I have been trying to write about something other than Obamacare today since it seems like that topic dominates day after day, but I just can't. This afternoon, the Obama administration announced new "suggestions" which are outrageous even compared to the mess which has taken place before today.
Let's talk about those suggestions. First, the government is asking insurance companies to let people sign up until December 31 and still have coverage on January 1. Remember that until a few weeks ago, the deadline was December 15th. In other words, anyone who wanted a policy effective on the first of the year had to complete enrollment by December 15th. That date was chosen in order to give the insurance companies time to process the applications and get the policies issued. By October 20th, it was clear that the website failures and the millions upon millions of cancellations of existing policies were going to make it very difficult to get people new policies with the inevitable effect that people, perhaps millions of people, would lose their insurance on January first. Of course, the Obamacrats did nothing about this problem for many weeks except to deny that it existed. Now, they want to delay the last date for enrollment to give people more time to sign up. The first delay came recently and it moved the deadline to December 23rd. Today is the second attempt to move that deadline. The problem, of course, is that no insurance company can get a data transfer on New Year's Eve and have the insurance in place by New Year's Day. It just takes time to issue the policy.
Second, the government is asking insurers to let policy holders see out of network doctors and to treat them as if they were in network during the month of January and perhaps for longer. This is perhaps the most outrageous request made so far. Think about it. Millions of people had their existing plans cancelled and were sent to the exchanges to get new coverage. The new policies are priced based upon there being a particular network of doctors and hospitals who have agreed to accept certain levels of payment from the insurance company. In many places (like New York), there is no coverage at all for doctors and hospitals that are not in the network. So what does it mean if the insurance companies treat all the doctors as if they are in network? Will the companies pay the doctors at the rate allowed for in network office visits? Will the companies pay the doctors at the rate charged by the doctors? And what will the doctors charge? Remember that in network doctors actually charge less for most services. Will individuals go to see their regular doctor thinking that they can consider him or her to be in network only to learn that the cost will still be hundreds of dollars? Indeed, even if the insurance companies say that they will treat the doctors as if they are in the network, how many doctors will refuse to participate in that exercise? How many people will go to the doctor and be turned away because they don't have the right coverage?
The truth is that Obama and his people are not just trying to rewrite Obamacare as they go along. The main effort seems to be to try to avoid the political cost suffered due to millions of people losing their coverage.
Obamacare needs to be repealed before the entire healthcare system is destroyed.
Let's talk about those suggestions. First, the government is asking insurance companies to let people sign up until December 31 and still have coverage on January 1. Remember that until a few weeks ago, the deadline was December 15th. In other words, anyone who wanted a policy effective on the first of the year had to complete enrollment by December 15th. That date was chosen in order to give the insurance companies time to process the applications and get the policies issued. By October 20th, it was clear that the website failures and the millions upon millions of cancellations of existing policies were going to make it very difficult to get people new policies with the inevitable effect that people, perhaps millions of people, would lose their insurance on January first. Of course, the Obamacrats did nothing about this problem for many weeks except to deny that it existed. Now, they want to delay the last date for enrollment to give people more time to sign up. The first delay came recently and it moved the deadline to December 23rd. Today is the second attempt to move that deadline. The problem, of course, is that no insurance company can get a data transfer on New Year's Eve and have the insurance in place by New Year's Day. It just takes time to issue the policy.
Second, the government is asking insurers to let policy holders see out of network doctors and to treat them as if they were in network during the month of January and perhaps for longer. This is perhaps the most outrageous request made so far. Think about it. Millions of people had their existing plans cancelled and were sent to the exchanges to get new coverage. The new policies are priced based upon there being a particular network of doctors and hospitals who have agreed to accept certain levels of payment from the insurance company. In many places (like New York), there is no coverage at all for doctors and hospitals that are not in the network. So what does it mean if the insurance companies treat all the doctors as if they are in network? Will the companies pay the doctors at the rate allowed for in network office visits? Will the companies pay the doctors at the rate charged by the doctors? And what will the doctors charge? Remember that in network doctors actually charge less for most services. Will individuals go to see their regular doctor thinking that they can consider him or her to be in network only to learn that the cost will still be hundreds of dollars? Indeed, even if the insurance companies say that they will treat the doctors as if they are in the network, how many doctors will refuse to participate in that exercise? How many people will go to the doctor and be turned away because they don't have the right coverage?
The truth is that Obama and his people are not just trying to rewrite Obamacare as they go along. The main effort seems to be to try to avoid the political cost suffered due to millions of people losing their coverage.
Obamacare needs to be repealed before the entire healthcare system is destroyed.
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