He wrote.....Too bad I am poor and sick.

:shrug:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=433&topic_id=227815&mesg_id=227847

[Hello_Kitty]

20. I guess he's too poor for the health care he needs, pre or post "reform". eom

[mdmc]

23. too poor for "for profit health insurance" / cant access treatment

I spelled out my scene for ya but ya know the bill has no way of reducing my medical treatment costs..

[mdmc]

8. If I become disabled I will be eligable

I am still working and not yet disabled..

[Hello_Kitty]

12. Only after he's become unable to work. eom

[depakid]

9. The authors of the Harvard medical bankruptcy studies note that the bill will have little effect

on the rate of medical bankruptcies in the United States.

[mdmc]

11. cutting medical cost is going to be very difficult

I don't see how it is gonna happen..

[depakid]

17. Since the legislation doesn't even attempt to deal with the root causes of the problem

it will only get worse.

Insurers are parasites that suck resources out of the system without adding efficiency or value. Moreover, due to the incentives that will be put in place for individuals and businesses, the pressure will militate toward less coverage at higher (sometimes subsidized) prices.

[Imajika]

18. These reforms are a start...

We have to start somewhere. It is better than nothing. It's a bigger step forward than anything we've done in decades where health care is concerned.

This will help a lot of people, but won't save or make life better for everyone. Wish we could help everyone right now, but it's just not possible.

It is what it is. It's all we could get this time around. Look at this centrist reform package STILL struggling to get votes in an overwhelmingly Democratic congress. Obama, Pelosi and Reid are having to pull out all the stops just to get this extremely moderate bit of reform done and it's taken damn near 1 1/2 years

I am sorry to hear about your medical issues, and sadly, perhaps this reform may not help you too terribly much. But it will help a lot of people as the bill ramps up, and it is the basis for additional reforms. This is like a framework that other pieces of reform of can be built around.

[Hello_Kitty]

22. This is the best we can get, with a Dem President and majorities in both houses.

Yet it can be improved later because...well...just because.

[ChiciB1]

21. Anyone Think There Will Be A Run On Disability Claims That Will

hit the roof?? If HCR doesn't kick in until 2014, seems like even with lawyers involved a person "might" make it in time!!

Could be a LOT of happy lawyers in the future, but who knows!