Exchange insurance is not like regular private insurance. In Vermont, both individuals and businesses under 50 employees are forced into the Obamacare exchange (Health Connect) if they want to purchase health insurance in 2014. In 2016, in Vermont businesses under 100 employees are forced into the exchange if they want to purchase health insurance. Vermont is the ONLY state FORCING anyone into the exchange if they want to purchase health insurance. While health care services for Obamacare customers are being curtailed, premiums are skyrocketing for many of them. Obamacare applicants across the country are finding their premiums are tripling, their favorite doctors arent available, the physicians they can see are often far away and many prestigious hospitals offering specialized care are off-limits to them, according to a Washington Examiner survey of health insurance agents and brokers across the country. Agents associated with the National Association of Health Underwriters were contacted in 16 cites across the country. The agents were all certified by state insurance regulators to sell health insurance policies within and without the Obamacare exchanges. Their responses provide an alarming picture of the profound changes Obamacare is forcing on patients and health care providers. In parts of California, for example, low reimbursement rates have resulted in a doctor rebellion, as nearly seven out of 10 doctors refuse to participate in the exchanges. San Diego broker Neil Crosby told the Examiner that 65 to 70 percent of the providers have declined the reimbursement schedules the carriers are offering. They will not be providers in the exchange marketplace.” Similarly, agent David Fear in Sacramento said, Roughly a third of the doctors are going to be accepted in the networks. I’m finding very few specialists in either the Anthem or Blue Shield networks.” Larry Harrison, an agent in Las Vegas, said the “lion’s share” of doctors there are staying away from the exchanges.... Other well-known companies such as Blue Cross Blue Shield are in, but are sharply narrowing their networks to exclude many doctors, as well as elite hospitals. As a result, well-known hospitals like Los Angeles Cedars-Sinai, New Yorks Memorial Sloan-Kettering and the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital will be out of reach for many exchange patients. In Naples, Fla., Physicians Regional Hospital will not be available to exchange enrollees. Its parent company purchased the former Cleveland Clinics Florida facility in Naples in 2006. In Georgia, Humana exchange patients are discovering the insurer operates only one approved hospital in the entire state.... While health care services for Obamacare customers are being curtailed, premiums are skyrocketing for many of them...
Posted on: Fri, 29 Nov 2013 14:24:34 +0000