"Well, I didn't make this mess"

[MajGenl.Meade]

“By being out of office [Clinton] will have the ability to make clear she is not only someone with a big idea but someone with a track record of getting things done.”

Reuters

Being out of office = getting things done?

[rubato]

What mess? Most of the past 6 years has been spent cleaning up the mess the Bush-publicans left with the economy and Iraq/Syria/Afghanistan and trying to get the Republicans in congress to govern.

Obamacare is a huge success.


yrs,
rubato

[oldr_n_wsr]

Obamacare is a huge success.

How you figure?
8 million signups with at least half of those had insurance before but were canceled due to the ACA. The "propagada" was to get ALL americans insured, and the estimates were some 40 million uninsured. So we still have over 30 million not insured. Huge success??? When 3/4 of the target audience is still not ensured?

People going from $1000 to $2000 deductables to about $6000 deductables on average? That's "Affordable"?

ALos heard that medicare is being gutted to pay for the ACA. no time to look that up now

Good parts of ACA are kids get coverage on parents plans til they are 26yo (we had that here in NY already) and still get insurance if there is a pre-existing condition. There may be more but IMO the bad outwieghs the good.

What good is having insurance when one can't afford the deductable.

[oldr_n_wsr]

Came across this:

Doctors Opting Out of Obamacare Exchange Plans

As many as 214,500 doctors will not participate in any Affordable Care Act exchange plans in the coming year, according to a medical practice trade group.

Physicians are opting out for two main reasons: concern over low reimbursement rates, and worries that in a significant number of cases they won't be paid for their services, a new survey by the Medical Group Management Association reveals.

Exchange plans, or health insurance marketplaces, facilitate the purchase of health insurance in each state in accordance with the Affordable Care Act. The exchanges provide a set of government-regulated and standardized healthcare plans from which individuals may purchase health insurance policies eligible for federal subsidies.

In March 2012, the Department of Health and Human Services set forth the procedures to be followed if patients with an exchange plan stop paying their premiums.

In the private healthcare market, an individual loses coverage after failing to pay a premium. But exchange plans must provide their members with a 90-day "grace period" to pay their premiums, Brittany La Couture of the American Action Forum points out in a report on the survey.

The insurer is required to continue coverage for 30 days. After that, any medical care given a patient will be covered by the insurer if the overdue premium is paid by the end of the 90-day period.

If the patient does not pay up, the healthcare provider will have to recover any charges incurred between the 31st and 90th day of the grace period directly from the patient.

If the patient doesn't pay, the provider won't be compensated.

A patient could conceivably join an exchange plan, stop paying the premium, receive extensive medical care, and escape paying completely.

"This is the number one reason for providers deciding not to participate in exchange plans," said La Couture, who notes that nearly 1 million individuals enrolled in exchange plans have not paid their premiums to date.

The other major reason for doctors opting out of the exchanges is their low reimbursement rates.

Compared to each dollar a private plan pays providers for a service, it’s estimated that Medicare pays $0.80 and Obamacare exchanges pay about $0.60.

The thought was that insurers would compete by lowering payments to providers, and the providers would make up the difference with an increased patient load.

"Primary care providers, however, are already overburdened and have too many patients as it is, so the increase in volume will do nothing to offset their losses," La Couture observes.

She concludes: "This reduction in payment rates has caused many physicians and hospitals to decline to accept insurance plans issued through the exchanges, thereby negating the intended effect of providing individuals with affordable care by virtue of eliminating their access to care.

"The stated goals of the law fly in the face of the actual results that it produces."

http://www.newsmax.com/InsiderReport/Pu ... id/606248/

[Big RR]

People going from $1000 to $2000 deductables to about $6000 deductables on average? That's "Affordable

Oldr--the source for this; so far as I know, no Obamacare individual plans have deductibles that high, although some ACA-compliant group policies may--I'd have to check. For the most part, I think the deductibles offered are more in the range you first specified--$1000-$2000. And indisuring 10 million previously uninsured Americans is nothing to sneeze at.

Are there bad things in the plans? Certainly. But I've seen no evidence the bad outweighs the good. Indeed, with all they hype about ruining medicare (who many of the same people said was almost bankrupt anyway), I've seen no evidence of these horrible consequences.

[MajGenl.Meade]

My brother-in-law is now paying $1800/month instead of $1000/month for medical insurance thanks to HCA. He is very unhappy about Obamacare.

I (on the other hand) have gone from about $1800/month (without HCA credits) to $112/month (with credits). I salute the Lord Obama!

