MUCH More Obamacare TRUTH

Oh, a Canadian doctor said it so it must be true, eh?

 

We have never seen 45,000 Americans die in one year due to lack of health care insurance.
Those unable to obtain health insurance due diagnosis of costly illness, disease and need of surgery should be able to get insurance through the Federal Government, perhaps an expanded program under Medicare. You can't expect a Private Health Insurance Company that basis premium costs on actuarial calculations to cover these individuals for minimal cost or at all. Private Insurance, whether Auto, Homeowners or Health Insurance is based on cost of insuring. And, profits are at the forefront. They are not social welfare organizations.
It has never been the private health insurances that have lost money caring for those without health insurance, it has been doctors and hospitals that provide the care and work out payment plans with these patients. And many times fail to receive any payment for their services and can't write off the loss from their income as you can't write off a service, only goods.

I doubt there is one bit of factual proof to support the comment that 45,000 Americans die every year from lack of health Insurance. I would like to see the member provide a link to such proof.

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'';

No the majority of Americans still oppose the PPACA and I predict even more will oppose it once remaining elements of the act take effect.

 

I have posted more than sufficient proof of 45,000 dead Americans every year in the holocaust created by your party.

That's in the Congressional Record which no one from your party challenged because they know it's the TRUTH.


ACA saves money and lives every day.

Thank you President Obama!

 

You've posted no proof, only propaganda.

Nobody is fooled.

 

You have posted no such thing. Those without insurance have always been cared for in the ER's for free. The individuals you talk about were likely eligible for the poor preforming Medicaid Program. I don't know of one Hospital or Medical Provider that would allow someone to die because they couldn't pay for the care they needed.

Prove it.

 

You still living in denial.


Do you read of Americans needlessly dying today due to lack of health care coverage?


No you don't.



ACA saves money & lives every day - Thank you President Obama!

 

You really don't have a clue, do you.

 

clueless right wing America haters hate the TRUTH that ACA continues to save money and lives:



Medicaid Expansion Is Producing Large Gains in Health Coverage and Saving States Money




http://www.cbpp.org/research/health...ge-gains-in-health-coverage-and-saving-states



In the short time since states have been able to expand Medicaid to low-income adults under health reform, a clear divide has emerged between states that have expanded Medicaid and those that have not. (See Figure 1.) Since the major coverage provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) took effect in 2014, insurance coverage rates have improved across the country, but the gains are far greater in the states that have expanded Medicaid.[1] As a result, hospitals in expansion states are treating fewer uninsured patients, and the amount of uncompensated care they are providing is declining steeply. Moreover, contrary to critics' claims that Medicaid expansion is financially unsustainable for states, there is increasing evidence that expansion has saved states money, and these savings are expected to grow over time.

The Medicaid expansion has had an especially dramatic impact in Arkansas and Kentucky, which both had high uninsurance rates and limited Medicaid eligibility for non-elderly adults before health reform. Both states' uninsurance rates have fallen by half in just over a year, and the expansion is expected to save each state more than $100 million by the time their current state fiscal years end on June 30.

Meanwhile, the states that have not expanded Medicaid are falling further behind. In the non-expansion states, large numbers of low-income people remain uninsured and without access to affordable health coverage. These individuals are caught in a "coverage gap" because their incomes are too high for Medicaid but too low for subsidies to purchase coverage in the marketplace. Hospitals in these states continue to provide large amounts of uncompensated care, and the states are missing the opportunity to leverage billions of dollars in new federal funding through the Medicaid expansion.

FIGURE 1
Status of State Medicaid Expansion in 2015
States Expanding Medicaid Have Made Greater Health Coverage Gains
The uninsurance rate for adults nationwide dropped from 17.1 percent at the end of 2013, just before the ACA's major coverage provisions took effect, to 11.9 percent during the first quarter of this year, according to a Gallup and Healthways survey.[2] These results are consistent with other independent and federal government surveys of insurance coverage.[3]

States that expanded Medicaid experienced the greatest gains in health coverage. In just one year, Arkansas and Kentucky cut their uninsurance ratesin half, from 22.5 to 11.4 percent and from 20.4 to 9.8 percent, respectively. Other Medicaid expansion states with large drops in their uninsurance rates include Oregon (19.4 to 11.7 percent), Washington (16.8 to 10.1 percent), and West Virginia (17.6 to 10.9 percent). Nine of the ten states with the largest drops in uninsurance rates are Medicaid expansion states.[4]

Expanding Medicaid Has Saved States Money
Besides producing large gains in coverage, Medicaid expansion is a good fiscal deal for states.

