Posted on 09/19/2012 4:57:41 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
A remarkable truth about Obamacare is how many aspects of its initial programs and initiatives are already in disarray.
The Obama team is woefully behind its own schedule for implementing features of the legislation. The critical regulations outlining what the Obamacare insurance benefit will look like was supposed to be out more than six months ago. Now it looks like this regulation won't be dropped until after the election. This is just one key aspect of the program that is way behind the administration's own timeline.
These facts alone should give proponents of the law pause. But the early experience with the elements of Obamacare that have already kicked in is downright dismal.
The core of Obamacare doesn't get started until 2014, when state-based exchanges are supposed to be formed as places for consumers to buy the legislation's tightly regulated, subsidized coverage. But early features of Obamacare are already failing.
· The temporary "high risk" pools that Obamacare created, to provide a way for those with pre-existing health conditions to get insurance immediately, are undersubscribed yet way over budget. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the $5 billion allocated to these pools could enroll 200,000 consumers. They envisioned enrollment growing to more than 400,000. But only 77,877 have signed up as of July, yet the program is way over its budget. More than a quarter of these state-based risk pools are short on cash.
· The CLASS Act, which was supposed to provide consumers government-financed long-term care insurance has been abandoned, blowing an $86 billion dollar hole in Obamacare's cost estimates. The CLASS Act was never financially viable. Its costs would have outstripped revenue as soon as it was in full operation.
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearmarkets.com ...
I can give a real life story. Mother in law is bedridden and the victim of strokes. She went to hospital. Sent home. When she went back to hospital, the doctor is mad because she will be fined for readmitting someone within 30 days.
The doctor insists that the family put MIL in hospice if they want oxygen, which MIL cannot breath properly without. Hospice says they will only come if they can administer heavy morphine and stop most treatments.
Liberals are very good at bringing up sob stories.
Stories like yours ought to be made part of the Romney/Ryan campaign ads and should be brought up in the debates as a REAL CASE of the results of Obamacare.
I work for a small business. Owner is already scaling back some employees’ hours to 29/week in preparation for the upcoming penalties. I suspect he is going to have to drop health insurance for us fulltimers in order to save his business.
I’ve been looking on the internet to see what’s happening in Virginia, trying to figure out what to do, but everything is in limbo and nobody can make plans for health care for 2014.
If 0bama is re-elected, providers will leave Medicare in droves. The low reimbursement and regulations are just not worth it. Audits, compliance costs, electronic records will force most small groups and solo practices to drop out of the system. That leaves Medicare patients with providers at big hospital corporations, and other government agencies such as the VA. Access will be very tough.
Some groups may adopt a hybrid approach by assigning procedural specialists to Medicare, but keeping the primary care providers out of Medicare. That way they can charge market rates for the evaluation and medical management which is undervalued. Then, they will refer to the procedural specialists (who take Medicare) within the group, as long as the margins still make sense.
Damn it people....eat your peas..../ S
I was at a wedding Saturday, sat next to the husband of a cousin. Very successful guy, late 60s.
I don’t know him that well, but he had few drinks in him and was very talkative.
He told me that in 2007 he had 120 employees, was doing $10million /year in sales. By August of 2009 he was down to 70 employees, where he is now, and is at less than $5 million in sales. No raises, no bonuses. He has absorbed ‘extraordinary’ losses, and had no growth in the interim.
If Obama is reelected he’s going to lay off 21 employees, because 49 is the magic number for healthcare. If he doesn’t do it, he’ll have to go out of business; Obamacare will make it impossible for him to be in business. The costs and regulations on small business are draconian.
There can be no quarter; the very existence of our country is in the balance.
We must defeat Obama, and then repeal his programs.
Possible, but they will have to downsize like crazy. For the healthcare business, all the volume is in Medicare folks.
Cutting lifespan is the key to fixing Social Security and Medicare financing. The “Death Panels” really are the solution but it won’t be mentioned by the media.
Actually... I LOVE peas...
As if I didn't have enough reasons to be mad at the Kenyan, he defames my favorite vegetable.
Do I go around saying, Obama, eat your dog? No, I do not.
Even though it would probably make her very happy...she always seems to be wearing a frown.
(I guess Kenyan elevators go up, not down)
Lord, I apologize for that...please bless the Obamas...and all the little pygmies, and the starving polar bears, and the ugly girl on TV who can't afford to buy her own condoms...
Pssstt...by the way...are you eating those peas? Can I have them? ;^)
But, if you don’t have a margin, you can make a profit with more volume. We are very close to the tipping point. Hospitals will get the money, while providers in small groups and solo practices will not find Medicare patients profitable. Moreover, the regulatory environment will increasingly subject small providers to criminal penalties. This will leave doctors in hospital groups as the main providers for Medicare. Right now, hospital employed physicians comprise about 55% of the total, so a loss of 20-30% of non hospital physicians would be large and lead to severe access problems. Downsizing is not necessarily an unprofitable proposition, and this option will be attractive for physicians within 5-10 years of retirement or younger physicians that don’t like government medicine and aren’t afraid to set up small, nimble boutique private practices (but not in MA).
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.