Showing posts with label Obama healthcare. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Obama healthcare. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

ObamaCare problems deepen as insurers scramble to stem losses





how does an insurance company lose money?  any company that drops

obamacare should be barred from medicare advantage and audited as well



these companies have robbed folks for years and not been jailed



long term solution:  universal health care

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Filing a HIPAA Complaint | HHS.gov

Filing a HIPAA Complaint | HHS.gov:



click link



Filing a Complaint

If you believe that a HIPAA-covered entity or its business associate violated your (or someone else’s) health information privacy rights or committed another violation of the Privacy, Security, or Breach Notification Rules, you may file a complaint with the Office for Civil Rights (OCR). OCR can investigate complaints against covered entities (health plans, health care clearinghouses, or health care providers that conduct certain transactions electronically) and their business associates.


note:  I suspect I will be using this form shortly,  Just had a Colonoscopy


seems it not free even though process is clearly preventative medicine.


since Silgan containers ditched health insurance for retirees of the Saint Louis plant and dumped us upon variations of obamacare; listen not to folks telling you procedure is fully covered


Friday, March 8, 2013

Take care of our Missouri neighbors by expanding Medicaid : Stltoday

Take care of our Missouri neighbors by expanding Medicaid : Stltoday

click link

snip


We Missourians would instantly care for a neighbor we found hurt and bleeding. We’d take the shirt off our backs for a tourniquet and then rush him to medical care. But what if we never saw him writhing on the ground? The fact that he may be out of sight and out of mind does not absolve our responsibility to make sure he gets care.

It may be easy to resist Medicaid expansion for patients whose sickness prevails beyond our vision, but these patients are our neighbors. If our policymakers could witness firsthand the suffering and barriers to care endured by our waiters, cashiers, daycare workers, and shuttle drivers who work without health insurance, I know they would similarly take the shirt off their back to help.

Friday, December 14, 2012

Obamacare, brought to you by Johnson & Johnson

Obamacare, brought to you by Johnson & Johnson

click link

snip

 It’s an old story, the latest chapter of which came to light a few days ago with a small item inPolitico : “Elizabeth Fowler is leaving the White House for a senior-level position leading ‘global health policy’ at Johnson & Johnson’s government affairs and policy group.”
A familiar name. We had talked about Liz Fowler on Bill Moyers Journal in 2009, during the early stages of Obama’s health care reform. She was at the center of the action, sitting behind Montana Senator Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee at committee hearings. Bill noted, “She used to work for WellPoint, the largest health insurer in the country. She was Vice President of Public Policy. And now she’s working for the very committee with the most power to give her old company and the entire industry exactly what they want: higher profits, and no competition from alternative non-profit coverage that could lower costs and premiums.”
After Obamacare passed, Senator Baucus himself, one of the biggest recipients in Congress of campaign cash from the health care industry, boasted that the architect of the legislation was none other than Liz Fowler. “I want to single out one person,” he said. “… Liz Fowler is my chief health counsel. Liz Fowler has put my health care team together… She put together the White Paper last November 2008, [the] 87-page document which became the basis, the foundation, the blueprint from which almost all health care measures in all bills on both sides of the aisle came. She is an amazing person. She is a lawyer; she is a Ph.D. She is just so decent. She is always smiling, she is always working, always available to help any Senator, any staff. I just thank Liz from the bottom of my heart.”

Friday, November 30, 2012

Nixon favors expanding Medicaid program : Stltoday

Nixon favors expanding Medicaid program : Stltoday

click link

snip

 
“Our hope is that with this report, they will see the economic and health benefits to accepting the new federal health care funding, so that we may avoid leaving the working poor with no options,” coalition Chair Joe Pierle said.

According to the most recent figures available, more than 881,000 Missourians are enrolled in the Medicaid program, which has varying degrees of coverage based on income. More than 60 percent are children, and 18.6 percent are people with disabilities.

The expansion proposal calls for coverage of all Americans who make below 138 percent of the federal poverty level — about $31,800 a year for a family of four or $15,400 a year for a single person.

That includes childless adults who cannot participate in Missouri’s current program, and increased coverage for parents. The expansion would also reduce the number of seniors and disabled Missourians who have to spend some of their income before they can receive Medicaid benefits.

A recent study from the Urban Institute shows that many of the Missouri residents who would benefit from an expansion here are male, white and younger than 44.

