The PPACA Implementation Phase II - Love it or Lose it!

[ScoobyDoo]

Re: The PPACA Implementation Phase II - Love it or Lose it!

A sobering thought from Peggy Noonan:



The entire structure of PPACA is focused on the wrong thing!

LOL

The GOP has been slashing research budgets for years. Also, insurance solves the one major problem that we had and that's the vast number of people going bankrupt just because they got sick.

But, you and Peggy go on changing the subject.

 

[Rover]

Re: The PPACA Implementation Phase II - Love it or Lose it!

Yes, if we could waive our magic wand all diseases would go away and then health care would be cheaper!!!!! Brilliant!

I can only wonder why Reagan didn't use his powers to do so when he was the Messia....I mean the President.

PS - Has Noonan gotten that drinking problem under control yet?

 

[5mn_Major]

Re: The PPACA Implementation Phase II - Love it or Lose it!

Very good point, agree with you totally: these changes will be great for those people who can afford to step outside the "insurance" world entirely. The shift toward "concierge" doctors is well underway: either doctors will not deal with insurance companies directly at all (you see the doctor, you pay the doctor and file the forms yourself and wait for the insurance check), OR, what is becoming increasingly popular already, you pay the doctor a flat fee every year for all the services you might need that year, and you only maintain insurance for hospitalization coverage and perhaps prescription drug coverage.

Another unintended consequence: the idea was supposed to be that everyone would get access to healthcare no matter what their income level, and the result will be that we will wind up with two separate healthcare systems entirely, one for those who can afford to pay privately, and another for everyone else.

I wonder how soon it will be until a law is proposed making "concierge" medicine illegal?

I haven't posted here much...because I didn't know much about what was going on and didn't care enough to look into it. Again, I'm just doing a lot of professional investigation into the space now and will likely post in this thread more.

The direction you're going is happening to an extent...but as I mentioned the real changes are to the availability, flexibility and technology in healthcare. When I say healthcare will go everywhere...I mean anyone will be able to receive healthcare on a moments notice. Rather than have a chronic disease and be hospital bound...you will be able to be treated just as effectively in your home. These changes will all be delivered by brand new organizations...and at a cost that will be the same or much lower than they are today. While healthcare should be more efficient...rather than strictly lower costs, these efficiencies will go towards making better healthcare available everywhere to the same people who would have had to set appointments a month out today.

On the note of individuals, I was at a company party last night. A coworker told me that he went on MNSure (Minnesota's exchange website) and lowered his premium 40% while taking his families deductible from $6000 a year to $2000 a year. He was ecstatic. I have given myself the project of lowering my health insurance before the years' out. I am extremely impressed by what I've learn about the direction of this for the average person who already has insurance.

 

[FreshFish]

Re: The PPACA Implementation Phase II - Love it or Lose it!

Who needs Congress?

We'll just make stuff up as we go along!

The Obama administration said Thursday it would allow some of the millions of Americans whose insurance policies had been canceled to purchase bare-bones plans next year, in [yet] another 11th-hour tweak to the law...

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told a group of six senators in a letter that people whose policies had been canceled because of new requirements under the Affordable Care Act would be allowed to purchase "catastrophic" plans. Those plans previously had been restricted under the new law to people under the age of 30 or those who qualified for a set of specific hardship exemptions.

Catastrophic plans generally have lower premiums than other plans but offer more limited benefits. They typically cover three primary-care visits a year and some preventive benefits, but beyond that they only cover large medical costs after a high deductible. Carriers offering them for the coming year already have cleared the plans with state regulators and set prices in the expectation that few people over the age of 30 would be purchasing them.

so people who try to follow the law are screwed since anyone who feels like it can just arbitrarily change the law at will, whenver they feel like it? how did these amateurs even get into a position of responsibility in the first place?

oh, never mind....

 

[St. Clown]

Re: The PPACA Implementation Phase II - Love it or Lose it!

Who needs Congress?

We'll just make stuff up as we go along!



so people who try to follow the law are screwed since anyone who feels like it can just arbitrarily change the law at will, whenver they feel like it? how did these amateurs even get into a position of responsibility in the first place?

oh, never mind....

This extension is one of the more disingenuous things the President and his staff could have done. They know that insurance companies haven't had their actuaries working on pricing these plans for the upcoming year, and won't be prepared to have these products available in time for people to meet any sort of coverage requirement set for January 1.

