Health Care Reform - Article Round Up

From: Kim - Real (& mostly) Balanced Ideas for Real Life

When I first started investigating Health Care Reform a few months ago there wasn't really much information out there.  Now it seems that as we barrel closer to January 1, 2014, it's coming faster and faster.  A few articles crossed my path recently that I thought would be helpful to just pass on to you:

Let the IRS implement Obamacare? Are we nuts?

Are we really prepared to put our health insurance system under the same agency that, as we’ve learned from the targeting scandal, took 1,138 days to approve just one non-exempt group’s tax application?  Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2013/05/28/let-the-irs-implement-obamacare-are-we-nuts/#ixzz2Uh088iZl

Health Insurance Reform: Steps to Take Now to Prepare

Open enrollment, both for private health plans and for the new insurance marketplaces established by the law, starts Oct. 1. That’s sooner than you may think, given the complexities of the law, says Meredith Olafson, senior policy advisor in the Small Business Administration’s office of entrepreneurial development. “Every business owner is going to be impacted differently,” Olafson says. “They need to know the facts and information to plan for what’s ahead.”

Here are five important ways to ready yourself for health reform: 

Read more: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/226782#ixzz2Uh27E5PM

Find more on the Affordable Care Act/Health Care Reform/Obamacare HERE.

I am truly non-partisan in this and pretty much all politics.  If you sense a slant or leaning in one direction or another, it's not intentional.  Feel free to share your insights and perspectives by commenting below.

What are you doing to prepare for Obamacare?  Or are you just not worried about it?

 

Health Care Reform - Electronic Medical Records Consolidation

From: kim Real (& mostly) Balanced Ideas for Real Living

 

 

Recently, I learned that local businessman and fitness/wellness colleague Steve Reynolds was serving on the Executive Committee of Beacon Communities Consortium, a Western Colorado group working to consolidate patient medical records regionally.  This is all part of a federal grant program driving regional communities to create solutions towards that will ultimately become a part of the Affordable Care Act.

I was very interested to talk with Steve and learn more about this and how it will impact our future health care system.  There is definitely a lot to talk about.  To listen to my first conversation with Steve click on Roaring Fork Wellness's Podcast, Episode 4, on the top & right of the page.

We will definitely talk again.  If you'd like to submit questions or comments, please include them below or you can contact Steve Reynolds directly at:

La Provence Spa (Steve's business)- 970-945-5783 or via email at steveatthegym@live.com

Other articles in this series:

Health Care Reform: Interview with Rayna Gangi
Tick Tick Tick - Health Care Reform is Coming
Health Care Reform-Medical Perspective
Beginning to Understand Health Care Reform

Health Care Reform - An Interview with Rayna Gangi

From: kim Real (& mostly) Balanced Ideas for Real Living

In our 4th installment of the Health Care Reform series, I interviewed holistic health practitioner, political activist and author/teacher Rayna Gangi.  In her podcasts, Gangi has gone over the Health Care Act line by line to inform her listeners just what is in there, and quotes page numbers and sections.  I was quite surprised listening to the details, so I wanted to share them with you as a resource.  As you'll find in the interview below, Ms. Gangi is quite passionate about this issue.  It's important we listen to all perspectives and sort out the facts for ourselves.  I encourage you to keep listening/reading and to share your input.  If you think there is a perspective missing from this conversation, please let me know.

Click the graphic above to read what the White House has to say about health care reform.

Here is a list of the other posts in this series: 
Tick Tick Tick - Health Care Reform is Coming
Health Care Reform - Medical Perspective
Beginning to Understand Health Care Reform

And now, Ms. Rayna Gangi:

kim: Welcome Rayna. Can you fill us in on your background?

Rayna: My background is diverse, but as far as healthcare is concerned, I’ve been a holistic health consultant and therapist for more than 35 years. I stayed involved with alternative/complementary health because approaching the body and health holistically is like “an apple a day.” It keeps the doctor away. 

kim: Is it true you’ve combed through every page/line of the Health Care Reform Act? What prompted you to do so?

Rayna: As soon as the health care bill became available, I went through it line-by-line a dozen times. We had already been hit with TARP and a stimulus bill that was obviously the wrong step to take to mend the economy. Many of us had said “no” to those programs and seeing the inherent costs and the amount of government control written into the bill basically enraged me, and many others. Many of us(over a million) went to D.C., believing that Americans marching in dissent of such a travesty would make a difference. It didn’t. Then, Nancy Pelosi’s statement that we have to “pass the bill to see what’s in it,” got me even more involved. I studied the history of those “czars” responsible for this bill. By the way, amazing so many thousands of pages could be written so quickly, right? Well, I compared Hillary Clinton’s failed health care reform bill to this one and found many pages just copied. Then Sebellius and others inserted many phrases that basically gave them carte blanche control over every aspect of our bodies and health.

kim: What is the biggest impact that Americans will see from this bill?

Rayna: Hard Question because this impacts many sectors and groups. In general, health care premiums will rise, and this is on purpose. The government would like to put the individual insurance companies out of business while also causing economic pain on individuals and families so they can eventually announce Single Payer health which puts healthcare in the government’s hands permanently.

Young people under 25 of voting age wanted this bill because they can stay on their parent’s health plan until age 26. This is also on purpose to secure the Democratic vote through the end of Obamas second term. 

