Affordable Care Act (AKA Obamacare)

[Joe Shlabotnik]

My BIL is a doc in rural Colorado and we spent the holidays at his dad's house so got a chance to talk about this. He understands what ACA is trying to do but thinks its a cluster (maybe more about his politics, not sure). The rural area he serves is highly dependent on Medicare and he says ACA really doesn't address the problems with that program - low rates, too much admin overhead.

What he and others there are advocating is that they unplug from Medicare and go to a subscription service with the communities / individuals they serve. He thought it had come to a point where that can be done just as affordably for the individuals as most current insurance premium/co-pay/deductable combos. It would cut the huge admin overhead they have and allow them to spend more time with their patients.

If the rate of inflation begins to slow substantially, I don't know how that will work with their calculations. Interesting nevertheless.

[Mary1966]

My psychiatrist of twelve years decided to stop taking Medicare patients last year and sent us a letter that basically amounted to he didn't want to deal with the paperwork anymore. I assume he was referring to the new paperwork he was required to file because of ACA. I was forced to find another provider, and ended up at a clinic with a problematic staff turnover. After seeing two different therapists and two different nurse practitioners for medication in less than six months, I had a bipolar episode and ended up in the hospital. I don't know if this would have happened with my previous psychiatrist, but I certainly would have stayed with him if I could have afforded to pay him out of pocket. When I did go to the hospital, I found that they had just started using the electronic health records required by ACA. They had started in August, and this was November, and they were still struggling to do it right. So that's my experience with the implementation of Obamacare. But, in the aggregate, I think it will ultimately be a good thing and give millions of people health insurance that did not have it before.

[IMADreamer]

My doctor once told me the only reason doctors don't take medicare patients is because they can see more insurance company patients which they overcharge and make more profit. So basically, doctors are just greedy [expletive].

[Joe Shlabotnik]

My doctor once told me the only reason doctors don't take medicare patients is because they can see more insurance company patients which they overcharge and make more profit. So basically, most Americans are just greedy [expletive].

FTFY

[heyzeus]

Apparently the spanish language version of healthcare.gov, "Cuidado de salud" ("caution of health!") was written by some sort of electronic translation program. For example, for "premium" they use the word "prima" which means "female cousin."

[sighyoung]

Apparently the spanish language version of healthcare.gov, "Cuidado de salud" ("caution of health!") was written by some sort of electronic translation program. For example, for "premium" they use the word "prima" which means "female cousin."

Speakers of Spanish must laugh when this guy sings "Just a Gigolo."

[sighyoung]

Apparently the spanish language version of healthcare.gov, "Cuidado de salud" ("caution of health!") was written by some sort of electronic translation program. For example, for "premium" they use the word "prima" which means "female cousin."

Wart says his wife's female cousin is "premium."

[Socnorb11]

My doctor once told me the only reason doctors don't take medicare patients is because they can see more insurance company patients which they overcharge and make more profit. So basically, most Americans are just greedy [expletive].

FTFY

This will stop when insurance companies refuse to keep paying $30 for a band-aid. My company's insurance provider is already taking a stance. I suspect others will follow suit.

[Joe Shlabotnik]

My doctor once told me the only reason doctors don't take medicare patients is because they can see more insurance company patients which they overcharge and make more profit. So basically, most Americans are just greedy [expletive].

FTFY

This will stop when insurance companies refuse to keep paying $30 for a band-aid. My company's insurance provider is already taking a stance. I suspect others will follow suit.

We had a Blue Cross rep at our latest annual benefits meeting and they were pounding the table on this. Really encouraging everyone to not be shy about questioning expenses.

[Socnorb11]

My doctor once told me the only reason doctors don't take medicare patients is because they can see more insurance company patients which they overcharge and make more profit. So basically, most Americans are just greedy [expletive].

FTFY

This will stop when insurance companies refuse to keep paying $30 for a band-aid. My company's insurance provider is already taking a stance. I suspect others will follow suit.

We had a Blue Cross rep at our latest annual benefits meeting and they were pounding the table on this. Really encouraging everyone to not be shy about questioning expenses.

That's awesome, but Blue Cross needs to be questioning the expenses, since they're the ones paying the bulk of the expenses. They not only need to question the expenses, but they need to stop paying anything beyond a fair price (my insurance company has determined that cost plus 12% is a fair price, and won't pay a dime more).