You Can’t Keep the (Medical Insurance) Plan You Have (ObamaCare horror is starting alert)

National Review ^ | October 4, 2010 | Marc Siegel

[Zakeet]

Last year, I ordered a CT scan of the chest on a 63-year-old patient whose chest X-ray had revealed a lung nodule. I had no problem getting the test approved by his private insurance company. The radiologist suggested that I repeat the CT scan this year to make sure the nodule hasn’t turned into cancer.

But this year, the same insurance company is denying the test, having clamped down on several elective services while also raising its premiums. This company now has to cover children with pre-existing conditions and can place no lifetime limits on care. It is struggling to preserve its profits as Obamacare kicks in — profits that, to begin with, are only approximately 4 percent of its total revenue.

Next year, my patient will have Medicare. He can’t afford a secondary insurance plan (Medicare Part B covers only 80 percent of most charges), and he doesn’t qualify for Medicaid as his secondary, so he was hoping to join a Medicare Advantage plan — a private insurance plan that seniors can choose to receive, partly at government expense, instead of Medicare. But in 2011, Medicare Advantage is due to be cut $140 billion by the new law, and it is doubtful that the plan he wants will still be available. Harvard Pilgrim, the second-largest insurer in Massachusetts, has just dropped 22,000 patients from its Medicare Advantage plan in anticipation of these cuts. Soon seniors everywhere will have the same problem. In fact, the Medicare actuary estimates that 7 million out of the 11 million people with Medicare Advantage will be set adrift over the next seven years.

[Snip]

The president can keep telling Americans that their health care won’t change. But for my patients, it already has.

[sport]

Most of us on this forum and some other people knew this.

Only Democrat voters did not.

Once obama care is fully up and running,watch the life expectancy average decline a year or more each year.

[PATRIOT1876]

“ObamaCare Killing us off One at a Time!”

....Doing the work VHEMT is afraid to do....

[Mygirlsmom]

My mom just informed me that their Medicare drug plan is no longer being offered and they will have to find another.

For my Dad, this is especially bad - he is a 16 yr survivor of esophageal cancer, and has a host of other issues that affect the manner in which his body accepts medication. In short - where one prescription will be just fine, its generic equivalent can be a disaster. It's more the delivery systems than the drugs themselves.

The process for obtaining an exemption involves taking the generic for a period of time (which he can't due to the strong reactions they produce) so they have been paying out of pocket for several of his scripts in addition to having to pay for the Medicare RX plan. In addition to higher premiums, their fear is that a new plan will not approve even more of his meds than the last one.

[PATRIOT1876]

*What the hell could possibly go wrong?*
Do you suppose that Obama and the Democrat congresspeople break off the steering wheel every time they drive a car?

...because that's how they run the country

[Canedawg]

fyi ping

[RexBeach]

That, too, Mr.B! That, too.

God help us, we got to get this monster repealed.

[MrB]

I’ve seen double posts before, but never 30 minutes apart...

[RexBeach]

Oops! It’ IS Monday!

[Gabrial]

Obama: It's patriotic to die so the younger members of society can continue to collect welfare.

[EternalVigilance]

Classic FR post. Outstanding!

[Zakeet]

I have a senior neighbor, about 77 and she is looking to get a job now, as she has fallen into the medicare "do-nut hole" and can't afford her medicines! PATHETIC, and it's just going to get even worse!!

According to Bill Gates, granny needs to do the right thing and submit to death panels. She will save us all a lot of money which we can use to hire teachers.

And you're right. It's just going to get even worse ... a hell of a lot worse.

[GailA]

I have the same problem with my Synthroid, can’t take the generic causes big problems, name brand, which will now be taxed, is all I can take, and had to fight Tricare to get them to cover it. It is flagged as needing prior approval, had to jump through a lot of hoops and sic Sen. Corker on them.

And Avastin is about to be pulled..because it is to expensive.

Give them the articles I posted and have them hand it out to all their senior friends.

[GailA]

Might want to start eating more walnuts.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2601116/posts

[GailA]

Maxine's Solution to Senior Health Care

Under the "Obama Care" Program

So you're a senior citizen and the government says no health care for you, what do you do? Our plan gives anyone 65 years or older a gun and 4 bullets.

You are allowed to shoot 2 senators and 2 representatives. Of Course, this means you will be sent to prison where you will get 3 meals a day, a roof over your head, and all the health care you need! New teeth, no problem. Need glasses, great. New hip, knees, kidney, lungs, heart? All covered. (And your kids can come and visit you as often as they do now).

And who will be paying for all of this? The same government that just told you that you are too old for health care.

Plus, because you are a prisoner, you don't have to pay any income taxes anymore.

[ExTexasRedhead]

RAT Final Solution rising from the ashes of history.

[CitizenM]

I’d send this to a liberal I know, but she already told me not to bother sending her anything that disagrees with her point of view. She loves obamacare.

I have a friend like that. She is a died in the wool Dem, who will not let me send anything against Obama. And she holds a job that is politically connected because her boss is an elected official. These people have absolutely no ability to even consider an alternate point of view.

We came to blows a couple of times during the campaign when I warned her of Obama's agenda and his non existent qualifications. She was furious about anything that put him in a negative light.

But, here is the kicker...she told me, actually confided in me, that when she went in to vote she actually voted for McCain! Her reasoning was that she felt McCain would keep the country more safe. Go figure!!! And...she said she could not let anyone else know how she voted, at least among her liberal Democrat associates.

To this day, however, whenever I point out anything negative about Obama, she lashes out and sends me some poorly researched lie that she found from going to Google, or on MSNBC's website. I have given up. I just chalk up her condition to Alzheimer's now, LOL. She is hopeless and will never admit that America has a sick fool in the WH. Oh, by the way, she believed OJ was innocent up until about two years ago and just couldn't accept me telling her anything to the opposite that the whole world knew was true about him.

We went to school together, have been friends for 50 years, he parents were staunch Republicans...yet she lives in some sort of foggy denial when it comes to learning the truth about those whom she insists upon believing are innocent or good. It makes me sad that a good friend, who is otherwise intelligent and alert, could be just plain stubborn (and egotistical enough not to admit she was wrong) about Obama and his administration and how they have ruined our country.

I have realized that these types are really selfish. They want the government to solve every problem, help the less fortunate, etc. but do not lift a finger to do so themselves. When I criticize any government plan, such as Obama Care, because of the costs, or the burdens to future generations, she tells me I am callous and non caring because ...after all, she whines..."people are suffering who do not have free health care," LOL.

You cannot argue with them, because they hold onto their own unjustifiable opinions and don't change because, obviously, their opinions are more important than the welfare of the whole nation.

[Gritty]

A man’s morality will dictate his political views...

[no-s]

Tell her to apply for PACE.

Is that available in Illinois? I thought that was a Pennsylvania program....

[Son House]

Many got conned;

http://www.startribune.com/politics/state/89886767.html?page=2&c=y

Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn., “...They just didn’t understand how we could save money on this by adding more people to the system...”

[Dubya-M-DeesWent2SyriaStupid!]

Agreed. Lord knows when non minority people fall down on their luck they cannot use free health clinics. Who will use the free health clinics now? No one so more waste...