Posted on 06/17/2012 7:16:02 AM PDT by EBH
Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) announced that it too will continue to offer important health care insurance protections that were included in the 2010 health care reform law, no matter how the U.S. Supreme Court rules in the case pending before the Court. This makes Humana the second major health insurance provider to authenticate The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) was signed into law by President Obama on March 23, 2010. The Republican party had made the act a centerpiece of the 2010 campaign for Congressional seats, falsely claiming, among other things that the PPACA was "socialized medicine."
It is not.
The announcement by Humana, authenticates the PPACA, or what the Republican Tea Partiers call Obamacare. The announcement was mildly surprising in view of the political conversation over the last two years. Humana is now also on board with Obamacare, obliterating the "socialized medicine" argument for good. In their announcement, the company vowed to keep in place many of the important elements of the PPACA.
(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...
I had not heard that about United Health Care.
That explains why they have decided that after years on the market as a tier two drug, Janumet, an effective oral medication for type two diabetes, is now a tier three drug, incresing co-pays significantly for users.
Janumet is a combination of Januvia, a name brand drug, and metformin, a generic that has been on the market for years.
This drug has been so effective for me, it allows me to “cheat” and enjoy real ice cream about once a week and still keep my blood sugar in range. But the change will take my co-pay from $62.50 for 90 days to $100!
We need to get away from the notion that one size fits all when it comes to health care plans. For instance, older adult women should not have to pay for pregnancy coverage. Then too, there are plenty of two person families out there, they are called empty nesters. Their kids are all over age 26, and they aren’t going to be moving back in, in need of health insurance. But these couples aren’t old enough for Medicare either. Why should they pay for a “family” plan?
Anyway, by offering those provisions if the court overturns Obamacare, it is no longer socialist, it’s voluntary. That’s the way it should be.
You nailed it—high premiums, more cash.
I also see government subsidizing for people who can’t afford it but will be required to have it with Obamacare.
Right now Humana’s Medigap insurance plan...the premiums are almose twice the amount of another well-known insurance provider for the same coverage. Requires careful “shopping.”
I retired when I was 60 hers old and had 5 years to wait for Medicare eligibly. My former employer offered a series of plans for its present and retired employees. The lowest cost was a $1,000 deductible major medical plan at about $270 per month and the next lowest cost, at about $450 per month, was a conventional plan with near first dollar coverage and 20% copay up to a stop loss of about $4,500 out of pocket payments in a year. The major medical plan also had the same stop loss. I took the cheapest plan and saved a tremendous amount of money on it. Many other people, not just the young and healthy, also did. Th outcome was that the cost of the cheap plan dropped by about $20.00 per month from the time it was adopted until the day I reached age 65. Now my Medicare and Medicare supplement cost me about $150 per month more than the old employer provided plan did. My former employer’s major medical plan showed how real cost savings can be achieved without injuring the plan’s beneficiaries, just the opposite of what Obamacare does.
I am in 100% agreement with them deciding to do this
Just don't ask for a government BAILOUT afterward.
Just like the Auto Industry, Obama could not take it all over at once. All they needed to do was take over ONE (GM) and then use the power of tax dollars to drive the others out of business (so far they closed all Republican-owned GM dealers) Wait if he gets reelected- $10,000 rebates to buy GM vehicles until Ford goes belly-up.
They could do the same thing with an administration-friendly health care company (Humana) and tax dollar bailouts.
This is what it's about. They're getting 'something' for doing this. They too will be emerged into a government run 'minimum health care' one day.
I don’t see a problem so long as other companies are free not to offer it. If people are willing to pay for the Obamacare goodies, then so be it, but don’t force me to do so.
Nothing is free.
Everyone with a lick of sense (that leaves out liberals and other socialists) knows companies have to earn enough money to cover the costs of services provided at no charge (”free” stuff) or go bankrupt.
So, either they charge higher rates to paying customers or somehow tap into government wealth redistribution scams to offset the cost of “free” services.
Either way, someone else pays for the “freebies”.
Didn’t I read something about being in bed with big pharmacy?
Now we’re short of on drugs?
The only thing I have been worried about should the Supremes throw out Obamacare is the insurance for the under-26 crowd.
Many decisions have been made by families and the adult children themselves based on the availability of this extension. Pulling this out would create a real problem for them, putting them back on the individual market where they started.
Not saying Obamacare should have been done in the first place, but all kinds of plans (grad school, start your own business, take a job that does not offer benefits, etc) have been made based on that option.
The under-26 thing is all about STDs.
When I was in that age bracket, nobody gave a rip about health insurance.
Now all you hear about is how vital it is for these “kids” to have “coverage”.
They need to learn to keep their pants on.
“If Humana takes on all of those cases with previous medical conditions, they will be out of business inside a year.”
Agree. Companies will sneak up on them from the rear and offer policies without cradle-to-grave condom coverage, etc.
They’ll get their clocks cleaned, and THEY KNOW IT. I assume, right now, they just want to get some good press, while Obama is still president, and to prevent Congress from feeling that they have to codify some of the stuff that gets overturned...at least until Obama is gone, and (hopefully) Romney tells Congress to take a hike on condom coverage.
DING! Ding! Ding!
We have a winner!
Why yes. Weren’t you paying attention when congress passed this law...it was because of the insurance corruption.../sarc
Humana already has the most restrictive acceptance policy in the business. If you have as much as a hangnail they will deny coverage.
Which planet is this bozo from?
Hmmm...Guess the SCOTUS will probably drop their deliberations and close the case file as soon as they hear this important announcement.
Repeat after me. ObamaCare is a crony-capitalist scam.
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