Robert Laszewski
As a healthcare consumer, am I most interested in short-term complications and readmission rates or am I interested in getting cured of whatever I have? The recent hullabaloo over narrow networks and whether a more expensive hospital is worth it or not seems to miss the bigger point.
It looks to me like consumers will have a choice when they get to look at the health plans available on the new "Obamacare" health insurance exchanges - - rate shock or benefit shock.
Five years from now no one will remember if their "Obamacare" health insurance exchange launched on October 1.
Last week the President waded directly into the national debate over "ObamaCare" by calling a big media event in the East Room of the White House to talk about the $100 rebates a small percentage of potentially eligible people are getting under the new health law.
The head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, Marilyn Tavenner, is out with a "Myths vs. Fact" clarification memo regarding the waiver of the employer mandate and whether the new health insurance exchanges will verify people's incomes when calculating subsidies.
The administration suddenly announced tonight that the requirement that all employers with 50 or more workers offer health insurance has been delayed until 2015.
After months of speculation on just where the Obama administration is toward the development of the new health insurance exchanges, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued a 48-page report complete with timelines and a detailed report on just where the Obama administration is - - or at least was last month.
Last week, I received my weekly email update from the Maryland health insurance exchange. Maryland Health Connection completed its Final Detailed Design Review (FDDR) live system demo on Thursday, May 30. The FDDR is a federal stage-gate required of all state-based exchanges. Maryland Health Connection successfully demonstrated end-to-end enrollment of a split family scenario including user log in, eligibility determination, real-time data verification through the Federal Data Services Hub, enrollment into plans, payment and file generation to be sent to an insurance carrier.
I have to say I was surprised with the press reports last week that there wasn't "rate shock" in California when the California exchange offered preliminary information about their new plans and rates.
Every week, I get an email from the Maryland Health Connection --- the state run health insurance exchange.