Less Than One-Third Of Obamacare Exchange Enrollees Were Previously Uninsured

[Valin]

Obamacare enrollees hit snags at doctor's offices

 

 

I'm shocked!

 

 

Gosh. If only someone had warned us!

[Valin]

Treasury IG to Admin: Stop Changing Obamacare
‘Changes in ACA implementation will create challenges’
Elizabeth Harrington
February 4, 2014

A new audit by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration warned that further changes to the implementation of the Affordable Care Act would create “challenges” for the IRS.

 

The Obama administration has repeatedly altered the law, delaying the employer mandate until 2015 and suspending numerous enrollment requirements due to the disastrous roll out of Healthcare.gov.

Health and Human Services (HHS) has been the “public face” of Obamacare since Oct. 1, handling customer service and enrollments on the health care exchange. The IRS, however, will take over these tasks beginning in 2015, and is urging consistency from the administration in order to prepare.

 

“Our audit found that the IRS has sufficient plans to provide customer service to taxpayers concerning the tax implications under the Affordable Care Act,” said J. Russell George, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, in a press release.

“However, changes in ACA implementation will create challenges,” he said.

 

(Snip)

[Valin]

Obamacare Is Not a Job Killer How critics are misreading a new government report
JONATHAN COHN

The Congressional Budget Office today released the latest update of its projections for the economy and the budget, including Obamacare. And a fair reading would be that not a ton has changed since last time. CBO now expects the law will lead to 25 million people getting health insurance, while some 31 million people will remain uninsured. It will require a lot of new government spending but, because of offsetting revenue and cuts to other programs, it will actually reduce the deficit.

 

But CBO revised one finding and, all day long, critics have been seizing on the revision as proof that the law is a boondoggle.

 

_______________________________________________________________________________________

 

Who are you going to believe me or your lying eyes?

[Draggingtree]

How Obamacare Hurts The Poor

 

Encouraging dependence and discouraging work

 

By John Daniel Davidson February 6, 2014

 

Back in 2009, opponents of what would become Obamacare argued that its taxes and mandates would kill jobs and drive up unemployment. Requiring large employers to provide health insurance for all workers who log at least 30 hours a week, so the reasoning went, would prompt businesses to cut hours rather than pay for coverage. Many argued that those most affected would be low-wage workers.

 

So far, there is anecdotal evidence that this is happening in some industries. (A timely example is Darnell Summers, a fry cook whose employer cut his hours to avoid paying for health coverage. Summers confronted President Obama about his predicament on a recent Google Hangout, but the president changed the subject and talked about raising the minimum wage instead.)

 

But according to the Congressional Budget Office report released Tuesday, Obamacare’s effect on employment will not be a spike in the unemployment rate or a massive shift to part-time work, but a reduction in labor force participation that by 2024 will decrease the number of full-time jobs in the U.S. by 2.5 million, and that workforce compensation will drop by one percent between 2017 and 2024—twice what CBO had previously projected. According to BLS, the country’s labor force participation rate in December stood at 62.8 percent—the lowest in a generation, and dropping. (See here for a good primer on the significance of labor force participation rates.) http://thefederalist.com/2014/02/06/how-obamacare-hurts-the-poor/

[Draggingtree]

Unemployment Is Freedom. Dependency Is Choice. Numbers Lie.

 

The Great Deflection

 

February 5, 2014 By David Harsanyi

 

 

 

Obamacare will reduce American workforce participation by the equivalent of 2 million full-time jobs in 2017, according to a new report by the Congressional Budget Office. Work hours would be reduced by the equivalent of 2.5 million jobs in 2024, a tripling of the previous estimates.

 

If you believe this report — and I’m not sure why we pay this much attention to CBO projections — you can then believe that Obamacare discourages work, pushes people out of the labor market and, consequently, leads to fewer people having jobs. Certainly, it is well within the parameters of political rhetoric for the opposition to assert that the CBO has found Obamacare is “costing” or “killing” American jobs. It is no more a “lie” to say so than it is to claim Mitt Romney was “shipping jobs overseas” or hear an administration assert that it “created jobs” — or any of the other countless shorthand we use for economic consequences in political debate.

