Latest Obamacare Surprise:

most won't be able to buy health insurance until end of the year

There is yet another ObamaCare surprise waiting for consumers: from now until the next open enrollment at the end of this year, most people will simply not be able to buy any health insurance at all, even outside the exchanges.

"It's all closed down. You cannot buy a policy that is a qualified policy for the purpose of the ACA (the Affordable Care Act) until next year on January 1," says John DiVito, president of Flexbenefit which has 2,500 brokers.

John Goodman of the National Center for Policy Analysis in Dallas adds, "People are not going to be able to buy individual and family policies, and that's part of ObamaCare. And what makes it so surprising is the whole point of ObamaCare was to encourage people to get insurance, and now the market has been completely closed down for the next seven months."

That means that with few exceptions, tens of millions of people will be locked out of the health insurance market for the rest of this year.

Only about one in four subsidy-eligible people signed up for health insurance," says Robert Laszewski of Health Policy Associates. "That means about 13 million subsidy-eligible people have not yet signed up for health insurance."

Add to that millions more who waited, or thought the policies under ObamaCare were too expensive and decided just to pay the tax penalty.

Although those who failed to buy insurance during the enrollment period could face a government penalty, most will not have to pay that penalty until they do their taxes next year.

"In all likelihood," says Laszewski, "we've only signed up somewhere between one in five and one in seven people who were uninsured prior to the start of ObamaCare."

That means millions are left outside the health insurance market. There is short term insurance, but anyone with a pre-existing condition can be turned down.

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National Public Health 

Week Recognized

National Public Health Week, recognized April 7-11, is a time to acknowledge progress made in strengthening and protecting the public health and rededicating ourselves to the work of improving the health and well-being of Americans by preventing disease, supporting medical research, and promoting safer and healthier communities.

This year, one of the main themes of National Public Health Week, "Be Healthy from the Start,"  is particularly appropriate, having just marked the end of the first open enrollment period of the Affordable Care Act.

The Affordable Care Act's focus on prevention and expanding access to quality care is rooted in the concept of "being healthy from the start." Because of the law, millions more Americans have quality affordable coverage, including preventive services, through the Marketplace or Medicaid. Not only can they get the care they need when they need it, but they can get preventive care as well, many for the first time. Already more than 100 million Americans with private insurance and Medicare have benefitted from expanded coverage of preventive services such as recommended cancer screenings without paying coinsurance or deductibles.

The Affordable Care Act also establishes the National Prevention Council, which, through the National Prevention Strategy, strives to move the nation from a focus on sickness and disease to one based on wellness and prevention across all sectors. The Council works in conjunction with the Prevention and Public Health Fund and other efforts to prevent heart attacks, strokes and cancer, reduce tobacco use, prevent obesity, combat health disparities and improve the nation's health.     

To help gauge advancements in America's public health, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services tracks leading health indicators via the Healthy People initiative, which provides science-based 10-year national objectives for improving the health of all Americans. (www.healthypeople.gov)

National Public Health Week is an opportunity to recognize not only the important work of public health workers in communities across our country, but also the role every citizen plays in the effort to "Be Healthy from the Start."

By taking better care of ourselves, and supporting friends and family in their efforts to lead healthier lives, we can all play an important role in National Public Health Week.


 

HHS Announces Progress in Disease Prevention and 

Health Promotion

 The nation's health is improving in more than half of the critical measures that are known to have major influence in reducing preventable disease and death, according to a new report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Healthy People 2020 represents the nation's current 10-year goals and objectives for health promotion and disease prevention. Twenty-six specific measures-in categories such as access to care, maternal and child health, tobacco use, nutrition and physical activity-were identified as high-priority health issues. These Leading Health Indicators (LHI), if addressed appropriately, have the potential to significantly reduce major influences or threats on the public's health that cause illness and death.

"The Leading Health Indicators are intended to motivate action to improve the health of the whole population. Today's LHI Progress Report shows that we are doing just that," says Dr. Howard Koh, Assistant Secretary for Health. Koh also notes that with the full implementation of the Affordable Care Act, we can expect to see more improvements across these indicators.

There are 14 health indicators that have either been met or are improving in this first third of the decade, including:

• Fewer adults smoking cigarettes;
• Fewer children exposed to secondhand smoke;
• More adults meeting physical activity targets; and
• Fewer adolescents using alcohol or illicit drugs. 

While progress has been made across several indicators, the LHI Progress Report highlights areas where further work is needed to improve the health of all Americans. There are 11 Leading Health Indicators that have not shown significant improvement at this point in the decade, and 1 indicator where only baseline data are available.

For more information about the Leading Health Indicators Progress Update, please visit:

http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/LHI/default.aspx.