The LA Times reports some major California insurers have built "narrow networks" of doctors and hospitals for plans that will be offered thru the State's Obamacare Exchange.
Insurance companies (and consultants and many large employers) say that these narrow networks reduce costs by increasing the insurers' ability to negotiate price discounts. Physicians and hospitals say they oppose these narrow networks because they fear patients won't be able to find the doctor or hospital they like, in the plan they like.
As for the State, Peter Lee - executive director of Covered California [the State's Obamacare Exchange] - says "Our interest is in assuring everyone enrolled in a plan has ready access to the clinicians they need . . . That means if a plan can't serve patients, we'll close it down from taking new enrollment"
So if a plan doesn't provide what the Exchange deems sufficient access, the Exchange will make sure the plan can't provide ANY additional access.
Is that a solution?
The Times goes on to say "Consumers could see long wait times, a scarcity of specialists and loss of a longtime doctor."
Isn't that exactly what people say who worry about rationing under Obamacare - and have been relentlessly ridiculed for saying it?
Monday, September 16, 2013
Sunday, September 15, 2013
Water, water, everywhere - Are YOU covered?
With the horrific flooding going on in Colorado, folks may be wondering how (or even if) their homeowner's insurance policy will cover them. The folks at the National Flood Insurance Program have a neat little widget that helps you determine your home's risk of flooding, and how much flood insurance coverage might cost.
As always, it's best to check with your professional, independent homeowner's insurance agent.
As always, it's best to check with your professional, independent homeowner's insurance agent.
Saturday, September 14, 2013
Obamacare Security Breach
Much has been made, at least in some circles, of the vulnerability of your personal information
that will be filtered through the #Obamacare #datahub.
For the most part, the lame stream media has ignored this topic and when they have mentioned it they simply parrot what DC says indicating there is nothing to fear.
Security watchdogs know that hacking is a potential threat but most data breaches come from within, not outside the firewall.
That being said, the first known problem in the Obamacare #exchange has already been reported.
Buy OFF exchange through a licensed insurance professional.
For the most part, the lame stream media has ignored this topic and when they have mentioned it they simply parrot what DC says indicating there is nothing to fear.
Security watchdogs know that hacking is a potential threat but most data breaches come from within, not outside the firewall.
That being said, the first known problem in the Obamacare #exchange has already been reported.
Two reviews are planned of MNsure, the state's new online health insurance exchange, after an employee accidentally distributed confidential information about more than 2,400 insurance agents.
A legislative panel and the legislative auditor said Friday they want more information about the breach. MNsure officials acknowledged mishandling private information. They said the employee sent an email to the office of an Apple Valley insurance broker on Thursday afternoon that contained Social Security numbers, names, business addresses and other identifying information.
"Only" 2400 insurance agents.
No big deal, right?
If you buy from the Minnesota health insurance exchange, or any other exchange, how can you be 100% this won't happen to you?
Users of the exchanges will have to provide sensitive information, including Social Security numbers. The information will be sent to a federal hub to verify such things as citizenship and household income. The privacy of confidential data has been a long-time concern for some skeptics of the exchange.
"The people who believe in this are so driven that there's a sub-context of, `Just let us do our job and get as many people signed up as possible, and we'll pick up the debris later,'?" said Steve Parente, a University of Minnesota finance professor who specializes in information technology related to the health industry.
Yes, the push is to sign as many up as quickly as possible. Get more people dependent on the government for free money.
I would be remiss if I failed to mention another option for purchasing your new Obamacare health insurance plan, and it does not involve the data hub or navigators who have had 3 days of training..Buy OFF exchange through a licensed insurance professional.
Friday, September 13, 2013
This Sceptered Isle, Part DCIV
From the Telegraph of London on 9/11:
"Death rates in NHS hospitals are among the highest in the western world, shock figures revealed yesterday. British patients were found to be almost 50 per cent more likely to die from poor care than those in America."
Hat tip to Tim Worstall's enjoyable blog, which generally focuses on economics.
The Telegraph article also cites this comment from a U.K. Professor Sir Brian Jarman, who is considered a globally-recognised expert on hospital performance:
"I expected us to do well and was very surprised we didn’t do well – but there is no means of denying the results as they are absolutely clear."
Paul Krugman famously attempted to pre-empt this kind of factual finding several years ago, when he declared "In Britain, the government itself runs the hospitals and employs the doctors. We’ve all heard scare stories about how that works in practice; these stories are false."
Shucks, a school child knows facts cannot be both absolutely true and absolutely false. Facts are facts, and in that sense are not political.