$65 billion dollars was taken from Medicare to help pay for the initial implementation, so those on Medicare already see in increase in their premiums, that money coming from Social Security payments. Because the baby boom generation will be hitting retirement age for the next 15 to 20 years, the government wants those premiums, not to pay for Medicare and Senior healthcare, but to pay for the so-called 47 million people who don’t have healthcare. Most of those are illegal aliens, and if amnesty goes through, the cost for the hundreds of thousands granted amnesty with their families will be $6.9 Trillion over the next 10 years. Seniors will be paying for some of this at the risk of their own health and lives.

The so-called “death panel,” touted as a rumor and joke, is no joke. The administration has not yet put the civilian panel in place to make decisions on whether our ailments are worthy because they need more money to pay them.

Those people working both in small businesses and corporations will either see more taken from their paychecks, their jobs eliminated, or their full-time status reduced to part-time so the employer can afford to keep them.

There are many more impacts, but the overall impact is exactly what Democrats are now calling it. A train wreck. Doctors will stop seeing patients and/or leave their professions, hospitals will charge more for care, Seniors may have to wait to be see, and when all those young people reach age 27 and up, they’ll have a rude awakening as healthcare costs, single payer or not, will be too high for most to afford.

This is the reason Congress, Unions and special interests who lobbied for the bill want to be exempted from compliance, and more than 3000 groups have gotten that exemption.

kim: Can you give us a short list of the highlights? What changes are coming down the pipeline?

Rayna:

• Those with individual health insurance will see an average premium increase of 32-40%
• Obamacare imposes $165 billion in new taxes and fees on health plans, drug manufacturers, and device makers
• The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says that these taxes will be passed on to consumers through higher premiums.
• Obamacare includes 21 new or higher taxes that will cost taxpayers roughly $1.1 trillion over the next decade
• 20-65 million Americans could lose their employer-sponsored health insurance.
• 70% of small businesses have cited Obamacare as an obstacle to job creation
• The CBO estimates that Obamacare will decrease the labor force by 800,000 over the next decade.
• These changes are already in the pipeline, and there are more than 20,000 new regulations added recently with more to come.

kim: What segments of the population will be most affected?

CLICK TO CONTINUE INTERVIEW

Tick Tick Tick - Health Care Reform is Coming

 From "Kim - Real ( & mostly) Balanced Ideas for Real Livng

We have begun a conversation (see post "kim: Beginning to Understand Health Care Reform") about how Health Care Reform will impact us as individuals, business owners, health care professionals and society-at-large.  Another piece of the puzzle is falling into place - Connect for Health Colorado.

This is the website where you will go to compare and contrast available plans and begin to sort out what your health insurance portfolio may look like effective January 1, 2014 when it becomes mandated that you will have health insurance or pay a penalty. You can enroll in a new plan starting in October, according to this website.  You can also attend board meetings and participate in the process.

Connect for Health Colorado - Take a look, share your insights and get educated.

Next week:  Watch for an interview with holistic health practitioner, author/educator and activist Rayna Gangi, who has combed through the Health Care Reform Bill line by line and will share her insights with you.


What are your anticipations for Health Care Reform? Comment Here.

kim: Health Care Reform - Medical Perspective

kim: Health Care Reform - Medical Perspective: In this journey into Health Care Reform, I'd like to present as many perspectives as possible.  This bill presents changes for individuals, insurance companies, employers, wellness providers and medical service providers.

Jim Coombs, CEO Grand River Health

I was pleasantly surprised to run across an interview with Jim Coombs, the CEO of Grand River Health (Rifle, CO) which aired on KMTS-FM (Glenwood Springs, CO.)  on Friday, 3/8/13. The interview was conducted by my colleague at KMTS, News Director Ron Milhorn. 

Mr. Coombs talks about what he refers to as "Health Pay Reform" and the fact that 40% of disease factors are attributed to our behavior, choices WE make.  This is larger than genetic or any other factor.

Link to Jim Coombs interview on KMTS - CLICK HERE

Link to Powerpoint presentation- State of the Community - CLICK HERE


I found the interview informative and with different information than I had expected to be presented.  We have to realize this reform bill affects health care in many different ways and to be informed will help us navigate the new system with as much ease and grace as possible, contributing to lower stress levels and overall wellness.  I hope you find it helpful, as I did.


Thank you to KMTS-FM and Grand River Health for access to and permission to share these resources.

SOURCE: Balanced Ideas For Real Living

kim: Beginning to Understand Health Care Reform

kim: Beginning to Understand Health Care Reform: It has been in the back of my mind for awhile now and with new parts of the plan rolling out in this first quarter of 2013, it is time to understand just what Health Care Reform means for me and for each of us.  This morning I found a very helpful article at CNN.com as a first step to fully understanding the changes, pros and cons.

I'd like to begin a dialogue here so that we all may understand the changes and how best to prepare ourselves for wellness- financial and physical.

So here are the things that stand out for me at this point:

1) Supreme Court called this a tax while passing the bill. Justices state that the US Government cannot require citizens to purchase insurance, however, they can assess a tax on those who do not.  This comes in the form of a penalty, which begins in 2014 and increases in 2015 and again in 2016.  I have calculated that for my husband and I ( and I suspect most people) the penalties are significantly less than what we currently pay for health insurance, so I am not sure it's an adequate incentive to purchase health insurance.

CONTINUE: