Author Archives: dpetno

Here is a real response from a potential client, to a proposal made by one of my fellow brokers:

Thanks for the info, That’s good that they have created something like this. Unfortunately I’m not in the market for insurance- not sure what my mom told you..You see, I can walk into any hospital, rack up charges, and never pay it – like millions of other people. That is my insurance, the fact that I can walk in and get anything I need when I need it, if I need it. And eventually all bill collectors give up. By… Read the rest

Now that Obama’s CLASS Act has crashed and burned, you may be wondering what ever happened to his much-vaunted high-risk pools.

The administration has not been making much of it – a sure sign that it must be failing. And so it is. On October 14 it posted the enrollment data as of August 31, 2011. It turns out that 13 months after the pools went into effect, 33,958 people had enrolled, less than 10% of the 375,000 CMS predicted would be enrolled by the end of 2010.

It is not for lack of effort. In July of this year,… Read the rest

Now Former Presidential candidate and Governor Howard Dean (D) is outright admitting it, under Obamacare, your employer is going to cancel your health plan. More evidence that “if you like your plan, you can keep it” was not a deliverable promise.

So now its FREE? Right?
No, actually, they are just forcing insurance companies to eat the cost without allowing for a copay by the insured. This is a sure-fire way to increase the cost of insurance.

From www.hotair.com
Let’s put this in its proper context. Thanks to this new mandate, insurers will eat hundreds of millions or perhaps billions of dollars in additional costs each year. Guess how they will recoup those costs? Premiums will rise across the board, meaning that everyone will pay the additional cost as well as the specific patients getting the services and products.… Read the rest

These folks are charged with enrolling people in the State of Ohio Medicaid program. They are essentially doing the work of brokers with Public Money. Is this a sign of the professionalism in store for us all under Obamacare?

A true crisis: Insurance agents and brokers operate as external human resources departments for many small- and medium-sized businesses. Nearly 500,000 agents in all 50 states study the health insurance markets and help individuals and business owners shape policies, find the best deals, and assist patients with complicated claims and paperwork filings.

Beginning in late December and January 2011, commissions started to drop like a rock. In Washington State in the mini-group (1 to 5 employees), commissions dropped to zero. Brokers can’t assist clients even for free because the liability coverage brokers are required to carry won’t allow it.… Read the rest

Sounds like healthcare will help solve Al’s favorite topic.

If you can get it for Free, why would you ever buy it?

via AP

The Medicare actuary’s office roughed out some examples to illustrate how the provision would work. A married couple retiring at 62 in 2014 and receiving the maximum Social Security benefit of $23,500 apiece could get $17,000 from other sources and still qualify for Medicaid with a total income of $64,000.

Read entire article here

Is this the type of compassion Obamacare will show to the people?

Doctors: A California plastic surgeon, Lloyd Krieger, wrote in The Wall Street Journal Wednesday that “the law has already yielded profound, destructive changes.” He says the “most significant change is a wave of frantic consolidation in the health industry” which will lead to system-wide collectivization. “Doctors and hospitals … have decided that they cannot survive unless they achieve massive size — and fast.” This means that “government bureaucrats will be able to impose controls with much greater ease.”
Brokers: Health insurance brokers are in dire straits as insurers are cutting or even eliminating their commissions in order to meet… Read the rest

1993 or 1994

By PHILIP BREDESEN from WSJ.com

One of the principles of game theory is that you should view the game through your opponent’s eyes, not just your own.

This past spring, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (President Obama’s health reform) created a system of extensive federal subsidies for the purchase of health insurance through new organizations called “exchanges.” The details of these subsidies were painstakingly worked out by members of my own political party to reflect their values: They decided who was to benefit from the subsidies and what was to be purchased with them. They paid a… Read the rest

Taped 11/14/2010

Click here for the Full Interview

We had a great time talking about Obamacare, Grandfathering, 2700 page laws, Vandolay Industries, and Joe Blow.

From the Bostonherald.com

The state’s health insurance connector — the highly touted agency that aims to bring cheap medical care to the masses — has turned into a legal pit bull by aggressively going after a growing number of Bay Staters who say they can’t afford mandated insurance — or the penalties imposed for not having it.

The Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority is cracking down on more than 3,000 residents who are fighting state fines, and has even hired a private law firm to force the health insurance scofflaws to pay penalties of up to $2,000 a year.

Read… Read the rest

By Dave Petno

Prior to Obamacare, a healthy child could purchase a high deductible policy for around $70/month.

However, once Obamacare was implemented, it mandated that insurance companies remove any restrictions of pre-existing conditions on children under the age of 19. Insurers soon concluded that this would build an incentive for people not to cover healthy children, since they could purchase coverage when they become sick, with no penalty. This is called “adverse selection” and is the enemy of insurance companies.

In response to this mandate, insurance companies stopped offering stand-alone individual insurance plans to children-only, under age 19.… Read the rest

Ed Meyer, of the Akron Beacon Journal, describes the current backlog of claims and benefit of the Federal Social Security Disability program in Ohio.

Is this a preview of how healthcare will work under Obamacare?

Some of the stats sited by Meyer:
–842,000: People WAITING for disability claims to be paid Nationwide
–31,000: People WAITING for disability claims to be paid in Ohio
–465 Days: Average WAIT time between application for benefits, and when the benefits begin.
–334 Days: Average WAIT time for an appellant’s case to be resolved
–119 Days: Average WAIT time… Read the rest

The associated press is reporting on a Mercer Study that reveals 20% of small employers and 6% of large employer plan to drop their group health plans for their employees after the law is fully in effect in 2014.

This is the logical conclusion of how Obamacare will lead employers away from offering plans to their employees.

Remember during the Obama-led healthcare debate when the number of 47 million uninsured kept being cited? That is approximately 15% of our population (the number is massively over-stated).

So we pass the massive 2700 page bill, and 5 to 20% of… Read the rest

My latest article from Employee Benefit Magazine

Click Here for Full Article

http://digital.employeebenefitadviser.com/employeebenefitadviser/201010_def#pg82

Yes, he managed to work all of those into one paragraph.

Just spoke to a consultant who’s firm works with doctor groups.

He tells me that the conventional wisdom is that “Good Doctors” under code their patients, and therefore undercharge them. Using an electronic medical record, the doctor will be able to more efficiently code their services, and move on to their next patient.

Their office staff will also be able to utilize the technology to track appointments, and follow-ups, and send out reminders via email to all patients who are over-due for follow-up appointments.

All of this leads to more billable services, in a more efficient way………..and more cost to… Read the rest

She is asked how Obamacare is Constitutional…and cannot answer the question