 

But the only way to blunt the negative force of the CBO findings was to deflect from the numbers and gin up a controversy over semantics. http://thefederalist.com/2014/02/05/the-great-deflection/

[Draggingtree]

Stop Hiding Behind the CBO

 

By Leah Libresco • February 6, 2014, 6:30 AM

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has run the math on Obamacare again and has calculated that, due to the health care reforms, the size of the American workforce will decrease by two million full-time jobs in 2017, when all provisions of the law are in place.

 

And that’s:

• Great news! Workers aren’t chained to a job as the only viable way to get health insurance.
• Terrible news! It encouraged people to stop working and depend on government subsidies.
• Ambiguous news! It probably depends a lot on whether workers are choosing prudently.

We live in a time when statistics are easy to come by, but their interpretation is far more complex. For one thing, the CBO didn’t find that two million people will quit their full-time jobs. They summed up the total person-hours by which we’ll cut back, so, it could just as well be the result of four million people cutting their hours from full-time to half-time. Or ten million people shifting to a four day workweek.

 

But even if we’d nailed down the effect more precisely, our course of action wouldn’t be clear. http://www.theamericanconservative.com/stop-hiding-behind-the-cbo/

[Valin]

[Valin]

Administration said to ponder insurance extension

TOM MURPHY

Feb. 6, 2014

 

The Obama administration is considering an extension of the president's decision to let people keep their individual insurance policies even if they are not compliant with the health care overhaul, industry and government officials said Thursday.

 

Avalere Health CEO Dan Mendelson said Thursday that the administration may let policyholders keep that coverage for as long as an additional three years, stressing that no decision has been made. Policymakers are waiting to see what rate hikes health insurers plan for the insurance exchanges that are key to the overhaul's coverage expansions.

 

(Snip)

 

Health and Human Services spokesman Joanne Peters confirmed that the issue is under discussion, saying: "We are continuing to examine all sorts of ways to provide consumers with more choices and to smooth the transition as we implement the law. No decisions have been made."

 

(Snip)

 

________________________________________________________________

 

H/T Right Scoop

[Valin]

An Obamacare Report Card
The grades are bad so far—and likely to get worse
CHRISTOPHER J. CONOVER
Feb 17, 2014


Jason Seiler

Perhaps the most unpleasant aspect of my otherwise quite enjoyable job as a college professor has been the requirement to assign grades to students. Given that we’re now about halfway through implementation of the Affordable Care Act—which even President Obama is happy to call “Obamacare”—it seems appropriate to assign midterm grades. These are not intended as a forecast of the final grade; moreover, implementation of Obamacare is the responsibility of many thousands of individuals, not just one. Nevertheless, as President Truman’s legendary Oval Office desk sign reminds us, “The buck stops here” when it comes to presidential leadership. So whether President Obama likes it or not, the public and historians are likely to base their assessment of his performance on how well his “signature piece of domestic legislation” is implemented.

 

First Grading Standard:

Promises vs. Performance

Both as a candidate and as president, Barack Obama has made at least 80 promises related to health care. For purposes of grading, I have focused on the 8 most consequential.

 

(Snip)

 

Net Assessment and Outlook

 

Here’s the bottom line: Obamacare has failed miserably on nearly every major promise made about it (Grade: F). The processes used to enact and implement the law have been tarnished by actions of questionable legality and a pervasive lack of transparency (Grade: D). On actual outcomes, Obamacare has fared better in the short term (Grade: C+), but there are worrisome signs that by most measures, the law’s performance will get significantly worse by the time final grades are handed out.

