Slowly, single payer system is being ushered in.

I am honestly surprised more people aren't moving to cash pay/self insuring. If rates really are over 2k/month as some posters have said, if you are relatively healthy just don't buy insurance. Save that money, invest it in something safe with at least some sort of return, and just pay cash.

Quote:

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What I'm asking is how is the GOP going to fend off the 40-60 million Obamacare users that have seen their rates go through the roof?
The GOP can let Obamacare die. But, they've also said they have a better plan that will fix the system. (Hint- they don't and never did).

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I'm curious the demographic breakdown of the 40 million ACA users, and how they vote. My guess, would be the GOP has run the numbers, and aren't as concerned about it as you'd think.

I kind of agree with your second point. A better plan would cement the GOP's future. But, if a better plan cannot be passed at the moment, that's absolutely not a reason you continue to allow the ACA to be an albatross around the country's neck.

EFR said:

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I am honestly surprised more people aren't moving to cash pay/self insuring. If rates really are over 2k/month as some posters have said, if you are relatively healthy just don't buy insurance. Save that money, invest it in something safe with at least some sort of return, and just pay cash.

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We've looked at that.

But one hospital visit could be astronomically more than what you could possibly save.

If you only ever have minor issues...runny noses and coughs...you're good. End up in the hospital for a day or two...have a heart attack or break a leg...you're going to be in serious debt overnight.

Shooter McGavin said:

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Self employed - my insurance was $1045/month for just me and my wife this past year.

For next year it is $2,022 per month.

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Wow. Just wow.

Right on time:

REMINDER: Trump and Republicans have created a health care crisis in America.

Now, they refuse to do anything to fix their mess.

— House Democrats (@HouseDemocrats) December 11, 2025

Scary part of ACA is how it will effect the non- aca side of the Healthcare system, everyone is going to be impacted by the collapse of ACA.

AgGrad99 said:

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Quote:

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What I'm asking is how is the GOP going to fend off the 40-60 million Obamacare users that have seen their rates go through the roof?
The GOP can let Obamacare die. But, they've also said they have a better plan that will fix the system. (Hint- they don't and never did).

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I'm curious the demographic breakdown of the 40 million ACA users, and how they vote. My guess, would be the GOP has run the numbers, and aren't as concerned about it as you'd think.

I kind of agree with your second point. A better plan would cement the GOP's future. But, if a better plan cannot be passed at the moment, that's absolutely not a reason you continue to allow the ACA to be an albatross around the country's neck.

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This is from Grok, but it has also been reported by WSJ and other media outlets and is why Republicans are worried about the subsidies expiring. It frankly doesn't matter that this is a Democrat initiative at this point.

Obviously, the media outlets quoted below are likely left wing outlets as most are but I do think this is the reality and accounts for why there is risk here for the mid-terms.

Quote:

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Southern & Non-Medicaid Expansion States

Many of the states hit hardest are ones that did not expand Medicaid under the ACA. These states have larger numbers of people who rely on Marketplace plans and subsidies because they don't have an expanded Medicaid safety net. Commonwealth Fund+1

Top states with the biggest projected impacts:

• Texas highest total number of enrollees affected; severe increases in uninsured population and job impacts. Commonwealth Fund+1
• Florida major increases in uninsured rate and premium costs. Commonwealth Fund+1
• Georgia one of the largest projected growths in uninsured people. Commonwealth Fund
• Mississippi very high percentage increase in uninsured rate if subsidies lapse. Urban Institute
• South Carolina large projected coverage losses and premium spikes. Commonwealth Fund
• Tennessee big percentage jump in uninsured rate. Urban Institute
• Alabama significant coverage and economic impacts. Commonwealth Fund
• Louisiana notable share of uninsured increases. Becker's Payer Issues | Payer News
• Kansas & Wyoming added to lists of top states with job and coverage impacts. Commonwealth Fund
• Wisconsin higher reliance on marketplace coverage without Medicaid expansion. Commonwealth Fund

These states together would account for most of the national coverage losses and economic effects if enhanced subsidies expire.

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Good info...but I'd be curious the breakdown on how many of the recipients vote. And if they are voters, how many vote R.

Burpelson said:

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Scary part of ACA is how it will effect the non- aca side of the Healthcare system, everyone is going to be impacted by the collapse of ACA.

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You're right. Especially short-term. I'm hoping ripping the bandaid off won't be too painful.

But before ACA, I had pages and pages of insurance plan options to choose from.

Now? It's simply based on age, and everything is covered whether I need it or not.

I hope options become available again, so I can tailor a plan to my company's needs...rather than paying more than I want. That would be a future impact I'd welcome.

AgGrad99 said:

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EFR said:

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I am honestly surprised more people aren't moving to cash pay/self insuring. If rates really are over 2k/month as some posters have said, if you are relatively healthy just don't buy insurance. Save that money, invest it in something safe with at least some sort of return, and just pay cash.

---

We've looked at that.

But one hospital visit could be astronomically more than what you could possibly save.

If you only ever have minor issues...runny noses and coughs...you're good. End up in the hospital for a day or two...have a heart attack or break a leg...you're going to be in serious debt overnight.

