Healthcare

Both of these programs are public health insurance plans, but they are administered very differently and would have drastically different impacts on the healthcare system,

A public health insurance plan, also known as a “public option,” is a government-sponsored plan designed to compete alongside private insurers. It is intended to address the market failure where consumers are faced with only one or two health insurers offering coverage in their area. As a public plan it could have the power to dictate prices, provider networks, and provider reimbursements. It could also potentially indemnify itself for unexpected costs, allowing it to offer insurance at below-market costs.

Single-payer is a health insurance system that is wholly sponsored and administered by a single entity with no direct private market competition. Private insurers would not be able to offer any primary coverage, although in some proposals they would be able to offer supplemental coverage to those who choose to purchase. Providers would be compensated directly by the government, which would also set reimbursement rates, networks, and costs of services. Rationing of services would be among its strongest tool to control costs.

Existing public healthcare plans like Medicare and Medicaid already demonstrate the challenges faced by government-run insurance plans and their ability to provide adequate coverage to their beneficiaries. They may provide less coverage and restrict provider access more than the average employer-sponsored plan, with the Congressional Budget Office estimating that the benefit package for Medicare is 15% below the average employer-sponsored plan. Under Medicaid, specialists are often inaccessible without long waits. Extending this government-run coverage to all Americans would exacerbate these inefficiencies, high costs, and bureaucracy, along with unilaterally restricting consumer choice. Further, the experience of the ACA’s healthcare CO-OP program, where 16 of the 23 non-profit cooperatives failed after their first three years, demonstrates that challenges that would plague a fully government-run insurance plan.

Employee Benefit Advisor’s would like to acknowledge the National Association of Health Underwriters for the content of this blog. EBA is a member of NAHU.

The New York Times reports the Affordable Care Act may have to change to survive. Bill Clinton calls Obamacare the “Craziest thing in the world.” Bloomberg Politics reports Obama says ACS has “real Problems.”

Wasn’t Obamacare supposed to solve out countries insurance woes? Now, before it can be fully implemented – it is being recommended the Public Option is the answer. Why would anyone trust the same people that said we could keep our doctor and it would drive down health care cost – amongst other promises?

The public option would be a government-sponsored and government-run insurance plan, modeled after Medicare which would be offered as an alternative to the private-insurance plans. Democrats are saying it is needed to save Obamacare. What’s wrong with this model? Medicare adds another 3% administrative cost to insurance as it must pass through the insurance carriers and the government. Take away the insurance carriers (as some suggest) and now we have a government monopoly, with no competition, no checks-and-balances. We’ll have far worse than the VA on our hands. And rationing of health care will be a fact.

America will deserve the government it votes for, good or bad.

Call me a cynic.

Revolutionize health insurance, save states billions and render Obamacare obsolete – that’s the message from the 2016 Direct Primary Care Summit.

Under a DPC model, patients pay a monthly membership fee directly to a physician in exchange for preventive care services, consultation by e-mail or phone and in-office procedures and diagnostics. Estimates range from $50 to $125 pending several factors, i.e. services, geography, etc. Contracts are between patients and insurers. Members will need to purchase “wraparound” insurance to cover non-primary medical needs. (EBA believes this will be most effective inside the employer market where buying power and health advocacy can be leveraged.)

It’ll be interesting to see how the government reacts to DPC. The DPC proponents are touting it as an avenue for physician’s being able to afford to opt out as a Medicare provider. Doctors reduce their overhead 20 to 40 percent with reduced paperwork, compliance and staff needs.

(Summit hosts are the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), the Family Medicine Education Consortium, and the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians.)

Employee Benefit Advisors provides employee benefits, tax-advantaged healthcare, compliance guidance for ACA and Health & Welfare DOL Audits, and PEO Advisory & Consulting Services. We can customize a wellness plan for your budget and culture.

The Obama Administration is encouraging young adults to obtain coverage through health insurance marketplaces, which need healthy people to balance sicker ones in the risk pool. Why is this important? Keep reading.

