How High Will Your Health Insurance Premiums Go In 2015?

[clearvision]

Seems the Gov is bragging the O'care website got 100,000 applications in a day. That would be 3 million a month, and I think there are only 3 months to register this time around so 9 million. Seems like well short of where they say they would have been, at least before they said they would resay what they said again only lower.

[Geee]

American Voters Apparently Too Stupid to Understand that Obamacare is Working

 

As the second enrollment period for Obamacare opens, Americans continue to display their reticent stupidity (HT Jonathan Gruber) about all the amazing things that Obamacare has brought into their lives, as Gallup reports that Obamacare’s unfavorability is at an all time high, and favorability is also at an all time low. As Gallup graphically demonstrates, the trend lines are incredibly getting even worse, which is not what you might expect from a government run healthcare program. It would appear that despite the rosy pronouncements from Democrats and the Obama administration, the stupid American people stubbornly insist on believing their own lying eyes when it comes to whether the law is “working” or not:

 

http://www.redstate.com/2014/11/17/american-voters-apparently-stupid-understand-obamacare-working/

[Valin]

Gallup: Obamacare popularity in free fall, reaches lowest rating in poll’s history
Noah Rothman
November 17, 2014

 

Just after President Barack Obama was reelected in 2012, the health care reform law which bears his name as its sobriquet was, according to Gallup, at least somewhat popular.

 

Gallup’s findings in November, 2012, bucked a trend wherein the majority of pollsters determined that the law was still unpopular. The Real Clear Politics average of polls in this month found the Affordable Care Act was underwater by 5.4 points, but Gallup’s results showed the ACA rebounding to 3 points above water with 48 percent approving of the law and only 45 percent disapproving.

 

(Snip)

 

In the summer of 2014, the law was just 8 points underwater. By October, amid a heated election season in which Republican candidates mobilized their base voters with anti-Obamacare messaging, the ACA had sunk to 13 points underwater. Today, Gallup revealed, Obamacare has reached an all-time low of 19 points underwater. Only 37 percent expressed some approval for the ACA while 56 percent disapprove of what most agree will be Barack Obama’s legacy achievement in office.

 

(Snip)

 

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

 

[Draggingtree]

Tuesday, 18 November 2014

ObamaCare in 2015: Premiums and Penalties Up

Written by Michael Tennant

The Affordable Care Act (ACA), which President Barack Obama once promised would “lower [health insurance] premiums by up to $2,500 for a typical family per year,” is instead going to cost the average family significantly more for coverage next year unless that family switches to another plan — and even then, in many instances, premiums will still increase. So will the penalty for not having coverage, meaning that many Americans will be faced with the unenviable choice of either paying higher premiums or getting smaller income-tax refunds.

 

Certainly the Obama administration doesn’t consider the rate hikes a positive. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator Marilyn Tavenner’s assertion that the data shows “the Affordable Care is working” notwithstanding, the administration wouldn’t have released that data on Friday, when it would likely get buried in the weekend news cycle, if the White House had wanted to call attention to it.

 

According to the New York Times, “The data … indicates that price increases will be modest for many people willing to change plans. In a typical county, the price will rise 5 percent for the cheapest silver plan and 4 percent for the second cheapest.” In other words, even if an individual is willing to change plans, his rate will go up — just not as much as it would if he stuck with the same plan.

http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/health-care/item/19551-obamacare-in-2015-premiums-and-penalties-up

[Geee]

Years Of Obamacare Problems Are Still On The Way

 

This year, that “tax” was $95 for a single adult, or 1 percent of income — whichever is greater. But next year, it spikes to $325 per adult (2 percent of income); in 2016, it’ll reach its peak at a massive $695, or 2.5 percent of income.

 

Plus, the administration issued an extra hardship exemption in 2014 that lowered the number of people who actually had to pay the penalty: the latest hardship is if a person’s policy was canceled by Obamacare itself. But there’s no guarantee that will stick around — more people could fall prey to the penalty in the future.

Employer Mandate

 

This one was supposed to hit in 2014, but the Obama administration decided to delay it.

