The Next President is...

[Seriously]

On 8/3/2017 at 9:14 PM, HossHarris said:

It still bobbles my mind that the republicans, many of whom have been in office for quite a while, didn't have a polished, well thought out, well researched, and ready to go "Obama care repeal" oplan on the shelf. 

I guess I'll continue to vote anti-encumbent ....

Probably because the majority of Americans have a favorable view of the ACA. https://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollster/us-health-bill

[Guardian]

How is that possible?

[HeloDude]

2 hours ago, Seriously said:

Probably because the majority of Americans have a favorable view of the ACA. https://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollster/us-health-bill

The same Huffington Post which gave Hillary a 98% chance in winning the election?  Oh ok...

[matmacwc]

OF the dozen or so people I knew on it, only 1 is left, its damn expensive.  

[17D_guy]

2 hours ago, Guardian said:

How is that possible?

Generally we (military) have a very narrow viewpoint into what a lot of other citizens feel about certain things.  This is further reinforced with choice of news source, and social media's echo chamber.  HOw many people do you know (while active) that had legit non-service related disabilities?  Some of us will, but our culture/environment isn't set up to put us in contact with individuals like that for the majority of 20-40+.

I've married into the only conservative side branch of a VERY liberal family.  Got one bro-in-law who's a union organizer, and 2 bro-in-laws who are legitimate hippies (ugh).  ACA is very favored by most of that side of the family.  Doubly so because they have chronic, genetic diseases that would otherwise keep them in poverty (wife dealt with this) or kill them as children w/o expensive, continuous treatment.  Kids that have it now are doing awesome as adults, very motivated, paying taxes, etc.

 Even my wife who's strongly conservative has seen how it's eased the lives of her family members.  Even my family that isn't military has struggled with healthcare costs and they're all very motivated and educated.  We're in a very unique bubble with how we view healthcare ("free"), doubly so when we retire.

[RTB]

11 minutes ago, 17D_guy said:

Generally we (military) have a very narrow viewpoint into what a lot of other citizens feel about certain things.  This is further reinforced with choice of news source, and social media's echo chamber.  HOw many people do you know (while active) that had legit non-service related disabilities?  Some of us will, but our culture/environment isn't set up to put us in contact with individuals like that for the majority of 20-40+.

I've married into the only conservative side branch of a VERY liberal family.  Got one bro-in-law who's a union organizer, and 2 bro-in-laws who are legitimate hippies (ugh).  ACA is very favored by most of that side of the family.  Doubly so because they have chronic, genetic diseases that would otherwise keep them in poverty (wife dealt with this) or kill them as children w/o expensive, continuous treatment.  Kids that have it now are doing awesome as adults, very motivated, paying taxes, etc.

 Even my wife who's strongly conservative has seen how it's eased the lives of her family members.  Even my family that isn't military has struggled with healthcare costs and they're all very motivated and educated.  We're in a very unique bubble with how we view healthcare ("free"), doubly so when we retire.

Interesting.  That's a perspective I haven't seen at all so good to have as a data point.  During our last assignment, and continuing today (in a town with very few TRICARE folks), I haven't met a single civilian friend, not one, who has had a beneficial or positive experience with ACA.  Most are paying more for less coverage and some have been crushed by skyrocketing premiums.  

[MooseAg03]

My 59 year old mom hasn’t had healthcare for a year. The premiums doubled last Jan and they couldn’t afford them along with the high out of pocket costs. So now she is uninsured and just pays the fine because it is less than the cost of one month of premiums. Now she is playing the odds that nothing serious will happen to her until she’s eligible for Medicare at 65 or something corrects the healthcare market.

[SFG]

3 hours ago, MooseAg03 said:

My 59 year old mom hasn’t had healthcare for a year. The premiums doubled last Jan and they couldn’t afford them along with the high out of pocket costs. So now she is uninsured and just pays the fine because it is less than the cost of one month of premiums. Now she is playing the odds that nothing serious will happen to her until she’s eligible for Medicare at 65 or something corrects the healthcare market.

Know a few like this myself. Sad.

[HU&W]

5 hours ago, MooseAg03 said:

My 59 year old mom hasn’t had healthcare for a year. The premiums doubled last Jan and they couldn’t afford them along with the high out of pocket costs. So now she is uninsured and just pays the fine because it is less than the cost of one month of premiums. Now she is playing the odds that nothing serious will happen to her until she’s eligible for Medicare at 65 or something corrects the healthcare market.

2 same.  My mom was just told she needs skin cancer surgery, but that it could only be scheduled right after the first of the year.   Due to skyrocketing premiums and out of pocket costs, she had already cnx'd her plan effective the end of this month.  She's putting off the surgery until she turns 65 in June.  Our healthcare system is beyond reason and majorly in need of reform.

[17D_guy]

9 hours ago, RTB said:

Interesting.  That's a perspective I haven't seen at all so good to have as a data point.  During our last assignment, and continuing today (in a town with very few TRICARE folks), I haven't met a single civilian friend, not one, who has had a beneficial or positive experience with ACA.  Most are paying more for less coverage and some have been crushed by skyrocketing premiums.  

