[Vision2020] Health care {insurance} reform passed

[Ron Force]

Under the reconciliation bill in the Senate, the Fed picks up 100% of the increase in Medicaid until 2016; 95% in 2017; 94%in 2018; and 93% in 2019.  By 2020 I would bet we're looking at a greatly modified health care system, moving closer to single-payer.

How many of the new Medicaid patients are already having their medical bills paid by the county? Or having their bills paid by insured patients because the Drs/hospitals can't collect?

Ron Force
Moscow ID USA




________________________________
From: Love America <skialaska0 at gmail.com>
To: Andreas Schou <ophite at gmail.com>
Cc: vision2020 <vision2020 at moscow.com>; Donovan Arnold <donovanjarnold2008 at yahoo.com>
Sent: Wed, March 24, 2010 6:17:13 PM
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Health care {insurance} reform passed


A lot of you are missing the point of why states need to stop certain aspects of the new health care law...
Look at FY08 Medicaid spending in Idaho... $369,000,000 for around 220,000 residents or around $1670 per person.  Under the new laweveryone who is Medicaid eligible will be required to go on Medicaid.   A quick glance at the number of people in Idaho reveals that around 450,000 residents fit the new guidelines...The entire budget of the university system was $399 million in FY08.  So double the amount of money the state is forced to spend and what is left for the state to do?   Shut down the entire university system?  Double state income and sales taxes?  Just about every state has a severe budget crisis now, how in the heck does each state handle doubling the number of residents on Medicaid??? Idaho, Alaska, Arizona, etc. is not going to get more funds from the federal government to cover Medicaid.  
 
Then add in that Medicaid sucks, you have no real choice of doctors, they decide your treatment plans and options, they can deny "expensive" medications, many states drug test those who receive Medicaid, other add in the insult of throwing in various child protective service requirements.  It is clear that members of both political parties consider those to be on Medicaid to be drugged out child beaters since we all know poor folks are evil...Once the poor in this country realize how shafted they are under this new system maybe they will complain...but I doubt it.   Have any of you actually read the new law?  Please read it, ignore the commentators and politicians and news outlets, just read it and realize what we have just done as a nation.  It is scary.   If we really want government health care lets just do it right and adopt Canada's plan....     


On Wed, Mar 24, 2010 at 2:22 PM, Andreas Schou <ophite at gmail.com> wrote:

Donovan --  
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>
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>I just took a look at those numbers again (they didn't look right) and found that I made a mistake in my back-of-the-envelope corrections.
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>At a 3% rate of inflation, the family of two you described comes out over the 133%-of-poverty threshold, making her (based on her unmodified gross income) ineligible for Medicaid. Interestingly, she makes $184 dollars over the poorest possible individual that might have have to pay for insurance. This indicates that whomever you're relying on for your numbers invented her as the poorest possible person to have to pay for health care, receiving the lowest possible subsidy.
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>Unfortunately, however, while the health care bill eliminates certain exemptions for modified gross income (like child-care) for eligibility purposes, it includes an unconditional exemption equal to 5% of the poverty line, or a little over $750 in 2014 dollars. Consequently, she just barely scrapes under the wire for eligibility, and can receive Medicaid, which exempts her from the mandate.
>
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>-- ACS
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>* http://healthaffairs.org/blog/2010/03/19/the-health-care-reform-reconciliation-bill/
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