Insurance Marketplaces under Affordable Care Act (PPACA) Approved in 6 States

"The Obama administration gave conditional approval on Monday to health insurance marketplaces being set up by six states led by Democratic governors eager to carry out President Obama’s health care overhaul," says a New York Times post. "The six are Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Oregon and Washington. At the same time, the administration rejected pleas from other states that want to carry out a partial expansion of Medicaid, to cover fewer people than the president and Congress originally intended. Some states want to expand Medicaid to cover childless adults with incomes up to the poverty level, $19,090 for a family of three." Read more.

IRS Exempts Eyewear and CLs from Excise Tax

Financial advisers McGladrey.com note that "the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act contains a 2.3 percent excise tax on the sale of taxable medical devices. While the tax is scheduled to go into effect on January 1, 2013, there remains considerable uncertainty regarding the types of transactions and taxpayers that the tax will apply to....Several products [though] are specifically excluded from the definition of taxable medical device, including eyeglasses, contact lenses and hearing aids," according to a recent IRS ruling. Read more.

Sound and Fury: Leaders in Eye Health Field Come Out and Say Nothing about the Supreme Court Health Care Reform Ruling

David Parke II, M.D. and ceo of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, issued this statement  for the AAO in response to U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: 

The American Academy of Ophthalmology is committed to working with Congress on solutions to expand coverage for the more than 40 million uninsured individuals in the United States, and simultaneously push for key changes in the health care law that protect patients' access to quality vision care. The Supreme Court's ruling that the health care law is constitutional is just one chapter in a book that is still being authored. The outcome of the November elections will be another important chapter. Ophthalmology and the medical community look forward to continuing to play a key role in ensuring the highest quality of care for all Americans.

Said Dori Carlson, OD and president of the American Optometric Association; and Ronald L. Hopping, OD and president-elect of the American Optometric Association:

 Battling organized medicine, insurers, and others with an anti-optometry agenda, AOA fought for and won a valued seat at the Washington, D.C. table as the debate over health reform intensified. And, as key health reform decisions are made in the nation’s capital and in statehouses across the country in the coming weeks and months, AOA will continue working to advance pro-access, pro-patient solutions aimed at ensuring that doctors of optometry and their patients are treated fairly under health reform and that policymakers and others fully understand the central role that optometrists play in enhanced care delivery and improved health outcomes.

Said Staurat Thomas, OD, chairman of the board of VSP:

We remain steadfast in our belief that stand-alone vision plans – which cover over 100 million Americans – should have the opportunity to participate directly in the Exchanges, and we will continue to advocate strongly for independent doctors and their patients towards this goal. 

Least you forgot your Shakespearean studies: To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, / Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, / To the last syllable of recorded time; / And all our yesterdays have lighted fools / The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! / Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player, / That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, / And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, / Signifying nothing.--Macbeth Act 5, scene 5, 19–28.

In 2012 Health Care Suppliers Report "Payments" to MDs and ODs and Maybe Opticians

The Vision Council  reports that starting next year, the Physician Payment Sunshine Act (part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), which will include ODs, will go into effect as part of the 2010 Health Care Reform. (It remains unclear whether this applies to opticians.) It will make patients aware of payments of health care equipment to health care providers. The Vision Council outlines what it sees as the key provisions:

• "The law is designed to collect information about 'payments' made to 'physicians' by manufacturers of medical devices that are reimbursable under Medicare, Medicaid and the Children's Healthcare Program (CHiP). It requires the reporting of this information by manufacturers of such health care devices.

• "Reportable 'payments' are not defined as cash only, and consist of other 'payments' such as the transfer of other items of value, including gifts, entertainment and food.
  • "The law specifically states that discounts and rebates are not included and do not need to be reported....
• "All medical device manufacturers must develop a program beginning January 1, 2012 that tracks all applicable 'payments.'" Read more.