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Yes, and the game between hospitals and insurance is that hospitals overbill and insurance only pays a certain amount and the hospital settles the bill and calls it paid.

What happens when the $100,000 bill comes to you as an individual and the insurance company would have settled it with hospital for $17,500? I feel like as individually insured, they will come after you for closer to the full amount billed.

I saw some crazy sheet when my mom was nearing end of life - bills for hundreds of thousands settled for tens of thousands.

Shooter McGavin said:

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Self employed - my insurance was $1045/month for just me and my wife this past year.

For next year it is $2,022 per month.

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Did you vote for this increase?

AgGrad99 said:

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Good info...but I'd be curious the breakdown on how many of the recipients vote. And if they are voters, how many vote R.

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That I don't know and would be curious to see as well.

I think many people don't realize there are some options out there that are not ACA. I did not until I was forced to figure it out on my own since I'm early retired with no access to corporate insurance nor Medicare.

Insurance brokers do exist in the healthcare space. It's still not cheap but it's better than ACA. I haven't had to use it yet though and it was a gauntlet to get through the application process.

Same. We've used a broker for a while.

I haven't looked into it for a bit, but there used to be medical plans within hospital groups as well. For example, Baylor S&W offered a very reasonable plan in the past, to cover families. You had to use their network, but it wasn't a bad option if you needed coverage.

G Martin 87 said:

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Blaming the GOP for not fixing Obamacare is like blaming the ER physician for not saving a multiple GSW victim that came in DOA.

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Unfortunately that won't stop the MSM from complaining this is all Republicans fault and legions of low information voters will believe them.

They already have. The narrative is already evident in a Google search.

shiftyandquick said:

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Shooter McGavin said:

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Self employed - my insurance was $1045/month for just me and my wife this past year.

For next year it is $2,022 per month.

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Did you vote for this increase?

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I'd be willing to bet he didn't vote for the communist moron who put it into effect in the first place.

Is the 3.8% Obamacare tax on "unearned" income going away too?

DrEvazanPhD said:

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shiftyandquick said:

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Shooter McGavin said:

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Self employed - my insurance was $1045/month for just me and my wife this past year.

For next year it is $2,022 per month.

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Did you vote for this increase?

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I'd be willing to bet he didn't vote for the communist moron who put it into effect in the first place.

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People, mysteriously, are often shocked when elections have consequences. Soybean farmers voting for Trump again, knowing that he promised even more tariffs that would lead to them losing their markets permanently. AGAIN.

GOP has wanted to end Obamacare forever. And replace it with essentially nothing. They literally are promising that.

Huge tariffs. You didn't want to get laid off. Now you are laid off. Why surprised?

normalhorn said:

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The GOP can let Obamacare die. But, they've also said they have a better plan that will fix the system. (Hint- they don't and never did).
Just like Democrats that ruin the economy with their policies and then blame it on Republicans once they're in office, so too will unaffordable healthcare insurance.

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The government should not be in the health insurance business (like they are not in the auto insurance business, renter's insurance business, homeowners insurance business, life insurance business, etc.).

If it gets unaffordable, people will quit buying it and the price will go down.

shiftyandquick said:

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DrEvazanPhD said:

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shiftyandquick said:

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Shooter McGavin said:

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Self employed - my insurance was $1045/month for just me and my wife this past year.

For next year it is $2,022 per month.

---

Did you vote for this increase?

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I'd be willing to bet he didn't vote for the communist moron who put it into effect in the first place.

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People, mysteriously, are often shocked when elections have consequences. Soybean farmers voting for Trump again, knowing that he promised even more tariffs that would lead to them losing their markets permanently. AGAIN.

GOP has wanted to end Obamacare forever. And replace it with essentially nothing. They literally are promising that.

Huge tariffs. You didn't want to get laid off. Now you are laid off. Why surprised?

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Tariffs are a very minor player with layoffs, but obviously it's true that the Republicans have no plan to replace Obamacare. It never should have existed in the first place but that ship sailed 15 years ago. At least this time around, there were R plans proposed and debated but no consensus could be reached whereas in prior years they simply had no plan at all.

So, Republicans are either going to get blamed for this and lose the mid-terms at which point the push for UHC from Democrats will be back on. And, as we all know, Reagan was a huge fan of universal healthcare for all so this aligns with your Reagan Republicanism. (Lol).

Or, people will find another way hopefully through independent brokers.

Regardless, I'm betting we ultimately end up with UHC which was the whole design of going to Obamacare in the first place. Classic incrementalism by the left.

shiftyandquick said:

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DrEvazanPhD said:

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shiftyandquick said:

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Shooter McGavin said:

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Self employed - my insurance was $1045/month for just me and my wife this past year.

For next year it is $2,022 per month.

---

Did you vote for this increase?

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I'd be willing to bet he didn't vote for the communist moron who put it into effect in the first place.

---

People, mysteriously, are often shocked when elections have consequences. Soybean farmers voting for Trump again, knowing that he promised even more tariffs that would lead to them losing their markets permanently. AGAIN.

GOP has wanted to end Obamacare forever. And replace it with essentially nothing. They literally are promising that.

