Posted on 03/14/2014 5:12:40 PM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
The Obama administration is requiring health plans in Obamacare insurance marketplaces to include a more robust offering of care providers in 2015 after some early backlash over limited networks in the health care law's first year.
Health plans selling on the federal marketplaces in 2015 must include 30 percent of area "essential community providers," which are usually health centers and other hospitals serving mostly low-income patients. That's up from a 20 percent requirement in 2014, the first year of expanded overage under the health care law.
The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which oversees the marketplaces, will also take a much more active role in reviewing health plan networks. CMS, which outlined the new standards in a Friday night letter to insurers, will evaluate whether the plans include enough access to hospitals, primary care doctors, mental health providers and oncologists. The updated standards came after a Friday interview in which President Barack Obama acknowledged that pressure to keep down costs could mean consumers may not have access to their choice of doctor.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
well, force them to include more providers and it is pretty clear that costs will go up dramatically. that should make it much more affordable.
An example of inflated cost.
MRI overseas=$500
MRI USA=$5000
Why are we paying 5x as much for the same pics?
because our math is so poor.
Ha ha ha. That’s what you get when you mix whiskey and math.
No problem... Thanks for your service.
T
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