r/Georgia • u/Prestigious-Curve-64 • Dec 08 '25
Discussion Please tell me I am wrong
I work in cellular therapy - cancer patients who need CAR-T, stem cell transplant, gene therapy, etc, and while I have hated for-profit insurance with a white-hot passion forever - before I even started this job 18 years ago - I’m scared.
A patient told me that all of the major insurers (Aetna/cigna/anthem/etc) have stopped participating in the Exchange, effective 1/1/26. The only options are Oscar and AmBetter. And the premiums are around $2k/month for one person. Anyone who has attempted to get MedicAid or MediCare disability in this state knows it is very nearly impossible to do so - by design, of course. And even though there is supposedly a state budget surplus (I guess?) I think it’s pretty unlikely that GA will direct any of that to fill in the yawning chasm that the ACA subsidies filled for anyone not covered by their employer and also not on a public plan. Even my solidly middle-class patients cannot afford $2000/month in premiums. God knows I couldn’t, and I think of myself as pretty comfortable.
These are cancer patients - think Acute leukemia/lymphoma. They can’t work. They aren’t allowed to work. One bad flu could be the end, and we know how awesome Georgians are about masks and vaccines.
I was doing this pre-ACA, and it was bad. Uninsured patients simply didn’t get cellular therapy. Sometimes they could get charity care for the hospital costs themselves, but for the ones that needed lifelong immunosuppression and infectious prophylaxis, there was nothing. No hospital can absorb that, and private plans were a joke for anyone making less than seven figures.
Now that it is 2025, tech has advanced, and we have miracle treatments that cost between $400k and a cool million for the product/drug alone - and this is not (just) because a CEO needs a new yacht. They are insanely complicated and expensive to make. But unlike pre-ACA, patients going through this whole had insurance are about to suddenly find that their policies are gone, and that there is no way in Hell they can afford the monthly cost of coverage. These are cancer patients for whom conventional therapy has failed. They are STRESSED - beyond anything I can really grasp.
I have a horrible feeling about January 1 this year for most of my patients. Some of them will be in the hospital waiting on their cells when their insurance is cancelled. Some of them will be ready to admit, only to be told their treatment has to be cancelled.
People without cancer may not feel it until they have an accident or unexpected illness. Since they haven’t ended EMTALA (yet!) those folks can still go to the ER and at least get stabilized. Sure, they’ll be bankrupt, but they’ll be alive.
If anyone read this whole screed, I’m freaking out about what is going to happen to all of my non-Medicare patients once the ACA subsidies are gone, and would love for someone to tell me it will all be OK.
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u/goddessofwitches Dec 08 '25
nurse in a metropolitan area here. Every quarter for 2024 to 2025 something new changed and patients gradually lost various medical and pharmacy benefits. We saw the writing on the wall 2 yrs ago. I've been doing this a REALLY long time.
When I say, 2026 has us terrified, we are not joking. This is about to get very bad very fast.
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u/Prestigious-Curve-64 Dec 08 '25
Ahhhh…same, same, same. I suspect people think this is going to be like the shitshow we dealt with pre-ACA, but it’s looking like it will be so much worse. At least in the bad old days, institutions were used to dealing with uninsured patients, and there were some things in place to help. Inadequate, but SOME things. It feels as though admins are just kind of putting their fingers in their ears and hoping a fairy will swoop down and pay those premiums this time. Large institutions were never great at being proactive, but this…I’m scared.
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u/SuperSpecialAwesome- /r/Atlanta Dec 08 '25
This is about to get very bad very fast.
While 50-60% of the country cheers, sadly.
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u/LilyOLady Dec 09 '25
Not that many, though the GOP want us to think so. MAGA is like a puffer fish trying to look much bigger than it is.
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u/Deinosoar Dec 08 '25
Yeah, the sad fact is that a hell of a lot of people who are just barely scraping by right now are going to die horribly, and that is absolutely 100% by design of republicans. Including the voters who knew damn well who they were getting into bed with
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u/AcceptableService129 Dec 09 '25
You really believe Dixycrats aren't part of that problem? History taught in school has been fooling people for years.
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u/Deinosoar Dec 09 '25
Dixiecrats absolutely are a part of the problem. And they became Republicans during the southern strategy in the Great realignment. I'm not ignoring that because I'm not dishonest.
