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The Difference?  They no longer have insurance

 

"More than two dozen widows who were married to retired Madison county employees, lost their health insurance coverage earlier this year. And now one commissioner says it's time to give it back to them. The change was sparked by the new federal health care law, but whether or not coverage can actually be restored really isn't clear," said the anchor.

Says the reporter, "Madison county commissioner Roger Jones says no one realized just how much the new federal health care law would change things, especially for the spouses of some of his former employees."
 
"A lot of these people are on fixed incomes, low fixed incomes. Some of them are living on Social Security and very little else and health insurance is very important to them," says the county commissioner.
 
"The widows who were dropped in January had always been covered under the county's old self-insured health care plan. But officials tell us the program had to be abandoned when they were informed that new regulations in Obamacare would amount to an extra $25 million dollars per year, money that chairman Dale Strong says the county simply didn't have," says the local reporter.

 

http://www.weeklystandard.com/...-alabama_786961.html

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The failure of the state to support the ACA had NOTHING to do with Medicare.  The plan was for expanded MEDICAID, which is an entirely different bird, and is adminstered on a state level.  The plan only promised three years of funding.

Therefore, blaming this on Bentley and the state is an epic fail. This goes entirely back on the tongue of Obama who promised that "if you like your insurance, you can keep it".  Many on here and in the medical community warned that this would not be the case.

Supposedly, 8 million have now signed up, BUT 6.5 million lost their insurance because of this plan therefore it is only a net gain of 1.5 million. Not very impressive for a plan that has cost us so much.

Again, learn the difference between Medicare and Medicaid before blaming Dr. Bentley, he has got more sense than you give him credit for.

Originally Posted by teyates:

The failure of the state to support the ACA had NOTHING to do with Medicare.  The plan was for expanded MEDICAID, which is an entirely different bird, and is adminstered on a state level.  The plan only promised three years of funding.

Therefore, blaming this on Bentley and the state is an epic fail. This goes entirely back on the tongue of Obama who promised that "if you like your insurance, you can keep it".  Many on here and in the medical community warned that this would not be the case.

Supposedly, 8 million have now signed up, BUT 6.5 million lost their insurance because of this plan therefore it is only a net gain of 1.5 million. Not very impressive for a plan that has cost us so much.

Again, learn the difference between Medicare and Medicaid before blaming Dr. Bentley, he has got more sense than you give him credit for.

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big deal.. i confused medicare and medicaid.. you still understand the post and defend the state republicans for their failure to cover the people of the state.. imagine that.

Originally Posted by Crash.Override:
Originally Posted by teyates:

The failure of the state to support the ACA had NOTHING to do with Medicare.  The plan was for expanded MEDICAID, which is an entirely different bird, and is adminstered on a state level.  The plan only promised three years of funding.

Therefore, blaming this on Bentley and the state is an epic fail. This goes entirely back on the tongue of Obama who promised that "if you like your insurance, you can keep it".  Many on here and in the medical community warned that this would not be the case.

Supposedly, 8 million have now signed up, BUT 6.5 million lost their insurance because of this plan therefore it is only a net gain of 1.5 million. Not very impressive for a plan that has cost us so much.

Again, learn the difference between Medicare and Medicaid before blaming Dr. Bentley, he has got more sense than you give him credit for.

_______________________

big deal.. i confused medicare and medicaid.. you still understand the post and defend the state republicans for their failure to cover the people of the state.. imagine that.


No it is you who does not understand. The state and the federal programs are two different things. One of them has no bearing on the other.  Regardless if the "widows" qualify for Medicare, they probably still do not qualify for Medicaid, so blaming it on the governor is just redirecting the true culprit from his culpability.  This BELONGS to Obama, no one else. Don't try to pin it on Bentley's refusal to get caught up in the quagmire.  While I fully support medicaid, I also understand that in three years the state would have been saddled with something they cannot pay for, and then EVERYONE would have lost.

