According to the AP, more than 3 million retirees who subscribe to Medicare prescription drug coverage will find that their plans have been canceled. This is part of Obamacare’s “simplification” strategy. The article states that “instead of 40 or more plans in each state, beneficiaries would be able to pick from 30 or so”
So……”if you like your plan”…..and you are one of the 3 million, YOU WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO KEEP YOUR PLAN.
Mercer’s National Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Plans projected that the health reform law will add 2 to 3% for 2011 plans, on top of medical inflation of 9 to 10 percent….and there’s more to come in future years….
PPACA requires small group insurers pay out 80% of all premiums in Medical Losses, and 85% of large group claims in the same (MLR).
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners has taken steps to define what may be included in the MLR.
Still undetermined: How Federal Taxes will be treated in the calculations. Since they are mandatory, many believe that taxes should be excluded from the equation.
Via CCH Update:
90% of companies anticipate losing grandfathered status under health reform
While many U.S. companies initially hoped they could preserve much of their existing group health plans under the new grandfathered provision, a new survey by Hewitt Associates shows that almost all now believe they will not. Ninety percent of companies surveyed said they anticipate losing grandfathered status by 2014, with the majority expecting to lose this status in the next two years.
So….if you own a business, and your employee could purchase a benefit with HIS MONEY for around $4,000/year, would you ever spend $12,000 of YOUR MONEY to purchase that benefit for your employee? I highly doubt it.
Sounds crazy doesn’t it.
But this huge disparity between what an employee can do on his own via the new Exchange, vs. how much an employer will need to pay if they purchase through the private markets is at the heart of Obamacare.
In 2014, employees who do not have access to employer-sponsored plans will be able to purchase… Read the rest
How guaranteed issue coverage and PPACA will cause employers and individuals to cancel their coverage, and join the ranks of the uninsured.
If there is one thing the American people are good at, it is “gaming the system”. That is, learning the rules of the game, and using it to their advantage.
Adapting to PPACA is no different, the new system will be gamed.
At the heart of PPACA is the fulfillment of President Obama’s promise of “no longer will insurance companies be able to discriminate against
I was performing a 7AM employee meeting yesterday at a nursing home explaining their new coverage.
During my presentation, one of the nurse aids mentioned that she currently does not have coverage, but participates with a program run by Cleveland’s MetroHealth Hospital (a highly-rated, public hospital). As I was explaining the prescription drug coverage of the plan I was installing, she politely interrupted and asked me “how does your plan compare to the $5.00 prescriptions that I get at Metro?”. I asked her to explain more, and she told me that through Metro, she gets $5.00 prescriptions, low cost… Read the rest
I thought they had a better system then WE do???? No?
N.L. Premier Danny Williams is scheduled to have surgery this week. (CBC)
Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams is set to undergo heart surgery this week in the United States.
CBC News confirmed Monday that Williams, 59, left the province earlier in the day and will have surgery later in the week.
The premier’s office provided few details, beyond confirming that he would have heart surgery and saying that it was not necessarily a routine procedure.
Deputy Premier Kathy Dunderdale is scheduled to hold a news… Read the rest
Yes, it is one year into the Obama administration, and he still has not nominated and seated the top Medicare oversight slot. There is no Administrator for CMS.
I don’t think anyone, even me, would say we don’t need reform.
However, the “reform” that I desire and the “reform” that Obama and the congress are speaking of are 180 degrees opposite
a better term for what Obama says regarding reform is “regulation” or even “nationalization”
by “reform” we mean, making things better for the consumer, letting markets work, so that non-government companies can compete…driving up quality and drive down prices…..like everywhere else in our economy (computers, cell phones, flat pannel TVs….)
Our reform does not include increasing taxes on people and giving it to the… Read the rest
Yes it is dead. The 2000 Page monstrosity will not pass, nor will it be forced on the American People.
We can thank Ted Kennedy for changing the rules when he thought that John Kerry was to be elected president, and Mitt Romney was the governor. Uncle Teddy forced through a change that called for a special election, rather than having the Governor appoint the empty seat.
Fast forward to 2010, the election to fill Uncle Ted’s seat….turned to a national referendum on Obamacare, and a conservative Scott Brown won.
RIP Obamacare……..and let’s hope that John McCain does not seek… Read the rest