Saturday, June 10, 2017

Will No One Rid Me of this Turbulent Obamacare Schadenfreude?

Anthem is the nation’s second-largest health insurer, with thousands of medical professionals on its payroll. Yet its Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia subsidiary has just informed its members that if they show up at the emergency room with a problem that later is deemed to have not been an emergency, their claim won’t be paid.
. . .
It defined inappropriate visits as any but those that “a prudent layperson, possessing an average knowledge of medicine and health,” would believe needed immediate treatment. It hoped to encourage patients with non-emergency conditions to seek help instead at an urgent care clinic or a doctor’s office.

The “prudent layperson” language was written into the Affordable Care Act to protect patients, not subject them to retroactive second-guessing. The idea was to require insurers to base their claims payments on what an average person would consider an emergency, not on the ultimate diagnosis reached by doctors after examinations and tests at the ER.
Is that heart burn or a heart attack? How Obama Unwittingly Handed Trump a Weapon to Cripple the Health Law

So how is the GOP coming on "Repeal and/or Replace". Rand Paul say We should repeal Obamacare like Republicans promised, not just “fix” it. What? Keep a key campaign promise? The White House wants healthcare vote this summer, tax reform in fall as Vice President Mike Pence Pressures Senate to Pass Healthcare Before August Recess. Is the Senate Inching Closer To ObamaCare-Repeal Compromise? Are Senate Republicans Consider Keeping Parts Of Obamacare They Once Promised To Kill? Senate GOP aims for June vote on Obamacare repeal but Republican leaders could bring up a bill they know will fail in order to end the health care debate and move on to tax reform. Sen. Richard Burr (R., N.C.) Says Deal on Health Care Unlikely This Year. Similarly Lindsey Graham says "I don’t think GOP can pass healthcare bill this year."

Meanwhile Democrats continue to push for fully socialized medicine. The Single-Payer Party? Democrats Shift Left on Health Care.  How a single-payer health plan would look in California. ' Kaiser, the state’s largest private employer, said the bill would end their health care system as they know it, which could mean significant job losses. ' It was always the Democrats plan for Obamacare to fail so they could say "See, the "market" doesn't work, we need government control over doctors." By way of Wombat-socho's "In The Mailbox: 06.07.17" the more or less consistently sensible Megan McArdle asks Why Not Try 'Medicare for All'? Glad You Asked:
Because costs will spiral out of control. Because hospital care will suffer. Because the stakes are too high for a mass experiment.
But ValJar 'Not Sure' Why Obamacare 'Ever Became a Political Issue'. Because unicorn shit is expensive.

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