Are people actually signing up for Obamacare? If so, they should check with their hospital first.
The top-ranked hospital cited by President Barack Obama as a national model for health care reform accepts only one kind of insurance plan under the new Obamacare exchanges.
The Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, a top 4-ranked U.S. hospital that performs 250 surgeries per day, only accepts Blue Cross Blue Shield silver plans under the new Obamacare exchanges. No other Obamacare exchange plans are accepted.
People who want to sign up for insurance under the president’s favorite law and also visit the president’s favorite hospital might not even know that those two things could be incompatible.
“Look at what the Mayo Clinic is able to do. It’s got the best quality and the lowest cost of just about any system in the country. So what we want to do is we want to help the whole country learn from what Mayo is doing… That will save everybody money,” Obama said in Minneapolis in September 2009.
“Many companies have selectively entered the exchanges because they are concerned that (the exchanges) will be dominated by risky, high-using populations who wanted insurance [before Obamacare] and couldn’t afford it,” said Gail Wilensky, member of UnitedHealth’s board of directors late last year. “They are pressed to narrow their networks to stay within the premiums.”
The Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, based on three campuses including Rochester, Minnesota, is internationally well-regarded.
A useful chart released by Watchdog.org in late 2013 shows which top hospitals accept which kinds of plans. But you should still check with local hospitals near you.
The Daily Caller previously reported that the Top 4 U.S. hospital the Cleveland Clinic, which performed the nation’s first near-total face transplant, is making more than $100 million in cuts as a direct result of Obamacare, offered voluntary early retirement to its employees and anticipates workforce reduction in fiscal year 2014.
