Obamacare ‘Death Spiral’ Scenario Is About The States, Stupid
” As problems continue to plague the rollout of President Obama‘s health care law despite improvements to the federal healthcare.gov website, one issue that continues to loom is the possibility of the dreaded “death spiral.”
The term “death spiral” refers to an unraveling of the individual market if insurers are stuck with a disproportionate number of older and sicker enrollees with high medical claims without a sufficient number of younger and healthier participants to offset the costs.
Though the Department of Health and Human Services hasn’t yet released a demographic breakdown of those who have picked a plan through Obamacare, early data from a handful of states has suggested that the risk pool has been disproportionately older.”
—
Tag Archive: Insurance
The Incompetence Of Our Neo-Monarchy
” It is a condition of my admission to this great land that I am not allowed to foment the overthrow of the United States government. Oh, I signed it airily enough, but you’d be surprised, as the years go by, how often the urge to foment starts to rise in one’s gullet. Fortunately, at least as far as constitutional government goes, the president of the United States is doing a grand job of overthrowing it all by himself.
On Thursday, he passed a new law at a press conference. George III never did that. But, having ordered America’s insurance companies to comply with Obamacare, the president announced that he is now ordering them not to comply with Obamacare. The legislative branch (as it’s still quaintly known) passed a law purporting to grandfather your existing health plan. The regulatory bureaucracy then interpreted the law so as to un-grandfather your health plan. So His Most Excellent Majesty has commanded that your health plan be de-un-grandfathered. That seems likely to work. The insurance industry had three years to prepare for the introduction of Obamacare. Now the King has given them six weeks to de-introduce Obamacare.”
As always Mr Steyn is required reading …
—
Patient With Five Brain Tumors Loses Health Insurance Thanks To Obamacare
“A woman in a life and death battle with cancer was dealt another devastating blow,” says the Florida anchor.
“This letter makes more problems for us,” says the cancer victim. “That we don’t need at this moment.”
The anchor continues, “She just found out she’s being dropped by her insurance company because of a loophole in Obamacare. Incredible story. Gloria Cantor has been fighting this illness for months with her husband … at her side.”
Then there are these people one of which we have posted on previously .
” Previously, Edie Littlefield Sundby, who has stage 4 gallbladder cancer, wrote of her situation since losing her Cadillac insurance plan because of Obamacare.
And then there’s Michael Cerpok, a leukemia survivor in Fountain Hills, Arizona, whose future is not looking too rosy.”
—
In Case He Didn’t Make Himself Understood or If He Misspoke To You , The New Yorker Has Brought You This Video Record Of Exactly What The Man Said … Over And Over Again
By now we are sure that you are aware of the administration’s sorry attempts to “qualify” Obama’s statement that you could keep it … IF … and that’s a big IF , the insurance companies continued to offer your policy . The bald-face lying that this man is allowed to perpetrate on the American public completely unchallenged , nay , facilitated by , the very media that dares lay claim to the title of “watchdog” is unfathomable to us amateur “pajama-clad , basement-dwellers” of the blogosphere .
Peter Wehner at Commentary says it succinctly enough …
” That is not, in fact, what the president said. Not by a country mile.
What Mr. Obama actually said, dozens of times, is a variation of what he said during a speech to the American Medical Association on June 15, 2009: “That means that no matter how we reform health care, we will keep this promise to the American people: If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor, period. If you like your health-care plan, you’ll be able to keep your health-care plan, period. No one will take it away, no matter what.”
But Mr. Obama is not your ordinary, run-of-the-mill fabulist. It appears as if he’s in the process of becoming an inveterate one. He was, after all, building one untruth upon another. I say that because by now it’s obvious to nearly everyone, including liberals, that the president and his aides knew that when he made his initial claim that under the Affordable Care Act you will be able to keep your health-care plan “no matter what”–that you would keep it “period”–he knew the assertion was false. Yet he repeated it over and over again. “
—
Obama: If You Lose Your Health Insurance, Just “Shop Around”
” On Oct. 30, Pres. Obama defended Obamacare and told Americans who have lost their insurance to “shop around” for other coverage.
