Posted on 08/27/2014 10:25:39 PM PDT by steve86
Ninety individual health plans sold by 10 insurers will likely make their way into Washington’s exchange marketplace for 2015, if the Washington Health Benefit Exchange board approves them Thursday, as expected. ...
The reviewers appeared to have taken a tight approach to premium rates, lowering requested rates from all but one insurer. On a weighted average, the actuarial review squeezed an overall rate increase of 8.6 percent in the insurers’ original proposals down to 1.9 percent. ...
Washington’s insurance exchange for small businesses got off to a slow start its first year when no one offered coverage statewide. For 2015, Moda will sell plans through the Small Business Health Options Program, or SHOP, across the state, while Kaiser Foundation will continue covering two counties in Southwest Washington. ...
In the exchange’s first year, only eight businesses had purchased SHOP insurance, though some 4,000 small businesses created accounts through the marketplace to see what options were available. The small-employer marketplace is open all year, unlike the individual market, which has limited enrollment periods.
(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.com ...
PING!!!
Definitely some anxiety involved.
ObamaCare is extracting $1 trillion from Medicare over the next decade, much of it from physician paychecks.
That can't be good for patients.
I just completed two appointments at Virginia Mason.
They are nice folks, and competent, but everything is high velocity, push-push-push.
And, I had amazing luck on appointments.
My PCP had a cancellation minutes before I called - I was in her office 1 hour later - normal wait, 3-4 weeks.
On my way out, the dermatologist had a cancellation, and I got a biopsy the next day - normal wait, 8 weeks!
They don't need death panels - they're just going to make us die at home, waiting for appointments that never come.
Operating coats are jumping an average of 12% due to Obamacare requirements. State allows a 2% rate increase. No way this can continue indefinitely.
The current budget for ObamaCare includes automatic subsidies to insurance companies that lose money charging government authorized rates.
I believe there is a time limit on those subsidies, maybe two years?
I think we may be seeing insurance companies experiment with coverage based on the hope that the subsidies will become PERMANENT.
My "provider" started giving me the runaround about appointments…"we're not booking for three months"…meaning they won't even MAKE an appointment until three months from now, and then who knows how long I'd wait for that appointment. I complained that I've been their patient for five years and my doc expects to see me by a certain date. They called back very soon and made me an appointment.
Now I make one for the next visit before I leave the office.
It's the OBAMACARE patients that they have no time for. So far.
Yikes - a minimum “wait” period?
First time I’ve heard about this.
So, the future of our health care depends on how successfully we can lobby - or lie to - the phone schedulers!
Veto!, I'm not sure if that had anything to do with Obamacare. Exact same thing happened to me last fall with a new receptionist who (of course) didn't recognize me. Initially she said call back later and the appointment would be six months out. Wait went down to two weeks when I said I was an existing patient. Real typical that an intake appointment for new patients is much further out than a regular appointment for existing patients. Right now the new patient appointments at the same place are two months out (hired another ARNP).
Took my 97 yo mother to an appointment at a small Catholic hospital today in the Tri-Cities. Was very impressed by the difference in ambiance compared to the larger secular hospitals here. Absolutely all the staff were smiling and everyone had time to talk to you even if they were already busy with something. About a claim problem, one insurance specialist lady first gave me a number and told me to call and work with the insurance company on the claim, then as I was writing the number down she said “No, I can do it for you” And she did, as I found out in an email when I got home. Also, the nurses seem like old-fashioned nurses who actually want to help you feel better, not just do technical jobs.
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