EDIT: I answered my own question about this. Apparently "US Citizens Living Abroad" is one of the exemptions to the mandate/rule. So nevermind the below.

As a US citizen living outside the US, one thing that concerns me is the health care / insurance mandate and penalties.

I live in Thailand, and have health insurance through the nearly-universal Thai healthcare system because I have a job that pays in to it. On top of that, I have insurance through a private insurer based in the UK.

The Thai system is really good. A few years ago, I had something like 5 episodes of tonsillitis in one year, and my doc told me that I should consider getting a tonsillectomy. I opted to go for it, and the Thai govt. insurance paid for the entire operation except for about $30 that I had to pay myself because I opted to stay in a private, air conditioned room for a recovery night instead of the busy public ward. Other than that, it cost me absolutely nothing.

The private insurer I have is for any travel outside Thailand and backup purposes; it has a higher max payout and would allow for more optional treatments to major things. I haven't made any claims against it so far, but it is a nice safety net. The only downside to it is that it works "around the world*" (*except in the US, because that system is so f*&^ed up they wash their hands of it). So, on the rare occasions where I make a trip back home to the US, I'm technically uninsured.

Signing up for Obamacare would be pretty pointless for me. I've been in Thailand for about 10 years, and during that time I've been back to the US only twice for a sum total of about a month and a half. But technically, it seems that I may be subject to penalties since I don't have any US insurance coverage. No idea if there are exceptions for expats or not.

Thailand's national debt is $147B USD.

And the US national debt is 16.3 trillion. Relevant?

I'd be the last person to hold up Thailand as a shining beacon of a country doing things right in general ... but when it comes to health care I figure I'm better off here than at home.

It's working for me. My daughter was born with a preexisting condition. If Obamacare hadn't changed the way those insurance situations were handled I'd be homeless and my daughter would probably be dead.

The total for the bills after she got out of the hospital was $~750,000

Who could live with that kind of debt hanging over their heads without it turning their lives into complete shit besides the super rich is beyond me.

Damn, sad to hear that. I hope you're daughter is okay.

This is the kind of thing that is always one of the most important to me when I just hear the term Obamacare: pre-existing conditions.

To me that's one aspect that overrules most any other: People in desperate need of medical coverage can no longer be turned away and left for dead.

It always amazes me how politicians can get people to vote against their own interests. All you really have to do is push a few well-oiled buttons and people will cut off their nose to spite their face just to avoid being labelled.

"Universal healthcare? Are you a socialist? Vote for me and I'll make sure that massive insurance companies can keep fucking you over"

"What do you mean you think the NSA is going too far? Are you a terrorist? Vote for me and I'll make sure we can spy on you as much as we want"

"Climate change? Are you some kind of hippie? Vote for me and I will let companies and countries line up to skull fuck the planet"

I am truly glad for your situation.

My sister was paying 500$/mo in premiums since she has Crohn's. When she went to sign up for an equivalent new policy when all this started her premium went up to 1600$/mo.
Due to her age she just ended up signing up for medicare.

Your situation worked out and my sisters isnt.
There are still winners and losers under Obama care.

Wait...please explain how your sisters situation not working out? She was paying $500 a month, now she pays nothing and CAN'T be refused if her policy lapses (which now can't happen). If Medicare doesn't cover everything her original plan did, she could buy a supplemental plan that would for way less than $500 a month.
I agree there are winners and losers in the plan, but that sounds like a winner to me.
Every gripe I've ever heard about the ACA would have been solved 100% by a single payer system for all, Obama's original plan. Too bad that failed to be even considered.

Technically the gripes would have just changed focus. Our government would screw up a single payer system just as much, if not more. If you don't think so, point out one government assistance program that is working correctly and not dragging us further into debt.

You do realise that socialised healthcare works pretty well in the rest of the developed world, right?
It's not perfect, but it's significantly better than the disaster that is the US health system.

Or is it just that you feel the US government are uniquely incompetent?

Any person who believes in or supports a system where you pay far more for a far inferior product is a moron. End of story. People can wave the catchphrases around as much as they like, but that is fucking stupidity. In which case, "socialism" is the opposite of stupidity, even in socialist lite countries like Australia.

