Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:
No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
Times and dates in your local timezone.
Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.
If you are already a member then feel free to login now.
2013/10/01 12:01:41
Subject: Obamacare: 7million exchange enrollments, ~8-9m plans sold directly, ~8m covered by other provisions
A centerpiece of the Affordable Care Act launches today with new health insurance exchanges opening in every state. The exchanges are the central element of the law’s attempt to provide affordable coverage for middle-income uninsured Americans. Federal officials say they expect enrollment in new insurance plans through the exchanges will start off slowly, in part due to computer glitches in software and a general lack of awareness among the public. Here are some frequently asked questions about how the exchanges will work, and who could benefit.
What changes today?
New state-based Obamacare insurance marketplaces, called exchanges, are opening for business. Coverage plans sold through the exchanges will comply with new Obamacare regulations that prohibit insurers from discriminating against those with pre-existing health conditions.
The open enrollment period that begins on Oct. 1 will last until March 31. All plans purchased between now and mid-December will begin on Jan. 1, 2014. Those who are eligible to shop in the exchanges won’t be able to buy coverage there after March 31 unless they have a major life event, like a job loss or divorce that affects coverage.
Can I shop in an exchange?
The federal government expects about 7 million to enroll in new insurance plans through the exchanges in the next year and about 22 million people to get coverage there by 2016. You are eligible to buy an insurance plan if you don’t receive insurance coverage through a federal program, like Medicaid or Medicare, and don’t have access to employer-based coverage that costs you less than 9.5 percent of your income.
The exchanges will distribute federal subsidies to those earning up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level, about $46,000 for an individual and $95,000 for a family of four. An individual earning less than $28,000 per year may also be eligible for government assistance to cover deductibles and other out-of-pocket expenses
Does a government shutdown affect the rollout of exchanges?
No, exchanges will still operate even while government is shut down.
How do I access my state exchange and find out if I’m eligible for a subsidy?
Links to every state exchange can be found through healthcare.gov, a web site managed by the federal government. State-based exchanges have various names, from Covered California to New York State of Health to Kynect in Kentucky.
A calculator developed by the Kaiser Family Foundation can give you a rough estimate of how much you would pay for coverage through an exchange.
Are the insurance plans being sold through the exchanges comprehensive coverage?
Every plan for sale through an Obamacare insurance exchange will cover preventive care with no out-of-pocket costs. The plans are also required to cover a package of basic benefits, including hospitalization, chronic disease management and maternity care.
What are the different levels of coverage and premiums available through the exchanges?
Plans sold through the exchanges are categorized in tiers called bronze, silver, gold and platinum. Bronze plans are the cheapest, but may include higher deductibles, co-pays and coinsurance. More expensive plans will cover greater percentages of total health care costs.
Are the plans affordable?
In many cases, insurance plans for sale in the Obamacare exchanges are cheaper than coverage previously for sale on the open market. After subsidies, some of those enrolling in coverage through the exchanges will be able to purchase cover for $0 or less than $100 per month. Although insurers are banned from setting rates based on health status, they are permitted to charged the oldest enrollees in a plan three times as much as the youngest enrollees. Older people will be charged more than young people, although federal subsidies to blunt the cost of coverage are based on income, so older people who are retired will generally receive more generous subsidies from the federal government.
A regulation preventing insurers from setting annual out-of-pocket spending limits has been delayed until 2015.
If I’m uninsured, why should I sign up for coverage through an exchange?
Aside from the benefit of buying protection against unforeseen medical expenses, purchasing Obamacare-approved coverage will meet the law’s individual mandate. Some Americans without coverage will be exempted from the mandate, but in general, adults without coverage in 2014 will pay a $95 fine or 1 percent of family income, whichever is greater. This penalty will go up to $325 or 2 percent of family income in 2015 and $695 or 2.5 percent of family income in 2016.
I earn less than $16,000, which would qualify me for Medicaid under the ACA, but my state is not expanding the program due to political opposition. Can I buy subsidized coverage in my state exchange instead?
It depends. Those earning between 100 and 400 of the federal poverty level ($11,500 to $26,000) can access federal subsidies. But because ACA authors assumed every state would expand Medicaid, the subsidies are not available to those earning less.
