First wave of Obamacare destroys single practice doctors

[Valin]

@Draggingtree

 

Phil Kerpen talking about this?

 

CA Premiums Spike by as Much as 88 Percent
7/30/14

On the heels of reports that consumers are rebelling against the ACA’s narrow networks, there’s more bad news for the law this week, this time out of California. According to the LA Times, the state’s insurance commissioner announced this week that premiums in his state are skyrocketing:

 

 

At a news conference Tuesday, [insurance commissioner Dave] Jones said individuals this year paid between 22% and 88% more for individual health insurance policies than they did last year, depending on age, gender, type of policy and where they lived.

 

(Snip)

 

 

ACA supporters have been very happy lately with the progress the law seems to have made in expanding access to insurance. But this is a very narrow metric by which to judge the law. Equally as important are the ACA’s effects on the cost of health care and consumers’ degree of access to real care (as opposed to just access to insurance). The ACA will continue to evolve, and it’s still too early to judge whether it is a success or failure. But the last few weeks have not been good for the law’s prospects.

[Geee]

GAO report details flaws behind $840M O-Care website rollout

 

A series of management failures at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services led to the botched rollout of Healthcare.gov and $840 million in costs, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office.

 

“CMS undertook the development of HealthCare.gov and its related systems without effective planning or oversight practices,” wrote William Woods, GAO director of acquisition and sourcing management, in testimony prepared for a Thursday hearing before the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

 

Woods added that officials failed to prepare for the rollout “despite facing a number of challenges that increased both the level of risk and the need for effective oversight.”

The GAO report prepared for the committee will be released Wednesday afternoon and comes after a long probe into last year’s rollout of ObamaCare’s online enrollment system. HealthCare.gov was plagued by numerous technical problems leading to low initial enrollment figures and left the administration scrambling to repair the site and reach their sign up targets.

 

http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/213833-gao-report-details-botched-840m-rollout-of-o-care-website

[Geee]

California Premiums Show Cost Of Affordable Care Act

 

Cost Curve: ObamaCare was supposed to make the health care system more efficient and less costly. Thus the "affordable" in the law's official title. But this week brings fresh evidence that it's producing the opposite.

 

First there was Monday's report from the California insurance commissioner, comparing rates for the most popular plans sold in the state's individual market in 2013 and 2014.

 

The commissioner found that average premiums for those who had insurance before ObamaCare rocketed up between 22% and 88%. Even the cheap Bronze plans were more expensive than what Californians could buy before ObamaCare.

 

That wasn't just because rates for the young went up — a common defense used by ObamaCare fans.

 

Rates for an ObamaCare Silver plan were 36% higher than last year for 55-year-olds in the Sacramento area, 75% higher in Fresno, and 38% in L.A., the commissioner's report shows.

 

No problemo, ObamaCare backers say. Even though price shocks like these happened across the country, the law provides generous subsidies for lower-income enrollees, so the high premiums mean nothing.

 

But even those getting subsidized insurance still find ObamaCare costly.

http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials-obama-care/073114-711352-california-premiums-and-the-high-cost-of-the-affordable-care-act.htm