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The progressives think keep defending it like it's the best thing since slice bread.
The right wing keeps wanting to repeal it.
The truth lies somewhere in between.
As is so often the case!
In my case, and with my family, Obamacare is already beneficial.
Our premiums stayed about the same, but our OOP's are way lower. So starting now we will get a bunch of stuff done this year. 2 colons with no copays or deductibles, is big savings for us.
And my uninsurable daughter now has a sensible policy.
But overall Obamacare is way too complicated and disruptive IMO.
Good thing I'm not a doctor. But one of my best friends is.This just came down from the AMA...
Doctors may not get paid for care if patients don’t pay their ACA premiums
Will you get paid for the care you provide to patients who have gained insurance coverage through the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance claims? You’ll soon find out.
Under the health reform law, patients must pay their first month’s premium to be considered enrolled; they then have 90 days to pay the next premium.
If the patient doesn’t pay his or her premiums for the second month, the insurer can hold or "pend" all claims. By the third month, if the patient still has not paid, the insurer can terminate his or her policy. The physician is left to collect whatever is owed for all outstanding claims from the patient.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) clarified the grace period policy in a letter to insurers last year.
The first ripples could come in April. Patients who started and paid for coverage in January, but who did not pay in February or March, might get dropped from coverage. That could leave physicians scrambling to cover the unreimbursed care.
Physicians’ organizations including the American Medical Association, the American College of Physicians, and the American Academy of Family Physicians have been working to reverse this provision of the Affordable Care Act, to no avail so far.
In a March 5 letter to the CMS, dozens of organizations and state medical societies urged the agency to require insurers to tell physicians whether patients had up-to-date coverage during the verification of eligibility. As the law and current regulations are written, insurers can notify physicians on their own timeline whether a patient’s coverage has lapsed.
The organizations also asked the CMS to "require issuers to assume full financial responsibility if an issuer provides inaccurate eligibility information during the last 60 days of the grace period."
"Managing risk is typically a role for insurers, but the grace period rule transfers two-thirds of that risk from the insurers to physicians and health care providers," Dr. Ardis Dee Hoven, president of the American Medical Association, said in a statement.
She added that the AMA is now offering some resources to help physicians manage the "potential negative impact" from having unwittingly given uncompensated care.
Among the resources is a sample letter for patients that explains the 90-day grace period and the importance of paying premiums on a timely basis and in full. The AMA also provides a step-by-step outline suggesting how to collect from patients whose coverage has lapsed.
It is unclear how many individuals have paid for coverage under the Affordable Care Act. The Health and Human Services department said on March 17 that 5 million Americans have signed up for coverage through the state and federal exchanges since Oct. 1. But the department continues to say that it does not know how many have paid their premiums.
The progressives think keep defending it like it's the best thing since slice bread.
The right wing keeps wanting to repeal it.
The truth lies somewhere in between.
Wrong again. Progressives don't like the ACA but deem it better than the corporate-controlled death-panel system. Once again, too much Fox misinformation here.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hoonose
Leftist idiots, no surprises there!
Except you are responding agreeably to a lie. The ACA is not great. Of course, like Romneycare, it is "disruptive" but what is the alternative? If people are allowed to opt out, they will still demand treatment in the event of illness or accident, that's why participation must be mandatory.
"Leftists" want a single-payer or public option system and want intermediary corporate greed out of the picture - as it should be. Let the uber-wealthy and worthless corporate barnacles find a more respectable line of work, like owning grocery or party store chains.
The ACA just regulates the industry into providing the service that it should - thus the bellowing from the Right. The real disaster is the old super expensive, cruel, and rotten-outcome corporate system.
And there will be glitches early on as there were with social security and medicare - but I forgot, Fox conservatives want them gone as well.
Except you are responding agreeably to a lie. The ACA is not great. Of course, like Romneycare, it is "disruptive" but what is the alternative? If people are allowed to opt out, they will still demand treatment in the event of illness or accident, that's why participation must be mandatory.
"Leftists" want a single-payer or public option system and want intermediary corporate greed out of the picture - as it should be. Let the uber-wealthy and worthless corporate barnacles find a more respectable line of work, like owning grocery or party store chains.
The ACA just regulates the industry into providing the service that it should - thus the bellowing from the Right.
More measured and incremental changes would have made more sense. Obamacare is indeed 'too great' IMO.
Otherwise alternatives were the much simpler single payer or the public option, my own choice.
There are stupid Leftist ideas, and I think this is one very big one.
I consider myself a not-so-stupid Leftist.
More measured and incremental changes would have made more sense. Obamacare is indeed 'too great' IMO.
Otherwise alternatives were the much simpler single payer or the public option, my own choice.
There are stupid Leftist ideas, and I think this is one very big one.
I consider myself a not-so-stupid Leftist.
I agree. All the ACA supporters don't like to see what's wrong with the law. It punishes many smaller companies. Punishes many self employed slight upper middle class people.
As a healthcare provider, one of the that's been acceleration is the buyouts of medical practices by hospitals or major corporations (Goldman Sachs, and other private equity money have gotten their hands in the cookie jar).
Because physicians by law cannot form "monopolies". So 4 orthopedics in a medium size town can't collude together and demand higher payments from insurance. Yet if those 4 orthopedic groups "sell out" to the main hospital in town. Than the hospital can demand higher insurance payouts for the same exact procedures. This is what's happening with many medical specialties. Radiology, Anesthesiology, Emergency medicine specialities are quickly all being gobbled up by medical corporations and hospitals.
The ACA encourages monopolies until the govt can't take it anymore and lead to single payer. That's the ultimate goal. We all know it. The problem is the Dems will lie and say people can see their own docs. When single payer is involved. It means....cough cough rationing. Rationing of access to doctors and hospitals. Rationing of finite resources. It's the truth. Whoever says it doesn't, is lying.
For example. Do we need to do "screening colonscopies" on a 75 year old male? Some would argue we should since not all 75 years are the same. Some are very healthy. While others are not healthy and own't live to see 76.
More measured and incremental changes would have made more sense. Obamacare is indeed 'too great' IMO.
Otherwise alternatives were the much simpler single payer or the public option, my own choice.
There are stupid Leftist ideas, and I think this is one very big one.
I consider myself a not-so-stupid Leftist.
As was noted previously, Romney enacted it in MA after the Heritage Foundation formulated it. You know about them, right? Not a leftist idea at all, but a RW idea designed to award its corporate base a captive market. Obama adopted it as a poor substitute for the other options mentioned, and it was all he could get.
As Fox News "experts" are fond of saying, the corporate ER system is the "best in the world" but anybody who believes that must have a screw loose imo. Well, that's the Fox audience.
People in civilized countries with their socialized medicine don't want to trade their system for ours - unless you have heard otherwise.
As I said, just like social security there may be glitches that need ironing out, but the old corporate system was on an escalating road to disaster.
As was seen earlier, many people apparently refuse to even check out their options because Faux News and corporate media have scared the bejesus out of them - for obvious reasons. For many it is "too complicated" because there are also sham websites and scammers out there, but this is a fact of life.
For instance, private insurers like Blue Cross have websites and reps who will "advise" you - meaning they will sell you one of their own policies. One needs to find clearly-worded or unbiased third party resources, or the government site itself.
For instance, a bit about Medicare vs Medicaid donut hole. Where Was I?
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