insurance

Obamacare Shell Game - UPDATED & BUMPED

Did you qualify for an Obamacare subsidy? Are you sure? Are you really sure? <blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">The Obama administration is contacting hundreds of thousands of people with subsidized health insurance to resolve questions about their eligibility, as consumer advocates express concern that many will be required to repay some or all of the subsidies. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">Federal subsidies for the purchase of private insurance are a cornerstone of the Affordable Care Act. More than eight out of 10 people who selected health plans through the exchanges from October through mid-April were eligible for subsidies, including income tax credits. So far this year the federal government has paid out $4.7 billion in subsidies, and the amount is expected to total $900 billion over 10 years.</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">Since June 1, the government has notified hundreds of thousands of people that “the information in your application doesn’t match what we found in other records.” Accordingly, the notice says, “you need to follow up as soon as possible and provide more documents to make sure the marketplace has the correct information.” </blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/16/us/thousands-to-be-questioned-on-eligibility-for-health-insurance-subsidies.html" target="_blank">N Y Times</a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> So ....................... What happens if your subsidy is disqualified and you can't pay it back? Is your coverage cancelled retroactively? Is your coverage rewritten? Will you have to cancel coverage going forward because it is no longer ................. affordable? UPDATE! <a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwaysandmeans.house.gov%2Fuploadedfiles%2F061014_holtzeakin_testimony_hl.pdf" target="_blank">Testimony before House Ways and Means</a> on the complexity of the Obamacare subsidy calculation and verification process. Summation - The subsidy calculation process is too difficult for consumers, the tax system is too complicated and Obamacare will only make it worse, flaws in the process make it difficult if not impossible to verify leading to fraud.</div> <div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="416" data-total-count="1325" id="story-continues-4" itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 1.4375rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 120px; max-width: 540px; width: 540px;"> </div>

Obamacare Shell Game - UPDATED & BUMPED

Did you qualify for an Obamacare subsidy? Are you sure? Are you really sure? The Obama administration is contacting hundreds of thousands of...

6:45 AM

Fish in a barrel

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.matazone.co.uk/sillyimages/blog/shooting-fish-barrel-medium.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="http://www.matazone.co.uk/sillyimages/blog/shooting-fish-barrel-medium.gif" width="140" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Our good friend <a href="http://themoderatevoice.com/author/holly" target="_blank">Holly R</a> tips us to this leading question: "<a href="http://newrelic.com/healthcare-team?utm_source=TWIT&utm_medium=content&utm_content=healthcarearticle&utm_campaign=promotedtweet&utm_term=webcard&mpc=CN-TWIT-generic-EN-100-healthcarearticle-webcard" target="_blank">Want to learn the lessons from the team that fixed [the] healthcare.gov  site?</a>" That teaser came with a link to a story purporting to delineate the great strides made by the folks behind the 404Care.gov site "fix." It's a reprint of a Time Magazine <strike>whitewash</strike> article "Inside the nightmare launch of HealhCare.gov [sic] and the team that figured out how to fix it." It reads like a breathless whodunit, and introduces us to the geek dream team of "Obama campaign veteran, Mikey Dickerson ... and Jini Kim, a former Google product manager ... New Relic's software analytics suite was part of the group's “tech surge” and was “a key tool that led to several fixes, including a new feature that alerts consumers via email when the exchange is available to process their requests.” Yowza, I can hardly wait! Just a couple questions, though. Did this "fix" actually address, let alone resolve: 1 - The fact that the "<a href="http://www.insureblog.blogspot.com/2014/06/obamacare-shell-game.html" target="_blank">Obama administration is contacting hundreds of thousands of people with subsidized health insurance to resolve questions about their eligibility, as consumer advocates express concern that many will be required to repay some or all of the subsidies?</a>" Or 2 - <a href="http://www.insureblog.blogspot.com/2014/06/rube-goldbergppaca-exchange-info_11.html" target="_blank">The Rube Goldberg system</a> that ostensibly verifies one's Exchange info? Or 3 - The fact that if one "<a href="http://www.insureblog.blogspot.com/2014/06/that-bites.html" target="_blank">is enrolled in both a medical and dental plan through the Marketplace, termination of one plan automatically terms the other, even if the plans are through different carriers?</a>" Or 4 - That "<a href="http://www.insureblog.blogspot.com/2014/06/surprise-surprise-suprise.html" target="_blank">[m]ore than 2 million people who got health insurance under [the ObamaTax] have data discrepancies that could jeopardize coverage ... About 1 in 4 people who signed up have discrepancies?</a>" Or 5 - What happens if <a href="http://www.insureblog.blogspot.com/2014/05/you-are-man-not-woman.html" target="_blank">your sex is incorrectly identified</a>, and you're cut off from your meds as a result? Well? Yeah, thought so. Great team you've got there, Sparky.</div>

Fish in a barrel

Our good friend Holly R tips us to this leading question: " Want to learn the lessons from the team that fixed [the] healthcare.gov s...

5:30 AM

Trust Us ........................

Trust Us ........................

5:03 AM

Hi-Tech Diabetes news

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://music.thewikies.com/jonneal/diabetes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="140" src="http://music.thewikies.com/jonneal/diabetes.jpg" width="140" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Promising news for those with diabetes: "<a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/health/diabetes/bionic-pancreas-astonishes-diabetes-researchers-n130956" target="_blank">A “bionic pancreas” that uses a smart phone, glucose monitor and insulin pump to automatically control blood sugar levels helped more than two dozen people live free of finger pricks and other troublesome reminders of diabetes</a>" What's more, the new device was actually better at controlling symptoms than the patients themselves. It's designed primarily for the roughly 1.5 million Americans who have Type I ("Juvenile") diabetes. It's also get an extra feature: "it delivers another hormone called glucagon, which brings blood sugar back up when it’s too low." The device uses BlueTooth technology to control a set of insulin pumps on and in the abdomen. It's currently in the trial stage, but certainly seems promising. The system is specifically designed for use with an iPhone (4 and above); no word yet on whether there'll be an Android version, as well.</div>

Hi-Tech Diabetes news

Promising news for those with diabetes: " A “bionic pancreas” that uses a smart phone, glucose monitor and insulin pump to automaticall...