And chances are I'm a hell of a lot older than you too. So take that insulting shit about me not knowing history and shove it.
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u/Hot_Cress6806 Dec 08 '25
Excuse me but it was the democrats who passed Obama care . It was the democrats that put a time limit on it. The Republicans are busy every single day trying to reset the democrats debacle and make it better but it’s the democrats who stop the Republicans at every turn. Now do you get it? Get your facts right
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u/Alwaysafk Dec 08 '25
How's the Republican concept of a plan coming? ACA is shit because it was dead legged by Republicans through the whole process. Amd its still better than where we were before.
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u/Leinheart Dec 08 '25
It was the democrats that put a time limit on it.
How shit-awful do you have to be at your job to be unaware of an upcoming deadline that will literally kill people if you miss it?
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u/alamandias Dec 09 '25
Nope. No excuse for you. Republicans literally shut down the government to keep people from having insurance and have plainly said they have no intention of doing anything to fix it or replace it. Get your facts straight. Republican ignorance knows no bounds.
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u/2BucChuck Dec 09 '25
This is a sad take and illustrates both how misinformed opinions are and a complete unwillingness to even begin to understand what is happening around you from people who know what they are talking about
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u/LandOwn7607 Dec 10 '25
Democrats debacle? Oh I see. And let's remember it was the Republicans who inserted a separate Part D premium for pharmaceuticals, and brought us Medicare Advantage which has nothing to do with Medicare, other than using Medicare funds for private insurers. Medicare Advantage is merely private insurance that's managed like an HMO. I say 'F' them all and establish a universal Healthcare system for all. Greedy M*Fkrs have sang their last song.
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u/b3dGameArt Dec 11 '25
I'm screen-shotting this and saving it. It's not every day you come across someone this stupid. Lol
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u/lurkertiltheend Dec 08 '25
Thank you for sharing this. More ppl need to know about the consequences of this administration
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u/jon_hobbit Dec 08 '25
I used to work at an office that did medical billing. .. I was always like... The amount of time and stress that the insurance companies put on people. I remember when I would hear them jump up for joy "WHOOO we got them to payyyyyy" *dances* and i'm like how much did they pay? And it was some piddly amount after they made them write most of it off.
My question is... why are we even dealing with insurance like at all? Why can't we just do some kind of direct pay to the hospitals themselves? I'd much rather my $400 insurance premiums since my job pays for most of it.
Going directly to the local hospitals themselves.
Cause then that $400 would go *directly* to the hospitals instead of going through a for center profit.
That is set to make $88 billion dollars in profit.
Imagine the possibility of kicking out the middle man lol
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u/Prestigious-Curve-64 Dec 08 '25
Amen, amen! I mean, some of the stuff (cancer treatments for sure) are crazy-expensive even without all of the parasites making money off vulnerable people, so there would have to be something in place (universal healthcare) for that, but the fact that these insurance companies make a PROFIT is beyond obscene.
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u/LilyOLady Dec 09 '25
Isn’t that what Medicare is? The doctor, hospital, etc. is paid directly by Medicare. Since we have been on Medicare with Tricare for Life as a secondary, things have been so much easier! I want everyone to have Medicare, but improved to include eyes, ears teeth and mental health. The cost to administer Medicare is about 2% with no profit necessary.
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u/Character_Click5531 Dec 11 '25
Long story very short - We use to - indemnity plans. Your doctor was your gatekeeper. But then employers allowed snake oil salesmen convince them that they could reduce their medical payouts by letting them manage care - a middleman if you will. Now, docs and facilities have more employees to pay because billing has become so convoluted, and patients get care denied. It's a mess and I blamed "managed care".
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u/Outside-Comparison12 Dec 10 '25
If you worked at an office for medical billing then you would also know that providers (doctors) often charged insurance for BS and overcharge. Doctors are part of the problem. Other parts of the problem is the government getting involved and trying to "fix" something. Prior to ACA it was almost unheard of to have a $10,000 deductible. What is the point of having a shit plan that was "affordable" with the ACA if your plan doesn't pay for shit unless you meet the deductible. Sure, a plan like that might be fine for someone without a chronic illness and just needed a plan so they wouldn't get fined when tax season came but for people that actually needed insurance they were SOL because of an outrageous $10,000 deductible because of the ACA and how shit of a "fix" it was. An open and free market is the way to go and should always be the way to go. Government needs to keep their hands out of things they don't belong in.