Will his new press secretary give a wink and nod during the daily briefing today? "Sure, you can get your bare bones policies for the upcoming year... now." *wink, wink, nod*

 

[Rover]

Re: The PPACA Implementation Phase II - Love it or Lose it!

Time to get the Kleenex out! Conservatives are crying again!

A minor tweak and a good idea. Less than 500,000 people are estimated to not have a new plan after their old plan got cancelled. Of those people, a small portion of them can take advantage of something that's already in the law which is a hardship exemption.

Methinks the real problem out of our righty friends is that yet another talking point just got squashed. Now the proof will be in the #'s, as in how many people actually need a hardship exemption. This is always where knuckledragger logic runs out of gas. For example, why don't we hear anything about people not wanting to enroll in coverage anymore???

 

[joecct]

Re: The PPACA Implementation Phase II - Love it or Lose it!

Rover et al

Where in the enabling legislation is a delay in the mandate allowed?

If the law is defective, change the law. Do not govern by decree. We went to war over that almost 240 years ago.

 

[Rover]

Re: The PPACA Implementation Phase II - Love it or Lose it!

Rover et al

Where in the enabling legislation is a delay in the mandate allowed?

If the law is defective, change the law. Do not govern by decree. We went to war over that almost 240 years ago.

As the law is written the HHS secretary has the power to change some of these parameters without going back to Congress. If she didn't don't you think we'd be seeing lawsuits at the very least right now?

In other news, where were you when Bush II was using signing statements to reinterpret laws that he himself had signed into law?

 

[St. Clown]

Re: The PPACA Implementation Phase II - Love it or Lose it!

As the law is written the HHS secretary has the power to change some of these parameters without going back to Congress. If she didn't don't you think we'd be seeing lawsuits at the very least right now?

In other news, where were you when Bush II was using signing statements to reinterpret laws that he himself had signed into law?

I can't speak for Joe, but I was voting against him in 2004.

 

[Priceless]

Re: The PPACA Implementation Phase II - Love it or Lose it!

Rover et al

Where in the enabling legislation is a delay in the mandate allowed?

If the law is defective, change the law. Do not govern by decree. We went to war over that almost 240 years ago.

(A) IN GENERAL- Except as provided in subparagraph (B), coverage of eligible individuals under a high risk pool in a State shall terminate on January 1, 2014.

(B) TRANSITION TO EXCHANGE- The Secretary shall develop procedures to provide for the transition of eligible individuals enrolled in health insurance coverage offered through a high risk pool established under this section into qualified health plans offered through an Exchange. Such procedures shall ensure that there is no lapse in coverage with respect to the individual and may extend coverage after the termination of the risk pool involved, if the Secretary determines necessary to avoid such a lapse.

If you read through the legislation, you'll find that there is enough flexibility for the HHS Secretary to delay deadlines.

By the way, the famous "If you like it you can keep it" comes from here.

(1) IN GENERAL- Nothing in this Act (or an amendment made by this Act) shall be construed to require that an individual terminate coverage under a group health plan or health insurance coverage in which such individual was enrolled on the date of enactment of this Act.

(2) CONTINUATION OF COVERAGE- With respect to a group health plan or health insurance coverage in which an individual was enrolled on the date of enactment of this Act, this subtitle and subtitle A (and the amendments made by such subtitles) shall not apply to such plan or coverage, regardless of whether the individual renews such coverage after such date of enactment.

 

[Rover]

Re: The PPACA Implementation Phase II - Love it or Lose it!

I can't speak for Joe, but I was voting against him in 2004.

Good for you and I appreciate the candor. I'm curious if joe will step up to the plate given that Priceless posted the actual law.

Really, if there was anything illegal going on here, right wing activists would be sitting outside of the SCOTUS right now fighting over who got into the courthouse first. I can understand the political implications keeping members of Congress from jumping in (could be construed as defending the law!!!) especially after The Boner got burned on the DOMA ruling. But any of these right wing legal associations would be all over it.

 

[Tiggsy]

Re: The PPACA Implementation Phase II - Love it or Lose it!

If you read through the legislation, you'll find that there is enough flexibility for the HHS Secretary to delay deadlines.

By the way, the famous "If you like it you can keep it" comes from here.

I find it hard to believe you found those passages from the thousands of pages of text. How were you able to do so? Not reading the law or knowing what is in it is a very common refrain.

 

[St. Clown]

Re: The PPACA Implementation Phase II - Love it or Lose it!