 

I’ll admit, I’m a pretty tough grader. In this era of grade inflation, some Americans may be inclined to be more generous. But after doing this for nearly four decades, I think I’m a fairly good judge of health policy work and its likelihood of success when put into practice. We’re only at midterm, but I’d have to say the long-term outlook for Obamacare is very poor indeed.

 

Christopher Conover is a research scholar in the Center for Health Policy & Inequalities Research at Duke University, an adjunct scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, and a Mercatus Center-affiliated senior scholar.

[Valin]

I've Been Trying Since November—But I Still Can't Sign Up for Obamacare
IKE BRANNON
Feb 7, 2014

Despite my earnest intentions, my family and I are still not covered on the Washington, D.C. Obamacare exchange. I am beginning to despair that I will ever obtain insurance from the exchange.

To briefly recap my ordeal (you can read my previous piece here) I went to the D.C. Health Link web page in early November to sign up my family. It was not as straightforward as I anticipated: The first few times I tried to enter the names and vitals for my wife and children the web site either locked up or otherwise failed to store that information anywhere. Typing 4 names, birthdays, and social security numbers became a daily exercise for me. At least I have my family's social security numbers memorized now.

 

Finally, after Thanksgiving, my name, ID, and family information were on file and I could proceed. I had to answer further questions about my family and then submit several pieces of evidence to show that I was, in fact, a D.C. resident, that my children did exist, and that my wife (a foreign national) was a legal resident.

 

I submitted that information, although the first 3 or 4 times the web page crashed and wouldn't let me upload anything. Finally, however, I got my documents into the system and I was told they'd be verified soon and after that I'd be allowed to buy insurance.

 

Three weeks go by and I hear nothing, and when I log in to the exchange website it merely informs me that my information will soon be verified. I began calling the Health Link, who merely told me that they're a little behind on the verifying but that they'd do it before January 1.

 

(Snip)

 

 

[Draggingtree]

The Federalist

 

Reading Is Hard. Calling People Racists On Twitter, Though, Is Easy

 

February 6, 2014 By Mollie Hemingway

 

When the Congressional Budget Office this week nearly tripled its previous assessment of how many people would stop working because of Obamacare, some in the media tried to change the story to one focused on how Republicans were too uncharitable about what this meant for the country and her economy. Obama and his water carriers in the media tried to spin it as spectacular news, really, that simply shows how Obamacare liberates some people to subsidize the lives of others. Yesterday, CBO director Douglas Elmendorf affirmed, though, that the troubled law creates a “disincentive for people to work.”

 

Never mind that all this workforce-fleeing is happening in the middle of a major “income inequality” class warfare push by Team Obama. Just set that all aside. After writing a weak, pooh-poohing column on the original report, National Journal’s Ron Fournier comes out with a new column today. He pushes it out at 9:05 AM, 9:06 AM, 9:06 AM again, 9:07 AM, and 9:09 AM before hitting on this winning tweet a minute later: http://thefederalist.com/2014/02/06/reading-is-hard-calling-people-racists-on-twitter-though-is-easy/

[Valin]

Bad Week for Obamacare, Worse Decade for Health Care[/irl]
2/7/14

It’s been a rough few days for the ACA. The CBO’s report put Obamacare’s effects on workforce participation (hint: they’re not good) front and center, and a slew of bad news followed suit. Both the Wall Street Journal and the LA Times covered different aspects the shrinkage of provider networks—the strategy that lies at the heart of health insurers’ plans to control costs under the ACA. The LA Times piece reports on Californians’ struggles to find in-network specialists, while the WSJ article suggests federal regulators are looking to force insurers to expand their networks. More reports are coming in that the initial enrollment numbers reported by the administration were inflated—in this case only 1-2 million of the 6.3 million new Medicaid signups were attributable to the ACA. Finally, Brookings released a report stating that Obamacare will increase incomes of the bottom fifth of Americans, but only by decreasing the incomes of everyone else.

