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ObamaCare: My Frustrating Journey
Published on Feb 10, 2014 by 'Donald Pitts'
Published on Feb 10, 2014 by 'Donald Pitts'
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B. Steadman -
ConsumerWatch: Some Doctors Surprised To Be On Covered California Provider List
CBS Local - San Francisco
Julie Watts
2/10/2014
Excerpt:
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) — After KPIX 5 ConsumerWatch revealed confusion over which physicians are accepting patients under Covered California, some doctors who did not want to accept patients on the exchange said they were surprised to find out they were on the exchange’s list of providers.
Last week, KPIX 5 reported on Covered California enrollees who found many doctors on the insurance exchange’s list wouldn’t accept them as patients. As a result of our report, Covered California removed the list of doctors from their website.
Independent physicians across California say they can’t afford to participate in Covered California’s insurance plans because the reimbursement rates are too low, and they say they don’t have the clout doctors with larger medical groups have to negotiate higher rates. They also warn that could mean a shortage of doctors in areas largely served by independent physicians.
Dr. Marie President is one of those doctors unhappy with reimbursement rates. The Redwood City internist said she was surprised to even find herself on a provider list published on the Covered California site. “We were astonished because we hadn’t signed anything yet,” President told KPIX 5.
Additionally, she says the reimbursement rates offered under the state’s plan aren’t realistic. Taking patients under those circumstances isn’t practical, President said. “We can’t, or we’ll be out of business.”
California’s medical establishment is also raising red flags about the situation. “There’s a concern about how these are structured, whether the reimbursement will be sufficient,” said Dr. Ruth Haskins of the California Medical Association.
The association said while the Affordable Care Act mandates what insurers charge patients, it does not regulate what they reimburse doctors.
For example, President said, if a doctor bills $134 for a standard office visit, a standard insurance policy will reimburse the physician $87. But under one of the new Covered California policies, the same insurer will reimburse the physician just $59. By comparison, even Medicare pays more, at $84.
“We can’t maintain operations at that level of reimbursement,” President said.
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http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/201...provider-list/B. Steadman -
Why I'm Getting Sick of Defending Obamacare
Incompetence, politics, and delays frustrate advocates of health care reform.
National Journal
Ron Fournier
2/11/2014
Excerpt:
It's getting difficult and slinking toward impossible to defend the Affordable Care Act. The latest blow to Democratic candidates, liberal activists, and naïve columnists like me came Monday from the White House, which announced yet another delay in the Obamacare implementation.
For the second time in a year, certain businesses were given more time before being forced to offer health insurance to most of their full-time workers. Employers with 50 to 99 workers were given until 2016 to comply, two years longer than required by law. During a yearlong grace period, larger companies will be required to insure fewer employees than spelled out in the law.
Not coincidentally, the delays punt implementation beyond congressional elections in November, which raises the first problem with defending Obamacare: The White House has politicized its signature policy.
The win-at-all-cost mentality helped create a culture in which a partisan-line vote was deemed sufficient for passing transcendent legislation. It spurred advisers to develop a dishonest talking point—"If you like your health plan, you'll be able to keep your health plan." And political expediency led Obama to repeat the line, over and over and over again, when he knew, or should have known, it was false.
Defending the ACA became painfully harder when online insurance markets were launched from a multi-million-dollar website that didn't work, when autopsies on the administration's actions revealed an epidemic of incompetence that began in the Oval Office and ended with no accountability.
Then officials started fudging numbers and massaging facts to promote implementation, nothing illegal or even extraordinary for this era of spin. But they did more damage to the credibility of ACA advocates.
Finally, there are the ACA rule changes—at least a dozen major adjustments, without congressional approval. J. Mark Iwry, deputy assistant Treasury secretary for health policy, said the administration has broad "authority to grant transition relief" under a section of the Internal Revenue Code that directs the Treasury secretary to "prescribe all needful rules and regulations for the enforcement" of tax obligations, according to The New York Times.
Yes, Obamacare is a tax.
Advocates for a strong executive branch, including me, have given the White House a pass on its rule-making authority, because implementing such a complicated law requires flexibility. But the law may be getting stretched to the point of breaking. Think of the ACA as a game of Jenga: Adjust one piece and the rest are affected; adjust too many and it falls.
If not illegal, the changes are fueling suspicion among Obama-loathing conservatives, and confusion among the rest of us. Even the law's most fervent supporters are frustrated.
Ron Pollack, executive director of the consumer lobby Families USA and an ally of the White House, told The Washington Post he was "very surprised" by the latest delays. For workers at large companies that don't provide coverage, he said, "It's very unfortunate … that they don't have a guarantee it will be extended to them for quite some time."
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View the complete article at:
http://www.nationaljournal.com/white...acare-20140211B. SteadmanComment
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Gym memberships add Obamacare tax
MYFOXNY
Luke Funk
2/10/2014
Excerpt:
NEW YORK (MYFOXNY) - Some people who are members of the health club Planet Fitness are finding their membership costs have gone up because of the Affordable Health Care Act.
