An estimated 444,000 people in 10 states (out of 25) have applied for Medicaid!
http://seattletimes.com/html/healthcare/2022240305_apxhealthoverhaulsuccessstory.html
The expansion of Medicaid will add an estimated 9 million people to the freeloader roles in the next year. Nurses are being made “bounty hunters” to encourage the self-insured to hop on the redistribution bandwagon. Hospitals love the idea.
I mentioned to my doctor niece that expanding Medicaid enrollment is an important part of Obamacare and healthcare.gov. Her reaction was “that’ll never work – Medicare is much worse than even Medicare – it doesn’t even cover the cost of providing the service. Doctors just won’t accept Medicaid patients”.
Until HHS issues a dictate telling doctors that you have no choice.
It’s a shame Bill Safire has passed; otherwise we’d have Obamacaregate.
My niece is among those who want to do away with insurance companies completely.
Insurance is a socialist way to pool risks and protect yourself financially from unlikely events such as your home being struck by lightening or someone stealing your car.
What we have for “healthcare” is neither “healthcare” nor “health insurance” – it is a way to mandate that people don’t have to pay for their own birth control pills – just or maternity care. Just ask Sandra Fluke.
Rush was on the case today, but reached the wrong conclusion. He started hearing a pattern that the Obamacare “fix” will be some new subsidy for the people who are losing their coverage – the money and legal authority will come from the emanations of the penumbra of the ACA.
What they actually are talking about is a subsidy to the insurance companies to protect them from the underwriting losses. Where the ACA calls for giving the insurers 50% of the size of the underwriting losses, make it 100% for a few years. Blue Cross is protected, the medical community will have a 15″ pipe into the US Treasury to empty out the basement of cash as fast as they can. It’s a win-win that even Republicans can support.
Maybe it will be some combination of subsidies.
Hannity today was making an argument that the Clinton’s are placing Obama within a ‘target zone’ with Bill’s calling him out to be ‘honest’, all so Hillary can run against Obamacare.
We could do away with the health insurance companies if Dr. Ben Carson got his wish that everyone have a Healthcare Savings Account, and therefore responsible for paying their own health care costs.
Rush just mentioned this story.
Not just that, but 50,000 people have used the web site to sign up for Obamacare too. If we hit them each with a one time surcharge of $10,000.00 each, we can recover the cost of building the web site that enabled them to sign up for low cost health care.
Since the goal is 9 million signups, in about 15 years, we’ll hit the target!
By then, I may be eligible for Medicare, so no worries!
Medicare is being de-funded, and don’t forget the ‘Death’ panels, although I seem to detect a bit of sarcasm in your post.
I thought Medicare just got the “doc fix” to increase reimbursements.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/08/14/romneys-right-obamacare-cuts-medicare-by-716-billion-heres-how/
My sarcasm was my expectation when the SHTF, one obvious thing to do is push back the eligibility date to get Medicare to maybe 75 or so
It turns out the 50,000 number is a lie, too. It is the number of people who put a health plan in their shopping cart, not the number who completed the signup process.
http://reason.com/blog/2013/11/12/obamacares-enrollment-numbers-arent-real
At the rate the signup numbers are headed the only folks who will signup will be those of us with pre-existing conditions, or heavily subsidized, or have a waiver. What would it mean if the total number who eventually signup are about 10-20% of the population?
(of the population not covered by employer plans)
The unintended consequences ripple in every direction. The “Catastrophic” plans are only available to people less than 30 years old.
The people who have been uninsurable up until now will flood the insurers with claims, doing “catch up” work of having operations that were deferred because they couldn’t afford them, getting on expensive drug regimens, getting orthopedic surgeries for arthritic hips and knees, demand organ transplants, etc…
This is not totally unexpected, but the hope was the 9 million people who sign up that are not high risk will cushion the blow.
By the way, I learned today that Coventry One was acquired by Aetna earlier this year. Eliminating competition is a great way to reduce costs!
” unintended” by whom? I would agree with “concealed” but not “unintended” – there has been almost a century old plan to make more and more people dependent on politicians so that they can siphon off money from larger and larger money flows.
The other day at dinner I asked my two doctor relatives (since I’ve been gone 30 years) which hospitals are still around in Charlotte. The answer is “two” in a city with ~750,000 people. The existing hospitals have been combined into two “groups” – Carolina Medical Center (CMC) and Novant (Presbyterian)
While there are surely efficiencies from combining hospitals, you have to think it reduces price competition.
I have the perfect song to celebrate this Edsel – O’Bamma-Rahm-a Ding Dong
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KStsPPgeka4
I heard on Beck yesterday that no one has signed up for Obo-care from Oregon
Will obo-care pay for medical marijuana?
Just checking here…. you will have to now continue to pay for your own condoms, but are now obligated to also pay for the “free” contraception for women.
No word yet on if healthcare.gov will allow guys to submit claims for drinks at single bars, or subscriptions to porno sites.
https://www.healthcare.gov/what-are-my-birth-control-benefits/
oops. here is the quote:
“Plans in the Health Insurance Marketplace must cover contraceptive methods and counseling for all women, as prescribed by a health care provider.
These plans must cover the services without charging a copayment, coinsurance, or deductible when they are provided by an in-network provider.”
Condoms are not prescription items. Sandra Fluke’s testimony was concerning a “friend” of hers who needs long acting birth control injections to prevent ovulation so she didn’t have debilitating menstrual cramps. The woman in question is a lesbian.
Admittedly, it is a cleverly crafted “slippery slope” argument that may not even be true. However, this week Rush is still hung up on this idea that the more random sex a woman has, the more birth control pills a woman takes. Birth Control pills work very different than Viagra or OxyContin.
The birth control argument is not seeing the forest because we’re looking at a tree. Many current health care plans don’t cover maternity costs at all. Currently, women pay significantly more for health insurance than men because they have more to go wrong and also tend to visit the doctor more often. Not only is Obamacare a wealth transfer from the young to the old, it is from men to women collectively.
98% of sexually active women of childbearing age have at some point used some form of real birth control
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2012/feb/06/cecilia-munoz/white-house-official-says-98-catholic-women-have-u/
Trying to refight Griswold vs Connecticut is pretty pointless. I don’t want to pay for broken legs from skiing accidents, people injured riding motorcycles, heroin overdoes, ADHD drugs or paralyzed people who were paralyzed by diving head first into a swimming pool – but that’s not how healthcare insurance works – you don’t get to pick and choose certain types of risks you want to be covered.
Well then, should there not be 2 categories of coverage? Medical health insurance, and Accident health insurance.
I mean to say, if I to choose to be a tobacco, heroin, cocaine, meth user, or a participant in dangerous sports e.g. hockey, football, soccer, mountain climbing, snow skiing, skydiving (you get the idea) then should I not need to buy a separate insurance rider to cover those sorts of activities?
Art, the question is what kind of “health insurance” would require you to pick up the tab for someone’s recreational sex with no deductible and no copay… but not help you when you are really sick and need a lab test or antibiotics- you have to meet a $6,500.00 deductible and the deductible for the recreational sex is $0.
Well, the bottom line of Obamacare is it is the end of health insurance. All those companies are now just going to be claims processors for the government health coverage system. The list of covered services will grow over time as the politicians think it will buy them votes or contributions. Aroma therapy? No problem. Christian Science counseling? No problem. Roy Masters’ meditation tapes – sure thing!