• Welcome to OGBoards 10.0, keep in mind that we will be making LOTS of changes to smooth out the experience here and make it as close as possible functionally to the old software, but feel free to drop suggestions or requests in the Tech Support subforum!

ACA Running Thread

http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/health-reform-implementation/316045-obamacare-cost-cutting-board-faces-growing-opposition-from-democrats

"ObamaCare’s cost-cutting board — memorably called a “death panel” by Sarah Palin — is facing growing opposition from Democrats who say it will harm people on Medicare...A wave of vulnerable Democrats over the past three months has signed on to bills repealing the board’s powers, including Sen. Mark Pryor (Ark.) and Reps. Ron Barber (Ariz.), Ann Kirkpatrick (Ariz.), Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) and Elizabeth Esty (Conn.)."
 
http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/health-reform-implementation/316045-obamacare-cost-cutting-board-faces-growing-opposition-from-democrats

"ObamaCare’s cost-cutting board — memorably called a “death panel” by Sarah Palin — is facing growing opposition from Democrats who say it will harm people on Medicare...A wave of vulnerable Democrats over the past three months has signed on to bills repealing the board’s powers, including Sen. Mark Pryor (Ark.) and Reps. Ron Barber (Ariz.), Ann Kirkpatrick (Ariz.), Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) and Elizabeth Esty (Conn.)."

Comparative effectiveness research is one of the things I really like about Obama Care. Right now we are really the only country that spends with no regard to cost, and since technology is the biggest driver of healthcare costs it deserves more scrutiny than it gets today.

(In theory) it's not about death panels; for what it's worth, Oregon's model when it debuted went through a similar PR crisis. It's about getting the most QALY bang for your buck.
 
http://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2013/08/13/yet-another-white-house-obamacare-delay-out-of-pocket-caps-waived-until-2015/

"There’s no such thing as a free lunch. If you ban lifetime limits, and mandate lower deductibles, and cap out-of-pocket costs, premiums have to go up to reflect these changes. And unlike a lot of the “rate shock” problems we’ve been discussing, these limits apply not only to individually-purchased health insurance, but also to employer-sponsored coverage. (Self-insured employers are exempted.)"
 
We just all need to become Muslim. 72 virgins waiting for me in heaven is a great motivation to shorten my end of life care.
 
Read once that it's a translation error...bunges of white grapes, not virgins
 

Cool idea, more competition is always a good thing. Your article reminded me of another one I'd read which is about basically a scaled down version of this domestically that's already in practice:

http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_22056387/companies-send-workers-out-town-bargain-surgeries

BridgeHealth Medical Inc. in Denver is one of a handful of firms that assist employers, insurers and patients with the logistics of surgery shopping. Earlier efforts to persuade employers to send patients to India and other overseas destinations for cheaper care never took off. So BridgeHealth now has negotiated fixed rates with about 45 U.S. hospitals.

This is becoming more and more common for hips and other high-cost, well-defined procedures.
 
That is a brilliant idea. The best thing about it is that existing casinos probably already have the money to build specialized hospitals and the infrastructure to get old people to their reservations.
 
That is a brilliant idea. The best thing about it is that existing casinos probably already have the money to build specialized hospitals and the infrastructure to get old people to their reservations.

plus the tribe could make bank on a ground lease to the new, low-cost hospital and get better access to healthcare.
 
Can someone explain the policy reasons behind the glut of exemptions from the ACA? One would think that if it was a good policy, the federal government wouldn't be exempting itself from their own law? If nothing else, the optics of that decision are either offensively arrogant or pathetically tone deaf. Not sure which is worse.
 
That is a brilliant idea. The best thing about it is that existing casinos probably already have the money to build specialized hospitals and the infrastructure to get old people to their reservations.

Interesting idea, but the tribe does not have authority to grant visas to foreign doctors, so the doctors would need to come to the US under existing law. Existing law won't allow foreign doctors to come to the US and be underpaid relative to other physicians. Our immigration system prevents foreign professionals (in all fields, not just medicine) from suppressing wages for US citizens.
 
Can someone explain the policy reasons behind the glut of exemptions from the ACA? One would think that if it was a good policy, the federal government wouldn't be exempting itself from their own law? If nothing else, the optics of that decision are either offensively arrogant or pathetically tone deaf. Not sure which is worse.

Yeah. The optics are horrible no doubt. But the actual reason is solid. There are provisions that force congressional staff into the exchanges. These folks today get a big fat subsidy in what the feds pay them (say 80% of the premium, not unlike other "large" employers). Issue is that when they go to the exchange, their employer can no longer contribute (thanks to an DOL/IRS FAQ...found in one of the thousands of pages of regs). So, many of these folks make above 400% of the FPL and thus must pay the full unsubsidized rate on the exchange. Pretty unfair for a staffer making $50,000 to give up their insurance and be forced to buy it at retail prices. Pretty big pay cut.

This of course will happen in the private market but its not the law and employers will increase comp to make folks "whole" to start.
 
Interesting idea, but the tribe does not have authority to grant visas to foreign doctors, so the doctors would need to come to the US under existing law. Existing law won't allow foreign doctors to come to the US and be underpaid relative to other physicians. Our immigration system prevents foreign professionals (in all fields, not just medicine) from suppressing wages for US citizens.

These hospitals could work outside the system in other ways to keep overhead low and still pay the doctors well.
 
Can someone explain the policy reasons behind the glut of exemptions from the ACA? One would think that if it was a good policy, the federal government wouldn't be exempting itself from their own law? If nothing else, the optics of that decision are either offensively arrogant or pathetically tone deaf. Not sure which is worse.

They're not exempted.
 
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-15/gingrich-scolds-republicans-for-not-offering-alternatives.html

“We are caught up right now in a culture -- and you see it every single day -- where as long as we are negative and as long as we are vicious and as long as we can tear down our opponent, we don’t have to learn anything.”

Check this quote:

"RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, in comments to reporters in Boston yesterday, said he supports repealing or de-funding the health-care law. When asked whether he backs a government shutdown to accomplish those goals, he said he didn’t want to discuss tactics."

So shutting down the government of the world's only superpower, with direct and deleterious impacts on millions of your countrymen, is a "tactic" now.
 
Back
Top