I have added a Health Exchange widget on the right side of the page. This allows readers to get information from the Department of Health and Human Services on the Health Care Exchanges set to begin operation on October 1, 2013. There is massive confusion across the country about the Health Care Exchanges. Most of this is due to the fact that it's all new. Some of it is due to deliberate lies told by those who oppose the Health Care Exchanges. On the whole, apart from the deliberate lies, I'd compare this to the implementation of the Medicare Prescription Drug benefit. The Prescription Drug benefit, although less important, was at least as complex to implement as the Health Care Exchanges. Things settled down fairly quickly on the Medicare Prescription Drug benefit. I've seen new government programs implemented over the decades. There will be the inevitable glitches but I expect things will settle down fairly quickly with the Health Care Exchanges. Despite what you've heard, it's not all that complicated and the Obama Administration has been working hard to achieve a smooth implementation.
By the way, if you get your health care insurance through your employer or a family member's employer, just ignore the Health Care Exchanges. You don't need to sign up. In fact, you can't sign up if you have employer based health care insurance. I expect that nearly 100% of the people who are scared about "Obamacare" won't notice anything different once "Obamacare" is fully implemented.
10 comments:
Yea! I can't wait until I can stop paying cases of chronic lifestyle diseases that get out of control due to non-compliance secondary to lack of finances for health care.
Oh wait, I live in the SE part of the country where expanded Medicaid coverage is declined. Guess I'll have to keep putting these folks on Disability....
"...I expect things will settle down fairly quickly..." and your expectations about this unprecedented event are formed by???
So, since more people will have access to health care, will disability claims decline because people are healthier or rise because now more people can be diagnosed?
As to your conclusion "I expect that nearly 100% of the people who are scared about "Obamacare" won't notice anything different once "Obamacare" is fully implemented." I cannot agree. I have already noticed the effect of Obamacare - increased costs of insurance, increased co-pays (including for additional co-pays for lab tests), longer waits for appointments, shorter times with my doctors because of their need to see more patients during the day, and more. And all this is prior to Oct. 1. For 2014, it gets worse. And to add further pain, there is the additional penalty for many who are married (see http://pjmedia.com/blog/the-wedding-tax/ ) I guess we should all be single, reduce our income to avoid going over any government "red line", and trust any government health care ration we may be lucky enough to get.
Replying to Anon 10:10, I've given this issue some thought. I would think that disability claims should increase. Many of these so-called "lifestyle" disabilities that the first commenter condescendingly refers to will not go away just because someone is now able to afford a few visits to a health center. However, I've turned away or lost many cases due to lack of medical documentation. This could change with some documented office visits. Plus, I think a person might be more apt to inquiry about disability if he/she is getting some sort of medical care.
...and this is good for America? Good for the working class? Good for Social Security?
They tried to sell it at first as if "Obamacare" would help reduce disability claims because more people would have access to care. However, I agree with the post at 8:46, the number if claims filed will rise!
Medicare Part D was a huge benefit for seniors. The premiums paid are only 25% of the actual premium. 75% of the premium is paid out of general revenues. This means 75% of the cost is funded through adding to the deficit and to the debt held by the opublic. It is a huge benefit with a corresponding huge cost.
Don Levit
Another reason why disability claims may rise under the ACA: many older workers struggle to maintain employment only for the med insurance. If these workers are able to obtain med insurance elsewhere, many of them will likely leave these jobs. Under the Grid Rules, many of these same people would in turn be eligible for disability.
oh boy, even more boomers who are, for all intents and purposes, done working for nondisability reasons applying in hopes of a GRID. YAY!
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