On Jan. 1, 2015, employers with over 100 employees will be partially subjected to the mandate: they’ll have to provide coverage for 70 percent of employees by 2015 (95 percent of employees by 2016). Businesses with between 50 and 99 employees will have until January 2016 to provide health insurance to their employees; if they don’t, they’ll face fines of $2,000-$3,000 per worker

http://dailycaller.com/2014/11/18/years-of-obamacare-problems-are-still-on-the-way/

[Valin]

A Backdoor to Health Care Price Transparency

Nov 19, 2014

 

Squeezed by patients who cannot pay for their health care, hospitals are being pushed into a change in behavior: they are making patients pre-pay for their service.

 

There’s much to trouble the reader here. That pre-pay has arisen because so many patients cannot pay their bills is another sign of how ruinously expensive American health care is. And the story also indicates in places that debt is increasing, despite the meagre attempts Affordable Care Act made to rein in costs.

 

But there is a strong upside to this news. USA Today reports:

 

(Snip)

 

To pre-pay, you have to be pre-informed of the price you will pay. It’s far better to learn how much a procedure costs upfront, to know what you are getting into and plan accordingly, than be crushed by an unexpectedly high bill after the procedure has already been performed. Moreover, one of the biggest ways health care in America doesn’t resemble anything like a market is price opacity: you don’t know the price of the service you are buying until you’ve already ‘bought’ it. Patients can’t possibly make an informed decision about health care while that opacity persists.

 

(Snip)

[Geee]

Obamacare is About to Bankrupt a Whole Bunch of Small Businesses

 

cobra-compliance-business-closedThe crushing costs of compliance with the regulatory burdens of Obamacare have already been well documented, especially as they pertain to small businesses. But as small businesses prepare their corporate tax returns next year, many accountants are warning that, based on Department of Labor guidelines issued after the election, countless small businesses are about to be hit with a huge tax penalty that they simply cannot afford.

 

The issue here is somewhat complex, and is exactly the sort of issue that most small business owners trust to professionals to handle for them. When these businesses were notified that the health plans they offered their employees were not compliant with Obamacare, many of them sought to avoid dumping their employees on the exchanges. At the time, insurance vendors, based on a colorable reading of the law, encouraged many small businesses to work with them to either provide so-called section 105 plans where the employer would reimburse a broker for the cost of coverage bought by the employees, or to encourage their employees to buy their health insurance directly from brokers and to reimburse them for the purchase of this healthcare coverage. All year long, the Department of Labor allowed this practice to continue, only to declare at the 11th hour that this arrangement would be treated as noncompliant with Obamacare and thus subject employers to a penalty. The reasons for this decision are obvious and disgustingly political: the Obama administration wants to boast of larger numbers of people enrolled in the exchanges for political reasons:

 

This answer is very clear that ANY reimbursement of health insurance payments by an employer for an employee is subject to the ACA rules and therefore are subject to possible penalties under Section 4980D of the Code. These penalties can be substantial (up to $100 per day per employee). Therefore, it is extremely important to make sure that any payment of premiums for employees is as a direct result of payments withheld from an employee’s paycheck and then directly transmitted to the health insurance provider. Any gross of up wages directly related to payment of premiums may be problematic.

http://www.redstate.com/2014/11/19/obamacare-bankrupt-whole-bunch-small-businesses/

[Valin]

Obamacare is About to Bankrupt a Whole Bunch of Small Businesses

 

cobra-compliance-business-closedThe crushing costs of compliance with the regulatory burdens of Obamacare have already been well documented, especially as they pertain to small businesses. But as small businesses prepare their corporate tax returns next year, many accountants are warning that, based on Department of Labor guidelines issued after the election, countless small businesses are about to be hit with a huge tax penalty that they simply cannot afford.

 

http://www.redstate.com/2014/11/19/obamacare-bankrupt-whole-bunch-small-businesses/

 

 

We always need to remember Obama see's himself as an agent of change. He (and so many on The Left) want to change America, they think we are to strong have to much influence in the world. I think he want's this sort of thing to happen, because at the end good things will happen. I know it sounds insane, but at one time I hung around these kind of people, and that is how they think (I use the word Think in its loosest sense).

[Valin]

My OBamaCare Story In 1 Picture.

 

[Geee]

White House Pads Obamacare Numbers With Dental Plan Enrollees.

..The Obama administration included as many as 400,000 dental plans in a number it reported for enrollments under the Affordable Care Act, an unpublicized detail that helped surpass a goal for 7 million sign-ups.