The federal government is covering the entirecost of the expansion through 2016, and no less than 90 percent of the cost in subsequent years.
As more uninsured individuals obtain coverage, demand for health care services that serve low-income uninsured residents and are entirely state-funded declines. These programs include treatment for people with mental illness and substance abuse disorders, funding for hospitals to offset their uncompensated care costs, and care for prisoners who have to be hospitalized outside of correctional facilities.
Expanding Medicaid also allows states to move some people who received services through targeted Medicaid programs at the state's regular matching rate into the new Medicaid expansion eligibility group with its more generous matching rate. These targeted programs include care for certain women with breast or cervical cancer, family planning services, and medically needy spend-down programs, which allow individuals with high medical expenses to receive coverage by "spending down" their income on medical costs to reach Medicaid eligibility levels.
Because more people have health coverage, states are collecting more revenue from their existing taxes on health providers and health plans, such as the managed care plans that serve Medicaid beneficiaries in many states.[5]
Among the states that have documented significant budget savings from the Medicaid expansion are:

Arkansas: Medicaid expansion saved Arkansas $30.8 million in fiscal year 2014, and the state expects to save an additional $88.8 million in fiscal year 2015, according to state officials interviewed by the State Health Reform Assistance Network. (The $88.8 million in 2015 savings includes $17.2 million in uncompensated care savings and $7.1 million in savings in behavioral health care spending -- i.e., spending on mental health care and treatment for substance abuse.) The cumulative savings of nearly $120 million by the end of fiscal year 2015 include $72.9 million in savings within the Arkansas Medicaid program from moving people who previously received care under specialized Medicaid categories for disabled adults, women with breast or cervical cancer, and others into the expansion's new eligibility group, for which the federal government pays the full cost. In addition to this nearly $120 million in reduced state expenditures, the state expects to collect $34.4 million in new revenue over 2014 and 2015 from taxes on providers and health plans, producing a total gain for the state budget of over $150 million in 18 months.[6]
Kentucky: Medicaid expansion saved Kentucky $25.8 million in fiscal year 2014, and is expected to lead to another $83.1 million in savings in fiscal year 2015, according to an analysis prepared for the state by Deloitte Consulting. Among these two-year savings are $30 million from a drop in state spending on behavioral health programs, $16.4 million from spending less on inpatient hospital costs for prisoners, and $16.4 million from moving people who previously received Medicaid coverage through a medically needy spend-down program into the expansion's new eligibility group.[7]
Michigan: Medicaid expansion saved the state $180 million in fiscal year 2014 and is projected to save Michigan $190 million in the state's current fiscal year, which runs through September 30, according to an analysis prepared by the State Health Reform Assistance Network. The savings are primarily from a drop in demand for state-funded community mental health programs. In addition, the state projects two-year savings of $19.2 million in its corrections system, as the federal government now covers the costs of prisoners hospitalized outside the corrections system, as a result of the Medicaid expansion.[8]
New Jersey: As a result of the Medicaid expansion, Governor Chris Christie's fiscal year 2016 budget proposal spends $148 million less on charity care and $417 million less on beneficiaries previously covered at the state's regular matching rate of 50 percent but now covered with 100 percent federal funds, according to state budget documents.[9] The state expects the latter category to result in nearly $3 billion in savings to the state through 2020.[10]
New Mexico: New Mexico will save $60 million from 2014 to 2016 by transitioning low-income adults who were receiving Medicaid coverage through a waiver prior to health reform into the expansion eligibility group, according to state budget documents. The state expects to save an additional $15.3 million in the current fiscal year because of lower demand for state-funded behavioral health services.[11] The state also collected $30 million in new revenue in 2014 and expects to collect another $30 million this year from its premium taxes that are levied on the managed care plans that serve the new eligibility population.[12]
Washington: Medicaid expansion saved Washington $105.5 million in fiscal year 2014, and the state expects to save an additional $286.6 million in fiscal year 2015, according to interviews with state officials and an analysis of state budget documents conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Among the savings are $64.6 million in reduced behavioral health spending and $147.9 million from transferring adults awaiting a disability determination for Supplemental Security Income coverage from a state-funded program to Medicaid. The state also expects the Medicaid expansion to contribute to a $33.9 million increase in premium tax revenue in fiscal year 2015.[13]
West Virginia: The state saved $3.8 million in 2014 as women in the new eligibility group who became pregnant remained in the new eligibility group throughout their pregnancies, rather than moving into the pregnant woman eligibility category, for which the federal government pays the state's regular matching rate.[14]
Expanding Medicaid Means Hospitals Treat Fewer Uninsured Patients and Provide Less Uncompensated Care
Almost immediately after the ACA's major coverage provisions took effect in 2014, hospitals in states that expanded Medicaid reported higher-than-expected revenues along with a shift to providing more care to patients with Medicaid coverage and less to uninsured patients.[15] In contrast, hospitals in states that did not expand generally experienced a small-to-negligible drop in their volume of uninsured patients.[16]

