Nanker Posted January 9, 2014 Posted January 9, 2014 Stop with this nonsense. Don't you know that JA got cheaper & better coverage through the exchange than Pennsylvania allowed previously? With over two million new enrollees, the ACA is an unqualified success. Forward!!!!!
B-Man Posted January 9, 2014 Posted January 9, 2014 Democrats try blaming big business for ObamaCare faceplant Obamacare winners and losers Dem Sen asked state to cook books on Obamacare numbers... .
B-Man Posted January 10, 2014 Posted January 10, 2014 Some find health insurers have no record of them By Tom Murphy and Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Associated Press INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Record-keeping snags could complicate the start of insurance coverage this month as people begin using policies they purchased under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. Insurance companies are still trying to sort out cases of so-called health insurance orphans, customers for whom the government has a record that they enrolled, but the insurer does not. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/health-insurers-no-record-them-171226952.html Obamacare's 'Nebraska Nemesis'... .
Nanker Posted January 10, 2014 Posted January 10, 2014 Why bother enrolling? The hot set-up would be to simply not buy any insurance and then show up on the Dr's or hospital's doorstep and demand your constitutional right of health care as established by the Supreme Court. It's a RIGHT. They have to give it to you.
IDBillzFan Posted January 10, 2014 Posted January 10, 2014 Why bother enrolling? The hot set-up would be to simply not buy any insurance and then show up on the Dr's or hospital's doorstep and demand your constitutional right of health care as established by the Supreme Court. It's a RIGHT. They have to give it to you. Not to mention, as long as you OWE the IRS money at the end of the year, there is no way for them to collect whatever taxes you are told to pay for not having coverage. By the letter or the law, they can only collect your tax from taxes owed to you at year's end. Brilliant people.
DC Tom Posted January 10, 2014 Posted January 10, 2014 Not to mention, as long as you OWE the IRS money at the end of the year, there is no way for them to collect whatever taxes you are told to pay for not having coverage. By the letter or the law, they can only collect your tax from taxes owed to you at year's end. Brilliant people. Wait...what? Where's that written? That's too damn stupid to take on anyone's word. I want to see it.
Doc Posted January 10, 2014 Posted January 10, 2014 Wait...what? Where's that written? That's too damn stupid to take on anyone's word. I want to see it. It's true.
IDBillzFan Posted January 10, 2014 Posted January 10, 2014 Interesting vote taken today to ensure HHS lets Obamacare enrollees know if their data has been breached. Almost 70 Dems jump ship, yet after an overwhelming passage, the Senate apparently won't take up the bill. It's unfortunate more people don't realize how many bills come out of the house and die at the feet of Harry Reid. Damn Do-Nothing Congress! Story here.
B-Man Posted January 10, 2014 Posted January 10, 2014 (edited) HealthCare.gov Security Bill Opposed by the Administration Passes in the House The federal Obamacare website is a security disaster waiting to happen. Two security experts at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services have told House investigators that they recommended against launching it in October due to security concerns that it would be a target for hackers and identity thieves. That’s a major reason that over one-third of House Democrats joined every single Republican today to require that the federal government quickly notify Americans in the event that their personally identifiable information is jeopardized on the health law’s exchanges. The bill passed this morning by 291 to 122 and goes to the Senate where it faces an uncertain future. But it shouldn’t. While the House was voting, news broke that Target Corp. was announcing that up to 70 million of its customers saw their records hit by identity thieves last November and December. {snip} Target Corp. was required by federal law to alert all of its customers about any security breach. But HealthCare.gov’s designers exempted it from any such requirement, even though the Federal Register shows that outside experts begged them to put in accountability provisions. The House bill by representatives Joe Pitts of Pennsylvania and Diane Black of Tennessee would fix that glaring transparency omission. But the Obama administration strongly opposed the bill even though the doctrine of sovereign immunity severely limits the extent to which the federal government would ever be liable for any damages caused by a security breach. Clearly, as far as HealthCare.gov is concerned the operating principle is: One law for the private sector and one law for Obamacare. .Added: Jeez LA, you beat me by a few seconds. . Edited January 10, 2014 by B-Man
IDBillzFan Posted January 10, 2014 Posted January 10, 2014 (edited) .Added: Jeez LA, you beat me by a few seconds. The Target angle is pretty telling in your link. Target has millions of identities breached, and they must alert everyone by law Obamacare, on the other hand...well, remember all those "HHS shall..." bits in the law? Edited January 10, 2014 by LABillzFan
DC Tom Posted January 10, 2014 Posted January 10, 2014 Interesting vote taken today to ensure HHS lets Obamacare enrollees know if their data has been breached. Almost 70 Dems jump ship, yet after an overwhelming passage, the Senate apparently won't take up the bill. It's unfortunate more people don't realize how many bills come out of the house and die at the feet of Harry Reid. Damn Do-Nothing Congress! Story here. What's Harry's reasoning? There's already laws and regulations in place for handling PII that should apply...any reason OTHER than that is complete bull ****. The idea that they can't "because it would create additional reporting requirements" is complete nonsense. Those should not be additional requirements - those should have been in place from the start! That reeks of not just incompetence, but gross negligence.