Millions of Americans have had their insurance coverage cancelled due to new regulations put in place by the Affordable Care Act. The president commented that these changes are necessary to provide everyone with quality coverage.
Pres. Obama stands firm behind the law. “If you’re getting one of these letters, just shop around in the new marketplace. That’s what it’s for,” Obama said. “
That’s what it’s for ?
Shopping around implies choice . What are our choices ?
—
White House Told Insurance Execs To Keep Quiet On Obamacare
” White House officials have pressured insurance industry executives to keep quiet amid mounting criticism over Obamacare’s rollout, insurance industry sources told CNN.
After insurance officials publicly criticized the implementation, White House staffers contacted insurers to express their displeasure, industry insiders said.
Multiple sources declined to speak publicly about the push back because they fear retribution.
But Bob Laszewski, who heads a consulting firm for big insurance companies, did talk on the record.
“The White House is exerting massive pressure on the industry, including the trade associations, to keep quiet,” he said.”
—
Submarine Breaks The Surface Of A Milan STREET… In A Clever marketing Stunt That Left Bystanders Completely Baffled
” The people of Milan awoke to find something a little strange yesterday morning.
Just off of Via dei Mercanti, near the heart of the old city, a submarine had apparently pushed its way through the paving stones and damaged a nearby car.
The road’s shattered surface lay piled up around, with baffled firefighters looking on. Meanwhile, sailors clambered down from the lost submarine’s tower to meet emergency crews at the scene.”
—
Insurance Giants that Wrote and Lobbied for Healthcare Law Cash In
United Healthcare (UNH)
” Who would have thought forcing everyone in the nation to buy health insurance would be so profitable?
Turns out if you’d invested in health insurance company stocks at the start of the whole Obamacare fiasco, you’d be sitting pretty right now.
Here’s a list of some of the top health insurance providers in the U.S., and a look at how their stocks have produced decent returns since Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law in 2010.
Actually, this shouldn’t come as a shock. After all, the health care industry spent nearly $500 million lobbying for health care issues in 2012, and $243 million so far in 2013. “No other industry sector spent more lobbying Congress and the federal government,” according to Breitbart.”
—
Time To End The Corporate Welfare
” The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, inflicted enormous losses on the insurance industry and businesses. In the wake of the disruptions occurring in the insurance market at the time, the government enacted the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002 to create a “temporary” federal backstop against catastrophic losses. This program subsidized private risk with public funds through a cost-sharing program for which the government does not receive any compensation.
The compelling need for the program was unclear even in the smoldering aftermath of 9/11. Yet in response to effective lobbying by the insurance industry and business interests, Congress has twice extended the program. The program is now scheduled to sunset at the end of 2014, 12 years after this supposedly temporary program was instituted.
If there was some ambiguity about the program’s need before, there is none now. Terrorism risk is not more severe than other insurable risks such as natural catastrophes, and a federal backstop stakes public money to protect the insurance industry, and subsidize the terrorism risk insurance premiums for commercial policyholders. The private market is capable of underwriting this risk. This policy analysis suggests that the program should sunset as scheduled in 2014, thus ending this form of corporate welfare.”
—
Consumers Set to Repeal a Big Part of the Health Care Law
” Perhaps the biggest news came last week when The Wall Street Journal reported that the mandates for comprehensive coverage apply to just 30 million out of 160 million Americans with private insurance: “A close reading of the rules makes it clear that those mandates affect only plans sponsored by insurers that are sold to small businesses and individuals, federal officials confirm.”
Earlier, The New York Times had reported that there was another way around the mandates: “Companies can avoid many standards in the new law by insuring their own employees.” Government regulators are busily trying to stop companies from taking that option.”
—
Rate Shock: In California, Obamacare To Increase Individual Health Insurance Premiums By 64-146%
” One of the most serious flaws with Obamacare is that its blizzard of regulations and mandates drives up the cost of insurance for people who buy it on their own. This problem will be especially acute when the law’s main provisions kick in on January 1, 2014, leading many to worry about health insurance “rate shock.”
