Some ObamaCare patients with high deductibles turning to community care centers

By Jim Angle
Fox News, November 4, 2014

When ObamaCare patients learn their deductible is so high they’re unlikely to get any reimbursement, they often wind up in places like the Denton, Texas Community Care Center.

“There are quite a few, and I saw another one today, where their deductibles are so elevated that they can’t afford them,” said Dr. Flippo Masciarelli, chief physician at the center, which was designed to treat indigent patients.

Robert Laszewski of Health Policy and Strategy Associates noted, “You’re going to the doctor, you’re paying (a) premium, and because of this really high deductible, you’re not getting any benefits.”

The administration pushed insurance companies to keep premiums low, but that also created high deductibles, about $5,000 per person for the least expensive plan, as well as narrow networks of providers.

But most people buy based only on premiums.

“They don’t even look at what their deductible is going to be,” said Dan Mendelson, CEO of Avalere Health. “They don’t look at the cost of the medications that they’re on. And they don’t look at the…network that they have.”

Masciarelli said,”one of the ladies we saw said she called eight primary care offices before she found us…” The rest would not treat people on her plan. 

If the doctor these patients find orders additional tests or treatment, even those with ObamaCare are sometimes forced to go without.

Health economist John Goodman said, “They go to community health centers because it’s free or almost free and or very low charges. And that’s why they’re doing it. So they were coaxed to go into the ObamaCare system, they’re paying premiums over there. And now they’re asking what did I get for my premium? I’m having to go outside the system to get health care.”

Masciarelli agreed. “We do get asked that question at times, yes, wondering you know, I have this product. I can’t even use it. ” 

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/11/04/some-obamacare-patients-with-high-deductibles-turning-to-community-care-centers/

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Comment:

By Don McCanne, MD

Although this is a typical Fox News anecdotal report not based on any scientific study and designed to discredit “ObamaCare,” nevertheless it does make a very valid point. People obtaining their coverage through the insurance exchanges are finding that, with the narrow networks and high deductibles, they “can’t even use” their plans.

Fortunately these patients do have the backup that the 30 million people who will remain uninsured have – community health centers. But they will still have impaired access to specialized services because of unaffordable cost sharing, and because of a lack of specialists who are willing to provide services through the community health centers.

Although these plans do provide coverage for catastrophic events, it is primarily the providers rather than the patients who benefit. Because of EMTALA regulations, the patients would receive the care anyway, but the providers will be paid rather than having to write the care off as a loss. It is just one more example of how the system was designed to take care of the medical-industrial complex rather than placing the patient at the pinnacle.

Single payer would get rid of the narrow networks and unaffordable cost sharing, so no patient would be rejected based on the limitations imposed by the private insurers. But then that would deprive Fox News of these anecdotal reports that they use to bash President Obama. So what is our priority here?

A Little Knowledge Is a Risky Thing: Wide Gap in What People Think They Know About Health Insurance and What They Actually Know

By Kathryn A. Paez and Coretta J. Mallery
American Institutes for Research, October 2014

Health insurance is among the most complicated and costly products that consumers buy. Lacking health insurance-related knowledge and skills — or health insurance literacy — puts people at risk of choosing an insurance product that could fail to provide needed benefits or protect them financially.

More than half of all people surveyed were moderately or very confident in their ability to choose and use a health plan that is best for their family, but their actual knowledge was less.

Because many people believe they know more than they do about health insurance, they may not fully understand their options before committing to a particular health plan for an entire year, or they may have an unpleasant surprise when they use health care services and end up owing a larger amount out of pocket than expected.

Understanding Plan Type and Calculating Cost Sharing

When comparing and selecting health plans, 61 percent of people said they were moderately or very confident that they could choose the best health plan for themselves. Only 23 percent could identify characteristics of a preferred provider organization (PPO) — for example, “you may have to pay a percentage of the bill.”

Three out of four people said they were moderately or very confident that they have the knowledge to use health insurance. However, only 20 percent could accurately calculate how much they would pay for a visit to an in-network doctor when presented with a cost-sharing scenario that included a copayment, deductible and coinsurance.

Skills Differ by Age, Care Use, Race, Income, Education

Generally younger people were less health-insurance literate — for example, people aged 22 to 34 got an average of 55 percent of knowledge and skills items correct.

Likewise, people who use health care less frequently had more difficulties.

Health insurance knowledge and skills also varied greatly by race, with blacks and Hispanics on average having less knowledge about health insurance.

Knowledge and skills also decreased with income and education.