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Papa John's Obamacare Costs Are Far Less Than Price Of Free Pizza Giveaway

Papa John's Obamacare Costs Are Far Less Than Price Of Free Pizza Giveaway:

click link

snip

News flash to Papa John’s CEO John Schnatter: Obamacare isn’t the only thing costing your business money.
The pizza chain head has made his views on the Affordable Care Act clear in recent months, claiming the new health care law will cost his business about $5 to $8 million per year. To compensate Schnatter's said he will likely raise pizza prices andcut back some workers’ hours so he doesn’t have to insure them.
Caleb Melby of Forbes has graciously done the math on Obamacare’s cost to Papa John’s and according to his analysis, to cover the cost of Obamacare, the pizza chain would have to raise prices by 3.4 to 4.6 cents per pie -- way less than the 11 to 14 cents Schnatter claims he needs.
And there are other changes the chain could make to save some money, Melby notes, like not giving away 2 million pizzas for free at a cost of between $24 and $32 million to the company, for example.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Is the Affordable Health Care Act ruling really a ‘Trojan Horse’ that could undermine future decisions? | The Labor Tribune

Is the Affordable Health Care Act ruling really a ‘Trojan Horse’ that could undermine future decisions? | The Labor Tribune

click link

snip


UPHOLDING THE ACA: A TROJAN HORSE
The decision to uphold this Act is a Trojan horse in that it is not the gift to the Progressives that it appears to be on the surface.
Why? Because the High Court’s reasoning in upholding the ACA is based on a narrow interpretation of the Act and a broad butrestrictive vision of the law as it relates to the taxing power of the United States.
The key provision is the individual mandate. This requires a tax or penalty to individuals who do not secure health care coverage through alternative sources, like insurance, Medicare or employer or union sponsored health plans.
This individual mandate that requires covered participants to purchase health care was proposed by Republican congressional leaders as early as 1989 for the express purpose of bringing individual responsibility to the issue. At present, even with the individual mandate, the Act still excludes well over 20 million Americans from coverage under the ACA according the Congressional Budget Office. The U.S.A. may have come a long way but it still has not achieved universal healthcare and that now appears to be a mission impossible for Congress to undertake considering the practicality of the legislative constraints in the Roberts’ decision.
Justice Roberts refused to uphold the law until the presentation of the Obama Administration’s last alternative legal point before the Court — the taxing powers of Congress to fund the ACA saved the Act. The Court allowed a penalty or “tax” to stand against those who fail to purchase health insurance to prevent those who intend to use the system without paying for it from driving up health care costs for those who pay for coverage. The Roberts Court found this penalty to be within the taxing and spending powers of Congress and thus, upheld the law.
The Trojan Horse in the ruling is that it gives with one hand – upholding the legality of the mandate and thus the ACA law itself — but with the other hand the decision attempts to clearly limit the traditional power of Congress to govern by, and through, the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution. This is a setback in American jurisprudence and is extremely dangerous!

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

White House preparing health care contingency plan, sources say

White House preparing health care contingency plan, sources say link

click link

snip
The Medicaid expansion was originally estimated to account for about half the more than 30 million people slated to get coverage under the law. Without a mandate, the number would be smaller but still significant.
Federal tax credits to help middle-class people buy private health coverage also would survive, as would new, state-based insurance markets.
Such subsidies have never previously been available, and millions are expected to take advantage of them, whether or not insurance is required by law. Still, it could be tricky to salvage the law's full blueprint for helping middle-class uninsured people.
Overturning the mandate would have harmful consequences for the private insurance market. Under the law, insurers would still have to accept all applicants regardless of health problems, and they would be limited in what they can charge older, sicker customers.
As a result, premiums for people who directly buy their own coverage would jump by 15 percent to 20 percent, the Congressional Budget Office estimates. Older, sicker people would flock to get health insurance, but younger, healthier ones would hold back.
To forestall such a problem, the administration asked the court — if it declares the mandate unconstitutional — to also strike down certain consumer protections, including the requirement on insurers to cover people with pre-existing health problems. That would mitigate a damaging spike in premiums.
Whether or not the court goes along with that request, more work would be needed to find alternatives to a federal mandate. That could provide an opening for state officials, as well as major insurance companies, to join in finding workable substitutes for the mandate. Congressional approval would likely be needed.
Without the individual requirement, about 14 million people would still get coverage, budget office estimates suggest. Supporters of the law point out that's still a lot of people.

Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/news/national/white-house-preparing-health-care-contingency-plan-sources-say/article_bff9e31e-4546-590e-b877-42393c0866a7.html#ixzz1yFDfayAI

Friday, March 23, 2012

ObamaCare: Two Years Later



I am not a big Blunt fan and skeptical of this vid

fellows are wrong: it is not you and the doctor, it is what whim the insurance company decides.

note: the big provisions of "Obamacare" have not kicked in yet.
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were it my call, we would have universal healthcare (hr676)

Monday, February 1, 2010

Michael Whitney Discusses Health Care Reform on The Rick Smith Show

These comments are much the thinking of the folks at Soar 11-3 (retired steelworkers in the St. Louis, Missouri).

Union did not make good deal by rubber stamping tax on healthcare benefits. One wonders if the senate will keep the tax idea and jettison healthcare reform?

From Rick Smith Show late in January, 2010.

In two parts in audio:

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Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Obama state of the union : Healthcare

This snip if from Keith Obermann's show. This will be mentioned next meeting.

Alas, no solid plan it seems.
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