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How will Obamacare affect average American citizens?

Published 12:00am Sunday, November 4, 2012

I am a 60-year-old retiree through Ohio Public Employee Retirement System (OPERS), married for 41 years to the same woman, and the father of five children.

My health insurance through OPERS is $250 per month. Beginning January 2013, my monthly rate increases to $541, an increase of $291.

When Obamacare is fully instituted (after the election), where will rates go?

This is the largest tax increase (Yes, the Supreme Court has ruled this is a tax) ever forced on any U.S. citizen in American history.

With gas prices doubled under President Obama — $1.84 in 2008 to as much as $4 per gallon — what choices do we have?

I pray for every Christian to vote on Nov. 6. Send a message to Washington. We want America back!

Tim Maddy

Pastor,

Highway Baptist Chapel

Aid

  1. Noesis

    Mick: Taxes would be higher all around, not just on businesses, but on everyone.
    —————————–

    So, if a company made a profit of up to $300,000 but the health care cost id $400,000 for those companies, the company folds, the guy loses his job and maybe his home and car but at least he has free health care!

    (Report comment)

  2. Noesis

    Mick, please name one business that the government runs cheaper and more efficiently than the private sector. Amtrak? The Postal Service? I sure can’t think of any. Having the government run it would increase the death rate and wait times to see a doctor or specialist. New inventions/devices and procedures would decrease. There’s a reason the United States gets most of the Nobel prizes in medicine and not those who governments control the budget for R&D.

    (Report comment)

  3. mickakers

    Noesis; Nothing is free. Taxes would be higher all around, not just on businesses, but on everyone. BUT, the savings from paying exorbitant insurance premiums and Rx prices would more than offset the increase in taxes and we would not be slaves to the Insurance and Pharmaceutical conglomerate. I do not begrudge anyone from a just and fair profit, but the Insurance and Pharmaceutical conglomerates have taken advantage of the American people for far too long with their excessive and unjust profits at the expense of the people. The Insurance industry operates and takes advantage of the element of fear (failing health & death). The Pharmaceutical industry operates and takes advantage of fear also (failing health & death) however, the Pharmaceutical industry may be more culpable due to the fact that drugs have contributed to the death of a good number of people. A lot of food for thought.

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  4. Noesis

    Noesis; If we had Socialized Medicine, companies would have no worry when it comes to Insurance Premiums.
    —————–

    Mick… seriously, you really need to think!

    Where do you think the money will come from for “free” healthcare?

    Maybe higher taxes on businesses? Or maybe more likely a “tax/fee” per employee?

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  5. mickakers

    Noesis; If we had Socialized Medicine, companies would have no worry when it comes to Insurance Premiums. I think you fail to take into consideration, the premiums companies pay for the health care of their employees are part of these employees salary. The workers have traded higher pay rate for insurance. This situation can be reversed. It can be negotiated for the companies to discontinue payment of insurance premiums and give this money to their employees and the employees could purchase their own insurance.

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  6. Noesis

    Mick:Can Tim Maddy or anyone who have made derogatory comments in regard to Obamacare lay claim to fully understanding it’s workings and repercussions?
    —————————

    Repercussions? You mean like how companies that has workers that work over 30 hours a week has to buy them insurance? So what are companies that are barely getting by going to do if they can’t afford the insurance? They are going to cut their hours to below 30 hours a week.

    See Mick this is a misconception you have… for some reason you think all companies are making millions of dollars… and yet I see stores and companies fail all the time. One property near me has had three companies in it during the past two years and it now sits empty.

    What happens to the company that makes $300,000 profit a year and yet they are forced to buy $400,000 worth of insurance for their workers?

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  7. Noesis

    Mick: Please keep in mind, the primary concern of Insurance Companies and the Pharmaceutical Industry, IS PROFIT.
    ——————-

    And so are doctors, Hospitals, Lawyers, utility companies, Grocery Stores, gas stations, Dentists, Burger joints, Hardware stores and pretty much anything else.

    Are you thinking they all should be government run Mick?

    Profit and competition is what creates lower cost and innovation.

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  8. mickakers

    Please keep in mind, the primary concern of Insurance Companies and the Pharmaceutical Industry, IS PROFIT. Care and concern for society in general, takes second place. They have demonstrated this in the past and continue to do so today.

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    • mikehaney

      Profit? If you’ve got the know how, I say go for it.
      May as well throw into this bunch ford,gm,chrysler,honda,toyota,hospitals,oilcompanies,chemical companies,nursing homes, or like I’ve said,any company with over 100 employees.
      Welcome to China, Russia or any of the many socialist countries that don’t allow free enterprise.

      (Report comment)

      • Noesis

        And lets not forget inventions. Most people invent stuff to make money. Just look at personal computers and how fast they have progressed. Most people are thinking of inventions all the time.. not to better humanity but to strike it rich.

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  9. mickakers

    Can Tim Maddy or anyone who have made derogatory comments in regard to Obamacare lay claim to fully understanding it’s workings and repercussions? I can’t. It is very complicated and takes a Philadelphia lawyer to understand it. Is you increase in premiums do to Obamacare or the insatiable greed of the insurance companies? At the present time the problem with Obamacare (that I see) is the disregard of freedom of conscience when it has to do with religious beliefs, otherwise, with my limited understanding of it, I feel it is a step forward in the Health Care issue. The Insurance and Pharmaceutical conglomerate have a way of promoting their own interests at the expense of the general public.

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    • mikehaney

      Mick–NO ONE understands Obamacare, which should worry everyone.
      And according to you Mick, any successful company with more than 100 employees is evil, greedy and untrustworthy.
      Ask Obama, unless of course it’s a union or a company that donates to his political war chest.
      Then you can count on an exemption of some kind.

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  10. mikehaney

    crackerjack, mine going from $110 to $280 per month not counting $220 out of ss check. Increase of $170.00
    As retiree my company is willing to reimburse some costs.
    Will know more in 2013.
    My company, very good, is getting out of the insurance business and
    I wonder why?
    ———————–
    Thanks to Obambi care we are in big trouble.
    Hmmm, may have to go back to work to survive. Wonder if there are any jobs out there for old farts.

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  11. mikehaney

    1 Concerned Citizen–Yes Goverment employees are being forced to take more responsibility for their share of insurance and pensions
    ———————————
    It’s about time! Welcome to the rest of the work force.

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  12. 1 Concerned Citizen

    Yes Goverment employees are being forced to take more responsibility for their share of insurance and pensions. Something that the average working man has been doing all along. Due to the mess Bush got the country in every state and local goverment has had tight budgets. You should be happy that Bush did not completely destroy the economy before Obama could take control and stop the destruction.

    (Report comment)

    • Noesis

      The mess Bush got us into? Are you talking about deregulating the finacial industry?

      The Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 (CFMA) is United States federal legislation that officially ensured the deregulation of financial products known as over-the-counter derivatives. It was signed into law on December 21, 2000 by President Bill Clinton.

      Not Bush, Clinton.

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    • crackerjack

      I am not a government employee. Nearly every person I know that has a job with insurance has been informed their premiums are going up, most over several hundred dollars per month. obama said obamacare would save working families approximately $2,500 per year, instead, working families are getting the shaft…again!

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  13. crackerjack

    We were recently informed our health insurance will be going up $360 per month beginning January 2013. We have never had an increase that even compares to this one. Another family member was informed theirs will be going up over $100 per month. People need to realize that when one person receives something “free”, another person goes to work to pay for it! So much for obamacare saving working families money!

    (Report comment)

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