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I had dinner last night with an executive of a large property management company and when we talked about obamacare I pointed out I'm in that group of individuals losing the coverage I had because I'm self employed. Prior to discussing the solutions I found, she pointed out that when the employer mandate kicks in they are going to drop their health insurance plan and give their employees a flat fee to buy their own insurance. Of course they will reduce the flat fee by the cost of the penalty they will have to pay.

The solution I found was signing on with a Concierge Doctor and applying to a Christian Healthcare Co-op. The cost of the two services is equal to the premium I pay today as opposed to the premium I would have to pay next year which is double.

Looking for a Concierge Doctor was not as hard as I imagined, there seem to be a lot of them. The problem was most had already closed their practice to new members. If demand is that strong then I would expect more and more doctors to go this root.

The other thing people aren't looking at yet is most of the new enrollee's are signing up for medicaid. We already have fewer doctors willing to take medicaid because the reimbursement is so bad. I would expect more doctors to drop out of taking medicaid as they get overwhelmed and see no financial reward for the increased hours and aggravation they will have to live with.

“...they are going to drop their health insurance plan and give their employees a flat fee to buy their own insurance.”

I believe this has been the goal all along. This system will successfully remove the untaxable “benefit” from behind the employer-employee relationship and expose it to the IRS as taxable income of the employee.

Recall that the benefit of employer provided health insurance has its roots in a way to go around wage and price controls (I believe back in the 1940s). It hasn’t been taxable up to this point, but these lump-sum pay-outs will now be, to some extent.

I would expect more doctors to drop out of taking medicaid as they get overwhelmed and see no financial reward for the increased hours and aggravation they will have to live with.

Medicaid recipients are some of the most voracious and demanding consumers of health care. It is a perfect storm of emboldened entitlement and nothing to do but go to doctors and ER’s searching for drugs from narcotics to something for every sniffle and sneeze. And woe to those who don’t put them at the front of the line and provide them with the BEST with a smile on their face. Trust me, I know.

16 posted on October 29, 2013 7:57:15 AM CDT by wmfights