Posted on 07/30/2014 3:42:51 PM PDT by EBH
Even as Obamacare continues to be attacked by foes and challenged in court, hospital chains and insurers are making more money, more patients using ERs are paying for their care, and the country as a whole is enjoying slower growth in its health-care spending.
HCA Holdings Inc. (HCA), the largest for-profit hospital chain, yesterday raised its forecast and reported a 6.6 percent drop in uninsured patients at its 165 hospitals, a reduction that grows to 48 percent in four states that expanded Medicaid, a top initiative of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. WellPoint Inc. (WLP), which made the biggest commitment of any publicly traded insurer to the Obamacare markets, raised its guidance today after handily beating analyst estimates for the quarter on rising membership linked to the overhaul.
Taxpayers too may be benefiting from the law approved in 2010. Medicare spending rose by just $1 per beneficiary in 2013, the fourth year in a row that saw a slowdown, the government reported yesterday.
"Obamacare's turned out to be quite good for health-care companies," said Les Funtleyder, a portfolio manager at Esquared asset management, in a telephone interview.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
Slower growth because of reduced coverage. People are having to put off needed procedures because they are either not covered or the reimbursement to the doctor has been reduced.
Interesting spin on the measures of success: insurance companies and hospital corportations are raking in bucks. Meanwhile doctors and patients are being hurt.
Bloomberg, you’re a useless Quisling ho. At least until we’re having a surplus of oxygen or a bullshit shortage.
” a reduction that grows to 48 percent in four states that expanded Medicaid, “
Who pays those Medicaid bills?
Rhetorical, I know, but Medicaid ensures reduced coverage and fewer procedures as well.
I see nothing good around the corner....I work in the health field and what I see is less choice, even for the nurses, and more runaround...
Neighbor was just cursing 0bamacare the other day. His brother needs back surgery, yes...needs...has insurance from his employer but the insurer refuses to cover it.
It is an interesting admission that it is working backwards from what was intended.
People are having to put off needed procedures because they are either not covered or the reimbursement to the doctor has been reduced.”
Or they can’t find a doctor who is in their plan, or doctors who are in their plan are refusing to see them because they are concerned whether they will be paid and, if they are paid, two years from now the insurance carrier will determine the patient wasn’t covered at the time and take the money back out of the doctor’s checking account.
Yep. All the above...
Other than a few “glitches” and “speed bumps” CommieCare is sailing right along as planned from the perspective of large insurance companies, large healthcare organizations, and greedy bureaucrats.
Hospitals are happy because they are getting paid through Medicaid
I’m not buying a word of Bloomberg’s spiel.
I’ve heard of putting lipstick on a pig but never heard of applying it to the other end of the pig as these two pixies have done.
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