A sign posted at a Falls Church, Va. location says "Holders of Black Card memberships will be required to pay a tax on these memberships Starting January 1, 2014 as required by the implementation of provisions of the Affordable Health Care Act. This is not a change in your membership fee but rather a tax required by the government."
Ashley Pratte, who works for the Young America's Foundation, took the photo. She wrote that when she asked a Planet Fitness employee about the sign, they confirmed that it was a five-cent-per-month tax related to the ability to tan under the membership.
The reason these accounts are forced to charge the new tax is because they include the option for members to tan at the clubs. Obamacare has a tax on tanning salons. It doesn't matter if the member uses or does not use the tanning facilities.
The reason that people might get the so-called Black Card membership without wanting to tan is that it gives the member reciprocal use of all Planet Fitness locations without having to pay extra.
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View the complete article at:
http://www.myfoxny.com/Story/2468270...-obamacare-taxB. SteadmanComment
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Seattle Children’s Hospital Sues State over ‘False Promise’ in Obamacare
Mediaite
Noah Rothman
2/10/2014
Excerpt:
The Seattle Children’s Hospital is suing Washington state’s insurance commissioner over a “failure to ensure adequate network coverage” in the insurance exchanges established as part of the Affordable Care Act. “We’re seeing denials in care, disruptions in care. We’re seeing a great deal of confusion and, at times, anger and frustration on the part of these families who bought insurance thinking that their children would be covered,” a doctor with the hospital said. “And, in fact, it’s a false promise.”
A recent CBS News report detailed the experience of one mother whose child recently came down with an ear infection. The mother, who received coverage through Washington’s insurance exchange, was provided her with a letter approving her request to see a specialist. Four days later, however, that same insurer sent her a letter denying that request.
“This is not an isolated incident,” said The Seattle Children’s Hospital’s Dr. Sandy Melzer. “The exclusion of a major provider like Seattle Children’s from a major insurance network in this market is unprecedented.”
View the complete article, including video, at:
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/seattle-c...-in-obamacare/B. SteadmanComment
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WaPo Fact Checker Gives Dick Durbin's Obamacare Claims Four Pinocchios
Breitbart / Big-Journal
Warner Todd Huston
2/11/2014
Excerpt:
During Sunday's Meet the Press, Illinois Democrat Senator Dick Durbin made the wild claim that ten million new Americans have found insurance coverage thanks to Obamacare. He also claimed that Obamacare would lower the deficit. But even The Washington Post fact checker had to give Durbin's spin its worst rating of four Pinocchios.
As the Sunday, February 5th discussion shifted to health care, host Bob Schieffer pointed out that Obamacare is still confusing nearly everyone, and he asked Senator Durbin if there is "any hope of getting it straightened out."
Durbin kicked into high spin with his answer.
"Bob, let’s look at the bottom line," Durbin said. "The bottom line is this. Ten million Americans have health insurance today who would not have had it without the Affordable Care Act--10 million."
That wasn't all the spin Durbin had to offer: "And we can also say this. It is going to reduce the deficit more than we thought it would. We were seeing a decline in the growth of the cost of health care, exactly our goal in passing this original legislation. I’m finding people, as I go across Illinois, who, for the first time in their lives, have an opportunity for affordable health insurance for their families.
"Now, there are many Republicans who are wishing that this fails, hoping they can find any shred of evidence against it," he claimed. "But we had a bad rollout. Let’s concede that point. Since then, we are gaining steam. And I think, ultimately, we’re going to find you can’t go back. You have to extend the health insurance protection to the 25 million, 30 million Americans who will ultimately have it, and we’ll be a better nation for it.
All of this is simply untrue.
To start with, the recent CBO report did not in any way say that Obamacare would bring down the deficit. On the contrary, the report said that the deficit will rise uncontrollably after 2015.
As to the millions Durbin claimed have gotten new healthcare coverage, the Post fact checker noted, "Durbin appears to be combining two figures released by the administration," and neither number is true.
The paper pointed out that the number pushed by the White House, that 6.3 million have gotten new insurance under Obamacare, is impossible to substantiate because there is no way to know if those who tried to sign up actually got an insurance policy and began paying premiums. The White House is making claims that it simply cannot prove, and Durbin parroted these empty claims.
The paper went on to state that about all one can say is that the number of people who signed up and got new health insurance is no more than 4 million, and even that estimate is "extraordinarily generous."
Finally, the Post criticized Durbin, stating he "has little excuse for going on national television and claiming that every one of these people had been previously uninsured. This has now become a Four Pinocchio violation."
Senator Durbin, however, is undaunted in his outlandish claims. After The Washington Post published its fact check, his office replied to the criticism:
Fact check after fact check has confirmed that more than 9 million Americans have signed up for private health insurance or Medicaid coverage through Affordable Care Act. Many of the more than 9 million Americans are being covered for the first time. No matter the number of new enrollees, there is no question that the law is working and millions of people are realizing the benefits of affordable health coverage and the protections it guarantees.
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View the complete article at:
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journal...re-Rated-FalseB. SteadmanComment
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Obamacare:My Frustrating Journey - Part Deux
Published on Feb 24, 2014 by Donald PittsB. SteadmanComment
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