Alexander Should Do Something About The Affordable Health Care Act Price Increase - And Response (3)

  • Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Re: Alexander's remarks about Tennesseans not affording "Affordable Health Care Act" prices

Mr. Alexander, 

Your message stated, Tennesseans can't afford a 44 percent to 62 percent increase in the Affordable Care prices. 

I simply ask, as Senate Health Committee chairman, why don't you do something about it?  Don't tell us something most know already. 

I know you want to help your friends and buddies in the Tennessee Walking Horse business, but I think it's time you, as Senate Health Committee chairman, focus on this colossal train wreck called the Affordable Care Act and get it fixed. 

Phil Snider

p.s.  I have to say.....the statement "can't afford price increase in the Affordable Health Care Act".  Now that's funny. 

* * * 

In my honest opinion you're wrong to put responsibility on Alexander to "do something" about cost that we all knew immediately we would see.  You need to direct your anger to the partisan bill that passed with no input from the other side.  When it was brought up about the cost that could go ballistic it was filed under that same famous file "if you like your doctor you can keep him".  It was thrown in the same bucket with the "death panels" and I can still remember the raucous laughter from those that thought this bill was better than a pony at Christmas.  Dems have run from every effort to "fix" the oncoming problems with support from their voters. 

Well....here we are in one of the last years before full implementation and I just have one question for all of you that supported this, thought it was a legacy defining moment......how do you like it now? 

Sue White 

* * * 

It is no surprise that Affordable Healthcare cost is going up.  We as a state have had "affordable healthcare" for over 25 years. We called it Tenncare.  We were the first state to do it.  We said if we could get the federal medicaid money we could do a better job than they could.  

It started out as "everybody jump on board if you don't have insurance". Then as costs went up, due to a lack of understanding of the uninsured, gradually groups of people were dropped from the program, providers dropped out, until it went back to same old, same old stuff.  

Uninsured people show up at emergency rooms supported by local taxpayers. The cost to the county goes up. Blue Cross individual insurance goes up. When I had Blue Cross, I received a letter explaining that they are a non profit, but also a non loss company. They raised my premium 30 percent because they were losing money on Tenncare. Really? How did I become a provider for Tenncare?

But other things happened. We became the number one state in per capita drug abuse. Hydrocodone suddenly became available to anyone with a Tenncare card.  Abuse was widespread and Tenncare turned into what Affordable Care will look like in another five years.

Insurance companies turn down sick and injured people because they use up too much of the premiums coming in. These people, including myself, have no way to buy insurance, at any price. We cost insurance companies too much.  They can't make a profit on us. So, as a group, those who have Obamacare are the most expensive patients in the hospitals.

The cost will go up. So either Obamacare will go up or local taxpayers will foot the bill.  By the way, Obamacare is not free. I pay a fair share of my income for it. 

Harry Presley
Chattanooga 

* * *

It is with great disgust to read that our Senator Lamar Alexander is still criticizing the Affordable Care Act, and to date I don’t see any sponsored bill by Mr. Alexander to provide health care to at least 12 to 15 percent of his constituents who still don’t have health care insurance.  Tennessee is the 6th lowest median household income, and in the lower half of number of people who are uninsured in this country.  If Tennessee would not benefit for a federal funded program to provide affordable health care for some of the poorest people in this country Mr. Alexander, please enlighten us.  

Just a note, the TennCare program was a federal funded program the helped the lower income population qualify for free health care.  How is this cheaper for the U.S. government, Mr. Alexander?  It was just a program that was put in place buy a Republican, so that makes it okay. 

We the middle class are already paying for the national healthcare, either through the insurance provided by our employer or through tax money that we have given the local hospitals for the emergency room health care that so many people must use.  Or to higher health care cost to help offset the cost for the elderly whose cost of Medicare healthcare does not cover and with their limited income cannot pay and must be written off by the hospital.  

We the people challenge you, Mr. Alexander, stand up for the people in your state and help us.  Medical bills should not be the number one reason for declaring bankruptcy, which it is, because almost everyone reading this is a heart attack away from declaring bankruptcy. 

Please, Mr. Alexander, quit being a yellow dog politician and help us - we need your help now more than ever, why are you waiting until January, are you taking the rest of the year off?

Mike Murman

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