Affordable Care Act Scene 2 - Insurance Premiums

[Flossy]

<p>LOL. I heard that this morning. People on this thread seem so baffled at the incompetence of the insurance companies. They have no billing information. Submit isn’t built yet. LOL.</p>

[dstark]

<p>Such a failure…</p>

<p><a href=“Interest in Obamacare surges ahead of enrollment deadline”>Interest in Obamacare surges ahead of enrollment deadline;

[Cardinal_Fang]

<p>

The surge in consumers comes as the administration is taking steps to ensure that Americans who start the enrollment process by Monday but fail to complete it will still be able to get health coverage.

</p>

<p><a href=“Interest in Obamacare surges ahead of enrollment deadline”>Interest in Obamacare surges ahead of enrollment deadline;

<p>Makes sense. It’s like people voting; if you are in line when the polls close, you still get to vote.</p>

[dstark]

<p>From twitter… “Shoppers rushing in before 3/31. More than 1.5M visits to HealthCare.gov and 430k calls Wednesday. 5 days left to #GetCoveredNow
1:52 p.m. Thu, Mar 27”</p>

<p><a href=“Exchange Expects a Big Final Week, Allows April Completion of Paperwork | California Healthline”>http://www.californiahealthline.org/capitol-desk/2014/3/exchange-expects-a-big-final-week-allows-april-completion-of-paperwork&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>““On Tuesday we saw more accounts open than on any other day – even more than on the last day of enrollment in December,” Lee said.”</p>

<p>“According to a poll released yesterday by the Public Policy Institute of California, three-quarters of uninsured Californians said they would obtain coverage by March 31. So far, more than three million Californians have signed up for coverage through the exchange or under Medi-Cal expansion. That’s almost half the estimated seven million Californians who were uninsured in 2013.”</p>

<p>I think we will have 7 million on exchange sign ups. </p>

<p>We are going to have more than 1 million paid people in Calif. </p>

<p>We should have close to 1 million newly insured people with individual coverage in Cal. I can see more than that.</p>

<p>Looking at both regulatory bodies…there were only about 1.6 million with individual health insurance in Cal before this year.</p>

<p>There are going to be more people that were uninsured and get coverage this year (including medicaid (medi-cal) in Cal than had individual insurance coverage last year in Cal. </p>

<p>That might be true for the country too. </p>

[Cardinal_Fang]

<p>I made the bet with you because I wasn’t seeing the surge. I should have waited a few days. I don’t know what the final total is, but we’re definitely seeing a huge surge. I thought we picked up the procrastinators at the end of December, but we have a whole new bunch now.</p>

[dstark]

<p>Yeah… Dont worry about the bet.
Forget the bet. </p>

<p>We both want the same thing.
It is happening.
I dont know why people wait until the last minute, but they do wait.</p>

<p>Good article on medicaid. </p>

<p><a href=“New Medicaid Beneficiaries Healthier Than Pre-Expansion Enrollees | California Healthline”>http://www.californiahealthline.org/articles/2014/3/27/new-medicaid-beneficiaries-healthier-than-pre-expansion-enrollees&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

[Cardinal_Fang]

<p>

Medicaid beneficiaries who became eligible for coverage as a result of expansion of the program under the Affordable Care Act tend to be healthier than beneficiaries who already had coverage prior to the law, according to a study that was published online Wednesday in the journal Health Affairs, Modern Healthcare reports.

</p>

<p>When I read that, I immediately thought-- Well, of course they’re healthier, because pre-ACA Medicaid covered people with disabilities, who no doubt have high health costs. But the study compared non-disabled non-elderly previously eligible Medicaid recipients with the newly eligible. And the newly eligible are still healthier, even compared to non-disabled Medicaid recipients.</p>

<p>Always click the link.</p>

[Flossy]

<p>Of course, they are healthier because the healthy would have no reason to sign up for Medicaid. People signed up when they needed services.</p>

[emilybee]

<p>It is also possible that some of the newly insured on Medicaid had private insurance previously. Now that it has expanded people are being automatically directed to Medicaid depending on their income. </p>

[dstark]

<p>Just announced 6 million sign ups. :)</p>

[catahoula]

<p>You might be able to double that, dstark…

Asked by a reporter if they were relying on an ‘honor system,’ officials said enrollees would be filling out an ‘official federal application.’ [Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services spokeswoman Julie Bataille] said she believed most people were ‘truthful’ on such forms.

</p>

<p>… though there’s a better than even chance you’ll get some that discovered pressing medical needs after Mar. 31.</p>

<p>Bet insurers feel like they’re living the dream.</p>

[dstark]

<p>I am just talking about the exchanges.</p>

[emilybee]

<p>An extension like this one isn’t unprecedented. </p>

<p>:This type of leeway has been granted in the past. In 2006, the Bush administration issued a similar extension, giving seniors extra time to sign up for a plan to cover the new Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit."</p>

<p><a href=“Interest in Obamacare surges ahead of enrollment deadline”>Interest in Obamacare surges ahead of enrollment deadline;

<p>Anyway, 6 million already signed up is great. Much better than I expected given the terrible roll out. I think next years enrollment will be significantly higher. </p>

[catahoula]

<p>I saw a compilation of the delays/rewrites to date pertaining to the ACA and I’d have to agree: isn’t unprecedented at all. In fact, this was to be expected and was predicted here by more than one poster. I do recall Sebelius disagreeing, but … :-@

Obama administration officials had said people who do not start the enrollment process by Monday would have to wait to get coverage on the marketplace until the next open enrollment period, which begins in November.

You do have to wonder if Ms. Bataille is familiar with the sum dollar figure the IRS estimates is lost due to tax cheats?</p>

[dstark]

<p>Emilybee, 6 million is great. I think the final number is going to be 7 million or more. I guess people do want health insurance. ;)</p>

<p>6- 7+ million with this crappy role out. :).</p>

[texaspg]

<p>

Obama administration officials had said people who do not start the enrollment process by Monday would have to wait to get coverage on the marketplace until the next open enrollment period, which begins in November.

</p>

<p>Most people are missing the fact that COBRA type of circumstance automatically allows people to seek coverage under the exchanges, i.e., people who had insurance whose circumstances have changed. So many will still be enrolling through out the year but necessarily the millions dstark wants to keep talking about.</p>

[dstark]

<p>I have to admit that I am pretty happy. </p>

<p><a href=“Michigan woman wants people to know the truth about Obamacare: “It saved us” | Eclectablog”>http://www.eclectablog.com/2014/03/michigan-woman-wants-people-to-know-the-truth-about-obamacare-it-saved-us.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

[Cardinal_Fang]

<p>I figure that the people who get insurance during the year because of COBRA type circumstances will be roughly balanced by the people who cancel their insurance because of COBRA type circumstances-- they got married, they got a job, they died. So the signups outside of the enrollment, I’d guess, won’t lead to more people being covered at one time.</p>

[Cardinal_Fang]

<p>The six million was as of yesterday. That leaves five more days in the month.</p>

[dstark]

<p>Yes…plus the two week run off…</p>