Phydeaux
Posts: 4828
Joined: 1/4/2004 Status: offline
|
quote:
ORIGINAL: Lucylastic quote:
ORIGINAL: Phydeaux How many people have enrolled in Obamacare from Oregon... Zero. Actually....you are wrong...No one has signed up for private insurance, because its not up and running yet, BUT Though Oregon's health insurance exchange is not yet up and running, the number of uninsured is already dropping thanks to new fast-track enrollment for the Oregon Health Plan. The low-income, Medicaid-funded program has already signed up 56,000 new people, cutting the state's number of uninsured by 10 percent, according to Oregon Health Authority officials. Though the new exchange called Cover Oregon was originally intended to be used for Oregon Health Plan enrollment, the online marketplace doesn't work yet. Instead, new Oregon Health Plan members are being enrolled using a fast-track process that was approved by the federal government in August. Since late September the Oregon Health Authority sent out notices to 260,000 people already enrolled in the state's food stamps program since late October. The notices informed them that based on their income reported to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, they are pre-qualified for the Oregon Health Plan in 2014. Most of them are newly eligible thanks to the state's decision to expand the program's income caps under the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. To enroll, all they have to do is make a phone call or send a form consenting to be enrolled. So far, 56,000 people have done that, coming on top of more than 600,000 already enrolled. Under the new Oregon Health Plan income eligibility rules, in 2014 individuals must earn 138 percent of the federal poverty level or less to qualify, as compared to the 100 percent cutoff this year. The new cap means monthly income of $1,322 for an individual,$1,784 for a household of two, $2,247 for a household of three, and $2,704 for a family of four. Another change likely to boost enrollment: under new rules mandated by the federal health law, savings or property is no longer a bar to membership; application is now based strictly on income for the month in which someone applies. Many of the new enrollees are likely to have pent-up health needs. A survey of 38,000 people on the Oregon Health Plan waiting list in 2012 found 11 percent had diabetes, 8 percent heart problems, 30 percent high blood pressure, 22 percent high cholesterol and 5 percent cancer. Yesterday I wrote about Oregon's big success signing people up for Obamacare: The state had, in the course of 17 days, signed up 56,000 people for the health law's Medicaid expansion. In one fell swoop, the state had cut its uninsured rate by 10 percent. http://www.oregonlive.com/health/index.ssf/2013/10/oregon_has_cut_tally_of_those.html From Wapo http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/10/18/the-other-side-of-obamacares-oregon-success-no-one-has-bought-private-insurance/ Yesterday I wrote about Oregon's big success signing people up for Obamacare: The state had, in the course of 17 days, signed up 56,000 people for the health law's Medicaid expansion. In one fell swoop, the state had cut its uninsured rate by 10 percent. That is, however, only part of the story from Oregon. When it comes to private insurance, spokeswoman Amy Fauver said that it has not yet had any sign-ups. "While we wish we were in a different place with our technology, we're implementing the contingencies we need to make sure no Oregonians get left behind," she said. Cover Oregon decided Sept. 30, the day before the marketplace went live, that the software it uses to determine who qualifies for financial aid was coming up with too many errors to go live. It decided instead that it would process applications manually. Those applications have begun filtering in and determinations will likely go out later this month. "They'll start hearing from us in the next week or two what about what their next step is," Fauver said. "We have staff trained to do that determination." However, Fauver said that no Oregon health plan has received an enrollment through the marketplace. She declined to comment on the number of applications submitted to the marketplace, saying her department is "still working through the data to to arrive at a number we can stand by." It's possible that some of the applications could be incomplete, or represent multiple people. Cover Oregon doesn't know because they're still pending manual processing. Oregon initially projected that 7,000 people would sign up for private coverage this month. Fauver wouldn't say whether that number still seems reasonable, with 12 days left to go in the month. "It's too soon to say," she said. "We're working with our developers around the clock to get this fixed. We're not where we want to be, but we think we'll be able to get there soon." How could so many people sign up for the Medicaid expansion, and not a single person enroll in private insurance? It mostly has to do with how simple the Medicaid sign-up was: The state sent out notices to about 260,000 people who already receive public benefits and were below 138 percent of the federal poverty line, the cut-off for the Medicaid expansion. To enroll, they simply had to call a phone number or return a form to the state. "It simplified the process and that made a huge dent," Fauver said. "We're extremely thrilled about that, and expect the number to go up in coming weeks." It would be nice if you could get the difference between obamacare, or the ACA and PRIVATE Insurance...... Thanks for making my point for me. Medicare (or medicaid) is not ensurance. And, as I alluded to - its not working in Oregon. But yes - the state signed up people for the government entitlement called Medicare or Medicaid. Something they could have done at any point in the last twenty years. Of course, they only did so now because they were offered such a great deal. 90% of the costs would be paid for by the federal government!!! Lets think about this for a moment. Lets suppose that ALL the states decided to sign up for expanded medicaid. So all the new medicaid people would be paid for... by the government. Well who's the government. Um. US. So we just signed up millions of people for medicaid - and agreed to pay for it. By 'agreed' I mean that loosely as democrats rammed that through without a single republican vote using dubious procedures and outright bribes to sitting members of congress. You know - like the federal government picking up the full cost of medicaid in perpetuity for nebraska. Yay! Of course we could do this at any time. The question isn't in signing anyone up - its in paying for it. As for getting the difference between obamacare - and insurance I get it. One of them is will cover medical costs according to law for enrolled participants using the proceeds from the covered. The other is obamacare.
|