Happy Friday! I got an email the other day offering Trumpcare policies. I have medicaid, and don’t currently need a new policy, but since that could change with this administration, I decided to look at what was offered, and compare it to ACA policies that are currently out there for my area (mostly the one Caedy, my room mate currently has). Trumpcare isn’t looking that good folks, as we all had figured, but here are some facts you can use, for those with whom actual facts will make a difference. I used real health information and financial information but not real names and such, so I won’t be getting calls and mail and junk over this.
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So I took the foray into the “Trumpcare” options, and this is what I found:
First off, it asked health questions about pre-existing conditions, which ACA policies do not. It only asked cursory questions about what conditions you have, but I assume that if I’d moved forward and spoken to an insurance agent there would have been more, since this is what it opened with.
Second off, the ones that came up range in price from $81.82 (Life Shield) per month, to $259.91 (Standard Life) per month, and none of them last longer than 6 months. No option of subsidies to help pay for cost, even though they should have been available at the income option I entered (the same as Caedy currently has and gets with her ACA policy).
They all have a $5000 deductible and out of pocket max ranging from $5000 to $9000. Coinsurance ranges from 0-20%. Office visit co-pays are either $30 or $40, even in the most expensive plan.
They cover from $750,000 to $1,000,000 max coverage. Yes, they have a max coverage.
Nothing was mentioned at all about prescription coverage one way or the other, so I have no idea if that was included or not.
This is the "better health care plans" Trump wants us to get. They don't hold a candle to any of the ACA plans I've seen, either in cost or coverage, not to mention the subsidies which lower costs. Trumpcare plans cost more, have more out of pocket, deductibles and costs, cover less, don’t last a full year, and since they already ask about pre-existing conditions, I would assume that if that lawsuit comes down against pre-existing condition coverage, that’s going to increase costs or cancel policies through these plans in the future.
My room mate has an ACA plan. She has pre-existing conditions, but they never asked about them. She pays $8 per month after subsidy, Office visit co-pay is $10, her deductible is $0, and her out of pocket max is $2400. Her prescriptions mostly run about $4 for generic and around $12 for name brand.
Of course Universal Healthcare would be better still, and I’m all for that! But the next time someone tries to tell you that Trump has better health care plans than the ACA, and that ACA is awful, horrible, horrendous…. here are some facts to counter that. Because the ACA, while not perfect, is WAY better than what we had before it existed, and is also a lot better than what ‘Trumpcare’ plans are being offered out there already.