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See if this is a fair summary of the outcome of the healthcare law ruling...

And this is based on what I'm reading, not trying to be political, just trying to understand.

-If you already have healthcare, costs will continue to rise. This is necessary because health insurance companies have been told by the government to cover people with pre-existing conditions, which costs more money overall and every healthcare customer absorbs that cost, not the insurance provider.

-If you do NOT have insurance, you have some subsidies to assist, but since the medicaid expansion cannot be enforced there is little expanded coverage for poorer Americans. The only exception is folks under the age of 26 whose parents have coverage - they now can get insurance without much additional cost (to their parents).

-Establishing the health exchanges should allow those shopping for insurance outside of a company to compare choices and find something suitable.

-Companies over 50 employees will face a $2000/employee fine for not providing "standard" health insurance (whatever that means...)

-The individual mandate is considered a tax for not having a service. I don't really understand the logic - buy this, or get taxed - that seems like the same thing as government mandating Americans buy a product. I understand the big argument, just not the detail of why this falls within a legitimate tax or now. This tax is $95/year or 1% of your income, whichever is greatest, if you don't have insurance. Not sure if this means you have to have insurance for the entire year, or just at some point. Seems kind of harsh on folks if the former is the case .. "lost my job, didn't have insurance for a bit, got a new one, got taxed."

-Technically, with the preexisting condition, someone with a known condition could pay the tax yearly until need popped up, join an insurance company to get care, and drop off. How does this work now? Say I hop on to insurance, get a surgery, then cancel the coverage - what does that mean for me next time I want to get insurance? I've wondered this....


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