Aetna projects over $300 million loss on ACA business and announced that it will stop selling in 11 of the 15 states where it currently offers individual insurance on the Affordable Care Act exchanges.  – Aetna released its second-quarter earnings report and also announced it will not go forward with previous plans to expand its offerings on state health insurance exchanges.  Aetna CEO Mark T. Bertolini said if the company cannot fix this aspect of its business then it will leave the exchanges.

Humana Plans to Scale Back ACA Business. – Humana is concerned about growing losses in its ACA business and “set aside about $208 million more in the second quarter to cover losses in” its ACA business. Humana said it plans to “scale back” its individual business for 2017, which means it will offer coverage in only 156 counties, compared to 1,351 in 2016, and it will sell healthcare plans through Affordable Care Act exchanges in 11 states, compared to 15 this year.

Obama Administration Sues to Prevent Mergers of Big Insurers – The Obama Administration is attempting to prevent the mergers of four large insurers. The Justice Department sued Anthem, Cigna, Aetna, and Humana to block their mergers, saying that they “would ‘drastically’ curb competition in the insurance industry,” and negatively impact options for consumers who purchase coverage through Affordable Care Act exchanges. (Finally, something on which Employee Benefit Advisors agrees with the Administration.) Aetna and Humana announced a plan to sell some of their assets with the aim of gaining regulatory approval for their proposed merger.

Employee Benefit Advisors provides employee benefits, tax-advantaged healthcare, compliance guidance for ACA and Health & Welfare DOL Audits, and PEO Advisory & Consulting Services. We can customize a wellness plan for your budget and culture.

ACA Enrollment Down To About 11.1M – CMS figures show that enrollment under the ACA dropped from 1.6 million people down to 11.1 million. Nearly 85 percent of remaining enrollees, 9.4 million, were receiving tax credits averaging $291 per month to help them pay their premiums.

Battle over ACA Continues In Court and In Congress – Surprise! The Obama Administration and Congress are again at odds over the ACA. The Administration filed an appeal to US Judge Rosemary Collyer’s ruling that it used Treasury funds to subsidize ACA plans without approval from Congress. House Republicans unveiled a report which concluded that the Administration proceeded to use the funds despite knowing that congressional approval was necessary. The “scathing report” concluded the Administration “ignored its own advice and forged ahead with Obamacare payments to insurers without permission from Congress.” In 2012, the Treasury Department concluded Congress would have to approve funding for the ACA’s cost-sharing program, yet “the administration quietly withdrew its budget request for the program drafting a memo that said it didn’t need Congress’ blessing and running it by then-Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.”

President Obama Renews Call for Public Option – Healthcare reform has already proven to be a major player in the election debate, President Obama is advocating once again for a “public option.” This, along with proposals to cap the employer exclusion as well as single-payer initiatives in both Colorado and New York.

Employee Benefit Advisors provides employee benefits, tax-advantaged healthcare, compliance guidance for ACA and Health & Welfare DOL Audits, and PEO Advisory & Consulting Services. We can customize a wellness plan for your budget and culture.

Insurers Plan to Significantly Raise Premiums – Citing huge losses on ACA plans.

Continued Disapproval Of ACA – A new survey released by the Pew Research Center found that 54 percent of consumers still disapprove of it. Data show 31 percent of respondents believe the ACA “has had a mostly negative effect on them and their families.”

An End To Protections For People With Serious Illnesses, Pre-Existing Conditions. – The ACA’s protections for people with pre-existing conditions are raising costs and limiting options for everyone. Under the ACA, insurers cannot charge higher premiums for people with serious illnesses, or deny coverage because of pre-existing conditions. Suggestions are to end these protections, and create risk pools by states so that these consumers “can get affordable coverage. … You dramatically lower the price for everybody else. You make health insurance so much more affordable, so much more competitive and open up competition.”

Medicare Physician Reimbursement Proposal Could Reduce Number Of Practices. – A new proposal “designed to change how Medicare pays clinicians represent[s] the most sweeping overhaul the CMS has made in a long time to the business of running a physician practice.” The objective is to have most Medicare reimbursements “flow through payment models that reward doctors for the quality of care they deliver, not just how many patients they see.” These changes could “upend the way medicine is practiced today, accelerating the move toward hospital employment and making the small group practice a thing of the past.”