If you’re a 25 year old male non-smoker, buying insurance for yourself, the cheapest plan on Obamacare’s exchanges is the catastrophic plan, which costs an average of $184 a month. (That’s the median monthly premium across California’s 19 insurance rating regions.)
The next cheapest plan, the “bronze” comprehensive plan, costs $205 a month. But in 2013, on eHealthInsurance.com (NASDAQ:EHTH), the average cost of the five cheapest plans was only $92.
In other words, for the average 25-year-old male non-smoking Californian, Obamacare will drive premiums up by between 100 and 123 percent.”
Related articles
- California health insurance rates to increase between 64% and 146% (thisgotmyattention.wordpress.com)
- Rate Shock: In California, Obamacare to Increase Individual Health Insurance Premiums by 64-146% – Forbes (quinnscommentary.com)
- “If you like it, you can keep it”: ObamaCare set to trigger insurance policy cancellations (hotair.com)
- The Obamacare Shell Game (Part 1) (economicpolicyjournal.com)
- California Regulators Hide Obamacare Rate Shock With Misleading Comparison (reason.com)
- Three major health insurers flee California’s ObamaCare exchange (hotair.com)
- Obamacare Fan Says He’s Shocked Over How Low the California Exchange Prices Are (iowntheworld.com)
—
Obama: Federal Agents Will Enforce ObamaCare, Even If Your State Says No
” ObamaCare is not popular. It was not popular when it was enacted, and it has not become any more popular now, especially as people have begun to see the fall-out from this regulatory nightmare, such asskyrocketing insurance costs. Many states, which saw voters respond to ObamaCare by electing Republican legislatures in 2010, subsequently enacted bills exempting them from ObamaCare’s costly and limiting provisions. Unfortunately, Obama does not care.
In an interview with The New American, John Doak, Oklahoma’s Insurance Commissioner, reported that he received a letter from Gary Cohen, who is the Deputy Administrator and Director of the federal Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight (“CCIIO”). In that letter, Cohen stated unequivocally that the federal government will impose ObamaCare regulations on insurance companies operating inside Oklahoma. Politico reports that Obama’s administration has sent similar letters to Missouri, Wyoming, and Texas.”
Related articles
- Obama Admin. Ignores Nullification: Federal Agents Will Enforce ObamaCare (federaljack.com)
- Top Ten ObamaCare Horror Stories the Media Are Covering Up (pakalertpress.com)
- The Only Ones Who Misunderstand ObamaCare More than Its Detractors Are Its Supporters (cato.org)
- ObamaCare crashes down on another small business (conservativeread.com)
- Obama’s Next Health Care Expansion – Dick Morris TV: Lunch Alert! (dickmorris.com)
- Obama’s Promises Unravel on Obama Care (forbes.com)
- Sebelius: Yep, ObamaCare is raising insurance costs (humanevents.com)
- Disaster for Dems – ObamaCare and the 2014 vote (conservativebyte.com)
—
HHS Secretary Sebelius: Some Premiums Will Rise Under ObamaCare
” Is the administration gently trying to prepare the public for higher premiums under ObamaCare? Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius admitted yesterday that the health law would cause higher premiums for some in the individual insurance market, reports Reuters:
“Everything is speculation. I think there’s likely to be some shifting in the markets,” she told reporters at the White House.
The law, also known as “Obamacare,” eliminates discriminatory market practices that have imposed higher rates on women and people with medical conditions.”