 

In light of all this news it’s easy to get drawn into an anti-ACA feeding frenzy, but an excellent column by Charles Krauthammer in WaPo yesterday explains why there are bigger problems with our health care system, and why technocratic planning of any ideological variety is problematic:

 

 

 

After “first, do no harm,” medicine’s second great motto should be “above all, humility.” Even the tried-and-true may not be true. Take the average adult temperature. Everyone knows it’s 98.6 . Except that when some enterprising researchers actually did the measurements — rather than rely on the original 19th-century German study — they found that it’s

actually 98.2

.

 

But if that’s how dicey biological “facts” can be, imagine how much more problematic are the handed-down verities about the workings of our staggeringly complex health-care

system

.

 

Krauthammer then goes through three recent cases in which “conventional wisdom,” allied to top-down planning, has created big messes: subsidies for electronic health records, assumptions that expanding insurance access would reduce emergency room use, and the belief that having insurance improves health outcomes. All three of these “truths” turn out to be wrong or mistaken.

 

(Snip)

[Valin]

Exclusive: AIDS patients in Obamacare limbo as insurers reject checks
Sharon Begley and Julie Steenhuysen
NEW YORK Sat Feb 8, 2014

(Reuters) - Hundreds of people with HIV/AIDS in Louisiana trying to obtain coverage under President Barack Obama's healthcare reform are in danger of being thrown out of the insurance plan they selected in a dispute over federal subsidies and the interpretation of federal rules about preventing Obamacare fraud.

(Snip)

The dispute goes back to a series of statements from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the lead Obamacare agency.

In September, CMS informed insurers that Ryan White funds "may be used to cover the cost of private health insurance premiums, deductibles, and co-payments" for Obamacare plans.

 

In November, however, it warned "hospitals, other healthcare providers, and other commercial entities" that it has "significant concerns" about their supporting premium payments and helping Obamacare consumers pay deductibles and other costs, citing the risk of fraud.

 

(Snip)

[clearvision]

The California health care exchange has taken down its physician directories, amid continuing complaints from doctors and patients alike that the lists of doctors and hospitals included in each insurance plan were error-riddled and unreliable.

 

Since the October rollout of Covered California, inaccuracies have posed countless problems: The lists described doctors as fluent in languages they did not speak; obstetricians were labeled as ophthalmologists; and physicians were falsely listed under insurance plans that did not cover care at their offices.

 

The directories were temporarily pulled from the website in October, after Covered California acknowledged problems with the data. Revised lists were put back online late last year.

 

But Covered California announced late Thursday that those revised lists would be removed “until further notice” because more errors were found.

“Until we know what’s causing these problems, the directories are probably better down than up,” Jeff Rideout, a senior medical advisor for Covered California, said on Sunday.

 

“These networks are very different, depending on which plan you choose,” he said. “You have to pick the right plan to get the right hospitals and providers.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/11/us/californias-health-exchange-removes-its-physician-directories-because-of-errors.html?_r=0

[clearvision]

White House delays health insurance mandate for medium-sized employers until 2016

 

The Obama administration announced Monday it would give medium-sized employers an extra year, until 2016, before they must offer health insurance to their full-time workers.

 

Firms with at least 100 employees will have to start offering this coverage in 2015.

 

By offering an unexpected grace period to businesses with between 50 and 99 employees, administration officials are hoping to defuse another potential controversy involving the 2010 health-care law, which has become central to Republicans’ campaign to make political gains in this year’s midterm election.

 

 

Didn't see that coming....

[Valin]

 

The California health care exchange has taken down its physician directories, amid continuing complaints from doctors and patients alike that the lists of doctors and hospitals included in each insurance plan were error-riddled and unreliable.

 

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act error-riddled and unreliable...

 

Reminds me of a line from Babylon 5

Londo Mollari: "Ah, arrogance and stupidity all in the same package. How efficient of you."

 

Error-riddled and unreliable...How very efficient.

[Valin]

White House delays health insurance mandate for medium-sized employers until 2016

 

 

The Obama administration announced Monday it would give medium-sized employers an extra year, until 2016, before they must offer health insurance to their full-time workers.

