<p>Ds and CF- anecdotal: friend (highly educated) just posted on FB asking if she should try a look-see at ACA before the deadline. Yup, build it and they will come.
(Ok, that’s obnxious, but I’ve believed with you all along that interest will surge as more become familiar and comfy with others’ experiences. Under her FB post, a string of success stories is mounting, from various states.)</p>
<p>LF, You live by the anecdotes, you can die by the anecdotes . ;)</p>
<p>I expect more positive anecdotes in the future. :)</p>
<p>CC is stll a mess. My last post was truncated. </p>
<p>Young people are getting healthier. Obesity is down quite a bit. There is a big lag of course. Most of us will be dead by the time young people grow up and have less diabetes and cardiovascular issues. Actually, there is good research going on with diabetes 2.</p>
<p>Large companies self insure. I think the reason is they save money. 
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<p>I will let posters and readers connect the dots. :)</p>
<p>I looked at Kaiser today and the policies are $60 more than anthem’s for me. That is not bad. Definitely thinking about switching.</p>
<p>The following are anecdotes. </p>
<p>A friend of mine is a good friend of this couple. One works at UCSF and the other works at Kaiser. They are going to retire soon. They are choosing Kaiser.</p>
<p>I have an acquaintance that works at UCSF. He has a Blue Shield plan that has coverage at UCSF. :)</p>
<p>I was reading that before ACA, the insurance companies did not care about their networks for those with individual health plans because the market was so small. Plus they discriminated. I posted a link about Wellpoint yesterday where there was a line about discrimination. </p>
<p>Now the insurance companies care about networks because the individual market is going to be a lot bigger and there are going to be sicker people in that market. Cost control is important now. </p>
<p>Love the original of that expression. May steal yours in the future.<br>
My BCBS has a program up where we can estimate and compare costs for various procedures, see what’s the doc charge, what’s the allowable, what % our plan covers and the amount I would pay. Not yet perfect, but good. It strikes me (again) that none of us know the extent to which all this operates. I have had zero issues with appts, inquiring about billing- and my online records show the insurer is processing as fast as the billing comes in from docs. I need a test that requires approval- that came through within hours</p>
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<p>Sadly, that turns out not to be true. A study seemed to demonstrate that obesity was down in young children. If true, that would be excellent. But it turns out the study was small and the results seem to be incorrect :(</p>
<p>I’ve ordered a mountain bike, and while I wait for it to arrive (which is taking forever) I read a mountain bike forum. It is populated with men who like to do tricks and somewhat dangerous rides; frequently someone posts about some crash or other, people regularly describe the well-stocked first aid kits they carry and the times those kits have been necessary, and stories about crashes that result in injuries that need surgery are far from rare. </p>
<p>A thread about insurance appeared. Most of the people who posted were men, young ones I believe, who asserted that they were healthy and they knew how to fall so they didn’t need any health insurance. I realize that insurance is not dirt cheap even when subsidized, for most people, but dudes. Really. Have y’all priced orthopedic surgeons?</p>
<p>“Love the original of that expression. May steal yours in the future.”
A friend of mine for years has said that there is not enough development in Marin County. He is always complaining about the govt not allowing development.
Well… There is a smart train is going to be built between Sonoma and Marin County and he lives a few blocks from the end of the line in larkspur. And the state wants to do what my friend said. Build more development near the end of the line. There is a black board with 900 potential units to be built right near his house.
