This week’s health policy news roundup curated by Jane M. Orient, M.D.
Whether they would ordinarily be required to file income taxes or not, anyone who received ObamaCare premium assistance must file Form 1095A, with a monthly accounting of premium paid, the second-lowest cost (silver) premium, and the monthly advance payment of premium credit. The insurance exchanges, however, are late on providing needed information. Worse, 80% of the forms sent out in Hawaii contained errors. One taxpayer who had withdrawn from Covered California in 2014 still received 1095-A forms two years in a row incorrectly showing that she was enrolled. http://townhall.com/columnists/michellemalkin/2016/03/16/obamacares-taxtime-torment-n2134454
For the second year in a row, the majority of people who received ObamaCare subsidies will owe the IRS a refund averaging $580, writes Louise Radnofsky in the Wall Street Journal on Mar 8. People may have underestimated their Adjusted Gross Income or received unexpected income. http://www.wsj.com/articles/repayment-of-health-insurance-tax-credits-threatens-refunds-1457461969
This year millions of families are reporting that their health insurance premium is their biggest annual expense: bigger than their mortgage, food, or energy costs. “With this year’s $194-a-month premium increase, I could roughly buy a Chevy Sonic or Ford Fiesta,” writes Christopher E. Press in the Wall Street Journal on Mar 7. If you add in deductibles and co-pays, total “health-care cost risk” has increased 1,190% since 1999, he states, with more than a four-fold increase since ObamaCare became law. http://www.wsj.com/articles/lammed-by-obamacare-1457395478
Hillary Clinton’s answer to the cost question at a town hall was: “confident, lucid, and totally incoherent,” writes Michael Cannon in Forbes on Mar 15. “It amounted to this: (1) shop around on the Exchange for a better deal, which might not make a difference; then elect me and I’ll (2) reduce your copays and your deductibles and your premiums; and (3) encourage more non-profit health insurance companies to compete in the Exchanges.” http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelcannon/2016/03/15/hillary-clintons-answer-on-rising-obamacare-premiums-was-confident-lucid-and-totally-incoherent/
Clinton argues that she offers the “sensible alternative” to the Sanders single payer plan, and takes credit for the status quo: “It was called Hillarycare before it was called Obamacare. I don’t want to start over.” http://www.insidesources.com/can-afford-four-years-obamacare/
Seen on Social Media:
Canada Slipping Fast Back Into Paganism: “Doctors” Ordered To Kill https://t.co/xtmgobIT9U via @mattstat
— Diane Lange (@DclareDiane) March 15, 2016
“Docs rarely look up from keyboards, except when running to patients who stand btwn them & real job of data entry” https://t.co/W8amS9Ltac
— C. Michael Gibson MD (@CMichaelGibson) March 15, 2016
In our current healthcare system, patients pay premiums to be denied medical care by the same ones they are paying. #TakeBackMedicine
— LindaGirgis,MD (@DrLindaMD) March 16, 2016
