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Does this story have the facts straight, or is the guy talking about this jacked? If the story is true, do you guys think the fallout angle is hyperbole?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/aroy/2013/02/19/here-comes-the-boom-cms-slashes-medicare-advantage-disarray-for-many-seniors/

It's been a while hasn't it.

 d-usa wrote:
It's been a while hasn't it.

Just wondering, that's why I'm questioning the story.

Uh... this isn't news. We knew that was going to happen.... eh?

Funny how Senate Democrats trying to dodge responsibility for ObamaCare innit?

We’ve been through all of this before. These cuts were identified by the CBO years ago. There is a current overpayment to Medicare Advantage programs, as the original Medicare Advantage payment made by government was based on the average cost of medicare patients, and private providers then cleverly targeted only the healthiest of medicare recipients, netting themselves a huge profit.

The part about targetting 5% profit is very cleverly worded, as it talks around the basic issue that right now most of these schemes make way more than 5%, because of the above patient targetting.

The drop in payments is just basic, good policy. So much so that the exact same payment reductions were included in Paul Ryan’s scheme.

But, of course, this is American politics and the internet. Deceptive bs is everywhere, and it never dies no matter how many times it is exposed.

 sebster wrote:
We’ve been through all of this before. These cuts were identified by the CBO years ago. There is a current overpayment to Medicare Advantage programs, as the original Medicare Advantage payment made by government was based on the average cost of medicare patients, and private providers then cleverly targeted only the healthiest of medicare recipients, netting themselves a huge profit.

The part about targetting 5% profit is very cleverly worded, as it talks around the basic issue that right now most of these schemes make way more than 5%, because of the above patient targetting.

The drop in payments is just basic, good policy. So much so that the exact same payment reductions were included in Paul Ryan’s scheme.

But, of course, this is American politics and the internet. Deceptive bs is everywhere, and it never dies no matter how many times it is exposed.

Seb. That's a drop in the bucket.

All of this is further exacerbated by the fact that overall, those reimbursement rates have dropped. The Providers are "dealing" with these drops because they expect that at some point, everyone who walks in the door would be covered in some way. We're not there yet...

Then, coupled with the bad economy... where currently with high unemployment, which means there are even more uninsured people getting services... all adds up to a severely depressed Healthcare financial outlook.

It's getting bad...

 whembly wrote:
Seb. That's a drop in the bucket.

It's what the article is discussing.

And by the way, the guy who wrote this worked as health care policy advisor to Mitt Romney. You know the Romney campaign, that endorsed the Ryan plan that included these same cuts? Yeah.

 sebster wrote:

 whembly wrote:
Seb. That's a drop in the bucket.

It's what the article is discussing.

And by the way, the guy who wrote this worked as health care policy advisor to Mitt Romney. You know the Romney campaign, that endorsed the Ryan plan that included these same cuts? Yeah.

Fair enough...

Another interesting tidbit is that I don't think the exchange will be ready in most of the states by Oct (when enrollment begins).

 whembly wrote:
Fair enough...

Another interesting tidbit is that I don't think the exchange will be ready in most of the states by Oct (when enrollment begins).

I've heard that, and that the exchange in its current form is pretty gakky. Those are complaints that I wish people would focus on, as they're legitimate and should be fixed.

Relapse wrote:
Does this story have the facts straight, or is the guy talking about this jacked? If the story is true, do you guys think the fallout angle is hyperbole?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/aroy/2013/02/19/here-comes-the-boom-cms-slashes-medicare-advantage-disarray-for-many-seniors/

No its absolutely true.

 Frazzled wrote:

Relapse wrote:
Does this story have the facts straight, or is the guy talking about this jacked? If the story is true, do you guys think the fallout angle is hyperbole?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/aroy/2013/02/19/here-comes-the-boom-cms-slashes-medicare-advantage-disarray-for-many-seniors/

No its absolutely true.

Do we know of other cited sources that claim this to be true?

It was a stated key component of their costs savings.