My father in law is having 2 femoral bypass surgeries in the next 2 months. Completely free, air conditioned 2 bed room, free medication (oxycodone for the win), free at home post op care visits, very little waiting (isn't an emergency but is urgent enough to not be considered elective). Great surgeons and other staff. Food still sucks (it's a hospital of course), but if that's the worst complaint that can be made about the system that costs 7% less of GDP than the US and freely hands out so very much more, I know what I would choose...

BK33, does your sister receive free or reduced cost care under medicare? If so, the system has worked for her. She can now put those premiums towards other costs, or savings for retirement or w/e she wants to. It might not be optimal, but it's a far sight better than close to 20k a year...

I want to know how long it takes this guy to edit his videos.

Your last sentence sums it up pretty well. Given the opportunity, we would screw it up beyond recognition.

I was wondering the same thing. I think he just hits pause, moves his chair, hits record, and starts talking again.

Federal Rebates for Home Solar Systems.

Moving to a government plan is always a poorer plan.
Government controlled anything is always worse than capitalism.

Fully single payer plan is the VA system. I've been going to the VA for over 20 years. They are always inundated with patients. The buildings are outdated. And all are aware of the recent utter failure of delaying seeing patients for over a year and letting them die. The VA should be the shining example of single payer but its is the rotten apple down to its core.

To rely on government is a bad thing. Yes it will work for some but not all.

If the government wanted to cover the uncovered they could have done so with out affecting the current system.

So we'll assume yes, she now pays nothing, can't be refused, but somehow in your mind she's in a worse position than spending $500 per month and having no security that she won't be refused next month by a corporation that fights her on every penny they have to pay out.

No, the VA is NOT the same thing as 'single payer'....it's a separate medical system designed solely for veterans and their specific range of issues, which is consistently intentionally severely under funded by the same people who claim to have nothing but love for the military because 'national debt'...but that doesn't matter when the issue is wasting $billions-trillions on unwanted military equipment.

So, you wish to completely disband the military, Interstate Highway department, police, homeland security, interstate communications, internet, electricity, and water systems because relying on the government is a bad thing, eh? No? You socialist commie!

Obviously your last statement is completely wrong, that was the point of and reason for the ACA, and even it fails to cover everyone. The only way to cover everyone is to actually cover everyone.

You once again completely ignore your previous failed argument and move on to your next argument when called out. That's getting old, and is indicative of your having absolutely no strength of your convictions IMO. I'm not sure why you say these things if you can't stand behind any of them.

This is depressing to read. It is under the watch of capitalism that we have been led directly over a cliff into the financial crisis that did and still is causing untold harm to ordinary working people across the globe. It has all but destroyed a number of nations who are teetering on the edge of annihilation.

I can't understand your reasoning. The capitalism experiment has been done, and it has shown itself to have failed and let everyone down, starting with the most vulnerable.

China is the most successful nation on this planet right now, even the most die hard murrican patriot must accept that fact. They are COMMUNIST, and they are doing better than the rest of us put together. How long can you sit, neck deep in water, still insisting that the boat isn't sinking?

Now tell me, Picard.... how many lights do you see?

Technically I think the gripes would not have just changed focus, since the real focus of negativity is the president that suggested the system.

newt,

Paying $500/mo and getting what you want/afford is not the same as getting what we say you can have. Your such a stooge.

Why would anyone want to rely of government if they don't have to? I was taught better than that. Obviously you don't have any self pride or dignity. Your such a stooge.

In essence the VA is a single payer system. The government pays. Not the Veterans. Your such a stooge.

Blah Blah .. military, Interstate Highway department, police,, Public utilities. All proper Government functions , Granted they are slow, inefficient, for good reasons, as intended by the founders. Your such a stooge.

ACA still doesn't cover all. But will penalize and imprison those who fail ( or cant ) pay premiums. Yea for total government control..Hand over total control of you life to them. Your such a stooge.

Once again you prove that Your such a stooge.


Your friend,
bk33

Ok you can un-friend me.

It's "you're such a stooge" not "your".

Your lack of education is showing. The rest of your drivel isn't worth replying to.

Not everyone who dislikes ACA also dislikes Obama. I voted for him the first time because I got caught up in his message of change, but then I voted against him the second time because he isn't anything more than every other slick politician.

