That was a wise ruling.

That's a shame.

I think anyone in favor of the mandatory health care insurance or face fines has no concept of living on a limited budget and there simply IS NO MORE MONEY. People are doing good to pay for their homes and food and a vehicle. One woman wrote in a thread I was reading that she finally could not afford to buy health insurance anymore because her monthly premiums went above $800 a month. I just don't know where they thought people were going to come up with the money? We're not talking $50 a month here, we're talking close to a $1000 a month for just two self employeed people!

Instead of taking care of the out of hand insurance costs and hospital costs, they thought "hey lets MAKE people buy insurance,yeah that'll fix it!" HOW STUPID is our government?!

While I agree that much can be done to fix the crazy insurance and hospital costs, a big part of that is because of uninsured people not being able to pay their bills. If someone doesn't have insurance and ends up with a medical emergency costing $100k or $200k and they can't pay it, guess who does?

I don't have a problem with people not having insurance as long as they are responsible for paying for their costs and not declaring bankruptcy or just abandoning the bill due to inability to pay. It's a risk people should have to take but it's not right to not have insurance and still not be responsible for your health bills because then everyone else has to pay for it.

If you don't want to pay the $800 a month then don't complain or expect someone else to pay it when you get your $50k bill. That's the reality of our healthcare system right now and you can't have it both ways. I'm not talking about anyone specifically but more the general views I'm hearing about this.

I sympathize with people having a hard time meeting ends but we spend billions and billions of dollars on the uninsured and that has to be absorbed somewhere.

In my case...upon my husband's death, I was not informed that I had to replace the meds coverage that his retirement program had previously supplied. I was aware that I needed to replace Medicare Part B. But,because I don't need any regularly scripted meds that aren't covered by Medicare, the requirement didn't present itself to me. However,when I learned that I was required to carry this type of insurance coverage, I applied for it and then discovered not only was I being burdened with a new monthly expense that I could ill afford...I was financially penalized an additional monthly amount...added to the monthly insurance premium...for not having carried the insurance for four years. In my case, that amounted to well over $30/mo more. I challenged the edict and "they" agreed to reduce the amount by a few dollars when they discovered that I had not been advised that I was required to privately replace the coverage. But, "they" said that ignorance of the law was no excuse and I must continue to pay the penalty.

I hope this current ruling will completely eliminate the penalty. I will continue to carry the meds coverage, but it will be a lot easier if the penalty is removed.

Well maybe if it didn't cost $800 for two people(husband and wife) to get insurance then maybe people would have insurance...make sense? That's my whole point...YOU CANNOT SQUEEZE BLOOD OUT OF A TURNIP! Where do they expect us to come up with all that money...I for one don't have a money tree in my back yard! I tell ya, with this economy, many people are unemployed anyway so how in the heck can they pay? We have people standing in lines over here in Ohio to just get food and many of those people are working more than one job and both husband and wife are working but still don't even have the money to buy something as simple as some food! Maybe four years ago they were doing just great but now it's horrible!

Yes, and the insurance companies aren't going to lower their premiums until they recoup some of the money from the uninsured. It's an ugly cycle and something has to give. Ideally the insurance companies would make the first move but that won't happen so until the uninsured either insure themselves or take on responsibility for ALL medical expenses, nothing will change.

And people still won't prioritize health insurance if it's only $100 a month. I know many people without insurance and they just say that instead of paying each month they will just go to the ER then say they can't pay and they get away with it.

Wouldn't it be a dream for insurance to cost $100 a month...HAHAHA! That's a funny joke right?

