This Week’s Health Policy News Roundup Curated by Jane M. Orient, M.D.
Figures compiled by Heritage show, among other things, that:
- In 13 states, individual premiums for 50-year-olds are at least 50% higher than pre-ACA.
- In 19 states, Exchange premiums for family of four will increase by 10%.
- In 11 states, premiums for 27-year-olds will double or more.
- 44% of businesses will have to make significant changes in policies.
- At least 4.7 million plans in the individual market have been cancelled because of ACA rules.
http://www.heritage.org/research/projects/obamacare/obamacare-in-pictures
The cost of one quality-adjusted life year (QALY) saved by ObamaCare is about $1.3 million. Should it be evaluated by a death panel? http://townhall.com/columnists/johncgoodman/2015/01/03/what-if-a-death-panel-evaluated-obamacare-itself-n1938000
Up to half of the 6.8 million Americans who got a premium subsidy for ObamaCare policy in 2014 may owe the IRS money in this tax season, as the law is written. But the IRS still doesn’t have a procedure for collecting it—or the “shared responsibility payment” for not having acceptable insurance. http://dailycaller.com/2015/01/02/fuzzy-obamacare-subsidies-could-leave-half-of-obamacare-customers-owing-the-irs/
The Obama administration’s $30 billion program to digitize the nation’s medical records (stemming from HITECH, not ACA) is threatened by opposition from angry physicians. A quarter-million — half of those eligible for the electronic health records program — will face fines in 2015 for failing to use the systems in the way the government required. Doctors, who are spending an average of nearly an extra hour a day typing information into their computers because of the new rules, may still have 1% of their Medicare payments docked. “Rather than saving physicians and health care money, the program in effect has created a new industry — the medical scribe. About 100,000 of these glorified typists are expected to be working for doctors by 2020,” writes Arthur Allen. http://www.politico.com/story/2014/12/federal-health-records-program-113787.html
Social Media:
RT @Boomerjeff: Human cost of ObamaNomics. The Facts:➤➤ http://t.co/8OpALOx8cX pic.twitter.com/XmJnefY44F
— Kelly (@KLSouth) January 3, 2015
Senator Coburn’s Final Report http://t.co/2JILM6gHgt
— Grüss Gott (@clasicaliberal) January 3, 2015
How The Affordable Care Act Forced Me To Become Uninsured http://t.co/yWQRmSL0RR by @RobertBook
— Matthew Herper (@matthewherper) January 3, 2015