Related articles
- Sebelius Finally Admits Premiums Will Rise as a Result of ObamaCare – Katie Pavlich (gds44.wordpress.com)
- Study: Obamacare to Raise Claims Cost 32 Percent. (greatriversofhope.wordpress.com)
- Sebelius Surprise: Healthcare Premiums Going Up & That’s Not All! (independentsentinel.com)
- ObamaCare’s Triple-Digit Premium Hikes Dramatize the Need for Repeal (cato.org)
- Sebelius: Healthcare is “getting stronger” under ObamaCare (hotair.com)
- Companies Fume Over Unnoticed ObamaCare Fee (newser.com)
—
Congressional Report: Obamacare Leads to Skyrocketing Premiums, 200 Percent Possible
” An exhaustive study by three congressional committees delivers startling news about the dire effects of Obamacare: President Barack Obama’s signature legislation could increase health insurance premiums by over 200 percent and render insurance coverage unaffordable for millions of Americans.
Broadly, the new report declares that Obamacare “breaks its core promise” to make healthcare coverage affordable.
The report, “The Price of Obamacare’s Broken Promises,” was prepared by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Majority Staff; Senate Committee on Finance, Minority Staff; and Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, Minority Staff.
“Studies and analyses from the Congressional Budget Office, independent actuaries, state insurance commissioners, health plans, benefit consultants, and others have reached the same conclusion: Obamacare will significantly increase premiums,” the congressional report states.
“Some estimates show some Americans facing startling premium increases of 203 percent because of the law.”
Illustration by Rick McKee
Related articles
- REPORT: Youth Healthcare Premiums to Skyrocket 145%-203% (breitbart.com)
- Obamacare: Projected Premium Increases by State (heritage.org)
- Here’s Why the GOP’s Balanced Budget Repeals ObamaCare (Hint: It’s Bad for Jobs, Bad for Young Americans) (speaker.gov)
- ObamaCare’s Free Preventive Services Aren’t Free (reason.com)
- Americans will Curse Obama for Obamacare – Tea Party Nation (gds44.wordpress.com)
- Caruba: Americans Won’t Forgive Obama For Obamacare – OpEd (albanytribune.com)
—
ObamaCare Will Cost Your Family at Least $20,000
” Ok. First. Think about how much you pay for health insurance currently. Now, think about how much you are going to have to pay under the new ObamaCare laws. Well according to a new IRS regulation released, they assume the average family will pay a minimum of $20,000 for their health care plans.
The examples point to families of four and families of five, both of which the IRS expects in its assumptions to pay a minimum of $20,000 per year for a bronze plan.
“The annual national average bronze plan premium for a family of 5 (2 adults, 3 children) is $20,000,” the regulation says.
Bronze will be the lowest tier health-insurance plan available under Obamacare–after Silver, Gold, and Platinum.”
Related articles
- ObamaCare Will Cost Your Family at Least $20,000 (townhall.com)
- IRS: Cheapest Obamacare Plan Will Be $20,000 Per Family | CNS News (gruntdoc.com)
- Voted for Free Healthcare? IRS Says Cheapest Obamatax Plan is $20,000 (ijreview.com)
- Zane Benefits Publishes New Health Care Tax Credit FAQ’s for 2013 (prweb.com)
- IRS: Cheapest qualifying family health-insurance plan will be $20K (hotair.com)
- IRS: Cheapest Obamacare Plan for Family of 5 Would Cost $20K per Year (patdollard.com)
OBAMACARE’S DEATH STAR?
” But Roberts’ decision limits Congress’ latitude by holding that the small size of the penalty is part of the reason it is, for constitutional purposes, a tax. It is not a “financial punishment” because it is not so steep that it effectively prohibits the choice of paying it. And, Roberts noted, “by statute, it can never be more.” As Lambert says, the penalty for refusing to purchase insurance counts as a tax only if it remains so small as to be largely ineffective.
