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Howard, Parente

ObamaCare faces the implementation iceberg

The administration has just begun to issue guidance (proposed rules) to the insurance industry on Obamacare’s most important (and expensive) insurance market “reforms.” Insurance plans must have clarity on these issues if they are to develop and price plans for the individual and small group markets both inside and outside of the exchanges.

Right now, insurance companies don’t have answers to some of the most critical questions. Dozens of other smaller, but still important rules are also outstanding from HHS that will affect what kinds of plans are available on the exchanges, and how much they will cost insurers and taxpayers.

Some of the recently issued rules, particularly on community rating (charging the same price to everyone regardless of health status) and limiting the premium difference between older and younger applicants are likely to increase prices for young people – and over half (55%) of the uninsured are under age 35.

If prices rise sharply for this group, they’re much less likely to buy coverage, since Obamacare lets them buy insurance for the same price even after they become sick.

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moving deck chairs….

cmsinaz on November 26, 2012 at 6:28 PM

The working class will pick up the tab for the grifters and the cronies, thank you 50.8%.

rob verdi on November 26, 2012 at 6:29 PM

Dr. Howard Dean, democrat:

DEAN: The question is, in a democracy, where does the right balance between those at the top, 20% of the people do most of the consumer spending and so forth, and those at the bottom. When it gets out of whack as it did in the twenties and has now, you have to do some redistribution. This is a form of redistribution.

tom daschle concerned on November 26, 2012 at 6:31 PM

Well, the young voted for Obama didn’t they? Wait until they get the price tag for this bozo.

Terrye on November 26, 2012 at 6:37 PM

Terrye is right, they all thought it was such a cool thing to do. Wait until they cannot get a job, have a college loan and get that tab for the “free” health insurance…

What did the Rev. Wright say, something about chickens coming home to roost…

Tilly on November 26, 2012 at 6:49 PM

tom daschle concerned on November 26, 2012 at 6:31 PM

He thinks we are a democracy.
So when things get out of whack, we have to steal from the producers.
Oooookayyyyy.

And the general public never listens to these whack a moles.

Badger40 on November 26, 2012 at 6:50 PM

“We haven’t been able to get the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act implemented due to the some of the Republican’s uncompromising positions.Now, we must go with Single Payer. We tried to fix health care with a the free market approach but it has had limited success. America needs to get beyond this senseless partisan bickering and pass Single Payer. Under my presidency, I have brought a willingness to compromise. And it is in the spirit of compromise that I endorse the Graham/Reid/Mcain Single Payer for Health and Healing act.”
****Bipartisan cheering*****
Obama address to the congress 2015

BoxHead1 on November 26, 2012 at 6:53 PM

From PJMEDIA

On top of all of that, doctors will be obligated — that’s right, obligated — to talk to you about things you may have no interest or need to talk about.

You may just want to have a pap smear or check your cholesterol. However, I am now mandated by the government to talk to you about your weight, exercise, family life, smoking, sexual abuse(!), and even to ask if you wear seat belts. And I am mandated to record your answers.

I am a physician. But I need to tell you to wear a seat belt and then record your answer.

Obamacare is going to turn the USA into hell on earth. May all you democrats who supported it suffer immeasurably under it.

tom daschle concerned on November 26, 2012 at 6:56 PM

Well, the young voted for Obama didn’t they? Wait until they get the price tag for this bozo.

Terrye on November 26, 2012 at 6:37 PM

Not all of us. I’m getting f*ed just as much as they are, only I didn’t ask for it.

John_Locke on November 26, 2012 at 7:09 PM

On top of all of that, doctors will be obligated — that’s right, obligated — to talk to you about things you may have no interest or need to talk about.

You may just want to have a pap smear or check your cholesterol. However, I am now mandated by the government to talk to you about your weight, exercise, family life, smoking, sexual abuse(!), and even to ask if you wear seat belts. And I am mandated to record your answers.

I am a physician. But I need to tell you to wear a seat belt and then record your answer.

Obamacare is going to turn the USA into hell on earth. May all you democrats who supported it suffer immeasurably under it.

tom daschle concerned on November 26, 2012 at 6:56 PM

Is that for real? Man I just came up with a ton of new reasons not to go to the doctor.

