Uh-O! Top Hospitals May Be Opting Out Of ObamaCare

November 1, 2013

Uh-O! Top Hospitals May Be Opting Out Of ObamaCare

by Ruthie Thompson in Headlines 5 Comments

If you have been following the nightmares of Obamacare, then you may be aware of the sticker shock suffered by many Americans when it comes to the cost of their new “free” healthcare. Not only are they finding out that their healthcare is not free, they are gasping for air at the increase in costs of their premiums, the huge deductibles that have been tacked on and even the millions of cancellation letters that either have been sent out or are due to be sent out before the January 2014 deadline. Team Obama is swirling around trying to deflect the criticism regarding all of the changes to the nation’s insurance policies as well as the failed launch of the government healthcare website.

As the nation struggles to deal with the ObamaCare debacle, it seems that having passed the bill, we are beginning to find out more and more, what exactly is in it.

For example, are the nation’s top hospitals opting out of ObamaCare? According to a recent Watchdog.org report they apparently are. Watchdog.org contacted the top 18 hospitals ranked by U.S. News and World Report for 2013-2014 and found that many of them will only accept one or two insurance companies that are included in ObamaCare. Some of them have opted out altogether. Of the top 18 hospitals, 11 of the top 18 hospitals had only one or two carriers. The good news? If you purchased an individual policy outside of ObamaCare, chances are you may still be able to have the option of going to that hospital.

Uh-O! Will this spell more trouble for Team Obama and ObamaCare? I wonder WHO will get the blame for this one.

Here is the list of the top ranked hospitals that were interviewed by Watchdog.org.

Rank*	Hospital	Insurance Accepted**
1	Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore	All insurance companies, per state law
2	Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston	All insurance companies, per state law
3	Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn.	Blue Cross (silver plan only)
4	Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio	Medical Mutual of Ohio
5	UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles	Anthem Blue Cross, Health Net
6	Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago	Land of Lincoln, Blue Cross
7	New York-Presbyterian University Hospitalof Columbia and Cornell	UnitedHealthCare, EmblemHealth, Aetna
8	UCSF Medical Center, San Francisco	Anthem Blue Cross
9	Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston	All insurance companies, per state law
10	University of Pittsburgh Medical Center	Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, UPMC Health Plan, Health America
11	Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia	Aetna Independence, Blue Cross
12	Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C.	Coventry Health Care, Blue Cross
13	Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles	Health Net
14	NYU Langone Medical Center, New York	UnitedHealthCare, Affinity Health System, Fidelis Care
15	Barnes-Jewish Hospital/Washington University, St. Louis	Coventry Health Care
16	Indiana University Health Academic Health Center, Indianapolis	Indiana University Health Plans
17	Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia	Independence Blue Cross, Aetna
18	University Hospitals Case Medical Center, Cleveland	Anthem Blue Cross, HealthSpan, SummaCare, SuperMed

barack obama hospitals obamacare opt out

Written by Ruthie Thompson

5 Comments

GWB says:

November 1, 2013 at 3:21 pm

Yeah, this goes hand-in-hand with the “doctors dropping off the plans” bit. And, of course, when your demand (subscribers on ObamaCare.gov) goes up and your supply (doctors and hospitals on the plans) goes down, there’s some cosequence of that…. I can’t recall what it is at the moment, though I thought it had something to do with prices……..

Reply
- Ruthie Thompson says:
  
  November 3, 2013 at 9:10 pm
  
  It’s a mess!!
  
  Reply
Daniel says:

November 1, 2013 at 9:06 pm

I think this is really their goal. To destroy the market and make a one payor system.

Reply
- Jodi says:
  
  November 2, 2013 at 12:37 am
  
  Ditto ^^^
  
  Reply
- Ruthie Thompson says:
  
  November 3, 2013 at 9:11 pm
  
  I agree Daniel. They slipped up a few times during the debates on this when it was introduced. That has been the goal all along.
  
  Reply