 

Firms with at least 100 employees will have to start offering this coverage in 2015.

 

By offering an unexpected grace period to businesses with between 50 and 99 employees, administration officials are hoping to defuse another potential controversy involving the 2010 health-care law, which has become central to Republicans’ campaign to make political gains in this year’s midterm election.

 

 

Didn't see that coming....

 

 

 

me either!

[Valin]

[clearvision]

This is really bad news for O'care:

 

ObamaCare Enrollment Slows To Crawl, State Data Show

 

Graphs at link.

[SrWoodchuck]

 

Via MichelleObama'sMirror

[Valin]

This is really bad news for O'care:

 

ObamaCare Enrollment Slows To Crawl, State Data Show

 

Graphs at link.

 

 

I blame Chris Christie.

[Valin]

Conservative Vindication
Peter Wehner
02.11.2014

There’s been a lot of fine commentary on the right about the decision by the president to delay the Affordable Care Act’s employer mandate for another year, which is just the most recent in a series of lawless acts by Mr. Obama, all aimed at keeping his teetering health plan from utterly collapsing.

It’s worth pointing out, I think, that the manifold and multiplying failures of the Affordable Care Act were predicted by conservatives, many of whom warned–in advance, repeatedly, on the record–how awful ObamaCare would be. Things are, if anything, worse–or at least worse, quicker–than many on the right predicted.

The reality is that on the facts and arguments surrounding the most far-reaching and transformative domestic program since the Great Society, conservatives were absolutely right and the left was absolutely wrong. That is the case when it comes to ObamaCare’s effect on (among other things) jobs, on businesses, on coverage for the uninsured, on keeping your plan if you like it, on premiums and deductibles, on its cost, and on its overall effect on our health-care system.

Progressives have full ownership of ObamaCare. They built it, they passed it, they own it. This is a “teachable moment,” to use a favorite Obama phrase, when it comes to both the political philosophy and competence of liberalism........(Snip)

[Valin]

God Bless The Democratic Party

 

 

God has a sense of humor

[clearvision]

God Bless The Democratic Party

 

 

God has a sense of humor

Really piling on O'care here with Global Warming/Cooling tied in....

[Valin]

Why I'm Getting Sick of Defending Obamacare

Incompetence, politics, and delays frustrate advocates of health care reform.

Ron Fournier

February 11, 2014

 

t's getting difficult and slinking toward impossible to defend the Affordable Care Act. The latest blow to Democratic candidates, liberal activists, and naïve columnists like me came Monday from the White House, which announced yet another delay in the Obamacare implementation.

 

For the second time in a year, certain businesses were given more time before being forced to offer health insurance to most of their full-time workers. Employers with 50 to 99 workers were given until 2016 to comply, two years longer than required by law. During a yearlong grace period, larger companies will be required to insure fewer employees than spelled out in the law.

 

Not coincidentally, the delays punt implementation beyond congressional elections in November, which raises the first problem with defending Obamacare: The White House has politicized its signature policy.

 

The win-at-all-cost mentality helped create a culture in which a partisan-line vote was deemed sufficient for passing transcendent legislation. It spurred advisers to develop a dishonest talking point"If you like your health plan, you'll be able to keep your health plan." And political expediency led Obama to repeat the line, over and over and over again, when he knew, or should have known, it was false.

 

(Snip)

 

 

Put me in the frustrated category. I want the ACA to work because I want health insurance provided to the millions without it, for both the moral and economic benefits. I want the ACA to work because, as Charles Lane wrote for The Washington Post, the link between work and insurance needs to be broken. I want the ACA to work because the * GOP has not offered a serious alternative that can pass Congress.

 

Unfortunately, the president and his team are making their good intentions almost indefensible.

 

 

* B as in B...S as in S!

If I may paraphrase an old SNL sketch...."Ron You Ignorant Boob!