John_Locke on November 26, 2012 at 7:10 PM

Terrye on November 26, 2012 at 6:37 PM

I didn’t! Why should I have to pay?

NerwenAldarion on November 26, 2012 at 7:58 PM

“Implementation iceberg” already in sight, huh?

So, how many weeks do you think will pass before the leftists on television propose replacing Obamacare with single-payer government-run healthcare?

Aitch748 on November 26, 2012 at 7:59 PM

Is that for real? Man I just came up with a ton of new reasons not to go to the doctor.

John_Locke

But wait, there’s more:

Remember Obama promised this as a free exam — no co-pay, no deductible, no charge. That’s fine and dandy if you are healthy and have no complaints. However, we are obligated by law to code specifically for the reason of the visit. An annual exam is one specific code; you can not mix this with another code, say, for rectal bleeding. This annual visit covers the exam and “discussion about the status of previously diagnosed stable conditions.” That’s the exact wording under that code — insurance will not cover any new ailment under that code.

If you are here for that annual exam, you will not be covered if you want to discuss any new ailment or unstable condition. I cannot bait and switch to another code — that’s illegal. We, the physicians, are audited all the time and can lose our license for insurance fraud.

You, the patient, will then have to make a decision.

Do you want your “free” yearly exam, or do you want to pay for a visit which is coded for a particular, new problem? You can have my “free” exam if you only discuss what Obamacare wants me to discuss.

This happened to me personally, as a patient, when I went for my physical. It is the law. If you are complaining of a new problem, then you have to reschedule, since Obamacare is very clear as to what is covered and what is not. Obamacare — intentionally — makes it as difficult to be seen and taken care of as possible.

xblade on November 26, 2012 at 8:04 PM

“Implementation iceberg” already in sight, huh?

So, how many weeks do you think will pass before the leftists on television propose replacing Obamacare with single-payer government-run healthcare?

Aitch748 on November 26, 2012 at 7:59 PM

If Republicans are smart, they’ll say often and loudly, “They created a disaster the first time they passed health care ‘reform’ — and now they think they can fix it by taking over the whole thing???”

Notice I did qualify that with a big “if.”

CJ on November 26, 2012 at 8:07 PM

If prices rise sharply for this group, they’re much less likely to buy coverage, since Obamacare lets them buy insurance for the same price even after they become sick.

That’s the point of Obamacare. Drive the healthy out of the system, crash insurance and force everyone onto the government plan.

obladioblada on November 26, 2012 at 8:52 PM

Do you want your “free” yearly exam, or do you want to pay for a visit which is coded for a particular, new problem? You can have my “free” exam if you only discuss what Obamacare wants me to discuss.

It’s so aggravating how they throw around the word “free” when discussing Obamacare. Oh look, subjects, you are all now entitled to have a “free” yearly exam (so long as you don’t ask you doctor about any new conditions or symptoms); you get “free” contraceptives and abortion pills; you get a “free” yearly mammogram, etc.

It’s just too bad the law did not require that patients be informed just how much all those “free” goodies are actually costing them. If you buy your own medical insurance, you’re going to be paying significantly higher premiums to cover all that “free” stuff. If your employer provides your medical insurance as a job benefit, then the employer is going to be paying significantly more (which means the employer will have less money available to pay for other benefits, or for things like pay raises), or the employer is just going to stop providing the insurance at all.

It’s time people started being informed of the real costs of all these “free” Obama benefits.

AZCoyote on November 26, 2012 at 8:56 PM

“We haven’t been able to get the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act implemented due to the some of the Republican’s uncompromising positions.Now, we must go with Single Payer. We tried to fix health care with a the free market approach but it has had limited success. America needs to get beyond this senseless partisan bickering and pass Single Payer. Under my presidency, I have brought a willingness to compromise. And it is in the spirit of compromise that I endorse the Graham/Reid/Mcain Single Payer for Health and Healing act.”
****Bipartisan cheering*****
Obama address to the congress 2015

BoxHead1

This. The one thing Progs are great at, the only thing that ever seems to work, is demagogury. This thing is going to blow up like a J-DAM hitting a sewage treatment plant, but they’ll be able to somehow blame the people who warned against it.

Boogeyman on November 26, 2012 at 9:36 PM