Well, we are through all but one of the open enrollment period enrollment date deadlines (can still enroll for March) and the results are not good in terms of reaching the uninsured and getting the young to enroll. Honestly it isn't a surprise based on the new rates and lack of choices that existed in 2013. It frustrates me personally as I tried to tell people to enroll in a 2013 plan while they were still available, but most didn't listen and now have serious sticker shock. Aetna's CEO came out today and addressed his company's situation with regards to Obamacare. In a nutshell: Very few uninsured are buying insurance still. All that has happened for the most part is people have gone from paying for their premium on their own to paying for it with government assistance. The reality right now is that Obamacare has raised the price of insurance but has come in the back door to pay for it at the register so some people don't have to pay full price. For those wondering, internal speculation is that here in Texas, BCBS will capture 80% of market share in the next 18 months or so. http://www.cnbc.com/id/101354183
Additional information: HHS released that under 25% of enrollments nationwide have been in the age 18-25 demographic. The estimates from actuaries are that you need that number to be at about 40% to keep the risk pool level. Now, it is worth pointing out that most young people are last minute people and you may see a spike in the last enrollment period. Enough to get the rate to 30 or 35%? Hard to say honestly, but I think it is unlikely based on what I've seen. Some estimates are that with the current enrollment being what it is and the built in cost protectors (taxes) that we may only see a 2-3 percent rate hike for the next enrollment period. That doesn't really jive with what industry insiders are saying, but that would be good news.
Hopefully they'll come back and just go full single payer. Not these types measures that require an incredible amount of customer education and outreach to get people signed up.
i don't recall who said this when congress was debating the ACA, it might have even been on this board, they said this was all set up and designed to fail so that we'd eventually be forced in the a single payer system. sounds like that is where we're heading, so i'm with CometsWin on this one. we're already on the path, just get it going and go single payer. does anyone think there's going back or undoing of the ACA?
It should have always been single payer. Medicare does pretty well why not just roll it out to everyone. Currently it supports the most expensive group, old people, it should work for everyone else too.
Obama's signature legislation. For all the money and rhetoric thrown at this monstrosity it's a joke. Disappointing to witness what a democratic controlled legislative and executive branch came up with given the opportunity.
When will fines start kicking in and how will they assess them? I can't see how it would work unless they just amend it to people's Federal Income Tax bill or something?
That's precisely how it's done. When you file your taxes next year it will be a part of that. If you owe the fine it will be deducted from any potential refund. The IRS has no power to enforce the fine, so if you don't get a refund they can't really do anything to get the money. (Currently)
Medicare is not well liked in the medical community. Many doctors and facilities are refusing to accept Medicare/Medicaid going forward. It works obviously, because of the block of purchasing power it controls. However, if the entire medical system was on the same setup as Medicare, it would cause a massive change to medicine as we know it.
Don't you think we're headed for a massive change one way or the other? I don't mean to be flip. But if I understand the economics of healthcare, even remotely, we're set to keep seeing escalating costs, far beyond the rate of inflation, especially with growing aging populations, etc. I often wonder if the difficult conversation we can't seem to have as a society is: what is an extra day of life hooked up in ICU really worth to a person and to our whole country? $1M per day per nearly comatose person? But those "death panels" tho! Ugh.
Most people won't do anything until they have to. The people out there on the fringes that don't have insurance through their work more so. I wouldn't judge the compliance rates until a tax cycle or two when people get sternly worded official letters.
We are on the cusp of being medically able to keep people alive indefinitely though the costs could be astronomical. Cost/benefit decisions will have to be made by someone ... some sort of panel. We are going to have to offer some kind of a acceptable alternative also. One that doesn't have a suffering end.
When you say the medical community, do you mean Doctors or the people who decided to start charging ridiculous amounts of money for things like gowns.
Just an anecdote here. My son had a surgery around Christmas and the bills are starting to come in. He was admitted early Monday and was released Tues afternoon- about 30 hours in the hospital. The bill for "Room and Board" was $27,000.
You cannot stop it. People need to accept that and figure out how to deal with it. Even red state Utah sees the future. 60,000 Utahans will now have access to affordable healthcare. Governor: Medicaid will expand under Obamacare in Utah
There are several who have said this. Only fools and wishful dreamers really thought ACA would be a benefit people on a large scale. I know politicians are not seen as the brightest people, but they are much smarter than this to realize rolling out something this massive would be beneficial.
