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ACA Running Thread

I think Priebus has at least put the pieces in place for a switch.
 
ONW said:
I think Priebus has at least put the pieces in place for a switch.
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It would certainly make for an interesting last two years of the Obama presidency as some bills would actually hit his desk that he might be forced to veto.

I think a divided house and senate is the best bet for a republican in 2016. As the democrats proved in 2008-2010...actually getting to act on your principles can prove troublesome to maintaining political momentum. Priebus has been a pretty large upgrade from Steele as far as strategy is concerned. 2014 will be a big year for his legacy within the party and his future aspirations. There is a lot of time between now and next November but He current landscape is shifting right due to ACA and a general discontent with Obama across the board.
 
ONW said:
I think Priebus has at least put the pieces in place for a switch.
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That's what he thought last time. Then he got candidates like Akin and Murdock. They Pubs will definitely pick a seat in South Dakota and Montana. AR,AK and WV are tossups.

If one of the crazies win in GA, Michelle Nunn could win. The wildcard is if McConnell get TPed with a wacko.
 
ONW said:
So that the new incoming majority would have the previous majority to blame while exercising the rules they enabled? Are you kidding?
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Of course not. Rather so that the current majority could get as much work done as possible before the new majority comes into place and stalls out the rest of the President's "agenda" for the following two years.
 
DeacMan said:
Of course not. Rather so that the current majority could get as much work done as possible before the new majority comes into place and stalls out the rest of the President's "agenda" for the following two years.
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What? Not following
 
ONW said:
This is true. I am sure when/if the Republicans gain a majority in the Senate, their first order of business will be to re-instate the filibuster criteria. LOL
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Who said anything about Republicans reinstituting anything?

The reason Harry did what he did is because there is fear the Dems may lose the Senate and put Obama's ability to do anything completely in the tank. So 60 votes be damned.

Quit being dense.
 
ONW said:
This is true. I am sure when/if the Republicans gain a majority in the Senate, their first order of business will be to re-instate the filibuster criteria. LOL
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Oh I am sure they will. About October before it looks like they will lose majority. Democrats are dumb. Have majority for 5 years. Wait until you have 12 months left until you remove filibuster for appointments.
 
So just a few thoughts from the front lines.

Things are getting better and more people are getting through the marketplace. But its still not perfect and a lot of work yet to be done, especially on the more complex use cases.

Have no clue how much better things will be on 11.30. Some think it will be good, others think its all smoke-n-mirrors. Time will tell.

Feds pushed back the 12.15 cut off submit an app to 12.23 to accommodate some of the concerns.

Next years open enrollment got delayed a month since volumes are so low it will be hard to get rate filings in April. So they pushed it all back a month.

The industry is still worried about the 834 enrollment transactions from the marketplace. A lot of folks are worried about accuracy, dups etc. This is in the weeds but critical stuff. Huge concerns here.

Keep your eyes on the "like your plan, keep your plan" issue. It will be interesting to see if this becomes permanent or if its stays as a 1 year transitional relief. Its an election year next year so who knows....

Some of the rate increases for 2014 are due to ACA taxes and fees. I think its around 5% or so. Plus we have trend. There's no way insurers could just keep everyone at the current rate. Still, 15-20% is a whole lot less than 50%, 100%, 300%.

Everyone I talk to in other states is exhausted from all the constant issues, changes, redo's etc. etc. etc.
 
Deacon923 said:
See this link for some interesting discussion on HDPs and HSAs. http://theincidentaleconomist.com/wordpress/tag/health-savings-accounts/
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Finally had a chance to look at this. Its a good read though it leaves a lot of questions. A few thoughts...

-Agree that we need to provide consumers with more decision support tools, info etc. thats easy to digest. Thats a weak spot right now.

-Really need to look at impacts when $ are contributed to the account by the employe or by someone else. Id love to see it broken out to show employers that put $ into the account and how these can be structured to impact usage.

-Author admits he didn't look at whether care that was forgone was needed or not. That seems like a big gap to me. Really need to control for this and look at outcomes.

-HSAs are a long run play and the author ignores a little bit about the compounding impact here of HSA contributions. Young, healthy people put $ in now and when they get sick, they spend it, hopefully wisely. Thats kind of the whole point.

-Still, not a panacea but do think they are a tool, perhaps a big tool in the commercial market, to lower in trend.

Good stuff though.
 
Who pays for the 23 YO's troubled pregnancy if she only a couple of bucks in her HSA?

What happens to the 30yo with $30,000 in his account if the operation and treatment costs $50,000?

How about the people who can't afford to save due to low earnings?
 
RJKarl said:
Who pays for the 23 YO's troubled pregnancy if she only a couple of bucks in her HSA? Her insurance.

What happens to the 30yo with $30,000 in his account if the operation and treatment costs $50,000? His insurance.

How about the people who can't afford to save due to low earnings? Their employer can contribute too
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Um, so there is you know insurance here.
 
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DeacMan said:
In other news we have yet another BIG delay associated with ObamaCare. Such epic incompetence.

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/11/online-shop-enrollment-delayed-by-one-year-100438.html

And, in a stunning development, the administration is trying to craft rules to help unions avoid bad impacts under Obamacare.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/201...atment-with-exemption-from/?intcmp=latestnews
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SHOP has been in trouble for some time. No one in the industry thought it was gonna open on time so this isn't a surprise, nor is the timing (the feds like to announce things the day before a long holiday).

There is also a lot of talk of does the market even need SHOP? With the launch of private exchanges with better offers, it seems unlikely SHOP will take off. I know a lot of insurers are on SHOP because they have to be, per the law. If I remember, if you have more than 20% market share in small group, you have to be on SHOP to be on the individual marketplace.
 
Most on here think Thanksgiving is a time for families to to relax and catch up on what everyone is up to. Silly us. Today is a great time to bring up the issue of healthcare and convert the fence sitters to the cause of Obamacare. From an Obama-related group.

http://washingtonexaminer.com/why-i...the-holidays/article/2539932?custom_click=rss

The administration knows many people will be unfamiliar with the etiquette of discussing national health care at Thanksgiving. So Organizing for Action, the president's political committee, has created a strategy sheet and suggested talking points.

"Take advantage of downtime after meals or between holiday activities to start your talk," OFA advises. It's especially important, the tip sheet says, to use special circumstances that might arise during a family celebration to press the case for health care. For example, one OFA tweet showed pictures of a young man wielding a big knife to carve a turkey. That was followed by a picture of the man with a bandage on his hand. "Food-related injuries happen a lot this time of year," the message said. "It's a good time to talk about getting coverage."

After taking care of a food-related injury, OFA recommends, it's time for the sales pitch. "Offer to walk them through it: 'Would you like to take some time with me to sign up right now?'"

"Start by asking, 'Have you thought about signing up for health insurance on the new marketplace?'" OFA suggests. Then, after going through the steps involved, a more direct question: "'When do you plan on signing up?'" Knowing that this might not be what many Americans — giving thanks, eating turkey, and watching football — want to do on Thanksgiving, OFA advises its health care advocates to "be persistent, but keep it positive."
 
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