Carefree Lifestyle? ObamaCare© to the Rescue!

You'll have to watch the PSA to learn what's in ...

Picking and Choosing: The Makena Saga continues...

Does the FDA have the right to selectively enforce its own reg's? Reason I ask is this: "Responding to the public and political pressure, the FDA said it had no intention of blocking pharmacies from selling their own versions of Makena." By way of background, Bob reported several weeks ago that the price of Makena (a progesterone synthetic) was set to go from $20 a shot to $1500 a pop. Talk about...

AARP vs Seniors: The $Billion Story

We've wondered before why AARP would be so willing to throw its membership under the bus. After all, one of the cornerstones of ObamaCare© is draconian cuts in Medicare. On its face, this would seem contra the interests of the folks which AARP ostensibly represents.Not surprisingly, it's all about the green (and I don't mean windmills or solar panels):"AARP stands to reap an extra billion dollars...

Medicaid Train Wreck

Most of the focus on Obamacrap has centered on the impact it has had on premiums (higher, not lower), covering children (almost non-existent except as a dependent), the Obamacrap risk pool (PCIP, requires you to be uninsured for 6 months) and of course those Medicare death panels.But a big part of "covering everyone" is expanding Medicaid rolls by some 16 million folks. How well is that going to work?So...

MVNHS© Hates Atheists

Well, how else to explain this:"Former NHS director dies after operation is cancelled four times at her own hospital" Seems to me, this is God's way of proving that he exists, and has a wicked sense of humor.If there's any silver lining to this, of course, it's that the Brits' system is at least "fair:" no waivers for previous Directors.The truly sad part is that the poor woman was hospitalized for...

Health Wonk Review: It's Opening Day!

Jason Shafrin hosts this week's all-star line-up of great health care policy and polity posts. As usual, he hits a homer...

LTCi in Perspective

As we've mentioned over the years, Bob and I frequently contribute to an online forum answering various insurance questions. Along the way, we met Herman Bruns, a Long Term Care insurance specialist with vast knowledge and a big heart. A while back, Herman graciously provided us with a guest post on when it's appropriate to consider purchasing LTCi.Now, he's added a tremendous, intuitive way to quantify...

Saving Medicare

Obama and the folks in Congress have figured out how to save tax dollars and fix Medicare at the same time. Just like those rides at the theme park that declare "you must be this tall to ride", if Congress gets' their way the same thing will apply to Medicare."You must be this old to ride".The Columbia Tribune cites a Kaiser Foundation report on Medicare that reads like a Frankenstein novel.The report...

Are you ready for some *Real* Death Panels?

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Exchanging Your Plan

One of the unintended consequences of Obamacrap is the millions of people who could LOSE their employer sponsored group health plan and are dumped in to the Exchange. According to The Hill:Big companies may eventually look to dump their employees onto new state-run health insurance markets in the future if a key aspect of healthcare reform turns out to be successful, an Obama administration health...

But hey, it's only money!

Remember how the bill we had to pass to learn what's in it was going to save us boatloads of dollars?Turns out, not so much:"In particular, the provisions related to expanding health insurance coverage were projected to increase the deficit between 2012 and 2021 by $1.04 trillion ... they are now projected to increase the deficit by $1.13 trillion over that period."That's an 8% increase in one fell...

Grand Rounds is up

Family doc Mike Sevilla (formerly known as Doctor Anonymous) hosts this week's great collection of interesting medblog posts. Do check it o...

Use it vs Lose it

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Goodwin's Law Prevails

No, not Godwin's Law, Goodwin's, as in Wayne Goodwin, the Tar Heel State's Insurance Commissioner. In some ways, it's old news:"The settlement arose out of a routine Department of Insurance, DOI, market exam of the company that began in 2005 and looked at the years 2002-04."Settlement? What settlement?This one:"Cigna Healthcare of North Carolina will pay a $600,000 fine and customer refunds and credits...

POMS and ObamaCare© [UPDATED]

All those naysayers who pooh-pooh the idea that ObamaCare© will deprive Americans of the basic freedom to choose appropriate health care certainly got an eye-opener this week:"Judge Rosemary Collyer has ruled that Americans have a legal obligation to accept subpar government health benefits."But surely, Henry, you must be quoting selectively; there's no way a Federal Judge can force people into such...

