The court rejected a petition filed by Liberty University, a Christian college in Virginia, which had raised various objections to the law, including to the key provision that requires individuals to obtain health insurance. [...]By rejecting the Liberty University case, the justices left intact a 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals of a May 2013 decision that dismissed the claims made by the college and two individuals, Michele Waddell and Joanne Merrill.They're not going to kill it outright. They're officially out of opportunities. They're out of time legislatively, since they're going on the long recess on December 13. They'll have to change strategies now, because after January 1 repeal means taking people's insurance away, something even most Republicans will recognize isn't politically smart. So now it's going to be more efforts to chip away, to refuse to allow any fixes, to create as many obstacles as possible at the state level for implementation. All of which they will do, because it's now their entire reason for being.
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
The last, great hope of Republicans to see Obamacare killed outright is officially dead
. They haven't been able to repeal it. They ran a presidential campaign on ending it, and were overwhelmingly rejected. The Supreme Court decided not to overturn the entire law once already, and has now dismissed the last big case challenging the underpinnings of the law.
Monday, September 2, 2013
New Health Incsurance
Understanding New Health Insurance
Week of August 26, 2013
Visit USA.gov's Health Insurance webpage to learn about the new Health Insurance Marketplace and other types of health coverage. Starting October 1, 2013, you can fill out an application for health insurance through the Health Insurance Marketplace. You will be able to compare your options side-by-side and enroll in a plan that fits your budget and meets your needs. Coverage takes effect as early as January 1, 2014.
Saturday, August 31, 2013
BAsic Health Insurance terms
Half of Americans can't define basic health insurance terms
What’s a premium again?
Forgot about the PPACA. Americans have a lot of questions about the basics of health insurance.
A new survey of 1,008 U.S. adults conducted for the American Institute of CPAs by Harris Interactive found that more than half (51 percent) could not accurately identify at least one of three common health insurance terms: premium, deductible and copay.
A third (34 percent) thought a premium was an expense at the time of receiving medical service or a prescription; more than a quarter (27 percent) thought a copay was the cost of obtaining insurance; and 12 percent did not know a deductible is the money one pays before an insurance company makes payments.
“Half of Americans would fail health insurance 101,” said Ernie Almonte, chair of the AICPA’s National CPA Financial Literacy Commission. “That’s critical insight as consumers prepare to make important decisions with implications for both their physical and fiscal well-being. Americans need to take time in the coming weeks to familiarize themselves with key terms and assess their needs so they make the best decisions for their health and financial situations.”
Not surprisingly, just as consumers struggled with basic health insurance information, the majority of Americans were unaware of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and its implications.
Forty-one percent said they are not at all knowledgeable about the law and another 48 percent said they were only somewhat knowledgeable. Young people were the least knowledgeable, with nearly half, 48 percent, of adults aged 18 to 34 saying they had no knowledge.
For 11 percent of U.S. adults, the upcoming requirement to buy health insurance is their biggest financial concern. For half of the small minority who don’t have health insurance —14 percent, according to the survey — figuring out how to pay for it is their biggest concern about the mandate.
Forgot about the PPACA. Americans have a lot of questions about the basics of health insurance.
A new survey of 1,008 U.S. adults conducted for the American Institute of CPAs by Harris Interactive found that more than half (51 percent) could not accurately identify at least one of three common health insurance terms: premium, deductible and copay.
A third (34 percent) thought a premium was an expense at the time of receiving medical service or a prescription; more than a quarter (27 percent) thought a copay was the cost of obtaining insurance; and 12 percent did not know a deductible is the money one pays before an insurance company makes payments.
“Half of Americans would fail health insurance 101,” said Ernie Almonte, chair of the AICPA’s National CPA Financial Literacy Commission. “That’s critical insight as consumers prepare to make important decisions with implications for both their physical and fiscal well-being. Americans need to take time in the coming weeks to familiarize themselves with key terms and assess their needs so they make the best decisions for their health and financial situations.”
Not surprisingly, just as consumers struggled with basic health insurance information, the majority of Americans were unaware of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and its implications.
Forty-one percent said they are not at all knowledgeable about the law and another 48 percent said they were only somewhat knowledgeable. Young people were the least knowledgeable, with nearly half, 48 percent, of adults aged 18 to 34 saying they had no knowledge.
For 11 percent of U.S. adults, the upcoming requirement to buy health insurance is their biggest financial concern. For half of the small minority who don’t have health insurance —14 percent, according to the survey — figuring out how to pay for it is their biggest concern about the mandate.
Monday, July 29, 2013
Health Care understanding
Health Care: A Brief Glossary
Benefit package – The list of services and products that a health plan covers. Typically, the more expansive the benefit package is, the more expensive the health insurance coverage is.
Capitation – A system of paying doctors and health providers a set amount per patient per year regardless of how much health care that person uses. In theory, this creates incentives to keep people healthy and avoid using expensive services.
Cherry-picking – A process where an insurer tries to cover only the healthiest people with the lowest risk of using health services.
Community rating – This rule would require insurance companies to set premium rates based only on geography and not health status. Sometimes gender and age also are considered in rate setting.
