Plan B Forum

ACA is doing exactly what it was intended to do, allowing folks to change employment and/or, like me, pursue entrepreneurial opportunities, without the fear of being uninsured or underinsured, and bankrupted by medical care costs.

Long Run wrote:You're welcome. The reason that you can be an ACA winner is that everyone who has an employer plan and other individual policies are subsidizing the Exchange plans through higher rates, and a myriad of taxes, significantly, the "risk corridor" assessments that protect insurers from taking losses. That said, how the ACA is doing is greatly influenced by each state's approach and participation of healthy folks; looks like Montana is doing a good job. btw, congratulations and best of luck on your decision!

A June study by the Kaiser Family Foundation health care information organization puts the Treasure State in 34th place for health coverage.

This is despite the 30,018 people an analysis by the state Commissioner of Securities and Insurance counts as now covered who didn’t have insurance before ACA coverage first became available Jan. 1.

Those newly covered individuals reduced the previous number of uninsured, estimated at 195,000, by 15.4 percent. That dropped the percentage of uninsured in Montana from about 20 percent to 16.9 percent, according to CSI’s analysis.

A large majority of the newly insured found coverage through the Marketplace, with smaller numbers receiving Medicaid or finding policies through the private insurance sector, CSI estimated.

Kaiser puts Montana’s uninsured post ACA-implementation level at 17.6.

I have a love/hate relationship with Montana, as you'll note I call it "Montucky" on my profile. It's one of the most fantastically beautiful places I've ever been or seen, and the quality of life here - and low cost of living - make it really great in many ways to live here.

BUT, there are a great many rednecks hanging about...

One of the bigger concerns about the ACA was that the reduction in uninsured rates wouldn't be felt among the Hispanic community in particular. Instead, that demographic appears to be outpacing the general populace:

The federal healthcare law has dramatically increased coverage among Latinos, according to a new report that provides a comprehensive look at the effects of the Affordable Care Act on a historically underinsured community.

Overall, the percentage of Latinos ages 19 to 64 lacking health coverage fell from 36% to 23% between summer 2013 and spring 2014.

That's a reduction of 13 percent points, or 36% among non-elderly adults.

By comparison, the overall reduction nationally has been from around 20% down to 15%...or roughly a 25% drop.

Annnnnnd another ACA attack point bites the dust.

yrs,
rubato

Darn you, Obama! ACA cuts hospital costs by $5.7 billion this year!

The Washington Post's Jason Millman reports:

The Obama administration is projecting that hospitals will face $5.7 billion less in uncompensated care costs than they otherwise would have in the first full year of the Affordable Care Act's coverage expansion.

Millions more people with health insurance means fewer uninsured patients are coming through hospitals' doors. That means fewer costs from bad debt or charity care from people unable to pay their bills, which amounted to about $50 billion for the nation's hospitals in 2012.

OK, so obviously the hospitals are thrilled about this, but what about the rest of us? Well, in theory, those savings should be in turn passed along in the form of lower premiums/co-pays/etc. (or at least a slower rate of increase, anyway)

y):

Five years ago, when advocates were still trying to build support for the bill that became the ACA, they saw the potential for reducing the costs of uncompensated care as a big selling point. That's because those costs were already getting passed along to the tabs of people who could pay. This "hidden tax" amounted to about $1,000 for family coverage, according to a 2009 analysis from Families USA.

Of course, whether the rest of us will actually see this "$1,000/year per family" savings is difficult to tell...but so far this seems to be yet another anti-ACA talking point (hospital costs will skyrocket!!) being shot down.:

Roundup: GOP still plans to kill ACA; Obamacare success story in TX; CVS joins forces w/hospitals
Submitted by Charles Gaba on Wednesday, September 24, 2014 - 11:34am.
Source:
Politics USA, 09/22/14: Paul Ryan Admits That The GOP Plans To Win The Senate and Take Healthcare Away From Millions
New York Times, 09/23/14: A Health Care Success Story
Kaiser Health News, 09/24/14: Win-Win? CVS Joining Forces With Hospitals, Doctors

Paul Ryan Admits That The GOP Plans To Win The Senate and Take Healthcare Away From Millions

"I’d go back to the pre-Obamacare baseline is what I would do. I think that’s the way to go. We shouldn’t assume we’re going to have an explosive entitlement then replace it with our own. I would start over again, quite frankly."

What Ryan was suggesting is that if Republicans take control of the Senate, they are going to begin the process of repealing Obamacare. The real target date that Republicans have in mind is 2017. If Republicans control Congress and win the presidency, they will be able to repeal the ACA and replace it with a voucher system.

A Health Care Success Story

IT may have been the most influential magazine article of the past decade. In June of 2009, the doctor and writer Atul Gawande published a piece in The New Yorker called “The Cost Conundrum,” which examined why the small border city of McAllen, Tex., was the most expensive place for health care in the United States.

The article became mandatory reading in the White House. President Obama convened an Oval Office meeting to discuss its key finding that the high cost of health care in the country was directly tied to a system that rewarded the overuse of care. The president also brought up the article at a meeting with Democratic senators, emphasizing that McAllen represented the problem that needed to be fixed.

Five years later, the situation has changed. Where McAllen once illustrated the problem of American health care, the city is now showing us how the problem can be solved, largely because of the Affordable Care Act that Mr. Obama signed into law in 2010.

Win-Win? CVS Joining Forces With Hospitals, Doctors

Neglected to pick up your prescription? Now, there’s a good chance your doctor will know and do something about it, thanks to a slew of new partnerships between CVS Health and various health systems.

One of the most recent, which is slated to begin by early next year, will integrate the electronic medical records from MedStar Health’s 10 hospitals and 4,000 doctors – located in Washington, D.C. and Maryland -- with CVS pharmacies as well as the chain’s 900 Minute Clinics located across the country.