The PPACA - Implementation Phase I

[joecct]

Re: The PPACA - Implementation Phase I

Yup. Obamacare goes into effect regardless. Its already been funded.

Color me confused (not hard, just played 18 holes of a sport some call "golf"). If House CR#1 was to fund all of the US Gov't but not PPACA, then how does it get funded (authorized, yes. But you need an actual appropriation to spend federal $$) if there is no appropriation bill for FY 2014??

[unofan]

Color me confused (not hard, just played 18 holes of a sport some call "golf"). If House CR#1 was to fund all of the US Gov't but not PPACA, then how does it get funded (authorized, yes. But you need an actual appropriation to spend federal $$) if there is no appropriation bill for FY 2014??

The vast majority of Obama care spending is mandatory, not discretionary. And the parts that were discretionary were already spent (like advertising for the new exchanges)

[FreshFish]

Re: The PPACA - Implementation Phase I

It looks like PPACA needs a bigger IT budget. Under these circumstances, given what's at stake, does it really make sense to have US citizens be beta-testers??

There are two key technological flaws in ObamaCare. First is the "hub"—the software to link servers at the Treasury Department, the Internal Revenue Service, Homeland Security and state agencies to verify the income and health-insurance status of enrollees and ensure that they are eligible for subsidies. The other flaw is the "portal"—the federally run IT platform that is supposed to let consumers compare health plans and select one that best suits their needs.
....
The Health and Human Services Department did not begin testing the chief pieces of this IT system until August. The testing found that states couldn't consistently link to the federal portal (a problem that persists in some states), and that the hub couldn't reliably verify if a person is eligible for a subsidy, or accurately calculate how much the applicant is eligible to receive. HHS prevented independent watchdogs, including its own inspector general, from examining the systems before they go live on Oct. 1. The result is a host of troublesome gaps and dangers.

The biggest risk involves data security...."navigators" to solicit applicants and help them input their personal information, such as income and Social Security numbers. The navigators were hastily hired and trained (they are still being hired) and were not given extensive background checks. The personal data for millions of people will be entrusted to these navigators—and to a computerized system that has been rushed into operation.

Another technological hurdle involves health-insurance subsidies. At least a half-dozen states, including Colorado and Oregon, have said that they won't offer full online enrollment through their exchanges because the federal hub that is supposed to link to help them determine the subsidies people are eligible for isn't working properly. A link to Medicaid agencies also isn't functioning. This link is necessary to ensure that someone applying for a subsidy under a health plan is not Medicaid-eligible under his state's rules.

If the hub can't verify this, the individual will get booted from the ObamaCare enrollment system and shifted to a call center for confirmation by an ObamaCare agent who is likely to be fielding a deluge of complaints. Some people will end up getting subsidies they weren't qualified for.

The subsidies will likely present other woes. For example, separate cost-sharing subsidies intended to reduce a person's out-of pocket costs are subject to the budget sequester. As a result, some of the reductions in co-insurance won't materialize. Patients won't know what they will owe for doctor visits, prescriptions or hospital stays. The Obama administration hasn't begun to address the issue.

As for medical care, the current ObamaCare software doesn't even try to take a serious stab at letting consumers match the health plans on the exchanges with their particular medical needs, or with their providers, at the point of enrollment.

It's the last point, while relatively minor, that seems particularly galling: you go to enroll but you can't even find out what doctors and hospitals are available in the network? How does that square with "if you like your doctor you can keep her" promise? What good is a plan that doesn't let you use your local hospital but requires you to travel 90 minutes to a hospital that has a reputation for providing sub-standard care instead?

[FlagDUDE08]

Re: The PPACA - Implementation Phase I

It looks like PPACA needs a bigger IT budget. Under these circumstances, given what's at stake, does it really make sense to have US citizens be beta-testers??



It's the last point, while relatively minor, that seems particularly galling: you go to enroll but you can't even find out what doctors and hospitals are available in the network? How does that square with "if you like your doctor you can keep her" promise? What good is a plan that doesn't let you use your local hospital but requires you to travel 90 minutes to a hospital that has a reputation for providing sub-standard care instead?

http://twitchy.com/2013/10/01/surpri...tes-dont-work/

[geezer]

Re: The PPACA - Implementation Phase I

1. there's a shocker for you: Obamacare failed. Who could possibly have foreseen that train wreck coming?
2. The pseudo-shutdown forced Obama to run over to the zoo last night and pull the plug on a live camera feed of a panda bear, in some kind of fit of spite. I thought it was funny that's the worst he could come up with. Reports of the sky falling may have been exaggerated.
3. I really want a t-shirt or at least a badge that says, "ESSENTIAL EMPLOYEE."