Guaranteed issue – This rule would require insurance companies to offer health coverage to any one willing and able to pay regardless of health status or pre-existing conditions.
Comparative effectiveness research – Research that compares two or more drugs, treatments or medical interventions to see which is most effective for which type of patient. In theory, insurance providers, whether it is the government or a private company, would use this research to guide decisions on which medical treatments to cover.
Employer mandate – A requirement that businesses offer their employees health insurance. It may only pertain to businesses of a certain size. Massachusetts, for example, requires businesses with 10 or more employees to provide coverage or to pay a set amount on their behalf to purchase coverage.
Fee-for-service – The traditional and most widespread method of paying doctors and health care providers for each service provided.
Health insurance cooperative – A nonprofit health plan owned and operated by a collection of small businesses or individuals that group together to purchase health insurance so they have greater negotiating power.
Health insurance exchange – A marketplace where people can buy insurance. An exchange could be set up in many ways at the state, regional or national level. The government could regulate what plans are offered, how much insurers charge and set other rules insurers must follow. Sometimes called a “connector,” it often is compared to a menu of insurance options people can choose among similar to what is available to federal government employees. Its primary users likely would be small businesses and people buying individual insurance.
High-risk pool – Some states have insurance pools for people who insurance companies will not cover due to pre-existing conditions or poor health status.
Individual mandate – A requirement that all individuals purchase health insurance coverage. Proponents say an individual mandate is necessary to achieve universal coverage and to avoid a system where only the elderly and unhealthy purchase insurance. Opponents say it infringes on personal freedoms and is unenforceable.
Medicaid – The government health insurance program for the poor. The $333-billion program is paid for through a combination of federal and state funding, but administered by states. In 2007, about one in five people in the U.S. were enrolled in Medicaid.
Medicare – The government health insurance program for people who are 65 and older, blind or permanently disabled. In 2008, the $460-billion program provided health coverage to about 45 million people.
Medicare Advantage – This program allows Medicare beneficiaries to enroll in a private HMO or other health plan to receive their benefits.
Medical underwriting – An insurance process of evaluating an individual’s health status to decide if they should be offered insurance and how much they should pay in premiums. Underwriting is not used in the employer-sponsored insurance market only the individual market.
Pay for performance – A system that would pay doctors, hospitals and health care providers based on how well they take care of patients and not just on how much care they provide to patients.
Pre-existing condition – A prior health condition that may make people ineligible for health insurance coverage in the individual market.
Premium – The amount an insurance company charges to provide coverage. In 2008, the average annual premium for a family was $12,680 – more than twice the cost in 1999.
Public plan – The government could offer a public plan similar to Medicare as one of choice in the health insurance exchange to compete with private insurers. Republicans strongly oppose creating a public plan.
Purchasing pool – Health insurers lump the premiums people pay together to pay for health care services. In this pool, people who use few health services subsidize the costs of people who use many. This ability to “spread risk” gives large employers an advantage over small employers when buying health insurance.
SCHIP – The State Children’s Health Insurance Program was created in 1997 to provide health coverage to children not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid. The program is funded by the federal and state governments, but each state operates its program differently. In 2008, the $10-billion program provided health coverage to about 4.5 million children.
Single-payer system – A health care system in which all the funding comes from one source, usually the government. Private insurance, however, can and does exist in countries with a single-payer system, such as Canada and the United Kingdom.
Socialized medicine – A health system in which the government provides the health insurance coverage, owns the hospitals, and employs the doctors. The Veterans’ Administration health system is an example of socialized health care.
Uncompensated care – Care that doctors and hospitals provide to patients for which they never receive payment.
Underinsured – A term describing people who have insurance but are still considered financially vulnerable to high health expenses because of the limitations or cost-sharing of their plans.
Monday, June 10, 2013
Puchasing own Health Insuarance
A new report estimates that U.S. consumers who purchase their own health insurance saved $2.1 billion last year due to tougher rules in the federal healthcare law.
Thursday's report by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that individual premiums would have been $1.9 billion higher in 2012 without the requirements in the federal Affordable Care Act. In addition, the nonprofit group said individual policyholders nationwide should receive $241 million in rebates this summer.
Insurers must issue rebates to individuals and small businesses if they don't spend at least 80% of their annual premiums on medical care
Insurers must issue rebates to individuals and small businesses if they don't spend at least 80% of their annual premiums on medical care
obamacare Mandate Insurance
When you mandate insurance, pretty much everybody gets insurance
Even before the mandate took effect in 2007, only 8% of Massachusetts residents went without insurance -- half the national figure today. The mandate, along with subsidies that make policies more affordable, has brought the Massachusetts uninsured rate down to 3%, the lowest in the country.
Now that firms with 11 or more workers are on the hook for insurance, small-business employees are less likely to go without. More low-income workers are covered. And the hard-to-persuade healthy 18-to-34 crowd has been brought into the fold: Only 6% of these "young invincibles" lack insurance today, according to the state's Center for Health Information and Analysis (CHIA), down from 18% pre-reform.
Some joined a parent's policy -- under Romneycare, as with Obamacare, you have that right until age 26. Others accepted workplace coverage they might have otherwise skipped, sometimes to everyone's benefit
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