Friday, October 15, 2010

Doctor Shortage; Medicaid Enrollees Strain State Budgets; Mini-Med Insurance Laws; Some Companies Leaving Medical Insurance Business

The group's Center for Workforce Studies released new estimates that showed shortages would be 50 percent worse in 2015 than forecast.
"While previous projections showed a baseline shortage of 39,600 doctors in 2015, current estimates bring that number closer to 63,000, with a worsening of shortages through 2025," the group said in a statement.
"The United States already was struggling with a critical physician shortage and the problem will only be exacerbated as 32 million Americans acquire health care coverage, and an additional 36 million people enter Medicare." [And recently Obama told a young crowd not to forget what "change" feel like.....] http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE68T67120100930
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Washington - - More people signed up for Medicaid last year than at any time since the program's inception, as the recession wiped out jobs and workplace health coverage. A report released Thursday by the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation found that enrollment in the low-income medical insurance program jumped to more than 48 million. With the economy barely improving, states are forecasting a 6 percent increase in the rolls next year, meaning another strain on their cash-depleted budgets. "Looking ahead, states will face new challenges as the federal aid winds down and they prepare for health reform." http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/76018
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The Obama administration said Thursday that its top health official will "exercise her discretion" in enforcing a new health-law requirement, a move that could help McDonald's Corp. and other employers from disrupting their health-care policies for hourly workers.The announcement Thursday followed a report in The Wall Street Journal that McDonald's warned federal regulators it could drop its health-insurance plan for nearly 30,000 restaurant workers unless regulators waive a new requirement of the health overhaul. The requirement, known as the minimum medical loss ratio, concerns the percentage of revenue received from premiums that must be spent on benefits. [As one commenter said, "Wasn't the whole point of passing the law to make sure that companies comply with it? This is ridiculous. Why do we even have the law if it's going to be applied with "discretion"?] http://online.wsj.com/article
/SB10001424052748704789404575524502131067836.html?mod=WSJ_WSJ_US_News_5
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 Principal Financial Group said Thursday that it will leave the medical insurance business, further reducing competition among health insurers in Iowa. Principal will transfer the renewal rights for its health insurance customers in Iowa and 30 other states to United Healthcare over the next 36 months.  http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20101001/BUSINESS/10010350/1001/NEWS/Principal-cuts-1-500-jobs-exiting-health-business. [Isn't the Democrat plan for total government control working well?  As each story here presents, the particulars of the healthcare bill ends up leading folks to the government for insurance, slowly but surely - or fast as can be.  This was the plan all along.....]
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1 comment:

  1. Oh, but "you can keep your doctor and health insurance coverage if you like to..." Isn't that what THE WON said ?? Wonder why some insurers want to quit the program ? Wonder where all the doctors will be when you need one ? What a load of crap that Obama has created !!

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