Wave Of Newly Insured Patients Strains Oregon Health Plan

[Playinghardball]

Millions of Americans who didn’t have health insurance last year now do because of the Affordable Care Act. In Lane County, Oregon, Trillium Community Health Plan is struggling to deal with a huge influx of new patients looking for health care. CEO Terry Coplin says the company figured 26,000 people would sign up in the first few years. Instead, about that many signed up right off the bat. Cheryl Stumph is one of them. She and her husband, Mike, run Green Streak Automotive, an all-service garage in Veneta, Ore. Last November, Stumph’s 27-year-old son had a stroke and died at the wheel of his tow truck. The stroke stemmed from a genetic problem, so Stumph spent the winter worrying about her six other kids.Genetic testing is expensive, and she didn’t have health insurance. But now she and her family get Medicaid through Trillium Health. She’s thrilled to be able to get a mammogram and treatment for a stubborn infection. The kids can get genetic testing.

She says her husband has a chronic medical problem that needs attention, too. Stories like Stumph’s are being repeated across Oregon. Trillium’s Coplin says the health plan has come up with a four-part plan to deal with this unexpected influx. First, it will pay bonuses to doctors who accept new patients covered by Trillium. Second, Trillium is giving Lane County $900,000 to open a new clinic in an existing building. “They have proposed ways that they can get this clinic up and running by mid-year,” says Coplin. Third, Trillium is hiring a consultant to see if existing clinics can increase efficiency, for example, by changing who fills out forms. “Having physicians do clerical work is really a waste of valuable resources,” Coplin says. And finally, Trillium is offering $500,000 to any clinic or group of physicians willing to expand their practice to take on another 5,000 adult patients.

More here: http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/04/08/300248220/wave-of-newly-insured-patients-strains-oregon-health-plan?sc=tw

http://theobamadiary.com/

[PeoViejo]

1. Big Illness Backlog

Folks have been putting-off preventative care for years because of lack of Insurance. The influx should recede once the patients get treated and stabilized. It will save a lot of Money in the long-run, by catching problems before they get serious and a lot more expensive.

500K may seem like a lot of money to You and I, but a handful of severely ill folks can rack up that kind money in no time.

[Wounded Bear]

2. Sounds like a good "problem" to have...

This was expected as a result of the law, and IIRC the RW echo chamber tried to use it as a warning, that we would overwhelm the medical industry.

But, smart government looks like it has a plan of action to cover it in a way that actually manages to maintain and expand care to handle it, instead of the typical RW response, which tends to be something along the lines of "tough shit" to those excluded by that magical invisible hand of the market.

[Bandit]

3. Sounds like quite a few jobs will be created as well

When it all comes out in the wash Republicans are going to have faces plumb full of egg.