ObamaCare Lawsuit Attempts to re-instate cancelled plans

Lawsuit seeks to reinstate canceled health plans By JULIET WILLIAMS Associated Press * SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- A state lawmaker who is running for state insurance commissioner said Wednesday that he is suing California's health benefits exchange for wrongly cutting off more than 1 million insurance policies and for what he called wasting taxpayer money on useless marketing campaigns. Covered California violated federal and state laws by telling insurers that wanted to participate in the exchange that they must eliminate plans that fail to meet the higher standards of the federal Affordable Care Act, Sen. Ted Gaines, R-Roseville, alleges in a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court. He claims the agency's board violated the law a second time when it voted last November not to extend those policies after President Barack Obama made that option available. A spokesman for Covered California, James Scullary, said it would be inappropriate for the agency to comment before it has been served with the lawsuit. Covered California says 829,000 Californians have enrolled in health insurance plans through the exchange, but it has acknowledged that more than 1 million policies could be eliminated. The number of those gaining coverage through the exchange is expected to rise as the March 31 enrollment deadline for the year approaches. Additionally, some of the people whose previous policies were cancelled are likely to have purchased new policies sold through Covered California. The Obama administration on Wednesday announced a two-year extension for individual policies that don't meet requirements of the new health care law for the states that had opted to allow them to continue, which about half the states did. In California, Gaines, who also owns an insurance agency, said hundreds of millions of dollars in marketing and outreach have been wasted because fewer people overall will have insurance, given the cancellations. Millions more, he said, will be phased out next year when a new mandate takes effect that requires certain employers to offer coverage to employees. Among the wasted money Gaines cited in the lawsuit are $106.2 million on outreach that "has failed to obtain significant enrollment, or a demographically or actuarially diverse enrollment," more than $10 million on a contract with public relations firm Weber Shandwick and $1.3 million for an infomercial starring fitness guru Richard Simmons. Gaines' campaign for insurance commissioner immediately sent an email Wednesday announcing the lawsuit and soliciting contributions to help him in his "campaign against Obamacare." Gaines said in a conference call with reporters that he asked Covered California Executive Director Peter Lee to provide details on how much has been spent on marketing and outreach and for what, but "I didn't get any clarity in terms of how that money is being spent."

COVERED CALIFORNIA BOTCHS PROVIDER DIRECTORIES

Peter Lee, head of the Covered Califonria Health Benefit Exchange announced the removal of it’s provider directories on the Covered California website, effective immediately.

Prospective enrollees will now have to coordinate the insurer, the plan, and the providers by going to the insurer web site directly, ie Blue Shield, Healthnet, Kaiser, Anthem, and others.  

This was necessary due to the massive errors in listings of providers who have not been contacted, nor enrolled in the Covered California program. Many patients called the listed providers to find out their provider had not enrolled, and were listed in error. Covered California copied the provider lists for each insurer participating in Covered California.

This is merely the top of the iceberg and we head further into the Affordable Care Act. Many more ‘surprises’ will surface as patients and providers begin using this system.

Nancy Pelosi was correct. We won’t know what is in the Affordable Care Act until it is passed.

Apparently the ‘Amazon” shopping cart model is a FAIL.  

It becomes extremely obvious there was little if any congressional oversight in planning and implementing the workings of the exchanges despite several years of forewarning.

Despite Obama’s promises of ‘if you like your doctor, your hospital”…….etc that may not be the case without much head scratching, or even not at all if your doctor has not signed up for the health benefit exchange roster.  And many have not enrolled as providers, taking a wait and see attitude how well it is going to work. It will take at least one year for an assessment of each plan by individual providers.

You see it’s no longer about the patient which really  exasperates most of  us who are licensed and given the responsibility with diminishing authority to care for our patients.  

Ignoring these problems will not improve  health care delivery. Why was the insurance industry not consulted on the process of enrollment and the administrative process ?

HEALTH REFORM AND SAD FACTS

It is a sad fact that those who propose a government run health care system, are misinformed about containment of health care costs.  They argue that ‘non-entrepenurial’ systems elimlinate abuse and misuse of health care resources. However,the end game of reducing costs to the  patient, and payor is offset by the increase in bureaucracy. Institutions, and provider groups will hire watchdogs as overseers to monitor the ‘quality’ of healthcare. The expense of this will be considerable to providers organization. The cost however will be absorbed and shifted to the ‘producers’ of the organization.  I was mistaken about this in my own ‘opinions’ about containing costs until I worked at a military hospital as a civilian contractor.  These organizations compete internally for allocation of ‘fixed dollars’ by ‘proving’ they produce. Departmental budgets are determined by ‘utilization, which is monitored by evaluating RVUs generated by providers. If RVUs diminish so too does there budget.  (or overall institution).  Coding experts regularly ‘train’ providers to ‘upcode’ their services. The military in particular has their own system of using

