Sunday, May 29, 2016

United's deal with Medtronic angers diabetics over insurance - StarTribune.com

United's deal with Medtronic angers diabetics over insurance - StarTribune.com

Wisconsin's plan to overhaul long-term care programs raises concerns

Wisconsin's plan to overhaul long-term care programs raises concerns

This proposal is payback to the insurance companies who have given millions to campaign funding.  "Managing" our care is not what they do.  They manage their profits at our expense - both in what we pay out of our pockets and what we suffer personally.

Thursday, May 19, 2016


Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Special Enrollment Periods for the Health Insurance Marketplace

Special Enrollment Periods for the Health Insurance Marketplace

Sorry, We Don’t Take Obamacare - The New York Times

Sorry, We Don’t Take Obamacare - The New York Times
Comment by Don McCanne

When explaining that health care reform seems to be moving backwards, does it improve communication to discuss reform that is sdrawkcab (ananym of backwards)?

NYT’s Elisabeth Rosenthal has provided us with another great article that describes how some of the supposedly forward advances in reform are really backwards. The ACA exchange plans are undoing some of the financial protection that health insurance should afford us, while impairing access through narrower provider networks. If we said that this reform is sdrawkcab, would that help us understand it better?

As small business owner Amy Moses stated, “Anyone who is on these plans knows it’s a two-tiered system.” Does it not seem absurd that the policies inherent in ACA would place a business owner in the lower tier of a two-tiered system? Isn’t that sdrawkcab? Yes and no. Actually what is sdrawkcab is that we would even have tiers in our health care system when it would be much more efficient, more equitable, and more effective to have a single high level system for everyone - an improved Medicare for all.

A specific example of the wrong direction in which too much of our policy is headed is provided by the new CMS rule that describes yet another technical reason to prohibit individuals from obtaining coverage through special enrollment periods. Although health reform supposedly was designed to expand access to insurance plans, this rule is sdrawkcab in that it prohibits access for certain uninsured individuals. True, the rule was designed to protect insurers from individuals who might have an acute need for coverage outside of the open enrollment period, but the entire system should have been designed to automatically enroll everyone instead of ignoring individual needs while providing insurers with their optimal business model.

No more sdrawkcab reform. Everybody in, nobody out!

Most Americans Want to Replace the ACA with Single Payer

Most Americans Want to Replace the ACA with Single Payer

Dave Janda: Bad Medicine | Peak Prosperity

Dave Janda: Bad Medicine | Peak Prosperity

Sanders Has It Exactly Right: Majority of Americans Want 'Medicare for All' System | Common Dreams | Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community

Sanders Has It Exactly Right: Majority of Americans Want 'Medicare for All' System | Common Dreams | Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community

Five Health Issues Presidential Candidates Aren’t Talking About — But Should Be | Kaiser Health News

Five Health Issues Presidential Candidates Aren’t Talking About — But Should Be | Kaiser Health News

Monday, May 9, 2016