Also https://www.healthcare.gov/ is now open to give you info on the law, but apparently might experience slow downs due to traffic volume.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2014/04/03 06:17:40
Looking for a club in Brisbane, Australia? Come and enjoy a game and a beer at Pubhammer, our friendly club in a pub at the Junction pub in Annerley (opposite Ace Comics), Sunday nights from 6:30. All brisbanites welcome, don't wait, check out our Club Page on Facebook group for details or to organize a game. We play all sorts of board and war games, so hit us up if you're interested.
Pubhammer is Moving! Starting from the 25th of May we'll be gaming at The Junction pub (AKA The Muddy Farmer), opposite Ace Comics & Games in Annerley! Still Sunday nights from 6:30 in the Function room Come along and play Warmachine, 40k, boardgames or anything else!
-"Wait a minute.....who is that Frazz is talking to in the gallery? Hmmm something is going on here.....Oh.... it seems there is some dispute over video taping of some sort......Frazz is really upset now..........wait a minute......whats he go there.......is it? Can it be?....Frazz has just unleashed his hidden weiner dog from his mini bag, while quoting shakespeares "Let slip the dogs the war!!" GG
-"Don't mind Frazzled. He's just Dakka's crazy old dude locked in the attic. He's harmless. Mostly."
-TBone the Magnificent 1999-2014, Long Live the King!
The latest scheme to derail it is trying to get young and healthy types to opt out (which actually would probably save them money), because if enough young people don't opt in, there won't be enough cost offsets to balance all the older and sicker folks getting enrolled, and the system will come crashing down.
As any law that is enacted, let us see what the new healthcare law does and how effective it is. Perhaps the Republicans can later claim it fails rather than declare it a failure preemptively.
I figured I would take a couple of minutes to check rates/coverage.
Health Insurance Marketplace: Please wait
We have a lot of visitors on our site right now and we're working to make your experience here better. Please wait here until we send you to the login page. Thanks for your patience!
Wait, it finally did send me to another page:
The System is down at the moment.
We're working to resolve the issue as soon as possible. Please try again later.
Ouze wrote: Still not loading for me either. I guess they're pretty swamped. I imagine there are a lot of moving parts that went into this.
Would all of those parts still be moving? I mean, if it was scheduled for today, and the guy who has the job of double checking if things go live isn't considered "mission essential" or whatever the phrase is, couldn't it have just clicked on without being fully supported?
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2013/10/01 13:27:05
I wish I had time for all the game systems I own, let alone want to own...
Ouze wrote: Still not loading for me either. I guess they're pretty swamped. I imagine there are a lot of moving parts that went into this.
Would all of those parts still be moving? I mean, if it was scheduled for today, and the guy who has the job of double checking if things go live isn't considered "mission essential" or whatever the phrase is, couldn't it have just clicked on without being fully supported?
My understanding - and I could be totally, 100% wrong on this - is that the ACA and it's components are considered essential spending and are immune from the effects of a government shutdown, much as how Social Security, military pay, air traffic controllers, etc are.
I'm guessing the outage is for the same reason every MMOG ever launched was up and down on the first day; and probably unrelated to the shutdown.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/10/01 13:46:27
lord_blackfang wrote: Respect to the guy who subscribed just to post a massive ASCII dong in the chat and immediately get banned.
Flinty wrote: The benefit of slate is that its.actually a.rock with rock like properties. The downside is that it's a rock
The load on their infrastructure and hardware probably makes the Vanilla WoW launch look like a calm summer day in comparison.
Basically it wouldn't surprise me if a couple of server rooms were glowing white hot and people were evacuating out to a potential three mile blast radius.
My company has not held open enrollment for 2014 nor given us any indication of what the premiums for 2014 will be, though the scuttlebutt is that unlike last year where rates were held the same for only a modest increase in the deductibles and out of pocket maximums, we can expect to see both a significant increase in premiums and an increase in copays, deductibles, and out of pocket maximums.
I looked at the marketplace late last week to get a feel for the plans offered and the estimated costs based on my family’s basic information. Because of my family income my household does not qualify for any (tax payer funded) subsidies.
Supposedly the plans are divided in Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum, but based on the information I entered the plans were not presented this way (using the Texas federal exchange).
I could not find a plan that matches my family of four's current coverage exactly so I reviewed plans that will be accepted by my family's current primary doctor.