CPT codes. I would be honest in stating that this is not due to greed, but the fear that by not reporting every RVU nickel that department would be penalized. The emphasis is to ‘spend every dollar’ each fiscal year for fear of losing it in the next billing cycle.   I was amazed one day to see an emergency patient who came in with a ‘simple migraine headache’  The ER provider note’s treatment plan included a  “screening MRI”.  Perhaps this is the new paradigm for younger   providers who do rely much more heavily upon technology. Providers in this environment also seem to order more lab tests because they don’t think it ‘costs’ the system’ when a patient (or they ) never see a ‘bill’ to whomever supplies the services.  Particularly in the military these services are provided by ‘outside contractors’ who must be reimbursed as well. 

Many of the military functions are now provided by  outside civilian contractors, such as security or supply chain functions.  This also occurs for medicine and health. For the short term of needed services hiring a contractor also involves a human resources company who does the actual hiring. The intermediary company is often paid on the basis of the reimbursement for the contractor. These firms often charge an equal amount as to what the contractor is reimbursed.  Hidden in this cost if housing and transportation.

Those who observe “our system’ from 40,000 feet really have inadequate knowledge of how the systems work internally.  Those who regulate have little involvement in how and how much it costs to regulate. That is contracted out to third parties, whose costs are ‘hidden’  Congressman Pete Stark frequently tell us the overhead for medicare is 2-3%. That is just not true.  Medicare costs us much more due to cost shifting to private payors and hospitals because their rates are miserably low, and other payors pick up the difference.  Medicare and Medicaid do share in only a portion of the costs of the uninsured. This is passed on to County and State governments.  Statistic lie.

A loud rumbling is beginning in the Internal Revenue Service.  During 2013 complaints were filed by many organizations filing to become  non profit status. Delays have increased, telephone inquiries are answered less than 80% of the time by live personell, tax return and income verifications are not done in real time, as well as bizarre events such as over 2,000 refund checks being sent to the same physical address.  It seem automation and computerization can only go so far. Increasing public, national debit have resulted in sequestration, a budgetary fix that among other things has reduced the IRS budget by 10%, and IRS training by 87%.  Taxpayers can no longer obtain accurate or reliable information from the IRS.

Couple this with the  Affordable Care Act and the additional mandate for the IRS to administer compliance with the indivual insurance mandate and for enforcement…..this is an event and disaster waiting to happ

If you are upset about the government running General Motors, just wait….Is health care deemed “Too big to fail?” or Too big to suceed”?

National Press Club from Washington, D.C. Free Webinar, limited seating

Fresh ideas and a new vision for health reform

Vision, policy, and politics

Please plan to join us virtually via webcast or in person tomorrow for a conversation over the vision, policy, and politics of health reform that relies on incentives, genuine competition, and consumer choice.

In person: Thursday (Feb. 27) National Press Club Ballroom, Washington, DC, beginning at 8:30 a.m. EST

Virtually: http://www.galen.org/events/health-solutions-conference/

The stage is being set right now for a pivotal debate over ObamaCare in the 2014 elections – whether it will ultimately get “fixed” or replaced by credible free-market policies.  Join us tomorrow (Thursday) as top political and policy leaders discuss “Fresh ideas and a new vision for health reform.” 

•  What are the problems we are trying to solve in the health sector?
• How would market-based solutions achieve meaningful reform?

Vision: Panel I will feature a discussion with leading members of Congress talking about their vision of a true market-based health reform. Six leaders will describe a health sector where incentives are properly aligned and consumers have more control over choices in a truly competitive market.

Sen. Richard Burr, NC
Rep. Diane Black, TN
Rep. Michael Burgess, TX
Rep. Tom Price, GA 
Rep. Phil Roe, TN
Rep. Steve Scalise, LA
*Moderated by Douglas Holtz-Eakin, American Action Forum

Policy:  On Panel II, 10 policy experts from the major market-oriented think tanks will translate the vision into policy solutions for real insurance with real examples of portability and tax fairness, protections for those with pre-existing conditions, and a strong safety net.

Jeffrey H. Anderson, Ph.D., 2017 Project
Joseph R. Antos, Ph.D., American Enterprise Institute
James C. Capretta, Ethics and Public Policy Center
John C. Goodman, Ph.D., National Center for Policy Analysis
Hadley A. Heath, Independent Women's Forum
Paul Howard, Ph.D., Manhattan Institute
Merrill Matthews, Ph.D., Institute for Policy Innovation
Thomas P. Miller, J.D., American Enterprise Institute
Nina Owcharenko, The Heritage Foundation
*Moderated by: Grace-Marie Turner, Galen Institute

Politics: Journalist Ezra Klein and Avik Roy, opinion editor of Forbes and Manhattan Institute senior fellow, will give a lively Left/Right preview of the health policy debate in the 2014 and 2016 elections.