Audit Finds IRS Overpaid Some ACA Plan Enrollees By $8 Million. – An audit conducted by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration found the “IRS mistakenly overpaid more than $8 million to HealthCare.gov customers and Obamacare users in California, and cheated tens of thousands of others out of nearly $2 million in 2015 because the government relied on incorrect information to figure their taxes.” Data show some “70,850 filers received $8.3 million in federal subsidies that they didn’t deserve, while roughly 69,400 taxpayers missed out on $1.9 million they should have got.” The article says the issue resulted “from erroneous forms the government sent to about 800,000 customers, which used the wrong benchmark to measure what their Obamacare payments should have been.”

More Employers Hiring Freelancers Due To Costs Associated With ACA. – Employers are getting rid of health benefits by shrinking their full-time workforce and hiring freelancers due to the increase in costs caused by the Affordable Care Act. Data show about “one-third of companies intend to work towards ‘eliminating’ healthcare benefits because of the ACA…and 60 percent of companies intend to hire more freelance employees than full-time employees.”

Here are some headlines you’re nor hearing unless you’re paying really close attention to the ACA (Affordable Care Act), aka Obamacare.

12 failed co-ops which were created under the Affordable Care Act could cost taxpayers $1.2 billion – Four of the remaining co-ops created under the Affordable Care Act are experiencing weak enrollment, which is another indication that the startups remain on shaky ground. Data show these four co-ops have not yet signed up a minimum of 25,000 members, a crucial threshold which allows them to cover costs.

UnitedHealthcare to Drop Obamacare Exchanges in most states by 2017 – UHC expects to loose $650mm this year.

Despite ACA, Patients Still Subject To Surprise Medical Bills – Surprise medical bills happen most often in an ER visit when a hospital contracts with medical providers – including doctors, surgeons, anesthesiologists, lab technicians – that do not accept the same insurance plans the hospital does.

The maximum out-of-pocket costs will rise – Consumers can expect to pay more for healthcare costs. OOP expenses will rise to $7,150 for an individual / $14,300 for a family. Placing a significant financial burden on middle-income Americans who need a substantial amount of care.

State Medicaid Agencies Want Congress to Repeal ACA Insurance Tax – Medicaid agencies want lawmakers to permanently repeal the tax on health insurers. The article says “most private health insurance plans have had to pay the tax themselves,” but “states that contract with Medicaid managed-care plans have had to cover the premium tax to ensure that the health plans receive actuarially sound rates.” Some 38 states and Washington, DC contract with Medicaid managed-care plans.

HealthCare.gov Continues To Be Vulnerable To Hackers – The GAO reports that security flaws ‘will likely continue to jeopardize the confidentiality, integrity and availability of HealthCare.gov.

It’s been six years since the ACA was signed into law. How’s it going?

Employee Benefit Advisors provides employee benefits, tax-advantaged healthcare, compliance guidance for ACA and Health & Welfare DOL Audits, and PEO Advisory & Consulting Services. We can customize a wellness plan for your budget and culture.

Sixty-four year-old grandfathers incur nine times more medical expenses than their eighteen year-old grandsons. But under small group ACA adjusted community rating, their health premiums can be no more than three times the cost charged to their second generation progeny, who now pay more to subsidize their forefathers.

Female rates have always been within the 3:1 age ratio due to the expenses of childbearing years. So the major impact of ACA adjusted community rating falls on the cost of young men.

The ACA also eliminated health risk rating for small groups. Thus small employer groups composed chiefly of young male or healthy employees are paying much higher health premiums than necessary to cover their risk.

Many small employers are migrating from fully-insured plans that are priced by adjusted community rating to partially self-funded plans that are priced for their own employees’ actual age, gender, and health risk profile.

Employee Benefit Advisors can help you with Level Funding, Traditional Self-Funding, and Employer Group Stop Loss Captives. Employee Benefit Advisors provides employee benefits, tax-advantaged healthcare, compliance guidance for ACA and Health & Welfare DOL Audits, and PEO Advisory & Consulting Services.

A special thanks to TCC Benefits Administrators for the content in this blog.