Obamacare wins? See you in 2014

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kbot
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Post by kbot » 10-23-2013 08:26 AM

Riddick wrote: "You may have noticed that all the Nigerian email scammers have become a lot less active lately. They all have been hired to run the Obamacare website."
- Sen. Ted Cruz speaking to constituents in Texas


What about the Elbonians?

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Post by voguy » 10-23-2013 04:28 PM

kbot wrote: Wonder if there will be any complaints about the mark-up for those items? :D


They will get the sticks from kids, then mark them up as new. What do you think.... 300% profit?
"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

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Post by kbot » 10-23-2013 04:54 PM

voguy wrote: They will get the sticks from kids, then mark them up as new. What do you think.... 300% profit?


Or buy them in bulk from a crafts store........

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Post by voguy » 10-23-2013 04:58 PM

Probably true. I just know if they can't get a web site right, and if they have all the squabbling and denial of problems over computer code, there is no damn way anyone can be trusted for healthcare. At this point I would be afraid they would kill me so they could sell my body to a medical school. :)
"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

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Post by kbot » 10-23-2013 07:11 PM

Oh,. this is nothing.

Starting Oct 1, 2014, the US is going to covert over to ICD-10 billing codes.

So, what does that mean? Well, picture this, let's say that there are about 16,000 diagnosis codes. Next year, ALL claims will need to be submitted using the nearly 80,000 codes - and hardly anyone is trained.

And, this is in the real world. In the government, it's far worse.

So, claims processed after Oct 1, 2014, will have an automatic delay built-in because claims denials are expected to increase because of the issues with the switchover.

But, that's OK< because in a few years we will be moving to ICD-11..........

And the nightmare begins!!!!!!

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Post by voguy » 10-23-2013 07:31 PM

The larger the bureaucracy, the less the medical compassion.
"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

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Post by Cherry Kelly » 10-24-2013 10:10 AM

The whole thing is a mess...

Now - "thinking about delaying it"

Now - no one seems to know what is going on... and in the meantime the blame goes... into ethernet....

ehh?!

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Post by kbot » 10-24-2013 11:15 AM

voguy wrote: The larger the bureaucracy, the less the medical compassion.


Well, we "need" all those regulations that somehow weren't part of the original bill that was made law, but have somehow since been added. And, of course, all this creates a (wait for it....) - new bureaucracy!!!!!!

Not that it's "better", just "new", and most importantly -"government-controlled".

It'll be like merging the best of the government (think DMV) and healthcare. It'll give a whole new meaning and dynamic to colonscopies and pelvic exams :D

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Post by kbot » 10-24-2013 11:17 AM

Cherry Kelly wrote: The whole thing is a mess...

Now - "thinking about delaying it"

Now - no one seems to know what is going on... and in the meantime the blame goes... into ethernet....

ehh?!


Why delay? They've already had a few years and spent billions to implement.....

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Post by Riddick » 10-24-2013 02:02 PM

Trouble in Paradise?
Excerpted from firstread.nbcnews.com:
  • One of the chief reasons why Democrats won the fight over the government shutdown was the party’s impressive unity. Every Democrat stood together-- whether it was the White House, blue-state members, or red-state members. But that same 100% unity doesn’t exist when it comes to the woes associated with the federal health-care website, especially among red- and purple-state Democrats.

    Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) says he has drafted legislation to delay the first year of penalties for consumers who don’t have insurance, NBC’s Kasie Hunt reports. Other red-state House Democrats (John Barrow, Kyrsten Sinema) have also called for a possible delay.
    ...
    To us, this entire website story is going to turn out to be one of two things -- either a replay of the BP oil spill (a taxing three-month story that, even if it turns out well, will take a toll), or a replay of the first Obama-Romney debate (which received so much press and commentary, but mattered very little in the end).

    While the BP spill eventually got plugged, don’t forget that it came during the spring and summer before the 2010 midterms, and it didn’t help the Democrats in their effort to convince the country that things were headed in the right direction, or help them explain what the health-care law was about that had passed just weeks before the spill. But right now, we just don’t know which way this website story will play out.
    ...
    As we reported last night, the White House says that it intends to delay the enrollment deadline for individuals to be required to buy health insurance -- by as much as six weeks. To avoid a tax penalty, as the law currently stands, Americans would have needed to start the application process by Feb 15. But with this change, the administration is trying to make it so that people will need to have STARTED the enrollment process by March 31 to avoid any financial penalty.