Implications

Choosing and using a health insurance plan can be daunting, especially for people with little experience with the health care system and health insurance. According to the 2013 AIR Health Insurance Literacy Survey, many Americans are unprepared to make informed choices when selecting and using health plans — especially younger people, minorities, people with lower incomes and those with less education.

At the same time, health insurance and benefit structures are becoming even more complex. As mentioned previously, consumers likely don’t need to know the exact differences between an HMO and PPO, but they do need to consider important health plan characteristics — such as patient cost sharing, which hospitals and doctors are in network, and the rules for out-of-network coverage — when choosing a plan.

Without efforts to increase health insurance knowledge and skills, many insured people will remain at risk of forgoing needed care if they don’t understand how their health insurance works or how to estimate out-of-pocket costs.

At a minimum, counseling efforts could stress that once people are enrolled, they should contact their health plan member services department to get questions answered.

http://aircpce.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/11801-451-05_Issue_Brief_102014.pdf

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Comment:

By Don McCanne, MD

Great. The insurance exchanges established by the Affordable Care Act have created a shoppers paradise for health insurance. People can choose from different premiums, different plans, at different levels of coverage, with different benefits, and different cost-sharing deductibles, co-payments and coinsurance, with different networks of physicians and hospitals, and different rules on out-of-network coverage, not to mention different insurance structures such as PPOs, HMOs, EPOs, and ACOs, whatever they are.

How many times have you heard physicians, nurses, health policy wonks, and knowledgeable others say that they have trouble figuring out their own insurance plans. Most end up waiting until they receive their Explanation of Benefits to find out just what was covered. How on earth can we ever expect people with little prior exposure to the intricacies of health insurance to be able to shop intelligently for plans offered in the exchanges? We can’t.

The tragedy is that poor choices in plan selection can have major impacts on both the physical and financial well being of the health plan purchasers. But when you think about it, virtually every plan offered has significant deficiencies, especially in limiting access through narrow networks and in increasing risk of financial hardship through excessive cost sharing. The subsidies may help some, but they are inadequate for most. Not only are the choices difficult to make, they are mostly all bad choices.

Those concerned about lack of “health insurance literacy” – an almost universal phenomenon – suggest that the solution is to increase transparency in the exchanges. But the authors of this report suggest that we need much more. Health insurance shoppers need additional training to “increase health insurance knowledge and skills.” Is that the answer?

What we want is a system wherein whenever we need health care, we go get it. Period. What we have is a conglomeration created by private and public intermediaries that make it difficult to decide where you can go when you need health care and how to pay for it ex-ante (premiums) and ex-post (cost sharing). And we end up paying much more for all of the administrative excesses that these intermediaries have created.

Do we want to make it all go away so that each of us can simply get the health care that we need? Easy – single payer.

The Accuracy of Dermatology Network Physician Directories Posted by Medicare Advantage Health Plans in an Era of Narrow Networks

By Jack S. Resneck Jr, MD; Aaron Quiggle, BA, MS; Michael Liu, BS; David W. Brewster, BA
JAMA Dermatology, October 29, 2014

In the evolving health insurance marketplace, many health plans have increasingly deployed “narrow networks,” reducing the number of contracted physicians or hospitals in a given metropolitan area. Whereas the use of these narrow networks in exchange plans offered under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) might have been expected given pressures to control costs and limit premiums, insurers have taken similar actions in several states to reduce the number of participating physicians in private plans offered as alternatives to Medicare patients known as Medicare Advantage (MA) plans.

Whereas some inaccuracies in ACA exchange plan directories may be expected given the novelty of those products in 2014 and the last-minute contracting that occurred, the MA marketplace is more mature and should have more stable physician listings. Accurate physician lists are particularly important at a time when MA plans are increasingly deploying narrow networks, making determinations of network adequacy critical for both primary care and many difficult-to-access specialties.

Methods 

Using MA enrollment data from July 2014, we determined the 3 largest insurers in each of the 12 MSAs by enrollment.

A scripted telephone call was placed by one of us (A.Q. or M.L.) to each unique physician listing. All calls were placed during varied times of the day and days of the week for each MSA and occurred between August 5 and September 4, 2014.

He asked whether the listed physician accepts the relevant MA plan(s) and sees patients with itchy rashes and, if so, when the next available new-patient appointment was.

Results

For the largest MA plans in the 12 MSAs… there were 4754 physician listings (4408 MDs, 346 DOs) meeting inclusion criteria.