I currently pay $316 / month. My employer picks up the rest for a total annual premium of $16,320.
The most expensive plan $969 / month ($11,628 / yr) and the least expensive was $358 / month ($4,296 / yr).
The more expensive plan basically offers an 85/15 split with copays for prescriptions of $10/$30/$45 and office/specialist copays of $25. The individual deductible is $2,500 and family is $7,500. The copays/and splits are comparable to what my family has now through my employer offered medical plan. The deductible is higher as currently we have $1,000 individual and $4,000 family. There was no information about out of pocket maximums which my employer plan has at $8,000. So this plan appears to offer inferior coverage compared to my current health plan but is also cheaper overall.
The cheapest plan is what I would consider catastrophic health insurance as there is a $5000 individual deductible of $10,000 for the family. So basically you pay everything out of pocket until you hit the deductible. So if your kid breaks a leg, you are pretty much paying out of pocket for it. The only benefit seems to be avoid the no-insurance surtax and paying the insurance negotiated rates which you probably can get on your own by offering cash since many doctor's rates are jacked up to take into account the discount they give back and the costs of accepting insurance in the first place.
The obvious conclusion is neither plan is as good as the one I have through my employer both in coverage or in cost given my current out of pocket premium and typical annual medical expenses. My employer would have to essentially stop offering medical insurance to change my evaluation of the plans currently offered in the exchange.
"Preach the gospel always, If necessary use words." ~ St. Francis of Assisi
Ouze wrote: Still not loading for me either. I guess they're pretty swamped. I imagine there are a lot of moving parts that went into this.
Would all of those parts still be moving? I mean, if it was scheduled for today, and the guy who has the job of double checking if things go live isn't considered "mission essential" or whatever the phrase is, couldn't it have just clicked on without being fully supported?
My understanding - and I could be totally, 100% wrong on this - is that the ACA and it's components are considered essential spending and are immune from the effects of a government shutdown, much as how Social Security, military pay, air traffic controllers, etc are.
I'm guessing the outage is for the same reason every MMOG ever launched was up and down on the first day; and probably unrelated to the shutdown.
This...
Something of this magitude will have issues. I just wanna know what's the final price will be... not about the technical problems.
part of the law includes some stuff to give each company some sort of benefit for offering its employees insurance thats better then what the exchange can offer. In theory most company provided plans should be better
Lord of Deeds wrote: My company has not held open enrollment for 2014 nor given us any indication of what the premiums for 2014 will be, though the scuttlebutt is that unlike last year where rates were held the same for only a modest increase in the deductibles and out of pocket maximums, we can expect to see both a significant increase in premiums and an increase in copays, deductibles, and out of pocket maximums.
I looked at the marketplace late last week to get a feel for the plans offered and the estimated costs based on my family’s basic information. Because of my family income my household does not qualify for any (tax payer funded) subsidies.
Supposedly the plans are divided in Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum, but based on the information I entered the plans were not presented this way (using the Texas federal exchange).
I could not find a plan that matches my family of four's current coverage exactly so I reviewed plans that will be accepted by my family's current primary doctor.
I currently pay $316 / month. My employer picks up the rest for a total annual premium of $16,320.
The most expensive plan $969 / month ($11,628 / yr) and the least expensive was $358 / month ($4,296 / yr).
The more expensive plan basically offers an 85/15 split with copays for prescriptions of $10/$30/$45 and office/specialist copays of $25. The individual deductible is $2,500 and family is $7,500. The copays/and splits are comparable to what my family has now through my employer offered medical plan. The deductible is higher as currently we have $1,000 individual and $4,000 family. There was no information about out of pocket maximums which my employer plan has at $8,000. So this plan appears to offer inferior coverage compared to my current health plan but is also cheaper overall.
The cheapest plan is what I would consider catastrophic health insurance as there is a $5000 individual deductible of $10,000 for the family. So basically you pay everything out of pocket until you hit the deductible. So if your kid breaks a leg, you are pretty much paying out of pocket for it. The only benefit seems to be avoid the no-insurance surtax and paying the insurance negotiated rates which you probably can get on your own by offering cash since many doctor's rates are jacked up to take into account the discount they give back and the costs of accepting insurance in the first place.