He sent me an email. "Please sign the petition to stop the development and please forward the email to others. "</p>
<p>The hypocricy. Lol. I signed it because I was always against the development. But first… I just had to make a comment. :)</p>
<p>CF, this is not true?</p>
<p><a href=“Obesity Rate for Young Children Plummets 43% in a Decade - The New York Times”>Obesity Rate for Young Children Plummets 43% in a Decade - The New York Times;
<p>Ok. I see this. </p>
<p><a href=“How Credible Is CDC's 43 Percent Decline In Obesity In Young Children?”>http://www.forbes.com/sites/geoffreykabat/2014/02/27/how-credible-is-cdcs-43-percent-decline-in-obesity-in-young-children/</a>
The decline is overstated but there still is a decline.</p>
<p>I guess I can be more clear…I was talking 2 to 5 year olds. We are going to be dead…</p>
<p>For those who trust our govt to run our healthcare system, read this article in the Washington Post. Allowing the govt to meddle with our medical care is truly going to be a near-death experience for many of us.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/national/2014/03/22/sinkhole-of-bureaucracy/”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/national/2014/03/22/sinkhole-of-bureaucracy/</a></p>
<p>There’s probably no obesity drop at all:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/16/us-usa-health-obesity-insight-idUSBREA2F0CX20140316”>http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/16/us-usa-health-obesity-insight-idUSBREA2F0CX20140316</a></p>
<p>I wouldn’t say that. </p>
<p>The larger study has a drop too. </p>
<p>“There is a smart train is going to be built between Sonoma and Marin County”</p>
<p>I don’t think he has to worry about this happening in his lifetime. </p>
<p>Dstark, you’re probably one of those guys who favors affordable housing for low-income people as long as it’s not in your neighborhood.</p>
<p>That phenom used to be referred to by journalists, when same existed, as a NIMBY…“not in my back yard.” Before coverage, a desk editor would always ask: “NIMBY or legit?” before giving it ink. Unfortunately today, nobody seems to ask…and the NIMBY notion extends well beyond development…to education and healthcare for example :)</p>
<p>This is likely in part why we find ourselves turning to discussion boards for meaningful public discourse the gatekeepers are drunk, or dead ;)</p>
<p>CF, I was at the Barry Roubaix on Saturday (a gravel road race for cyclists, about 3500 of em). I was tempted to poll the peeps about healthcare but thought better of it…not good beer tent fodder </p>
<p>So wait, it’s somehow unfair now to report on those people negatively affected by an issue? That there are some positive anecdotes out there should surprise no-one. </p>
<p>It’s fine to report negatives. Not always sound to blow them up as representative of the whole. Or predictive. Especially when there were particular circumstances or major differences that make them not representative. Or when it’s easy to doubt their accuracy. Or completeness. </p>
<p>“That phenom used to be referred to by journalists, when same existed, as a NIMBY…“not in my back yard.” Before coverage, a desk editor would always ask: “NIMBY or legit?” before giving it ink.”</p>
<p>Okay, this is just false. NIMBY is a staple of local news and the sole purpose of most city council and school board meetings. This thread is endlessly entertaining.</p>
<p>NIMBY is a synonym for hypocrisy. People who are in favor in general of something: a mass transit subway system, solar energy plants, wind farms, housing for the poor, whatever, but then object when those things might adversely impact their property values, view, or quality of life if they are too close to their homes. </p>
<p>There was some NIMBYism in some of the Obamacare stories. The people who were in favor of it until they saw their own policies cancelled, their rates go up and their choices go down. In fact I think there was a quote in one article in which the guy said “I was in favor of Obamacare until I saw that I was going to have to pay for it”.</p>
<p>kmc, I looked up the Barry Roubaix. Looked like fun, and also looked like the shorter distances were OK for people who just wanted to go for a ride. Did you ride it? I guess a lot of the riders in that area ride through the winter on their fat bikes.</p>
<p>We are winding down the sign up period so I thought I would bring up something. The CBO says 6 million are going to sign up on an exchange and 8 million on medicaid. </p>
<p>CBO then deducts 2 million for switching insurance policies. </p>
<p>That means fewer than 14 million newly insured are expected the first year. </p>
<p>The 6 million number was never going to be made up of newly insured.
As was mentioned earlier, the 8 million medicaid number is for 12 months. </p>
<p>I guess Covered California is projecting an average of 20,000 sign ups a day for the rest of the cycle. That would give us an approximate number of 100,000 sign ups a day across the country. 8 days…800,000 more sign ups. We will see if these numbers hold.</p>
<p>Now…back to the anecdotes. ;)</p>