<p>The dimwit Ezekiel Emanuel who wrote the bizarre Obamacare law has an article in the NY Times where he argues that choice is overrated. According to him we have to restrict choices to make healthcare more affordable. So he wants to return to the era of managed care with restricted networks and limited choices, even though consumers rejected that approach long ago. This is the zeitgeist or predominant attitude of the knuckleheads who have decided to rip apart our healthcare system to signify their status of super geniuses who know what’s best for the rest of us. </p>
<p>Medical offices are not only learning they are mistakenly included in the Obamacare networks but are also struggling with the agonizingly long hold times and suffocating red tape dealing with insurance companies because of Obamacare.</p>
<p>I think there will be a surge of enrollments in the last 2 weeks of March. </p>
<p>Plus a big SNAFU on March 31 when the exchange web sites all grind to a halt, followed by an announcement of some sort of extension going into the first week of April in order to deal with all of the people who experience computer glitches when they attempt to begin their insurance apps at 10pm on March 31st. </p>
<p>Okay, he is just creepy and they really should keep him off of television if the goal is to appeal to the average American. Talk about unappealing.</p>
<p>LasMa, now I am concerned. Have you seen my signature? It is illegible. :)</p>
<p>I hope calmom is right. Today, an insurance broker told a friend that Mar 31 everything is going to be overloaded. So emilybee…calmom has joined my side. :)</p>
<p>It would be nice for some of us if there were 7 million signups. If things just pick up modestly it looks like 4 to 5 million new enrollees to me. (Dont know for sure). Which means the Obamacare fight continues until death. :)</p>
<p>"Plus a big SNAFU on March 31 when the exchange web sites all grind to a halt, "</p>
<p>Are there any chances of the deadline on fed exchange being extended from 15th for April coverage? I am running out of time trying to get one application approved at a time.</p>
<p>Got one out of the 3 visa holders done today where they pushed it through with a requirement to submit the paperwork by mail for validation. Then the next one got stuck again. I have two more to push through!</p>
<p>Re: EE. Wants people to have the right access to the right docs. “They should allow any enrollee who develops a serious condition like cancer to obtain a second opinion at a recognized center of excellence (like Memorial Sloan–Kettering, for cancer, or the Cleveland Clinic, for heart disease) for the price of an in-network deductible or co-payment.” Ends, “But this shouldn’t come down to luck; it should be the basic standard of care.”</p>
<p>The “they” in lookingforward’s quote is insurance companies. Insurers should allow second opinions from centers of excellence, in Emanuel’s view.</p>
<p>Emanuel also thinks that hospitals and provider groups are going to set up health plans and sell them on the exchanges. AFAIK, that’s not his recommendation but his prediction. </p>
<p>Beginning in mid-April, we will start reading horror stories in the media featuring people who are newly diagnosed with a serious illness, or who have just been horribly injured in an accident, and who can’t get insurance because the open enrollment period has ended. ACA detractors will point out that before ACA, insurance was sold all year round (conveniently forgetting the fact that people with pre-existing conditions could never buy insurance.)</p>
<p>A car accident is a pre-existing condition if you try to buy insurance after the wreck to treat the injuries. I don’t know if people do that. It would be weird. Typically, they’ll be treated and then if it’s not their fault they sue to recover the costs. If it is their fault they will have a large hospital bill to go along with their other likely problems. But, they will be treated in any case. And, doesn’t car insurance cover accidents?</p>
<p>“They should allow any enrollee who develops a serious condition like cancer to obtain a second opinion at a recognized center of excellence (like Memorial Sloan–Kettering, for cancer, or the Cleveland Clinic, for heart disease) for the price of an in-network deductible or co-payment.”</p>
<p>This is disingenuous nonsense. It’s because of Emanuel’s misguided law that enrollees will not be able to get second opinions from recognized centers of excellence. Now he thinks it’s a problem. This guy is a charlatan.</p>