[ScoobyDoo]

Re: The PPACA - Implementation Phase I

1. there's a shocker for you: Obamacare failed. Who could possibly have foreseen that train wreck coming?
2. The pseudo-shutdown forced Obama to run over to the zoo last night and pull the plug on a live camera feed of a panda bear, in some kind of fit of spite. I thought it was funny that's the worst he could come up with. Reports of the sky falling may have been exaggerated.
3. I really want a t-shirt or at least a badge that says, "ESSENTIAL EMPLOYEE."

How can something be a failure when it hasn't even happened yet?

[joecct]

1. there's a shocker for you: Obamacare failed. Who could possibly have foreseen that train wreck coming?
2. The pseudo-shutdown forced Obama to run over to the zoo last night and pull the plug on a live camera feed of a panda bear, in some kind of fit of spite. I thought it was funny that's the worst he could come up with. Reports of the sky falling may have been exaggerated.
3. I really want a t-shirt or at least a badge that says, "ESSENTIAL EMPLOYEE."

There are a few. Where I used to work, we had a large # of experimental crops and animals that still need to be fed. Those employees are still needed as is the vet.

Apparently with 2.5 million, the Federal government is the largest employer in the USA.
(left out the decimal place)

[geezer]

Re: The PPACA - Implementation Phase I

How can something be a failure when it hasn't even happened yet?

Widespread reports today that the highly touted insurance exchange website doesn't really do anything it was promised to do (compare plans, network provider lists, estimates of tax rebates, tailored plans to conditions, etc. etc.) Instead, they're hiring hundreds of "navigators" to help people out by collecting their name, address, SS#, $ in savings, bank account info., medical history, and then entering it into "the system" for them. Here's the interesting part: they don't have time to do any kind of background checks on these temps collecting all this info, they could be Muslims for all the feds know.... Obamacare was a complete and utter failure. Again, what a shocker.

[Rover]

Widespread reports today that the highly touted insurance exchange website doesn't really do anything it was promised to do (compare plans, network provider lists, estimates of tax rebates, tailored plans to conditions, etc. etc.) Instead, they're hiring hundreds of "navigators" to help people out by collecting their name, address, SS#, $ in savings, bank account info., medical history, and then entering it into "the system" for them. Here's the interesting part: they don't have time to do any kind of background checks on these temps collecting all this info, they could be Muslims for all the feds know.... Obamacare was a complete and utter failure. Again, what a shocker.

Fight The Power Geezer!

Well isn't THIS interesting. While The Boner is trying to attach in public a provision to stop Hill staffers from getting some money to pay for insurance, he himself was lobbying in private for the very opposite to happen!

What an idiot! Hey Fishy, this is your champion for stopping Obamacare? Good luck with that!

[JF_Gophers]

Re: The PPACA - Implementation Phase I

http://www.mnsure.org/ will probably work correctly, even if the other 49 don't.

[joecct]

Re: The PPACA - Implementation Phase I

I wonder if Microsoft is in charge of the roll out.... I was told never buy Version 1.0 of any product. Always wait for the update.

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybens...es-up-n1714285

[FreshFish]

Re: The PPACA - Implementation Phase I

I wonder if Microsoft is in charge of the roll out.... I was told never buy Version 1.0 of any product. Always wait for the update.

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybens...es-up-n1714285

Through the Looking Glass.

I heard The Great Orator say on the radio today that the 'glitches' might take months to fix. yet he is adamantly opposed to delaying the rollout.

Kindergarten 101: "take the time to get it right."

[FreshFish]

Re: The PPACA - Implementation Phase I

I just thought of something else out of whack.

We keep reading and hearing that the exchanges need lots of young healthy people to overpay for insurance, so that their excess premiums subsidize older sicker folk.

yet, PPACA also allows young people to stay on their parents' policies until age 26.

kind of contradictory, eh?

[ScoobyDoo]

Re: The PPACA - Implementation Phase I

I just thought of something else out of whack.

We keep reading and hearing that the exchanges need lots of young healthy people to overpay for insurance, so that their excess premiums subsidize older sicker folk.

yet, PPACA also allows young people to stay on their parents' policies until age 26.

kind of contradictory, eh?

Overpay??? No one has asked anyone to overpay. Unless you're saying that all insurance is "overpay" which I would tend to agree. Unfortunately even if that is so insurance is most necessary whether we want it or not, and it's often required (i.e. Homeowners and Auto).

[St. Clown]

Re: The PPACA - Implementation Phase I

Overpay??? No one has asked anyone to overpay. Unless you're saying that all insurance is "overpay" which I would tend to agree. Unfortunately even if that is so insurance is most necessary whether we want it or not, and it's often required (i.e. Homeowners and Auto).

Insurance rates for young people were expected to increase under the PPACA vs what they would have been charged in their low-risk insurance pools before the law was enacted.