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Missouri has fired the first shot at Obamacare. In a state referendum over 70% of the voters stated they did not want the forced payments for the uninsured.
The People's Republic of Massachusetts is busy revising their health plan. As they find more and more that doesn't work in their small Republic they change. This can not happen on a national level. The newest change is to allow small business to go together to purchase health insurance. The new law also forces insurers to push low cost providers on their plans no matter the quality of work.
The US Senate has passed a Medicaid bill of $26.1 Billion. It will be offset by removing money from the stamp program for the needy. Also cut was money for renewable energy loan funds. The bill was being pushed by the states and by the Education lobby for their teachers would not be laid off as money was siphoned at the state level from education to medical. It will be interesting if the House rubberstamps the measure since the far left will not be happy with the offsets.
The People's Republic has quietly passed a law that may be detrimental to the people of the Republic. It allows municipalities and private ambulance companies to halve the number of paramedics that are on advanced life support ambulances. They had two paramedics per ambulance and now have one plus an EMT per vehicle. This is what most other states have in their rules. Currently almost all the ambulance companies in the Republic work on waivers allowing them to have one paramedic and one EMT.
California regulators have promulgated more rules regarding individual health plans doing rescissions. The new rules allow an individual to state he can not remember or is not sure of an answer on the form. The insurer then must get the answers by telephone interviews or old medical records. The insurers will be blocked from rescinding policies when the insurer is not in compliance with the rules, insureds will not be made to answer questions that are not germane to the insurance sought, the questions must be specific and clear, there may be no question that may give any information regarding any HIV test result, they can not do forced rescissions after they find out regarding possible misrepresentations and each insured will have to answer an individual questionnaire. Also agents must attest they have helped with the applications. Top
California has fined Pilgrim Haven Health Facility in Los Altos $100,000 for allowing a 85 year old man to fall twice. The second fall killed him. This was after the physician had written an order for an electric fall monitor which was never given. also after the second fall when he began to have symptoms of a head injury the nursing home did not notify the physician for about two hours since there was no RN on duty. After notification the patient was transferred to a hospital where a CT scan showed a sub dural hematoma. It is hard to believe but the nursing home disagreed with the findings. Top
DISCLAIMER: Although this
article is updated periodically, it reflects the author's point of view at the
time of publication. Nothing in this article constitutes legal advice. Readers
should consult with their own legal counsel before acting on any of the
information presented.