<p>Proof Doctors are Hard to Find Under Obamacare. You can see from the graph that in many of the medical specialties the network has been reduced by up to 50%. And this is in the most populous areas of the state. I am sure the problem is far worse away from the population centers.</p>
<p>WTH is an Obamacare plan; private insurance plans bought through a government run exchange? .I don’t know about other states, but in NY you can buy the same plan on the state’s exchange or off the exchange - directly though the company or an insurance broker. Is one an “Obamacare plan” but not the other? </p>
<p>Texaspg, wasn’t this how romani tackled something similar?</p>
<p>"If you’ve experienced problems filling out your online application, you can start over with a brand new application. To do this, you’ll first need to log in to your account; select your current application; and then choose to “Remove” the application. You will then need to close out your web page and then log back in using your same account. You can then start a brand new application.</p>
<p>If you see a message that a notice is available, click on your application link and select “View Eligibility Results” to download and read your notice."</p>
<p>Yes, a shame things aren’t better explained up front-- but we’ve covered that.</p>
<p>I’ve been getting monthly bills like clockwork, around mid-month. This cycle, it came last week. </p>
<p>LF, my D was able to complete a new application without deleting the old one. The second one was completed over the phone, so maybe that makes a difference. A new application supercedes the old one, so the applicant can’t go back. </p>
<p>“WTH is an Obamacare plan; private insurance plans bought through a government run exchange? .I don’t know about other states, but in NY you can buy the same plan on the state’s exchange or off the exchange - directly though the company or an insurance broker. Is one an “Obamacare plan” but not the other?”</p>
<p>Yes, according to providers not taking exchange insurance due to low reimbursement rates. </p>
<p>Oh come now, Flossy. If it’s the same plan, it’s the same plan, with the same providers and the same reimbursement. In some states, insurers are selling the same plans on and off exchange. In other states, they aren’t. If you want to talk about plans bought on the exchanges, a more clear term would be “exchange plans.”</p>
<p>The subsidy level for a family of four is $94,200. The median family income in 2013 in California was $66,215.</p>
<p>So when this family with a six-figure income whines, “It’s completely unfair,” [said Dawn LaPolla, 40] “Wouldn’t you consider us still part of that struggling group?” I say, No. No, I would not say that a family with a six figure income in the Sacramento area is “struggling.”</p>
<p>However, we have discussed the cliff, the abrupt cutoff of subsidies at 4X the federal poverty level, before in this thread, and I think I’m safe in saying we had a consensus that it is perverse and ought to be changed.</p>
<p>"Enrollment in New York’s version of Obamacare is nearing 600,000 people with less than a month to go before the end of the sign up period, officials announced Monday.</p>
<p>State health officials also said more than 70% of those who signed up for health insurance using the insurance exchange – NY State of Health – had no insurance at the time they enrolled, indicating the state was having success in attracting the previously uninsured into the system.</p>
<p>“As we approach the March 31 open enrollment deadline for individuals, activity on the NY State of Health marketplace remains very high, and we’re thrilled that nearly 600,000 New Yorkers have enrolled for quality, low-cost health insurance, and more than 900,000 people have completed applications since the Oct. 1 launch. Also, more than seventy percent of enrolled New Yorkers were uninsured when they applied,” Donna Frescatore, executive director of NY State of Health, said."</p>
<p>I do not know how physician reimbursement rates of Medi-Cal compare to Medicare…but…it they are similar…well…let’s not raise the pom pom cheer quite yet…</p>
<p>About forty percent of the births have been financed by Medicaid, to be more precise. But we should expect that to change. The income level for a pregnant woman to get Medicaid was something like 250% of poverty nationwide. But now, women at the upper level of that group, the ones from 133% of poverty to 250% of poverty, will be getting subsidized insurance instead.</p>
<p>“State health officials also said more than 70% of those who signed up for health insurance using the insurance exchange – NY State of Health – had no insurance at the time they enrolled”</p>
<p>if they are accurate, that is a big chunk. I am not sure how they ask the question to get a response.</p>
<p>The questions don’t seem to be as straightforward with fed site. It asks couple of questions in a round about way - do you currently have insurance and when did your insurance expire etc but does not come out asking it clearly that would make the a statistic they put out accurate. I wish they added a question like did you have insurance in 2013 and if so for how many months for tracking purposes.</p>
<p>It’s a mistake to extrapolate New York’s results to other states.</p>
<p>The health insurance market in New York was not the same as the situation in other states. In New York, insurers had to accept any applicant. But there was no individual mandate to buy insurance in New York. This, predictably, caused an adverse selection death spiral, as more and more healthy people opted out of buying insurance and premiums got higher and higher.</p>
<p>Unlike other states, in New York, health insurance prices plummeted with the ACA.</p>
<p>dstark: The article describes the problem of medicaid reimbursement rates. It does a cursory explanation of attempts at reimbursement parity - and shows which states are not addressing the disparity - If reimbursement rates are too low, it is simply not economically feasible for physicians to increase the number of Medicaid patients in their practice. Some tout the increased enrollment of Medicaid patients under ACA as a sign of program success. Not sure how successful it is to have a larger number of insured patients under a plan that seeming more and more physicians are able to honor.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Given that MediCARE already reimburses less than most private insurance plans, why on earth would ANY physician’s practice accept patients whose reimbursement schedule not only doesn’t contribute to their bottom line but actually decreases it?</p>