17 Jan 2014 Health Care Odds & Ends

1. ObamaCare has increased Medicaid coverage by 3.9 million—NOT SO FAST!  If one examines closely the recent ObamaCare exchange enrollment report, you’ll notice that about 27% of the enrollment in Medicaid is in states that did not expand Medicaid under Obamacare.

I bring this up because Sean Trende of RealClearPolitics noticed that and other

problems with the the Medicaid number touted by the Obama Administration.  Read his great article here.

After reading Trende’s article, Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post’s Fact Checker delved a little deeper into the numbers.  He ended up giving the 3.9 million Medicaid figure Three Pinocchios and wrote: “Bottom line: This number tells you almost nothing about how the Affordable Care Act is affecting Medicaid enrollment. Reporters need to stop using it.”

2. The Exchange Isn’t Such A Good Deal If You Aren’t Subsidized. That’s what consumers who have to pay the full price of premiums appear to be saying based on number in the latest enrollment report.  From Megan McArdle:

Five million people were deemed eligible to buy a policy on the exchanges; 2.7 million, or 54 percent of them, were eligible for subsidies. But of people who actually selected a plan, 1.68 million, or 80 percent, were subsidized. To put it another way, 62 percent of the people eligible for subsidies selected a plan, but only 8.5 percent of those who weren’t eligible for subsidies actually purchased one.

3. Surprise! ObamaCare To Produce Even More Rules And Regulations!  A new report from the Congressional Research Service examines all the ObamaCare regulations that still have yet to be finalized.  By my count of the appendix, there are at least eight rules that have to be finalized in 2014.  Haven’t gotten into the details just yet, but you are welcome to do so.

4. And For Something Completely Non-Health Care Related: The Best Response To A Phil Donahue Question Ever!