JACKSON, Miss.–You probably feel like there’s too many people fooling around with your health coverage at this point: the feds, the state government, Blue Cross, HMA hospitals. It might make you want to scream. It might make you want to cuss. Be that as it may, here’s a rundown of what’s going on.
First, the battle between Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Mississippi and HMA Hospitals is far from over. And it’s also a battle between Mississippi’s governor and Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney. Monday afternoon a federal judge, Winston Kidd, ruled that Gov. Bryant’s attempt to force Blur Cross to provide in-network coverage at HMA hospitals deserves more attention in court.
That will happen Nov. 5. Until then, it’s a temporary restraining order to keep Bryant out of the fight.
“Our constitutional rights were violated by forcing Blue Cross to continue to contract with a party whose contract they had terminated and it in affect nullifies the termination provision in the contract,” said David Kaufman, attorney for Blue Cross.
Meanwhile, the governor’s office said he is evaluating the ruling.
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On the federal side, NBC News reported Monday that it could be up to 80 percent of people who already have health insurance who may still gfet a letter saying your insurance will be canceled, or there will be some type of modification because the policy does not meet ObamaCare standards.
While the federal government announced Monday they would delay the penalty-free sign-up deadline for getting health insurance until March 31, Mississippi senators Roger Wicker and Thad Cochran, both Republicans, said they are signing onto a bill that would delay the individual mandate that you have insurance, until the exchanges are deemed fully functional.
“This legislation acknowledges what the Obama administration will not admit—that its insurance exchange websites, developed at great expense to taxpayers, are an unworkable mess. Mississippians should not be taxed for being unable to use dysfunctional websites,” said Cochran.
“The difficulties that Americans are facing with the Obamacare website highlight the rampant problems associated with the health-care law,” said Wicker. “People in Mississippi should not be penalized because of the Administration’s failed rollout of the online health-care exchanges. It is not fair or right to force Americans to enroll in a broken system.”
Meanwhile, the dysfunctional healthcare.gov , which id the sign-up portal for ObamaCare, got a weekend facelift, though its functionality some have still called into question.