Without the dental plans, the federal government would have had 6.97 million people with medical insurance under the law known as Obamacare, investigators for the House Oversight and Government Reform committee calculated, using data they obtained from the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

 

Federal officials said in September they had 7.3 million people enrolled in coverage through new government-run insurance exchanges. They didn’t distinguish between medical and dental plans, breaking from previous practice without notice.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-20/obamacare-s-subscriber-rolls-include-unpublicized-dental-plans.html

[clearvision]

White House Pads Obamacare Numbers With Dental Plan Enrollees.

..The Obama administration included as many as 400,000 dental plans in a number it reported for enrollments under the Affordable Care Act, an unpublicized detail that helped surpass a goal for 7 million sign-ups.

Without the dental plans, the federal government would have had 6.97 million people with medical insurance under the law known as Obamacare, investigators for the House Oversight and Government Reform committee calculated, using data they obtained from the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

 

Federal officials said in September they had 7.3 million people enrolled in coverage through new government-run insurance exchanges. They didn’t distinguish between medical and dental plans, breaking from previous practice without notice.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-20/obamacare-s-subscriber-rolls-include-unpublicized-dental-plans.html

 

This is getting a bit of press.

[Draggingtree]

House Republicans Sue Obama Administration Over Health Law

Ashley Parker

 

1 Hour AgoThe New York Times

House Republicans filed a long-threatened lawsuit Friday against the Obama administration over unilateral actions on the health care law that they say are abuses of the president's executive authority.

 

The lawsuit — filed against the secretaries of the Health and Human Services and Treasury Departments — focuses on two crucial aspects of the way the administration has put the Affordable Care Act into effect.

 

The suit accuses the Obama administration of unlawfully postponing a requirement that larger employers offer health coverage to their full-time employees or pay penalties. (Larger companies are defined as those with 50 or more employees.)

More from The New York Times:

House GOP switches firms for Obamacare suit

http://www.cnbc.com/id/102183378

[Geee]

Obamacare offers firms $3,000 incentive to hire illegals over native-born workers

 

Under the president’s new amnesty, businesses will have a $3,000-per-employee incentive to hire illegal immigrants over native-born workers because of a quirk of Obamacare.

 

President Obama’s temporary amnesty, which lasts three years, declares up to 5 million illegal immigrants to be lawfully in the country and eligible for work permits, but it still deems them ineligible for public benefits such as buying insurance on Obamacare’s health exchanges.

 

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Under the Affordable Care Act, that means businesses who hire them won’t have to pay a penalty for not providing them health coverage — making them $3,000 more attractive than a similar native-born worker, whom the business by law would have to cover.

 

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The loophole was confirmed by congressional aides and drew condemnation from those who said it put illegal immigrants ahead of Americans in the job market.

 

“If it is true that the president’s actions give employers a $3,000 incentive to hire those who came here illegally, he has added insult to injury,” said Rep. Lamar Smith, Texas Republican. “The president’s actions would have just moved those who came here illegally to the front of the line, ahead of unemployed and underemployed Americans.”

 

A Department of Homeland Security official confirmed that the newly legalized immigrants won’t have access to Obamacare, which opens up the loophole for employers looking to avoid the penalty.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/nov/25/obama-amnesty-obamacare-clash-businesses-have-3000/

[Draggingtree]

Second Take: Schumer’s Merely Attempting a Trial Balloon Tactic of Distancing Democrats From Obamacare, While Continuing to Support and Defend It

Written by Jammie on Wednesday, November 26th, 2014 at 2:16 pm.

 

 

(My thoughts I think he on to something)

[Draggingtree]

November 28, 2014

Schumer showing the way for Democrats

By Silvio Canto, Jr.

Politicians have learned that ObamaCare is extremely unpopular. It may be the most unpopular piece of legislation in recent memory. Go to a political cemetery and count the tombstones of Democrats who voted for ObamaCare and are out of office. The losses are historic!

 

So what do Democrats do about ObamaCare? How do they remove this burden from their backs?

 

Enter Senator Schumer of New York:

Speaking at the National Press Club, the influential Senate leader identified the decline of middle-class incomes as the defining challenge of the age. Democrats can only win elections, Mr. Schumer said, as “the pro-government party” – and ObamaCare is undermining that larger political project.

