Pirate's Cove

Hey, why? It’s not as if President Obama and his team haven’t arbitrarily changed “It’s The Law” on a whim and gotten away with it

(LA Times) Raising concerns about consumer privacy, California’s health exchange has given insurance agents the names and contact information for tens of thousands of people who went online to check out coverage but didn’t ask to be contacted.

The Covered California exchange said it started handing out this consumer information this week as part of a pilot program to help people enroll ahead of a Dec. 23 deadline to have health insurance in place by Jan. 1.

I bet that they’re just trying to help, as Liberals so often want to do, and helping is more important than the pesky law, right?

State officials said they are only trying to help potential customers find insurance and sign up in time. But some insurance brokers and consumers who were contacted said they were astonished by the state’s move.

Try this in the public sector, including California, and see how fast you and your company get a visit from The Government, with potential civil and criminal penalties staring you in the face. But, this is The Government, and considering the amount of spying the federal government does on its own citizens, CoveredCa giving name, address, phone, and email info is a drop in the bucket. Don’t you understand, you stupid people who think the law matters, that they’re just Trying To Help? Sheesh!

Peter Lee, executive director of Covered California, acknowledged that these consumers did not ask to be contacted by the state or its certified insurance agents. But he said the outreach program still complies with privacy laws and it was reviewed by the exchange’s legal counsel.

“I can imagine some people may be upset,” Lee said in an interview Friday. “But I can see a lot of people will be comforted and relieved at getting the help they need to navigate a confusing process.”

Well, OK, people might be comforted, so, everything’s just hunky dory. It’s not like people had concerns over privacy going all the way back to before Obamacare was passed or something.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach.

Read: Covered California Provides Consumer Information Without Permission »

This is where the rationing and long waiting lines start

(Washington Examiner) An estimated seven out of every 10 physicians in deep-blue California are rebelling against the state’s Obamacare health insurance exchange and won’t participate, the head of the state’s largest medical association said.

“It doesn’t surprise me that there’s a high rate of nonparticipation,” said Dr. Richard Thorp, president of the California Medical Association.

Thorp has been a primary care doctor for 38 years in a small town 90 miles north of Sacramento. The CMA represents 38,000 of the roughly 104,000 doctors in California.

“We need some recognition that we’re doing a service to the community. But we can’t do it for free. And we can’t do it at a loss. No other business would do that,” he said.

Well, Obamacare supporters, Liberals, actually do expect doctors and medical centers to provide care for free/at a loss, since they believe profit (for other people) is evil, and that health care is a Right. Anyhow, why are the docs opting out?

California offers one of the lowest government reimbursement rates in the country — 30 percent lower than federal Medicare payments. And reimbursement rates for some procedures are even lower. (snip)

Only in September did insurance companies disclose that their rates would be pegged to California’s Medicaid plan, called Medi-Cal. That’s driven many doctors to just say no.

So California was already in trouble prior to Obamacare, and is now worse, especially with so many moved to Medicaid rather than regular insurance. There was already a shortage of doctors, now the available pool has shrunk even further, meaning many folks a) won’t be able to keep their doctor and b) they’ll have long waiting lines, and may have to travel farther to find visit a doctor. It also means that the specialist pool will be severely restricted.

No one is more aware of this than Alex Briscoe, health director for Alameda County Health Care Services Agency, which includes Oakland.

“Enrollment doesn’t mean access, because there aren’t enough doctors to take the low rates of Medicaid,” he said. “There aren’t enough primary care physicians, period.”

As many have noted, one of the big problems with Obamacare is that it focused on cost, rather than coverage, meaning that they attempted to drive down costs while forcing folks to obtain health insurance. By focusing on cost you end up with restricted access. And, interestingly, individual costs, premiums, deductibles, etc, actually rose. On the back end, though, they are nickle and diming everything, leading to issues as brought up in the article.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

Read: 70% Of California Doctors Say “NO” To Obamacare »