How stable are the ACA Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare) insurance plans? That remains to be seen. At present there is a bipartisan effort to shore up the so called ACA “marketplaces” . This means that certain lawmakers are trying to find a way to create a realistic budget to fund them. The Affordable Care Act was affordable since the Federal government supplied money to insurance companies to subsidize or pay for part of people’s premiums.
Let’s roll back a second. Let’s make sure all this terminology is clear.
Bipartisan= involving both Democrats and Republicans
Marketplace = the system of insurance companies from which consumers buy health insurance
Premium= the monthly amount consumers have to pay the insurance company to have insurance and to ensure that their insurance is in force
Subsidies, aka insurance subsidies = payments from the Fed ( your tax dollars) to the insurance companies to defray (reduce) what consumers pay for their premiums.
Republican concerns at the beginning of the administration change:
- Obamacare cost the Fed too much and made taxes too high (via the payment of subsidies to insurance companies)
- Obamacare funded programs that powerful special interest groups opposed, i.e. birth control (via the Contraceptive Mandate)
- Obamacare took away the choice of not having to get health insurance at all. ( Via the Individual Mandate) In other words, Obamacare law via the Individual Mandate required everyone to hold health insurance.
Democrat concerns at the beginning of the administration change:
- Obamacare was not adequately funded and could run out of money if not addressed.
- Obamacare needed to continue to fund birth control as a human right and for the social and fiscal improvements it confers, ie. increased education, job productivity, individual savings, better health, fewer teen and unplanned pregnancies, fewer abortions.
- Obamacare needed to continue to fund preventive care and cancer screening since in the long run it prevents serious disease and saves money
- Obamacare need to continue to retain the Individual Mandate since
- Each person is obligated to contribute to the insurance fund to make it stronger for everyone. The American Academy of Actuaries has gone on record saying that repeal of the Individual Mandate “... would lead to premium increases” and reduce the "incentive for healthy people to enroll and balance out the costs of the sick.”
- Each person is responsible for covering their own care even if their health takes a downward and expensive turn, and they can only realistically cover it with insurance.
- Persons who do not hold insurance and who end up getting emergency or unanticipated health care get care whether they can pay for it or not, and their bill is absorbed by everyone else. They are cheating the system.
- The ethic of the greater good should inform the Individual Mandate since health coverage enables health care and health care enables broad social benefits of all kinds.
The deadline to enroll for Obamacare this year has passed. The site for enrollment, healthcare.gov, was getting crushed right through until the end, and at one point, customers were instructed to simply leave contact information with the expectation of a call back. Many did not know the time frame for enrollment since the Trump administration cut funds for promotion of the program by 50%. Numbers on enrollment are not yet in.
There is bad news and good news for CHIP, the children’s health insurance program. The bad new is that it will run out of money by the end of January. The good news is that there seems to be broad bipartisan support for refunding it. A bipartisan group of Governors has also come forwards and requested that the government renew finding for CHIP. The question is, what with all that lawmakers have left undone, and still need to do, will they get to it in time ? Remember, the Federal Government only has a budget through December 22nd, which is fast approaching.
In medical news, we find a convergence of holistic medicine and technology. A new study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology uses app-guided acupressure to relieve menstrual cramps. The results compared this technique with medical therapy of oral contraceptive pills or typical analgesics and the results were significant.
Sugar and inflammation. I do not know the exact relationship. Let’s talk about excessive sugar. In particular, a new study reveals that pregnant women who consume excess sugar in pregnancy are statistically more likely to bear babies who have asthma later in life. Asthma is an condition of the airways and is believed to be mediated by inflammation. Excess sugar in pregnancy is associated with many more problems, like excess weight gain, and gestational diabetes.
It is well know that pregnant poorly controlled diabetics have increase risks of serious malformations including spina bifida and congenital heart defects. In new research, pregnant women with high glucose levels in early pregnancy - even those who are not diabetic, are more likely to have babies with heart defects. The relationship is linear.
Got your flu virus yet ? I hope so. There are TWICE as many cases of flu this year compared to last. Bottom line: the flu shot is safe and effective in and out of pregnancy. Talk to your doctor. It is particularly risky to skip it in pregnancy since influenza is much more dangerous in pregnant women.
There is some expected fall out after last weeks publication about a small increase in breast cancer risk with long use of oral birth control pills. Authorities are hastening to point out that while this finding about breast cancer risk was noted, it has also been confirmed that oral birth control pills decrease the risk of uterus, ovary and colon cancer, stabilize bone density and obviously, prevent pregnancy and all of its potential complications. Risks need to be weighed with benefits.
Stay tuned for more breaking news from the world of Obstetrics and Gynecology on the next episode of Medical Monday. I will have to decide what to do for Christmas week, most likely depending on the news at hand. Let's hope the researchers take a nice break for the holidays. The politicians, well, they can just keep working right on through as far as I am concerned.
Happy Holidays.