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2014/11/schumer_showing_the_way_for_democrats.html

[Geee]

Gallup: Record Number Of Americans Foregoing Medical Care Over Costs

 

One in three Americans has put off seeking medical treatment in 2014 due to high costs, according to Gallup — the highest percentage since Gallup began asking the question in 2001.

 

Thirty-three percent of Americans have delayed medical treatment for themselves or their families because of the costs they’d have to pay, according to the survey. Obamacare, of course, had promised that it would help make health care more affordable for everyone, but the number of people who can’t afford a trip to the doctor has actually risen three points since 2013, before most Obamacare provisions took effect.

 

The hardest-hit: the middle-class. Americans with an annual household income of between $30,000 and $75,000 began delaying medical care over costs more in 2014, up to 38 percent in 2014 from 33 percent last year; among households that earn above $75,000, 28 percent delayed care this year, compared to just 17 percent last year.

 

The lowest-income section, some of whom can take part in Medicaid and who are more likely to qualify for significant premium and cost-sharing subsidies on an Obamacare exchange, are less likely to delay care this year. Now, 35 percent of those who earn under $30,000 a year are putting off seeking medical care, down from 43 percent last year.

http://dailycaller.com/2014/11/28/gallup-peak-number-of-americans-delaying-medical-care-over-costs/

[Valin]

Dark days ahead for ObamaCare

Elise Viebeck

11/29/14

 

The Obama administration is facing a slew of healthcare challenges as the winter holidays approach.

While this fall has been a far cry from last year, when HealthCare.gov was melting down, 2014 has brought wholly unexpected problems to the fore for federal health officials and the White House.


Take the conflict surrounding Jonathan Gruber, the ObamaCare consultant whose suggestion that a "lack of transparency" and voters' "stupidity" helped the law pass, went viral.
Though Democrats have sought to distance themselves from Gruber, his remarks have become a new flashpoint in debate over healthcare reform, invigorating GOP critics as the party prepares to take control of the Senate.


Gruber has agreed to testify before the House Oversight Committee on Dec. 9, in a final hearing for outgoing chairman and relentless administration antagonist Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.).

[Valin]

Health-Policy Deficit Threatens Whole Economy

Dec 02, 2014

 

 

In post-ACA America, health care is so expensive that Americans are both spending less in other sectors of the economy and putting off doctor visits more readily than at any time since 2001. Three recent stories show the scope of this problem. First, the WSJ reports that middle income Americans spent 24 percent more on health care in 2013 than they did in 2007. The result, argues the Journal, is that these Americans are also buying fewer consumer goods and “luxury” items as necessities like health care eat up more of their income. The piece notes that families are spending more on health care because health care is getting more expensive, not because they are consuming more care at the same price. But it doesn’t really dive into the causes of rising costs.

 

A Chicago Tribune piece that zooms in on health care in Illinois sheds more light on the problem. According to the Tribune piece (picked up by the LA Times), many Illinois residents who acquired coverage under the Affordable Care Act have plans with such high deductibles that they cannot afford to use their new insurance polices. In addition, premiums are increasing by double digits for some state plans:

 

(Snip)

 

The stories cited above show just how much these rising costs are burdening Americans, preventing them from receiving care, crushing them under huge bills when they do, and suppressing consumer demand all throughout the economy. Contra partisans on both sides, health care reform is not some secondary priority that can wait on more important reforms. It is urgent. But there is one lesson that is clear here: cost is king. Unless you tackle rising costs head-on, and make that the absolute heart of any health reform you do, those costs will defeat any other measure you try to pass. Insurance is worthless if people cannot afford to use it, an IOU that cannot be redeemed.

 

The ACA has failed not because it preempted more important reforms, but because it was the wrong kind of reform, one that was organized around expanding insurance and included only minor attempts at lowering the cost of care...........(Snip)

 

 

 

[Geee]

Americans Are Spending 42 Percent More on Health Insurance Than They Did in 2007

 

Data on consumer spending show that spending on health insurance surged 42 percent from 2007 to 2013, according to analysis by the Wall Street Journal. The rise reflects the increasing cost of health insurance and the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that everyone buy extensive health insurance.