The experience of various hospital systems that operate hospitals in both expansion and non-expansion states provides strong evidence of the Medicaid expansion's impact on hospitals. Between the second quarter of 2013 and the second quarter of 2014, Community Health Systems experienced a 72 percent drop in uninsured admissions at its hospitals in 12 states that expanded Medicaid and no change at its hospitals in 17 states that did not expand. Other hospital systems had similar results: LifePoint experienced a 67 percent reduction in uninsured admissions at its hospitals in Medicaid expansion states, compared with a 14 percent drop in non-expansion states; Tenet's uninsured admissions fell 54 percent at its hospitals in expansion states compared with an 8 percent drop in non-expansion states; and the Hospital Corporation of America's uninsured admissions dropped 48 percent at hospitals in expansion states compared with a 2 percent drop in non-expansion states.[17]

Hospital associations in Medicaid expansion states also noted immediate positive impacts from the Medicaid expansion. The Arkansas Hospital Association reported that inpatient admissions of uninsured patients in Arkansas hospitals fell by 46.5 percent between the first six months of 2013 and the first six months of 2014, and emergency room visits by uninsured patients fell 35.5 percent.[18] The Arizona Hospital Association reported a 31 percent drop in the amount of uncompensated care provided by hospitals in the state between April 2013 and April 2014.[19]

Conclusion
Health reform's Medicaid expansion has proven successful for the states that have taken the option, reducing both their uninsured populations and their health care-related costs and producing budgetary savings. Meanwhile, policymakers in non-expansion states -- many of which have high uninsurance rates, limited Medicaid eligibility for parents, and no eligibility for poor adults without children -- have forgone significant savings and have placed the burden from their decision not to expand on their poorest residents. In the non-expansion states, 3.7 million uninsured adults remain in a "coverage gap," with incomes too high for Medicaid but too low for subsidies to buy coverage in the marketplace.[20] The evidence from expansion states shows that these adults -- and the states where they live -- would benefit from the Medicaid expansion.









By contrast we patriots love to see money and lives saved.

ACA = Thank you President Obama!

 

Long enough to know how bad it is. Families are facing new hardships just to pay high premiums and outrageous deductibles. America, we've been shafted.

Thank you President Obama.

 

Still no proof of the 45k figure. Here's one, 100%.of people on Obamacare will die.

 

That's one way to get around those $10,000 deductibles!

"I'll show you govt blood-suckers, I'll just DIE!"

 

Yes I read your posts and the liberal website and medias articles but they twist the truth. The PPACA has not proven to save the lives in the numbers you claim. Why? because far too often the policies purchased through the exchange have unreasonably high deductibles, co-payments and out of pockets that must be met before coverage even kicks in, and, many times, due to the lack of PPACA actually regulating private insurance companies in regard to approved providers and facilities, the physicians and surgeon who have been treating them can no longer do so under their insurance plan. There is no comprehensive study yet as to whether "exchange coverage" has saved lives. None. Far to early for a study to determine this. And, likely you wouldn't believe anything but Government paid for studies anyway. Which are the most biased studies. You don't even believe recent CBO reports that show increasing premium costs and studies paid for that the lewin group has conducted.

You believe the cost of health care has gone down. A statement that is clearly not true. While the governments overall expense may have decreased it is only because they are reimbursing Providers less, providing payment for fewer treatment and surgery through the Medicare Program. That claim also has nothing to do with lowing medical costs paid by Private Insurance. The cost of PROVIDING health care has increased and has being increasing since the mid 1990's with the onset of managed care, HMO's, PPO's and costly new Federal regulations that providers must comply with. The cost of providing medical care is a "different", subject than the out of pocket cost of paying for Medicare by the Federal Government. It costs Providers more annually to treat Medicare Patients while their reimbursement for the care they provide has remained stagnant and the regulations they must pay to comply with have more than doubled.

Even if, and I say "if", the governments cost to provide Medicare and Medicaid benefits has decreased, it has had no impact on the "cost" of providing such care to these patients. You just refuse to see the larger picture.

 

"twist the truth"


only in your delusionalism - when the CBO published numbers that showed initial difficulty with implementing ACA you right wingers were delighted to post them on this and other website

when the CBO published numbers which favored ACA now you people decided those numbers were "twisted"


can't have you cake and eat it to, buddy

 

45,000 people have gone to the circus since Obamacare was passed.

Thank you President Obama.

 

More Obamacare TRUTH

Obamacare's biggest failure

 

So they have more disposable income? Another proof the ACA is working.

 

Not really sure why more people getting healthcare is a sign that the ACA has failed.

 

Not healthcare, healthcare insurance. Just because you now have to pay deductible and copay doesn't mean you can afford to pay them. Just because you have been forced into insurance doesn't mean it changes your habits.

