All eyes are on the U.S. Supreme Court as the august body is expected to announce its decision on the fate of Obamacare this month.
People are asking questions like “Will the justices uphold the individual mandate?” “Can the law as a whole stand without it?” and “Will they uphold the law?”
Whatever happens, one thing is clear. Even if all nine justices throw out Obamacare as it was envisioned, obamacare — the principles that form the backbone of healthcare reform and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — will live on. Stakeholders from across the healthcare spectrum seem united on that.
On Monday, the Associated Press reported that UnitedHealth Group, the insurance behemoth, said that it won’t pull back on some of the changes that have already been implemented if the high court deals a blow to the ACA.
Here’s more from the AP story:
Regardless of the court’s ruling, UnitedHealth will continue to offer dependent coverage to adult children up to age 26 who seek coverage through parental plans, and it won’t impose lifetime dollar limits on how much an insurance policy pays out to cover claims. That can help people fighting cancer or an expensive, chronic illness.
The insurer also pledged to not pursue rescissions of individual coverage except in limited instances like cases of fraud. Rescission involves cancelling a person’s coverage retroactively, sometimes after claims have been submitted.
UnitedHealth CEO Stephen J. Hemsley said in a statement that the insurer will extend some of the overhaul’s initial provisions because they are good for people’s health, they promote better access to quality care and they help control rising health care costs.
Preventive care like immunizations or high blood pressure screenings are touted as ways for patients to ward off bigger and costlier health care problems.
Medtronic CEO Omar Ishrak has also gone on the record saying that regardless of the Supreme Court’s decision, he sees continued payer-provider integration in the future. Medtronic is planning to doexactly that with Aetna.
And Kaiser Health News reported that the federal “Shared Savings Program,” which offers financial incentives for physicians, hospitals and other healthcare providers to team up in ‘accountable care organizations’is reviewing 150 applications.”
Some ACO leaders say they aren’t worried about the Supreme Court case.
“It’s not changing anything for us,” said Emily Brower, an executive director with Atrius Health, operator of a pioneer ACO in Massachusetts. “This is a model of care we’ve been trying to evolve into since before the pioneer program existed.”
These different entities are echoing the same sentiment because they all recognize one thing: The rising cost of healthcare is simply unsustainable and the ACA addresses this issue in important ways.
So, even if the Supreme Court kills Obamacare as we know it, its spirit will thrive by the actions of some of those very entities that bitterly opposed it.
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By Arundhati Parmar
Arundhati Parmar is the Medical Devices Reporter at MedCity News. She has covered medical technology since 2008 and specialized in business journalism since 2001. Parmar has three degrees from three continents - a Bachelor of Arts in English from Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India; a Masters in English Literature from the University of Sydney, Australia and a Masters in Journalism from Northwestern University in Chicago. She has sworn never to enter a classroom again.More posts by Author
do you realize you can only go for preventative care a few times and then you are screwed with obamacare,they do not have to see you,,,,,,,,,and patti you are correct the doctors DO NOT WANT this,,,,,,,i am lost my husband last year,along with his insurance,which i cannot afford to pay anymore,,,it was almost 800 a month,where do i pull that money from,,,,,and why should they give the citizens crap insurance plans when they get a completely different kind which they do not pay for even when out of office,,,,,,REPEAL THIS CRAPPY CRAP,please
We too have seen a large increase in our private insurance premium since all this Obamacare started. I knew this would happen. There is NO free lunch folks. Even though the democrats are trying to say this will save us money - they are lying..It will only save the government money, which they will spend on things they want for themselves.. Seeing is believing and I have already started seeing what is coming in regard to premiums. Also every doctor I see said they are AGAINST Obamacare and they will consider retiring or teaching if this law is implemented. What are we going to do for doctors? What good is healthcare if you have no one to treat you? And the ones that stay in medicine will be so packed with patients, it will take forever to get an appt. and be seen. I hope The American people aren't falling for this Obama scheme. That is just what it is, a scheme. And a bad one for all of us.
The ACA is a total nightmare and should get tossed out. However, like many people, I like some of the provisions it included. Those such as the preventative care, removal of lifetime caps, removal of pre-existing conditions and being able to keep adult children on a parents policy. But in reality, those provisions have nothing to do with healthcare or rising costs. They are nothing more than insurance industry reforms that needed to happen anyway.
This guy sounds like a paid propagandist for Obama, desperately trying to convince Americans that there is something--anything!--in this horribly bad farce of a law worth saving. And as both a physician and health care administrator, i can assure you there is NOTHING in the ACA law which meaningfully does ANYTHING to address to worrisome rise in healthcare costs. This guy "Parmar" souinds like 1 of those mindless Obama zombies who willl absolutely anything in desperate hope to get people to actually support some of his arrogant nonsense. Truth of the matter is that Obama is clearly the worst and most incompetent President in modern times.
Since this health debachle has started, my office visits have DOUBLED. The visits used to take 15 mins. Now they are 30-45 mins. My ins premiums have gone up & I pay more out of pocket. If the dimwit gets reelected, I won't get another pacemaker in my life & I am only 63