ObamaCare situation

5509POSTS

9 years ago

As you all know Obama Care has been a very sore point for a lot of Middle Class and a great help for 20 million low income people in the US mainland.

In the case of Puerto Rico, the government receives a block grant and is required to have insurance that meets or exceed the requirements of the law. The block grant partially funds the MiSalud program which is somewhat equivalent to Medicaid. Depending on who you believe, the grant will be exhausted sometime in 2017 and unless there is additional funds, the PR government will have to fund the rest of MiSalud entirely on their own which may affect a few of you.

Something is going to change with Obama Care. The Republicans in the US mainland have been trying to kill it, Trump wants also to kill it, and the potential First Husband, Bill Clinton appears to be thinking around the same thing. He just strongly criticized the program. Here is a statement made by Bill Clinton http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/04/politics/ … index.html Since that statement, he has toned it down, but I think the slip up in the above video where he called Obama Care "Crazy" is probably how he thinks of it. I love slips. We rarely see both parties agree on anything but it seem to be happening, so it is likely that something will be done.

So it looks like healthcare costs in the next 4 years is going to change, what it will look like it is hard to say, could be better or worse. It is up to the politicians.

Will block grants to the PR government continue? - Again hard to say, I think it is likely but I could be wrong. But either way the cost of Meds and Medical services needs somehow to be brought into control. PR has a lower cost for medical services than the mainland, mostly due to doctors and hospitals getting paid less.

As part of the attempted fixing of the PR economy, a call for change in the amount to be used for Medicare (separate from Medicaid) is likely to occur in the next 2 years, which would help the pocket of Medicare Recipients.

It is almost November so as you probably seen in the US and PR, medical Insurance is going up by a lot, lets hope in the future they can do something to keep it low.

And lets hope that the exodus of doctors from PR stops.
Rey

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frogrock Serial expat

509POSTS

9 years ago

Medicare is a national program, linked to Social Security. You pay for Medicare.
Medicaid is state-administered and is a fancy name for Welfare. Although some funds originate from the federal government and there are federal guidelines, each State (or territory) administers their own Medicaid Program.
This is similar to SSA and SSI. Social Security (SSA) is based on what you and your employers contributed throughout your work life.
Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is a fancy name for Welfare.

lgustaf Serial expat

401POSTS

9 years ago

Your link leads nowhere, Rey.

ReyP ViP

5509POSTS

9 years ago

Try again http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/04/politics/ … index.html
Titled: Bill Clinton calls Obamacare 'the craziest thing in the world,' later tries to walk it back

lgustaf Serial expat

401POSTS

9 years ago

I didn't get the impression at all that Bill Clinton wanted to kill Obamacare. Nor that he thought the program itself is "crazy". But rather what is "crazy" is that it has raised costs to some small businesses and individuals who are just above the income level necessary to receive some type of assistance.

The message I got was that he thinks some tweeking needs to be done, something Bernie Sanders has said all along.

1 member reacted to this post

A37 New member

6POSTS

9 years ago

As long as government makes it obligatory to purchase ANY service, it becomes easier for those providing the service to raise or keep prices high.
Competition adjusts the prices realistically to market demand, but fair competition cannot happen when the consumer-provider relationship is skewed in favor of either party.
Bureaucrats will only play with numbers in favor of their donors. Do not expect anything good to come out of them.

ReyP ViP

5509POSTS

9 years ago

In several states some of the providers are no longer providing the insurance, leaving 1 to 2 only as the choices. So there is little if any competition. The only thing these guys seem to be competing on is the speed of raising the rates.