ACA POTPOURRI

Friday afternoon I will receive a PDF copy of Monday’s night agenda. All things being equal I will check the Library’s copy with support material Sat. morning and post Sunday anything significant not covered in the reports on the Agenda Fixing Session.

As long as the Council meetings are being taped for presentation on PCTV why is not the viewing times posted on the City Site?

Today we will focus on some Health Care tidbits which are related to the ACA.

In many states as a result of the law as part of the “Exchanges”,  there were established health care cooperatives; a sort of mutual participant insurance programs.  In less than half of those states have the plans met or exceeded the anticipated number of participants. Where the number of enrollees are less than the expected, the cooperatives are in danger of failure.

The New Jersey cooperative has enrolled only about 20% of the anticipated number.

The commercial carriers are supposedly beefing up their networks of providers; both human and facilities. It is axiomatic that for the least expensive plans the networks will still be restricted as a cost saving method.

It is expected that most of the renewal and new policies will have a double digit raise this year and the premium increase will rise as the government decreases and ends its subsidies.

In a policy change the government in 18 states  is  permitting  small business to offer worker only one plan this year instead of the multiple exchange choices the act calls for. There   are 14 states with government run exchanges where small business will be able to offer employees a choice of multiple exchange plans.

The reason for the new exceptions to the law’s mandates is due to software problems.

It has been pointed out in an OPED article in the WSJ (6/11/14) that depending on the state as many as  60% of the insurance plans sold in 2013 will fail to meet the law’s mandates in2015 and cannot be sold. At present he Feds act as a reinsurance program fir exchange policies.  The insurers can bill the government for 80% of a policy holder’s medical claims over $45000.00 annually. In 2017 that support will cease and the carriers will have to adjust premiums upward to cover their risk.

It is also expected that due to business cancelling their employer sponsored cover and substituting a health care allotment for employees to buy their own insurance through the exchanges.

 
The future looks bleak for continued life under the ACA as insurers will not be able to offer affordable plans.