This is the main reason I servo my income each year to just above the medicaid eligibility limit. You can get 94% silver coverage, which means your co-pays and co-insurance payments are more reasonable.
Hopefully the ACA isn't repealed in 2017, for if it were to be, the only option I would have is private insurance (which its terribly expensive), or emigrate to the UK (where I'm a dual citizen).
Or you'd have the option to, you know, just work a few more years and pay for your own healthcare in RE rather than become a leech of society just because some ill conceived law allows you to save yourself a bit of money by screwing your neighbors over. Its alright though...all the people looking to game the system are what is causing Obamacare to remain unpopular and what will cause it to fail. The closing co-ops, sky rocketing deductibles and premiums for those who aren't getting subsidies, and companies pulling plans off the exchanges because they are losing money on them and not allowed to raise rates enough to even break even will continue to get worse when rates come around for the next enrollment period, just like they have every enrollment period since the exchanges opened.
Worrying about Obamacare being repealed in 2017 is like worrying about a condemned building getting demolished next year...even if it doesn't happen its only a matter of time before it will collapse on its own anyhow.
This is an interesting perspective, really. I've never really looked into the ins and the outs.
For the RVers - well, it's not like they are a total drain on the system. For one thing, they have jobs. Yes, they keep their income down to where they don't pay income tax BUT they are of course paying SS tax. And it's all the same bucket.
When it comes to people being a "drain on the system" and working the system, it seems like degrees of badness to me. I mean, the so-called baby mama on welfare and food stamps with 4 kids - that's at least a degree worse than this, no? I know a family with 4 children, and the children are on Medical. The dad works, but does not put his kids on his insurance. The mom homeschools. I find it interesting that they are pro-circ and anti-vax and need a place that will take Medi-cal. Anyway, that's a side note. I'd like to add that I've met a NUMBER of unmarried families with children, where the kids are on Medi-Cal because they are eligible due to mom's income. Even though Dad could add them.
I like the ACA simply because of what it did for several close friends. I have friends who were uninsurable due to a pre-existing condition. One friend moved states and was on BCBS, and they refused to cover him in the new state. Another friend had a year of unemployment and was able to have health coverage. (Good thing too, he was in a bad car accident during that time, while working a temp job.) I really think basic health coverage is essential, and I don't think it should be tied to employment. (Nor do I think it should be free.)
I guess it's a sliding scale of badness. I had a friend when I got out of the Navy who went to business school. He got into a top school and got a 1 year scholarship of $27k. It was a need-based scholarship. That dude had $16k in savings by the time he graduated from HIGH SCHOOL, much less after 4 years of ROTC and 4 years of the Navy. What did he do? He signed over all of his savings to his little brother so he'd be "broke". Yeah, legal maybe but not exactly ethical. (As I was the "poor kid" who actually needed financial aid in college, it rubbed me the wrong way.)
So there's the level of badness, there's looking at what these people have provided to the government already through their lifetimes, and what life will be like going forward. I mind less if someone has already worked a full life and paid a lot of taxes. (I am so irked when people work, pay taxes, get laid off, get cancer, and can't fucking afford treatment...at the age of 55). I mind less if people need the help - what's the quote about how a country treats its most vulnerable? (children, elderly, etc.)
Anyway, everyone I know on the ACA really needs it, and I'm glad it's there. I spend much of my childhood without insurance (jobs didn't cover it), and had to have more than one surgery that took my parents years to pay for. On the other hand, I remember as a kid that health care spending came first. You never would have found anyone in my family complaining about the cost of health care, all while paying $90 a month on a cell phone or $200 on cable/internet or $10 a day on lunch.
