Posted on 09/28/2010 12:21:24 PM PDT by La Lydia
Harvard Pilgrim Health Care has notified customers that it will drop its Medicare Advantage health insurance program at the end of the year, forcing 22,000 senior citizens in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine to seek alternative supplemental coverage. The decision by Wellesley-based Harvard Pilgrim, the states second-largest health insurer, was prompted by a freeze in federal reimbursements and a new requirement that insurers offering the kind of product sold by Harvard Pilgrim a Medicare Advantage private fee for service plan form a contracted network of doctors who agree to participate for a negotiated amount of money. Under current rules, patients can seek care from any doctor.
We became concerned by the long-term viability of Medicare Advantage programs in general, said Lynn Bowman, vice president of customer service at Harvard Pilgrims office in Quincy. We know that cuts in Medicare are being used to fund national health care reform. And we also had concerns about our ability to build a network of health care providers that would meet the needs of our seniors.
Under Medicare Advantage plans, the federal government pays private health insurers to sell customers over 65 years old enhanced policies, many of which offer prescription drug coverage not covered by standard Medicare. But the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has been seeking to reduce the amount it pays to private insurers for such programs...
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
How is RomneyCare (ObamaCare pre-ejaculation) treating them these days?
The Massachusetts Health-Care ‘Train Wreck’
The future of ObamaCare is unfolding here: runaway spending, price controls, even limits on care and medical licensing.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704324304575306861120760580.html
My wife has a Medicare Advantage plan through her retirement from the New Mexico educational system. She just received notice that her share of the premium is jumping 33% next year. Thank for the change Big Zero.
The end of private healthcare is exactly on schedule... just as the democrats planned it.
Interesting. I’m working for their competitor, Tufts Health Plan, and I’m working on their new Individual Medicare Supplement Plan that they have no intention of dumping.
Hussein & Friends view this as a great victory.
I live in Mass. My super lib of a doctor told me that Obamacare is “a very good thing”. When I told him that I read otherwise, he told me to “stop watching FOX”. How he knew I watched FOX is beyond me. We’ve never discussed politics before. I have no idea what’s in store for me as I’m not a healthy person.
Well I live in AZ and my doctor said it was a very bad thing and is considering an early retirement.
Take comfort in the fact that your super Lib of a doctor is about to get screwed by Obamacare, regardless of where he gets his news.
The question is, will your doctor retire when he realizes he will be working harder for the same amount of $$.
Obama’s plan is working to perfection.
What's even more amazing is that there a some here that think ObamaCare is a sop to the insurance companies. They claim it is NOT a plot to force them all out of business.
If you look at how many individuals have gone to the advantage plans in the short time that they have been offered, you would be correct if you guessed that the advantage plans are are much better deal than supplemental plans.
Is the government requiring you to build your own provider network as the story indicates?
“The question is, will your doctor retire when he realizes he will be working harder for the same amount of $$.”
He’s probably 35, just had his second child. I’m a chronic pain patient due to a very bad cervical spine and fibromyalgia. I’ve got terrible pain throughout my entire body with an extra dose in the neck. I had a physiatrist (not a typo) at the Mass General Hospital tell me I had the second worst case of fibro he’s ever seen. That’s one of the best hospitals in the U.S. I never even heard of fibro until three years ago, but overnight, it’s changed my life. I can barely walk some days.
I need certain medications. Without them, I’d probably stroke out from the pain. That’s why I’m so afraid. So many doctors won’t prescribe what a person needs for spinal (and other) pain. The DEA has declared war on pain patients and the doctors brave enough to treat them. They lost the war with the drug lords, so they go after the soft collars. Drug dealers don’t keep records. Sure, there are bad apples in every profession; still, over 50,000 people suffer needlessly. Something else I never heard of until I became a victim. The parents of kids who overdose testify before Congress. It’s sad, yet they abused the drugs. Oxycontin was created for pain, and used responsibly, can give a person their life back. As it is, I’m under-prescribed, but I don’t rock the boat. I’m only 52. Sorry for venting.
No apologies needed.
I read something about fibro recently...but can't remember what or where. It had to do with new treatment best I remember.
Slip and fall in his office. Sue him for malpractice and negligence.
Spread some of his wealth around.
It's what he voted for. It's only fair you give it to him.
So you're a senior citizen and the government says no health care for you, what do you do? Our plan gives anyone 65 years or older a gun and 4 bullets.
You are allowed to shoot 2 senators and 2 representatives. Of Course, this means you will be sent to prison where you will get 3 meals a day, a roof over your head, and all the health care you need! New teeth, no problem. Need glasses, great. New hip, knees, kidney, lungs, heart? All covered. (And your kids can come and visit you as often as they do now).
And who will be paying for all of this? The same government that just told you that you are too old for health care.
Plus, because you are a prisoner, you don't have to pay any income taxes anymore.
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