Canary in the Obamacare Coal Mine

[Geee]

To Save Obamacare, the President Plots a Massive Bailout of Health Insurers

 

President-elect Trump must stop this costly, illegal scheme as soon as he takes office.

 

In an ongoing backdoor attempt to pay off insurers burned by President Barack Obama’s signature legislation, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the Obama administration is creating the framework needed to implement a “public option,” the precursor to a single-payer health-care system.

 

Distracted by the presidential election and the news that ACA insurance premiums will increase by an average of 25 percent in 2017, many have failed to notice the administration’s plan to use a special U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) fund, called the Judgment Fund, to funnel billions of dollars to insurers without congressional approval. If it successfully executes this plan, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will have circumvented Congress to secure a taxpayer bailout for insurers — directly contradicting Congress’s intentions as expressed by multiple spending bills, and possibly violating federal law.

 

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/442157/obama-administration-obamacare-health-insurer-bailout-scheme

[Geee]

One-Third of Adults Went Without Health Care Due to Expensive Costs

 

About one-third of adults in the U.S., or 33 percent, went without recommended health care due to expensive costs, according to a Commonwealth Fund survey.

 

The survey was conducted in 11 countries including the United States, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. From March to June 2016, the group asked 26,863 adults who were 18 years and older about various aspects of their health care coverage.

 

The survey found adults in the United States were far more likely than adults in other countries to go without recommended care such as foregoing doctor visits when sick and failing to fill prescriptions because of costs. In the U.K. and Germany, 7 percent of adults faced cost problems.

 

Low-income adults found it difficult to afford care. Forty-three percent of low-income adults in the United States said they went without care due to affordability, which was the highest rate of any country surveyed.

 

http://freebeacon.com/issues/one-third-adults-went-without-health-care-due-expensive-costs/

[Valin]

@Geee

 

Remember the justification for the ACA? 14% of Americans had no health insurance....14%!!!

 

Leftest policy plan

Step 1 Discover a problem

Step 2 Push a solution that doesn't solve the problem

Step 3 Demand more of the same.

Step 4 You're A Racist!!

[Geee]

GOP Moves to Block Illegal Obamacare Bailouts

 

House and Senate lawmakers attempt to stop eleventh-hour insurer payoffs.

House and Senate Republicans have introduced legislation to prevent the Obama administration from executing a last-minute end run around Congress to bail out insurers that lost money on Obamacare. Rep. Morgan Griffith put forward a bill in the House last Thursday. Senator Marco Rubio and three colleagues introduced a similar measure in the upper chamber on Friday. The purpose of both bills is to stop President Obama’s creatures at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) from using an esoteric Treasury account called the “Judgment Fund” to make disbursements Congress hasn’t authorized.

 

Congress is the only branch of the federal government empowered by the Constitution to spend taxpayer money, but the White House has repeatedly flouted this legal inconvenience. This is why U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer ruled against the Obama administration last May following a similar attempt to circumvent congressional prerogatives. The legislation introduced in the House and the Senate last week involve a probable attempt by the White House during the final weeks of the President’s term to sidestep congressional restrictions placed on the amount of money that can be disbursed via Obamacare’s “risk corridor” program.

 

https://spectator.org/gop-moves-to-block-illegal-obamacare-bailouts/

[Geee]

Under Obamacare Expansion, Medicaid Enrollment 110% Higher Than Projecte

 

Under the expansion of the Affordable Care Act there are 11.5 million able-bodied adults who are enrolled in Medicaid, more than double what was originally projected, according to a report from the Foundation for Government Accountability.

 

In April 2015, the foundation began tracking the 24 states that expanded Medicaid. The states projected that only 5.5 million adults would enroll.

 

“Newly-obtained data from these 24 states shows that at least 11.5 million able-bodied adults have now enrolled in Obamacare expansion—an overrun of 110 percent or more than double projections,” the report said. “Some states have signed up more than four times as many able-bodied adults as they said would ever enroll.”

 

The states that have expanded Medicaid since that time—Alaska, Indiana, Louisiana, and Montana—have all enrolled more able-bodied adults than projected.

 

http://freebeacon.com/issues/obamacare-expansion-medicaid-enrollment-110-higher-projected/

[Valin]

Record-High Health Care Spending Hits $3.2 Trillion in 2015
Growth due to Obamacare, Medicaid, and Medicare
Ali Meyer
December 4, 2016

Health care spending in the United States grew 5.8 percent in 2015, hitting a record high of $3.2 trillion, according to the latest estimates from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

 

Last year, health care spending in the United States totaled $3 trillion—or $9,523 a person. This year, per-person expenditures went up to $9,990.

 

“The faster growth in 2014 and 2015 occurred as the Affordable Care Act expanded health insurance coverage for individuals through Marketplace health insurance plans and the Medicaid program,” the report said.

