Walgreens Changes Health Care Plan for 160,000 Workers Because of Obamacare

[williepete]

Sorry to correct you but the plans that will be offered on the open exchanges will pay out pretty much the same amounts as employer sponsored insurance to doctors and hospitals. You are misinformed. Not surprising.

Not surprising? Oh. We are in the presence of a superior being.

Please correct me. I'm here to learn oh Great One. Medicare and Medicaid coverage is not being turned down by more and more clinics? If my 60% below market rate is wrong, what is the rate that is causing clinics to reduce the number of Medicare and Medicaid patients? How is adding a third government below market rate program going to bring more people into a healthcare system that is already dropping government healthcare patients?

Most important of all, you need to correct me about the demographics of our healthcare system. Doctors and nurses of the Baby Boom era are retiring. At the exact same time, Obamacare is forcing 40 million people to buy coverage and join the health care pool. You have fewer providers and a vast increase in patients.
Are you saying Obamacare reverses the law of supply and demand? When more people want a shrinking commodity, the price goes down?

I'm obviously misinformed. Please correct me.

 

[auditor0007]

Sorry to correct you but the plans that will be offered on the open exchanges will pay out pretty much the same amounts as employer sponsored insurance to doctors and hospitals. You are misinformed. Not surprising.

Not surprising? Oh. We are in the presence of a superior being.

Please correct me. I'm here to learn oh Great One. Medicare and Medicaid coverage is not being turned down by more and more clinics? If my 60% below market rate is wrong, what is the rate that is causing clinics to reduce the number of Medicare and Medicaid patients? How is adding a third government below market rate program going to bring more people into a healthcare system that is already dropping government healthcare patients?

Most important of all, you need to correct me about the demographics of our healthcare system. Doctors and nurses of the Baby Boom era are retiring. At the exact same time, Obamacare is forcing 40 million people to buy coverage and join the health care pool. You have fewer providers and a vast increase in patients.

Are you saying Obamacare reverses the law of supply and demand? When more people want a shrinking commodity, the price goes down?

I'm obviously misinformed. Please correct me.

The rates from private insurance companies will not be any different from employer based insurance. They will not be in line with Medicare and Medicaid as you claim. This is where you are wrong.

Now lets move on to your supply and demand theory. You guys have been telling us all along that nobody goes without healthcare, and that everyone gets treated if they are sick. So where is this supposed increase in demand if everyone already is receiving all the healthcare they need? Your argument lacks logic. If you are going to make an argument, make it a reasonable one. If you insist that there will be greater demand on the system then you must admit that many people were not being treated in the past and there is a need for a change in the system. Or you just support the idea that if you cannot afford health insurance or cannot pay for your healthcare out of pocket then you should not be treated period, and it's okay to believe that. I just happen to disagree with that notion, but people can believe and support whatever they want, however right or wrong it may be.

 

[williepete]

The rates from private insurance companies will not be any different from employer based insurance. They will not be in line with Medicare and Medicaid as you claim. This is where you are wrong.

Now lets move on to your supply and demand theory. You guys have been telling us all along that nobody goes without healthcare, and that everyone gets treated if they are sick. So where is this supposed increase in demand if everyone already is receiving all the healthcare they need? Your argument lacks logic. If you are going to make an argument, make it a reasonable one. If you insist that there will be greater demand on the system then you must admit that many people were not being treated in the past and there is a need for a change in the system. Or you just support the idea that if you cannot afford health insurance or cannot pay for your healthcare out of pocket then you should not be treated period, and it's okay to believe that. I just happen to disagree with that notion, but people can believe and support whatever they want, however right or wrong it may be.

We differ on our information about reimbursement rates. A key component of Obamacare is price fixing. You are wrong. But as you say, believe as you wish.

Supply and demand: Who are "You guys have been telling us all along that nobody goes without healthcare, and that everyone gets treated if they are sick."

Are you having an imaginary conversation with someone? When did I say this? Straw Man much?

I see where you're going with your deflection. I'm not taking the bait.

