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Coverage for uninsured is cheaper than expected for millions, but red-state residents in poverty are facing pain.

Obamacare implementation is becoming the latest dividing line between blue- and red-state America, with Democrat-led states making progress to expand healthcare to the uninsured and the poor—and Republican-led states saying "screw you" to millions of their most vulnerable and needy residents.

The latest sign of the Republican Party’s increasingly secessionist tendencies comes as Obamacare passed a major milestone in California, which late last week announced lower-than-expected healthcare premiums for its 5.3 million uninsured, less than many small businesses now pay in group plans.

“Covered California’s Silver Plan… offers premiums that can be 29 percent lower than comparable plans provided on today’s small group market,” the state’s new insurance exchange announced Thursday, referring to the least-expensive option of four state-administered plans and posting this price comparison chart.

In contrast, the refusal by red-state America to create these health exchanges, which would be more local control—a supposed Republican value—and to accept federal funds to expand state-run Medicaid programs for the poor, means that about half the states are turning their backs on their residents, especially millions of the poorest people.

The federal government plans to step in later this summer and offer uninsured people in recalcitrant red states the option of buying plans via federally run heath care exchanges. But the poorest people can’t afford that, meaning the refusal to expand Medicaid programs will leave them in the cold. They will see ads selling new federal healthcare options that will be unaffordable for them.

TheNew York Times reports that local healthcare advocates in red states are predicting a backlash once Obamacare is rolled out and the poor realize that they cannot take advantage of it because Republicans are blocking it. However, that does not change the bottom line in state-run Medicaid programs: the GOP is again penalizing the poor. Much more at http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/hows-obamacare-turning-out-g
reat-if-you-live-blue-state-and-screw-you-if-you-have

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The letter faxed to Gloria A. Wilder’s Anacostia medical practice was short and to the point: D.C. Chartered Health Plan, the Medicaid contractor that insured roughly three-fourths of her patients, would no longer be paying its claims, effectively immediately.

That meant Wilder would not be getting paid anytime soon for hundreds of office visits she had already handled, as well as dozens more she had scheduled for the coming week.


“The breath got sucked out of me,” she said of the April 19 letter. “Here it was, payroll day, and you hear no money’s coming.”

Until this month, Chartered Health Plan was the city’s dominant Medicaid contractor, managing the health care of more than 100,000 low-income city residents. The company’s collapse has raised questions about its politically connected owner, its precarious finances and government oversight of a key component of the city’s health-care system. But for small medical providers, Chartered’s demise has presented a more urgent question: How to make ends meet?

Wilder said that Chartered owes her practice, Core Health and Wellness, about $45,000, that she has cut back hours to save on utility bills, and that she’s been forced to dip into her retirement account to make payroll in recent weeks. “We run a fiscally sound practice, but it still means you need to have revenue coming in,” she said.

The D.C. government has promised that help is on the way, but pending litigation and negotiations with federal Medicaid officials have greatly complicated the task of making providers whole.

Chartered’s messy dissolution is an outgrowth of legal and financial troubles besetting Jeffrey E. Thompson, the firm’s owner. Thompson was thrust into the public spotlight last year after being implicated in the financing of a “shadow campaign” that supported Vincent C. Gray’s successful 2010 run for mayor. As Thompson became associated with political corruption, his health-care firm edged toward a financial precipice, and insurance regulators forced the company into receivership in November.

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Originally posted by Geezer:
Not looking like it'll turn out that well in that most Democratic of Democratic bastions, Washington, D.C., if this is any example.

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The letter faxed to Gloria A. Wilder’s Anacostia medical practice was short and to the point: D.C. Chartered Health Plan, the Medicaid contractor that insured roughly three-fourths of her patients, would no longer be paying its claims, effectively immediately.

That meant Wilder would not be getting paid anytime soon for hundreds of office visits she had already handled, as well as dozens more she had scheduled for the coming week.


“The breath got sucked out of me,” she said of the April 19 letter. “Here it was, payroll day, and you hear no money’s coming.”

Until this month, Chartered Health Plan was the city’s dominant Medicaid contractor, managing the health care of more than 100,000 low-income city residents. The company’s collapse has raised questions about its politically connected owner, its precarious finances and government oversight of a key component of the city’s health-care system. But for small medical providers, Chartered’s demise has presented a more urgent question: How to make ends meet?

Wilder said that Chartered owes her practice, Core Health and Wellness, about $45,000, that she has cut back hours to save on utility bills, and that she’s been forced to dip into her retirement account to make payroll in recent weeks. “We run a fiscally sound practice, but it still means you need to have revenue coming in,” she said.

The D.C. government has promised that help is on the way, but pending litigation and negotiations with federal Medicaid officials have greatly complicated the task of making providers whole.

Chartered’s messy dissolution is an outgrowth of legal and financial troubles besetting Jeffrey E. Thompson, the firm’s owner. Thompson was thrust into the public spotlight last year after being implicated in the financing of a “shadow campaign” that supported Vincent C. Gray’s successful 2010 run for mayor. As Thompson became associated with political corruption, his health-care firm edged toward a financial precipice, and insurance regulators forced the company into receivership in November.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/dcs-medicaid-upheaval-
puts-health-care-providers-in-a-tight-spot/2013/05/25/e546e456-c3b9-11e2-8c3b-0b5e9247e8ca_story.html

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Originally posted by Kwicko:
Funny, but nothing in that article links the failure of a private corporation due to malfeasance on its owner's behalf to anything at all to do with Obamacare.


As others might say, "GRAAAAASP, Geezer, GRASP!"

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Originally posted by 1kiki:
And how does this related to Obamacare, again? Spell it out, in concrete detail, step by step, from beginning all the way to the end.

Otherwise, it's just your personal old-man's religion, again.

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Originally posted by 1kiki:
And how does this related to Obamacare, again? Spell it out, in concrete detail, step by step, from beginning all the way to the end.

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Originally posted by 1kiki:
"It's not all that difficult to figure out, based on what I posted above."

Then it should be easy for you to make your own argument. Bur since you can't, all I can conclude is that you have none.

"... how the ACA is gonna prevent the fraud, waste, and abuse that's already pretty much endemic in the Medicare/Medicaid systems ..."

Cites? Links? Quotes? ANYthing?

I figured. Empty suit. Empty head. Bankrupt honor. Dead soul.

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