 

The federal government is the biggest driver of health care spending and in 2015, 29 percent of the nation’s health care bill was due to the feds.

 

(Snip)

 

______________________________________________________________________________________

 

 

 

[Draggingtree]

Obamacare’s Lump of Coal for 2017

 

Prices are going up, up, up — watch it all come right down on you

 

December 27, 2016

by Brian C. Joondeph | Updated 27 Dec 2016 at 9:13 AM

 

Ringing in the new year represents a time of hope for great things to come. It’s a time for resolutions of personal improvement — whether that’s more exercise or better relationships.

 

It’s also a time where health insurers deliver a Christmas lump of coal to policyholders. As the famous glass ball drops above Times Square, Obamacare policyholders will see the opposite. They won’t see a drop, but instead a healthy rise in costs, specifically premiums and deductibles.

 

Think of premiums and deductibles as membership in a club — whether it's a country club or an athletic club. The deductible would be analogous to the initiation fee, something you pay for the privilege of joining the club. Except with health insurance, you pay the initiation fee not once but each and every year. http://www.lifezette.com/healthzette/obamacares-lump-of-coal-2017/

[Draggingtree]

Bye, Bye, Obamacare — and Other Scourges of 2016

Even with the health blights we're still fighting, look at all this reason for hope in 2017

 

by Jennifer Fallon | Updated 02 Jan 2017 at 8:52 AM

 

The year 2017 is already looking better than last year.

 

A number of health challenges in 2016 sapped our time, worry, energy, and cash flow. The biggest stories of the year included the Zika scare, pot legalization, the opioid crisis, and the soaring cost of prescription drugs. With Donald Trump taking the White House on Jan. 20, consumers can look forward to bigger and better things in the New Year in many areas, but not without a keen understanding of what we faced in the health care space this past year and why — and not without a strong stomach for combating the ills that still challenge us.

http://www.lifezette.com/healthzette/bye-bye-obamacare-other-scourges-2016/

[Draggingtree]

Pelosi: Ball in GOP court on ObamaCare replacement

By Wordsmith 1 Comment

 

Mon, Jan, 2nd, 2017

It was broken from the beginning- so you own it, Nancy “we have to pass it to find out what’s in it” Pelosi- dumbass:

“The ball is in their court,” Pelosi said during a Democratic conference call on Monday, according to ABC’s Rick Klein. “You break it, you own it.”

 

Pelosi also slammed the GOP for seeking to repeal and delay parts of ObamaCare while they come up with a replacement, calling the effort an “act of cowardice.”

 

“The repeal and delay is an act of cowardice on the part of the Republicans,” Pelosi said, according to another reporter. “This repeal and delay, it doesn’t even have alliteration. It has nothing.”

[Draggingtree]

Republicans Introduce Democrats Cannot Filibuster It Obamacare Repeal In a Way

By Erick Erickson | January 3, 2017, 03:13pm

 

Senate Republicans have just dropped their budget resolution for 2017 and it contains language to repeal Obamacare. The method by which the GOP is doing this is important. By putting the Obamacare repeal in the budget resolution, Democrats cannot filibuster it. Budget resolutions are not subject to the filibuster rule in the Senate.

 

What’s just as interesting to note is that Speaker Paul Ryan released a press release on the Senate’s resolution. The train is now moving forward.

[Valin]

AP Politics ✔ @AP_Politics

 

BREAKING: In critical vote, Congress OKs budget that eases passage of future GOP bill dismantling, rewriting Obama health care law.

 

2:33 PM - 13 Jan 2017

[Valin]

House takes first step to repeal ObamaCare

BCristina Marcos

01/13/17 03:33 PM EST

 

The House on Friday voted to begin the process of repealing ObamaCare, despite defections from some Republicans wary of rushing ahead without a plan to replace the law.

 

Lawmakers voted largely along party lines, 227-198, to approve a budget resolution that’s serving as a vehicle to unwind the healthcare law.

 

Nine Republicans from the conservative and centrist wings of the party joined with all Democrats to oppose the measure.

 

(Snip)

 

The nine Republicans who voted against the budget resolution were Reps. Justin Amash (Mich.), Charlie Dent (Pa.), Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.), Walter Jones (N.C.), John Katko (N.Y.), Raul Labrador (Idaho), Tom MacArthur (N.J.), Thomas Massie (Ky.) and Tom McClintock (Calif.).

 

The more than 60 votes taken in the GOP-controlled House over the last six years to undermine the healthcare law were almost always along party lines. But Friday was the first time the measure wasn’t just a show vote destined to go nowhere.

 

(Snip)

[Valin]

OH OH!!!!!

Obamacare takes big hit as major insurer pulls out
Paige Winfield Cunningham
2/14/17

Health insurer Humana is withdrawing completely from the Obamacare marketplaces in 2018, citing steep financial losses from patients in the individual market.

