Posted on 12/02/2011 7:18:23 PM PST by Republican Wildcat
I have long argued that the impact of the Affordable Care Act is not nearly as big of a deal as opponents would have you believe. At the end of the day, the law is – in the main – little more than a successful effort to put an end to some of the more egregious health insurer abuses while creating an environment that should bring more Americans into programs that will give them at least some of the health care coverage they need.
There is, however, one notable exception – and it’s one that should have a long lasting and powerful impact on the future of health care in our country.
That would be the provision of the law, called the medical loss ratio, that requires health insurance companies to spend 80% of the consumers’ premium dollars they collect—85% for large group insurers—on actual medical care rather than overhead, marketing expenses and profit. Failure on the part of insurers to meet this requirement will result in the insurers having to send their customers a rebate check representing the amount in which they underspend on actual medical care.
This is the true ‘bomb’ contained in Obamacare and the one item that will have more impact on the future of how medical care is paid for in this country than anything we’ve seen in quite some time. Indeed, it is this aspect of the law that represents the true ‘death panel’ found in Obamacare—but not one that is going to lead to the death of American consumers. Rather, the medical loss ration will, ultimately, lead to the death of large parts of the private, for-profit health insurance industry.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
They'd have to send rebates to federal workers and retirees!
If the Republicans want to totally devastate the ObamaKKKare system they should slip in a clause in an innocuous piece of legislation that REQUIRES all government medical care programs to fully allocate all attributable costs incurred in COLLECTING THE FUNDS TO PAY FOR THEM we can all have a lot of fun eh.
Bet the largest corporations were all Obumer DumyRat 2008 and 2010 campaign donors.
The government won’t apply the same rule to themselves - they won’t be spending 85% of what they take in for medical care on medical care...
:Actually it would lead to the death of newer competing companies....”
BINGO We have a winner.
Yeah, that huge profit is between 3 and 5%.
Actually, he’s wrong; the medical loss ratio is only the first or many bombs. There are many more horrors awaiting us within Obamacare.
Everybody will get more at the expense/elimination of the ONLY entities trying to drive efficiency into the system.
Costs will go up. Way up.
Our per capita expenditures on healthcare will increase no less than 100% over the next 5 years...unless we can stop this monster.
For example, there's IRS. Then, for folks who don't pay there are the federal courts, then the prison system.
I did this several years back using public numbers for the Canadian system. Once you got through the tax collection systems of each province you really didn't need to add in the courts and prisons ~ since Canada has ONE OF THE MOST INEFFICIENT TAX COLLECTION systems in the G20 just that was enough to boost Canadian medical costs above ours on a per person basis!
The US system is much better, but even it won't make the 85% standard.
Your private insurer uses state courts, even county courts, to deal with non-payment or collection costs. Those courts are remarkably less costly than federal courts, jails and work camps.
I think one of the big bombs hitting right now is the 10% reduction in Medicare payments to hopitals and other providers. I don’t know if that was Obamacare or just bad timing.
I can’t wait to confront the Ba$tards at my mandatory end of life counselling.
Crony Captialism, Part MMXXXVIII.
For the time being, he has to deal with Health Care Plan Brokers and explain the 25% increase in Premiums that they have to pass on to their Corporate Clients.
But hey, Unemployment is only 8.6% so what are we complaining about? LOL
You just explained another example of Unintended Consequences. Unfortunately, nothing Obama and the Democrats do is “unintended”.
There’s a statement in Obamacare that the 80-85% rule includes process improvement. Some hospitals are hiring six sigma black belts and especially trainers. Then all medical staff and especially administrators get six sigma training. Some managers then get certified as process improvement experts as part of their job. Managers then become “process improvement people” instead of overhead and then are allowable as the 80-85%, while mostly doing management and a few “data collection efforts” and “planned improvement initiatives”.
2 black belts hired, dozens of managers get reclassed as no longer admins on overhead
Fire Obama, legislate tort reform, and allow interstate health insurance.
(Firing Obama assumes the next guy cancels Obamacare)
HEY! Yeah YOU, Rick Ungerachiever! Obama”care” is anti-competive AND restricts our freedom of choice.
Thus, it violates BOTH the 1890 Sherman Anti-Trust Law and the US Constitution.
BTW Ricky-boy, can you “live with that?”
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