Carnivals

Health Wonk Review takes on Healthcare.gov

What is on the mind of the Wonk blog-o-sphere?  You guessed it…

hc_gov

Loyal reader, your time is precious. So without further ado, let’s get to the best health wonk posts of the week!

 

ACA (a.k.a. Obamacare)

  • What other problems is Healthcare.gov facing?  Sarah Kliff of the Washington Post’s Wonk Blog states that Healthcare.gov also is having trouble signing up people who are eligible for Medicaid as well.
  • Obamacare is just about Exchanges, right?  Wrong.  Joe Paduda of Managed Care Matters describes other key components of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
  • Are catastrophic plans far superior option compared to plans offered in Exchanges?  Colorado Health Insurance Insider shows that in Colorado, the answer is ‘no’.
  • December 31 marks the end of Exchange enrollment for 2014, right?  Rick Curtis and John Graves of Health Affairs Blog describe why we can expect a large jump in enrollment in Exchange plans in the early part of 2014.  Maggie Mahar of The Health Beat Blog says that March 31, 2014, is the more important date.
  • Does the ACA move us closer to a capitalist or socialist society?  David Williams of the Health Business Blog has some surprising answers.
  • Will the narrow networks used in many Health Insurance Exchange plans soon become adopted by Medicare Advantage plans as well?  David Harlow of HealthBlawg states that this may be the case in the not to distant future.
  • Would you lie about your income when applying for insurance through the Obamacare Exchanges? Even if you would not, the Disease Management Care Blog explains why most consumers have a strong incentive to do so.
  • How would new regulation affect your car buying behavior if it were modeled on the ACA?  InsureBlog‘s Patrick Paule uses a helpful (if ironic) metaphor to explain the issues involved in Early Renewal.

Health Policy and other topics

  • What are the top five health policy facts you need to know for December?  Billy Wynne of Healthcare Lighthouse fills us in.
  • What is the doc fix?  Will it be fixed permanently?  Healthcare Economist (myself) fills you in.
  • Which profession is most likely to suffer musculoskeletal injuries on the job?  Lynch Ryan of Workers’ Comp Insider provides a surprising answer (hint: its a healthcare occupation).
  • How much should a large company pay for faulty medical devices?  Health Care Renewal notes that if your firm is J&J and your product is a metal-on-metal hip prosthesis, then the answer is $2.5 billion.

5 Comments

  1. http://tinyurl.com/Hraemanuel Zeke Emanuel in Politico: Who needs Healthcare.gov. Easy to use planfinder sites.

    In this Politico article, Andrew Steinmetz and Zeke Emanuel discuss easy to use websites to aid in plan selection. Zeke Emanuel was amazed with what he found using Morse’s site. I have written about this site earlier. See http://tinyurl.com/hraplanfinder Morse’s site will tell you the costs of the plans, premium subsidy, quality ratings, etc. for all 50 states and D.C. Morse can easily make additions to this site. Morse’s site is http://stevemorse.org/obamacare/obamacare.html

    I strongly encourage you to spread the word, to encourage the administration to make use of it, as well as states like Maryland that are having problems with their sites, and to make recommendations for additions to the site.

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