Unable to increase penalties substantially, Congress, in the context of “guaranteed issue” and “community rating,” has only one way to induce healthy people to purchase insurance. This is by the hugely expensive process of increasing premium subsidies enough to make negligible the difference between the cost of insurance to purchasers and the penalty for not purchasing. Republicans will ferociously resist exacerbating the nation’s financial crisis in order to rescue the ACA. ”
Related articles
- Well, we did have to pass it, to find out what was in it.. (wherearemykeys.typepad.com)
- George Will – The Time Bomb in Obamacare! (mypoliticalmusings.wordpress.com)
- Supreme Court ruling may have put Obamacare on path to extinction (utsandiego.com)
- George Will: Because penalties for not buying insurance are limited, Obamacare may be on the path to ultimate extinction (aei-ideas.org)
- Roberts and the rickety health care act (newsobserver.com)
- Sundays with Mr. Will: Countdown to Obamacare’s Destruction (pjmedia.com)
Law On Liability Insurance Eyed For Gun Owners
” Hoping to get beyond the debate over new gun-control laws, a group of economists and legal scholars is floating another plan they say could cut down on spree shootings: require all gun owners to carry liability insurance, similar to what automobile owners must have.
The plan, which was floated in Illinois’ legislature in 2009, draws the ire of gun-rights groups who say it infringes on Americans’ Second Amendment rights and unfairly targets law-abiding gun owners. But backers say it offers a way to ferret out potentially dangerous or unstable criminals from the ranks of gun owners without having the federal government enact outright bans.
The horrific shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. last month ignited a new national debate over gun law, but the liability insurance proposal may not have prevented that tragedy. Shooter Adam Lanza used firearms owned by his mother to kill her and then 26 children and administrators at the school before taking his own life.
“If you own a gun, you should expect some due diligence of all people who own guns,” said Tricia Dunlap, a Richmond-based lawyer. “We can stop debating about whether you can own a gun, because of course you can. Do we ban assault weapons? No, it doesn’t work. God, we’ve been having that debate for 20 years. Can we come at it from a fresh angle?” “
Related articles
- Should Gun Owners Have To Buy Liability Insurance? (npr.org)
- Should People Be Forced to Buy Liability Insurance for their Guns? (thedailybeast.com)
- Gun-liability Insurance (washingtonmonthly.com)
- Should Gun Owners Have To Buy Liability Insurance? (wnyc.org)
- Judge Denies NRA Request To Block SF’s Gun And Ammo Laws (sfappeal.com)
HOBBY LOBBY DEFIES OBAMA ADMINISTRATION WITH CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE FOR RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
” Now that Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor has denied Hobby Lobby’s application for an emergency injunction protecting them from Obamacare’s HHS Mandate on abortion and birth control, Hobby Lobby has decided to defy the federal government to remain true to their religious beliefs, at enormous risk and financial cost.
Hobby Lobby is wholly owned and controlled by the Green family, who are evangelical Christians. The Greens are committed to running their business in accordance with their Christian faith, believing that God wants them to conduct their professional business in accordance with the family’s understanding of the Bible. Hobby Lobby’s mission statement includes, “Honoring the Lord in all we do by operating the company … consistent with Biblical principles.”
The HHS Mandate goes into effect for Hobby Lobby on Jan. 1, 2013. The Greens correctly understand that some of the drugs the HHS Mandate requires them to cover at no cost in their healthcare plans cause abortions.
Today Hobby Lobby announced that they will not comply with this mandate to become complicit in abortion, which the Greens believe ends an innocent human life. Given Hobby Lobby’s size (it has 572 stores employing more than 13,000 people), by violating the HHS Mandate, it will be subject to over $1.3 million in fines per day. That means over $40 million in fines in January alone. If their case takes another ten months to get before the Supreme Court—which would be the earliest it could get there under the normal order of business—the company would incur almost a half-billion dollars in fines. And then of course the Supreme Court would have to write an opinion in what would likely be a split decision with dissenters, which could easily take four or six months and include hundreds of millions of dollars in additional penalties. ”
Related : AETNA CEO: OBAMACARE COULD DOUBLE HEALTH INSURANCE PREMIUMS
” FOX NEWS: To provide all Americans with health insurance, premiums will have to rise to pay for it, Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini told CNBC’s “Closing Bell” on Wednesday. “If we’re going to insure all Americans, which is a worthy and appropriate cause, then somebody has to pay for it,” Bertolini said of the expected premium increases under Obamacare. Bertolini said that insurance premiums could double in some places just on the basis of what types of policies people buy today. He also said that when Obamacare is fully implemented, it won’t start the way people had hoped and it won’t be cheaper. ”
Related articles
- Judge says Obamacare means Hobby Lobby must offer morning-after contraceptives (bizjournals.com)
- Hobby Lobby stands up to Obama (fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com)
- Hobby Lobby: We Intend to Defy ObamaCare (newser.com)
- Hobby Lobby First Business to Openly Defy Obamacare Mandate (godfatherpolitics.com)
The Sebelius Coverup
” The Obama administration’s congressional allies botched the drafting of this aspect of the health care overhaul, as the plain language of Obamacare doesn’t empower federal exchanges to distribute taxpayer-funded subsidies to individuals; it empowers only state-based exchanges to distribute the subsidies. (The administration pretends otherwise.) Moreover, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is lagging behind in developing the federal exchanges.
