Obamacare and you

[Grey Fox]

Talking GP, I might have found one.

[garbon]

Can everyone in Canada sign up to have the same GP?

Much like Kaiser, Canadian health care provides you with a wife who's a GP or specialist if you so desire.

Garbon with a wife? 

Sure, don't be so gender-centric.

[merithyn]

I would say the number one issue people have with HMOs privatized insurance in the US by far is "I can't visit the doctor I want."

FYP

Under a PPO, is that as big an issue?

Even in a PPO, there can be tiers of coverage. So, you can see a Tier I doctor for a $20 co-pay and 100% coverage, a Tier II doctor for 75% coverage, or a Tier III doctor for 50% coverage. If you see a Tier II or Tier III doctor, what you pay doesn't usually apply toward your family deductible.

So yeah, it can be a big issue.

[Malthus]

Can everyone in Canada sign up to have the same GP?

Much like Kaiser, Canadian health care provides you with a wife who's a GP or specialist if you so desire.

Garbon with a wife? 

Sure, don't be so gender-centric.

Garbon with a husband?

[garbon]

Can everyone in Canada sign up to have the same GP?

Much like Kaiser, Canadian health care provides you with a wife who's a GP or specialist if you so desire.

Garbon with a wife? 

Sure, don't be so gender-centric.

Garbon with a husband?

Who else is going to pay for my fabulous lifestyle?

[Malthus]

Who else is going to pay for my fabulous lifestyle?

Face harsh facts - at your age and occupation, you are from now on going to be *doing* the sugar-daddying.   

[derspiess]

Ouch.

[garbon]

Who else is going to pay for my fabulous lifestyle?

Face harsh facts - at your age and occupation, you are from now on going to be *doing* the sugar-daddying.   

Very rude!

Also, unlikely as my tastes don't extend younger.

[crazy canuck]

Who else is going to pay for my fabulous lifestyle?

Face harsh facts - at your age and occupation, you are from now on going to be *doing* the sugar-daddying.   

Very rude!

Also, unlikely as my tastes don't extend younger.

If Malthus is correct you may begin to experience long periods of celebacy.

[garbon]

Who else is going to pay for my fabulous lifestyle?

Face harsh facts - at your age and occupation, you are from now on going to be *doing* the sugar-daddying.   

Very rude!

Also, unlikely as my tastes don't extend younger.

If Malthus is correct you may begin to experience long periods of celebacy.

Yeah but I'm not sure what assumptions he is using (or not using) beyond age and occupation.

[11B4V]

It would appear the free stuff is popular.

Medicaid enrollment spike a threat to Obamacare structure?

(CBS News) The disastrous rollout of HealthCare.gov may have another serious problem: A CBS News analysis shows that in many of the 15 state-based health insurance exchanges more people are enrolling in Medicaid rather than buying private health insurance. And if that trend continues, there's concern there won't be enough healthy people buying health insurance for the system to work.

As the Obamacare website struggles, the administration is emphasizing state-level success. President Obama said Monday, "There's great demand at the state level as well. Because there are a bunch of states running their own marketplaces."

But left unsaid in the president's remarks: the newly insured in some of those states are overwhelmingly low-income people signing up for Medicaid at no cost to them.

Matt Salo, executive director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors, said, "We're seeing a huge spike in terms of Medicaid enrollments."

He says the numbers have surprised him and state officials.

CBS News has confirmed that in Washington, of the more than 35,000 people newly enrolled, 87 percent signed up for Medicaid. In Kentucky, out of 26,000 new enrollments, 82 percent are in Medicaid. And in New York, of 37,000 enrollments, Medicaid accounts for 64 percent. And there are similar stories across the country in nearly half of the states that run their own exchanges.

Medicaid experts say they're not sure why they're seeing the lopsided enrollment numbers, but point out it's easier to enroll in Medicaid than private insurance.

An administration spokeswoman says coverage provided by the new law offers "a range of options so consumers can pick a plan that best meets their needs ... and their budget."

But Gail Wilensky, a former Medicaid director, said the numbers are causing concern in the insurance industry, which needs healthy adults to buy private insurance in large numbers for the system to work.

"Either the private insurance enrollments come up somewhere around the expected amount or there's going to be a problem. ... You need a volume and you need a mix of people that are healthy as well as high users in private insurance, in order to have it be sustainable," she said.

The Obama administration says they expected these high enrollment numbers in Medicaid because the law expands the number of low-income people who can get Medicaid, CBS News' Jan Crawford reported on "CBS This Morning." Supporters say this shows demand. But industry sources say that if we do not see some real turnaround soon, there could be big problems for the entire system.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505267_162-57609254/medicaid-enrollment-spike-a-threat-to-obamacare-structure/

[CountDeMoney]

Free stuff is pretty popular when you can't afford real stuff in the first place.

