There's an ABBA penalty? Better pay it, he's got a cape.
Posted on 02/24/2015 8:51:42 AM PST by Oldpuppymax
A few weeks ago, I had an appointment with my dermatologist–an old school guy, well-loved by his patients. He’s straightforward, no-nonsense, and has long office hours. You know the type: The one you hope will never retire. As I was led to the examining room, I noticed something not too common these days–shelf after shelf of medical records in manila folders. When the doc came into the room, I commented that he did not appear to be an early adaptor of electronic health records (EHRs). He replied that it was definitely worth the Medicare reimbursement penalty (starting in 2015) to not be involved with them.
To anyone in health care, this is no big surprise. Virtually the only people who really like EHRs are the vendors and Federal shills who have been touting them nonstop. Even many of those offices that qualified for “Meaningful Use” of EHRs, and got a cash award for their troubles, are not singing their praises.
Check out these findings from an article entitled “Physician outcry on EHR functionality, cost will shake the health information technology sector,” which appeared in the February 10, 2014 issue of Medical Economics–based on the magazine’s survey of around 1000 physicians:
Despite the government’s bribe of nearly $27 billion to digitize patient records, nearly 70% of physicians say EHR systems have not been worth it…
67% of physicians dislike the functionality of their EHR systems. 45% of respondents say patient care is worse since implementing an EHR. Nearly 23% of internists say patient care is significantly worse. Nearly half of physicians believe the cost of these systems is too high.
As to the cost of EHR, according to the same Medical Economics article: “[N]early 45% of physicians from the national survey report spending more than $100,000 on an EHR...
(Excerpt) Read more at coachisright.com ...
I’m amazed how many people don’t know about the 8% rule.
Well, I am one. 8% what? I read the article and nothing in it mentions 8%.
There's an ABBA penalty? Better pay it, he's got a cape.
Few do.
It goes like this: If you don’t have health insurance, if the bronze plan will cost you more than 8% of your taxable income, you don’t have to pay a penalty. My wife and I were both 60 last year. Health care would have cost us somewhere around $10,000-$12,000. You do the math. :-)
Okay. Thanks, but that 8% is probably time limited based on Obama’s rules (changing daily). They don’t even obey their own law. What’s to stop them from assessing more?
Regardless, the 8% doesn’t really have to do with anything substantive in the article. It was about costs to physicians for implementing electron records.
I’m living my life as if there is no such thing as Obamacare, except for one thing: As long as it is in effect I will not have health care insurance, beginning 14 months ago. And there are two things people need to know about that:
1. By law, the only way the payment of the penalty is enforceable is through confiscation of tax refunds. I never get a refund.
2. If your out of pocket cost for the cheapest Obamacare insurance (bronze) is more than 8% of your income, you are exempt from the penalty. My wife and I are over 61. The cost of health care insurance is very high.
I’ve gone fully Galt regarding my TAXABLE income.
I don’t see any cape...
Fortunately, Obama can only try to change the rules in the direction of “not enforcing” them. He can’t make up new rules that suddenly make us illegal. That’s the beauty of this.
I don’t have any problem with your approach and understand the penalty/tax thing wrt tax refunds.
I do not get ‘refunds’ either. I always pay something below the penalty stage. I squeaked by on the healthcare thing because of retirement health insurance and starting medicare, but I sympathize with you.
So it would seem, but somehow I don’t thing anything imaginable is beyond him in these last two years.
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