| Healthcare Bill Part III; Obamacare | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Mar 3 2014, 02:20 PM (48,695 Views) | |
| kbp | Mar 19 2014, 04:17 PM Post #151 |
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Barry is probably working to "Bend the Cost Curve." We must be on the uphill side still. |
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| Baldo | Mar 19 2014, 04:41 PM Post #152 |
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Health insurance premiums up 39% to 56% under Obamacare, reach $2,604 a month in California Americans buying health insurance outside the new Obamacare exchanges are being forced to swallow premiums up to 56 percent higher than before the health law took effect because insurers have jumped the cost to cover all the added features of the new Affordable Care Act. According to a cost report from eHealthInsurance, a nationwide online private insurance exchange, families are paying an average of $663 a month and singles $274 a month, far more than before Obamacare kicked in. What's more, to save money, most buyers are choosing the lowest level of coverage, the so-called "bronze" plans. The firm provided the costs to Secrets through their new online price index, which gives the averages of what people are paying for insurance sold through their system. In California, for example, some families are paying a high of $2,604 a month and in New York, $1,845. The shocking surge in prices show what Americans not in Obamacare or covered by their employer are paying as they seek lower premiums. Typically, they are not eligible for the subsidies Obamacare offers those with low incomes. "Premiums are increasing primarily because of the new required provisions for 2014 Affordable Care Act compliant plans, including guaranteed issue, essential health benefits, modified community rating and minimum actuarial values," said Brian Mast, spokesman for eHealthInsurance. "It is also likely that health insurance companies expected additional risk in the risk pool, because people with pre-existing conditions could no longer be denied coverage, and may have priced their plans higher to accommodate for this risk," said Mast. His firm's price index also gives an average age for singles buying plans, and the results are worrying for insurers and the Obama administration. That's because the average age is 36, older than the administration had hoped for. Explaining the higher costs, Mast said, "There are likely other factors, but what is important is that moving forward, there needs to be a collective effort to enroll as many people as possible and create a broad and diverse risk pool to keep premiums in check. eHealth can help in that effort by enrolling consumers off-exchange and is pushing to be able to enroll people in subsidy-eligible plans as well."...snipped http://washingtonexaminer.com/average-premiums-jump-39-to-56-under-obamacare-2604-a-month-in-california/article/2545766 Time to bring back the Obama-care Train! 
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| Baldo | Mar 19 2014, 06:47 PM Post #153 |
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New emails released on Dem senator’s resistance to Obamacare cancellation numbers New emails have been released about whether Colorado Democratic Sen. Mark Udall pressured a state agency to change its estimate of Obamacare cancellations. Udall wanted the state Department of Insurance to downgrade its estimate of Obamacare-related insurance cancellations from 250,000 to just 73,000, because some Colorado residents were offered replacement plans. After releasing his own estimate in November, Udall plunged the state government into a media storm involving Gov. John Hickenlooper’s communications director and the insurance commissioner, according to the newly released emails. “Udall is broad brushing and assuming that because Anthem and Kaiser offered early renewals, the people who received that option after receiving a cellation [sic] notice should not be counted. Commissioner Salazar would like to tell Sen. Udall that 250,000 people were in fact affected by cancellation notices,” insurance department director of external affairs Jo Donlin wrote in November, according to the new release. Insurance commissioner Alan Salazar even offered to have an employee “run interference” with Udall’s staff for Donlin. Although Salazar considered it “perfectly alright to communicate directly with their office,” it may be indication that the senator’s office was hostile....snipped http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/18/new-emails-released-on-dem-senators-resistance-to-obamacare-cancellation-numbers/ Udall is up for re-election to the Senate in November. Ooops! |
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| Baldo | Mar 19 2014, 07:50 PM Post #154 |
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American Medical Association: Obamacare sticks doctors with unpaid bills The American Medical Association is protesting an Obamacare provision it argues will leave doctors with the bill for up to two months of unpaid care. The provision requires insurers to allow patients with federally-subsidized health insurance plans a 90-day grace period to pay their premiums before canceling the coverage. Insurers are on the hook for the first 30 days of care, if the customer never pays up, but doctors will be stuck without payment for any services between 30 and 90 days, until the coverage is canceled. The American Medical Association was a strong supporter of Obamacare. “If a patient is being treated for a serious illness, that requires ongoing care,” Dr. Ardis Dee Hoven, president of the AMA, said in a press release Wednesday, “The physician is having to assume the financial risk for this. That’s the bottom line.” The AMA released new resources Wednesday for its member physicians, offering “step-by-step help for minimizing risk,” while admitting that the Obamacare rule “could pose a significant financial risk for medical practices.” The doctors’ association spent $22 million lobbying for Obamacare to pass in 2010, the most of any health care organization, and has kept up their spending in the years since while the law’s final regulations have been tinkered with. The rule’s damaging effect on doctors — especially those with private practices — exemplifies the split between the AMA’s lobbying ambitions and the outlook of the average doctors that do the work. After Obamacare’s passage, just 13 percent of American physicians agreed with the AMA’s support of the law, according to survey from physician recruitment firm Jackson & Coker. Surveys have repeatedly found that doctors don’t believe the law will let them help patients and make a living. In California, low reimbursement rates have led almost seven out of ten physicians to reject exchange insurance plans. Six out of ten doctors nationwide expect their colleagues to retire earlier due to the health care law; 75 percent of all physicians (and 81 percent of the most highly trained, surgeons) think the best of the nation’s youth won’t go into medicine as a result. http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/19/american-medical-association-obamacare-sticks-doctors-with-unpaid-bills/ |
