Walmart Insurance Better than Obamacare

[Ben]

Heh heh - the evil Walmart offers better, cheaper insurance than Obama does.

http://m.washingtonexaminer.com/video-msnbcs-melissa-harris-perry-airs-a-tearful-apology-to-transracial-adoptive-parents/article/article/2541670

[MillCreek]

^^^ I am not surprised.  It is a single plan for 1.1 million administered nationally by a single insurance company.  With that number of insured lives all across the country, you can command some impressive purchasing power for healthcare, especially when you funnel your specialty care to a small number of hospitals.  As opposed to an insurance plan that covers 1650 lives in east Moose Jaw county with only one hospital and 3 physicians, giving the insurance plan very little in the way of purchasing power to negotiate favorable rates.

[Ron]

^^^ I am not surprised.  It is a single plan for 1.1 million administered nationally by a single insurance company.  With that number of insured lives all across the country, you can command some impressive purchasing power for healthcare, especially when you funnel your specialty care to a small number of hospitals.  As opposed to an insurance plan that covers 1650 lives in east Moose Jaw county with only one hospital and 3 physicians, giving the insurance plan very little in the way of purchasing power to negotiate favorable rates.

Another argument to illustrate the need for single payer insurance.

[MillCreek]

Another argument to illustrate the need for single payer insurance.

Which of course already exists in the government sector.  With all the kvetching about Medicare in terms of reimbursement rates, it is nonetheless one of the most efficient healthcare payors in the country, in terms of low administrative overhead, speed of payment and ease of working with.  My billing people at work tell me it is much less hassle to deal with straight Medicare paid by the government, then the Blues, or United Healthcare or Aetna or the like.

PS:  Interestingly enough, some of the worst plans to work with are the healthcare plans run by unions.  The carpenters union is big up here, and they are apparently a pain in the tuchis when it comes to reimbursement and delaying payment.

[Ben]

^^^ I am not surprised.  It is a single plan for 1.1 million administered nationally by a single insurance company.  With that number of insured lives all across the country, you can command some impressive purchasing power for healthcare, especially when you funnel your specialty care to a small number of hospitals.  As opposed to an insurance plan that covers 1650 lives in east Moose Jaw county with only one hospital and 3 physicians, giving the insurance plan very little in the way of purchasing power to negotiate favorable rates.

True, just as my fed.gov insurance is better than Obamacare. I can't figure out why* the administration just didn't open up the Federal employees health insurance plan to everyone, at least as one option. You're growing the participant pool more, so rates should go down, or at least not go up, and it's way better insurance.

*Well, I'm starting to lean more and more towards the "they want it to fail" side.

[MillCreek]

I still maintain that Obamacare is a gift to the private healthcare insurance industry.  They are going to make so much money off of this.  In part by screwing those of us who actually provide the healthcare.  The private insurance industry would not have made any money off a government-run single payer system. 

[roo_ster]

Which of course already exists in the government sector.  With all the kvetching about Medicare in terms of reimbursement rates, it is nonetheless one of the most efficient healthcare payors in the country, in terms of low administrative overhead, speed of payment and ease of working with.  My billing people at work tell me it is much less hassle to deal with straight Medicare paid by the government, then the Blues, or United Healthcare or Aetna or the like.

PS:  Interestingly enough, some of the worst plans to work with are the healthcare plans run by unions.  The carpenters union is big up here, and they are apparently a pain in the tuchis when it comes to reimbursement and delaying payment.

That is great until the docs and/or hospitals say, "Thanks, but no thanks."  My BIL stopped accepting Medicaid and Medicare(1) years ago.  Partly because of the reimbursement rates, partly because of the horrifying levels of fraud associated with them.  And partly because he got tired of working out payment plans with white folks too proud to take a handout while the illegal alien population sucked hard on that teat and would...not...let...go.

He's getting ready to pivot from OB/GYN to a "health, wellness, and anti-aging" practice of the sort that he hopes never gets coverage by insurance.  He has been trying to sell his practice, but Golly Gee, no one wants to start up a new practice or even buy an existing successful practice.  He is considering just shutting down and selling the hardware.




(1) Medicare at a OB/GYN practice?  Yeah, I was surprised, too.

[MillCreek]

The reality is that for the majority of physicians and hospitals, there is no way they could survive in refusing Medicare.  They would go out of business in short order.  Medicaid, maybe, depending on the state.  A whole lot of physicians limit the percentage of Medicaid patients they take because the reimbursement can be so much lower than Medicare. 

A lot of physicians fantasize about opening a concierge practice, or a cosmetic/wellness/lifestyle practice that is cash only, but unless you practice in a wealthy urban area with lots of well-heeled patients with the discretionary cash to spend, it remains pretty much a fantasy.  We all want to be a cosmetic dermatologist in Los Vegas doing nothing but Botox and fillers all day for cash at the time of service and no insurance billing, but there are only so many practices that such an area can support.

[Ron]

My physician retired from practice and took a job in the insurance industry.

He is just following the money.

[RevDisk]

My physician retired from practice and took a job in the insurance industry.

He is just following the money.

Might have become a board doctor. His new job may be finding very creative ways of saying "No" and arguing with practicing doctors.

[Ron]

Might have become a board doctor. His new job may be finding very creative ways of saying "No" and arguing with practicing doctors.

Just another way Obamacare inserts more distortions into an already distorted market.

I blame capitalism! 

[Pb]

Wal-Mart was a big supporter of Obamacare.