Man Bites Dog

In a headline worthy of "man bites dog", or "pot calls kettle black", we have this tidbit about Aetna.Hartford managed care provider Aetna Inc. is suing six New Jersey doctors over medical bills it calls "unconscionable," including $56,980 for a bedside consultation and $59,490 for an ultrasound that typically costs $74, Bloomberg News reports.The lawsuits could help determine what pricing limits...

ObamaFail©

So the bill we had to pass to see what's in it, touted as the solution to the critical problem of the uninsured, turns out to be a colossal failure?No kidding:"(T)he percentage of U.S. residents under age 65 who were uninsured increased to 16.3%, from 15.4%."I'm shocked, shocked I tell y...

Weiner Wants a Mulligan

U.S. Rep Anthony Weiner, who voted for Obamacrap before he was against it, wants a do over. We are unsure if he had to pass the bill to know what was in it or not. What we do know is on the first anniversary, he wants a waiver for New York.“The president said, ‘If you have better ideas that can accomplish the same thing, go for it,’” said Weiner. “I’m in the process now of trying to see if we can...

Inquiring Minds

Seems the vast right wing conspiracy is at it again. On the first anniversary of Obamacrap comes word a "high profile conservative group" is planning on suing HHS to find out the criteria for granting Obamacrap waivers.I thought it was obvious . . . they use ping-pong balls with numbers.According to Fox, Crossroads GPS will...

Midweek Link-Fest

For your edification and edutainment pleasure:First up, it's the one year ObamaVersary©, and the Pioneer Institute hosted a debate on the financial impact of this train-wreck. Courtesy of Josh Archambault, the Institute's Director of Health Care Policy, here's the highlight reel:2011 Hewitt Health Care Lecture from Mike Dean...

Children's Health Insurance in Georgia

In Georgia, and almost every other state, parents cannot buy "child only" health insurance. Doesn't matter if your child is healthy or sick. You can't buy it as a stand alone policy.This has been true since 9/23/2010 and you would think the word would have gotten out by now but apparently not.WSBTV reported on an elderly Gainesville couple that wanted to buy health insurance on an adopted child. The...

Hackles and Meds

In recent posts, we've explored the rising costs and potential supply problems of "specialty meds" such as Makena and immune deficiency therapies. Fellow medblogger Lisa Emrich is deeply concerned about the increasing volatility of MS (Multiple Sclerosis) medications:"It is expected that Gilenya will net more than $3 billion in annual sales. When the pricing of Gilenya was announced in September,...

Cavalcade of Risk #127 now online

Making his hosting debut, Irwin Jacobs presents this week's Cavalcade of Risk. It's a (not very) dangerous job, but someone's gotta do ...

Birthin' and such

Did you know that we spend over $50 billion a year for child-birth related expenses? I didn't, either, but FoIB Kate H sent us the link to an interesting infographic with all kinds of birth-related info. Some, like the aforementioned costs, are more interesting than others (such as predominant hair colors). The graphic itself was apparently put together by the folks at Ultrasound Technician.The graphic...

Quakes, Tsunamis and Reinsurance

The recent disasters in Japan will likely send financial shockwaves across the P&C side of the insurance industry.A M Best reports that "Swiss Re is estimating claims costs of about US$1.2 billion, net of retrocession and before tax, from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan" and that AIG "expects to incur a pretax insurance loss of US$700 million for its nonlife subsidiary Chartis Inc....

Baby Joseph Update: Still with us (for a little while)

Reader Patrick P alerts us to this terrific development in the story of Baby Joseph Maraachli:"Baby Joseph," the dying Canadian infant whose medical care sparked a national controversy, arrived at a St. Louis hospital [last week] night for treatment ... Ontario's London Health Sciences Centre ... said it doesn't perform a tracheostomy for patients who have no hope of recovery."Which is interesting...

An Emotional Grand Rounds

Dr Val presents this week's collection of medblog posts organized by various emotions. Provocative and effecti...

Do We Really Need Insurance For This?

Acupuncturists who are getting snubbed by insurance companies are watching carefully as the Colorado Legislature nears approval of a bill requiring insurers to include them in covered treatments.A bill given preliminary approval in the Senate on Monday doesn't require health insurers to cover acupuncture treatments. But for those policies that do, insurers would have to accept claims by licensed acupuncturists.Currently...