 

8 hours ago, MooseAg03 said:

My 59 year old mom hasn’t had healthcare for a year. The premiums doubled last Jan and they couldn’t afford them along with the high out of pocket costs. So now she is uninsured and just pays the fine because it is less than the cost of one month of premiums. Now she is playing the odds that nothing serious will happen to her until she’s eligible for Medicare at 65 or something corrects the healthcare market.

Yea, I don't know if it's location that matters some either.  Family is in CA/OR/WA, so they've not taken part in the "Starve the Beast" strategy some of the other states have.  Their states have taken all the Fed money, OR even threw some of it away w/ fraudulent dealing setting up the ACA website that didn't work.  Don't know if that applies in your two areas of experience.

It's strange, but a good balance having that side of the family.

We do need some kind of reform.  Having the government force me to have a transaction with a company is antithetical to freedom and our Constitution.

Edited December 31, 2017 by 17D_guy

[Guest]

Having the government force me to have a transaction with a company is antithetical to freedom and our Constitution.

Like having to use our Citi GTCs!

[Duck]

Like having to use our Citi GTCs!

Which I never do. I always put “zero balance” on the reasoning. I always feel like I win a small part of freedom with every DTS voucher.

[RTB]

9 hours ago, Duck said:

Which I never do. I always put “zero balance” on the reasoning. I always feel like I win a small part of freedom with every DTS voucher.

Well played Duck.  I don't even want to think about how many points I lost by not doing this.

[Guest]

Which I never do. I always put “zero balance” on the reasoning. I always feel like I win a small part of freedom with every DTS voucher.

I’ve done that in the past, but am wary that an overzealous AO or finance troop may whine to my Commander that I’m not complying with mandated use.

[Lord Ratner]

I’ve done that in the past, but am wary that an overzealous AO or finance troop may whine to my Commander that I’m not complying with mandated use.

Which they would be justified in doing. I'm no fan of the GTC, but pilots whining about not getting credit card points from their government funded trips certainly doesn't help support other, actually relevant complaints.

 

[magnetfreezer]

1 hour ago, Lord Ratner said:

Which they would be justified in doing. I'm no fan of the GTC, but pilots whining about not getting credit card points from their government funded trips certainly doesn't help support other, actually relevant complaints.

 

Is a credit rating considered personal property? If so, ordering military personnel to contract with a private company (and put their credit rating on the line for govt expenses) raises some issues. In addition, with your credit score often being lowered for too many accounts open, it could affect their personal credit even if no issues paying it off - any personal finance gurus know the point at which this would occur?

[matmacwc]

Nope, but I do know it takes 4-6 months of no payment to the GTC before it touches your credit if at all.  Saw a dude fight the good fight against the shoe's and DTS, after 5 months they started taking $50 a month out of his paycheck and he owed like $7K, no credit bureau notifications.  Just be friendly with your RA and everything should work out.  YMMV.

Edited December 31, 2017 by matmacwc

[pawnman]

2 hours ago, Lord Ratner said:

Which they would be justified in doing. I'm no fan of the GTC, but pilots whining about not getting credit card points from their government funded trips certainly doesn't help support other, actually relevant complaints.

 

It's not about credit card points.  When there's a delay in my travel voucher paying out, I can pay $50/month to my own credit card company, or dig into the savings and pay the entire GTC immediately.  Given the frequency of voucher shenanigans, I know which one I would prefer.

[Lawman]

Nope, but I do know it takes 4-6 months of no payment to the GTC before it touches your credit if at all.  Saw a dude fight the good fight against the shoe's and DTS, after 5 months they started taking $50 a month out of his paycheck and he owed like $7K, no credit bureau notifications.  Just be friendly with your RA and everything should work out.  YMMV.

It took me 2 years.... no that wasn’t a typo, Years, to get paid for a 6 month TDY that built a 18k dollar balance on my GTC. This night went across 3 commanders and 2 duty stations. In the end Citi and the govt paid me no interest or any kind of compensation for penalties and interests accrued keeping above water and IG could do absolutely nothing about it. This was literally DFAS and DTS playing “Not my problem call the other guy” for 2 years because of how some F’ing shoe clerk chooses to interpret orders.

Citi and the GTC places all of the burden of F ups that are entirely the fault of the bureaucracy on the shoulders of the troops we sent to schools/missions and tell them pay for it via this program. They know it routinely takes months to get people paid, but they are issuing charges and fines like these troops have the money in their pocket the whole time. In doing so citi is making billions (seriously) over the decade long period where they own the contract to facilitate and operate the GTC program. They are nothing more than a predatory lender with connections in congress every time they start to look bad.

[matmacwc]

Did it touch your credit?

[Lawman]

7 hours ago, matmacwc said:

Did it touch your credit?

In 2 ways.

 

1 - Citi bank playing Fukfuk games even with the card placed on “mission critical” status. After that long it doesn’t matter, and even when it popped on the 7th Infantry Division bad boy list, didn’t get me paid any faster.

 

2 - I had thousands of dollars in balances leveraged in top of that on personal credit cards trying to balance all the juggling, awaiting the per diem I wasn’t paid. End total for my TDY was 28 thousand dollars. 18 of that was housing... the other 10 grand was money the Army essentially made me front myself and then not pay back for 2 years after the fact.