There is a huge portion of the population that doesn't buy health insurance: The young. Under Obamacare, they will be forced to buy it or pay a gradually increasing fine. That and a few other marginal areas are where you're adding the 40 million. And you're still losing healthcare providers. Demand rising exponentially. Supply dropping.

Obamacare as we see it now is not a political problem, it is a math problem. You seem to be invested in Obama's cult of personality and want all his hopey changey dreams to work. We'll see shortly how it works. You and I can talk until we're blue in the face, but in a very short time we'll see.

Gotta go. It's been a privilege chatting with you auditor0007. Wish I could stay but I'm flying out tomorrow and won't be back t'ill the end of the month. Keep the discussion lively while I'm gone. We have a lot to teach each other.

Cheers.

 

[LoneLaugher]

The rates from private insurance companies will not be any different from employer based insurance. They will not be in line with Medicare and Medicaid as you claim. This is where you are wrong.

Now lets move on to your supply and demand theory. You guys have been telling us all along that nobody goes without healthcare, and that everyone gets treated if they are sick. So where is this supposed increase in demand if everyone already is receiving all the healthcare they need? Your argument lacks logic. If you are going to make an argument, make it a reasonable one. If you insist that there will be greater demand on the system then you must admit that many people were not being treated in the past and there is a need for a change in the system. Or you just support the idea that if you cannot afford health insurance or cannot pay for your healthcare out of pocket then you should not be treated period, and it's okay to believe that. I just happen to disagree with that notion, but people can believe and support whatever they want, however right or wrong it may be.

We differ on our information about reimbursement rates. A key component of Obamacare is price fixing. You are wrong. But as you say, believe as you wish.

Supply and demand: Who are "You guys have been telling us all along that nobody goes without healthcare, and that everyone gets treated if they are sick."

Are you having an imaginary conversation with someone? When did I say this? Straw Man much?

I see where you're going with your deflection. I'm not taking the bait.

There is a huge portion of the population that doesn't buy health insurance: The young. Under Obamacare, they will be forced to buy it or pay a gradually increasing fine. That and a few other marginal areas are where you're adding the 40 million. And you're still losing healthcare providers. Demand rising exponentially. Supply dropping.

Obamacare as we see it now is not a political problem, it is a math problem. You seem to be invested in Obama's cult of personality and want all his hopey changey dreams to work. We'll see shortly how it works. You and I can talk until we're blue in the face, but in a very short time we'll see.

Gotta go. It's been a privilege chatting with you auditor0007. Wish I could stay but I'm flying out tomorrow and won't be back t'ill the end of the month. Keep the discussion lively while I'm gone. We have a lot to teach each other.

Cheers.

Yeah...because they don't have the Internet where you are going, right?

I love nutters.

 

[Greenbeard]

We're already seeing a slight reduction in the Doctors who accept Medicare and Medicaid patients because of the lower than market reimbursement rate. (60% lower). Clinics can only afford to accept a smaller percentage of these reduced government rate patients. Obamacare is of the same ilk. Bureaucrats, with no knowledge of medicine or business, set price controls.

You're conflating the two programs (or, rather, you're conflating 52 programs, since there's Medicare and then every state has its own Medicaid program).

Medicare has more doctors participating this year than last, as enrollment by physicians continues to grow on net:

What the Journal didn't report is that, per CMS, the number of physicians who agreed to accept Medicare patients continues to grow year-over-year, from 705,568 in 2012 to 735,041 in 2013.

Medicaid provider participation will vary state-by-state because each state decides the reimbursements and pursues its own policies to encourage access. But yes, participation in Medicaid tends to be less common than participation in Medicare because the Medicaid population is tougher to deal with and the reimbursements are much lower than Medicare or commercial rates

So: You get your little bronze plan that you can barely afford and you get your little Obamacare card and you waltz down to the clinic for treatment and they tell you they don't accept your coverage same as Medicare or Medicaid. What are you going to do now after you've been forced to buy this plan--a plan than you now find out is worthless?

A bronze plan is a commercial plan, paying whatever rates the insurance company has negotiated with providers. Just like any other plan. It's not paying at Medicare--and certainly not Medicaid--rates.

