It must be quite frustrating to be HHS Secretary Shecantbeserious - she's almost a "reverse Midas." That is, pretty much everything she and her minions touch become massive fails.Latest case in point:"Medicare paid billions in taxpayer dollars to nursing homes nationwide that were not meeting basic requirements to look after...
Jaan Siderov hosts this week's compendium (hey, I thought we were the only folks who used that term!) of wonky healthcare-related posts. As usual, he does it with elan and good humor (not to mention modest acume...
■ As we've long noted (most recently here), The ObamaTax has proven quite lethal to the job market. As if more evidence was needed, we offer this little tidbit:"Henderson Properties in Charlotte, has 48 employees and seven job openings. But he’s considering a hiring freeze ... if he hires two more employees, he’ll reach the...
Sometimes I despair of the modern media. Case in point, Matthew Yglesias and his inane take on a recent Time article on the cost of health care. As co-blogger Nate pointed out, the magazine got almost everything wrong. But that doesn't stop the illustrious Mr Yglesias from piling on, only adding to the torrent of misinformation.To...
As promised, the gates to the ObamaTax High Risk Health Insurance Pool are quickly closing.Via email from Medical Mutual:"[HHS Secretary Shecantbeserious] directed us to suspend enrollment for new applicants into the Ohio High Risk Pool as of the end of the day March 2, 2013 ... We will accept applications until Saturday, March...
If you like the Medicare Advantage plan you have . . . get over it. The rest of us were told if we liked our plan we could keep it but that isn't working out very well.For those who have not been playing along, Obamacare imposes very strict requirements on carriers that sell fully insured health insurance plans. Most...
Oh yeah, now I remember. The Washington Examiner has the story:“A health insurance company headed by an old friend from when President Obama was an Illinois state senator got a $340 million federal loan to establish Obamacare co-ops in New York, New Jersey and Oregon despite having a chronic record of consumer and regulatory...
As we've long noted, Long Term Care insurance rates have been headed ever higher. While John Hancock may have led the charge, other carriers haven't been lagging, and now MassMutual is set to raise new business rates in a few days. From email:"Effective March 1, Illinois, Ohio, Puerto Rico and Vermont will be added to the list of jurisdictions approved for the SignatureCare® 500 long-term care insurance...
While breast cancer is generally pretty treatable (given early detection and regular exams), some forms of the disease are especially pernicious. Now, the Feds have "approved a new "smart bomb" drug ... that can help women with one of the most hard-to-cure types of breast cancer."Called Kadcyla, it attacks HER2-positive form...
Way back in Aught Eight, Bob posted on an interesting, and growing, phenomenon:"[A] poll conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, a leading health policy research group, found that in the past year 7 percent of U.S. adults married so one or the other could get on a partner's health insurance plan."He remarked at the time...
It is Time, hardly a mainstream or respected publication anymore, but that makes it all the more shocking they finally came around to the cost problem, not evil greedy insurance companies.http://healthland.time.com/2013/02/20/bitter-pill-why-medical-bills-are-killing-us/"Stephanie was then told by a billing clerk that the estimated cost of Sean’s visit — just to be examined for six days so a treatment...
In Judaism, when one learns of a death, one praises God, saying: "Baruch atah Adonai, Dayan HaEmet," "Praised are you, O God, the Righteous Judge."Ray Mincer, who passed away this morning at the ripe young age of 78, certainly deserves the Good Lord's attention. I was privileged to know, and be close friends with, Ray for the past 23 or so years. He was a true mensch.We met when he dropped by the...
The crybabies "educators" in the Mason, Ohio (northern Cincinnati suburb) Education Association seem to have missed the news that The ObamaTax would, in fact, affect them:"The union representing 640 teachers and their families has filed a grievance over TrueCost ... several teachers who were pregnant were forced to deliver...
The folks at Universal Orlando have read the Obamacare tea leaves and decided providing health insurance for their part time employees is not in the cards. Part-timers health insurance benefits will terminate 12/31/2013.Universal currently offers part-time workers a limited insurance plan that has low premiums but also caps the payout of benefits. For instance, Universal's plan costs about $18 a week...
[Originally posted February 19, 2013 - scroll down for update] The National Association of Alternative Benefit Consultants is the organization which sponsors my CBC designation. It's made up of, and run by, good folks, and does a good job of hunting up interesting ways for agents to expand their business. Sometimes, though,...
Was helping a friend deal with some family medical issues that unfortunately are not looking good. Due to inadequate insurance they are not getting the care they need. The problem is actually very solvable, they are just choosing not to solve it.This made me think of Do Not Resuscitate(DNR) orders, perfectly legal requests that medical care not be provided. The individual above has self imposed a...
In no particular order:■ Sales ObamaTaxes - Did you know that there's a sales tax on the policies we'll have to buy? Yep, ObamaTaxed if you do, ObamaTaxed if you don't.Sweet.■ As Nate's indicated, small business is a lot more interested in self-funded plan designs these days. Even The Gray Lady seems to have noticed. Of course,...
If you have a Medicare Advantage Plan (MAPD) now it may not be around next year. Or it may be offered again but with higher premiums, lesser benefits, or both.On Friday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid issued a news release stating plans that Humana said would result in reimbursement rates that were worse...
My plans for an early retirement seem to have hit a road bump. I have been discussing with a select few brokers methods we came up with to avoid paying any penalties and offer coverage possibly cheaper then $2,000. Today one of them sent me a link with the basic concept outlined for all to see in LifeHealthPro. It is possible my phone was tapped, or one of the brokers got loose lips; more likely the...
What if Obamacare became the law that never was? The final brick in the plan is to take place 1/1/2014 when "health insurance companies can no longer discriminate against those with pre-existing conditions".The predicted failure of Obamacare has been discussed for years by those in the health insurance industry. The master...
Some interesting numbers in the AP article about Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP) quietly being shut down:"PCIP has served more than 135,000 people ..."the administration said the program has spent about $2.4 billion in taxpayer money on medical claims and nearly $180 million on administrative costs"The numbers that really jumped out to me were the 135,000 people and $180 million on administrative...