Email From a Friend

This arrived a short while ago and I decided to share it. No one knows when their health will change.Everything happens for a reason.God has a plan for me - I just wish His plan didn't include cancer.On the first of the year, we discovered a lump on the left side of my neck. After a failed ten day regimen of antibiotics, a CT scan was done on the February 25 which indicated three tumors. Of course,...

The Good of the Many, The Needs of the Few

Over the years, we've posted numerous entries to our "Stupid Carrier Tricks" series. The common theme is that insurance companies, like any other corporation, have no "ethics." And yet, carriers are made up of people, and people do (or don't).The other day, I attended a CE (Continuing Education) class on Ethics. My fellow participants couldn't understand why I was giggling about an "Ethics" course...

Goodbye Health Insurance, Hello Health Care

Obamacare was hammered out behind closed doors and passed in the middle of the night by people who never bothered to read the bill or even think about the consequences of what they had unleashed. One year later and Obamacrap is still in its' infancy but is already having a noticeable impact on health insurance . . . most of it negative from a consumer perspective.Health insurance companies have responded...

The MVNHS© Hates Seniors

Well, what other conclusion can you draw from this:"Thousands of older cancer patients are being denied potentially life-saving surgery because of ageism in the NHS."As we've documented countless times before, the Much Vaunted National Health System© consistently looks for ways to ration care to its elderly population. Certainly, this is an easy (if morally bankrupt) way to rein in runaway health...

Viagra - It's Not For Everyone

Seems the taxpayers have been funding fun for seniors on Medicare to the tune of $3 million. Since 2007 we have been paying for Viagra for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries.The Medicare Part D program was not supposed to fund prescriptions for erectile dysfunction but due to a computer glitch the prescription drug program has paid for it any way.The insurance program for the elderly and disabled...

Why is this News?

According to HuffPo, "57% of Americans that lost jobs could not afford to buy health insurance".Well duh?They probably are having trouble affording housing, food and basic necessities of life.So why is this the headline?In addition, 19 million Americans who tried to buy a health plan in the individual insurance market between 2007 and 2010 were either rejected due to a prior health condition or unable...

Close, but no cigar?

I've often wondered why group plans, unlike individual medical, don't differentiate between smokers and non-smokers. It's long been known that tobacco-users have higher frequency of claims, miss more work, and generally drive up the cost of healthcare (and thus, insurance).Until recently, though, this has not been reflected in group medical plan rates. When requesting group quotes, we typically include...

Cavalcade of Risk #127: Call for submissions

Irwin Jacob at My Personal Financial Journey makes his hosting debut next week. Submissions are due this Monday (the 21st), and Irwin asks that you include:■ Your blog's url■ Your post's url■ The post's trackback URL (if available)■ A (brief) summary of the postAnd PLEASE remember: ONLY posts that relate to risk (not personal finance tips and the like).You can submit your post via Blog Carniv...

Testing 1, 2, 3....

The folks at the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) have introduced an interesting (if flawed) interactive quiz about ObamaCare©. It's 10 simple questions that ostensibly test one's knowledge of that train-wreck, and then offers up your "score."The problem is that at least two of their "correct' answers are wrong:2. Will the health reform law allow a government panel to make decisions about end-of-life...

Show some CLASS, man!

As we've reported, the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) act, part of ObamaCare©, has some major structural flaws. One of the most critical of these is that it is, to be blunt, unsustainable.But what does that mean?The dictionary defines 'unsustainable' as "not able to be maintained or supported in the future," or, as we put it, "a plan that's guaranteed issue, with (ostensibly)...

Health Wonk Review: Spring has sprung!

Glenn Laffel hosts this week's round-up of wonky posts, in his own version of spring traini...

In case there were any doubts...

About the endgame here, noted rightwinger John Conyers thoughtfully explains:[Hat tip: Hot A...

Open Mic Night: HHS Secretary Shecantbeserious

They say that when one door closes, another opens. It appears that even as Gilbert "Aflac" Gottfried exited stage left, Cabinet member cum comedienne Shecantbeserious has entered stage right. In her stand-up debut at Politico, she rocked the house with some great one-liners:"Just 12 months after [ObamaCrap] became law, the American people are enjoying new protections, greater freedoms and lower costs.Children...