ObamaCare
Last week I mentioned on Carmen Chalas radio program that there are great concerns nationwide over the way this health program is being implemented and I thought I should explain in more detail.
The Affordable Care Act, commonly called ‘ObamaCare’ plan is to become effective January 1st and enrollment is set to begin on October 1st. For that reason, the federal government has awarded $67 million in grants to organizations all over the country to hire and train ‘navigators,’ who are to help educate people and get them signed up for the right policies. Recently, they have fueled fears that the navigator process will enable unscrupulous people to infiltrate the system and steal enrollees’ personal information.
At least 16 states have passed or are considering laws to regulate navigators’ work. Many have imposed their own certification and licensing requirements, a process that critics say could hinder the availability of navigators. Georgia’s insurance commissioner, for example, has said he will require navigators to pass the same test as insurance brokers, even though federal law makes a clear distinction between navigators and brokers.
Some legislatures have also passed laws that restrict what navigators can do, which some critics believe could conflict with the duties the administration expects the navigators to perform. Meanwhile, 13 state attorneys general have raised concerns that inadequate training could result in private information ending up in the wrong hands, subjecting consumers to fraud.
The navigators must read and pass 14 online modules, which will take about 20 hours. There are modules on privacy regulations, and navigators must pass background checks. There is the potential for security concerns by poorly trained or vetted navigators and the lack of punishment under the Affordable Care Act for navigators who steal private information.
The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee is demanding that that train navigators submit detailed documentation on training, procedures, monitoring and responsibilities of the navigators. In Ohio, the food-bank association and other organizations that will employ navigators also are proceeding cautiously to make sure they don’t run afoul of new state requirements for navigators, including criminal-background checks. The Texas Department of Insurance has come up with new rules to regulate the navigators, including requiring them to take an additional 40 hours of training and rigorous testing beyond the federal training.
Because these workers will be soliciting sensitive information from Texans, like their Social Security numbers and birth dates, the Texas Tribune said the governor also wants the insurance department to keep a database of navigators, do background checks and take fingerprints, among other things. In addition, the consortium has privacy and security training using HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act) guidelines.
Beginning January 1, ObamaCare will require almost all Americans to have health insurance or face tax penalties. Every state will have its own insurance marketplace where uninsured Americans can compare and purchase private health insurance, choosing from plans that meet federal specifications. These exchanges will also inform people if they qualify for a federal subsidy to pay for their coverage and whether they also qualify for Medicaid benefits and how to sign up for those.
Navigators are intended to help with all these functions. The federal government is responsible for navigator training (which covers issues of privacy and security of information) and certification. The new certification and licensure requirements in a number of states, including Georgia, Nevada and Utah, leave little time to get those programs up and running before the October 1st start date.
Noelle Clemente, a spokesman for the Energy and Commerce Committee, said “This particular program is now $13 million over budget, ballooning 25 percent before it even started,” she said. Unlike agents and brokers, navigators receive no compensation from insurance companies. They are also barred from promoting one insurance plan over another. The navigators are meant to be impartial guides who will help individuals or small businesses find the insurance plan that best fits their needs. A few states – Missouri and Ohio are two – have passed laws that restrict navigators from giving advice about plans and benefits.Supporters fear that these prohibitions might prevent navigators from giving consumers information they need to make their selections. For example, a navigator might ask a consumer if he would like to continue seeing a specific doctor when enrolled in a new plan. If so, the navigator might direct the consumer to a plan that includes that doctor in its provider network.
Similarly, if a consumer needs particular brand-name drugs, the navigator could point out which plans cover those drugs. The state laws could consider this information advice or promotion of a certain plan.
My personal opinion is that if you can read in English and don’t want to run the risk of having your identity stolen (the fastest-growing crime in the United States), find the answers on your own by calling the insurance companies, the public library or online in absolute privacy.
Rivera on CrossOver
Danny Rivera was invited on my radio show for the purpose of getting to know him and his plans a little better. I like his enthusiasm to see the city improve its image regarding safety although I am disappointed that he is so focused on hiring more police officers that he is willing to ignore other issues affecting us. For example, he said that he doesn’t care if the grass grows on the parks and it doesn’t get cut, and that he is willing to lay off DPW workers in order to hire more police officers.
What really surprised me was that he said that he will not look for ways to resolve the problem with Lawrence Community
Access Television. I have been complaining for many years about cable subscribers paying for the salaries of those employees while they are violating our rights by not allowing us to produce local television to educate and inform the public of Lawrence.
In all surrounding cities and towns, residents have the habit of tuning in to learn about their communities by watching the locally produced programs on current issues.
That’s the way it was meant to be used but in Lawrence never caught on because all we have is church services and programs from other cities and towns and old black and white movies.
The mayor of any city shouldn’t pick and choose which problems to resolve. We elect them to tackle them all.
Not looking into that and concentrating only in hiring more police officers, at the expense of street cleanliness and abandonment of the parks is a mistake.Remember how people used to complain about that.
Also, I asked all three councilors when they voted against the FY14 budget (including Rivera), if they would have voted in favor of the tax increase if it had included more police officers and they all said “Yes.”
Deerfield Fair
Last Saturday afternoon, we went to the Deerfield Fair in Deerfield, New Hampshire. The fair was great but what I want to tell you is about a PIG who was in front of us in the bumper to bumper traffic for more than one hour.
Driving a light gray pick-up truck, they kept eating and throwing out the passenger window cigarette packs, empty soda cans, even plastic containers with left over cheese and cold cuts. We were furious because we sometimes hear about people from New
Hampshire doing that in our city. Sadly, it had Massachusetts plate #GR 33 but, even more disappointing was that it belongs to a
Korean Veteran. If you see that car anywhere in Lawrence, keep an eye on it.