 

To right wingers, success when done by a Democrat is failure. Failure (such as Iraq) when done by a Republican is success.

The needless deaths of 45,000 Americans every year due to lack of health care under Republicans has always been "success" in the minds of these pro death people.

 

more bad news for the right wingers:


Medicaid Expansion a Huge Boon for Insurers


http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/05/03/medicaid-expansion-a-huge-boon-for-insurers.aspx







News that Montana will become the latest state to expand Medicaid benefits to more low income Americans under the Affordable Care Act means another 70,000 potential customers for the health insurance industry.

Three years ago, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts saved the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obama, by becoming the fifth and deciding vote on the nine-member court to uphold the law. His ruling also allowed states to opt out of expanding Medicaid benefits to poor Americans.

At the time, 2012 election year politics meant many states led by Republican governors and GOP legislatures balked at going along with expanding Medicaid benefits -- in part to avoid siding with Democratic President Obama and a key part of a health law they disliked. Less than half of U.S. states agreed to expand Medicaid when first given the opportunity three years ago.

But times are changing. And that's good for insurance companies and their stocks, as health plans take advantage of steady growth stemming from millions of Americans accessing Medicaid benefits for the first time.

This year, for example, Indiana's Medicaid expansion began Feb. 1 and Pennsylvania's began Jan. 1, so there are now a total of 28 states plus the District of Columbia that have expanded the health insurance program for poor Americans under Obamacare. Montana, which still has to work through a waiver with the Obama administration, would become the 29th state to expand, following a bipartisan agreement between Republican lawmakers and the state's Democratic governor.

Indiana was one of the Republican-leaning states that found a way to expand Medicaid under the law. Pennsylvania agreed to expand when the state last year was led by a Republican governor (a Democrat is in office now). And Iowa and Michigan, both states with Republican governors, expanded Medicaid under Obamacare last year.

Medicaid expansion figured in decisions by insurers Anthem (NYSE: ANTM ) , Aetna (NYSE: AET ) and UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH ) to raise 2015 earnings guidance in the last two weeks. And Centene (NYSE: CNC ) , which is among the more pure-play private insurers in the Medicaid business, raised its revenue forecast for 2015.

"The pipeline of opportunity for our government business remains substantial," Anthem CEO Joe Swedish told analysts on the company's first quarter earnings call. "We currently estimate $65 billion of new business could be awarded by the end of 2018, split about evenly between traditional Medicaid and new populations and specialized services. We believe our experience and footprint positions us very well to continue our growth as we help states address the challenges of lowering healthcare costs and improving quality for their residents."

Medicaid plans are gaining more members even in states that didn't go along with the Medicaid expansion because private health plans already have a large and growing role in administering benefits for low income Americans in the states, according to Medicaid Health Plans of America. Medicaid enrollment jumped by more than 9 million in 2014, according to a December report by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Aetna is projecting revenues from its Medicaid business to grow by "over $1 billion" in 2015, "representing over 15 percent annual growth while exceeding our target pre-tax operating margin," Aetna chief executive Mark Bertolini told analysts in the insurer's first quarter earnings call.

"This quarter we began serving new members as part of our recent launches in Louisiana and New Jersey and we added over 30,000 members across multiple state programs related to ACA expansion," Bertolini said.

In the past, the Medicaid business has been less than stable because it was generally funded via a 50-50 split between state and federal funds. But the expansion population is funded 100 percent with federal dollars through 2016. States gradually have to pick up some costs beginning in 2017, but the federal government still picks up 90 percent or more of Medicaid costs through 2020.

While states can still cut funding to Medicaid that can trigger spending issues, the health law makes it less likely there will be as many payment disruptions or funding battles than existed in the past, due to the steady flow of federal dollars for low income Americans who sign up for privately administered coverage.

These are bullish scenarios for insurers administering Medicaid for states.

Anthem chief financial officer Wayne DeVeydt summed up the opportunity this week on his company's earnings call: "Let me first talk about Medicaid and where we're seeing the positive trends. To be candid, I would say that we're generally seeing it across the board."





more access to insurance - more coverage meaning more lives saved

in the twisted thinking of the far right this is "failure"

to those who think rationally this is nothing but total SUCCESS



Thank you President Obama!

 

Yay! More money in the pockets of big business!

Thank you President Obama!

 

Wow, more people insured means more business for insurance companies. Another proof the ACA is working.

 

Exactly! The big insurance companies are getting richer off the backs of working Americans thx to the ACA!

All hail President Obama! Friend to big business!

 

... and more jobs which generates tax revenues and lowers welfare rolls


Republicans view that as ''failure'' but rational minded patriots see that as success.

 

Yay! More minimum wage/part time jobs for hard working Americans and more profits for big insurance companies thx to the ACA!

Thank you, President Obama!