The PPACA - Implementation Phase I

[unofan]

because of the number of doctors who decided to retire rather than deal wtih it, probably.

"Probably?" For an actuary, your ability to determine odds appears to be fairly bad. I pray you don't work for any of my insurers.

[FlagDUDE08]

Re: The PPACA - Implementation Phase I

How is a doctor shortage the fault of the ACA? What it sounds like on here is people who formerly didn't worry about it because they had insurance while others did not (and who impliedly did not deserve care otherwise they would have had it already) are now ****ed off because more people have insurance and access to their previously exclusive medical care.

Sorry, but the solution to a shortage of doctors isn't to artificially restrict the availability to them. It's to curtail the AMA's power to restrict medical licenses. Encouraging more medical schools (which, unlike law schools, are typically money losers for universities) would be helpful too.

You can give out M.D.s until you're blue in the face, but unless those graduates are willing to actually set up practices in this country, you haven't actually made any progress. We've already seen testimonials from doctors that post on this forum about how the need for more administration to ensure regulation compliance is one of the primary drivers of cost. Not to mention, your ilk chasing them around in order to find cause for a lawsuit makes for even higher costs, but that's another story for another day. These practitioners are either stopping to practice or refusing new patients because the cost associated with taking them on, when you factor in the aforementioned expenses, is too high to keep the customer without the customer going to either another practitioner or the subsidized public health system (at least NYS has this, I don't know about other states).

[FlagDUDE08]

Re: The PPACA - Implementation Phase I

Just switched this year and had zero problems doing so (I changed insurance and networks). I also live in the only state where universal care is up and running so I'm not sure what the problem is.

Health care needs to evolve in several ways. 1) If there's a need for a service, more professionals will drift towards that service, or take on more of a workload, in an effort to increase earnings. The concept is simple - if your town supports two gas stations, and one closes because the owner retires, you can now open one up across the street and make $$$ without having to charge people more than the going rate for a gallon of gas. You're filling hole in the supply of the product. 2) People need not get every aspect of medical care from a primary or the ER. In fact they may be better off finding more convenient options, which benefits everyone.

During the first 3-5 years of Massachusetts' PPACA, what was the turnover on the number of available practitioners? Just a rough guess, and if you want to adjust for expected retirement/startup, so be it. How did administrative costs for practitioners in your state change, and what did it do to the cost of the care itself?

[Rover]

During the first 3-5 years of Massachusetts' PPACA, what was the turnover on the number of available practitioners? Just a rough guess, and if you want to adjust for expected retirement/startup, so be it. How did administrative costs for practitioners in your state change, and what did it do to the cost of the care itself?

Flaggy, I don't take orders unless you'll willing to pay for it and make sure your request stays rated "G". Find your own info.

What I can tell you is 1) Mass has the highest # of insured people, 2) the state has implemented the exchanges, 3) unemployment is lower than the national average, and 4) the state has not been bankrupted in the process.

Points #3 and #4 are the ones that always get the righties, as it blows their mind that an actual example has been implemented successfully.

[FlagDUDE08]

Re: The PPACA - Implementation Phase I

Flaggy, I don't take orders unless you'll willing to pay for it and make sure your request stays rated "G". Find your own info.

What I can tell you is 1) Mass has the highest # of insured people, 2) the state has implemented the exchanges, 3) unemployment is lower than the national average, and 4) the state has not been bankrupted in the process.

Points #3 and #4 are the ones that always get the righties, as it blows their mind that an actual example has been implemented successfully.

It may not be bankrupted, but it's running some serious deficits. And yes, I'm well aware of your state's balanced budget requirement, but projected != actual. Also, I don't trust anything anymore with regards to unemployment, especially seeing as how the definition of those "in the work force" has changed greatly since the crash of 2008. I bet it's higher than you'd think, despite the fact your spin on unemployment was a comparative one with respect to the national average.

I'm not surprised you don't want to provide the info, as there's a chance my points could very well be proved.

[joecct]

Re: The PPACA - Implementation Phase I

Flaggy, I don't take orders unless you'll willing to pay for it and make sure your request stays rated "G". Find your own info.

What I can tell you is 1) Mass has the highest # of insured people, 2) the state has implemented the exchanges, 3) unemployment is lower than the national average, and 4) the state has not been bankrupted in the process.