Good for you and I appreciate the candor. I'm curious if joe will step up to the plate given that Priceless posted the actual law.

Really, if there was anything illegal going on here, right wing activists would be sitting outside of the SCOTUS right now fighting over who got into the courthouse first. I can understand the political implications keeping members of Congress from jumping in (could be construed as defending the law!!!) especially after The Boner got burned on the DOMA ruling. But any of these right wing legal associations would be all over it.

When President Obama renewed the USA PATRIOT Act on May 26, 2011, and has maintained many of President Bush's, have you moved away from him or the party? Troop extensions in Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay, drone strikes of US citizens, drone strikes within allied countries' territory, signing in healthcare laws and then directing his bureaus not to enforce them, all of this sounds oddly familiar to life some 5+ years ago.

 

[Priceless]

Re: The PPACA Implementation Phase II - Love it or Lose it!

I find it hard to believe you found those passages from the thousands of pages of text. How were you able to do so? Not reading the law or knowing what is in it is a very common refrain.

I used the search function. It wasn't that difficult.

 

[joecct]

Re: The PPACA Implementation Phase II - Love it or Lose it!

I can't speak for Joe, but I was voting against him in 2004.

In 2004 Bush43 ran against Kerry. I would (not that I could since I live in MD) vote John Kerry for dogcatcher. If the Dems had run a better candidate in 2004 (or the GOP in 2008/2012) then the result of the Presidential elections may have been different.

As to the other post. Does the PPACA give authority to the Executive to change deadlines?

As to signing statements, Executive Orders, etc. They start small. But when unchallenged by the Congress, then they snowball. Unless checked, could a GOP president in 20?? strike down PPACA (or any legislation for that matter) by a stroke of the pen by ordering the law not to be enforced?

 

[Priceless]

Re: The PPACA Implementation Phase II - Love it or Lose it!

As to the other post. Does the PPACA give authority to the Executive to change deadlines?

Would it really make you feel better if Obama called Kathleen Sebelius and told her to announce the change? Or do you think Sebelius would say no?

 

[joecct]

Re: The PPACA Implementation Phase II - Love it or Lose it!

Would it really make you feel better if Obama called Kathleen Sebelius and told her to announce the change? Or do you think Sebelius would say no?

badly worded -- Executive Branch.

 

[Priceless]

Re: The PPACA Implementation Phase II - Love it or Lose it!

badly worded -- Executive Branch.

I posted the text from the law that gives authority to the Secretary...I don't know how much more straightforward it can be.

 

[FreshFish]

Re: The PPACA Implementation Phase II - Love it or Lose it!

A question to those among us who have parents or adult children:

Suppose your parents came to you and asked you to help pay for their health insurance? how would you feel about that?

suppose you had trouble paying for your health insurance? would you go to your children to ask them to help you pay for it? how would you feel about asking? how would they feel about being asked?



Now, let's suppose your parents came to you and demanded that you help pay for their health insurance? would that make you feel any better than in the first situation?

Suppose your parents then came to you and said, "If you don't help me pay for my health insurance, I'm going to get Congress to pass a law that forces you to help me pay for my health insurance." ?

Feel any better now?

That's PPACA in a nutshell, multiplied by hundreds of thousands of families across the country: "hey, young adult children, we know you are having trouble finding a decent job to help you pay off your college loans, but never mind that, we insist that you have to help pay for your parents' health insurance. Don't worry, Justice Roberts said it was okay."

 

[Priceless]

Re: The PPACA Implementation Phase II - Love it or Lose it!

A question for any American taxpayer:

Suppose there was a huge multinational corporation, the profits of which made the heirs of the founder some of the wealthiest people on the planet.

But rather than pay their employees a suitable wage, they ask you to subsidize the company with massive welfare, food stamp and other payments.

How would you feel about that?

Now, let's suppose this corporation came to you and demanded that you give their employees healthcare, welfare, food stamps and other aid? Would that make you feel any better than in that first situation?

Suppose that corporation came to you and said, "If you don't help me pay for our employees' healthcare, welfare, food stamps, we're going to lobby Congress to pass a law that forces you to pay for those things for our employees."

Feel any better now?

That's Wal-Mart in a nutshell, multiplied by hundreds of thousands of families across the country. "Hey everyone, we know you are having trouble finding a decent job to help you pay off your college loans, but never mind that, we insist that you have to help pay for these employees because that large, profitable corporation is too stingy to do it themselves. Don't worry, Congress said it was okay."