Huge tariffs. You didn't want to get laid off. Now you are laid off. Why surprised?

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Your stream of consciousness, while fascinating, often does not elicit clear ideas of what you really want to happen. Or as BigRob said..

Quote:

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Flashback to 2009: Obamacare Creates a Mess for Others to Clean Up

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Few people can explain things as well as Larry Elder, which he did in 2009.

This is his article with a follow up.

Poor Shifty wants to erase history, reason, and logic (fairly successful) to support all of his feelings, which I support.

Someone has to have feelings, albeit ignorance rarely finds success in business.

However, unless the idiot conservatives want to write, vote, and pass, a genuine bill which doesn't add trillions to our deficit and demise of $39 trillion on our way to $60 trillion, then they need to act like gd adults and get it done.

Of course, it's going to be politically unpopular.

If you weight 400 pounds and the doc says you gotta lose it, OR ELSE, the method isn't going to be pretty. However, neglecting the problem period is a guarantee to disaster, for our health and country.

shiftyandquick said:

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Shooter McGavin said:

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Self employed - my insurance was $1045/month for just me and my wife this past year.

For next year it is $2,022 per month.

---

Did you vote for this increase?

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Yes, and I would do it again. The system is broken and needs to be fixed

I can tell you what I didn't vote for - Obamacare. My insurance situation was just fine before that abomination was foisted on us.

94DCAg said:

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Shooter McGavin said:

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Self employed - my insurance was $1045/month for just me and my wife this past year.

For next year it is $2,022 per month.

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Wow. Just wow.

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I'm currently paying $2610/month for our family plan and it is worth every penny for the peace of mind and medical care that we receive.

Now if we could just eliminated Obamacare and Medicaid so I can get my fed income taxes lowered it would be even better.

You guys are going to love president Newsom and a super majority in congress. Especially after the Supreme Court goes all in on the imperial presidency.

G Martin 87 said:

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Blaming the GOP for not fixing Obamacare is like blaming the ER physician for not saving a multiple GSW victim that came in DOA.

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Using this analogy, I think it is more along the lines of blaming the ER physician that wasn't on duty that night OR blaming the ones on duty for not saving the victims who didn't actually come into the ER.

The inability of Republicans to come up with a viable plan to reduce the costs of health insurance, could very well cost them the mid-terms.

People's premiums really are doubling and unfair or not Republicans will get the blame.

BBRex said:

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Man, I wish they would have the guts to make some changes. First step: disconnect health insurance from employment. That would help with pre-existing conditions, one of the more popular provisions of Obamacare.

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No thanks..

My company is self-insured and has always covered pre-existing conditions. They also provide health insurance to Part Time employees as well.

Our plan would have fallen under the Cadillac Tax had it not been repealed.

BBRex said:

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Man, I wish they would have the guts to make some changes. First step: disconnect health insurance from employment. That would help with pre-existing conditions, one of the more popular provisions of Obamacare.

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Yeah, no thanks. Don't mess up my insurance just because you're unhappy with yours. It's a benefit out of a package of compensation and benefits that I negotiated with my employer.

That's the problem with Obamacare. They screwed up health insurance for 50 to 60 million people in order to provide discounted insurance to 20 million. Only a Democrat would think of that as progress.

SA68AG said:

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The inability of Republicans to come up with a viable plan to reduce the costs of health insurance, could very well cost them the mid-terms.

People's premiums really are doubling and unfair or not Republicans will get the blame.

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Well, if we're wishing on a star, hopefully the abysmal failure of Obamacare will keep Democrats out of power for a generation or two.

AgGrad99 said:

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EFR said:

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I am honestly surprised more people aren't moving to cash pay/self insuring. If rates really are over 2k/month as some posters have said, if you are relatively healthy just don't buy insurance. Save that money, invest it in something safe with at least some sort of return, and just pay cash.

---

We've looked at that.

But one hospital visit could be astronomically more than what you could possibly save.

If you only ever have minor issues...runny noses and coughs...you're good. End up in the hospital for a day or two...have a heart attack or break a leg...you're going to be in serious debt overnight.

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For my family of 5, Medishare has been great. Yes, it still costs and you have work to do to make it work for you, but we have had great experiences with this setup since 2016.

SA68AG said:

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The inability of Republicans to come up with a viable plan to reduce the costs of health insurance, could very well cost them the mid-terms.

People's premiums really are doubling and unfair or not Republicans will get the blame.

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My premium tripled. There aren't many good options, just bad ones. I can go cheaper but I would have really bad insurance. As a type 1 diabetic, I can't risk doing that.

As usual, the democrats create problems, then blame the problems on Republicans, which just solidifies their power. Premiums are skyrocketing, and not just on Obamacare.

You have to face political reality. The mid-terms are on the horizon and this is a huge affordability hit. You gotta accept political reality. Subsidies need to be phased out over time and steps to infuse competition phased in, along with the continued push on getting illegals off the system. But you can't quit subsidies cold turkey in my opinion, unless you want to lose everything.

Health care may end up being the thing that actually drives the nation over the cliff. And pretty soon. It needed more or a Trump focus before, but certainly needs it now.