    The White House insists that this “slide” of the enrollment deadline has nothing to do with the website issues, and was something that was simply a quirk in the law and one they have would clarified or synchronized regardless of what was happening with the website.

    But the timing, coming right when a slew of congressional Democrats are talking up some deadline sliding themselves, doesn’t help their cause. And whether the White House likes this or not, it creates an IMPRESSION that these deadlines are potentially more moveable than they have insisted.

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Post by Doka » 10-24-2013 03:25 PM

I heard someone on the radio say that Obama Care was meant to fail, so they could blame it on the Republicans and get a "single payer" plan going.

Well as far as I can see people are taking a look at the government not even being able to get a computer site up and are saying "What!" " You want to be in charge of my health care!?"

Things are not going as planned, the gov is looking stupid, not good. Hang on to your hats, I would just bet, they are planning another "False Flag" operation, to take our minds off health care.
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Those Who Can Make You Believe Absurdities, Can Make You Commit Atrocities': Voltaire

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Post by Riddick » 10-24-2013 03:37 PM

kbot wrote: It'll be like merging the best of the government (think DMV) and healthcare. It'll give a whole new meaning and dynamic to colonscopies and pelvic exams :D
Delivered by Nurse Patty and Nurse Selma. (*shudder*)

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Post by voguy » 10-24-2013 06:27 PM

Doka wrote: I heard someone on the radio say that Obama Care was meant to fail, so they could blame it on the Republicans and get a "single payer" plan going.

Well as far as I can see people are taking a look at the government not even being able to get a computer site up and are saying "What!" " You want to be in charge of my health care!?"


I've not heard that it was meant to fail. What I have heard is that initially this was suppose to be a 5-year roll-out, and it was rushed into without the thought. As one person put it, now that they passed the bill, they know what code is in it. <g>

That said, a dem friend of mine got his look at the plans and ironically he'll be paying $131.94 more for the lowest cost plan, and less benefits (such as wellness checkups). So much for the savings.
"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

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Post by kbot » 10-25-2013 05:41 AM

That said, a dem friend of mine got his look at the plans and ironically he'll be paying 1.94 more for the lowest cost plan, and less benefits (such as wellness checkups). So much for the savings.


Paying more for less. With government-involvement, that sounds about right.

People need to remember that there is a whole new level of overhead built into this system. One of the biggest complaints about healthcare is the cost of administrative staff who "contribute nothing" to the provision of direct patient care.

And there certainly is an argument that can be made here. Administrative staff by their very nature do NOT directly contribute to patient care.

But, in the system we have now, healthcare organizations are required both by virtue of the business model, as well as a whole range of either government (federal, state and local) regulations, as well as other non-government agenecies (such as the Joint Commission on Healthcare Organizations) to maintain staff to deal with regulatory and other administrative issues.

Having administrative staff for compliance with these regulations and standards is required even to be considered for reimbursement since standards compliance is linked directly to reimbursement - and the staff providing the care cannot take the time away from providing the care to work fulltime in compliance issues.

Then there is the staff needed to process orders and so forth.

And then there is the insurance companies and their bureaucracy.

Add to this ANOTHER layer that hasn't existed before that is being created soley through Obamacare. And, remember, these are government workers. So, their pay and benefits package will be derived from taxes as well as probably some monies set aside as administrative costs identified in some line items in Obamacare and its exchange network.

That's 50 states, PLUS the federal layer on top of the system we already have that virtually everyone agrees is a subset of employees that are most probably the group that is eating-up a huge chunk of healthcare dollars.

And - I'm in that group!!!!! My job, now at forty years of being in healthcare, is to basically push paper, deal with regulatory and insurance issues and compliance issues, And it's a fulltime job. This new system makes it infinitely more burdensome.

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Post by voguy » 10-25-2013 03:38 PM

People need to remember that there is a whole new level of overhead built into this system. One of the biggest complaints about healthcare is the cost of administrative staff who "contribute nothing" to the provision of direct patient care.


This is why I advocate dealing direct with a provider rather than an intermediary. If the American people were not so g.d. ignorant of finances, they could realize a hell of a savings by dealing direct. I would rather give $75 cash to someone I know has an interest in me and provides the proper care, rather than dick around with co-pays, insurance, and a $377 deduction from my check each month.
"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

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