boyst Posted January 10, 2014 Posted January 10, 2014 Who is going to come out first with a big medical issue then say they enrolled then never got coverage? Then spinthat to the news and make a lkilling and get 15 minutes?
IDBillzFan Posted January 10, 2014 Posted January 10, 2014 What's Harry's reasoning? There's already laws and regulations in place for handling PII that should apply...any reason OTHER than that is complete bull ****. The idea that they can't "because it would create additional reporting requirements" is complete nonsense. Those should not be additional requirements - those should have been in place from the start! That reeks of not just incompetence, but gross negligence. He doesn't want to do it because the WH argues it doesn't mean anything...it's just a silly law to make the WH look bad. Like we need another law for that to happen.
B-Man Posted January 11, 2014 Posted January 11, 2014 Obamacare Scandals, Oregon Edition Oregon is one of a number of states (Minnesota is another) where state officials tried to set up their own Obamacare program and web site, called Cover Oregon. In Oregon, as elsewhere, the effort has been a disaster, as not a single person has been able to sign up on the state’s web site. The fiasco has become a political liability for Governor John Kitzhaber, who is running for re-election more at link: Gallup: ObamaCare Approval at Lowest Point in 14 Months, 48% Think It Will Make Life Worse.
keepthefaith Posted January 11, 2014 Posted January 11, 2014 Not to mention, as long as you OWE the IRS money at the end of the year, there is no way for them to collect whatever taxes you are told to pay for not having coverage. By the letter or the law, they can only collect your tax from taxes owed to you at year's end. Brilliant people. It is brilliant and quite possibly deliberate. The supporters of the bill don't give a **** if Obamacare runs up red a lot of red ink and having this little loophole means that people will find a way around it and will be more likely to vote Dem since they aren't being hit in the pocketbook. Simply revise your W-4 to minimize withholding and the fine/tax won't apply to you. After all, what this bill is really about is giving away health insurance to those that can't afford it and putting the burden of higher costs onto the wealthy and anyone who has a "good job" and their employers.
B-Man Posted January 12, 2014 Posted January 12, 2014 (edited) Obamacare Hasn’t Slowed The Growth of Health Care Costs – It’s The Economy, Stupid! by Tom Coburn M.D. (U.S. Senator - Oklahoma) Obama administration advisors and supporters have been arguing that Obamacare and its grand designs to reshape health care have been a primary reason why health care costs have slowed. Yet, the facts and data the real world – rather than the world of unreality in which people can keep their doctors and plans if they like them until they can’t – show that the old James Carville adage is still correct. When it comes to the slowdown in health costs, it’s the economy, stupid. This week, Jason Furman, head of the President’s council of economic advisers, penned a piece in the Wall Street Journal entitled “Obamacare is slowing health inflation” in which he pointed to an annual report on health care spending from the Office of the Actuary at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to show that Obamacare has helped slow or reduce health costs. The problem is the report does not say what Furman suggests it says. In fact, the report actually acknowledged that the main driver of the temporary slowdown in the rate of health care growth was not Obamacare, but an economy shaken by the Great Recession. Since World War II, the historical pattern is that the annual increase in the rate of health care spending slows a bit during periods of economic turmoil or recession, as consumers lose their health coverage or have fewer dollars to spend on care. In a comprehensive study on this phenomenon, the Kaiser Family Foundation used statistical analysis to examine 50 years of health spending and economic trends. The study found that the economy produces a major but delayed effect on the nation’s health spending, and attributes 77 percent of the slowdown due to poor economic conditions. In other words, the economy is not a factor, but the factor. {snip} But the big data point that has been missed is that last fall, the actuary’s office at CMS explained the ACA will actually increase health care costs moving forward. They noted, “In 2014 the implementation of provisions of the [law] related to major coverage expansions are expected to accelerate health spending growth.” The CBO also projects that under Obamacare, the annual Medicaid spending will grow at a rate of eight percent. By 2022, annual Medicaid spending will approach three-quarters of a trillion dollars. The total cost of the insurance coverage expansion under the law is $1.3 trillion dollars over the coming decade. Time will tell who is correct but the American people have little reason to trust the administration’s predictions. All sides want to slow health costs but history shows innovation, competition and free markets are far better at making scarce and costly goods and services more available and affordable than government. The ACA is likely to once again confirm that the best way to make something expensive is for government to make it “affordable.” Edited January 12, 2014 by B-Man
DC Tom Posted January 12, 2014 Posted January 12, 2014 Obamacare Hasn’t Slowed The Growth of Health Care Costs – It’s The Economy, Stupid! Given that many people have argued that the ACA has slowed economic growth...