I don't care about his race and I've never cared about the whole citizen only thing for president. If the best person is from another country, why not vote for them?

True enough, I was generalizing.

I'm pretty much the same, except I didn't vote for him the first time around, I think I voted green party (but honestly can't recall). I have been sorely disappointed in his ability to get things done, and more so in his insistence at 'compromising' with republicans, when they don't even know the meaning of the word, much less how to practice it.
If he had pushed single payer for all through when he had the majority, I might have voted for him the second round, but instead he completely caved and gave us a 1/2 assed flawed plan to 'satisfy' republicans, and we know how satisfied they remain.

So I'm not really a 'fan' of the ACA either, but I do think it's way better than what came before it. I wouldn't discard the 'working' for a future 'impossible perfection' that won't ever come...EDIT: and certainly not for the duplicitous, expensive, unaccountable insurance system we had before the ACA...now it's just expensive.

Bob
If you insist on and/or only have the ability of simply making nothing more than poorly worded, poorly spelled, poorly thought out, unimaginative, ad-hom insults, I'll just report you and have you removed rather than ignore you. Others shouldn't have to suffer your infantile actions, and your behavior is specifically disallowed in the site rules, and the clear 'punishment' is permanent removal from the site. Is that what you're looking for?

Grow up NOW...this is your final warning from me on this topic. I won't suffer aggressive insulting fools any longer.

Your self contradictory post content was not worth replying to, so little actual thought there, and even less fact. I'll just let you stay wrong.
I'll be watching you
Newt

How can America call itself a civilised nation if this is how it treats it's needy? As an outsider it's great to see the success of Obama care. The way America treats it's citizens seems bizarre. Paid maternity anyone? Very strange.

@everyone
Part of the reason, I should point out, that her care cost so much is because we don't have enough government intrusion @bobknight33

When I look at the bill for her formula for example, it apparently cost my insurance company $750 to buy one can of formula (in bulk, mind you) when I can walk down to Walgreen's and get the same can for $20~.
It's truly baffling and if requested I can post pictures.


Why is this? It has to do with insurance companies and negotiations about prices through the hospital. Those prices should be capped with a law, but they aren't.

Thank you to everyone for your kind words. She's doing well and just had a first birthday, but we have 3 appointments a week and another few here and there that each have their own $$$ amount attached. I REALLY would be in the streets if we had to pay for all of this alone. Even if they didn't drop us because of the pre-existing condition, she's reaching what would have been her cap for care of 1 million dollars. Obamacare did away with those too. :-)

Thanks Obama!

You rely on the government for national defense, you idiot. You know why? Because in the real world you can't defend yourself from foreign armies and terrorists. You depend upon the police for protection no matter how many guns you might have.

Where the disconnect here is the idiotic notion that we don't need government for things like health care regulation. The reality is ACA didn't just come out of the blue. It came from an obvious systemic problem within the overwhelmingly market controlled system.

You can keep mindlessly babbling all you want that government intervention is always bad, but that is turning an idiotically blind eye to basic US history, where there are ridiculous number of examples the government getting involved to effectively regulate industries are undeniably good, like the Meat Inspection Act, Food and Drug Administration, making it illegal to put lead in paint, regulations for car safety, regulations on buildings so you can't for example put asbestos in the walls, requiring labels on food so you know what ingredients are in them, so you could avoid nuts if you have a deadly nut allergy.

You know why? Because, despite your delusions, you can't inspect all your food, wear a mask when you walk into every building you go into to protect from asbestos, know that the tires you are buying don't have an excessively high chance of blowing off your car and killing you, ensure the air you breathe doesn't have too much lead in it, etc. etc. etc.

You're dependent on the government for all that, and it has massively improved your quality of life, and it has nothing to do with your self pride or dignity, so cut the utter bullcrap.

You dumb like newtboy.

Heathcare was free market before the war. Employers started to add it as a benefit to attract workers during the war.

Government oversight from gross market abuse is fine. But the government has been grossly overreaching its powers over the the last 50 years or so.

ACA is a perfect example of gross overreach.

Heathcare is not market controlled - government regulations have driven costs up over the last decades.

