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The Goodman Institute Health Blog

Wednesday Links

Posted on January 11, 2023January 11, 2023 by John C. Goodman

Pfizer board member pressured Twitter to suppress info on natural immunity and low Covid risk to children.

The COVID-19 pandemic precipitated an overall decline in religious attendance. Arnold Kling extends to observation to the reluctance of employees to return to work and the disengagement of college students.

Now we learn. WaPo: Russian trolls on Twitter had little impact on 2016 voters.

Solution to Obamacare’s high premiums and narrow networks: Let people purchase plans from Puerto Rico and other US territories from  established insurers – like Aetna, UnitedHealthcare, Humana and BlueCross BlueShield — which already do business in at least one territory and have provider networks in Arizona.

4 thoughts on “Wednesday Links”

  1. Ron Greiner MSA King says:
    January 11, 2023 at 5:17 pm

    Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa MARICOPA MAYHEM: I feel like it’s Ground Hog Day in the land of Idiocracy. These are the “Smartest” people in America from the Free Market CATO Institute but my girlfriend’s parrots have more brain cells than Dr. Jeffrey Singer and my good buddy Micheal Cannon. Their so-called cure for Individual Medical’s (IM) high cost is to let Pheonix people purchase Blue Cross insurance with [alien regulations] from Puerto Rico. [hmm] Hey Mike and Jeff, is that just one of the 34 Blue Cross companies that make up the Blue Cross Association? (YOU know they don’t COMPETE with each other. It’s like a Medical Mafia Family pledge.) It’s MONOPOLY stuff.

    In Obamacare in Arizona Blue Cross of Arizona PPO is the ONLY plan that pays if the sick person goes out of network. The cheapest Blue Cross PPO plan in the 80501 zip code (Pheonix) is $563 per month with an $8,900 Maximum Out-Of-Pocket (OOP) for a 30-year-old male. President Trump’s High-Quality Low-Premium Short-Term-Medical (STM) premium [PLUMMETS] Nose-dives to $115 a month with a $10K deductible that pays 100% thereafter.
    Of course, I’m licensed to sell insurance in Arizona, and these 2 NON-TAXED Free Market Think Tank Clowns are not licensed, I verified that online before I wrote this, and I’m sure they are not licensed in any state. Only Non-Licensed people can write stories for the FAKE News media. The Trump administration said STM was 50 to 80% less expensive than Obamacare and the Pheonix example above is much closer to the 80% savings. The Trump Administration was always just being conservative.

    All CATO Clowns listen up. The above high-quality low-cost STM is utilizing the Aetna Open Access PPO network that includes the MAYO Clinic and MD Anderson Cancer Hospital, which claims to be the number 1 cancer hospital in the world. Now pay attention, in Texas Obamacare has no PPOs and you could truthfully say, “Not 1 Obamacare plan in Dallas, Houston, or Austin can use MD Anderson Cancer Hospital.” Then you could further assert, “MD Anderson’s VP says that Obamacare cancer patients can come down and look at the buildings but they can’t get in!” The Free Market CATO Clowns need to learn to DEMONIZE better, they suck.

    So Clowns you have found a lonely place in America with a PPO in Obamacare and now readers probably think a lot of places in America have a PPO Option in Obamacare and that’s NOT TRUE. The VAST majority of Obamacare plans are Hillary Style HMOs with skinny provider networks that pay NOTHING if a sick child goes out of network! Obamacare insurers are only in it for the MONEY. It’s sad but true. Just like left wing NON-Taxed AARP.

    However, you could point out that in the Pheonix 75001 zip code United Healthcare, the world’s largest insurer by premium has both Obamacare & President Trump’s low-cost STM! 1st, their SLIMBALL Obamacare HMO premium is $257 a month with a $9,100 deductible. Their (UHC) low-cost STM is $99.10 a month but of course, you won’t be going to the MAYO Clinic as an in Network medical provider if your child needs to go and deserves the best. It’s a character deal.

    Lucky for all of us that these Free Market CATO Clowns are 10 TIMES brighter than the Democrat Senators running in the 2024 Election. I know what you’re thinking that NOBODY is more LOST than these (2) Free Market CATO Clowns but YOU would be wrong. Democrats are much much dumber! It’s going to be like fish in a barrel in the 2024 Election.

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  2. Bob Hertz says:
    January 11, 2023 at 5:59 pm

    The article from Singer and Cannon was puzzling to me as well.

    In the last paragraph, there are two links to other plans that might be better for consumers.

    Both links took me to articles about Short Term Health Insurance. These plans may be good or bad, but no one will deny that they are inappropriate for anyone with a pre-existing condition. If these plans are cheaper, that’s no surprise. Underwritten health insurance is always cheaper than guaranteed issue.

    The article implied that large firms like Aetna and United had networks in Puerto Rico and lower premiums. But the article does not answer this question:

    “Can a resident of the USA buy such a plan, and have it cover their care in the US from American doctors and hospitals?”

    There is a company called MCS Puerto Rico. To my knowledge, its plans are sold to residents of Puerto Rico. If such a person travels to the USA and has an emergency, that emergency will be covered. Such a plan is not an alternative for a lifetime American.

    My first thought is this: a plan that is cheaper for Puerto Rico will stop being cheaper once it has to include American providers.

    Let me know if I am incorrect in the above.

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  3. Ron Greiner MSA King says:
    January 11, 2023 at 7:27 pm

    Bob, there are tons of pre-existing conditions that you can’t do anything for anyway so medical underwriting and an exclusionary rider is just fine in those cases. For example, if there is hardware in the ankle then medically underwritten health insurance will have an exclusionary rider for the screw removal. That’s typically fine with clients because if you take the screw out the foot would fall off.

    If a woman has had a c-section then she will have a complication of pregnancy rider. If her husband has been fixed then usually they can live with a complication of pregnacy rider because its impossible for her to get pregnant anyway, kinda.

    Your right Bob. If a New Yorker bought Blue Cross of Iowa because it was cheaper he would have higher premiums in NYC because the providers charge more there.

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  4. Bob Hertz says:
    January 12, 2023 at 6:00 pm

    Thanks for comments Ron.

    In some ways I like short term health insurance. I bought the product myself after turning 62 and becoming self-employed. The ACA plans for that age group were (and are) incredibly pricey.

    The part of short term policies that I dislike is the the post-claim underwriting done by some carriers. After you file a large claim, they will sometimes order all your medical records and try to find some mention, however brief and indirect, of the condition that you now have.

    This can no longer be done for ACA policies and that is a good new law. Any short-term carriers who hide behind this con-job practice deserve to be criticized.

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