Yet in real life the debate over centralized government control of the medical care system rages on, in many cases fueled by expert disagreement over whether facts are true or false.
"Death rates in NHS hospitals are among the highest in the western world, shock figures revealed yesterday. British patients were found to be almost 50 per cent more likely to die from poor care than those in America."
Hat tip to Tim Worstall's enjoyable blog, which generally focuses on economics.
The Telegraph article also cites this comment from a U.K. Professor Sir Brian Jarman, who is considered a globally-recognised expert on hospital performance:
"I expected us to do well and was very surprised we didn’t do well – but there is no means of denying the results as they are absolutely clear."
Paul Krugman famously attempted to pre-empt this kind of factual finding several years ago, when he declared "In Britain, the government itself runs the hospitals and employs the doctors. We’ve all heard scare stories about how that works in practice; these stories are false."
Shucks, a school child knows facts cannot be both absolutely true and absolutely false. Facts are facts, and in that sense are not political.
Yet in real life the debate over centralized government control of the medical care system rages on, in many cases fueled by expert disagreement over whether facts are true or false.
Another Day, Another Obamacare Payoff
Obamacare. The master plan to deliver (almost) universal access to health care for everyone.
Promises of lower premiums.
Promises that you can keep your plan and your doctor.
Promises of no new taxes.
What's not to love about that?
Then one day, someone started reading the law and it was discovered the promises could not be kept. So HHS and the White House started down a path of handing out pardons.
Pardons for insurance carriers that offered limited benefit plans.
Pardon's for unions and businesses in Nancy Pelosi's district.
Pardon's for college student health plans.
Pardon's for religious institutions that objected to the mandated abortion pill.
Of course the latest round of pardons orchestrated by the White House was an exemption for members of Congress and their staff.
But that was last week.
In case you have been sleeping under a rock, the AFL-CIO, a MAJOR supporter of the Democrat party and Mr. Teleprompter's election campaigns has been whining about the impact of Obamacare. Today we find out someone is coming to dinner at the White House and it isn't Sidney Poitier.
Just because the law doesn't allow it doesn't mean an exception can't be done.
If the president can pardon the Thanksgiving turkey he can certainly arrange another pardon for 11 million of his closest friends.
Everyone get's a pardon.
Everyone except you and me.
Empty promises from an empty suit.
Promises of lower premiums.
Promises that you can keep your plan and your doctor.
Promises of no new taxes.
What's not to love about that?
Then one day, someone started reading the law and it was discovered the promises could not be kept. So HHS and the White House started down a path of handing out pardons.
Pardons for insurance carriers that offered limited benefit plans.
Pardon's for unions and businesses in Nancy Pelosi's district.
Pardon's for college student health plans.
Pardon's for religious institutions that objected to the mandated abortion pill.
Of course the latest round of pardons orchestrated by the White House was an exemption for members of Congress and their staff.
But that was last week.
In case you have been sleeping under a rock, the AFL-CIO, a MAJOR supporter of the Democrat party and Mr. Teleprompter's election campaigns has been whining about the impact of Obamacare. Today we find out someone is coming to dinner at the White House and it isn't Sidney Poitier.
President Barack Obama is meeting with union leaders at the White House to discuss labor's growing concerns about the new health care law.
Friday's meeting comes after the AFL-CIO approved a resolution this week saying the law could drive up the cost of union-sponsored health plans, encouraging some employers to drop coverage.
White House officials and labor leaders have been trying to work out a possible resolution. Unions want members to be eligible for the same federal subsidies available to low-income workers in the new health exchanges. The White House has resisted that fix, saying the law doesn't allow it.Townhall
Just because the law doesn't allow it doesn't mean an exception can't be done.
If the president can pardon the Thanksgiving turkey he can certainly arrange another pardon for 11 million of his closest friends.
Everyone get's a pardon.
Everyone except you and me.
Empty promises from an empty suit.
HHS Wants You to Meet Jamie
Continuing their ongoing effort to "educate" people on PPACA, HHS has introduced us to Jamie. Jamie is a 27 year old college graduate. She has been working at the coffee shop for four-and-a-half years and has never made more than $20,000 in a year.
Self admittedly, she really "has no plan...but that's just how her life has worked out." She hasn't been to the doctor since her junior year of high school. If she ever got really ill or injured she couldn't afford to pay for treatment. She doesn't have any savings and struggles to get by with all of her current bills.
For Jamie life with health insurance will provide her with "comfort and stability and safety". She's very eager to sign up for subsidized insurance.