This is what happens when you jump COCOMs for a WIAS tasking, that your COCOM doesn’t want to support/pay for, and at the end of your TDY the command you were deployed for is discontinued so there is no full bird or chief of staff to get a memo from for whatever shoe says your orders didn’t authorize X/Y/Z.

That shit show legitimately made me almost get out of the Army, and it was the most rewarding assignment of my career. 

Edited January 1, 2018 by Lawman

[nsplayr]

On 12/30/2017 at 7:23 AM, Seriously said:

Probably because the majority of Americans have a favorable view of the ACA. https://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollster/us-health-bill

 

On 12/30/2017 at 9:49 AM, Guardian said:

How is that possible?

A majority of the people who gained coverage under the ACA did so via the expansion of Medicaid and an uptick in enrollment in Medicaid and CHIP from those previously eligible. And that number would have been even higher had all states expanded Medicaid as was intended when ACA passed.

Medicaid is very popular, with an overall 74% approval rating and majorities of all political stripes support the program. Thinking about the ACA as primarily the individual marketplace exchanges is pretty common, but that's not nearly the most impactful part of the legislation.

I agree, and most Democrats in Congress would agree, that the ACA individual marketplaces aren't working great and could stand to be improved. The plans available on the exchange are often too expensive, especially for people who want to enroll but make enough to not receive subsidies. Then again employer-based health insurance plans are also very expensive and in general the U.S. spend much, much more per capita on health care than any other OECD country with worse-than-OECD-average outcomes across many categories so it's a big, hairy systematic issue that still needs more attention.

The increase in ACA popularity can also be explained by loss aversion. Once the GOP actually had the ability to repeal the ACA (i.e. 20 Jan 17), people started to fear what they might lose or what might change under various repeal-and-replace scenarios. Even if what you have isn't great, the thought of losing it or having it change in some potentially negative way makes you value that thing more.

Edited January 1, 2018 by nsplayr

[nsplayr]

As an additional thought, I also happen to agree that the individual mandate in the ACA was not desirable. I would have preferred that the government offer plans and subsidize employer-based plans that achieved 100% coverage without forcing people to buy a product from a private company. President Obama argued as much when he was a candidate for President in 2007 and 2008, but the realities of legislating and trying to reform the system within the construct of private insurance made the mandate necessary.

The idea behind that aspect of the ACA was that the government could not mandate that insurance companies cover all pre-existing conditions (very popular) without also mandating that everyone buy insurance (not so popular). The first without the second in theory leads to a cost death-spiral where actuaries at the insurance companies have to keep raising rates at extremely high rates since they are covering a sicker and sicker pool of insured people while healthy people go without coverage until they moment  get hurt or sick. That dynamic is also why you have specific enrollment windows in employer-based insurance rather than being able to sign up anytime.

Anyways, IMHO, it's part of the devil's bargain of trying to use market-based reforms for something (health care coverage) that ultimately isn't driven solely by market-based forces. For a lot of health care, you can't as a consumer just choose to do without or shop around a ton, and because of that market forces that normally stabilize prices don't work as well. IMHO other countries have solved this problem better than we have in a variety of different ways and it would be great if we could learn from those examples and adopt system-wide reform that both lowers costs and gets to 100% coverage, which again, many other countries have achieved using different mechanisms. T.R. Reid's The Healing of America is a great read on this topic that I highly recommend.

I'm interested to see what happens now that the individual mandate was repealed but the requirements for covering pre-existing conditions remain in effect. The cynic in me thinks that the point was to cause an ACA cost death-spiral and force Democrats to the table for new health care legislation, and the President has basically implied as much. TBD, hoping for the best, especially for those who rely on the ACA for their health coverage.

Edited January 1, 2018 by nsplayr

[Seriously]

On 12/31/2017 at 1:16 AM, HeloDude said:

The same Huffington Post which gave Hillary a 98% chance in winning the election?  Oh ok...

Didn't even click on the link did you? Sad.

Allow me to help you out. This is a small portion of the polls combined in the graphic. 

It's pretty clear that more Americans favor the ACA than those who do not favor it.

Edited January 2, 2018 by Seriously

[brabus]

What were the demographics of the polls? I'm not a health insurance expert by any means, but from my family's experience, the ACA has fucked over the middle class big time. Examples of that is small business was hurt (e.g. my in-laws had to let their employee count drop because they could not afford ACA mandates) and my parents' premiums and co-pays went up substantially, to the point I think they're very close to being in the same position as some others' family members mentioned above. Even the blue collar world has been affected to some degree (reference less jobs available in my in-law's town).

Now, I do know there are a lot of blue collar/choose to be on welfare types that love ACA (again, referencing my in-law's town). It's damn near free health care for them, why wouldn't they like it? That crowd also doesn't care about less jobs in reality because they're happy to stay on welfare/suck at the government's tit for the rest of their lives.  Bottom line, healthcare is fucked and needs an overhaul, and it blows my mind that anyone in the middle class with sense thinks ACA is the answer.