I work at many hospitals and a new outpatient clinic was opened and was dead empty - It had been opened for few months. I talked to the administrator and she indicated that many more patients are paying cash and not using insurance. I asked if they market their prices. She indicated that it was illegal to do that.

If pricing was posted and advertise and peopled started paying directly with only using insurance for the big stuff then competition would come in and drive costs down. Government does not drive down costs or wring out excess capacity.

Quit being delusional with government control as a utopia for all.

If you don't me on this site then why don't you leave? Is this a Liberal only site ( well is sorta is )? You want some one else to carry your water in this matter? If you if you don't like me then don't respond to me.


Liberalism is open minded unless you disagree with them then they will turn on you with knifes blazing.

I live in America and stand for the Constitution. Every American should.


Democrats stand for murder, perversion and debauchery.
Republican are not far behind and also corrupt. They are just democrat light.

Democrats denounced GOD at their last election party platform. So much for being tolerant.

If I were a Liberal / Democrat I would be ashamed. But Democrats and Liberals have no shame .


I'll be watching you.

You make words like caveman!

YOU are the one being asinineningly stupid with ideologically rigid statements that simply do not match historical fact. I don't consider governmental involvement in society inherently good or bad. It can hurt; it can help. I never claimed any utopia whenever government gets involved. There are no easy answers. You said the private sector is ALWAYS better. That is absolutely ridiculous, and easily refutable.

You just said before that if you are dependent on government, than you have no self pride, and weren't brought up well. So I blew that idiotic argument out of the water by simply proving how you are dependent on government. Now you change your thesis to this chestnut - it's only good for government to do anything if it corrects a horrific problem within the private sector.

And this is also total utter complete bullcrap.

Tell me - what change in the last 150 years made the biggest change in literacy rates in the US? Compulsory education laws in conjunction with the formation of the public school system. Absolutely, without question, this is the case. You can complain all you want about the public school system today, but there is no denying the impact they had on making society more skilled and knowledgeable, and they were governmental institutions by enlarge, and still are today. This came about during the banning of child labor, but it goes well beyond outlawing gross negligence in the private sector, yet, it was absolutely a big net positive for society.

See? It's really not hard to find examples to kill delusions formed by ideological rigidness. You just have to not be so insanely blind, that you miss obvious historical examples of these kinds of things.

And once again, I NEVER said governmental intervention is always good. You however DID say that private sector solutions are always better, when they clearly aren't always better, and that anyone who depends on the government for anything lacks self pride.

And you're dead wrong. Even your analysis of the ACA is idiotic. If Obamacare is government overreach, and government overreach is what causes prices to go up, why then did cost increases slow as ACA came online? Why do so many countries with larger government overreach in the form of universal single payer health care have lower costs than we do? Mind you that I am NOT saying their health systems are better, but it's an absolute fact they cost less than ours.

You're full of crap!

Where do you come up with this crap?

Democrats did not denounce God. WTF lol

You also don't unilaterally decide what is and isn't constitutional, nor do you get to claim your side has exclusive rights as the constitution defenders. You get that, right? Of course not.

Neither the Democrats nor Republicans stand for murder, perversion, and debauchery. Wow!

There are corrupt politicians in both parties. There is also systemic corruption within our political system that should be addressed. There's no question about that.

But wow, are you sure the tin foil you're putting around your head isn't laced with lead?!

That's about the level of insanity, discourse, and command of english I've come to expect from your posts.
No point disputing every thing you've said (although it would be easy). You'll just move on to more insulting, and more completely wrong insanity in your next post. You don't even realize you completely contradict yourself, do you?
It must be a scary world you live in, where evil, godless, America hating 'liberals' have the majority in this country (by your definition of 'liberal' they are about 75%...and the other 1 in 4 is the insane 25% of people). You and the remaining 25% better move on, or you'll have to live under liberal tyranny. I'll chip in for your one way ticket.

@bobknight33 said: You dumb like newtboy.

You were clearly warned, and I didn't have to watch long. That's another double ad-hom attack. I'll be reporting you now.
Because you seem to read so poorly, I'll explain again, I don't want you gone, I want you to act within the rules we agree to if we use the site. Because you can't, and you're as insulting as you can be consistently, I'll be sending these to the admins. Enjoy that.