Within health plans, a large number of these listings represented duplicates (2164 [45.5%]).

Among the 2590 remaining unique listings, there were many that our callers were unable to contact (464 [17.9% of unique listings]). Some of these were nonworking or wrong telephone numbers, and others were offices that reported that they had never heard of the listed physician. Several more (221 [8.5% of unique listings]) reported that the listed physician had died, retired, or moved out of the geographic area.

Many of the listed physicians whose offices we reached were not accepting new patients (221 [8.5% of unique listings]). There were also several who were subspecialized and were not willing to make an appointment for a patient with an itchy rash.

Fewer than half of listed physicians for each plan (1266 [48.9% of unique listings]) were reached, accepted the listed plan, and offered an appointment for a patient with an itchy rash. Because of the large number of duplicate listings, this translates to only 26.6% of individual directory listings being unique, taking the listed plan, and offering a medical dermatology appointment.

Wait times for the appointments offered by those listed physicians were relatively long (median, 30 days; mean, 45.5 days).

Discussion

Our findings of inaccurate physician directories and long dermatology appointment wait times in many areas come at a time when many health plans are narrowing their MA networks by reducing the number of in-network physicians. There has been concern voiced about the proprietary methods that health plans are using to select physicians for termination and whether those methods themselves may limit access for patients with more costly health conditions. Our study cannot address those specific concerns, but our data do support the hypothesis that the large physician directories posted by many health plans exaggerate perceived access to dermatologists for MA patients. Furthermore, the long in-network appointment wait times observed for many of these plans suggest a lack of capacity that can only be exacerbated by further network narrowing.

http://archderm.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1919439

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Comment:

By Don McCanne, MD

One of the more alarming trends in health insurance innovation is the increasing use of narrower provider networks. Patients are losing their choice of their health care professionals and hospitals. Not only can this result in impaired access and longer wait times, it also can unfairly benefit the insurers by discouraging sicker patients from enrolling because of concerns about being unable to access the care that they need – especially specialized services.

This study looked at provider lists of dermatologists offered by a representative group of major private Medicare Advantage plans. Although the plans offered in the new insurance exchanges under the Affordable Care Act can plead being victims of transitional logistical complexities causing errors in their network lists, the private Medicare Advantage plans have been around for many years in an expansionary market and thus should represent the best of network administration. So how are they doing?

This study was completed less than two months ago and thus represents the current state of the art. When contacted, only one-fourth (26.6%) of the total number of dermatologists listed in the Medicare Advantage provider networks offered new appointments, and the mean wait time was 45 days. Only one-fourth! And with a 45 day wait!

This narrow network thing has really caught on. Some of these same Medicare Advantage plans are now cutting more providers from their networks, including dermatologists. And the newer ACA exchange plans are starting out with even narrower networks.

How can this benefit patients? Take away choice? Hiding true providers in otherwise worthless lists? Moving patients further back in the queues? And they want to give us more of this?

Traditional Medicare doesn’t have any networks. They are a creation of the private insurance industry, designed to serve their own nefarious interests. Enough! Time to get rid of them and enact an improved Medicare that takes care of all of us.

Another whistleblower suit alleges Medicare Advantage fraud

By Fred Schulte
The Center for Public Integrity, October 29, 2014

A new whistleblower lawsuit accuses a California health care firm of diagnosing “false and fraudulent” medical conditions that several Medicare Advantage plans allegedly used to overcharge the federal government by $1 billion or more.

The suit was filed by Anita Silingo, a former compliance officer for Mobile Medical Examination Services, Inc., or MedXM. The Santa Ana, California-based firm sends medical professionals to the homes of Medicare Advantage members to assess their health.

The suit also names four Medicare Advantage insurance plans which, Silingo alleges, “turned a blind eye” to the practices. The health plans named in the suit are: Molina Healthcare of California; WellPoint, Inc., which operates  Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield; Health Net of California, Inc. and Alameda Alliance for Health.  None would comment.

MedXM chief executive officer Sy Zahedi called the allegations “categorically not true.”

Critics argue that federal officials waste billions of tax dollars every year by failing to crack down on health plans that game the arcane payment system.  At least five other whistleblower cases accusing Medicare Advantage of fraudulently inflating risk scores are winding through federal courts, records show.

The four health plans “turned a blind eye to the truth” because the MedXM health assessments made them money, according to the suit. Medicare Advantage plans argue that the in-home health assessments can help members stay fit and in their homes as long as possible by spotting untreated diseases and dangerous living conditions. While the doctors and nurses don’t offer any treatment during their visit, they report their exam findings to the patient’s primary care physician.