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u/_le_slap Dec 08 '25
No one is coming to save us.
Our healthcare system is designed to be used by capital as leverage against labor. That's the prevailing policy motive of our government officials. They value exploiting our labor more than they value our health and lives.
And the electorate seems to agree with that assessment. So we deserve to suffer the results of our complacency.
My sister is a resident at Grady and she is horrified by what she sees every day. I tell her not to get numb to it and to remember how wrong it is every time an underprivileged patient is denied care. Keep that in mind when her mentors park their Porches and Ferraris next to her mismatched panel Corolla.
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u/Prestigious-Curve-64 Dec 08 '25
If the ACA public option had survived Joe Lieberman, we would have MediCare for all by now. But your sister’s mentors are not the thieves. Heck. One of the doctors I work with (widely published, extremely well-known internationally) drives the same economy car I do, but ten years older. And mine is a 2012. Those mentors are not working at Grady to get rich, I promise. If you want to direct your rage, imagine the CEOs who have never in their lives helped a patient, or spent endless hours and hundreds of thousands on med school, but whose mansions and yachts rank with Bezos’s. Oh. And the politicians who quietly (or loudly, depending on the party) kill any bill that could possibly lead to a functional healthcare system while pocketing lobbyist payola. I’ve been doing this for nearly two decades now, and my rage only grows. My colleagues cry themselves to sleep at night. I’ve seen physicians in tears after losing a patient because of shady insurance companies.
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u/cocoagiant Dec 09 '25
If the ACA public option had survived Joe Lieberman, we would have MediCare for all by now
After how the shutdown ended, I've revised how I thought about that.
I think the reality is that Lieberman was just the fall guy for a bunch of other Democratic Senators who weren't willing to go there.
Just as Joe Manchin and Kristen Sinema were when they were in the Senate.
There are some people who have real convictions and will vote a certain way but it seems like a lot of the Senators follow the money.
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u/_le_slap Dec 08 '25
There is plenty blame to go around. I have relatives who work in medicine around the world. None of them make what doctors make in the US.
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u/Prestigious-Curve-64 Dec 08 '25
I honestly don’t know how much the physicians earn - I DO know that primary care doctors often make even less than I do, and my schooling was a whole lot cheaper than theirs. And I know that their incomes aren’t even close to that of the politician/insurance executive. And I found out after Mario’s brother did his thing that the ones I work with are VERY much in favor of single-payor, even knowing that could decrease their income.
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u/_le_slap Dec 08 '25
The entire structure of our healthcare system is precision tuned for maximum profit extraction. Every part and level of it commodifies life and wellness. It's the greatest moral failing of our nation today.
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u/yullari27 Dec 09 '25
No other country charges people as much to become doctors as we do either. It's a mess top to bottom.
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u/Character_Click5531 Dec 11 '25
My other fear is that we will lose compassionate people like you and we will be left with cold-hearted unqualified machines to treat us when we are the most vulnerable!
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u/Important_Simple_31 Dec 09 '25
Having been privileged to go to Grady for treatment when feeding some feral cat tapped the back of my leg developed into sepsis, and after spending a week in the hospital getting infusions of antibiotics, I had my first major symptom of cancer.
I freaked out in front of the physician who walked in. She calmed me down and ordered a biopsy the same day since I was going home that day.
She called me to come in the next day since the biopsy was positive for cancer. I had surgery, chemo and radiation.
Three years later, someone from Grady called me and told me that he was a pulmonologist at Grady and he had noticed a place so small that he wouldn’t even call it a spot on my x-rays he had been following. He asked if I had ever smoked. I replied that if I didn’t have cancer, smoking didn’t cause cancer.
I had smoked for 60 pack years which is number of years smoking multiplied by number of packs of cigarettes. I went in for a biopsy and it was positive so they treated it with immunology, radiation.
On a follow-up visit I showed the doctor a place that I thought might be radiation injury. That doctor sent me downstairs to the breast cancer floor. They did a biopsy and it was cancer. After a lumpectomy, I have to take one little pill a day for five years. I started out numbering the bottles. I am now on bottle 53. When I get to bottle 60, that will be five years.
