Health Care Thread

Zhaun_sl said:

Some people seem to think "Obamacare" is a kind of insurance.

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the president promised insurers and consumers that if they maintain their non-grandfathered health plans, then those plans ?will not be considered to be out of compliance? with those provisions of federal law for one year, even though everyone knows they are clearly out of compliance with federal law. In effect, the president tried to make good on his ? if you like your health plan? promise by telling insurers and consumers, ?These plans are clearly illegal. But if you want to keep buying and selling them, I promise not to prosecute or penalize you. Trust me.?

Set aside the president?s disregard for the U.S. Constitution, the separation of powers, and the rule of law generally. Here?s how his fix alters ? where it leaves ? his once-categorical ?if you like your health plan, you can keep your health plan? promise:

If your insurer hasn?t already cancelled your plan prior to October 1, 2013, and

If you had coverage in effect on October 1, 2013, and

If your insurer wants to invest in re-issuing your already-cancelled plan for just one more year, and

If your state?s insurance commissioner wants to let your insurer re-issue that plan, and

If your insurer and your commissioner can get your old plan re-approved by January 1, and

If your insurer informs you how lousy your old plan was and how awesome ObamaCare plans are, even though they may charge you more for less coverage, and

If your insurance commissioner does not mind approving products that are clearly illegal under federal law, and

If you and your insurer don?t mind engaging in an economic transaction that is clearly illegal under federal law, and

If you trust me when I promise not to prosecute any of you for your clear violations of federal law,
Then you can keep your plan, for one more year.

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Does this make the renewal of non-compliant policies legal? No. The legal requirement remains on the books so the relevant health insurance plans remain illegal under federal law. The President's decision does not change relevant state laws either. So insurers will still need to obtain approval from state insurance commissioners. This typically requires submitting rates and plan specifications for approval. This can take some time, and is disruptive because most insurance companies have already set their offerings for the next year. It's no wonder that some insurance commissioners have already indicated they have no plans to approve non-compliant plans.

Yet even if state commissioners approve the plans, they will still be illegal under federal law. [See clarification below.] Given this fact, why would any insurance company agree to renew such a plan? It's nice that regulators may forbear enforcing the relevant regulatory requirements, but this is not the only source of potential legal jeopardy.So, for instance, what happens when there's a legal dispute under one of these policies? Say, for instance, an insurance company denies payment for something that is not covered under the policy but that would have been covered under the PPACA and the insured sues? Would an insurance company really want to have to defend this decision in court? After all, this would place the insurance company in the position of seeking judicial enforcement of an illegal insurance policy.If there's an answer to this, I haven't seen it [but see below].It's almost as if the Administration has not thought this through.As Sarah Kliff reports, this supposed "fix" creates a "big mess."

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TheBeagle_sl said:

I just hope that everyone is finally coming around to the idea that having a centralized, not-for-profit, healthcare system is really the only intelligent choice. How many of you conservatards would rather have your taxes go up $100 a month while simultaneously never paying a monthly premium ever again as long as you live, knowing that no matter what happens, you can never, ever, go broke or bankrupt because you get sick or hit by a bus?

Sounds pretty fucking great huh?

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Blakkheim_sl said:

Seriously? Where are you fucktards to defend this shit? The way this is shaping up, the ACA may end up giving Bush's Iraq war a run for its money for the biggest political clusterfuckup in more than a generation. Hell, at least Bush had some Dem votes on the Iraq boondoggle. The Dem's OWN this shit lock stock and barrel

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Disp_sl said:

I don't know how you could even type that shit with a straight face. Over 100,000 civilians died in the Iraq war.

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Disp_sl said:

I don't know how you could even type that shit with a straight face. Over 100,000 civilians died in the Iraq war.

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Disp_sl said:

I don't know how you could even type that shit with a straight face. Over 100,000 civilians died in the Iraq war.

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fanaskin_sl said:

do you have any idea how many times democrats on this board say things like "people are too stupid to vote their own interest", or "there's too many stupid people and they breed faster than smart people" and shit like that, they literally feel empowered to think they know better than most people.

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UnitedHealth Group dropped thousands of doctors from its networks in recent weeks, leaving many elderly patients unsure whether they need to switch plans to continue seeing their doctors, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

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Picasso_sl said:

If I read a book on aca and debate it at length and come in here and tell Borzak, who I place about equal with Forrest Gump, that everything is going to be ok.. and he just keeps spewing retard about his doctor not taking Obamacare... it's frustrating.

Everyone just picks a side and takes it as this huge point of pride often when no real clue with what they're attacking/defending.

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Synj_sl said:

Not being confrontational here but who gets to decide what is valuable? That's like telling someone they have to have a $1000 NVIDIA 3DFX Voodoo Monster 3 graphics card because they wont have enough teraflops to run EQ when all they want is to play minesweeper.

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