Obamacare Update

[RLLD 3,455]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/03/us-usa-health-gapinsurance-idUSKBN0OJ1G220150603

 

Despite the promise of coverage through the U.S. Affordable Care Act (ACA), the number of people applying for non-compliant, short-term health insurance policies was up more than 100 percent in 2014, according to new data available from companies who broker these policies.

 

This type of health insurance is exactly the kind that the ACA, known commonly as Obamacare, was supposed to upgrade. Short-term plans provide low-cost coverage for major medical events like hospital stays, with high deductibles and out-of-pocket costs, and are subject to denial if applicants have pre-existing conditions. They do not offer the protections of Obamacare for preventive care or maternity coverage, for example.

The largest constituency is young, healthy people seeking low-cost catastrophic coverage. Those aged 18 to 34 account for 57 percent of eHealth's buyers. A typical policy could cost around $100 a month, depending on the state of residency and the features of the plan.

 

I think this makes sense. Healthy people who are unlikely to need to visit the doctor or a hospital would naturally go after the cheapest alternative. In this instance a high deductable and low monthly cost. I don't see this so much as a problem for the consumer, but more so for the insurer who is reliant on the healthy paying to cover the unhealthy.

 

[Artista 460]

Thank God for Obamacare for those who really need it. I got a great plan perfect timing as I'm going to be using it a lot now.

[NewbieJr 540]

15-20 years from now, 'Obamacare' will look nothing like it does today. Little by little, kinks will be worked out. Loopholes that businesses and individuals find to take advantage will be closed up. It is inarguably a success. Something was finally done about our horrid healthcare system. Looking back years from now, Obama's legacy will be rebounding the economy, killing Bin Laden, and developing the long overdue healthcare act.

[Voltaire 4,558]

15-20 years from now, 'Obamacare' will look nothing like it does today. Little by little, kinks will be worked out. Loopholes that businesses and individuals find to take advantage will be closed up. It is inarguably a success. Something was finally done about our horrid healthcare system. Looking back years from now, Obama's legacy will be rebounding the economy, killing Bin Laden, and developing the long overdue healthcare act.

Obummercare is doing a lot better than expected. The developers were a lot more accurate in forecasts than the doomsayers. It's not all clear for the plan yet though. Obummercare still has one more serious court challenge to get passed.

[IGotWorms 3,313]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/03/us-usa-health-gapinsurance-idUSKBN0OJ1G220150603

 

 

I think this makes sense. Healthy people who are unlikely to need to visit the doctor or a hospital would naturally go after the cheapest alternative. In this instance a high deductable and low monthly cost. I don't see this so much as a problem for the consumer, but more so for the insurer who is reliant on the healthy paying to cover the unhealthy.

 

People can b1tch and moan all they want but the reality is that this is the only way a private insurer system can provide coverage to the people who need it most

[Reality 2,710]

 

The government does not count these gap plans as qualifying health insurance, so people who have them are subject to penalties for being uninsured.

 

 

Works out well for Uncle Sam..

 

Young people are signing up for catastrophic coverage, all most really need at that age, and the Government still gets to collect it's fee's by way of penalties.

 

Way to go Obama.

[KSB2424 3,083]

Obummercare is doing a lot better than expected. The developers were a lot more accurate in forecasts than the doomsayers. It's not all clear for the plan yet though. Obummercare still has one more serious court challenge to get passed.

 

What you're saying and what I read constantly is not jiving. Just the other day, in my local paper was this for example:

 

http://www.wral.com/insurers-seeking-sizable-rate-increases-on-affordable-care-act-health-plans/14682626/

 

 

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina has asked state regulators for a 25.7 percent average rate increase on individual insurance plans purchased under the Affordable Care Act for 2016.

The request, which still needs to be approved by the North Carolina Department of Insurance, doesn't include employer-sponsored health plans or to any existing coverage grandfathered in under the federal health care law.

Two other insurers, Coventry Health Care of the Carolinas and United Healthcare, also offer plans through the HealthCare.gov marketplace to North Carolina residents. Coventry, which is merging with Aetna, has asked for an average 18 percent increase, while United submitted a request for an average 12.5 percent increase.

