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| Home Front: Politix |
| New Mental Health Mandate Will Make Obamacare More Expensive |
| 2013-11-12 |
| [Forbes] Even as stories pour in of Americans facing steeply higher health insurance premiums and canceled coverage, Team TISI 0% Obama just imposed new regulations that will make those problems worse. It's almost like they can't help themselves. On Friday, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced new regulations mandating health insurers cover mental and behavioral health to the same extent they cover physical health care. A "mental health parity" mandate was passed by Congress in 2008, but Obama officials claim health insurers aren't fully complying. (You'll just have to overlook the irony of the B.O. regime, which has postponed several provisions of Obamacare without any legal authority to do so, complaining that others aren't complying with some law.) The more likely explanation is the administration is desperately trying to redirect peoples' attention from the Obamacare rollout that has become a non-stop string of stories about failed websites, higher premiums and canceled policies. President B.O.'s latest effort to divert public attention ignores a fundamental problem: it's much easier to know when a broken bone has healed than a broken mind. That ambiguity opens the door to overtreatment and fraud. Health insurers and actuaries have a lot of experience in this area because most states have passed some form of mental health parity legislation. The Council for Affordable Health Insurance used to publish an annual chart tracking the number of state mandates, and health actuaries provided a general estimate of how much various mandates added to the cost of a basic health insurance policy. Depending on what it required, mental health parity was one of the most expensive mandates, adding between 5 percent and 10 percent. [Full disclosure: I ran CAHI for eight years.] a |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #12 Well, ya gotta admit, after eight years of this guy, we could probably all use it... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2013-11-12 21:29 |
| #11 ...another interesting little wrinkle...: We automatically enroll you in Medicare after you get disability benefits for two years. |
| Posted by: Uncle Phester 2013-11-12 21:07 |
| #10 I have a DoubleMint monkey on muh back and I'm getting bored with work. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2013-11-12 18:10 |
| #9 More folks will become 'disabled', quit whatever work they might have done, and get on the gubbamint dole. Another superhighway to dependence. |
| Posted by: Bobby 2013-11-12 12:39 |
| #8 Because folks who are nuts enough to vote for Obama ought to have their heads examined. |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2013-11-12 12:20 |
| #7 I remember having to re-do paperwork at the hospital after Obamacare was passed, in there was a clause which stated my info could be used in the event that a foreign dignitary was threatened. I suppose a clever lawyer could mean that to be any politician involved in foreign nation negotiations. If then, then municipalities who pick and choose which immigration laws to enforce auto qualify as foreign negotiators. It would not be too far a stretch at that point to include school board, emergency management, chamber of commerce, so forth. A bit of stretch armstrong, but remember sebelius doesn't take a crap without marching orders on how to set the roll of toilet paper; all mouth and no head. True Lies, good time movie. Poor reality. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2013-11-12 09:32 |
| #6 Mental health data will be secure, and not leaked for political purposes, and consultations about any mental health issues at all will not be communicated to BATF and they will not come and inspect homes for and confiscate any firearms there to prevent them from falling into the hands of the mentally ill. Right? |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2013-11-12 08:17 |
| #5 What about the free Rectal Exams for Democrats? Nurse Bruce will be with you in just a moment. |
| Posted by: Spereting Tingle4064 2013-11-12 07:09 |
| #4 Next up, mandatory dental. |
| Posted by: Phaising Speaking for Boskone4311 2013-11-12 06:33 |
| #3 Except for political opponents who will receive mental health care at state's expense? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2013-11-12 04:35 |
| #2 New Mental Health Mandate Will Make Obamacare More Expensive D'oh! |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2013-11-12 02:12 |
| #1 Sign that a new Debt-bustin' "QE" = "Stimulus" is on the way, for that kinder, gentler US$26.0Trilyuhn national debt level come April 2014??? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2013-11-12 00:43 |