My husband is self employed and my employer does not offer health insurance. So, we have had to carry our own medical insurance. Each year the premium goes up at a much faster rate than our income does. And every year I look for a cheaper alternative. I looked at other providers, but we were already with the one giving us the lowest rates. The only alternative I had was to convert to a plan with a higher deductible each year. When the contract renewed in June 2010, it was $925.94 for the two of us, with a $10,000 deductible per year and many things did not count toward the deductible. Catastrophic coverage, basically. Needless to say, we rarely went to a doctor. Every month I worried and nearly tore my hair out just to make that payment. And for what? Not much. And even if I could continue to make that payment, what would it get me? It would get me admitted to a hospital if necessary. But if I were to remain in the hospital more than a week or two, I wouldn't be earning the money I'd have to have for the next payment, so I'd lose my coverage anyway. I know it sounds crazy, but I had to make the hard decision to drop the insurance. Instead, I am putting some money into a savings account each month that is strictly to pay any medical costs that may arise. I don't expect to get a free ride, medically, but I do need to eat and a few other things.

We're at that age where we are too "young" for medicare and too old for the "good" rates. I guess there really IS something good about getting old.

As long as we continue to have to pay big bucks to the middle man, (insurance companies,) it will only get worse. Hot topic, for sure.

And the Insurance companies continue to make record breaking profits year after year.

Insurance should be non profit. Why doesn't the Government address that?

Because it is the insurance industry and their Lobbyists who run this country.

I am fortunate to have very good coverage for both my husband and myself through my retirement benefits. One of the advantages of insurance, however, is that there is a limit that can be charged for a procedure. It seems ridiculous that those who DON'T have insurance are Expected to pay the amount charged, as opposed to the amount ALLOWED like my insurance pays. A HUGE difference, I might add. I can certainly understand not having the income to AFFORD insurance as a self-pay item. Thank heavens for my Medicare and my Blue Cross Supplemental.

Not one person has addressed a major problem with health care costs and that's lawyers. If you received a generic bandage, you can get MONEY! Threaten to sue and settle for nuisance claims. People suing for nothing. Doctors feel compelled to give every test in the world since if they don't, they'll get sued. It's silly.

There's a lot of reasons why the system is so screwed up. You can't throw one example and suggest that's the whole problem.

IMO, Obamacare is a total failure for several reasons:

It does not deal with tort reform. As cynic wisely pointed out, lawyers are a major problem.

It does not address the issue of fraud, waste and abuse. I doubt there is one person here who does not know of at least one person who has committed fraud through Medicare, Social Security, or Medicaid.

There should be real oversight of insurance companies.

The mandates are unconstitutional.

They should repeal Obamacare, and start over in a bipartisan manner to come up with a plan that really works.

Plus, the illegal immigration issue has a huge adverse impact on the health care delivery and finance system.

Whoa, I think that stepped over into Hot Topics Territory!

Oddly enough...one of the bigger abusers of Medicare is Medicare itself. My husband had pancreatic cancer and spent 20 months receiving frequent and extremely costly chemo treatments. On more than one occasion, Medicare was inaccurately billed for treatments that he did not receive. Those billings were for several thousands of dollars...each. As soon as I received the paper work indicating the mistaken billing/payment...I immediately notified Medicare...more than willing to submit supporting documentation indicating their error. Do you think they did anything about it? No! The hospital was paid by both Medicare and our private insurance carrier. I couldn't believe my eyes...and continued to call them, pointing out their expensive mistake. Still no corrective action. I remained a responsible Social Security member right to and through my husband's death. Medicare never corrected their costly error.

I know what these errors cost Medicare. I wonder how many similar errors there are year in and year out to a system that's so stressed and strained that it can't begin to acknowledge its contractual obligations to its members.

This is a "hot Topic" in so many ways. Our insurance has always been a mess. Even if you have good insurance it isn't done right. For instance I broke my arm and had to have surgery and such. By the time I was done I had $60,000, yes $60,000, in the final cost.. Now I know it was only because we had good insurance. Sadly, those that have good insurance pay for the ones that don't.

I know changes need to be made but I don't know how they are ever going to get it done. There are way to many people involved that want a piece of the pie to correct things. Until this changes it will stay the same.. Sad but true..