The obvious conclusion is neither plan is as good as the one I have through my employer both in coverage or in cost given my current out of pocket premium and typical annual medical expenses. My employer would have to essentially stop offering medical insurance to change my evaluation of the plans currently offered in the exchange.
Out of curiousity, how did you get a sneak peak, especially in Texas?
I'm jealous!
Support Blood and Spectacles Publishing:
https://www.patreon.com/Bloodandspectaclespublishing
.........I looked at the marketplace late last week to get a feel for the plans offered and the estimated costs based on my family’s basic information. Because of my family income my household does not qualify for any (tax payer funded) subsidies.
Supposedly the plans are divided in Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum, but based on the information I entered the plans were not presented this way (using the Texas federal exchange).....
Out of curiousity, how did you get a sneak peak, especially in Texas?
I'm jealous!
Nothing sneaky about it. The Federal exchanges went live last week allowing anyone to preview/window shop for plans. Today is the first day you can enroll. FYI, I am not having any issues accessing the Texas federal exchange site so far today.
"Preach the gospel always, If necessary use words." ~ St. Francis of Assisi
ironicsilence wrote: part of the law includes some stuff to give each company some sort of benefit for offering its employees insurance thats better then what the exchange can offer. In theory most company provided plans should be better
The only incentives I have seen are for small businesses which really are a smoke screen IMHO as small businesses (less than 50 employees) are already exempt and the tax incentives offered don't come close to offsetting the cost of offering health insurance. To add insult to injury the SHOP exchange has been delayed which allegedly would have offered lower cost plans to small businesses.
For everyone else, there are only disincentives for not offering health insurance. For large companies with 50 or more qualifying employees, they face either a strong penalty per section 4980H(a) for not offering health insurance or the weak penalty in 4980H(b) for not offering sufficient health insurance (de minimis plans aka "skinny" plans) that effectively force an employee into the exchange.
On top of that don't forget the 40% excise tax on plans with premiums exceeding $10,200 for individuals or $27,500 for a family which is why supposedly so many companies with large unions filed for (and were granted) waivers.
So from my perspective there are no real incentives to offer better plans and in fact the ACA puts a cap on how good a plan can be offered. It's almost like the government has instituted a soft wage cap. Companies can of course elect to make up for this soft wage cap by paying higher salaries to offset the reduced health care benefit, but that means paying higher payroll and individual income taxes (another disincentive).
"Preach the gospel always, If necessary use words." ~ St. Francis of Assisi
Forar wrote: I'm not surprised there are a few hiccups either.
The load on their infrastructure and hardware probably makes the Vanilla WoW launch look like a calm summer day in comparison.
Basically it wouldn't surprise me if a couple of server rooms were glowing white hot and people were evacuating out to a potential three mile blast radius.
If only there was a federal agency with a huge server farm and data processing capability they could have used for opening day.
Every time a terrorist dies a Paratrooper gets his wings.
Forar wrote: I'm not surprised there are a few hiccups either.
The load on their infrastructure and hardware probably makes the Vanilla WoW launch look like a calm summer day in comparison.
Basically it wouldn't surprise me if a couple of server rooms were glowing white hot and people were evacuating out to a potential three mile blast radius.
If only there was a federal agency with a huge server farm and data processing capability they could have used for opening day.
They need that to see if Becky from accounting is seeing anyone and also sometimes terrorism; but mostly the first thing.
lord_blackfang wrote: Respect to the guy who subscribed just to post a massive ASCII dong in the chat and immediately get banned.
Flinty wrote: The benefit of slate is that its.actually a.rock with rock like properties. The downside is that it's a rock
Forar wrote: I'm not surprised there are a few hiccups either.
The load on their infrastructure and hardware probably makes the Vanilla WoW launch look like a calm summer day in comparison.
Basically it wouldn't surprise me if a couple of server rooms were glowing white hot and people were evacuating out to a potential three mile blast radius.
If only there was a federal agency with a huge server farm and data processing capability they could have used for opening day.
They need that to see if Becky from accounting is seeing anyone and also sometimes terrorism; but mostly the first thing.
Maybe Becky is using it to see if her date has Platinum ObamaCare or if he is cheap and went for the Bronze plan.