But home visits also are controversial, largely due to their impact on Medicare costs.

The lawsuit names nearly 70 nurse practitioners and physician assistants whom she claims were not properly supervised by doctors. Some evaluations were conducted over the phone rather than in person, as required by federal regulations. In other cases, Silingo alleged, medical coders directed the health professionals to “modify” medical records “in order to increase the severity of the patients’ diagnosis.”

Some doctors and nurses were scheduling 20 to 25 of the home visits per day. The suit names three doctors whom it says scheduled at least 20 of the visits in a single day.

In December of 2012 about 750 Molina patients had “identical vital statistics for age, weight, sex height, blood pressure and heart rate” as well as similar medical findings, all done by the same doctor.

That doctor was “routinely” completing more than 22-25 assessments per day “traveling over a wide geographic area making it implausible that he actually performed the work that he claimed,” according to the suit.

Another whistleblower suit alleges Medicare Advantage fraud

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Comment:

By Don McCanne, MD

Assuming the allegations of this lawsuit prove to be true, it appears that private Medicare Advantage insurers contracted with a private company that hired health care professionals to do in-home health assessments, not for treatment purposes but merely to collect data that, combined with innovative coding, could be used to increase government payments based on inflated risk scores.

These questionable visits were not only useful for increasing profits, they also served as a marketing tool in which the plans could claim that they were providing “coordinated care” not available in the traditional Medicare program, even if these visits were not much more than a sham.

It was already known that private Medicare Advantage insurers were gaming risk scores to increase profits. The revelation in this lawsuit demonstrates one of the mechanisms apparently used to cheat the Medicare program.

Medicare Advantage plans are paid more yet take away choice by limiting care to provider networks. So why do people enroll in them? It is primarily because of the lower cost sharing of the plans that have premiums that are much lower than the Medigap plans, which also offer similar cost sharing reductions. To reduce out-of-pocket spending, Medicare Advantage plans take away choice and Medigap plans charge excessive premiums.

If the same out-of-pocket cost reductions were rolled into the traditional Medicare program then patients could receive the same level of benefits as in Medigap or Medicare Advantage, while preserving free choice of hospitals and health care professionals. Even better, if the other flaws in Medicare were also fixed then we could use it for health care coverage for everyone – an improved Medicare for all.

Correction: State No Longer Looking to Administer Medicare

By Anne Galloway
VTDigger, October 26, 2014

Two recent stories about the relationship between Medicare and Green Mountain Care, the state’s planned universal publicly financed health care program – often called single-payer – were inaccurate. The stories were based on statutes on the Legislature’s website that had not been updated.

Section (e) of chapter 18, Public Private Universal Health Care System, in Title 33, Human Services, still states online that, “The Agency shall seek permission from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to be the administrator for the Medicare program in Vermont. If the Agency is unsuccessful in obtaining such permission, Green Mountain Care shall be the secondary payer with respect to any health service that may be covered in whole or in part by Title XVIII of the Social Security Act (Medicare).”

Act 144, which was enacted in 2014, repeals that section, though the statutes have not been updated online.

Section (f) of the same chapter now reads, “Green Mountain Care shall be the payer of last resort with respect to any health service that may be covered in whole or in part by any other health benefit plan, including Medicare, private health insurance, retiree health benefits, or federal health benefit plans offered by the military, or to federal employees.”

State officials have said they are no longer seeking to administer Medicare as part of Green Mountain Care, and the law reflects that change.

It is currently unknown what Green Mountain Care will cover or what private supplemental health insurance policies will be offered once the program is in place.

Gov. Peter Shumlin has said there is no reason to expect that currently available supplemental coverage options for Medicare would change if the state moves forward with a single-payer health care system.

Correction: State no longer looking to administer Medicare

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Vermont Act 144

An act relating to miscellaneous amendments to health care laws.

Sec. 1  Principles for Health Care Financing

  (3)  As provided in 33 V.S.A. § 1827, Green Mountain Care shall be the payer of last resort for Vermont residents who continue to receive health care through plans provided by an employer, by another state, by a foreign government, or as a retirement benefit.

Sec. 2 Vermont Health Benefit Exchange

  (4)  To the extent permitted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Vermont Health Benefit Exchange shall permit qualified employers to purchase qualified health benefit plans through the Exchange website, through navigators, by telephone, or directly from a health insurer under contract with the Vermont Health Benefit Exchange.