I don't think this is a "Hot Topic" in the sense that it is inappropriate for this forum. It is, however, a "hot topic" in the sense that it impacts the lives of each person here who lives in the United States. It is not a political debate, but rather a discussion regarding the health care system in this country. I haven't noticed anyone being disrespectful.

If any of my suggestions were offensive to anyone, I apologize. I feel very strongly about the health care system because I spent 25 years working in the US Public Health Service, and was Executive Officer of the Medicare program--so I have a better understanding than most of the fraud, waste and abuse in the system. And those problems are not partisan; I worked for Medicare under Ronald Reagan, who I consider to be one of the greatest presidents ever...and they were problems prior to, during, and after his presidency. They are becoming more important now because of the bad economy, increased population, and spiraling health care costs.

This is why a single payer option would have been the way to go. There will never be a bi-partisan agreement on health care because a percentage of our electorate does not care about anyone but their own individual freedom.

...one of the bigger abusers of Medicare is Medicare itself.

I don't think you can assume that Medicare did nothing about it just because you didn't receive a corrected billing notice nor a notice from Medicare as to what action they did or did not take. They very well could be compiling "a case" against the provider of the false/inaccurate billing. Or, Medicare could have recouped some of the dollars, but you are not notified nor privy to that having happened. But you did your duty in notifying Medicare. Props for that! Same thing with the statement that "everyone" knows someone who has defrauded Medicare etc (personally, I don't)..... none of us knows all the ins & outs of what goes on outside our own range of vision.

This latest court ruling ... that the mandates are unconstitutional... is just one court of several that have "decided" & those decisions have been on both sides of the debate. This isn't the "last" nor final decision. It will ultimately be decided by the US Supreme Court. Obviously, there are lawyers & judges who believe that it is constitutional & probably just as many who believe not.

I personally hope that the Affordable Care Act remains intact. It really won't affect me directly, but I believe everyone deserves health care. Having everyone covered helps to assure that. My understanding is that if you are low income you will receive a$$istance with the premiums. But I don't really know details on that.

Certainly there are people who are reaping the benefits of the ACA already... those in the donut hole with their Medicare Rx coverage, pre-existing conditions/children's health insurance. I know my own insurance now covers adult immunizations & no longer has a lifetime limit for coverage.

I think it would be must better to keep ACA & tweak it than to dump it & start over, particularly considering the contentious environment we have in DC.

Although it may not seem so, I agree with you beeohio. What I object to...and will always object to...is being financially penalized for not carrying coverage once coverage is obtained. In my particular case, it wasn't from lack of desire for the coverage. It was ignorance. Pure and simple. Once I became aware of the need for the coverage, I bought a policy and I will continue to carry a policy as long as I can financially afford it. I do, however, want the penalty removed. Every cent counts to me these days and I consider the penalty unjust. Two courts have agreed with me. I hope the Supreme Court will recognize public opinion as well as the legality of the edict.

IMO, logic would dictate that if a financially challenged person needs and must have coverage, the last thing they need is to have a financial penalty added to a coverage premium that is already taxing their finances. I think affordable care is a wonderful concept BUT only if it's truly affordable. You're right. The Act needs considerable tweaking and I, for one, hope the courts continue to rule in that direction.

As for the Medicare issue...I,and my private carrier, continued to be billed by the hospital in question for unprovided care long after my husband's death. I'm sure my case was not the first one. It was publicly announced some time ago that Medicare had investigated and fined this particular hospital previous to my experience. Apparently, this world renowned facility didn't learn their lesson the first time. I've yet to hear of a second investigation, but I hope one is ongoing.

Any program that covers many millions of people is unfortunately, going to have its problems. But for me, I'd far rather see that than to see the billions going into the pockets of middle men insurance companies. Also, the price of pharmaceuticals is artificially high to make huge profits for those companies; the countries which have single-payer systems do not pay what we do for them.

One more thing, since I'm on a HT roll: Having the Supreme Court rule on this guarantees one outcome.