The company announced the move Tuesday afternoon, becoming the first major insurer to announce its strategy for next year.

Humana covers just a small sliver of Obamacare enrollees — about 150,000 — but its exit bodes poorly for the marketplaces next year as insurers consider whether they can be profitable there. Insurers are also uncertain about what the marketplaces might look like next year, as congressional Republicans seek to repeal and replace the law but haven't decided exactly how to handle it.

Like a number of other insurers, Humana had already dramatically scaled back its participation in the marketplaces set up under the Affordable Care Act. It is selling plans in just 11 states this year, compared with 19 states in 2016.

 

(Snip)

[Geee]

Aetna CEO says ObamaCare in 'death spiral'

 

The CEO of one of the largest health insurers said Wednesday that ObamaCare is in a "death spiral."

Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini's comments come the day after Humana announced it would not participate in the ObamaCare exchanges in 2018.

"It's not going to get any better; it's getting worse," Bertolini said at a Wall Street Journal event.

"You saw my friend, Bruce, at Humana say, 'We're out.' "

Humana cited an unbalanced risk pool as its reason for the departure, meaning the company didn't have enough healthy people enrolled in coverage to balance out its sick customers.

http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/319629-aetna-ceo-says-obamacare-in-death-spiral

[Valin]

Vox Asks Twitter How Obamacare Impacted Their Lives, Gets Flood of Negative Responses

Sam Dorman
February 17, 2017

 

Vox asked Twitter users on Wednesday for stories on how the Affordable Care Act affected their lives, appearing to expect positive responses about former President Obama's chief legislative achievement.

 

What the liberal publication got instead was a flood of stories highlighting skyrocketing premium costs and health care insurance loss, among other thing

 

 

(Snip)

[Valin]

[Draggingtree]

[Draggingtree]

[Geee]

Biden returning to Washington in push to save ObamaCare ahead of repeal vote

 

Former Vice President Joe Biden will return to Washington, D.C., Wednesday to join Democrats rallying to save ObamaCare in one of his first major public appearances since leaving office.

 

Biden will join House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other Democratic leaders on the front steps of the Capitol to mark the seventh anniversary of ObamaCare's passage, Pelosi's office said Monday.

 

The event comes one day before the House plans to vote on repealing President Obama's landmark healthcare plan, although many conservatives have threatened to withhold their support.

 

http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/324767-biden-to-to-push-for-preserving-obamacare-ahead-of-gops-repeal-vote

[Guest Jeffreyfef]

Did I miss the part where you wrote that normal gameplay will get the same game mechanics as Challenge mode. If so I apologize for my next comment. But do you think normal players dont deserve the same fun and fair play that tournament players do?

[Valin]

Did I miss the part where you wrote that normal gameplay will get the same game mechanics as Challenge mode. If so I apologize for my next comment. But do you think normal players dont deserve the same fun and fair play that tournament players do?

 

 

?

[Geee]

 

Did I miss the part where you wrote that normal gameplay will get the same game mechanics as Challenge mode. If so I apologize for my next comment. But do you think normal players dont deserve the same fun and fair play that tournament players do?

 

 

?

 

 

Saw the earlier and was wondering what I missed too!!!

[Valin]

@Geee

 

Evidently he's gone.

[Valin]

@Geee

 

Evidently he's gone.

 

 

He might have been someone from Mechwarrior Online I've mention TRR there.

[Draggingtree]

The left’s new lie about Obaminablecare

Posted by Editor on 9 April 2017, 11:51 am

Propaganda from The New York Times:

No ‘Death Spiral’: Insurers May Soon Profit From Obamacare Plans, Analysis Finds

By Reed Abelson | April 7, 2017

 

In contrast to the dire pronouncements from President Trump and other Republicans, the demise of the individual insurance market seems greatly exaggerated, according to a new financial analysis released Friday.

 

The analysis, by Standard & Poor’s, looked at the performance of many Blue Cross plans in nearly three dozen states since President Barack Obama’s health care law took effect three years ago. It shows the insurers significantly reduced their losses last year, are likely to break even this year and that most could profit — albeit some in the single-digits — in 2018. The insurers cover more than five million people in the individual market.

 

After years in which many insurers lost money, then lost even more in 2015, “we are seeing the first signs in 2016 that this market could be manageable for most health insurers,” the Standard & Poor’s analysts said. The “market is not in a ‘death spiral,’ ” they said.

 

It is the latest evidence that the existing law has not crippled the market where individuals can buy health coverage, although several insurers have pulled out of some markets, including two in Iowa just this week. They and other industry specialists have cited the uncertainty surrounding the Congressional debate over the law, and the failed effort two weeks ago by House Republicans to bring a bill to the floor for a vote.