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Trump has announced the first major changes to Ocare for next year. He has changed the enrollment time to one and one half months instead of the longer time prior. He has also allowed the insurers to cover slightly less and still be able to use the color symbols. This will initially increase some out of pocket costs but will lessen the premiums in the future. The insurers will also get some extra time this year to figure out their plans. There will be also special scrutiny of those who try to game the system by only getting coverage when they need it outside of the open enrollment periods. Those who drop their coverage after they use the insurance will have to pay their prior year premiums before they will be allowed to use the carrier the next year.
The end of Ocare is coming. The IRS has announced that they will not hold up tax refunds to people who did not have medical insurance. This reverses an Obama rule and is due to the Trump executive order to reduce the burden of federal regulations.
The House has voted to undo a lame duck Obama executive order. The rule would have mandated banning states from not using federal funds to providers including Planned Parenthood who do family planning that also provide abortions. This does not cut funding but since federal money may not be used for abortion it allows states to fund non-abortion family planning only if they wish. It only needs 51 votes in the Senate to pass.
Health officials delayed the Obama rule that allows people with skimpy insurance to keep it through 2018 instead of this year as long as insurance companies allowed it.
There is a rule in Ocare that requires providers to revalidate their Medicaid reimbursement. About 65,000 did not and can not be reimbursed for treatment. This was up September 2016. Some states did not get the message to tell their providers.
The idiot California Democrats want to wreck havoc in the state. They are proposing universal health care without thinking about the cost and the amount of taxes it would require. The proposed rule would allow every resident to have a health plan, that no insurer would pick the physicians, health care funds would be pooled and run by the state, prescription costs would be managed and there would be no insurance companies. The governor did not comment but he is a fiscal conservative in these matters. Of course, the state gets $22 Billion from the fed. Let's see how that goes. Top
Maine has lost big. John Zabloty, RN, has his license revoked had his license revoked for two years by the Nursing Board for allowing a person to leave the hospital on his request. He was found dead under a foot of snow close to the main hospital entrance the next day. Zabloty appealed the two years and a judge reduced it to 90 days. The state supreme court ruled with the lower court and the state blew a wad of money on this. Top
New Jersey has fined Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield $1.1 million for two laptops stolen in 2013 that were only password protected but not encrypted to protect patient information. They like hospitals were negligent in the security of information and deserved the fine. 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.