 

Another feature shown by the data is the movement away from home ownership and associated costs. Families are more likely to rent than in 2007, so mortgage spending is down and rent spending is up. Some of the other categories where spending fell – appliances and furniture – are complements to home-owning.

http://dailysignal.com/2014/12/02/americans-spending-42-percent-health-insurance-2007/

[Geee]

Study: Doctors Declining to See Obamacare Patients

 

A recent study found large numbers of doctors declining to participate in health plans offered through exchanges set up under the Affordable Care Act, raising questions about whether people buying insurance through exchanges will be able to access health care in a timely manner.

 

Conducted by Medical Group Management Association (MGMA), the MGMA ACA Exchange Implementation Survey Report found 20 percent of American physicians are not seeing patients who are covered by plans sold on exchanges set up by the Affordable Care Act, more often called Obamacare. The three major reasons cited by doctors include the difficulty of obtaining coverage information, patient cost-sharing, and network limitations.

 

Twila Brase, president of Citizen’s Council for Health Freedom (CCHP), told Health Care News “Due to high deductibles or narrow networks -- or the physician’s refusal to get paid for doing more with less -- some doctors will not be available to these new government enrollees.”

 

Asked about the differences between Medicaid and ACA plans, Brase said “anyone on Obamacare is in what we call ‘Medicaid for the middle class on a sliding fee scale.’ It’s not private insurance… both are government-controlled programs and both use health plans as contractors -- except that Medicaid has little to no risk of a two-month coverage gap.”

http://news.heartland.org/newspaper-article/2014/12/01/study-doctors-declining-see-obamacare-patients

[Valin]

You're Stupid Kathleen Sebelius...And I have no idea who Jonathan Gruber is.

[Draggingtree]

Your ♡bamaCare!!! Fail of the Day

December 3rd, 2014 - 7:39 am

The most transparent administration in history is at it again, being all transparent and stuff. Here’s former New York lieutenant governor Betsy McCaughey to explain:

 

“Over this Thanksgiving holiday, the president slipped into the federal register, another 334 pages of changes he’s making to the law.”
…
“Some of them are regulatory changes, but some of them actually lawlessly change Obamacare itself,” she explained.

 

“For example, changing the rules, the legal requirements for large employers — another one requiring that insurance companies cover out-of-network doctors as if they were in-network doctors for a period of time — that’s not in the law,” she said.

http://pjmedia.com/vodkapundit/2014/12/03/your-obamacare-fail-of-the-day-223/

[Valin]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAw5ydscYTk&list=UUgiNjSACl8Y7jpV8LwSXf1g&index=1&spfreload=10

 

PS I just noticed All White People! Could this be Racist? I'm just saying....

Edited December 6, 2014 by Valin
PS

[Geee]

Obamacare nears ‘primary care cliff,’ with programs serving poor set to expire

 

Republicans won’t need to lift a finger to make a dent in at least three Obamacare programs.

 

The trio of primary care programs, which serves poor Americans, is due to expire at the end of this fiscal year unless Congress finds more funding. But keeping the programs alive could be a tough sell amid a political climate still sour on President Obama’s signature health law.

 

Obamacare supporters have labeled it the “primary care cliff,” and say it would be a disaster for the health of 22 million poor Americans if the country goes over the Sept. 30 deadline without finding more money for the programs.

 

“It will precipitate a huge crisis in primary care,” said Sen. Bernard Sanders, Vermont independent.

 

[Draggingtree]

Advice to Post-Obamacare Senators: Cancel the Soap Opera

By David Corbin and Matt Parks DECEMBER 8, 2014

With Bill Cassidy’s election on Saturday, the incoming class of US Senators is now complete. There will be 13 first-time members, all but one (Gary Peters of Michigan) a Republican. These join a group of 32 first-term senators already serving (17 Republicans; 15 Democrats) to form a surprisingly-large, post-Obamacare Senate cohort.

 

Viewed another way, with the defeat of Mary Landrieu, half (30) of those Democratic senators who voted for Obamacare just five years ago are now gone, seventeen of whom were replaced by Republicans. As even leading Democrats have begun to notice, if there is any one message the American people have communicated in their Congressional election votes

http://thefederalist.com/2014/12/08/advice-to-post-obamacare-senators-cancel-the-soap-opera/