Price and wage controls have historically come with unintended consequences. By some estimates, Obamacare is going to force 40 million people into a health care system without adding a single doctor or nurse. Compounding the problem, a huge percentage of our health care professionals are of the Baby Boomer generation and are leaving the workforce by the hundreds every month.

Whose estimates would those be? The ACA devotes an entire title to workforce development. Some highlights:

Expanding the Primary Health Care Workforce

Together, the Affordable Care Act, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act), and ongoing federal investments in the health care workforce have led to significant progress in training new primary care providers – including physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants – and encouraging primary care providers to practice in underserved areas, including:

• Nearly Tripling the National Health Service Corps: As a result of historic investments by the Obama Administration, the numbers of primary care providers in the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) are at all-time highs, nearly tripling between 2008 and 2012. Today, 10.4 million people in communities nationwide receive health care from nearly 10,000 National Health Service Corps clinicians. The National Health Service Corps has invested nearly $900 million in providing scholarship and loan repayment incentives to primary care providers and students in return for service in the areas that need them most.
• Supporting Community Health Centers: The Affordable Care Act created the Community Health Center Fund, which provides $11 billion over five years for the operation, expansion and construction of health centers nationwide. Today, more than 1,200 health centers operate nearly 9,000 service delivery sites that provide primary care to more than 20 million patients nationwide, a third of whom are children. Since the beginning of 2009, health centers have added an additional 2,200 full-time physicians and 2,400 full-time nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and certified nurse midwives.
• Training New Primary Care Providers: The Affordable Care Act invests in the training of new primary care providers, including providing nearly $230 million to increase the number of medical residents, as well as funding to increase the number of nurse practitioners and physician assistants trained in primary care. With these investments, by 2015, more than 1,700 new primary care providers will have been trained and enter primary care practice. The Fiscal Year 2014 budget includes investments that will expand the capacity of institutions to train 2,800 additional primary care providers over five years.
• Training Physicians in Community-Based Settings: The Affordable Care Act created the Teaching Health Center Program to help move primary care training into community-based settings. The five-year investment in this program is expected to support the community-based training of over 600 new primary care physician and dental residents by 2015.
• Supporting Mental Health Training: Mental health issues rank in the top five chronic illnesses in the United States. In Fiscal Year 2012, the Affordable Care Act invested $10 million to support training to help close the gap in access to mental and behavioral health care services by increasing the number of adequately prepared mental health and substance use health providers.
• Expanding Residency Slots for Primary Care: To encourage more medical residents to pursue careers in primary care, the Affordable Care Act redistributed unused residency positions and directed those slots for the training of primary care physicians. In distributing the residency slots, priority for awarding residents was given to hospitals that have rural training tracks, train residents in geriatrics, are using the additional slots to create or expand a primary care program, demonstrate focus in training residents to pursue careers in primary care, or serve a primary care health professional shortage area.
• Expanding Training of Advanced Practice Nurses: The Affordable Care Act allows up to five hospitals, named last year, to receive $50 million each year after a competitive application process, for fiscal years 2012 to 2015, to train advanced practice nurses, including nurses in community-based settings.

Modernizing Primary Care Training and Practice

Implementation of the Affordable Care Act provisions is strengthening the primary care training infrastructure, creating new primary care clinical training opportunities, and supporting primary care practice. These efforts include:

• Encouraging Physician Training in the Community: The Affordable Care Act provides incentives for hospitals to train primary care physicians in the community by providing flexibility in Medicare residency training requirements. Prior to the law, hospitals had to bear the cost of education in non-hospital sites, often by paying both the resident’s and teaching physician’s salary. This requirement discouraged training in community settings, which encourages primary care practice. The Affordable Care Act changed this policy and requires hospitals to only pay the resident salaries.
• Encouraging Health Homes: Under the Affordable Care Act, States are incentivized to create Medicaid “health homes” for individuals with chronic health conditions. Health homes encourage the use of integrated care to help patients better manage their health. States that create health homes will receive enhanced federal matching funds for care coordination services for the first eight quarters a health home state plan amendment is in effect.

 

[Mac1958]

.

