Consumer Reports destroys 'rate shock' horror story

[ProSense]

Consumer Reports destroys 'rate shock' horror story

by Joan McCarter

Reince Priebus apparently hasn't been watching his Fox News.

.@DWSTweets: what are u going to tell this Floridian whose rates are 10 TIMES higher under #ObamaCare? http://t.co/A6L3sANvHd
— @Reince

He's way behind. Greta Van Susteren already debunked that story. If Reince missed that, he can check out that bastion of liberal partisanship, Consumer Reports, which also destroys that story. They take a look at the Florida woman's cancelled health policy and compare it to what she could—affordably—get by shopping on the exchange.

Barrette’s expiring policy is a textbook example of a junk plan that isn’t real health insurance at all. If she had ever tried to use it for anything more than an occasional doctor visit or inexpensive prescription, she would have ended up with tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars of medical debt. <...>

"She's paying $650 a year to be uninsured," Karen Pollitz, an insurance expert at the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation, said. "I have to assume that she never really had to make much of a claim under this policy. She would have lost the house she's sitting in if something serious had happened. I don't know if she knows that." <...>

Okay, but can't we be outraged that Ms. Barrette will have to fork over $591 a month for a replacement plan? Actually, no, because she has other and better options than the costly plan Blue Cross Blue Shield wants to put her in. She [can] get real insurance that covers all essential health benefits for well under $200 a month. <...>

To put these two plans in perspective, let's imagine that Ms. Barrette's luck runs out and she receives a diagnosis of breast cancer that will cost $120,000 to treat.

Under her current junk plan, she would probably receive no more than a few hundred dollars of benefits for doctor visits and drugs. It wouldn't cover her surgery, her chemotherapy, her many expensive medications, or the repeated diagnostic tests she'd likely require. She would end up with probably $119,000 of unpaid medical bills. With the Humana plan, those bills top out at $6,300 a year, no matter what.

There you go, Reince. In future, don't ask any questions you don't want to hear the answer to.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/11/01/1252375/-Consumer-Reports-destroys-rate-shock-horror-story

[bettyellen]

1. HA!

[NYC_SKP]

2. Recommended.

[SolutionisSolidarity]

3. This is why I read consumer reports and don't bother with TV news.

They burned me way too many times under the Bush administration, and are even worse now. I do not believe it is possible for the people at CBS to be so out of touch as to believe that real insurance could have been purchased in the pre-ACA individual market for $50/month by anybody, much less a 56 year old woman.

[eppur_se_muova]

4. Well, whaddya know ... the Consumer Reports Web site appears to be overloaded ...

Finally got through.

[1StrongBlackMan]

5. To which ...

the reply would be:

But he saaiiidddd ... "if you like you insurance, you can keep it!"

After which ... all discussion is a waste of time.

I'm inclined to just tell these folks ... Screw it. Just play the penalty ... It'll save you the pain of having to discover that you've been paying $650 to be uninsured.

[cheapdate]

6. Lord have mercy, that's the truth.

[passiveporcupine]

15. this statement will dog Obama, unfortunately

what he should have said is "if you like your "qualified" insurance plan, you can keep it".

But that would have caused a kerfuffle as well.

[1StrongBlackMan]

20. Yes ...

The comment will dog President Obama ... but only for the ignorant and those willing to place ideology over interests (but I repeat myself).

[SoapBox]

7. Dang!

Don't ya just hate it when a breathless drama story gets all bogged down with fact!

Damn those facts.

[JEFF9K]

8. It's too bad that "Debunker" doesn't pay as well as "Conservative Fraudcaster!"

[Ian_rd]

9. The haters and liars are winning the media war

At least it seems so far. I'm afraid that many people hate Obama so much that they will opt to go without insurance, so convinced that the ACA is horrible, and without even bothering to look at what they could get, that they'll put themselves and their family at risk for no better reason than to protect themselves from the danger of having their right wing bullshit proven wrong.

[CaliGal]

12. I know! WTF??!

And this is suppose to be the "liberal media"???? I often wonder if I'm watching Faux News Channel or Network TV!! And don't even get me started on Joe Scarborough!!! OMG, if I have to listen to him snarking one more second....

[Spitfire of ATJ]

10. This is like those auto warrantee plans that don't cover ANYTHING that can be called "normal wear".

[spanone]

11. k&r...

[Curmudgeoness]

13. Every person who has told me a sob story

about their insurance being cancelled or rates ten times as high as before, every one of them, have never gone to the website to check the exchanges for policies.

It seems that the insurance companies are having a field day raising rates on some policies to astronomical amounts just to scare the shit out of people. And I think it is intentional.

[TxDemChem]

14. I was just telling hubby about this BS story

Mom, step dad, aunt and grandma all worked for blue cross (grandma retired from it after nearly 40 years). I was always told to NEVER get a plan like this.

[Martin Eden]

16. A LIE can travel halfway around the world ...

... while the TRUTH is still putting on its shoes.
-- Mark Twain


Kudos to Consumer Reports, and let's put a lot of shoes on that TRUTH!!

[IronLionZion]

17. GOP don't care about truth or answers

they just don't want people to get health insurance even if its their own constituents.

We are soon going to see a lot of poor conservatives completely ruined while poor liberals will be healthier and more financially secure, and that has electoral implications.

[Berlum]

18. the k and the r

nt

[Scurrilous]

19. K & R