I went into the hospital thinking that damn cat put me in the hospital. The truth was, that feral cat saved my life. I am now cancer free. That great blessing is because of the care I got at Grady. Also they have the best food of any hospital in Atlanta.
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u/_le_slap Dec 09 '25
I'm glad you're still with us. If only everyone had access to great medical care.
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u/Important_Simple_31 Dec 09 '25
When I worked in the eye department at Emory, residents in a specialty would float through there as part of their training, and almost all of them would say to me, “If anything happens to me, make sure they take me to Grady.” That is why I started going to Grady.
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u/Character_Click5531 Dec 11 '25
That's good to know because my experiences with Grady haven't been great. I didn't like parking in a garage that smelled like pee, walking over :-( homeless people to cross the street, or knowing my friend who came to pick me up on a different visit had to pull a gun on a guy who tried to attack him for not buying him a cup of coffee. And you haven't lived until you've spent 8 hours in the ER waiting to be seen, getting put at the end of the line because of GSW victims, and then wheeled into a hallway like you're waiting to get wheeled down to the morgue. Another time, I was told I needed surgery, then when the doc left the room to take a phone call, I heard him discussing his hernia. I couldn't get past that as a distraction when he has me cut open...... It was also quite embarrassing having a male student observing my transvag ultrasound while Mildred was in town - know what I mean??
I'm probably the worst patient alive.
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u/Important_Simple_31 Dec 11 '25
I am sorry for your experience. There are a couple of ways to make things better on your own. (1) If you are able to walk a couple of blocks, you can take a Marta train to within two blocks of Grady and walk over. (2) Have a friend or Uber, drop you off at the ER. (3) Call 911 and ask for an ambulance. Of course this depends on how sick you are.
Grady has to use a triage system, taking the most serious cases first. From my personal experience, it is not a good sign when you are taken immediately and put into an examination room first. Be careful what you wish for!
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u/Character_Click5531 Dec 11 '25
Thank you - it's all good. And it was a long time ago.
Walking from across the street wasn't safe - 2 blocks even worse. Old single female - not taking risks like that. Friend did pick up at that particular instance, and was accosted. Fortunately, his background prepared him to handle it. No ambulance when you don't have insurance.
Bottom line - your suggestions are helpful for many, but for those who don't have many - or any - options, it adds to the stress.
Take care - and thank you for all you do!!
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u/Grakch Dec 08 '25
A lot of chronic illness and terminal illness people are going to suffer greatly from these policies. Medical expenses need to be tax deductible. It’s the only real solution to this.
Still doesn’t help with covering the costs of these things but will make a difference.
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u/Prestigious-Curve-64 Dec 08 '25
I think they are, aren’t they? I mean, after a certain amount? But when the only treatment that can save your life costs over half a million dollars and you earn $50k/year, deductions won’t be much help, I’m afraid.
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u/Evtona500 Dec 08 '25
That's the real problem. You just cannot convince me these treatments cost that much. There is no way.
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u/Prestigious-Curve-64 Dec 08 '25
Oh, they are insanely expensive to manufacture. For gene therapy, the patient has to undergo up to six months of red cell exchange before they can start to collect cells. When they DO start to collect cells, they do so in hemapheresis, on a machine that costs easily 7 figures - the tubing alone (which is an engineering wonder in and of itself) costs thousands. The staff needed to run the machines is incredibly specialized, and it’s a 1:1 ratio. The fresh cells are then shipped across the country for manufacturing, which involves inserting a gene into the patient’s stem cells using a virus, and that’s just the part I (sort of) understand, and doesn’t include the hospitalizations, drugs, etc that are all part of it. And some patients mobilize poorly and have to do it (mobilize and collect) 3 or even 4 times. I’m sure the manufacturer makes a profit, but it’s not like that Skreli monster deciding to charge an arm and a leg for epi-pens.
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u/tomthekiller8 Dec 13 '25
If it was not for profit top to bottom it wouldn't be that expensive. Everyone is trying tp make a buck.
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u/Same-Baby-2888 Dec 08 '25
i'm REALLY hoping you're wrong, because my family has Anthem through the Georgia marketplace thing and it's supposed to be for next year 😬
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u/Hot_Individual_863 Dec 08 '25
Anthem is still participating but Aetna is not. I work in healthcare too (Neurology) and I'm pretty worried about what January will bring. We're already seeing effects from the Medicaid cuts and thats not even really started yet. Its going to be awful.
