dagblog - Comments for "Health bill news thread: starting w/"Obama calls on lawmakers to show ‘courage’ in health-care fight""

Aetna CEO Says America Should

artappraiser — Fri, 12 May 2017 18:48:44 +0000

In reply to Health bill news thread: starting w/"Obama calls on lawmakers to show ‘courage’ in health-care fight"

Aetna CEO Says America Should Have a ‘Debate’ About Single Payer

By Eric Levitz @ New York Magazine, May 12

The Democratic leadership does not want “Medicare for all” to be the party’s official vision for the American health-care system. Many progressives believe that this is because Team Blue sold its soul to the insurance industry. But what if the Democrats actually oppose single payer because they haven’t sold out enough?

Normally, it would take a family-size portion of hallucinogenic drugs (and/or an especially desperate Slate columnist) to generate such a question. But on Friday, Vox obtained private remarks by Aetna’s CEO that suggest we could bring socialized medicine to the United States — if only the insurance industry exercised more control over our politics.

“In the news media, it is reporting that the Republican health plan is paving the way to a single-payer system,” an Aetna employee asked Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini at a meeting Thursday. “What are your thoughts on that, and how would it impact Aetna?”

Here was Bertolini’s response [.....]

Republicans flub defense of

artappraiser — Fri, 12 May 2017 03:01:28 +0000

In reply to Health bill news thread: starting w/"Obama calls on lawmakers to show ‘courage’ in health-care fight"

Republicans flub defense of health care vote

GOP House members, facing angry constituents, can't seem to get their message straight about their plan.

By Kyle Cheney @ Politico.com, 05/11

Aetna Is Latest Health

artappraiser — Thu, 11 May 2017 02:17:22 +0000

In reply to Health bill news thread: starting w/"Obama calls on lawmakers to show ‘courage’ in health-care fight"

Aetna Is Latest Health Insurer to Quit Obamacare Markets

by Zachary Tracer @ Bloomberg.com, May 10

Insurer had already pulled out of most ACA health exchanges

Move comes as Republicans in Congress work to dismantle law

Aetna Inc. will leave the few remaining states where it had been selling Obamacare plans next year, making it the latest health insurer to pull out of the health law as Republicans attack the program as failing and work to dismantle it.

While the move is likely to attract outsize political attention, the decision affects just Delaware and Nebraska. The Hartford, Connecticut-based insurer already said last year it would pull out of 11 states, and in the last month announced plans to exit Iowa and Virginia [.....]

Iowa Congressman gets razzed

artappraiser — Tue, 09 May 2017 15:30:10 +0000

In reply to Health bill news thread: starting w/"Obama calls on lawmakers to show ‘courage’ in health-care fight"

Iowa Congressman gets razzed at angry town hall meeting EVEN THOUGH AUDIENCE WAS PRE-SCREENED

Iowa congressman walks out of a TV interview and into an angry town hall meeting

@ WaPo, May 8

Rep. Rod Blum, a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, struggled to explain his vote to support the American Health Care Act to a pre-screened audience.

The riskiest things voted on

artappraiser — Tue, 09 May 2017 06:06:42 +0000

In reply to Health bill news thread: starting w/"Obama calls on lawmakers to show ‘courage’ in health-care fight"

The riskiest things voted on by House Republicans By David Nather, Vitals @ Axois.com, May 8

[....] Now they have to go out and make the case for their replacement for the Affordable Care Act — and not just to the faithful who wanted repeal all along [....] Here's what could make them the most vulnerable, at town halls and in next year's mid-term elections.

Pre-existing condition waivers [....]

Essential health benefit waivers [....]

Medicaid cuts [....]

Age rating [....]

Replacing the tax credits. [....]

Net investment tax repeal [....]

Congressional exemption [....]

Republicans who could be hurt the most in 2018

[.....]

