Tuesday, June 03, 2014

Tuesday Potpourri

■ Britain's Much Vaunted National Health System© continues to defy attempts at parody:

"[MVNHS©] patients could be forced to pay for their bed and board in hospital unless there is a cash injection into health services after the next election"

Who knew "free" health care could cost so much?

[Pictured above: new MVNHS©-approved suturing kit]

Keep in mind that this is the system upon which our own ObamaTax is largely based.


And speaking of the ObamaTax, the IRS [ed: ever notice that "the IRS" can easily be shortened to "TheIRS?"] has helpfully released the new employer reporting requirements:

"First, Section 6055 requires health insurers and employers sponsoring self-funded group health plans to annually report to the IRS and to responsible individuals (the enrolled employees), whether the coverage constitutes minimum essential coverage under the ACA."

Seems reasonable enough, until you consider the admin costs of compliance. And there's this: people leave jobs and move away; is it now the (ex-)employer's onus to track them down?

Take a wild guess.

And lest we forget:

"Second, Section 6056 requires large employers ... to report to the IRS and to full-time employees for two purposes: To assist the IRS with enforcing the employer pay-or-play penalty; and To assist full-time employees with determining their eligibility for a [subsidy]."

"[E]nforcing the employer pay-or-play penalty" Looks like they're serious - good thing they can't force you to eat broccoli.

Yet.
 

This is nice:

"The Obama administration is distributing fourth round of health plan rate review grant money to state insurance departments"

And now in English:

"Secretary Shecantbeserious is skimming off tax dollars and then sending out what's left to states which have knuckled under."

And how much of this largesse is she ready to dole out?

$40,000,000 of your money.

You're welcome!

Oh, you want to know the purpose of this grand gesture?

Here ya go:

"States can use the money to get the legal authority to review rate changes, to expand the scope of existing rate review operations, to make rate information available to the public through the Web, and to analyze medical claims reimbursement data"

Funny, but I thought the states already had the authority to review rate hikes, er, changes. And why, pray tell, does an Insurance Department need to "analyze medical claims reimbursement data?"

Inquiring minds want to know.
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