Obamacare and the Horror Stories

[Jack Springer]

^^^

Maybe a lesson about a new immigration policy should be learned here. You can't change everything at one time -- things have to 'evolve'.

 

[Jack Springer]

​

Craziness continues at HHS.

New 'rules' release by Kitty Kat.

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services News Division [Phone Number: Removed] [Email Address: Removed] www.hhs.gov/news
EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE 4:15 p.m. EST Thursday, December 12, 2013

Administration takes steps to ensure Americans signing up through the Marketplace have coverage and access to the care they need on January 1

Today, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced additional steps to help ensure consumers who are seeking health insurance through the Health Insurance Marketplace smoothly transition to coverage that best fits their needs. We will continue to look for additional steps we can take to make this process easier for consumers. The steps taken today include:

1. Requiring insurers to accept payment through December 31 for coverage that will begin January 1, and urging issuers to give consumers additional time to pay their first month’s premium and still have coverage beginning January 1, 2014.

2. Giving people enrolled in the federal Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP) the chance to extend their coverage through January 31, 2014 if they haven’t already selected a new plan. PCIP is a transitional bridge program that provides people with health conditions who could otherwise be shut out of the insurance market or charged more because of their pre-existing condition quality, affordable health insurance until options become available in the Marketplaces. The additional month gives this vulnerable population additional time to enroll in a plan and ensure continuity of coverage.

3. Formalizing the previously announced decision giving individuals until December 23, instead of December 15, to sign up for health insurance coverage in the Marketplaces that would begin January 1.

4. Strongly encouraging insurers to treat out-of-network providers as in-network to ensure continuity of care for acute episodes or if the provider was listed in their plan’s provider directory as of the date of an enrollee’s enrollment.

5. Strongly encouraging insurers to refill prescriptions covered under previous plans during January. “We are providing additional flexibility to consumers across the country to ensure they have access to coverage options that begin on January 1, 2014,” said
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen​

Source Link to Full Version of Press Release: http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2013pres/12/20131212a.html

Can it become a bigger mess ... the sad thing is that it will. They have no idea what they are doing.

 

[Alnitak]

The problems with the roll out are red meat for the conservative opposition, but they are temporary growing pains that will soon look like outdated criticisms once people have figured out what to do and the numbers of newly insured greatly outnumber those whom have lost their substandard care. There is no question that healthcare standards have thrown some people for a loop. I'm sure building standards do the same for builders, but usually there are grandfather clauses. There probably should have been this time. It is also unfortunate that the administration waited so long to support education campaigns.

 

[Benvolio]

The problems with the roll out are red meat for the conservative opposition, but they are temporary growing pains that will soon look like outdated criticisms once people have figured out what to do and the numbers of newly insured greatly outnumber those whom have lost their substandard care.

You don't understand. The entire plan is that healthy people will be forced to buy insurance in and to pay excessive premiums in order to give coverage to those with preexisting illnesses. Those people are never going to be happy.
That is only the beginning of the problem. Most of the people who have signed up to date are for Medicaid, the free part.
Meanwhile federal regulations have forced the termination of millions of policies, but new policies are blocked by the computer glitch.
Most Americans do not want Obamacare and they may end up with nothing.

 

[Alnitak]

You don't understand. The entire plan is that healthy people will be forced to buy insurance in and to pay excessive premiums in order to give coverage to those with preexisting illnesses. Those people are never going to be happy.
That is only the beginning of the problem. Most of the people who have signed up to date are for Medicaid, the free part.
Meanwhile federal regulations have forced the termination of millions of policies, but new policies are blocked by the computer glitch.
Most Americans do not want Obamacare and they may end up with nothing.

God makes us strong only for a while...

Heart attacks happen to teen athletes.

Cancer can happen at any age.

 

[Rolyo85]

God makes us strong only for a while...

Heart attacks happen to teen athletes.

Cancer can happen at any age.

You don't understand! Now people with preexisting conditions will not just be told to eat shit and die, AND THAT'S NOT OK!

 

[Alnitak]

You don't understand! Now people with preexisting conditions will not just be told to eat shit and die, AND THAT'S NOT OK!

Cardiac arrest is an emergency. You don't get health insurance in five minutes.

 

[Benvolio]

God makes us strong only for a while...

Heart attacks happen to teen athletes.

Cancer can happen at any age.

If young healthy people were charged a premium based on the risks of their group, the premiums would be low. The purpose of Obama care is to charge them much higher premiums --and force them to buy it--to use the excess to give a gift of care to those with preexisting. But about half the people will get insurance subsidies borrowed from the Chinese etc until the Chinese wise up.

 

[Alnitak]

If young healthy people were charged a premium based on the risks of their group, the premiums would be low. The purpose of Obama care is to charge them much higher premiums --and force them to buy it--to use the excess to give a gift of care to those with preexisting. But about half the people will get insurance subsidies borrowed from the Chinese etc until the Chinese wise up.

I do believe you are making arguments for single payer care.

 

[Benvolio]

I do believe you are making arguments for single payer care.

Borrowing the entire amount in addition to our existing trillion dollar a year deeper into debt?

 

[Alnitak]

Borrowing the entire amount in addition to our existing trillion dollar a year deeper into debt?

Obviously returning to the tax rates we had in the prosperous 1950s would be necessary. It already is.

By the way, China owns less than 8% of US debt. Foreign countries as a whole don't even own a majority of it. Two thirds are owned by Americans.

 

[Jack Springer]

Obamacare is a mess and no one is in charge.

 

[frankfrank]

If young healthy people were charged a premium based on the risks of their group, the premiums would be low.

I'm not clear: Is there only *ONE RISK POOL* for all people of all ages?

I always thought there should be risk pools by age group, including everybody who is alive and chooses to buy insurance. Somebody 36 years old should not be paying the same insurance rates as somebody 63 years old.

Somebody living independently at 19, having to pay the same insurance as somebody who's three weeks away from Medicare, is not going to encourage young (and, therefore, usually healthy) people to sign up.

 

[Benvolio]

"Insurance" for someone already sick is not really insurance, it is more like charity. Sick people cannot pay a premium commensurate with the risk, because it would have to be as high as the expense of the care. The entire purpose of forcing people to buy obama care policies is to generate extra revenue for the insurance companies from which they can "insure" the sick. The extra revenue must come from from charging healthy people inflated premiums disproportionate to the their risk.
Of course, many of the healthy people cannot pay such high premiums, so the government will provide subsidies, ostensibly by taxing people, who presumably are already paying for their own insurance. We have to assume that the half or more of the country which pays no income tax will also be deemed to be entitled to the subsidy, while the half that pays income tax will by expected to pay for their own insurance, (at the inflated premiums to pay for preexisting ), plus, by taxes, pick up the subsides for the other half that gets the free ride.
Actually, of course the government plans to borrow the amount of the subsidies, in addition to our already trillion a year borrowing--until the Chinese spring the trap, say "no more", and the entire house of cards collapses.