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| Baldo | Mar 19 2014, 08:05 PM Post #155 |
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Spent some time at the AMA site, saw this.Added cost to Doctors ICD-10 is the 10th revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD), a medical classification list by the World Health Organization (WHO). It codes for diseases, signs and symptoms, abnormal findings, complaints, social circumstances, and external causes of injury or diseases. ICD-10 implementation costs “much more disruptive”: New study New estimates of costs to implement the federally mandated ICD-10 code set by Oct. 1 are in some cases nearly three times more than previously estimated, according to a new AMA study. Costs associated with ICD-10 implementation include training, vendor and software upgrades, testing and payment disruption. Compared to a similar study completed in 2008, these costs could be as much as $8 million for a typical large physician practice. For a small practice, implementation costs could be more than $225,000. The move is expected to be “much more disruptive for physicians” than previous mandates...snipped http://tinyurl.com/ldj4xdm |
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| Baldo | Mar 19 2014, 08:12 PM Post #156 |
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Without congressional action, Medicare physician services face a 24.1% cut on April 1, 2014. The AMA is working toward a better health system for patients, physicians and the nation as a whole. It's time to repeal the SGR formula and transition to a higher performing Medicare program. We need to foster innovation and remove barriers to physicians delivering the high-quality care that patients deserve. http://fixmedicarenow.org/physicians/#video-51 How do you pass Obama-care and not fix medicare physician reimbursement rates? IMHO Because it would have raise the CBO estimate and the scam run on selling it in 2010 |
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| chatham | Mar 19 2014, 08:12 PM Post #157 |
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If the AMA doesnt like obamacare they should not have supported obamacare. They had a choice. http://www.medicarenewsgroup.com/news/medicare-faqs/individual-faq?faqId=d7a04b02-28b7-47dd-a838-88561f629624 |
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| kbp | Mar 19 2014, 08:58 PM Post #158 |
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I've yet to see an estimate of all the direct and indirect costs. No dout it would be more than $5 trillion over th next decade. |
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| Baldo | Mar 19 2014, 10:01 PM Post #159 |
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If the AMA doesn't like obamacare they should not have supported obamacare. They had a choice. Makes you really wonder about the AMA. I guess they "thought" it would benefit them. What idiots, trusting Obama, Administration Staff, and Congressional Democrats. Today I was at my monthly breakfast club of old schoolmates. One of our members was a big Obama supporter(a former local union leader) and he came out & said what a mistake it was for voting for him and Obama is one of the worse presidents ever. All couldn't believe what a weak president he is with Russia I expect a lot of voter remorse is setting in for many groups & individuals. It will only get worse when the bill comes due for the taxpayers, those that have to pay the cost, along Doctors & hospitals. I hope we can get a few real Representatives in Congress in 2014 & make sure that the Insurance Companies, Big Pharma, and the Unions pay the price for their support of Obama-care. Edited by Baldo, Mar 19 2014, 10:11 PM.
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| kbp | Mar 20 2014, 08:45 AM Post #160 |
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Barry's special exemption from public judgment is wearing thin. |
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| Baldo | Mar 20 2014, 12:25 PM Post #161 |
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Obamacare Patients Denied Access to Doctors, Hospitals, Cancer Centers Obamacare patients are discovering that many doctors, hospitals, and top cancer centers do not accept the plans they purchased. "It's so frustrating," Terri Durheim of Enid, Okla., told CNN. "It's not doing me a lot of good." Durheim is not alone. Obamacare's so-called "narrow networks" are designed to limit customer choices to push patients into cheaper choices in an effort to control costs. Earlier this year Washington Post health writer Sarah Kliff warned that "Obamacare's narrow networks are going to make people furious – but they might control costs." A McKinsey and Co. study finds that more than one in three (38%) Obamacare plans permit patients to select from just 30% of the largest 20 hospitals in their geographic region. For patients like Durheim, the reality of Obamacare's slender options is forcing hard choices. Her son's serious heart condition means she needs a pediatric cardiologist nearby. However, the nearest doctor her Obamacare plan covers is over an hour away. "Obviously we'd have to pay out of pocket and go here in town, but that defeats the purpose of insurance," says Durheim. Cancer patients are also waking up to the realities of Obamacare's narrow networks. According to an Associated Press analysis, only four of 19 nationally recognized comprehensive cancer centers offer Obamacare patients access to their facilities through all insurance plans in their state Obamacare exchanges. "The challenges of this are going to become evident... as cancer cases start to arrive," Executive Vice President of Seattle Cancer Care Alliance Norman Hubbard told NBC News. As Obamacare customers learn that their access to doctors, hospitals, and top cancer centers have been severely curtailed, many are returning focus to promises President Barack Obama made that if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. "If you like the doctor you have, you can keep your doctor," Obama said...snipped http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/03/19/Obamacare-Patients-Denied-Access-to-Doctors-Hospitals-Cancer-Centers We will see how overall this situation exists. If it is widespread the Dems are DOA in Novemeber |
