How has Obamacare affected YOU?

[HankTheTank910]

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I see so much online about how Obamacare is so bad, or so good, depending on your political stance, for our healthcare system. I know about the higher premiums, as a resident I'm fully aware of the increased documentation requirements, and I read about how it may affect us in the future, but I am curious how it has affected attending physicians up to this point? I've gathered opinions from our local groups, but I'm curious to hear from attendings on a national scale. The question is pretty simple. Taking out all external factors such as improved insurance access for low-income individuals or higher premiums for most individuals, how has Obamacare affected YOU- your practice, your bottom line, and your perception on the future of our specialty and your individual practice style and environment?

 

[TooMuchResearch]

Increased documentation requirements?

 

[The White Coat Investor]

Yea, what increased documentation requirements?

It's affected me by raising my taxes thousands of dollars a year and raising my family's health insurance premiums from about $650 to $1230 a month. Unfortunately, since I'm in a non-medicaid expansion state, my self-pay patient percentage has remained stable at around 17%. So all bad for me. But it hasn't affected documentation requirements as far as I know.

 

[GeneralVeers]

My old pre-obamacare insurance plan:

BCBS PPO with unlimited network, $1000 deductible. $237/month

Current plan:

BCBS HMO with very limited network, $4000 deductible. $270/month

New plan for 2017:

HMO (multiple carriers) even more limited network, $6000 deductible. $280/month.

If I want I can get a plan that has a $3200 deductible for $320/month.

 

[bravotwozero]

My old pre-obamacare insurance plan:

BCBS PPO with unlimited network, $1000 deductible. $237/month

Current plan:

BCBS HMO with very limited network, $4000 deductible. $270/month

New plan for 2017:

HMO (multiple carriers) even more limited network, $6000 deductible. $280/month.

If I want I can get a plan that has a $3200 deductible for $320/month.

Is your plan a hsa compatible plan? I have similar premiums but I have a hsa account that can cover the deductibles ...

As far as premium increases go, all of this is tax deductible as IC, so a premium increase means I give less money to the IRS and more to my insurance company.....


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[VA Hopeful Dr]

Is your plan a hsa compatible plan? I have similar premiums but I have a hsa account that can cover the deductibles ...

As far as premium increases go, all of this is tax deductible as IC, so a premium increase means I give less money to the IRS and more to my insurance company.....


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My deductible is 6500 for my family with a 12k out of pocket max, so currently even an HSA can't actually do anything past the deductible - it won't help for the additional 6k that I might have to pay (and did last year when my wife had our twins).

 

[GeneralVeers]

Is your plan a hsa compatible plan? I have similar premiums but I have a hsa account that can cover the deductibles ...

As far as premium increases go, all of this is tax deductible as IC, so a premium increase means I give less money to the IRS and more to my insurance company.....


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

No. The government is pushing people away from HSA accounts. My first year I had an HSA-compatible plan. It had minimal coverage and high deductible for $180/month, however it let me put away $3000 into an investment account tax free so it seemed like a good deal. The second year they jacked the price up to $250/month, and it didn't make sense when compared to a "full plan" for $270/month.

 

[BAM!]

Yea, what increased documentation requirements?

It's affected me by raising my taxes thousands of dollars a year and raising my family's health insurance premiums from about $650 to $1230 a month. Unfortunately, since I'm in a non-medicaid expansion state, my self-pay patient percentage has remained stable at around 17%. So all bad for me. But it hasn't affected documentation requirements as far as I know.

Unless you want your 1.5 pt/hr rate to boost up to 2.3 pt/hr with a less than modest boost in reimbursement, I'd be happy you're in a non-medicaid expansion state. And depending on your billing company's aggressiveness, you may get more from self-pay than the govn't.

 

[The White Coat Investor]

Unless you want your 1.5 pt/hr rate to boost up to 2.3 pt/hr with a less than modest boost in reimbursement, I'd be happy you're in a non-medicaid expansion state. And depending on your billing company's aggressiveness, you may get more from self-pay than the govn't.

No, we're not getting more from self-pay. I'm not sure of the exactly figures, but I think we're at 3% of billed for self-pay and 10% for medicaid.

 

[BAM!]

Out of curiousity, do you bill the same amount for self-pay vs fully insured? At my old shop our self-pay was much higher than yours and closer to medicaid. Of course there was month to month fluctuaction.