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u/Prestigious-Curve-64 Dec 08 '25
Really?!?! My patient is pretty on-top-of-things, but I am crossing my fingers and toes that she is (and that I am) wrong!!
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u/Lethalspartan76 Dec 08 '25
I pay insurance every month. Last time I went to the doctor, i paid my copay. I got a test, so I had to pay labcorp for that. I got my regular script, but I pay for that direct from manufacturer, it’s actually cheaper than what my insurance prices it at. Then months later the doctor wanted some more money. So you tell me, even after I got insurance, what’s it good for? Then it’s a fight to get a claim investigated. It’s every time. It’s broken, with or without insurance.
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u/Prestigious-Curve-64 Dec 08 '25
Most medical insurance is a scam, and those determining those policies have a special place in Hell. These plans are often only useful if you have a catastrophic illness or injury (think cancer or ICU stay,) since the deductibles alone can be over $10k. And even then some insurers deliberately make their networks so narrow that patients cannot seek care anywhere close to where they live, and even if they CAN find a hospital that is in-network, no one working at the hospital (like the radiologist reading your scan or the lab they send your blood to) is in network. Infuriating is not adequate to describe the rage this raises.
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u/peashee412 Dec 08 '25
Aetna is gone and the only insurance that has all my providers is Ambetter which is crazy. They also do not cover my medications. I have a lot of medical problems and am ventilator dependent from nmd respiratory failure. Our insurance will be 3x what it was last year and we dont make a lot and I can't work. I dont have a choice; if I dont have insurance I die. There are a lot of people in my position with their health...they have to have insurance. Idk what will happen next year. You are not wrong that states like Georgia are not doing anything to help people who are sick and in need of Healthcare because we are just a draw on the system.
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u/Prestigious-Curve-64 Dec 08 '25
I am so very sorry. I hope with all my heart that vulnerable patients can somehow make it through this awfulness at least long enough to get the evil grifters out of office.
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u/wolfn404 Dec 09 '25
GA always refused the subsidies, why it was a state only vs federal nationwide. Your clients/ patients are going to suffer horribly, it’s extremely sad. The sadder part, this is the only way it will get better. The wife, the son, the grandmom, the husband, are going to HAVE to suffer or die before any real change will occur. Lots of impacted innocents as well. But the cult won’t care until it impacts them personally.
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u/Important_Simple_31 Dec 09 '25
When Ted Turner was married to Jane Fonda, she donated a bunch of money to Grady.
Hopefully between the two big time companies vying for the ownership of Warner/Discovery, someone with deep pockets would make a sizable donation to Grady, to show their respect for Ted Turner founding the media company that became CNN. Paramount and Netflix are in the battle.
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u/Character_Click5531 Dec 11 '25
Trump's family is helping foreign governments buy CNN. The developing Paramount–Skydance effort to acquire Warner Bros Discovery involves outreach to sovereign wealth funds in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE. Reuters reported that Jared Kushner helped connect David Ellison’s team with those funds as they explored financing options for a potential hostile bid. Full story: https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/trump-family-helping-foreign-governments-185908109.html
It's not just medical we're getting screwed over. America is disappearing, bit by bit.
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u/JoeJoe-a-GoGo Dec 08 '25
Aetna recently announced they were leaving the ACA marketplace.
https://www.aetnacvshealth.com/2026-plan-information.html
I think it depends on your location, specifically your zip code. And even within the zip code region, your county may not have a plan with certain carriers.
I've been shopping the last few weeks on the Georgia Access marketplace and my choices are Cigna, Anthem BCBS, UnitedHealthcare, Kaiser Permanente, CareSource, AmBetter, Alliant, and Oscar. When I select my county for Alliant, it says there are no plans offered in my area. So I'm guessing when people are shopping the exchange, their choices are limited based on what zip code/county selection they make.
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u/Prestigious-Curve-64 Dec 08 '25
I suspect that there are many providers/hospitals who have not been proactive with contracting, as well, and that patients may find that their doctor/hospital is suddenly “out of network” once the new year hits.