Ultimately, Obamacare will probably "work", because they'll end up micromanaging it even further via endless band-aids utilizing more legislation, more regulation and more money. It's just another massive, bloated, bureaucratic pig of a law that we'll have to live with because it includes so many goodies.

Hate to say it, but that's my little prediction.

.

 

[MeBelle]

.

Ultimately, Obamacare will probably "work", because they'll end up micromanaging it even further via endless band-aids utilizing more legislation, more regulation and more money. It's just another massive, bloated, bureaucratic pig of a law that we'll have to live with because it includes so many goodies.

Hate to say it, but that's my little prediction.

.

One simple reason it won't work is illegal immigrants are, by law, ineligible to purchase through the exchanges.

Where will they continue to get their healthcare? Emergency rooms.

 

[Plasmaball]

.

Ultimately, Obamacare will probably "work", because they'll end up micromanaging it even further via endless band-aids utilizing more legislation, more regulation and more money. It's just another massive, bloated, bureaucratic pig of a law that we'll have to live with because it includes so many goodies.

Hate to say it, but that's my little prediction.

.

One simple reason it won't work is illegal immigrants are, by law, ineligible to purchase through the exchanges.

Where will they continue to get their healthcare? Emergency rooms.

Mostly irrelevant because if americans have healthcare they can skip going to the er and not worry about skipping the bills. So you will see a reduced sum of er non payments.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Here is what the Politicians in Washington ignored...a very simple equation:
1+2 = 3
BUT
1+3 does not equal 2.
You can't add a higher number of covered individuals, and increase the coverage at the same time for millions others - and the cost go down. It is elementary math.
Which is exactly why the government themselves moved to be exempt. They didn't make themselves exempt because it is cheaper.
Same reason Unions everywhere are demanding to be exempt. Same reason practically every service industry company is sending out letters to employees and cutting hours to avoid it - they wouldn't do this if it was cheaper.
Just remember these words "...We have to pass it to know what is in it..."
ALSO REMEMBER THIS... the government has no problem spending $85,000,000,000 a month to prop up the wealthiest 7% of American investors and corporations. A policy that liberals actually support and want to expand. However they do not have the money to supplement costs to low income for Obamacare....but they have money to supplement the oil and agriculture giants.

 

[ClosedCaption]

In 2006 Obama said nothing will change. Well Obama it's 2013! YOU LIED!!

 

[QuickHitCurepon]

Walgreens Changes Health Care Plan for 160,000 Workers Because of Obamacare | The Weekly Standard

In short, the move is to protect Walgreens from Obamacacre. “Rising health-care costs and a climate of change brought about by the new federal health law are prompting American corporations to revisit the pact they've long had with employees over medical benefits. … Aside from rising health-care costs, the company cited compliance-related expenses associated with the new law as a reason for the switch,” as the Wall Street Journal reports.

This is going to suck for the employees yet again ... Because of Obama the American people get screwed. Because if we did not have Obamacare these employees would still have the same healthcare they have prior to Obamacare

You're missing the part about why they are doing it and how it is bad.

We are safe under Obama's Land of Americare plan.

 

[ClosedCaption]

Walgreens Changes Health Care Plan for 160,000 Workers Because of Obamacare | The Weekly Standard

This is going to suck for the employees yet again ... Because of Obama the American people get screwed. Because if we did not have Obamacare these employees would still have the same healthcare they have prior to Obamacare

You're missing the part about why they are doing it and how it is bad.

We are safe under Obama's Land of Americare plan.

Thanks for continuing the tradition of anger for unknown reasons

 

[QuickHitCurepon]

You're missing the part about why they are doing it and how it is bad.

We are safe under Obama's Land of Americare plan.

Thanks for continuing the tradition of anger for unknown reasons

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxcn4G3IV8w][hello baby cut] lauren says thank you to joon - YouTube[/ame]

 

[ClosedCaption]

Again thanks for displays of unexplainable anger and sarcasm

 

[OnePercenter]

All of this would be unnecessary if Reagan hadn't screwed with the HMO act

Here's the actual truth:

Walgreens shifts workers to private health insurance exchanges - Sep. 18, 2013