Ya, sorry, that should have read “new Medicaid patients”, instead of “me”. I’d have to find the report again to be totally certain.
The mix is different from State to state though. NJ has a low acceptance percentage, while a place like Wyoming is at like 95%.
Oh sorry I assumed was an extra word not just the wrong one.
USA Today and US News have the stat you are talking about but it does change drastrically between states and I am wondering if it is even worse if you go the city level:
The variation went from a low of 38.7% in New Jersey (where primary care reimbursement rates are 48% of Medicare rates) to a high of 96.5% in Nebraska (where the primary care reimbursement is 75% of Medicare). Montana, with a 90% physician participation rate, pays the same rate as Medicare for primary care, while California, with a 54.2 participation rate, pays 42% of the Medicare reimbursement rate.
It seems to correlate with the state’s reimbursement rate. So CA… which was Scott’s example, could very well make it harder for patients to find quality primary physicians (PCP). Medi Cal is a pain in the ass to deal with too… like worst in the Union.
If a Medicare for all system was adopted, so many people would be on it that hospitals couldn’t really refuse it.
Hospitals don’t really refuse Medicare now. These are physicians, think primary care and specialists you are not entitled to see as opposed to the emergency rooms that pretty much see everyone. Also… Medicare is not going to give you all the elective services you want, keyword here is elective… as in something akin to you don’t have to have this to live even if it might make your life a little better.
As long as elective services doesn’t mean knee replacements and stuff along those lines are considered elective. I know my parents got fed horror stories from their BNP friends back home about 1-2 year waits for knee replacements across the pond.
It’s weird how the events that pushed me to the left pushed them to the right.
Knee replacement and hip replacement are probably the two most covered surgeries under Medicare Part A. These are not elective in that Medicare won’t cover them.
Elective surgery would be things like cosmetic, but don’t think hollywood when you think that… think of the person that got slammed throw a windshield in a car accident or something that cost a lot more than someone might be insured for. Getting your face replaced because it was bit by a chimp… most people aren’t going to have homeowners enough insurance for that! Thankfully they force breast replacements now by law.
Other more likely scenarios could be something like long-term care, hospice (different insurance for that), oddly enough a lot of footcare (corns, callouses), non emergent dental care (regular health insurance doesn’t typically cover this either), anything alternative or experimental (even if it’s widely used in other countries),
Look Medicare and Medicaid aren’t bad options really for those who are uninsured or before ACA under insured, but they are step backs for people used to quality commercial insurances. Medicare for everyone doesn’t sound that great when you have good insurance now. It’s all about options. I mean Medicare does cover pregnancy… people over 65 aren’t likely going to use it so naturally expanding that would need to take that into consideration.
But again Medicare Part B and Medicare Part A can be exhausted… so when that happens… very different story.
I know the rattlesnake bite 150k bill was big news last week but here’s a taste of what healthcare premiums look like in NY.
Those are my rates for the upcoming year, 17k for me and my wife, with a 10k deductible. 🇺🇸 #1
From helping my sister find a plan in NY, that seems like you’re getting a pretty raw deal. It looks like that’s coming through your employer? Have you looked at the exchange yourself?
This plan, for instance:
https://nystateofhealth.ny.gov/individual/searchAnonymousPlan/plan/41938?county=Queens&coverageTier=COUPLE&entityType=INDIVIDUAL&planYear=2017&youPay=
Only $950 a month for a couple, with a $2200 deductible, and includes vision and dental.
My sister was in a similar boat at one point, where she was getting an absolute SHIT plan through Macy’s, and paying through the nose for it. Finally left them and got her own plan through the exchange, and made out much better.
I was under the impression that being eligible for an employee sponsored plan removes your eligibility for subsidies on the exchanges. But I will certainly look into that. Just got hit with these insane increases (more than 7k/year over last years rates) and am just reeling. It’s almost half my income, a quarter of my families. Just feeling devastated.
I’m not sure what impact it will have on your subsidies, you may not get any… although I think that’s mainly based on income.
But the prices on that plan I just listed are without any subsidies at all.
Now, there may be better options too… I just did a search for silver plans, which are pretty solid. That one has all kinds of stuff like free gym memberships and crap too. I think it may actually be the same plan my sister got, now that I think about it.
I’m pretty sure though that you can choose to go through the exchange rather than your employer. You may need to wait until next year to sign up though, I dunno.
Overall, NY does a decent job running their healthcare exchange.
Took your advice and spoke to the lovely people at the NY exchange. Good news, I will be able to switch my coverage to the marketplace, with similar benefits for several hundred less a month (Still gonna be 10k a year). Bad news, open enrollment is in November and any new plan wouldn’t kick in until the 1st of the year, so I’m stuck with these insane rates for at least 6 months. Still want to vomit, but not as much, I guess. Thanks again for the info.
I can 100% confirm this is true. I have employer insurance that is only marginally better than yours @DeForrestation. At least for family (mine contributes the same whether employee only, or with family). So my wife bought plans off the exchange through Blue Cross Blue Shield Illinois.
She got no subsidies, but my wife and son were around $500-600 a month or so.
I had a similar realization last year (2016) as DeForrestation just had. I live in Missouri, a Red State with no Medicaid expansion. I had assumed that when my wife quit work at the beginning of 2016 and went from her employer plan to a ACA exhange plan that we’d be paying more and getting less coverage, but that turned out not to be true. We paid about the same and got the same coverage. And then in 2017, because she had had no income in 2016, and we were just going off my income, we actually qualified for more subsidies, so in the news everyone was talking about premiums going up, but thanks to subsidies, our premiums actually went down in 2017.
So yeah, despite all the negative press about the ACA, I’ve personally been very surprised by it in my own circumstances. It’s a shame that it’s no doubt going to be replaced by a shittier plan.
I’ve always supported the ACA (flawed as it is, anything is better that state run catastrophic plans that were its ancestors) and have personally navigated several friends and relations (that didn’t have traditionally offered employer plans) through the exchanges, with fairly even prices and comparable coverage. Even with that experience, I had no idea the options were available to myself, since we were always getting plans through our employers.
Jesus Christ. I pay $700/mo for a plan for my entire family (4) that covers basically everything, with no deductible. And I complain it’s too expensive. Massachusetts for the win I guess. I’d still rather live in Canada.
Good!
One thing that you may look into is getting that $380 that the company pays… since they aren’t paying it, it should be part of your compensation. That would further reduce the amount you pay.
Oh, also, some stuff here:
May want to check into that stuff, see if there are some extra issues that may come up, such as tax implications.
You know what, if nobody around you takes it then it doesn’t do you much good if 70% of doctors take it.
I probably mix my programs up (medicare/medicaid/medical) and so I apologize for that. I have seen medicare work for my father and it combined with a Blue Shield supplement paid for almost everything in his last years of life. Nobody questioned it and everyone accepted it.
Now he had existing doctors and hospitals to deal with. The problem with any of these programs (especially medical) is trying to find a new doctor to deal with who will take it.
Pretty much. It’s a national average, which is… pretty big, especially when your state could be small enough that it having, say, a 15% acceptance is meaningless as far as the nation as a whole. What matters to you, and rightfully so, is that your state is at 15%.