Obamacare cost...

[calicoug]

I attempted all day yesterday (seriously, about every hour) and I was unable to set up an account, let alone find prices on the exchange or sign up for coverage yesterday.

Looks like same deal today.

I suggest waiting a week or two. They are being buried in volume and it's causing problems. Wait until some of the novelty wears off and the number of visitors more closely approximates the number of people trying to sign up.

[Uncle Ted]

I suggest waiting a week or two. They are being buried in volume and it's causing problems. Wait until some of the novelty wears off and the number of visitors more closely approximates the number of people trying to sign up.

Yeah, Cali is right. Wait a bit until they get their servers from falling over and the security bugs worked out and all HIPAA compliant. You don't want your medical records leaked out all over the internet...

Obamacare exchange leaks data of 2,400 unsuspecting customers


An employee of Minnesota’s Obamacare exchange, MNsure, sent an unencrypted file to the wrong person and left 2,400 people’s private information at the mercy of a nearby insurance agent.
[...]

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2013/09/14/ob...#ixzz2gfJx7aSz

[imanihonjin]

I suggest waiting a week or two. They are being buried in volume and it's causing problems. Wait until some of the novelty wears off and the number of visitors more closely approximates the number of people trying to sign up.

Let it be sign of better things to come with Obamacare. It isn't like they had to throw this thing together in a week. It has been more than 2 1/2 years.

[Uncle Ted]

ObamaCare is working! We are now one step closer to single payer system in South Carolina:

The second-largest health insurance company in South Carolina is pulling out of the state at the end of the year because of the Affordable Care Act. Medical Mutual of Ohio is the parent company of the Carolina Care plan, which insures about 28,000 people in South Carolina.


The company is also pulling out of Georgia and Indiana. Medical Mutual spokesman Ed Byers says, "Under new regulations, which are vast and quite complex, it is in our best interest to focus on our core market of Ohio where we are headquartered and have been doing business successfully for nearly 80 years."


He says the 28,000 people who are members of the Carolina Care plan will be transitioned to United Healthcare, and they've all been notified of that.


South Carolina Insurance Director Ray Farmer says the loss of the state's second-largest health insurer could raise rates for everyone. "If you have less competition, not only in insurance but in any marketplace, it could result in higher rates. I don't think there's going to be a big groundswell of other companies leaving the marketplace, though," he says.

Regardless of the number of health insurance companies in the state, he thinks you'll be paying more. "I think, for a large part of the population, rates are going to go up anyway under the Affordable Care Act."


U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, R-South Carolina, was in Columbia Friday and said, "The net effect of the new legislation is to reduce competition and spread the cost. We're not reducing the cost; we're merely spreading the cost to every taxpayer. And, in addition to that, because of the regulatory cost, the price of insurance will also increase as well."
[...]

http://www.wltx.com/news/story.aspx?storyid=243131

Barney Frank was right:

[ERCougar]

For lack of a better place to do this, I'll vent here.
I've said for a while (and I think most any practicing physician would agree) that the amount of "fat" and fraudulent services that can be cut from Medicare has been vastly overestimated, and that what cost-cutting measures are really going to end up being are simply creating hoops for physicians/hospitals to jump through and then catch them when they don't and deny payment--IOW, what most would call "stealing".
It's already begun. These last few weeks, I'm getting notices about documentation deficiencies, that will eventually lead to no payment. Today's example--a stroke that I admitted several weeks ago. There is a "quality measure" (read: "hoop to jump through") that says that a reading on a head CT in the setting of stroke needs to be documented within 45 minutes of patient arrival. There are good reasons for expedited head CT readings in the right setting--it determines if a patient is eligible for TPA, a very time-sensitive treatment. However, in today's example of Medicare "Quality Assurance" (physicians will laugh at this), even though the radiologist and the ER charts BOTH documented a time of reading at 30 minutes, my dictation did not document the time of reading, so we fell short of the QA measure. Nothing to do with patient care, not even anything to do with documentation, since the documentation that is present would easily hold up in court. Everything to do with "cost cutting". I already spend more time documenting what I did than actually doing it. This is getting ridiculous.

[imanihonjin]

For lack of a better place to do this, I'll vent here.
I've said for a while (and I think most any practicing physician would agree) that the amount of "fat" and fraudulent services that can be cut from Medicare has been vastly overestimated, and that what cost-cutting measures are really going to end up being are simply creating hoops for physicians/hospitals to jump through and then catch them when they don't and deny payment--IOW, what most would call "stealing".
It's already begun. These last few weeks, I'm getting notices about documentation deficiencies, that will eventually lead to no payment. Today's example--a stroke that I admitted several weeks ago. There is a "quality measure" (read: "hoop to jump through") that says that a reading on a head CT in the setting of stroke needs to be documented within 45 minutes of patient arrival. There are good reasons for expedited head CT readings in the right setting--it determines if a patient is eligible for TPA, a very time-sensitive treatment. However, in today's example of Medicare "Quality Assurance" (physicians will laugh at this), even though the radiologist and the ER charts BOTH documented a time of reading at 30 minutes, my dictation did not document the time of reading, so we fell short of the QA measure. Nothing to do with patient care, not even anything to do with documentation, since the documentation that is present would easily hold up in court. Everything to do with "cost cutting". I already spend more time documenting what I did than actually doing it. This is getting ridiculous.

I am not sure how we solve the problem you have highlighted. However, I believe that the worst way we could go about simplifying things is by getting the Federal government involved. These are the same people who decry that a credit card contract is too long and complicated at 3 pages, but that require you to sign under penalties of perjury your tax return in which you are required to be compliant with thousands and thousands of pages of regulations.

[Uncle Ted]

For lack of a better place to do this, I'll vent here.
I've said for a while (and I think most any practicing physician would agree) that the amount of "fat" and fraudulent services that can be cut from Medicare has been vastly overestimated, and that what cost-cutting measures are really going to end up being are simply creating hoops for physicians/hospitals to jump through and then catch them when they don't and deny payment--IOW, what most would call "stealing".

It's already begun. These last few weeks, I'm getting notices about documentation deficiencies, that will eventually lead to no payment. Today's example--a stroke that I admitted several weeks ago. There is a "quality measure" (read: "hoop to jump through") that says that a reading on a head CT in the setting of stroke needs to be documented within 45 minutes of patient arrival. There are good reasons for expedited head CT readings in the right setting--it determines if a patient is eligible for TPA, a very time-sensitive treatment. However, in today's example of Medicare "Quality Assurance" (physicians will laugh at this), even though the radiologist and the ER charts BOTH documented a time of reading at 30 minutes, my dictation did not document the time of reading, so we fell short of the QA measure. Nothing to do with patient care, not even anything to do with documentation, since the documentation that is present would easily hold up in court. Everything to do with "cost cutting". I already spend more time documenting what I did than actually doing it. This is getting ridiculous.

It sounds like you really need a career path change to reduce the amount of workplace stress. I hear there is an opening for an ObamaCare Architect:

http://www.cougarstadium.com/showthr...=1#post1026264

This job has a great career path. That last one just got some super high paying job at the "Big Pharma" Johnson & Johnson!

[hostile]

For lack of a better place to do this, I'll vent here.
I've said for a while (and I think most any practicing physician would agree) that the amount of "fat" and fraudulent services that can be cut from Medicare has been vastly overestimated, and that what cost-cutting measures are really going to end up being are simply creating hoops for physicians/hospitals to jump through and then catch them when they don't and deny payment--IOW, what most would call "stealing".
It's already begun. These last few weeks, I'm getting notices about documentation deficiencies, that will eventually lead to no payment. Today's example--a stroke that I admitted several weeks ago. There is a "quality measure" (read: "hoop to jump through") that says that a reading on a head CT in the setting of stroke needs to be documented within 45 minutes of patient arrival. There are good reasons for expedited head CT readings in the right setting--it determines if a patient is eligible for TPA, a very time-sensitive treatment. However, in today's example of Medicare "Quality Assurance" (physicians will laugh at this), even though the radiologist and the ER charts BOTH documented a time of reading at 30 minutes, my dictation did not document the time of reading, so we fell short of the QA measure. Nothing to do with patient care, not even anything to do with documentation, since the documentation that is present would easily hold up in court. Everything to do with "cost cutting". I already spend more time documenting what I did than actually doing it. This is getting ridiculous.

See also the Patient Status Order (PSO). If not signed/dated appropriately the hospital will be denied payment for that admission.

[Uncle Ted]

See also the Patient Status Order (PSO). If not signed/dated appropriately the hospital will be denied payment for that admission.

[creekster]

You are confusing "danger" with "more likely than not." There is a real danger. We are now at 14 days. Citing the market as evidence that something will or will not happen is a bit silly. Unless you think the market is always predictive. It is- until it is reactionary.

Citing the performance of financial markets to assess the risk of a default on obligations by the United States is silly? Lol. This one moves to the top ten of remarkable statements ever made on this board.

[ERCougar]

See also the Patient Status Order (PSO). If not signed/dated appropriately the hospital will be denied payment for that admission.

Ha...we've had that one for a while. Now we have the predict-the-future "Physician Certification", in the which we are to predict how quickly the patient will recover from their illness. LOL.

It actually makes me glad we work for IHC, that has the resources and economies of scale to address these compliance issues. Small independent hospitals are going to be crushed.

[Moliere]

You are confusing "danger" with "more likely than not." There is a real danger. We are now at 14 days. Citing the market as evidence that something will or will not happen is a bit silly. Unless you think the market is always predictive. It is- until it is reactionary.

The market takes into account what people think will happen. No one thinks we'll default because we won't. People are smart. They know that the biggest US bondholders are the US citizens themselves. They also know that a default would be horrible for the economy and for our reputation. That's why it won't happen and it's exactly why interest rates are not skyrocketing right now. I checked again today and interest rates are almost the same as they were yesterday although long-term rates are down a bit.

I'll say it again, we are not close.

[Omaha 680]

Seeing Cali get taken in by the political theater is adorable.

[calicoug]

Citing the performance of financial markets to assess the risk of a default on obligations by the United States is silly? Lol. This one moves to the top ten of remarkable statements ever made on this board.

So your position is that unless the market moves there is no chance of a default? Stock bubbles must blow your mind in your world of a perfectly efficient market.

[calicoug]

The market takes into account what people think will happen. No one thinks we'll default because we won't. People are smart. They know that the biggest US bondholders are the US citizens themselves. They also know that a default would be horrible for the economy and for our reputation. That's why it won't happen and it's exactly why interest rates are not skyrocketing right now. I checked again today and interest rates are almost the same as they were yesterday although long-term rates are down a bit.

I'll say it again, we are not close.

That's just wrong. The markets are taking a wait and see approach. In no way does that translate into "no risk" or "nobody thinks" a default will happen. Get off your hyperbole horse and come back down to reality.

You are putting a lot of faith in the rationality of individuals who haven't shown much of it lately. I hope you are right in your faith.