Co-sponsoring organizations:  American Action Forum, the American Enterprise Institute, the Ethics and Public Policy Center, the Galen Institute, The Heritage Foundation, the Independent Women’s Forum, the Institute for Policy Innovation, the Manhattan Institute, the National Center for Policy Analysis, the Pacific Research Institute, and the 2017 Project.

There is no charge for attendance, but please register HERE. A continental breakfast and lunch will be served.

The full conference agenda is HERE.

And you can join the live webcast on Thursday morning HERE.

Jeffersonian Thoughts

HOW DID JEFFERSON KNOW ? 

"It has been said the greatest volume of sheer brainpower in one place occurred when Jefferson dined alone..." John Kennedy  

When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe.  

Thomas Jefferson  

The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.  

Thomas Jefferson  

It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes.  

A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world.  

Thomas Jefferson  

I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.  

Thomas Jefferson  

My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.  

Thomas Jefferson  

No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.  

Thomas Jefferson  

The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.  

Thomas Jefferson  

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.  

Thomas Jefferson  

To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.  

Thomas Jefferson

How does this relate to Health Reform......well, everything. Are you willing to give up freedom in exchange for security?

Government Run Health Care A Sad Fact

It will be a sad fact that those who propose a government run health care system, are misinformed about containment of health care costs.  They argue that ‘non-entrepenurial’ systems elimlinate abuse and misuse of health care resources. The end game of reducing costs to the  patient, and payor is offset by the increase in bureaucracy. Institutions, and provider groups will hire watchdogs as overseers to monitor the ‘quality’ of healthcare. The expense of this will be considerable to providers organization. The cost however will be absorbed and shifted to the ‘producers’ of the organization.  I was mistaken about this in my own ‘opinions’ about containing costs until I worked at a military hospital as a civilian contractor.  These organizations compete internally for allocation of ‘fixed dollars’ by ‘proving’ they produce. Departmental budgets are determined by ‘utilization, which is monitored by evaluating RVUs generated by providers. If RVUs diminish so too does there budget.  (or overall institution).  Coding experts regularly ‘train’ providers to ‘upcode’ their services. The military in particular has their own system of using

CPT codes. I would be honest in stating that this is not due to greed, but the fear that by not reporting every RVU nickel that department would be penalized. The emphasis is to ‘spend every dollar’ each fiscal year for fear of losing it in the next billing cycle.   I was amazed one day to see an emergency patient who came in with a ‘simple migraine headache’  The ER provider note’s treatment plan included a  “screening MRI”.  Perhaps this is the new paradigm for younger   providers who do rely much more heavily upon technology. Providers in this environment also seem to order more lab tests because they don’t think it ‘costs’ the system’ when a patient (or they ) never see a ‘bill’ to whomever supplies the services.  Particularly in the military these services are provided by ‘outside contractors’ who must be reimbursed as well. 

Those who observe “our system’ from 40,000 feet really have inadequate knowledge of how the systems work internally.  Those who regulate have little involvement in how and how much it costs to regulate. That is contracted out to third parties, whose costs are ‘hidden’  Congressman Pete Stark frequently tell us the overhead for medicare is 2-3%. That is just not true.  Medicare costs us much more due to cost shifting to private payors and hospitals because their rates are miserably low, and other payors pick up the difference.  Medicare and Medicaid do share in only a portion of the costs of the uninsured. This is passed on to County and State governments.  Statistic lie.

If you are upset about the government running General Motors, just wait….Is health care deemed “Too big to fail?” or Too big to suceed”?

The Future Just Passed

Things are changing quickly, at first it was little things like you are now a primary care provider instead of a GP or Family Physician. Today I read that we are now First Level Providers , or Second Level Providers instead of a specialist. What's in a name....?  Everything. Nomenclature often defines the culture, and new vocabulary and abbreviations change the way we think, write and do.

I am now lumped in with "Vision Care Providers"....which seems to lump me in with Opticians, and Optometrists.   One thing I was always challenged with is the relative lack of sophistication and/or knowledge as to the difference between and O.D. (Optometrist) and M.D. (Ophthalmologist).  In recent years Optometrists become certified in therapeutics for treatment of some eye conditions.  The threshold for medical treatment has been lowered substantially.

Health Reform iinvolves both quantity and quality of health care. During the most recent decades there are many who argue that quantity does not equate with quality of care.  Measuring quality is challenging at to where to look.  Recent ideas include better outcomes (ostensibly measured by the number of reductions in readmission after hospitalization within the first 30 days of discharge.  That metric however encompasses a small measure of health delivery.

The  outpatient, or ambulatory service setting presents the majority of health expense and visits, save for long term care of the aged population.

The affordable care act will markedly increase outpatient services for states who have opted-in for medicaid expansion.  This will be covered in an upcoming edition.