My b-i-l thinks he's paying the price for illegal immigrants in CA. I think he's paying for re-immigrants from SA to OH

It's a shame we're getting into a discussion about health care reform when I was hoping for some comment about the idea that being out of office is the same thing as having a good track record.... oh well.

[Guinevere]

People going from $1000 to $2000 deductables to about $6000 deductables on average? That's "Affordable

Oldr--the source for this; so far as I know, no Obamacare individual plans have deductibles that high, although some ACA-compliant group policies may--I'd have to check. For the most part, I think the deductibles offered are more in the range you first specified--$1000-$2000. And indisuring 10 million previously uninsured Americans is nothing to sneeze at.

Are there bad things in the plans? Certainly. But I've seen no evidence the bad outweighs the good. Indeed, with all they hype about ruining medicare (who many of the same people said was almost bankrupt anyway), I've seen no evidence of these horrible consequences.

What he said. Medicaid def isn't ruined yet. And for what it's worth, after spending Jan-April and July-Sept in ICU or rehab, Mom still has not had to pay one penny out of pocket, other than her Medicare premium and the premium for her supplement (which price has essentially stayed the same this year). She pays something like 210/month combined in premiums. Plus her meds at expressscript by mail prices-under 100/month.

She would be bankrupt and or dead under the old programs because I'm quite sure she would have hit her lifetime max.

I've also commented previously that my insurance premium went down - deductible stayed the same. I have a top of the line BC/BS HMO provided by my firm. Co-pay still $20 for office visits and $15/$20/$30 for meds (which I rarely if ever use).

[BoSoxGal]

My brother-in-law is now paying $1800/month instead of $1000/month for medical insurance thanks to HCA. He is very unhappy about Obamacare.

Is that for just him - no dependents? Is he buying into an employer plan that he's required to participate in?

If not, and if that's private insurance, has he looked into the plans available through the ACA exchange?

I've been pleasantly surprised by the plans available to me - now that I've run the numbers based on a modest projection of income for my first year of practice, I'll be paying less than $200/mo. (without a subsidy) for a platinum plan that is comparable to the employer paid plan I have currently, with no deductible and a $1200 out-of-pocket maximum for the year. I'll spend about the same as I currently do for monthly meds (migraine); overall, $3600 is a very modest price to buy me freedom from being somebody's else's employee.

Now, hopefully SCOTUS won't gut ACA, because I'm in one of those stupid states that didn't set up an exchange.

[Guinevere]

It's a shame we're getting into a discussion about health care reform when I was hoping for some comment about the idea that being out of office is the same thing as having a good track record.... oh well.

How about the full article instead of a snippet - context would help - starting with who said the quoted line.

ETA: I assume the speaker means that HRC can disassociate herself from the do-nothing Congress, since when she was a Senator a bit more was accomplished.

[MajGenl.Meade]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/ ... 3R20141106

Election results could boost Republican governors, Clinton campaign for 2016
By Gabriel Debenedetti
NEW YORK Wed Nov 5, 2014 8:36pm EST

“Given the challenges of a Republican Congress and the president finding common ground, there is likely to be continued paralysis and frustration at the lack of activity in Washington to address pressing needs,” said Chris Lehane, a Democratic strategist who worked in Bill Clinton’s White House. “By being out of office, (she) will have the ability to make clear she is not only someone with a big idea - but someone with a track record of getting things done.”

Yes, I think your ETA is exactly what was meant. I still think the statement amusing - and endorse the idea that "being out of office" is very much to be viewed as "getting things done". After all, work is accomplished by those employees who have not yet reached their level of incompetence.

In a similar vein, I wish Congress would stay out of Washington for many, many more months than they do. The devil makes work for idle hands, managers rise to the level of their incompetence, and work expands to fill the time available.

(Yes, I know the primary meaning of the latter is really that the same amount is stretched out to occupy the time, but it goes so well with the devil's plans)

[rubato]

"...
It's a shame we're getting into a discussion about health care reform when I was hoping for some comment about the idea that being out of office is the same thing as having a good track record.... oh well.

Republicans have been claiming that being wholly ignorant of how the government works is an asset for 30 years. "I'm not one of the Washington Insiders". Reagan made ignorant cool.


Speaking of, the Republicans have broken government for six years and now successfully blamed it on someone else. I guess that's success if you only care about getting elected and don't mind how much you hurt your own country to do it.


yrs,
rubato

[MajGenl.Meade]

[oldr_n_wsr]

I didn't know Ried, who blocked some 300 bills from a senate vote, was a republican?
And republicans do not have the monopoly on ignorance.