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| LTC8K6 | Mar 20 2014, 12:49 PM Post #162 |
Assistant to The Devil Himself
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I distinctly remember provisions requiring timely access to doctors for a QHP... IOW, it wasn't supposed to take you an hour to get to care... |
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| kbp | Mar 20 2014, 01:20 PM Post #163 |
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Define "timely" here! It seems like I recall there being a problem with cash paid out of network counting towards the deductible. It popped into my mind for some reason, but I'm not sure about it. |
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| Baldo | Mar 20 2014, 01:34 PM Post #164 |
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I really don't know the answer to Healthcare, but I know Obama-care isn't it. Maybe a National overall plan just isn't feasible and each state needs to choose what they want. Let the States compete. |
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| Baldo | Mar 20 2014, 02:01 PM Post #165 |
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from the Kudlow Report- Premiums to Skyrocket - very good Avik Roy on Obamacare's 2015 Premium Increases 2014-03-19 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1RWFu8nCpM from Forbes is the article attached to this and it has some vital info 4 Reasons Why Obamacare Exchange Premiums May 'Double In Some Parts Of The Country' In 2015 As we reach the end of the first year of enrollment in Obamacare’s subsidized health insurance exchanges, we’ve been trying to solve a couple of mysteries. First: how many people who have signed up for coverage were previously uninsured? Second: will the botched rollout and design flaws lead to even higher health insurance costs next year? We’re starting to get indications from insurers that premiums on the exchanges will go up significantly in 2015. Here are four reasons why. Concerns about an Obamacare ‘death spiral’ For years, analysts have worried about the possibility that, for people who shop for coverage on their own, Obamacare could lead to an “adverse selection death spiral.” The law makes healthy people pay a lot more for their health insurance, in order to make coverage a better deal for the sick. If the healthy people recognize this for what it is—a bad deal for them—they’ll sit Obamacare out, making the law’s health plans even less affordable than they were before. That’s why, in theory, the law uses an individual mandate to force people to buy coverage that they don’t need. I’ve long been skeptical that a formal death spiral would occur; Obamacare’s subsidies ensure that some healthy, but low-income, people will sign up for coverage. We have experience in places like New York and New Jersey, pre-Obamacare, with a two-tiered system in which subsidized coverage works okay for those who qualify. It’s the people who aren’t eligible for large subsidies—those who aren’t poor enough—who will gradually be squeezed out of affordable options. Premiums, on average, may increase by 20-40% in 2015 Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini was among the first to sound the alarm about the potential for rate shock on the Obamacare exchanges. In December 2012, he told investors that “in some markets,” individual-market premium increases “could go as high as 100 percent.” This past January, in an interview with CNBC, he asked, “are we going to get beat up because [next year’s premium increases will be] double-digit or are we just going to have to pull out of the program?” Yesterday, Elise Viebeck of The Hill cited unnamed health industry officials as telling her that “Obamacare-related premiums will double in some parts of the country, countering claims made by the administration.” One insurer indicated that “his company expects to triple its rates next year on the Obamacare exchange.” I’ve been hearing that insurers expect to see rate increases of about 20 to 40 percent, on average, throughout the country. Here are four reasons why. 1. The White House is making up the rules as it goes along Insurers are particularly upset about the White House’s extralegal improvisations, in which key Obamacare regulations have been delayed, suspended, or exempted in various circumstances. In particular, the administration’s decision to continue to allow people to keep their “grandfathered” pre-Obamacare plans, in some limited instances, will keep a lot of those healthy people out of the Obamacare exchanges. “We’re exasperated,” an insurance executive told Viebeck. “All of these major delays on very significant portions of the law are going to change what it’s going to cost.” Think about it this way. According to the Associated Press, 4.7 million Americans who shop for coverage on their own have been notified that their old plans will be canceled. Let’s say about half of these people—2.5 million—elect to preserve their old arrangements under the new Obama dispensation. Let’s further estimate that about 4 million people have enrolled in Obamacare exchange plans, of which about three-fourths were previously insured. That’s three million previously insured people enrolling in Obamacare, versus 2.5 million finding coverage elsewhere: more than enough to substantially skew the risk pool in the exchange toward sicker and older people. 2. The administration has avoided talking about the individual mandate...snipped 3. Many of the young people enrolling are pregnant women...snipped 4. Obamacare’s design gave insurers an incentive to ‘underprice’ in 2014...snipped http://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2014/03/20/4-reasons-why-obamacare-exchange-premiums-may-double-in-some-parts-of-the-country-in-2015/?partner=yahootix |
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