Apparently it had over 3m visitors today, and Cali's site was getting about 10k visits a minute. Seems all the hubub over the shutdown sent people in droves to check it out.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2013/10/02 03:51:30
Seaward wrote: The latest scheme to derail it is trying to get young and healthy types to opt out (which actually would probably save them money), because if enough young people don't opt in, there won't be enough cost offsets to balance all the older and sicker folks getting enrolled, and the system will come crashing down.
And that shouldn't be a tough sell, because as you point out right most young people will be better off opting out, because the mandate is currently quite low.
But from the early results it doesn't appear to be working... which isn't that surprising, given convincing young and largely not white people to do something is pretty much the opposite of what Republicans are good at.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/10/07 02:31:51
“We may observe that the government in a civilized country is much more expensive than in a barbarous one; and when we say that one government is more expensive than another, it is the same as if we said that that one country is farther advanced in improvement than another. To say that the government is expensive and the people not oppressed is to say that the people are rich.”
Adam Smith, who must have been some kind of leftie or something.
My friend, who's in school, just tried to sign up... his cheapest option is the lowest plan and his out of pocket expense is going to be over 200/mo. He used to play roughly 50/mo and he's not convinced that it's comparable.
American media outlets were finally able to track down a mythical creature — a person who actually signed up for the Obamacare exchanges online.
But that person, Chad Henderson, admitted to the Washington Post that the premium for the plan he enrolled in was $175. Ouch! Wasn’t Obamacare supposed to lower premiums?
Henderson’s going to pay a $175 premium and he won’t even receive vision or dental insurance. He has contacts, so not having vision insurance is kind of a bum deal.
Henderson, as far as we know a healthy, 21-year-old college student at Chattanooga State Community College who lives in Flintstone, Ga., and works part-time at a day-care center, did not qualify for tax credits to purchase insurance, according to the Post.
Without Obamacare, Henderson could have received health insurance for as little as $44.72 on eHealthInsurance.com, according to Michael F. Cannon of the Cato Institute.
“I can’t yet say whether Chad’s $175 premium is the lowest-cost plan available to him through the Obamacare Exchange,” Cannon said. “[I’m in the process of researching that, and it’ll probably take a few hours.] But it’s probably close.”
Thanks to Obamacare’s community-rating price controls that take effect in 2014, Henderson’s cheapest plan option on eHealthInsurance jumped up to $190.23.
“So it appears that Obamacare quadrupled Chad’s premiums, and Enroll America thinks this is a success story,” Cannon said.
One of the main reasons health insurance prices are going up under Obamacare is because of the one-size-fits-all insurance plans required by the health care law.
During a congressional hearing in August, Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan., asked Marilyn Tavenner of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services whether President Obama's promise that “if you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan” was true.
“It is true,” Tavenner said, but added that it was true “under the assumption that your insurance is ‘true’ insurance that provides coverage.”
Tavenner claimed that insurance that was not “true” was insurance that didn’t include coverage for things like hospitalization or cancer treatment.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/10/04 17:47:57
"So, do please come along when we're promoting something new and need photos for the facebook page or to send to our regional manager, do please engage in our gaming when we're pushing something specific hard and need to get the little kiddies drifting past to want to come in an see what all the fuss is about. But otherwise, stay the feth out, you smelly, antisocial bastards, because we're scared you are going to say something that goes against our mantra of absolute devotion to the corporate motherland and we actually perceive any of you who've been gaming more than a year to be a hostile entity as you've been exposed to the internet and 'dangerous ideas'. " - MeanGreenStompa
"Then someone mentions Infinity and everyone ignores it because no one really plays it." - nkelsch
I cant imagine paying 50$ amonth for health care... let alone 175...
seriously... one payer is the way to go, up her eeveryones covered, for all the essentials, and most decent jobs take that 80% (rough # dont quote me on it) to about 100% coverage.
obama should of least not half @$$ed it and made something modelled on a sucessfull system, al la canada, instead of this franken system that seems sure to dissapoint pretty much everyone who uses it.
as it is, what I thought would happen, is ahppneing, those who had low rate "good enough" private insurance are now screwed, and there will be plenty of other fallout from people being moved from full time to part time, opt out penalties, ect to really take the shine off this.
has ANYONE gotten a better deal with this?
as in, actual people speak up if you got a better del with obamacare, not people theorising that its a better deal because they like how it looks on paper or in theory.
Come along and play Warmachine, 40k, boardgames or anything else! 
