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Elusive numbers make it hard to grade state’s health coverage [WA]
The Seattle Times ^ | 3/22/2014 | Carol M. Ostrom

Posted on 03/23/2014 6:38:58 PM PDT by steve86

When we move past the March 31 deadline to sign up for health insurance for 2014, will we know how many uninsured Washington residents have been helped by the Affordable Care Act, with all its angst, infrastructure and expense?

It’s a key question in judging the federal law’s performance.

But to the dismay of the law’s supporters, as well as its critics, that number is proving to be as slippery as a moss-covered sidewalk in springtime Seattle.

“Isn’t the goal of the entire act supposed to be about covering people who were not covered before?” asked State Sen. Bruce Dammeier, R-Puyallup, who grilled Richard Onizuka, CEO of the Washington Health Benefit Exchange, in a recent legislative committee work session. “This is a critical number that really should determine the success or failure of the program.”

(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; US: Washington
KEYWORDS: aca; deathpanels; obamacare
At last report, nearly 470,000 individuals had signed up either for Medicaid or individual insurance through Healthplanfinder. Of those, 112,225 bought commercial health insurance plans — far behind the exchange’s Jan. 1, 2015 goal of 280,000 enrollees.

And the nagging question continues to lurk: How many of those 470,000 were previously uninsured?

1 posted on 03/23/2014 6:38:58 PM PDT by steve86
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To: zeestephen

Ping


2 posted on 03/23/2014 6:39:20 PM PDT by steve86 (Acerbic by nature not nurture)
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To: steve86
If they had a good story, they'd have precise numbers to shove at us.
They aren't giving us numbers? They don't have a good story to tell.

Good management involves metrics. Either they have no metrics (bad management) or they have metrics and they are ashamed. Either way, there is no ways these people have demonstrated competence.

3 posted on 03/23/2014 6:46:46 PM PDT by ClearCase_guy
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To: steve86

“Isn’t the goal of the entire act supposed to be about covering people who were not covered before?”


If he was a democrat I’d say he is an idiot. But he is a republican, and posing the question to bring up the absurdity of such a claim.


4 posted on 03/23/2014 6:47:05 PM PDT by cuban leaf
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To: steve86

From a article about a month ago, how many have actually paid the premiums for the ObamaCare plan?


5 posted on 03/23/2014 6:54:04 PM PDT by Calvin Locke
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To: steve86


6 posted on 03/23/2014 6:56:55 PM PDT by Chode (Stand UP and Be Counted, or line up and be numbered - *DTOM* -vvv- NO Pity for the LAZY - 86-44)
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To: steve86

Let me just say that without a precise counting, my son, DIL, grandson, granddaughter, my cousin, her husband, their twins, a friend couple with two children, the couple who owns a local spa, a couple who own a local restaurant, two other friends, and myself are counted in that number signed up. All were previously insured. All have lost their doctors, even those on the gold plan.

There are more, of course, this is just a small count of my closest friends and family.


7 posted on 03/23/2014 7:06:15 PM PDT by angry elephant (Endangered species in Seattle)
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To: steve86

Any webpage has a counter that can tell you how many people have looked at the page and where they are generally located in the country and state. Any site that sells anything has an e-commerce package that tells you that you have a sale and will tell you their names and credit card numbers and what time of day the sale was made.

Saying you have trouble finding out the “true” numbers is telling us that obama and the democrats are lying again.

obamacare is a huge failure no matter what Jimmy Fallon and Ellen DeGeneres say.


8 posted on 03/23/2014 7:07:22 PM PDT by minnesota_bound
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To: Calvin Locke

From Detailed February Status Report:

http://www.wahbexchange.org/files/3613/9533/7817/February_Data_Report_FINAL.pdf

Qualified Health Plan (Paid Subsidized): 84,982

Qualified Health Plan (Paid Non-Subsidized): 20,422

Qualified Health Plan (Need to Pay): 80,841


9 posted on 03/23/2014 7:14:02 PM PDT by steve86 (Acerbic by nature not nurture)
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To: minnesota_bound

It is not difficult to determine how many have enrolled and paid (see #8); it is a lot harder to determine how many were uninsured previously.


10 posted on 03/23/2014 7:15:15 PM PDT by steve86 (Acerbic by nature not nurture)
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To: steve86

The more important question for the state will be how many were eligible for the traditional Medicaid criteria and therefore be the responsibility of the state. Back in December when the first numbers were released the vast majority of people enrolled in the program were going into Medicaid, and about half of them were eligible for the old Medicaid .


11 posted on 03/23/2014 7:34:08 PM PDT by USNBandit (sarcasm engaged at all times)
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To: USNBandit

Yep, traditional Medicaid enrollees get traditional funding.


12 posted on 03/23/2014 7:58:22 PM PDT by steve86 (Acerbic by nature not nurture)
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To: steve86

As expected, people who cannot afford health insurance want FREE health insurance.

In January 2013, about 990,000 Washington residents did not have health insurance.

By January 2018, the Washington state goal was to enroll 338,000 of those people in Medicaid, which is free.

So what happened?

By March 2014 - almost FOUR YEARS before the goal - Washington state enrolled 357,000 previously uninsured residents in Medicaid!

What was the goal for paid policies?

By January 2018, the Washington state goal was to enroll 471,000 previously uninsured residents in paid policies.

By March 2014, just 112,000 residents signed up for paid policies, and no one knows how many of those people were previously uninsured.


13 posted on 03/23/2014 10:42:44 PM PDT by zeestephen
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To: steve86

Washington State

Most Current Statistics

01 October 2013 - 13 March 2014

Medicaid - Renewal - 370,000

Medicaid - Previously Eligible - 122,000 (First Time Enrolled)

Medicaid - Eligible Under New Rules - 235,000

Paid Policy Applicants - First Month Paid - 112,000 (61%)

Paid Policy Applicants - Have Not Paid - 72,000 (39%)


14 posted on 03/23/2014 11:08:18 PM PDT by zeestephen
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To: USNBandit; steve86

RE: “The more important question for the state will be how many were eligible for the traditional Medicaid criteria and therefore be the responsibility of the state.”

122,000 - As of 13 March 2014.

From memory - the average total cost of one person on Medicaid is $5,500.

I’ll guess that amount will drop some because quite a few people will sign up for Medicaid now who are completely healthy, just to have insurance for emergencies.

So, I’ll estimate the “newbies” will cost Washington state about $2,000 a head, or about an extra $250 million per year.

Please see my Posts #13 and #14 for additional details.


15 posted on 03/23/2014 11:21:26 PM PDT by zeestephen
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To: zeestephen
From memory - the average total cost of one person on Medicaid is $5,500.

Was that the cost of claims paid out or the capitation cost per subscriber?

16 posted on 03/23/2014 11:47:19 PM PDT by steve86 (Acerbic by nature not nurture)
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To: steve86

Total claims divided by total subscribers.

The last figures I remember were about 75 million subscribers and $410 billion in costs.

The totals usually take more than a year to come out, so that might be a 2011 number, I can’t recall.

Many people do not spend a full year on Medicaid, so, honestly, I do not recall how they figure total subscribers.


17 posted on 03/24/2014 12:20:46 AM PDT by zeestephen
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