Why insurers aren’t jumping

artappraiser — Tue, 09 May 2017 05:49:10 +0000

In reply to Health bill news thread: starting w/"Obama calls on lawmakers to show ‘courage’ in health-care fight"

Why insurers aren’t jumping at the chance to dominate Obamacare marketplaces

By Sarah Kliff, Voxcare @ Vox.com, May 8, 2017

We've spent a lot of time here in VoxCare talking about the possibly of "empty shelf" Obamacare counties: places where no insurers want to sell on the marketplaces.
Many readers have sent me the same question about those places: Why wouldn't an insurer want to come in and have a monopoly there? Shouldn't a government-subsidized marketplace be an alluring business opportunity?[....] So why are there places in Iowa and Tennessee that are at risk of having no insurers at all? Shouldn't those be places where the only plan in town could make a nice profit?

This is something I've wondered about too, so I spent the past few weeks asking insurance executives about it. Here are some of the reasons they say they're not interested in being the only health plan in some of the at-risk marketplaces [....]

Medicaid Expansion May

artappraiser — Mon, 08 May 2017 22:38:52 +0000

In reply to Health bill news thread: starting w/"Obama calls on lawmakers to show ‘courage’ in health-care fight"

Medicaid Expansion May Unravel Trumpcare In The Senate

By Bruce Jaspen (" I write about healthcare business and policy") @ Forbes, May 7

[....] “The Republican-controlled Senate will be the voice of reason and draft a version that will keep the Medicaid expansion and save the lives of the millions that stand to lose coverage under the House plan,” said Jerry Vitti, CEO of Healthcare Financial, a Boston-based firm that helps connect low-income beneficiaries to disability benefits.

There are 31 states that opted to expand Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act and most of them have influential Republican Senators insurers and providers see as unlikely to end benefits for poor Americans. “ Twenty Republican senators come from states that expanded Medicaid , and 16 Medicaid expansion states have Republican governors,” Centene CEO Michael Neidorff told analysts on the company’s first quarter’s earnings call, which was a week before the House voted to approve the AHCA [....]

Ryan’s gift to Dems by Bill

artappraiser — Mon, 08 May 2017 21:34:57 +0000

In reply to Obamacare repeal vote upends

Ryan’s gift to Dems by Bill Press @ TheHill.com 05/08/17

White House pressures Senate

artappraiser — Mon, 08 May 2017 21:30:36 +0000

In reply to Health bill news thread: starting w/"Obama calls on lawmakers to show ‘courage’ in health-care fight"

White House pressures Senate to fix health bill's policy problems

'The bill that passed out of the House is most likely not going to be the bill that is put in front of the president,' OMB Director Mulvaney said.

@ Politico.com, May 7

So much for House yea voters passing the buck to Trump! Fuggedaboutit, before there's a next time they should talk to his past unpaid contractors.....

‘You f*cked up’: John Oliver

artappraiser — Mon, 08 May 2017 09:31:05 +0000

In reply to Health bill news thread: starting w/"Obama calls on lawmakers to show ‘courage’ in health-care fight"

‘You f*cked up’: John Oliver rips Republicans for passing Trumpcare without reading it

By David Ferguson @ Raw Story, May 7

On Sunday night’s edition of “Last Week Tonight,” HBO’s John Oliver blasted Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives for passing their attempt to “repeal and replace Obamacare” without actually reading the bill first.

Oliver played a clip of South Carolina’s Rep. Mark Sanford (R), who, when asked by CNN if he’d read the bill hemmed and hawed before finally admitting that he “turned through every page” without reading them all.

“Wait,” Oliver said, “You ‘turned through every page?’ That’s not how you read a bill, that’s how you check a bill for spiders.”

He went on to New York Republican Rep. Chris Collins (NY) who got stymied by the Buffalo News when they asked if he was aware that a large portion of his constituency would be stripped of their coverage the American Healthcare Act (AHCA) were ratified.

“Explain that to me,” said the New York congressman, baffled [....]