[11B4V]

 

If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. Period. If you like your health care plan, you will be able to keep your health care plan. Period.

Arrival of Obamacare forcing insurers to drop customers with low coverage

The Affordable Care Act was signed by President Obama in 2010 and since then he has repeated one reassuring phrase: "If you like your insurance plan you will keep it. No one will be able to take that away from you. It hasn't happened yet. It won't happen in the future."

But it is happening. The president's health care law raises the standards for insurance policies, which many consider to be a good thing. But hundreds of thousands of Americans whose policies don't meet the new standards are being told that their health plans are being cancelled.

Natalie Willes is a sleep consultant who helps parents in Los Angeles train their newborns to sleep. She buys her own health insurance.

Natalie Willes
/ CBS News

"I was completely happy with the insurance I had before," Willes said.

So she was surprised when she tried to renew her policy. What did she find out?

"That my insurance was going to be completely different, and they were going to be replaced with 10 new plans that were going to fall under the regulations of the Affordable Care Act," she said.

Her insurer, Kaiser Permanente, is terminating policies for 160,000 people in California and presenting them with new plans that comply with the healthcare law.

"Before I had a plan that I had a $1,500 deductible," she said. "I paid $199 dollars a month. The most similar plan that I would have available to me would be $278 a month. My deductible would be $6,500 dollars, and all of my care after that point would only be covered 70 percent."

Vaccines are now required
/ CBS News

Gerry Kominski, director of public health policy at UCLA said: "About half of the 14 million people who buy insurance on their own are not going to be able to keep the policies that they had previously."

He says higher premiums help insurers pay for new requirements including accepting patients with pre-existing conditions and providing preventative care like check-ups and vaccines.

Gerry Kominski
/ CBS News

"You're paying more for a better product and for more protection -- and you won't understand the value of that until you need it," he said.

But many can't get past the sticker shock.

"Now I'm being forced to choose from a bunch of new plans that I don't want to choose from that are all more expensive," Willes said.

New plan prices vary depending on age and location. But we're told younger people who currently have with high deductible plans will likely pay higher premiums and people with health problems will pay lower premiums.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57609224/arrival-of-obamacare-forcing-insurers-to-drop-customers-with-low-coverage/

[Grey Fox]

Shit happens.

[11B4V]

Policy cancellations, higher premiums add to frustration over Obamacare

(CBS News) Nearly five weeks into the launch of HealthCare.gov, the management expert brought in to turn around the website says its issues are fixable. But it's going to take weeks, not days. That comes as some Americans are being surprised, not only that they are being booted off their current plans, but at how much they're being asked to pay for new ones.

Special section: Health care in America

For many, their introduction to the Affordable Care Act has been negative: a broken website, and now cancellation notices from insurance companies followed by sticker shock over higher prices for the new plans. It's directly at odds with repeated assurances from the president, who has said "if you like your insurance plan, you will keep it. No one will be able to take that away from you."

But people across the country are finding out they're losing their existing insurance plans under Obamacare because requirements in the law, such as prenatal and prescription drug coverage, mean their old plans aren't comprehensive enough.

In California, Kaiser Permanente terminated policies for 160,000 people. In Florida, at least 300,000 people are losing coverage.

That includes 56-year-old Dianne Barrette. Last month, she received a letter from Blue Cross Blue Shield informing her as of January 2014, she would lose her current plan. Barrette pays $54 a month. The new plan she's being offered would run $591 a month -- 10 times more than what she currently pays.

Barrette said, "What I have right now is what I am happy with and I just want to know why I can't keep what I have. Why do I have to be forced into something else?"

According to HealthCare.gov, Barrette is eligible for some subsidies, CBS News' Jan Crawford pointed out on "CBS This Morning." But Barrette told CBS News she has no idea what those subsidies would be because she cannot log on to the website -- an issue U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is sure to be asked about when she testifies on Capitol Hill Wednesday.

Technical problems continued through the weekend, as Americans trying to sign up were blocked from the website on Sunday. The administration blames technical problems at a Verizon data center for shutting down HealthCare.gov. The Obama administration says it needs until the end of November to make HealthCare.gov work -- two months after the launch.

What average Americans have been saying for weeks has now become the conventional wisdom in Washington -- "the rollout has been a disaster," as Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., remarked Sunday on "Face the Nation."

Shaheen said Sunday of the November deadline, "I hope that's accurate. We're hearing from lots of constituents in New Hampshire, that they want to enroll in health insurance -- that they can't because of the problems with the website."

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505263_162-57609534/policy-cancellations-higher-premiums-add-to-frustration-over-obamacare/