Sec. 6  Administration; Enrollment

  (e) [Repealed.]

  (f) Green Mountain Care shall be the payer of last resort with respect to any health service that may be covered in whole or in part by any other health benefit plan, including Medicare, private health insurance, retiree health benefits, or federal health benefit plans offered by the military, or to federal employees.

Governor signed bill: May 27, 2014: http://www.leg.state.vt.us/docs/2014/Bills/H-0596/ACT0144%20As%20Enacted.pdf

Green Mountain Care: http://www.greenmountaincare.org/vermont-health-insurance-plans

Vermont Health Connect: http://info.healthconnect.vermont.gov/healthplans

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Shumlin Won’t Pursue Single Payer If It Doesn’t Help Economy

By Bob Kinzel
VPR, September 12, 2014

Act 48, the law that put Vermont on the path to a single-payer health care system, was passed in 2011. It called on the governor to unveil a single-payer financing plan in January of 2013.

That didn’t happen because Shumlin said he needed more time to develop a plan. Shumlin said he would be ready to release his proposal in January of this year.

But Shumlin missed this deadline as well. He now says he’ll unveil his plan at the start of the Legislative session in January.

Shumlin says there’s no point pursing a single-payer option if the effort will hurt the state’s business community.

“If we come up with a financing plan that doesn’t grow jobs, economic opportunity, and make Vermont more prosperous, trust me, we’re not going to do it,” said Shumlin.

http://digital.vpr.net/post/shumlin-wont-pursue-single-payer-if-it-doesnt-help-economy

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Comment:

By Don McCanne, MD

Many consider Vermont to be the trailblazer for a state single payer program, serving as a model for other states to enact single payer reform. Vermont does have lessons for the rest of us. Let’s see what they are so far.

Green Mountain Care is Vermont’s program for Medicaid and for Dr. Dynasaur (Vermont’s Medicaid program for children and pregnant women). Most participants are now required to enroll in PC Plus – a Medicaid primary care managed care program. Vermont Health Connect is Vermont’s health insurance exchange (marketplace) under the Affordable Care Act through which individuals and small businesses can purchase insurance.  Many Vermonters still have access to other programs such as Medicare, employer-sponsored health plans, retiree plans, and federal employee programs such as FEHBP and Tricare. So far this is not really much different than programs in other states – certainly far from single payer.

What about Medicare? Vermont has given up on attempting to become the administrator of Medicare, much less rolling Medicare funds into a universal single payer program. Gov. Peter Shumlin has even stated that “there is no reason to expect that currently available supplemental coverage options for Medicare would change.” Thus apparently they are continuing even the private Medigap supplements and private Medicare Advantage plans.

What about Green Mountain Care – the Medicaid program that was to be the single payer for Vermont? A few months ago legislation was signed by Gov. Shumlin that stated, “Green Mountain Care shall be the payer of last resort with respect to any health service that may be covered in whole or in part by any other health benefit plan, including Medicare, private health insurance, retiree health benefits, or federal health benefit plans offered by the military, or to federal employees.” Further, “Green Mountain Care shall be the payer of last resort for Vermont residents who continue to receive health care through plans provided by an employer, by another state, by a foreign government, or as a retirement benefit.” At this point in time, that does not look like a program that is being remodeled to fulfill the role of a single payer.

The original Vermont legislation called on Gov. Shumlin to unveil a single payer financing plan in January, 2013. He missed that deadline and again missed the next one in January, 2014. He now says that he intends to release a plan in three months. We will have to wait to see what that proposal is, but at this late stage he is saying, “trust me, we’re not going to do it,” if the effort will hurt the business community. That seems quite tenuous for having worked on it a couple of years.

Many still talk about the enabling ACA waiver that Vermont will obtain in 2017, but the ACA section 1332 waiver applies only to the subsidies and some specific requirements of ACA. Even combined with Sec. 1115 Medicaid waivers and waivers for Medicare demonstration programs, especially considering the ERISA barriers, we simply do not have enough leeway for states to independently establish their own bona fide single payer systems.

The point is that we must have comprehensive federal legislation if we wish to establish state-level single payer systems. We need need the federal funds currently used in other federal health programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, and we need relief from federal statues and regulations such as ERISA. It would be far better to simply enact a national single payer program, but those who wish to pursue a state model must still advocate for comprehensive federal legislation.

Regardless, we can have single payer if we all work together to create the momentum for federal legislation, state and/or national, but none of us will see single payer if we each confine our activities to our respective states. Many have called for a cooperative effort. This is it!