What I Learned About The ACA

Today’s post is authored by David Depaolo and appears on his blog daviddepaolo.com. As usual David hits “the nail on the head” with his objective analysis of the potential impact that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will have upon the entire workers’ compensation system. There are certain trends that Dr. Gruber has identified, that in synergy with the ACA, have the potential of causing a dynamic shift in workers’ compensation insurance. As political and social adjustments are made to the ACA those uncertainties will certainly resolve. One of the big draws for me at the Workers' Compensation Research Institute's annual meeting this year was to hear from one of the architects and authors of the Affordable Care Act, Dr. who is a professor of economics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. I just needed to learn. The ACA is so complex, so huge, so broad in its scope, that anyone who is not completely versed in the health care system (the vast majority of us) would have absolutely no understanding of the law, how it plays out, who it really affects, what is to come of various provisions, etc. In fact, I am willing to bet that virtually all lawmakers, including our president himself, have little to no true understanding of the law. Dr. Gruber is a health economics expert - meaning he has spent virtually all of his professional life studying health care systems and the economic underpinnings of health care. It is...

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Workers' Compensation Benefits, Employer Costs Rise with Economic Recovery

NASI issued the following press release reflecting that workers' compensation costs are continuing to soar on the back of ever increasing medical expenses. The real question that remains unanswered is whether the Affordable Care Care will rein in costs and capture the workers' compensation delivery system in the process. Increased costs are good for workers' compensation carriers as they increase premiums to reflects those numbers. Looking down the road, a single Universal Medical Benefit program may present the only true alternative to achieve the cost savings employers need and want. Today's post was shared by WCBlog and comes from www.nasi.org

After declining in the wake of the recession, workers’ compensation benefits paid to injured workers and costs borne by employers increased in 2011 as the U.S. economy continued to recover, according to a new report by the National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI).

Total benefits rose by 3.5 percent to $60.2 billion.  The benefits include a 4.5 percent rise in medical care spending to $29.9 billion and a 2.6 percent rise in wage replacement benefits to $30.3 billion. Total costs to employers rose by 7.1 percent to $77.1 billion.

"Workers’ compensation often grows with the growth in employment and earnings,” said Marjorie Baldwin, chair of NASI’s Workers’ Compensation Data Panel and Professor of Economics in the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.  When benefits and costs are measured relative to total covered wages, then benefits remained unchanged, and costs to employers rose very modestly (to $1.27 per $100 of wages) after declining in the previous five years.

Workers’ Compensation Benefits, Coverage, and Costs, 2011
Covered workers (in thousands)
Covered wages (in billions)
Workers' compensation benefits (in billions)
Cash benefits	$30.3	2.6%
Employer costs (in billions)	$77.1	7.1%
Amounts per $100 of covered wages
Cash payments to workers
Source: National...

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A Lesson: The White House Seeks To Enlist LeBron James to Sell Obamacare

After last night's NBA title victory by the Miami Heat*, it has been reported that The Obama Administration is seeking to recruit LeBron James to sell Obamacare (The Affordable Care Act) 

Photo Credit: whitehouse.gov

Perhaps that idea could be mirrored in the effort to defend traditional workers'  compensation programs as more beneficial systems than Opt-Out systems and the denial of benefits for professional athletes.

Read: White House seeks NBA assist on Obamacare

*Heat Melt Spurs To Win Second Consecutive NBA Title
LeBron James had 37 points and 12 rebounds and the Miami Heat repeated as champions with a 95-88 victory over the San Antonio Spurs in Game 7 of the NBA Finals ....
More at NPR.org:
http://n.npr.org/NPRI/jN414323625_1737920_1737919_Z.htm

Read more about The Affordable Care Act and workers' compensation:

NCCI: Obamacare Creates Uncertainty for the Workers

May 16, 2013

NCCI: Obamacare Creates Uncertainty for the Workers' Compensation Insurance Line in 2014. NCCI now predicts uncertainty for workers' compensation insurance in 2014 based upon the implementation of Obamacare.

http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/

Related articles

• Oklahoma Opt-Out Workers' Compensation Law Enacted
• Opioid Use in Workers' Compensation
• Workers' Compensation Has Become A Territorial Fight
• Obamacare Will Be Collecting Workers' Compensation Medical Records
• LeBron Says He Might Have Called Off His Wedding if Spurs Won
• LeBron James "Leave A Message" Commercial

Universal Medical and Workers' Compensation: It's Not "If", It's "When" - California

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is going to definitely change the landscape of medical delivery over the coming future. Medical care afforded by workers' compensation delivery systems will ultimately be merged into a universal national program, despite all the opposition along the way.

My friend, and cycling inspiration, who keeps me trying to think I can enter the Tour de France while under the influence of Starbucks coffee, David DePaolo, points out that the "fusion" may be coming slowly through legislation of unintended consequences in California.

"The concept of universal care, 24 hour care, single stop shop, etc. has been floating for a couple of decades now with very little progress.

"But the passage of the Affordable Care Act, the signing of HB 1 back in February 2009, and other Federal health related laws and regulations including ERISA, have accelerated the fusion of workers' compensation medicine and general health medicine. Outsourcing MPN [Medical Provider Networks] oversight to a health care related agency is just another step towards this outcome.

David, an expert in analyzing what's around the curve, sees the next wave of change coming to workers' compensation. For so many reasons, including the expansion/reimbursement integration of the Medicare program, the writing is on the wall on this one. 

Every time the lobbyists think that have eliminated the imminent threat of Federal intrusion, ie. Enactment of The SMART Act, the reality of which is that the regulations will eat up the statute, and also their lunch. I plan to write more on The SMART Act in the coming weeks. Maybe that wasn't so smart after all for the cottage industries that supported it.