Tuesday, March 31, 2015

ACA a start

http://mobile.nytimes.com/blogs/krugman/2015/03/27/hidden-healthcare-horrors/?smid=tw-NytimesKrugman&seid=auto&_r=0&referrer

Sunday, March 29, 2015

Health Sense: Achievements and pitfalls of Obamacare : Wsj

Health Sense: Achievements and pitfalls of Obamacare

1 HOUR AGO • BY

More than 16 million Americans have gained health insurance as a result of the Affordable Care Act, federal officials say.

But about half of them — the vast majority of those getting insurance on the federal exchange — might drop coverage if a Supreme Court ruling expected by June invalidates government subsidies to help pay for premiums.

Madison-area health care leaders discussed such achievements and pitfalls of the controversial health care law Monday at a panel organized by WisPolitics.com.

The event came on the fifth anniversary of President Barack Obama’s signing of the law, known as Obamacare.

Having more people with insurance is a “good thing for employers,” said Michael Gotzler, chief legal counsel of QTI Group, a Madison-based human resources company.

But offering the coverage can be costly, especially for small companies, Gotzler said. If the Supreme Court bans subsidies in the majority of states that use the federal exchange, including Wisconsin, some firms may stop providing insurance, he said.

That is because the law penalizes employers for not offering coverage only if workers get subsidized insurance on the exchange, he said.

“You may have an economic incentive to drop coverage,” Gotzler said.

More than 207,000 Wisconsin residents signed up for insurance on the exchange, with nearly 185,000 receiving federal subsidies.

Premiums on the exchange mostly have been considered affordable, especially when factoring in the subsidies, but rates could increase in coming years, said Mike Hamerlik, president and CEO of WPS Health Insurance.

That is because two of three financial programs designed to keep costs down for insurers end in two years, Hamerlik said.

“When that goes away in 2017, that revenue is going to have to be replaced by premiums,” he said. “They’re artificially low right now.”

Rick Abrams, CEO of the Wisconsin Medical Society, said doctors are overwhelmed by some aspects of the law, including the requirement that clinics use electronic medical records more.

“The one thing that I wish that we could all do is hit the pause button, maybe hit the slow down button,” Abrams said. “The pace of change is really taking things out of control.”

The Supreme Court ruling could force Congress to tweak the law, Abrams said. “Perhaps it will create an opportunity to fix some of the things that are wrong with the ACA,” he said.

Dr. Jonathan Jaffery, chief population officer at UW Health, said the law’s payment incentives are encouraging hospitals and doctor groups to focus more on the quality of care instead of the volume of it.

But “it is going to take some time until we get to a point where all these things are aligned properly,” Jaffery said.

Hamerlik said the Affordable Care Act may eventually lead to people choosing their own health insurance like they do auto and home insurance.

But that, too, won’t come quickly, he said. “We’re just in the first act of a very long opera,” he said.

Saturday, March 28, 2015

$$$ for Healthcare

$$$$ for Healthcare
By Barb Anderson
The cost of medical care in the U. S. is always a topic of discussion. It is higher than most other industrialized countries, and the results are not nearly so good for longevity and infant mortality. When the subject of universal healthcare comes up, we are told it is just too expensive. Besides, we don't need it because most people can get healthcare if they want to work for it. Yet we all know that millions of people even with "Obamacare" do not have access to healthcare. Many of those same people who are saying healthcare costs too much or everyone should not just get it automatically are willing to continue the terrible cost of war to support the Pentagon and related groups.
The last excuse I got was they were protecting us from all the bad things out there! Yet when the healthcare within their community is dealing with the bad things, it is accepted as part of life. Even those wounded warriors who are home but still in healthcare crises cannot depend on the government. This is the same government that could afford to send them into harm's way but cannot afford to bring them all the way to good health once they are home. What kind of country – are we?
Healthcare should be considered a civil right, not something you have to beg for, work a certain job for, or prove yourself in some way for.
Those in power only seem to see power and the problem of holding onto that power, which costs more than any single payer healthcare would cost-something that would protect the American people better than the power struggle does. We are told this is to protect us from those bad people. I think those in power are holding onto it because it brings money to the table. In our great market system, money is more important than people and their healthcare. This
would be strongly denied, but I think actions speak more loudly than words.
There is always going to be an enemy for the military industrial complex to worry us about. The problem is are we ever going to see all of our citizens as the most important thing to worry about?
Healthcare is something we can give to all citizens, but that won't bring money to the table unless the insurance companies are in charge, which is the problem with the ACA. Wars and the military do bring money to the table, or they will continue to look for money on the table by telling us how awful everyone who is against us is. I am not nai"ve, and I know that the war ISIS is waging is terrible. But the dollars that both corporations and the military receive are used also as a means of telling us that they are taking good care of us and therefore we cannot afford universal healthcare, free adequately funded education, better roads, a clean environment, etc., etc., etc.
FDR said, ''The only thing to fear is fear itself." The market economy is making sure we are scared of our own shadows. That gives the military and their corporate enablers the power and the money that goes with it.
Single payer healthcare will put that money to better use for the general welfare of all our citizens and decrease the unquestioned power of the military.