Patients Cram In Tests Before Health-Law Start

Thousands of people are cramming in tests, elective procedures and specialist visits before year's end, seeking out top research hospitals and physician groups that will be left out of some 2014 insurance plans under the new health law, health-care providers say.

Many insurers offering plans under the law are slimming down their networks of doctors and hospitals in a bid to lower the cost of policies, which begin coverage Wednesday.

Health insurers are especially focused on paring academic teaching and research hospitals from their networks because they generally charge more than community hospitals for similar services.

Ben Rosenthal, a 57-year-old freelance market researcher in Los Angeles, rushed to squeeze in a lung exam the day after Christmas. His new insurance plan under the health law won't cover care at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, where he was referred under his current plan.

"I was forced to get it done this year," said Mr. Rosenthal, who said waiting would have required him to get a new referral for another facility.

These people who have all this energy to try and get treatment BEFORE obamacare kicks in should have had the same energy to march on Washington BEFORE it was passed instead of cursing out the Tea Party. Now it looks like they’re going to get whatever treatment they can and then die.

Health insurers are especially focused on paring academic teaching and research hospitals from their networks because they generally charge more than community hospitals for similar services.

Except for the services which are only provided at the teaching and research hospitals, which are the only places that will provide care in the most complex cases, or if you have a rare disease, or very serious injuries. Of course the health insurers, as a result of Obamacare, are denying coverage for both the similar services and the unique, lifesaving services.

The Democrat's idea of improving health insurance is to remove the lifetime caps on insurance benefits, but not provide any benefits at all to the people who in the past might have reached their insurance cap after years of treatment at top tier research hospitals.

Under the old system, families who had a child with cancer feared that their child would run out of insurance coverage as a young adult. Now they don't have any insurance at all for the care that will give their child a chance at reaching adulthood. Way to go President Obama, Harry Reid, and your fellow Democratic Senators and Representatives. /sarcasm off

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