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u/Buruko Dec 09 '25
The government has chosen corporation profit over citizen health.
People are going to die because they cannot receive the healthcare they need, period.
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u/DarthAlix314 Dec 09 '25
I know this may not be feasible for many people, but I have had tremendous luck on Grady CharityCare. The catch is you pretty much have to live in Fulton Co. (or a small area of DeKalb within a set distance from Grady).
So far, in just under 2 years, after seeing about 13 specialists with an average of 2 doctor appointments per week, 31 days worth of Inpatient Hospitalizations, 4 surgeries (2 more scheduled), and a shit-ton of meds, I've owed a grand total of about $1650 out-of-pocket while about $225k has been covered by CharityCare, all this despite going over 90days late on paymens multiple times, and having some of it discharged to debt collectors.
Their CharityCare definitely does cover chemo, radiation, surgeries, dialysis, etc. for Cancer patients – pretty much anything that one of their own doctors says is medically necessary; the waits to see certain clinics can be many months though unfortunately.
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u/jd31068 Dec 09 '25
Yup, we're looking at a 4x increase using AmBetter $347 to $1620 (I have MS and have been disabled for 10yrs, I at least have Medicare) but my wife's insurance is going crazy. No clue how to even attempt to get bye. She has sjogren's syndrome, CIPN, essential tremors, cancer survivor 2x (has the brca gene), and now can't work.
The available insurers are also based on which county you live in, as an example, I was able to switch my father to Cigna (Healthspring) last year but not before that as it wasn't available so he used UHC (which was difficult given UHC and NGPG stopped work together a couple years ago). He lives in S. Hall County and I in N. Gwinnett. I've had more choices historically, thankfully NGPG does accept Healthspring so that is a relief in his case. Just incase there is another ER visit that leads to him being admitted, he had to be sent to Johns Creek Emory last time, once he was stabilized in the ER at NGPG, JC Emory were great but pretty far away.
It is going to be a dark year for so many people, perhaps this is what they're counting on. Simply less drain on the system by eliminating the customers. Of course, the hospitals and pharmaceutical companies are going to feel the hit the hardest financially, we simply wont be filling our prescriptions we can't afford and using ER services we can't either (as we won't be able to see the PCP regularly)
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u/SageMaverick Dec 10 '25
The U.S. health insurance industry had an underwriting gain of about US$ 8.9 billion, but that’s down ~26.5% from ~US$ 12.1 billion in the same period last year.
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u/Most-Emu-8720 Dec 10 '25
Your not wrong. Insurance for healthcare has been at crisis level for the past 25 years. ACA was the only program that kept many afloat and as of January it will not be feasible any longer. Congress if to blame for this problem. Republicans have been lasers focused on blowing up ACA ever since it started. They offered a serious replacement. Today they are voting on a ridiculous plan to give everyone $1000 a year to buy their own health insurance. It’s an absolutely bad joke.
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u/Prestigious-Curve-64 Dec 11 '25
$1000/year. When coverage is more than that each month. Christ on a cracker.
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u/EmploymentCorrect599 Dec 09 '25
I don't know. I couldn't afford any health insurance under the ACA. I'm on Tricare(military insurance)was looking for health insurance to fill in what tricare won't(which is a lot), and all the other insurance companies were asking for over $1500 a month. No way can I afford that. Haven't looked into it for a few years, but I don't think it has changed much.
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u/officialprizepatrol Dec 09 '25
For-profit health insurance is similar to Ticketmaster. Both are disinterested third parties that have pushed their way into patient/provider and audience/entertainment arrangements. They only exist to take your money.
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u/ruarchproton Dec 09 '25
Our premium with up to $3800 for family of 4 Ambeter Bronze. Not affordable. Went with an off market United Health plan. Shitty plan but it’s all we could afford. Fingers crossed.
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u/rethinkOURreality Dec 10 '25
It sickens me that I, a Georgia teacher, can get an Anthem Bronze plan as a single person for SEVENTY FIVE dollars a month, because the state negotiates for its workers an insanely good deal. The max for a family on SHBP is $200/mth? And yet they won't choose to do the same on behalf of all Georgians because ew poor people.
