Nurses laid off - Thanks to Obamacare

Published

nurses are laid off, salaries decreased and vacant positions eliminated thanks to obamacare..tsk3..

read here: http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/m...tory?track=rss

The proof of the pudding in which system is more inefficient. Health care spending in the USA is 17.5% of GDP (private) Health care spending in the UK (public) is 9%. 100% of British residents, not citizens are covered. Despite the passage of "Obamacare" that is still not true of the USA. And yes, the British can also choose their doctors.

Furthermore, the system of employer based health insurance is nuts. So, if you get long term sick............guess you're not going to be working. So out the window with the health insurance. A pretty evil system, and all the arguments in the world about personal responsibility can be picked to shreds on this one.

Employer sponsored health insurance grew out of wartime (WWII) wage restrictions set by Congress to deal with labour shortages. Basically companies were forbidden to offer higher wages to attract employees, so they looked around for something else. That came in the form of healthcare benefits, which the feds gave an "ok" to, and it has been part of the United States system ever since.

IIRC Obama and the Democrats looked to moving towards universal health schemes and or other ways of removing health insurance from employment, or at least scale it back; but concluded in the end such efforts would face stiff resistance. Despite what is heard in the media and elsewhere many who do have employer sponsored health insurance like things just the way they are thank you very much, and would have had the benefit pried from their cold dead hands.

Will agree that employer and even union sponsored health insurance causes all sorts of distortions in the labor market. From employees not leaving a company or job because they or a family member needs the benefit to the vast redirection of wages that are "given up" in lieu of health insurance.

The last big brings us full circle. A good number of employees would actually see an increase in wages if they were given what employer's give them in health insurance bennies. This comes to light easily when you examine wages paid to temporary or contract workers whom often are not covered by bennies but take home the difference in wages wholly or partially.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Re-elect NO one!!! We need a change all the way around. Seriously.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.
I don't quite understand how the insurance program works... it appears that I'm capitated to specific medical group and the hospital with which they're affiliated. It further seems to have been complicated by the fact that the c/c originated in an ER unrelated to "my" medical group. Approval for the CT seems not to have been through the insurance company but rather through the medical group, though apparently not with my PCP who actually ordered the CT and made the GI referral. ...

It's very different than the other insurance coverage that I've had (Kaiser and Anthem PPO) and I don't seem to get how to navigate it.

PPO (Preferred Provider Organizations) plans allow you to see anyone without a referral, coverage is highest with least copay when using preferred facilities in network.

A point of service plan, or POS plan, is a type of managed care health insurance system. It combines characteristics of both the HMO and the PPO. Members of a POS plan do not make a choice about which system to use until the point at which the service is being used.The POS is based on the basic managed care foundation: lower medical costs in exchange for more limited choice. But POS health insurance does differ from other managed care plans.

When the patient enrolls in a POS plan, they are required to choose a primary care physician to monitor the patient's health care. This primary care physician must be chosen from within the health care network, and becomes their "point of service".

The primary POS physician may then make referrals outside the network, but then only some compensation will be offered by the patient's health insurance company.

For medical visits within the health care network, paperwork is completed for the patient . If the patient chooses to go outside the network, it is the patient's responsibility to fill out the forms, send bills in for payment, and keep an accurate account of health care receipts.

HMO's have a physician/NP gatekeeper. Primary Care Practitioner when they sign up to participate with an insurance plan, selects or is assigned facilities for patient use.

HMO capitated (must only use) facilities are usually: Radiology, Laboratory, Physical Therapy and Podiatrist. You MUST receive services within your network in order for authorization to occur. Most insurance companies have websites with patient portals: upon setting up online account, can see benefits and capitated providers or networks, see bills/payments made for services and have wellness information.

Our insurer offers $10.00 discount per pay period for signing up and completing health "wellness" scorecard with yearly updates needed of preventative health activities (each one has point score): BP check, weight, immunizations, Pap Smear, mammogram, prostate exam, HgbA1c etc. Must have 100 points to get discount.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Obamacare sucks. Case closed :)

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Critical Care.
Obamacare sucks. Case closed :)

Every time these threads come up, I anxiously await the conservative version of how we should have reformed healthcare, since as far as I can tell the ACA is exactly what conservatives wanted in healthcare reform.

I've yet to hear anything the represents a well thought out view on healthcare reform, "Obamacare sucks" pretty well represents the deepest thoughts conservatives have managed to muster on the subject.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Obamacare sucks. Case closed :)

It certainly does -- it didn't go nearly far enough. :)

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Obamacare's Hierarchy of Privilege | National Review Online

It is not just the nurses being affected by this, despite many still believing this would be a good thing for nurses. :(

While people choose to choose sides (Democrat vs. Republican, which are really the same, but with different names) like they choose a favorite sports team, both parties are doing us no favors, although we are paying our representatives as they look out first for their own best interests.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Well said PMFB-RN! Well said! Its like everyone I meet is a Nurse these days. And usually an unemployed one at that....nursing shortage my eye!

Yup... one of two hospitals (both now under the same organization) in my original home town will have 83 layoffs (many nurses included).

Arnot Health - 83 Layoffs at St. Joseph's - News - The Steuben Courier Advocate - Bath, NY

My sisters, brother, and I were born there and my mother has been a patient there a few times over the past several years. Arnot Health is trying its best to coat this whole thing with sugar, but people know better. :(

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Emergency.
Obamacare sucks. Case closed :)

Judging a little early are we not? Do you have powers of prediction? Do you not understand that it is the big insurance companies-that still control the show new law or not-that are sucking the life out of this country by bolstering "specialists" and all of their nonsense and preventing prevention?

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Critical Care.
Neither does private insurance necessarily result in short waits. I had to wait 3 months for a CT abd to rule out serious pathology.

Sounds like you had a crappy HMO!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Critical Care.
That sounds like a policy issue...there are places that do this :yes: no is disputing that.

Totally dependent on the facility and organization.

I did my mother's taxes, and because of the ACA, I saw how much she paid towards her employer's insurance...it was the same amount I paid for my "private" insurance when I had private insurance...same type of plan, too.

if anything, the ACA will show how much one REALLY pays for insurance...and eliminate a mythical "employer preference"...It really is trying to force accountability for charging companies and individuals the amounts that they do.

But you are younger so your insurance should be less!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Critical Care.
Judging a little early are we not? Do you have powers of prediction? Do you not understand that it is the big insurance companies-that still control the show new law or not-that are sucking the life out of this country by bolstering "specialists" and all of their nonsense and preventing prevention?

But the reality is that most large employers already self-insure and only have a company administer their plan to save money. Big insurance is not providing that much care anymore! Also when companies self-insure they can skirt all the state laws that commerical health insurers have to provide. Self insured only have to honor federal laws so the employees get inferior insurance coverage!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion