Two pieces of good news today:
Since #ACA, the # of Americans delaying needed healthcare due to cost is falling for 1st time: @commonwealthfnd study http://t.co/UwY7xwCCR3
— Atul Gawande (@Atul_Gawande) May 4, 2015
And secondly, a non-prescripitive cure for insomnia:
JPL
That is good news.
Amir Khalid
What will the anti-ACA, abolitionist reaction be?
Belafon
@Amir Khalid: If God had wanted them to have health care, He would have placed them in
richerbetter families.Amir Khalid
Off topic, but the new princess’ name is officially announced: Charlotte Elizabeth Diana of Cambridge. (I’d been hoping for Lúthien Tinúviel, but it was not meant to be.)
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Amir Khalid: Boehner is sticking to “businesses literally can’t hire, it’s a known fact”
I would’ve hoped they’d go further back: Ermengarde or Grunhilde or something like that. I wonder if Diana would’ve been bumped up in the pecking order if Betty weren’t still refusing to die
RaflW
That is good to know! And, every day we see how morally bankrupt the GOP is. Because they want to undo all this good.
Remember that when some friend says crap about how “Dems are just as bad.” No. Nope. Not even remotely true.
Amir Khalid
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Those names are for girls who have their lingerie custom-made at the ironmonger’s.
Brachiator
@Amir Khalid: I like that Diana is now in the official rotation of royal names.
I hear that betting parlors will take a hit since Charlotte was a heavy favorite. And it will be interesting to see if Charlotte becomes a top baby name.
We also have a bit of a royalty clown car, with heirs to the thrown piling up. In September, the queen will pass Victoria as longest reigning British monarch. I wonder if she might consider abdicating in favor of Charles.
C.V. Danes
Good for them!
As for myself, the friendly Japanese multinational conglomerate to which my company belongs just moved everyone over to (very) high deductible accounts, through which my health care costs have quadrupled. Needless to say, I HAVE been delaying previously covered medical expenses.
gene108
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
There will be winners and losers from the ACA. The goal is to have more winners than losers, but the losers will be (have been) given a large megaphone by the media and Republicans.
Frankensteinbeck
@Amir Khalid:
Literally any excuse will do, because their actual position is ‘point and laugh as people die.’ I understand that reasonable people don’t want to accuse their opponents of such an unpleasant moral trait, but ‘let them die’ got a big round of applause and laughter during the 2012 Republican Debates. The ACA working will only make them resent it more, because it is fixing problems they want to make worse.
Lee
At some point we just need to start pointing & laughing when people comment that Obamacare doesn’t work.
Patrick
In the Wall Street Journal (I know) this morning there was an article that was titled “Emergency-Room visits Keep Climbing”. Some guy is quoted stating that Obamacare was supposed to reduce ER visits, yet they are still climbing.
The reason being “those on Medicaid turn to hospital care when doctor access is limited”.
First of all, I don’t trust a word coming out of the WSJ. So, it is true and still a problem? And if so, will it EVER get fixed considering that one party refuses to fix anything related to the ACA?
Amir Khalid
@Brachiator:
As I understand, the line of succession after Great-Grandmama is now Grandpapa, Dad, George and Charlotte. (Uncle Harry’s out now unless something happens to his niece and nephew.)
Josie
@Amir Khalid: I heard Boehner say that the increase in insured people is due to Medicaid expansions, so that is bad because no one wants to treat Medicaid patients, and they will all wind up in emergency rooms anyway. That will come as a big surprise to all the large medical clinics in my city with overflowing waiting rooms.
Patrick
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Maybe they should stop discriminating against some of their customers for bigoted reasons.
Patricia Kayden
Yay! Thanks again President Obama.
boatboy_srq
@Brachiator:
The Steeplechase of Succession….
gene108
@Amir Khalid:
@gene108:
Just getting back to my post up thread about winners and losers, my employer right is a “loser” because of the ACA. We got a 15% increase, even though we had a good year in claims, because of overall “Trend”.
Get enough employers together, who got substantial rate increases and you can start getting push back.
Lee
@Patrick:
Not Professor Mayhew, but I think I can take a swipe at the answer.
That right there is the problem. People will seek medical help when it becomes a problem. We either give them access to doctors or they will show up at the ER.
Arkansas had a pretty dramatic drop in ER visits last year. I think there was another state that had a drop but not as dramatic.
So the solution is to make sure that even Medicaid recipients have adequate access to a primary care doctor.
Iowa Old Lady
@Amir Khalid: Let them die?
Tommy
@Amir Khalid: Not a bad name.
Brachiator
@Amir Khalid: Yeah, Harry can concentrate on being the Party Prince and the Fun Uncle to George and Harry. But it may be a long time until William gains the throne.
srv
@Patrick: A more reliable source, the Washington Times
Amir Khalid
@Brachiator:
Maybe Harry could have stayed in the military a little longer. I understand he was a talented officer and chopper pilot.
Tommy
@srv:
The Washington Times, LOL.
Sloane Ranger
@Brachiator: I doubt it. She has said that she will never abdicate. We are told that she is religious, in the quiet, diffident way members of the Church of England tend to be, and believes in the oaths she swore at the coronation. Also, she blames the Duke of Windsor’s abdication and his unexpected ascension to the throne for her father’s early death. Yes, I know George VI was a 60 a day man and didn’t have a particularly good life expectancy anyway, but the entire experience was apparently traumatic for the entire family.
I know that if she did abdicate the circumstances would be very different but, there you go. You try arguing with an stubborn 80+ year old.
Lee
@Tommy:
Same reaction as you.
The Moonie Times is just about as reliable as WSJ.
Brachiator
Some factors that affect emergency room visits.
It’s a bit like people who call 911 for non emergency issues. Since 911 calling is free and easily accessible, there is no disincentive to using it rather than taking the time to make a more appropriate call.
Also, health insurance will help pay for the emergency room visit. I don’t know if this mitigates the access issue.
Bottom line, anyone who reads the lack of decline in emergency room visits as a sign of the failure of ACA is distorting and oversimplifying the issue.
Tommy
@Lee: always stuns me the Washington Times is owned by Sun Myung Moon. The group marriage guy. Far, far out there. A paper that is the mantel for them, is owned by this dude and nobody seems to care on the far right.
Belafon
@srv: I bet the uptick occurs during a full moon.
RaflW
@srv: Austin Frakt (health economist prof who sometimes blogs for the NYT) said the survey response rate was 2% and that he was not going to give it credence.
As I see it, then, to claim in the article that 3 out of 4 doctors saw an increase is highly questionable (consider the source!). That low a response rate likely means there’s a risk only the doctors who were the most frustrated/most ideologically predisposed to complain about increased load bothered to respond.
srv
@Tommy: What’s wrong with group marriage?
All you’ve got is ad hominem.
raven
@Belafon: I went in the ER at about 4:30 yesterday and there were about 3 people. By the time they patched me up and the discharge process was over at 7:45 the place was jammed!
cahuenga
Oh man, ‘Washington Times’…
Irony ties a noose to the doorknob and jumps on a banana peel.
cahuenga
Now if we could only bring health costs in line with other western economies.
Brachiator
@Sloane Ranger: Yeah, I don’t really expect the queen to step down, and I wish her a long and happy and healthy life. Now, if she would outlive Charles…
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@raven: Hey Sparky, how’s the pinky feel today?
raven
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): It’s ok, @a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): It’s ok, some movements sting but that’s part of the deal. They want be to go to an orthopod because of a “lesion” they picked up on the xray but it’s most likely nuttin.
thx
rikyrah
this is good news.
thank you
Cervantes
@Lee:
About the Journal: the editorial pages are lunatic but the news pages are quite reliable (as far as they go).
Roger Moore
@Lee:
They’re both relying on the same survey for their article. That alone should be a big flashing warning beacon. This is not something from HHS reporting on solid numbers; it’s something from an emergency physicians’ organization that’s based on a survey of membership. Of course that won’t stop anti-Obamacare dead-enders from trumpeting the findings to the sky, but it’s an important counter-point.
MomSense
@Lee:
That’s why the ACA set up Medicaid to reimburse at the higher Medicare rates. Unfortunately in the non-expansion states we are still dealing with the old wait until it’s a crisis and then go to the ER situation. I’m so angry about it and every time I talk to someone who is glad we didn’t expand Medicaid because they don’t want to pay for some lazy person’s health care I just want to cry.
Ben Cisco
Totally OT: So Lady Demon Sheep decided to run for president touting her experience as CEO of a tech company. Yet, she probably wouldn’t want you to go to this site: carlyfiorina.org.
How do you make a mistake that obvious?
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
On a lighter note, today’s Non Sequitur, Gurus after hours.
Zinsky
When Jesus said, “heal the sick…,” I think he forgot to add, “but only when the rich don’t have to pay a nickel more in taxes”. I’m sure he meant to say that…..
Craig
This is probably due to sunspots or something. It obviously has nothing to do with Obamacare.
Germy Shoemangler
http://boingboing.net/2015/05/04/carly-fiorina-forgot-to-regist.html
Carly Fiorina forgot to register her domain name and now it belongs to someone else:
Patrick
@srv:
Oh that’s funny. I stopped reading as soon as I saw Washington Times…You might as well have written FoxNews.
Patrick
@Roger Moore:
Thank you. That’s what I was looking for. But if it is coming from an emergency physicians’ organization that’s based on a survey of membership, isn’t that still a reliable source and then an issue?
And if Congress refuses to fix it, then what?
Belafon
@Patrick: As stated above, only 2% of those questioned participated.
Patrick
@Belafon:
I see. I missed that posting.
Villago Delenda Est
Oh, please.
None of these numbers are real. It’s all an illusion.
/House GOP
Roger Moore
@Patrick:
The basic methodology is shoddy. This poll is asking doctors’ subjective opinions on what’s happening with their patient load, which is subject to all kinds of bias. For example, the doctors are relying on their memory of what things were like 5 years ago, which is an obvious point where bias can creep in. If you want to know what’s happening with the patient load at ERs, you need to do regular surveys of the ERs and look at the time series. That will give you contemporaneous data at each time point, and it will give you actual numbers rather than subjective judgments about busyness.
Villago Delenda Est
@Ben Cisco: Well, as Tommy has informed us, when she was busy destroying Lucent, she pronounced the Internet to be a fad.
Villago Delenda Est
@Lee: It is vastly less expensive, too, to treat people preventatively with regular visits to a GP than it is to treat them catastrophically even once in an ER.
But the costs to society overall are not important; individuals profit from the really stupid approach.
WereBear
@Germy Shoemangler: Sheesh! This is why I’ve been paying $10 a year for a while now… I have my domain. In case I run for President.
Villago Delenda Est
@Amir Khalid: Yeah, but unfortunately, Harry’s skills, while admirable and exceptional, are simply not a factor. They stopped sending royals into actual combat a long time ago, they’re far too valuable (and high-value targetable) to be risked doing something that they’re actually good at doing that involves that sort of danger. I understand Harry was really miffed that he was not allowed to deploy with his unit to Iraq.
Ben Cisco
@Villago Delenda Est: It’s always Opposite Day with that bunch, isn’t it?
Patrick
@Roger Moore:
Great explanation. And as far I can tell, the Wall Street Journal had none of it in their article. Interesting indeed.
Villago Delenda Est
@Patrick: Well, of course not. The Wall Street Journal has no interest, at all, in acknowledging any success connected with Obamacare in any way, shape or form. It will not matter how much evidence you pile on them that it’s succeeding. Ideology prohibits this…it’s like Baghdad Bob proclaiming victory even as Saddam’s statue is being toppled.
Eljai
@Roger Moore: File this under subjective comments, but my mom lives in Missouri and she had to go to the ER last week (she’s fine now). She was examined and sent home with some meds in 2 hours. We were speculating that the ACA may have had an effect since a visit to the ER before ACA typically took 6 hours.
Richard Mayhew
@Patrick: Nope, if you look at the “study”, it was a voluntary response survey of a self-selected membership organization with very low response rate. Furthermore, the study asks what the doctors feel. They are not triangulating against insurance claims data or actual admission data, or any other hard sources of data on ER utilization.
The study is asking if the a self-selected group of non-random respondants feel like their work has been busy and then attributing that business to ACA implementation… this is a two part questions — do they feel busier, and do they blame ACA — and it is a perception study, not a fact study. They could be objectively less busy, but feel busier, they could be as busy, but because their hospital reduced staffing, they could be busier seeing fewer patients but at higher intensity levels etc.
Calouste
@Villago Delenda Est: That’s not true. Harry wasn’t allowed to go to Iraq, but he did end up serving in Afghanistan until that was exposed by Drudge. Andrew, Charles’s younger brother served as a helicopter pilot in the Falklands War, and a young George VI served during the battle of Jutland.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@Villago Delenda Est:
IIRC, when Harry was in Afghanistan, the jackass UK tabloids insisted on publishing his unit’s information and he had to be recalled for everyone’s safety. If it had been me, I would have been pissed, too.
aimai
@Lee: Aside from cost–what is wrong with people showing up at the ER if they need to? If they are insured then at least some of the cost is recouped, after all. If someone–say a politician–was seriously interested in lowering ER visits there are a host of things they could do: fund and maintain local clinics, increase Medicaid payments to attract more doctors to those patients, encourage a “best practices” approach to local doctoring by offering free follow up care for people with chronic health problems who end up at the ER because they can’t comply with complex medical regimes.
Villago Delenda Est
@Calouste: I accept your correction, I don’t follow the royals that closely, but did know about the Iraq thing. It’s a serious shame that idiots “outed” Harry’s deployment to Afghanistan. Harry’s heart is most assuredly in the right place when he sought to share danger with his comrades. Compare and contrast with the behavior of the deserting coward, the Dark Lord, and a host of Rethuglican chickenhawks.
Naval duty is inherently less dangerous in terms of being a specific target, so Andrew and George could serve in that type of combat at much less of a propaganda loss risk than Harry.