B-Man Posted January 12, 2014 Posted January 12, 2014 NYT: Yeah, ObamaCare has made the healthcare system a mess in 2014 The Associated Press first reported this developing and completely predictable problem earlier in the week. What happens when you pass a law that (a) causes the health-insurance cancellation for millions and then (b) forces them and millions more to use a disastrously-built web portal as a middeman to replace that coverage? Answer: You end up with millions of people flooding into providers without any idea whether they have coverage or whether their doctor will accept it. The New York Times confirmed this issue … for its Saturday edition, of course: In addition to the difficulties many face in proving they have coverage, patients are also having a hard time figuring out whether particular doctors are affiliated with their health insurance plan. Doctors themselves often do not know if they are in the network of providers for plans sold on the exchange. But interviews with doctors, hospital executives, pharmacists and newly insured people around the country suggest that the biggest challenge so far has been verifying coverage. A surge of enrollments in late December, just before the deadline for coverage to take effect, created backlogs at many state and federal exchanges and insurance companies in processing applications. As a result, many of those who enrolled have yet to receive an insurance card, policy number or bill. Many are also having trouble reaching exchanges and insurance companies to confirm their enrollment or pay their first month’s premium. Doctors’ offices and pharmacies, too, are spending hours on the phone trying to verify patients’ coverage, sometimes to no avail. “The system wasn’t really built to handle this kind of glut of new patients,” said Dr. Curtis Miyamoto, a radiation oncologist at Temple University Hospital who is president of the Philadelphia County Medical Society. “So it’s resulting in us having some delays in getting people verified, and therefore delays in their care.” That’s leading to decisions like this being forced on the once-insured: In Langley, Wash., north of Seattle, Erin Waterman was able to see a primary care doctor on Jan. 3 with a temporary identification card printed from the website of her new insurer, LifeWise Health Plan of Washington. But when Ms. Waterman, 47, tried to fill a prescription for a new asthma inhaler, the pharmacy could not verify her coverage even though she had paid her first month’s premium on Dec. 23. Ms. Waterman was given the option of paying full price — $187, instead of the $50 co-payment required under her new plan — and eventually being reimbursed. But she decided to wait, and hope that she does not have an asthma attack in the meantime. By the way, asthma attacks can kill. In 2010, asthma attacks killed over 3400 Americans, according to the CDC. Be sure to read it all. This issue extends well beyond whether an enrollment has been successfully concluded. As mentioned above, providers themselves aren’t even sure whether they’re in network on which plans, which means that their ability to get reimbursement is under question on every patient that comes through on anything other than a group plan. And even if they know that, providers aren’t sure which procedures and treatments will be covered, thanks to a massive amount of confusion over the mandates in ObamaCare. This, of course, is just the appetizer. When the employer mandate hits this fall, it will similarly scramble the coverage of tens of millions of Americans who end up in the ObamaCare exchanges when their employers simply decide to opt out of subsidizing the rapidly-escalating premiums in health insurance, and we’ll get a crisis orders of magnitude larger one year from now.
Koko78 Posted January 12, 2014 Posted January 12, 2014 This, of course, is just the appetizer. When the employer mandate hits this fall, it will similarly scramble the coverage of tens of millions of Americans who end up in the ObamaCare exchanges when their employers simply decide to opt out of subsidizing the rapidly-escalating premiums in health insurance, and we’ll get a crisis orders of magnitude larger one year from now. So long as the crisis occurs after the mid-term elections, the Democrats could not care less.
DC Tom Posted January 12, 2014 Posted January 12, 2014 But she decided to wait, and hope that she does not have an asthma attack in the meantime. Wasn't the ACA supposed to prevent this sort of thing?
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