COVID-19 & Healthcare

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

If young people do not sign up for health insurance it is not because they feel that they don't need health insurance (aka the "young invincibles"), but rather because (1) insurance premiums are too expensive, and (2) they are unaware of the provisions of the Affordable Care Act. This according to a new study by the nonpartisan Commonwealth Fund.

Commonwealth Fund Health Insurance Tracking Survey data from 2011 and
2013 show increasing awareness among young adults of the 2010
requirement that health plans cover children under age 26. Of the
estimated 15 million young adults enrolled in a parent’s plan in the
prior 12 months, 7.8 million would not likely have been eligible to
enroll prior to the law. Still, only 27 percent of 19-to-29-year-olds
are aware of the marketplaces. Meanwhile, most uninsured young adults
living below poverty will not have access to subsidized public or
private insurance in states opting out of the Medicaid expansion. Issue Brief (.pdf).

Reuters reported last week, Low prices seen luring young adults to Obamacare: study:

What uninsured young adults do when state
exchanges created under "Obamacare" open on October 1 will be one of the
most important factors in determining the success of the president's
signature domestic policy achievement. If too few young people, who tend
to be relatively healthy, sign up for coverage, then premiums might not
cover the medical costs of sicker people who do enroll.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Arizona Republic today gave Glenn Hamer, president and CEO of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, an opportunity to smear the Affordable Care Act aka "ObamaCare" based upon the United Parcel Service "Obama-Scare" story making the rounds in the conservative media entertainment complex this week. Employers try to get ahead of health law. While the reporting does include relevant caveats and opposing viewpoints, the organization of the article is confusing to readers and arguably misleading.

If you want clarity on the United Parcel Service "Obama-Scare" story in the conservative media entertainment complex, you need to read Jonathan Cohn at The New Republic. Why UPS Spouses Shouldn't Be (Too) Mad at Obamacare:

The latest Obamacare story getting everybody’s attention is about the United Parcel Service. On Wednesday, Kaiser Health News and USA Today reported
that UPS was making a change in its employee health plan—and that, as a
result, 15,000 spouses of UPS employees would lose access to company
insurance. One reason for the change, according to the company, is that
UPS faces higher insurance costs from Obamacare. Eliminating coverage
for these spouses is one way the company can reduce its employee benefit
costs.

The headlines certainly don’t look good. And, sure enough, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell
on Thursday cited the decision as more proof that Obamacare is a
fiasco. But like so many Obamacare stories, this one is more complicated
than it seems at first blush. Spousal coverage was becoming less common
even before the Affordable Care Act became law. At most, Obamacare is
hastening a trend that was already underway—quite possibly for some good
reasons. 

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Remember back when FreedomWorks and Americans For Prosperity had old white people carrying signs saying "Keep your government hands off my Medicare"? These teabaggers were so hopelessly ignorant that many genuinely believed that Medicare is not a government-mandated health care program.

Apparently none of them were ever intellectually curious enough to look at their paychecks for all of those years and wonder "Who is this FICA guy, and why is he taking my money?" [The Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) tax is for Social Security tax withholding (6.2% up to the annual maximum), and Medicare tax withholding (1.45%)].

As Timothy Noah pointed out at the time, "Medicare, you may have heard, is a government program, and the only way
to take the government's hands off it would be to abolish it—but the
joke is starting to wear thin." "Medicare isn't government" meme. – Slate Magazine:

The big lie that Medicare isn't, nor ever should be, financed and regulated by the government, is a nice illustration of Slate founder Michael Kinsley's hypothesis, articulated in his 1995 book Big Babies,
that infantile denial lies at the heart of much contemporary political
disaffection.

The American people, Kinsley wrote, "make flagrantly
incompatible demands—cut my taxes, preserve my benefits, balance the
budget—then explode in self-righteous outrage when the politicians fail
to deliver." Although Kinsley conceded that big babyism had been enabled
by both conservative and liberal politics, he wrote: "It is
conservatives, more than liberals, who stoke the fires of resentment and
encourage vast swaths of the electorate to indulge in fantasies of
victimization by others." This is perhaps 1,000 times more true today than it was 14 years ago.

This infantile denial on Medicare is being repeated with the Affordable Care Act aka "ObamaCare."

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Some informative reporting today from Michelle Singletary at the Washington Post. I would encourage Arizona's print media to pick up this series of columns by Singletary to, you know, actually inform your readers about "ObamaCare" and the health insurance exchanges coming online October 1. Getting
ready for Obamacare:

A marketplace like no other is opening soon.

Beginning Oct. 1, people without health insurance will be able to shop for what is promised to be affordable coverage.

It’s all part of the rollout of the Patient Protection and Affordable
Care Act, which was passed by Congress and signed by President Obama in
2010. For the past three years, various parts of the law have been
implemented: Young adults can stay on their parents’ health insurance
until they turn 26; insurance companies are prohibited from imposing
lifetime dollar limits on essential services such as hospital stays;
people with Medicare get free preventive services.

Next up is a
part of the law that requires most Americans to maintain “minimum
essential” health insurance coverage. It’s one of the more controversial
provisions of the law commonly referred to as Obamacare.

* * *

This is the first in a series of columns explaining the provisions of
the law that are due to take effect next year. But ultimately, you’re
going to have to do some research yourself. Don’t be informed by rumors
or the political discourse surrounding this law. There’s enough
complication in the application of the provisions that you don’t need to
add to your fears or frustrations by getting advice that is politically
motivated.

by David Safier Soon-to-be-ex State Senator Rich Crandall is lucky he can double dip, or he and his family could be without healthcare for a few weeks. If I were an anti-Obamacare Republican, I might say, "Why should Arizona keep covering your health care when you're not doing your job? It's your problem, not ours. … Read more