“House Republicans have called the White House’s bluff on Obamacare’s mandate that requires everyone to buy health insurance. And Democrats are mad.
On Friday, House Republicans approved a bipartisan deal to end the threat of a 24 percent pay cut for physicians treating Medicare patients. After a decade of delaying ever-increasing reductions called for by the sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula, it is clear that Congress will find some way to avoid hitting doctors this hard in an election year.”
“Obamacare is still struggling to sign up young people. In order to offset the high cost of the older, and probably less healthy people who are joining Obamacare plans, the White House must coerce a sufficient number of thirty-somethings to also join. Problem is, the health plans are too pricey to make economic sense for many young adults.”
“One by one, the myths of the Affordable Care Act have been revealed. When the curtain on open enrollment falls on March 31, the last remaining big myth of ObamaCare will be fully exposed: The individual mandate has failed.”
“Many supporters of ObamaCare insisted that the health insurance exchanges created by the law would result in consumers having a greater choice among insurance policies and lower prices.
This study tests those claims by examining policies on the exchanges in metropolitan areas across 45 states for a single 27-year-old and a 57-year-old couple. It then compares those with the policies available in those same areas on eHealthInsurance.com (eHealth) and Finder.healthcare.gov (Finder) in 2013.”
“An estimated 30 million Americans are expected to gain health insurance through the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and a healthy and sizable workforce will be needed to meet the increased demand. The health care workforce is already facing a critical shortfall of health professionals over the next decade. The ACA breaks the promises of access and quality of care for all Americans by escalating the shortage and increasing the burden and stress on the already fragile system. The ACA’s attempts to address the shortage are unproven and limited in scope, and the significant financial investment will not produce results for years due to the training pipeline. With the ACA’s estimated 190 million hours of paperwork annually imposed on businesses and the health care industry, combined with shortages of workers, patients will be facing increasing wait times, limited access to providers, shortened time with caregivers, and decreased satisfaction. The health care workforce is facing increased stress and instability, and a major redesign of the workforce is needed to extend care to millions of Americans.”
“Earlier today, Marilyn Tavenner of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced that “more than 6 million Americans have signed up for coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplaces since October 1, thanks to the Affordable Care Act.” Given all of the technical problems that dogged healthcare.gov last October, this is an impressive turnaround. But it sheds little light onto the two questions most analysts are focused on. First, how many of those signing up have paid their first month’s premium, thereby activating coverage? And second: How many of those with coverage were previously uninsured? At this point, we have no definitive answers.”
Require U.S. citizens and legal residents to have qualifying health coverage (phase-in tax penalty for those without coverage).
Assess employers with 50 or more employees that do not offer coverage and have at least one full-time employee who receives a premium tax credit a fee of $2,000 per full-time employee, excluding the first 30 employees from the assessment. Employers with 50 or more employees that offer coverage but have at least one full-time employee receiving a premium tax credit, will pay the lesser of $3,000 for each employee receiving a premium credit or $2,000 for each full-time employee, excluding the first 30 employees from the assessment. Require employers with more than 200 employees to automatically enroll employees into health insurance plans offered by the employer. Employees may opt out of coverage.
Create state-based American Health Benefit Exchanges and Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) Exchanges, administered by a governmental agency or non-profit organization, through which individuals and small businesses with up to 100 employees can purchase qualified coverage.
Reduce the out-of-pocket limits for those with incomes up to 400% FPL to the following levels:
- 100-200% FPL: one-third of the HSA limits ($1,983/individual and $3,967/family);
- 200-300% FPL: one-half of the HSA limits ($2,975/individual and $5,950/family);
- 300-400% FPL: two-thirds of the HSA limits ($3,987/individual and $7,973/family).