Points #3 and #4 are the ones that always get the righties, as it blows their mind that an actual example has been implemented successfully.

How are your taxes? Is the moniker "Taxachusetts" a misnomer?

[St. Clown]

Re: The PPACA - Implementation Phase I

You can give out M.D.s until you're blue in the face, but unless those graduates are willing to actually set up practices in this country, you haven't actually made any progress. We've already seen testimonials from doctors that post on this forum about how the need for more administration to ensure regulation compliance is one of the primary drivers of cost. Not to mention, your ilk chasing them around in order to find cause for a lawsuit makes for even higher costs, but that's another story for another day. These practitioners are either stopping to practice or refusing new patients because the cost associated with taking them on, when you factor in the aforementioned expenses, is too high to keep the customer without the customer going to either another practitioner or the subsidized public health system (at least NYS has this, I don't know about other states).

Much of that is the gist of this story from CNN Money.

http://money.cnn.com/2013/06/11/news...ors/index.html

[FreshFish]

Re: The PPACA - Implementation Phase I

How are your taxes? Is the moniker "Taxachusetts" a misnomer?

Maybe we should all just address Rover as Candide....after all, they both live in the best possible worlds, no?

[unofan]

Re: The PPACA - Implementation Phase I

http://www.leagueofruralvoters.org/r...uthdakota.html

Just one of many pre-ACA articles discussing the upcoming shortage of doctors due to policy decisions made in the 80's and 90's. But please, do keep trying to pin it on the ACA.

[FlagDUDE08]

Re: The PPACA - Implementation Phase I

http://www.leagueofruralvoters.org/r...uthdakota.html

Just one of many pre-ACA articles discussing the upcoming shortage of doctors due to policy decisions made in the 80's and 90's. But please, do keep trying to pin it on the ACA.

If anything, you could pin the shortage on policy decisions made in the 60's (medicare/medicaid). As we all know, though, you lose a game of Jenga because of a block that someone else pulled out.

[FlagDUDE08]

Re: The PPACA - Implementation Phase I

Perhaps it is time for impeachment? http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...509555268.html

Although, you could probably sue if you were an employee of the IRS.

[St. Clown]

Re: The PPACA - Implementation Phase I

Perhaps it is time for impeachment? http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...509555268.html

Although, you could probably sue if you were an employee of the IRS.

No, impeachment isn't going to happen. Censure might, but that would be highly unlikely. Nobody in Congress wants to side with the enforcement of what could be considered a regulatory tax.

I don't know who could or would sue in order to get this section of the law enforced. My only bet would be a governor or treasurer of a state whose funds were in jeopardy due to some projected value of tax revenue not arriving into its coffers that were based upon the expected purchase of more insurance contracts. Even then, it would be political suicide in almost any state outside of Hawaii.

[FreshFish]

Re: The PPACA - Implementation Phase I

No, impeachment isn't going to happen. Censure might, but that would be highly unlikely. Nobody in Congress wants to side with the enforcement of what could be considered a regulatory tax.

I don't know who could or would sue in order to get this section of the law enforced. My only bet would be a governor or treasurer of a state whose funds were in jeopardy due to some projected value of tax revenue not arriving into its coffers that were based upon the expected purchase of more insurance contracts. Even then, it would be political suicide in almost any state outside of Hawaii.

It seems to me that the best way to avoid a potential Constitutional crisis here would be for a few thoughtful Democrats in the Senate merely to ask that a law be passed suspending the employer mandate for one year.

I know someone who knows a good Democrat Senator, I'll try to pass the word along.

[unofan]

It seems to me that the best way to avoid a potential Constitutional crisis here would be for a few thoughtful Democrats in the Senate merely to ask that a law be passed suspending the employer mandate for one year.

I know someone who knows a good Democrat Senator, I'll try to pass the word along.

Do you similarly ask your state legislature for similar waivers every time a cop uses his discretion to issue a warning rather than a ticket? Or lets people going only 5 over go without pulling them over?

Otherwise, it sounds like you don't mind some executive discretion, and only care about this because it makes the other side look bad.

[joecct]

Re: The PPACA - Implementation Phase I

The "smokers' penalty" won't be implemented due to software problems.

Oops.