BLUE CROSS of Texas & Illinois Canceling over 600,000 ObamaCare Plans on 12/31/2015.

a reply to: Gryphon66

Obama should have been able to hold back and not bow to his own temptations to lie.

originally posted by: xuenchen
a reply to: Gryphon66

Obama should have been able to hold back and not bow to his own temptations to lie.

Do you have evidence of other Presidents who never lied?

Regardless of our opinions on Obama, the OP makes a claim about what BC/BS is doing and the ACA.

a reply to: Gryphon66

The only real connection between this story and ACA is that plans have to be ACA compliant, which can effect items being offered within the plan as well as cost distribution.

While what BCBS is doing isn't unusual, it is hard to argue the tangled mess of law surrounding ACA hasn't made life mierable for anyone involved in benefits administration.

originally posted by: bigfatfurrytexan
a reply to: Gryphon66

The only real connection between this story and ACA is that plans have to be ACA compliant, which can effect items being offered within the plan as well as cost distribution.

While what BCBS is doing isn't unusual, it is hard to argue the tangled mess of law surrounding ACA hasn't made life mierable for anyone involved in benefits administration.

I have an agent that I trust in Georgia that helps me administer our company's plan. Without them, I would be absolutely lost.

The ACA overall is crap. There are important elements in it that need to be rescued and implemented in a true overhaul of the healthcare and insurance industries in this country.

I have no hope of seeing anything like that any time soon. Thank you though for your cogent commentary in this, as in most, threads of discussion!

a reply to: Gryphon66

A physician client had to invest $125,000 in new computer/software upgrades just to stay compliant with new Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) reporting requirements. Laid off one part-time assistant in March, just so he could afford the ongoing requirements to keep everything current.

originally posted by: bigfatfurrytexan
a reply to: Gryphon66


While what BCBS is doing isn't unusual, it is hard to argue the tangled mess of law surrounding ACA hasn't made life mierable for anyone involved in benefits administration.

How can you say that what Blue Cross of Texas is doing "isn't unusual"? A major health insurance company switching all of it's Individual/Family PPO customers over to HMO, like BCBS-Tx is going to do at the end of this year is highly unusual.

With HMO, you have to choose a primary care doctor. If you don't one is assigned to you. To see another doctor, your primary must refer you. Fewer specialists accept HMO patients. I don't know how you can take this so nonchalantly, BigFatFurryTexan? You must be on a large group plan?
-cwm

originally posted by: carewemust
a reply to: Gryphon66

A physician client had to invest $125,000 in new computer/software upgrades just to stay compliant with new Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) reporting requirements. Laid off one part-time assistant in March, just so he could afford the ongoing requirements to keep everything current.

So ... he couldn't find any other cost savings or revenue increases ... or take the hit equivalent to a 20 hr per week assistant in his bottom line? Does he manage the office himself or does he have a manager?

If so, he needs to fire the manager, or hire one, as the case may be.

a reply to: Gryphon66

Perhaps he could have. It's up to each person how they run their business and their life. I have my own business (and life) to attend to.

originally posted by: Gryphon66

originally posted by: bigfatfurrytexan
a reply to: Gryphon66

The only real connection between this story and ACA is that plans have to be ACA compliant, which can effect items being offered within the plan as well as cost distribution.

While what BCBS is doing isn't unusual, it is hard to argue the tangled mess of law surrounding ACA hasn't made life mierable for anyone involved in benefits administration.

I have an agent that I trust in Georgia that helps me administer our company's plan. Without them, I would be absolutely lost.

The ACA overall is crap. There are important elements in it that need to be rescued and implemented in a true overhaul of the healthcare and insurance industries in this country.

I have no hope of seeing anything like that any time soon. Thank you though for your cogent commentary in this, as in most, threads of discussion!

We had a firm, that we still use....but the price for their services has almost doubled. They had to hire several new "experts" to help them give their clients counsel.

a reply to: Phoenix

My disbelief is how many argue the problem is lack of insurance and cost of insurance when in reality it's the costs of the product itself at core of the problem

I have to disagree with this.

The only function of a insurance company is just to pay hospital bills.

Like every other product we 'purchase' we are currently paying MORE for the labor, than the actual cost to produce it.

That fundamental principle is the genesis of outsourcing.

originally posted by: Benevolent Heretic
a reply to: carewemust

They're not canceling the coverage.

What will this mean for individual members who currently have the PPO plan?
BCBSTX will be transitioning affected individual members to another plan, so you will not experience a gap in coverage. You will also have the option of choosing a different plan during 2016 open enrollment.

Sounds like some changes in coverage, but canceling? I don't see that...

That's like having an unlimited call/text/data plan for $30/month, and then going to a 400min/1gb/month plan and Verizon claiming your current plan was never canceled, just transitioned.

a reply to: OccamsRazor04

Great analogy! Add in a 19.97% 2016 premium increase, according to the government's website ratereview.healthcare.gov... , and you have (almost) the full unpleasant picture.
-cwm

The more I learn about this Blue Cross of Texas PPO cancellation, the uglier it gets. Learned today that the BCBS-Tx HMO physician network is not just a little smaller than the PPO network. It's much smaller.

As of August 1st, there are 17,385 physicians in Texas who accept Blue Cross PPO plans. Conversely, only 6,740 accept the Blue Cross HMO plans. It's a similar story with the Texas hospitals...426 PPO vs. 258 HMO.

Once the letters start going out to the 300,000 or so Texas families having their PPO canceled and replaced with the HMO at the end of September, there will be a lot of anger..followed by a lot of problems and confusion starting 1/1/2016, when the official switch from PPO to HMO occurs.

originally posted by: xuenchen
It's the creeping capitalist syndrome !!

Only Capitalism will salvage the failing socialist government policies and regulations.

The ACA isn't socialism. However, I'm starting to agree with you. People are too dumb, lazy, and greedy to live in a socialist utopia. They'd have to be told what to do. Proper behavior would then have to be enforced. It starts to move into communism. Perhaps the manipulation of the masses through capitalism keeps everyone happy. Well, most everyone. It should turn the leaches into criminals so they can be locked away from the players who follow the rules. I still want to go off grid. You all can have this circus.