Federal government releases long-awaited health reform rules

NBC ^

[TigerClaws]

Long-awaited federal rules for health insurance plans came out Tuesday, and they make clear that insurance plans that people can buy on the open market next year will look a lot like some of the most popular plans on offer now – with a few big differences. As the 2010 health reform law requires, insurers will no longer be able to dump patients who are starting to cost too much, they won’t be able to charge women more than men, they have to cover anyone who can pay and they’ll have to pay for maternity care, eye exams for kids and for mental health services.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

Of course this is via NBC, so not only will no downsides be mentioned, they will deny that there are any downsides, or could be any downsides.

In other words, not reporting the news, or journalizing the news, but just publishing the White House press release. An unreported political donation.

[Lexington Green]

Soviet-style journalism

[Marie]

Alright. So the feds just waived their magic wands and now health insurance is ‘affordable’?

And the vast majority of us will have our plans subsidized by the gov’t? (We’ll pay.)

A healthy smoker will now pay 5 times more than an overweight person with a history of cancer and diabetes?

[Eagle of Liberty]

the minimums of what health insurers should cover – they should use the best existing plans as a guideline.

And HHS also set how much each level of plan – platinum, gold, silver and bronze – may require patients to pay out of pocket. Beginning in 2014, so-called bronze plans can ask patients to pay 40 percent of costs; 30 percent for a silver, 20 percent for a gold; the top-level platinum plans must pay 90 percent of patient costs. The platinum level plans may charge higher premiums, while the bronze plans will be the cheapest in terms of monthly premiums.

Soooo, the BRONZE plan will be the MINIMUM plan, which Sebelius says should be modeled after today's BEST plans! And today, if you are on a BEST plan, your out of pocket is usually around 5-10%. Now you will be at 40% AND NOTICE how not one estimate of premiums is published.

Oh, I am going to have some fun distributing this article to all of my Ill-Informed Dependency Party Obama voters, you know, those who kept telling me that once Obamacare is in place, I will have very few medical expenses.

[lacrew]

Wow...’they’ sure will have to pay for alot of stuff.

I wonder who ‘they’ is?

Oh...wait.

[Pecos]

"So the feds just waived their magic wands and now health insurance is ‘affordable’?"

Don't you remember? Santa Claus just got re-elected.

[TonyInOhio]

Signed by the HHS Deputy Assistant for Mandate Enforcement, U. R. Screwed.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Soviet-style journalism

Which fits Soviet-style health care to a "t"

[LibLieSlayer]

Da... comrade obama approves.

LLS

[Redleg Duke]

Did they mention how FSAs are now limited to $2499/year? That cut it in half from last year!

Gotta close those loopholes on the rich, ya know!

[Twinkie]

“Santa Claus just got re-elected.”

Yep. Rush calls him “Baracka Claus”. - Health care will be “free”. Bwa - ha - ha - ha - ha - ha - ha!

[USNBandit]

You used to be able to deduct all medical expenses if they exceeded 7.5% of your income. That gets raised to 10% next year so that those with medical expenses get squeezed between the lower FSA limit and the higher deductible limit. Somehow paying more taxes makes care more affordable.

[Georgia Girl 2]

The key phrase being “anyone who can pay”