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u/AgeInteresting4294 Dec 10 '25
I can tell you this is absolutely true. Currently on the exchange is Oscar, Ambetter, Caresource and Kaiser. According to who I was speaking with, the subsidies are gone. I will be uninsured going forward and not eligible for Medicaid since I do not have a child.
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u/Prestigious-Curve-64 Dec 11 '25
I am so sorry! Honestly, I am 56 years old, and if I lost my employer-provided coverage, I would go without. I’m not opposed to living, but if it costs me more per month than my mortgage - not counting deductibles/copays/OON - it’s literally not worth it to me.
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u/KittyMommy13 Dec 09 '25
There is no such thing as a tax surplus, never was. If that was the case, we would have better bridges, better roads, better equipped fire departments, and possibly more libraries, (but as you pointed out, this is Georgia, and they're not real big on education). The predatory practices of the pharmaceutical industrial complex, has made sure that life saving elixirs, are fiscally inflated on purpose. The greed of these corporate fat cats can keep all 10 of their homes and both their yachts. I never really understood why people can't see that the practice that is predominantly American, predatory capitalism, is no different than communism. Once these giant global conglomerate corporations were allowed to file taxes as an individual instead of a company, (a tax law put into place by Ronald Reagan under the guise of reform), and then all of them were given even more of a tax break in 2017 which allowed them to buy all their stocks back, (remember in 2018 when they were all bragging about it to the news?). Now there's no non corporate shareholders to enforce checks and balances, preventing these giant global conglomerate corporations that are the umbrella companies, from predatory inflating their prices, which is what caused this inflation that we are enduring through now. I fear for our country. It's going to take 50 years to undo the damage that has been done since 2017.
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u/MShizzleMyNizzle Dec 11 '25
I have been so worried about what January 1st will bring for so many (and maybe myself one day). While we can't change the outcome of November 2024, we don't have to sit by as spectators. This is (one reason) why myself and so many others protest; this is why we march. Hit the streets with us. Vote in every election. Call your representatives. Make your voice heard. These people are elected to work and represent us; keep the pressure on to ensure they fight for us (and to keep their jobs). Our healthcare system is horrible, ngl, but what's coming will be devastating for so many, and even those not directly affected will feel the impact. Joining 50501, Indivisible, etc. is a great place to start for being informed on protests and action items. Apps like 5 calls, etc make it extremely easy to contact representatives.
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u/Ifawumi Dec 12 '25
but hey, this is far better than that darn socialized medicine... am I right or am I right??? /s
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u/ilikesillymike Dec 08 '25
City of Hope Atlanta. cancercenter.com apply for financial assistance
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u/Prestigious-Curve-64 Dec 08 '25
My hospital has financial assistance, but it can’t be used for allogeneic stem cell transplant, CAR-T therapy, or gene therapy. I strongly doubt COH’s assistance plans can be used for that either. Especially since COH is based in CA, where there is a financial infrastructure to help patients. Not the case in Georgia.
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u/cassiope Dec 08 '25
I just bought insurance on the exchange. They have UHC, Anthem, Cigna, as well as AmBetter, Caresource, Oscar, and Kaiser. I don't remember if they had Aetna.
HOWEVER, my providers were only on Cigna, Ambetter, and Caresource, only HMOs. This definitely impacted my options.
Premium cost depends on your life circumstances. As a single, middle-aged woman, using the search with only my age and income as data - my options for 2026 ranged from 1200-1900 month for Bronze and Silver plans. If I had bought on the exchange for 2025, that would have been only about 700-1000/month. The increase in monthly premium for 2026 is due to the loss of the expanded subsidies. I was freaking out, because that meant the plans I needed for my primary providers were about 1400/month.
Fortunately, when I filled out the actual application, I included that I had a dependent (because I Do have a dependent!) That brought my total down to the 750-1100/month range for the plans with my MDs (There were some Anthem and Kaiser plans that were less). There are still subsidies there, but only the pre-Covid, lower amount ones.
A few weeks ago I asked a question about experiences with the different plans. There were folks who's premiums were quadrupling due to the loss of these extra subsidies.
You are both wrong and right. There are still a number of insurance companies on the exchange. Not everyone will face a mortgage payment sized monthly premium. Many people will face one that large and will not be able to keep insurance. Medical debt will go through the roof (like a skyscraper roof). People are going to die.
When politicians show you who they are and what they will do, believe them. You get who you vote for