The Bomb Buried In Obamacare Explodes Today-Hallelujah!

Forbes ^ | December 2, 2012 | Rick Ungar

[Republican Wildcat]

Actually it would lead to the death of newer competing companies - helping the largest corporations make more cash by killing off competitors and lowering the amount of choice available for consumers. I've said on here before that a lot of these policies that are being enacted by Obama and the Democrats are not just designed to get people hooked on the government - but to protect the established super rich from having any new people invading their turf - ending the concept of upward mobility and keeping people trapped where they are.

[muawiyah]

If the same standard were applied to the entire FEHB program (where the end product is a private medical insurer) such that the primary insurer, the US government, were required to attribute the costs of tax collection, interest payment, and so forth to the full cost of the administration of the medical insurance provided federal employees, FEHB wouldn't make the 85% level!

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.

[SandRat]

...would lead to the death of newer competing companies - helping the largest corporations make more cash by killing off competitors and lowering the amount of choice available for consumers.

Bet the largest corporations were all Obumer DumyRat 2008 and 2010 campaign donors.

[GOPJ]

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...

[steveab]

:Actually it would lead to the death of newer competing companies....”

BINGO We have a winner.

[ROCKLOBSTER]

the medical loss ration will, ultimately, lead to the death of large parts of the private, for-profit health insurance industry.

Yeah, that huge profit is between 3 and 5%.

[eclecticEel]

Actually, he’s wrong; the medical loss ratio is only the first or many bombs. There are many more horrors awaiting us within Obamacare.

[Mariner]

Electronic Health Record (EHR) investments will be declared a medical expense. When the hospital or hospital group charges $1,000 just to get in the door of the ER...all their bloated, bureaucratic and illegal alien costs will be loaded into their prices and allowed as a medical cost.

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.

[muawiyah]

Boehner CAN write legislation that DOES require application of the same rules to the government ~ and even specify what "administative costs" are.

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.

[marsh2]

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.

[Chode]

[anoldafvet]

I can’t wait to confront the Ba$tards at my mandatory end of life counselling.

[Slings and Arrows]

Crony Captialism, Part MMXXXVIII.

[Myrddin]

The 85% rule can be handled by raising rates until the remaining 15% is sufficient to cover your minimum administrative costs to do business. Of course, lots of folks won't be able to afford it. If your rates are capped so you can't raise them enough to cover costs, you shut the doors. Nobody gets coverage.

[Kickass Conservative]

My B-I-L will lose his job of fifteen years working for Blue Cross because of this new “Obamacare” rule.

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

[Kickass Conservative]

Oh yeah I forgot, BINGO!

You just explained another example of Unintended Consequences. Unfortunately, nothing Obama and the Democrats do is “unintended”.

[tbw2]

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

[G Larry]

Fire Obama, legislate tort reform, and allow interstate health insurance.

(Firing Obama assumes the next guy cancels Obamacare)

[Art in Idaho]

Government Doesn't Work.

[Graewoulf]

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?”