The typical "progressive liberal" stand according to your logic is that it is better for many to suffer than a few, but my stand on this is to take care of those you can the best that you can, and I beleive that the current state Medicaid is doing the best they can do.

There was no doubt in anyone's mind that if the federal government came in and put a whole bunch of demands on employers and benefactors, that there were going to be people losing their coverage.  Only a moron would fail to see this.  The most likely target would also be those who are retired and getting benefits.  the benefits may promise coverage, however it rarely stipulates the quality of that coverage, nor the deductibles associated with it.  you (CO) claim to be an all knowing businessman with a wealth of knowledge about how to run a business, and yet you fail to realize this very common premise?

Perhaps if you took off your Obama colored glasses, quit drinking the Obama KoolAid, and stop coloring in your Obama coloring book for a few moments you could realize that the OP is absolutely correct in ascertaining the blame to Obama in this instance, because he and the Dems own every bit of it.

ok.. with you being in the medical field.. i would think you'd be smarter about the state's participation in the expansion and exchange.. instead, you're just spouting off the same tired old rt. wingnut propaganda.. anyone can do their own research.. and see that you're either lying .. or just don't know the truth. the choice of the alabama republicans to NOT participate.. cost these people their insurance.. FACT. sorry,  you're getting as nutty as bestworking.

OK then, explain to me how these "widows" lost their insurance and now because the state does not participate in Medicaid expansion, they cannot get coverage?

The two are not the same. To qualify for medicaid they would have to basically have no source of income, which they do since they have some source of retirement benefits.  If they are of the age of Medicare the could probably make up the difference with a supplemtn, but it is likely not the same great plan they had previously.  What you and others like you do not understand is that this basically is just the opposite of obama's original promise...."if you like your coverage you can keep it"....what he failed to add to that statement, and what most of the liberal progressives do not understand is that .....if you like your coverage and want to keep it, all you have to do is pay more for it, or increase your deductible.

This is why most people are not satisfied with the AHA.  It insured a small fraction of the population while increasing the premiums and decreasing the coverage that most Americans had and was happy with. yes, it did increase eligibility of children to age 26, and it was supposed to allow people with pre-existing disease to buy a policy, but let's face it, they are now buying huge policies are huge prices with huge deductibles.  In states that chose not to participate, all the government would have to do is do away with state boundaries and allow people to go outside the state to participate, but 98% of these people only qualify for Medicaid or that is all they want and you cannot buy Medicaid outside your own state.

Create a sub-Medicare policy for those under the age of 65 and use the money that was spent elsewhere to supplement a national health policy avaialle across state lines.  Make it easy to use and to recoup compensation and every doctor I know would accept it, if the rates are comparble to most third party insurance. There were many different ways to do this, but O and his cronies went to bed with the insurance companies and try to go too far.

you've never heard of the 'coverage gaps' left by NOT participating in the expansion? really? let me get this straight.. you're the medical expert on obama care.. or , that's how you represent yourself, on these forums.. and you've never heard of the 'coverage gaps'? you declare you have to be right.. and you don't even know what's happening in our state by NOT participating in the expansion?

Last edited by Crash.Override

There is not enough information in the news article to truly know if these widows lost their insurance coverage because of ACA. I know that is the CLAIM, but it sounds fishy. The only way that it makes sense is if the self insurance coverage they had before was not paying for things that the ACA have now made mandatory for insurance coverage. Such as cancer screening, mammograms, and other preventative tests. 

 

I wonder what these widows were paying in the the self insured policies. Doesn't say, but if they are over 65 then they should be on Medicare and have a supplemental insurance. Which cost around 110 to 140 dollars a month. They were probably paying more than necessary for subpar coverage. Once the county was required to actually meet the standards of quality healthcare coverage they started dropping widows...that is not the fault of President Obama. That is the fault of the county. 

 

Teyates, if you care so much for these poor widows why don't you offer to see them at your practice for an affordable out of pocket price?

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