Health Tips

I think you can guess who said that.

Actually, here is what the President said at the American Medical Association Meeting in July, 2009��and likely lots more times:

"No matter how we reform health care, we will keep this promise: If you like your doctor, you will keep your doctor. Period. If you like your health care plan, your will keep your health plan. Period. No one will take it away. No

Unavoidably, that will be the big question come Tuesday.

But there will be much more to it than that.

A 180-Day Open Enrollment��Not a One-Day Open Enrollment
What happens on the first day, for good or bad, will constitute only a tiny percentage of the open enrollment period. Consumers will likely visit the new websites many times before they make any decisions, and that is exactly as it should

Will we have rate shock?

It looks to me like consumers will have a choice when they get to look at the health plans available on the new "Obamacare" health insurance exchanges��rate shock or benefit shock.

While there has been lots of focus on the issue of rate shock, I will suggest that just as big an issue may well be benefit shock�that consumers will look at what they will be getting for

That's what I wondered when I got this postcard; presumably sent to lots of people who live in Maryland:

In it, (click on card to enlarge) Maryland Blue Cross is telling me that; "I am invited to obtain a [health] plan right now with rates that may be significantly lower than reform-compliant plans [their emphasis]."

Are they suggesting there is rate shock coming?

I was surprised to get this

Come October millions of people will be applying for tens of billions of dollars in federal health insurance premium subsidies on the honor system.

On the Friday after the Fourth of July��when the administration apparently hoped no one would be paying attention��the Obama administration dropped 606 pages of regulations. Buried inside was the news that that insurance exchanges can ignore any