obamacare dealt huge blow
 

http://news.msn.com/us/us-appeals-co...care-subsidies

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled Tuesday that more than half the country shouldn't be receiving tax subsidies under Obamacare -- a ruling that could cripple the health care law if it's ultimately upheld.

The 2-1 decision in Halbig v. Sebelius is the first victory, in any court, for a legal challenge that says the tax subsidies should only be available in states that set up their own insurance exchanges.

The health care law specifically authorizes subsidies in "an exchange established by the State," and the plaintiffs in Halbig said the administration violated the law by also extending subsidies to the in the 36 states using the federal system. They said Congress meant for the tax credits to serve as an incentive for states to establish their own exchanges.

People on other blogs are saying the decision will be vacated when the case is hear en banc. I do not know what that means. I think it's something about the case being heard by an entire panel of judges not just a few selected ones.

I think another appeals court ruled just the opposite on the same day.:zz:

Hopefully an Executive Order can straighten things out :rolleyes:

he has a lot of catching up to do.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...ecutive_orders

didn't see that, but i've been on the road since 2 pm.

this whole obamacare thing is going to be interesting to watch it unfold...it's crazy

http://www.balloon-juice.com/2014/07...ral-assholery/

Balloon-juice has a front page poster, Richard Mayhew, who works in the health insurance industry and has been great at explaining some of the more obscure parts of the ACA. The above post is his take on the ruling.

Might need a few more of those . . .

"H&R Block CEO says Obamacare to add 'significant complexity' to tax season"
http://washingtonexaminer.com/hr-blo...rticle/2552801

To be fair, you ever see an H&R Block tax preparer? You'll find them in most WalMarts come tax season. Only in America can you go from the deep fryer to a tax preparer's desk in 2 short weeks of tax school. :wf

surely this doesn't come as a surprise. it's been known for years now that this was going to be a huge issue for tax preparers.
obamacare is a convoluted mess. perhaps as this all continues, more people will begin to beat the single payer drum.

I'd rather we put all of you brainwashed liberal idiots in FEMA camps...but to each his own.

It's an improvement over the old system, as more people are getting covered, and premiums are rising more slowly now that insurance companies are limited in how much of their income they may put towards things other than actual medical care, but yeah, single payer would be better. On that note, here's an interesting (and frightening) tale from one of balloon-juice's front pagers,who works in the health insurance industry, about his own son and what could have been a very bad situation, due to high up-front payments:

http://www.balloon-juice.com/2014/09...l/#more-158648

You might really like his stuff on balloon-juice, Danzig, since you've been following the implementation of ACA pretty closely. Richard Mayhew is the guy. He writes about the nuts and bolts of ACA and the effects from the point of view of a company writing policies to implement it and I've learned a lot from his posts.

i get why they did what they did...but it's a huge, intricate mess. we all know the adage of keep it simple-it's too bad they didn't do so in this regard. and still a lot of minsinformation out there.
a guy who works with my husband was telling him about his son and daughter in law getting a huge quote. i asked some questions, he asked the guy-and i told him to pass on that they didn't need to go thru the exchange and would be better off not doing so, as they didn't qualify for a subsidy. that the rate would be much lower if they went right thru the insurance company itself.
so, they did.
the problem with the exchanges is a potential 'death spiral' for those within it. that only the lower income and very ill will buy thru the exchange, thus creating rate issues...much like if you only had dui drivers in your auto company.

they should have just put everyone on medicare. no more medicaid, no more state programs like arkids, and had basic coverage thru medicare-and the insurance companies could sell supplements like they do now, to everyone who wanted them instead of just seniors.

as for the story--always scary when a kid is sick.
i went to the doctor last tuesday for a sinus infection. he said 'boy, you sure are pale' (tony had said the sam thing a few days before). let's draw some blood.
found out last thursday i have severe anemia-i had no idea what all anemia could cause, but i had every symptom on the list.
went to the pharmacy for the third time that week to get iron pills...guess what the insurance company (united healthcare) doesn't cover? iron pills.
'do you still want them?' asked the pharmacist? well, yeah...i'm this close to needing a transfusion!
which reminds me, i need to call and ask them why they weren't covered.

I absolutely agree with you that universal Medicare is the answer; we're just still some years from it, I think. But generally, the ACA is an improvement over what was before. But hey, Social Security was a pretty limited program when it started- the only way to get the South to vote for it was to write it so basically all black Americans were excluded- and now it's universal, so that's something.

Sorry about the anemia. I have the opposite problem- iron overload. Runs in my Celtic family. My levels are fine now, but I'll have to donate a lot of blood eventually as it can really cause big problems over the years. My dad was recently diagnosed as having torn all three of the major hip muscles loose from the bones (he's been in agony for years and the doctors just kept shooting cortisone and telling him the pain was in his spine). The doc who finally figured it out said he usually only sees injuries like this in people who are in high-speed accidents, but as soon as he found out my dad has hemochromatosis he said, "Oh, yeah. That'd do it."

You can buy over the counter iron pills, right? Do you need very high doses, is that why it needs to be a prescription?

he put me on them to get it going in a hurry i guess, two a day...but eventually cut to one. i doubt i will have to stay on them, can probably eventually go to OTC.
but my feritin level was 2-and 15 is considered as low! just had blood drawn again, so we'll see where it's at after a week.
he recommended i see an ob/gyn about an endometrial ablation. he said 'you are done with kids, right'? oh, hell yes! :)