Healthcare Hypocricy?

[Downtown Shocker Brown]

93,000 people in Louisiana forced to change plans

[Ixiah]

"Fathom the hypocrisy of a government that requires every citizen to prove they are insured ... but not everyone must prove they are a citizen. And now, any of those who refuse, or are unable, to prove they are citizens will receive free insurance paid for by those who are forced to buy insurance because they are citizens."

- Attributed to Ben Stein

[1979Shocker]

93,000 people in Louisiana forced to change plans

I had to fix your link because it didn't do anything when I clicked on it.

[Downtown Shocker Brown]

I had to fix your link because it didn't do anything when I clicked on it.

Sorry sir. I have had to cut corners, and that means I am on a hand me down phone.

[SB Shock]

some new nuggets being exposed - Noboma Nocare Insurance Bailout Plan

If an exchange plan’s performance varies in either direction by more than 3 percent, it either collects a subsidy from federal taxpayers via the Department of Health and Human Services to recoup part (50 to 80 percent) of further losses, or it has to kick back a similar share of the excess profit.

Ideally, the money kicked back by profitable health plans can cover the subsidies for plans that lose. But unlike with the other two R’s, there is no legal requirement that the numbers balance or limit on what can be paid.


So imagine that we do enter a “death spiral” situation in which a large number of exchange health plans lose big and very few turn sizable profits…taxpayers potentially face a multi-billion dollar bailout of health insurers for losses outside the corridor.


Insurers are therefore safe. Politicians who back Obamacare may not be. If insurers’ costs do rise to the level that they require a taxpayer bailout, they will also be announcing massive hikes to their insurance premiums for calendar 2015.

[1979Shocker]

New DoS attack directed at Healthcare.gov

http://www.zdnet.com/new-dos-attack-directed-at-healthcare-gov-7000022940/?s_cid=e589&ttag=e589

Healthcare.gov has been plagued with problems since launching on October 1, and given how widely reported its vulnerabilities are, it's should come as no surprise that hackers are tapping into them.

Security software provider Arbor Networks pinpointed a new denial-of-service attack on the federal online healthcare exchange site.

But before things get out of control (more so than they already are), it should be immediately noted that Arbor researchers posited in a blog post on Thursday that this particular attack is "unlikely to succeed in affecting the availability of the healthcare.gov site."

[WuDrWu]

That's actually pretty funny if you think about it.

[pinstripers]

U.S . Government has just passed a new law called: "The Affordable Boat Act".
Every citizen MUST purchase a new boat, by April 2014. These "affordable" boats will cost an average of $54,000-$750,000 each. This does not include taxes, trailers, licensing and registration fees, fuel, docking and storage fees, maintenance or repair costs.
This law has been passed, because until now, typically only wealthy and financially responsible people have been able to purchase boats. This new law ensures that every American can now have an "affordable" boat of their own, because everyone is "entitled" to a new boat.
If you purchase your boat before the end of the year, you will receive 4 "free" life jackets, compliments of President Obama.
In order to make sure everyone purchases an affordable boat, the costs of buying a boat will increase on average of 250-400% per year. This way, wealthy people will pay more, when they trade up.
But to be fair, people who can't afford to buy a boat will be provided one.
Children (under the age of 26) can use their parents boats to party on until they turn 27; then must purchase their own boat.

If you don't want or don't need a boat, you are required to buy one anyhow. If you refuse to buy one or can’t afford one, you will be regularly fined $800 until you purchase one or face imprisonment.
Failure to use the boat will also result in fines. People living in the desert; inner cities or areas with no access to navigable waters are not exempt. Age, motion sickness, experience, knowledge nor lack of desire are not acceptable excuses for not using your boat.
A government review board (that doesn't know the difference between the port, starboard or stern of a boat) will decide everything, including; when, where, how often and for what purposes you can use your boat along with how many people can ride your boat and determine if one is too old or healthy enough to be able to use their boat. They will also decide if your boat has out lived its usefulness or if you must purchase specific accessories,(like a $20,000 nav system) or a newer and more expensive boat. Those that can afford larger yachts above $750,000 will be required to do so...its only fair.
The government will also decide the name for each boat. Failure to comply with these rules will result in fines and possible imprisonment.
Government officials are exempt from this new law. If they want a boat, they and their families can obtain boats free, at the expense of tax payers. Unions, bankers and mega companies with large political affiliations ($$$) are also exempt.

[1979Shocker]

Anthem Blue Cross is sued over policy cancellations

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-health-plan-canceled-20131105,0,6376654,full.story#axzz2jyOISOL6

In a new line of attack on canceled health policies, two California residents are suing insurance giant Anthem Blue Cross, alleging they were misled into giving up their previous coverage.

About 900,000 Californians and many more nationwide have received cancellation notices on their individual health insurance policies, triggering a public uproar against the rollout of President Obama's healthcare law.

Some consumers have complained about hefty rate hikes from the forced upgrades because their current plans don't meet all the requirements of the Affordable Care Act.

Much of the consumer anger has been directed at Obama's repeated pledge that Americans could keep their existing health insurance if they liked it despite the massive overhaul.

[SB Shock]

Capture.JPG

[Ixiah]

This writer for CNBC actually kept track of all the problems he ran into in order to just create an account. Its really amazing!

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101171790?

Use the right arrow link from here to see the various problems he ran into:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101176963/page/1

I worked in software for several years and this was literally thrown together and little testing was done or it was ignored. SOMEBODY really needs to be held responsible.

[ShockBand]

I read an article about how a big part of the problem for the site was the government bidding process itself. Various segments of the project were fragmented out to different vendors, and more importantly, no one vendor was really in overall charge of the project. In the UK, they had similar boondoggles with government software until they decided it was actually better and cheaper to bring the work in-house as a government agency so oversight and the work itself was under more of one umbrella. I doubt in the current climate that there would be interest in doing the same here. Of course, remember government projects tend to be done on the low bid process. I think it was during the Mercury flights that the astronauts reminded each other that the dangerous rocket they were sitting on top of was built by the low bidder, so no worries! :)

[RoyalShock]

I'm going off recollection here, but I thought the project was given out no-bid, to a Canadian company who's CEO was a college friend of Michelle Obama?

Or was all that just right-wing conspiratorial talking points?

(I honestly heard those things from seemingly legitimate sources and am resigned to the possibility they are over-simplified talking points.)

[ShockBand]

That may have been one of the vendors, but I'm pretty sure the whole project was badly fragmented with no one vendor in charge. What I wonder is what do companies that do huge volume of online business, like Amazon, Walmart, Stubhub, etc, with complex data to track, do for their sites? Do they outsource or have in-house staff?

[pinstripers]

I'm going off recollection here, but I thought the project was given out no-bid, to a Canadian company who's CEO was a college friend of Michelle Obama?

Or was all that just right-wing conspiratorial talking points?

(I honestly heard those things from seemingly legitimate sources and am resigned to the possibility they are over-simplified talking points.)

Isn't it enough that the job was shipped overseas(sorta)?