Exchange Nightmare
Anyone remember Phil Conners? You know the weatherman in the movie Groundhog Day. He's a guy I can relate to.Loyal readers may remember my post about Jane. She was the lady who is a cancer survivor, exhausted her COBRA, then had to go bare for six months before PCIP would begin. However, the Government shut down the program during her six month window. This left her without coverage.For the last month we have been trying to get her enrolled through amazon.com, I mean, healthcare.gov. Time and time again we would log in only to get kicked off. We finally made it through to where she was able to pick a plan and put it in her...
Source: InsureBlog - December 20, 2013 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Source Type: blogs
CavRisk 2013/2014 Transition
For the first time in its 7 1/2 year history, the next Cav would fall on Christmas Day. So we'll be skipping that edition, and picking back up on Wednesday, January 8, 2014 at Michael Stack's place.May your Holidays be warm and wonderful, and we'll see y'all next year!Original content copyright © InsureBlog (Source: InsureBlog)
Source: InsureBlog - December 20, 2013 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Source Type: blogs
Sugar Daddy - Part II
Last month, Bob posted on the "news" that some hospitals, looking to bolster potential losses, have begun considering "supporting premium payments and cost-sharing obligations with respect to qualified health plans purchased by patients in the Marketplaces." The idea is that the hospitals (or other providers) would somehow subsidize their patients' premiums in order to make sure they remained insured, and therefore more likely to pay (or have someone pay) their bills.Before we address the latest news on this front, I'm not convinced that this will be any great boon for the providers: after all, if they pay for low-end plan...
Source: InsureBlog - December 19, 2013 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Source Type: blogs
Yes, Virginia, there IS a Health Wonk Review
Julie Ferguson hosts this year's final round-up of health care bloggetry, with a wonderful Christmas-themed HWR. Come for Jolly Ol' St Nick, stay for the terrific insights.Original content copyright © InsureBlog (Source: InsureBlog)
Source: InsureBlog - December 19, 2013 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Source Type: blogs
Annnd...They fold
Like cheap furniture:"Members of America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) have agreed voluntarily that insurers will extend the payment deadline for exchange plans that start Jan. 1 to Jan. 10."Of course this wasn't "voluntary" at all:"They can't even give this stuff away and now they are attempting to blackmail health insurance carriers by threatening to take away their exchange privileges."Original content copyright © InsureBlog (Source: InsureBlog)
Source: InsureBlog - December 18, 2013 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Source Type: blogs
Wednesday Afternoon Linkfest
As I observed to a friend this morning, the silver lining (such as it is) to the ObamaTax is an embarrassment of riches, blog-fodder-wise. To wit:■ First up, looks like 'staycations' will be the new normal going forward:"As Americans realize they must pay for all non-emergency medical care when they leave their home county, their decisions may have a profound impact on the real-estate market, particularly the second home sector, and on the travel business."The issue: unlike current (but now outlawed) plans, Exchange-based policies won't cover non-emergency care outside one's network. Not necessarily an issue if you...
Source: InsureBlog - December 18, 2013 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Source Type: blogs
Widespread Panic
Way back in the 60's the question was posed, "What if they gave a war and nobody came?". That was then. This is now.HHS wakes up this morning asking, "What if we gave away free health insurance and nobody bought?".As The New American reported, however, of the nearly 365,000 who have selected plans on exchanges, the administration isn’t saying how many have actually paid for, and therefore attained, coverage. That may be, in part, because no one really knows. Writing for Forbes, Avik Roy cited insurance-industry insiders’ estimates that only five to 15 percent of individuals who have selected pl...
Source: InsureBlog - December 18, 2013 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Source Type: blogs
My new article is up...
At Answers.com:"Finding adequate disability income insurance if one is in a high risk field or has a serious but non-disabling health condition can be challenging. Fortunately, there are plans available to fit almost every need, and can be structured to be affordable."Original content copyright © InsureBlog (Source: InsureBlog)
Source: InsureBlog - December 18, 2013 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Source Type: blogs
Real, or PhotoShop?
[No fair clicking through before guessing]Original content copyright © InsureBlog (Source: InsureBlog)
Source: InsureBlog - December 18, 2013 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Source Type: blogs
Cheese, Louise
(Source: InsureBlog)
Source: InsureBlog - December 17, 2013 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Source Type: blogs
#Obamacareinthreewords
The White House tweeted this little gem today and used the hashtag #obamacareinthreewords. The three words they used...Saving People Money. Many of us have seen our premiums increase by 30% to 50% since 2010. If I paid $10,000 in premiums back in 2010 and now pay $15,000 in 2014, under the MLR rule in 2010 my insurer was able to retain $2000 for administration and other fixed costs. Based on the new premiums my insurer will be able to retain $3000. As a business owner I would argue that #Obamacareinthreewords is:Insurance. Company. Racket.Original content copyright © InsureBlog...
Source: InsureBlog - December 17, 2013 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Source Type: blogs
Riddle me this...
So someone plays "Stump the Navigator" (admittedly a very low bar), and then, using her Google-fu, tracks down an online copy of the Navigator's Handbook. So far, so good.Turns out, though, that the document in question - a training manual for folks who will have access to your most private health and financial information - is itself "Top Secret."[ed: I always thought James Bond was a secret agent, not an insurance agent]Here's the puzzler: Why would this be a secret? What's in there that would cause HHS Secretary Shecantbeserious to lose sleep if disclosed? What is she hiding?Original content copyright © InsureBlog (Source: InsureBlog)
Source: InsureBlog - December 17, 2013 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Source Type: blogs
Proceeding apace... [UPDATED]
So you may have seen this story floating around the 'net:"[A] House Oversight and Government Reform Committee ... has found that Obamacare Navigators have been giving Americans misinformation and, in some cases, actively encouraging enrollees to commit fraud in order to raise their subsidies."Of course, this is only a surprise to the folks in Capital City; we've been pointing this out for quite some time.The report also notes that "there is no way for Americans to find out whether their Navigators are properly certified."Again, something we've covered for a while. But then, we're just a bunch of greedy, evil insurance agen...
Source: InsureBlog - December 16, 2013 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Source Type: blogs
Gaming the system: We *may* have a winner
Last month, FoIB Dr Stuart Fickler posed a challenge:"It appears to me that a system as complex as Obamacare is vulnerable to a vast range of gaming. To be clear, I am not referring to just the computer aspects of the system, but the entire system, from applying to delivery of the care itself ... if they don't want to take the risk of "second class medical treatment", they can switch over to the "marketplace" insurance."I was skeptical that this would be a viable strategy, asking "what if the diagnosis came, and treatment was scheduled to begin, between regularly scheduled Open Enrollment periods?" There was al...
Source: InsureBlog - December 16, 2013 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Source Type: blogs
This Sceptered Isle, Part MMXIII
Warning - this is not easy reading. These are some findings contained in three reports released in Britain December 11th, together with other reports released earlier, regarding the performance of Britain’s NHS:(1) a quarter of new mothers were abandoned by their midwives during labour, with some left to give birth on the floor or in corridors; midwives due to help women give birth at home were failing to turn up; others were unable to read machines that monitor babies’ heartbeats.(2) 148 events April to September were deemed so serious they should never happen. These included a fallopian tube r...
Source: InsureBlog - December 16, 2013 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Source Type: blogs