Starting October 1st (maybe?) Jamie will be able to get the health insurance she so desires. Here is her scenario after running through the Kaiser Family Foundation subsidy calculator:
Self admittedly, she really "has no plan...but that's just how her life has worked out." She hasn't been to the doctor since her junior year of high school. If she ever got really ill or injured she couldn't afford to pay for treatment. She doesn't have any savings and struggles to get by with all of her current bills.
For Jamie life with health insurance will provide her with "comfort and stability and safety". She's very eager to sign up for subsidized insurance.
Starting October 1st (maybe?) Jamie will be able to get the health insurance she so desires. Here is her scenario after running through the Kaiser Family Foundation subsidy calculator:
- Purchase a Silver Plan: Cost to Jamie is $1,021 per year. She will also qualify for MOOP (Max Out Of Pocket) assistance under this plan which will lower her worst case scenario to $2250.
- Purchase a Bronze Plan: Cost to Jamie is $480 per year. However, if she takes this option she will not qualify for MOOP assistance and will face a worst case scenario of $6350.
- Stay without insurance and pay Uncle Sam a "shared responsibility payment" of roughly $200 and role the dice that she will stay healthy.
Unusual and Interesting Insurance News
Over the years, we've chronicled such things as virginity and alien abduction insurance (different posts), the risk posed by superheroes simultaneously destroying much of a city while trying to save it, and hole-in-one coverage for sporting events.
And now for more:
■ Terrorism Risk insurance - Back in 2009, we interviewed Chris Klein, Global Head of Business Intelligence for Guy Carpenter (major risk and reinsurance specialists), who explained why government involvement was necessary in providing reinsurance for major terrorist acts.
Four years later, The Cato Institute argues that the Federal Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) has passed its sell-by date:
"... the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002 to create a “temporary” federal backstop against catastrophic losses. This program subsidized private risk with public funds through a cost-sharing program for which the government does not receive any compensation ... The private market is capable of underwriting this risk."
Interesting analysis.
■ On a brighter note, MassMutual recently kicked off a campaign to get parents looking at the topic of life insurance through the eyes of their children. Through a series of cute and compelling videos, MassMutual hopes to get this conversation kickstarted.
Here's a sample:
■ Finally, I know we've never blogged on this one before:
"The Mid-Autumn Festival (scheduled on Sept. 19), is one of China's biggest holidays and features a lantern festival, the exchange of mooncakes and dining with family and friends while gazing at the harvest moon."
Very interesting Henry, and now I'm hungry for some fried won-tons. But what's that got to do with insurance?
Ah, so:
"Residents of three cities—Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen—can buy insurance online for 20 Yuan (about $3) and be compensated for up to 50 Yuan if clouds obscure moon-viewing between 8 p.m. and 12 a.m. on Sept. 19. The plan is being offered by Alibaba Small and Micro Financial Services Co. and Allianz Insurance China."
The plan's being offered in 41 other cities, as well, but at a higher premium. Still, this may be a true insurance bargain.
So if you're headed to China for this annual event, be sure to stop by the insurance counter (and bring a sweater).
And now for more:
■ Terrorism Risk insurance - Back in 2009, we interviewed Chris Klein, Global Head of Business Intelligence for Guy Carpenter (major risk and reinsurance specialists), who explained why government involvement was necessary in providing reinsurance for major terrorist acts.
Four years later, The Cato Institute argues that the Federal Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) has passed its sell-by date:
"... the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002 to create a “temporary” federal backstop against catastrophic losses. This program subsidized private risk with public funds through a cost-sharing program for which the government does not receive any compensation ... The private market is capable of underwriting this risk."
Interesting analysis.
■ On a brighter note, MassMutual recently kicked off a campaign to get parents looking at the topic of life insurance through the eyes of their children. Through a series of cute and compelling videos, MassMutual hopes to get this conversation kickstarted.
Here's a sample:
■ Finally, I know we've never blogged on this one before:
"The Mid-Autumn Festival (scheduled on Sept. 19), is one of China's biggest holidays and features a lantern festival, the exchange of mooncakes and dining with family and friends while gazing at the harvest moon."
Very interesting Henry, and now I'm hungry for some fried won-tons. But what's that got to do with insurance?
Ah, so:
"Residents of three cities—Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen—can buy insurance online for 20 Yuan (about $3) and be compensated for up to 50 Yuan if clouds obscure moon-viewing between 8 p.m. and 12 a.m. on Sept. 19. The plan is being offered by Alibaba Small and Micro Financial Services Co. and Allianz Insurance China."
The plan's being offered in 41 other cities, as well, but at a higher premium. Still, this may be a true insurance bargain.
So if you're headed to China for this annual event, be sure to stop by the insurance counter (and bring a sweater).
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