Wynken, Blynken, and Nod: Sunday Snippets–A Catholic Carnival #93.

The new year is only 26 days old and we’re already seeing fallout from the not-yet-completely-implemented Obamacare.

Mrs. Nod is in her 35th week of pregnancy. Historically she delivers big babies even though she is a small woman. Even Nub, who was 5 weeks premature, weighed in at 8 pounds. The OB told her this week that due to hospital rule changes from Obamacare, they are not allowed to induce her before 39 weeks.

If that happens, we may be looking for all the pieces of Humpty-Dumpty to put her back together again. Mrs. Nod would be “dead on the prairie” if not for modern medicine, early inducement, and really big needles and thread.  We will be appealing.

Next, our family doctor provider (whom we were allowed to keep if we liked them) has regretfully informed us that due to the budget cut tricks in Obamacare (21% cut in payments to doctors) they will not be able to take any more Medicare/Medicaid patients and they will try their hardest to keep the ones they currently have.

Fortunately, we don’t use Medicare/Medicaid, but if we had, we’d be hurting about now. I know our doctor is.

Another wrinkle is that the pre-tax amount I was allowed to put away in a medical FSA was slashed by about $1000. So much for saving money and managing my own costs.

These are but a few (small) examples of the ripples that “well intentioned” changes make. I fear for those with a larger stake.