It gets worse. HHS has contracted with a subsidiary of a private health care company to help build and police the very exchanges in which that company will be competing for business. The person who ran the government entity that awarded that contract has since accepted a position with a different subsidiary of that same company. An insurance industry insider (speaking on the condition of anonymity) says that HHS, in an attempt to hide this unseemly contract from public view until after the election, encouraged the company to hide the transaction from the Securities and Exchange Commission. ”
Chicago Cronyism At It’s Finest . Imagine The Hue & Cry If A Republican Administration Had Pulled This Kind Of Nonsense .
” The Hill writes that the “quiet nature of the transaction, which was not disclosed to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has fueled suspicion among industry insiders that UnitedHealth Group may be gaining an advantage for its subsidiary, UnitedHealthcare.” The Hill adds, “One critic familiar with the business rivalries of the insurance industry compared UnitedHealth Group’s purchase of QSSI to the New York Yankees hiring the American League’s umpires.” In other words, UnitedHealth Group, through QSSI, would be able to police the same field in which it would be a competitor.
In addition, QSSI would have access to valuable data. The Obama administration likes to compare Obamacare’s prospective insurance exchanges to websites like Travelocity and Expedia, but the comparison is inapt. Travelocity and Expedia don’t regulate airlines, stipulate the length of runways, or transfer money from younger passengers to older ones. In truth, Obamacare’s federal exchanges will be an extremely complicated technical endeavor to set up and run, as (among other things) they would involve compiling massive amounts of risk-selection data on individual Americans. In addition to raising extraordinary privacy concerns, the data involved would be like gold to insurers. To quote my source, “If you can capture this data, you’re going to win.”
Ok, Liberal Women. I’ve Tried To Explain This In Really Simple Terms So Even YOU Will Understand It.
” If you’re on our facebook page ever, you’ve probably noticed that we’ve been absolutely bombarded with liberals lately. They’re in epic panic mode now that the election is just a day away, and their hysteria is at an all time high.
Case in point. Leslie Vaughn wrote this in response to the post/picture I put up last night about liberal feminists.
She had so many talking points in it I thought it might be a good idea to address each one in the same post, so that perhaps these misguided, misinformed, mistaken women might learn something. (I know, not likely, but I wanted to at least give it the old college try.)
- “Support contraception!” Leslie says. Newsflash, Leslie. Many many many conservatives DO support contraception. We have nothing against it. In fact, I consider contraception to be sort of a hallmark of one of the basic guiding principles of conservatism – which is TAKING PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY. You want to have sex and not get pregnant? Protect yourself. It’s really simple. What we do NOT support, is forcing others to pay for your desire to have sex. Which leads me to Leslie’s next talking point. “
Related articles
- “When I saw her I marveled greatly…” (illinoisreview.typepad.com)
- Too Many Young Women Have No Idea How Contraception Works [Pill Baby Pill] (jezebel.com)
- Catholic Contraception Conundrums (traditionalchristianity.wordpress.com)
- The HHS Mandate and the Vice Presidential Debate (palamas.info)
YouViewed/Editorial 