Blue Cross Vice President and Chief Actuary Patrick Getzen said more than 325,000 people statewide enrolled in the insurer's plans offered on the HealthCare.gov marketplace for 2015. Although the demographics are similar to those who enrolled in 2014, he said, the current group of clients has more chronic health conditions, such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes.

Those conditions drove more consumption of costly medical services, such as hospital admissions, MRIs, CT scans, ultrasounds and specialty prescriptions, Getzen said. Enrollees also are visiting hospital emergency rooms more than expected – the health care law was designed to provide coverage to more people so they wouldn't resort to an ER visit for routine care.

Higher premiums would help offset the growing cost of medical services, he said, noting the Blue Cross could revise its request in the next month or so and seek an even larger increase. The company based its current request on 2014 data and wants to collect more information on 2015 costs before deciding on amending its filings with state regulators.

The Affordable Care Act requires that insurers spend at least 80 cents of every premium dollar directly on health care. Blue Cross officials have said the company spends 86 cents of every dollar on care. Rates for Blue Cross plans on HealthCare.gov increase by an average of 13.5 percent this year.

Getzen also noted that 15 to 20 percent of customers with HealthCare.gov plans canceled their coverage after paying initial premiums and consuming costly medical services.

 

[Voltaire 4,558]

 

What you're saying and what I read constantly is not jiving. Just the other day, in my local paper was this for example:

 

http://www.wral.com/insurers-seeking-sizable-rate-increases-on-affordable-care-act-health-plans/14682626/

This is certainly disturbing and I was not aware of it.

 

Since NC is known to be one of the states with an aggressive conservative GOP controlling all levers of power, I presume that you guys are one of the states that refuses the federal Medicaid expansion funds and also refused to set up exchanges.

 

I have no idea how that would affect anything however. Obummercare has been getting better reviews elsewhere.

[Eaglesin14 12]

Obamacare is a clusterfukk of epic proportions, and will continue to get worse.

[TimmySmith 2,782]

15-20 years from now, 'Obamacare' will look nothing like it does today. Little by little, kinks will be worked out. Loopholes that businesses and individuals find to take advantage will be closed up. It is inarguably a success. Something was finally done about our horrid healthcare system. Looking back years from now, Obama's legacy will be rebounding the economy, killing Bin Laden, and developing the long overdue healthcare act.

 

Our healthcare system is exactly the same. Kool-aid drinker.

[Eaglesin14 12]

Hawaii's Obamacare exchange to shut down after wasting $205 Million in federal funds.

 

 

https://www.atr.org/hawaii-s-205-million-obamacare-exchange-implodes

 

 

What a success!

[drobeski 3,061]

is it because volty lives in china that his opinions are opposite reality in every situation ?

Hair dye and spray tan seem to have the same effect

[Eaglesin14 12]

What you're saying and what I read constantly is not jiving. Just the other day, in my local paper was this for example:

 

http://www.wral.com/insurers-seeking-sizable-rate-increases-on-affordable-care-act-health-plans/14682626/

 

 

 

 

I thought every family was gonna have their premiums go down $2500.

 

Surely Obama didn't lie to us.

[DankNuggs 305]

In the end, obamacare really didn't do anything to change the system besides rejiggering it to make sure its continued unsustainability moves up to single payer rather than more privatization.

[IGotWorms 3,313]

In the end, obamacare really didn't do anything to change the system besides rejiggering it to make sure its continued unsustainability moves up to single payer rather than more privatization.

There could be some truth to this. So far every problem that has arisen is necause some insurance pools simply don't have enough healthy enrollees to adequately spread the risk. Well single payer is the obvious solution to that problem

[DankNuggs 305]

There could be some truth to this. So far every problem that has arisen is necause some insurance pools simply don't have enough healthy enrollees to adequately spread the risk. Well single payer is the obvious solution to that problem

Soaking the 26-35 year olds who are up to their eyeballs in debt, are underemployed and see relatively little path towards the middle/upper classes just can't happen. So the added subsidizing just adds more pressure to the system, and once it reaches the tipping point it goes the route of too big to fail and just gets backstopped by the government into single payer...

 

Its predictable.

[IGotWorms 3,313]

Soaking the 26-35 year olds who are up to their eyeballs in debt, are underemployed and see relatively little path towards the middle/upper classes just can't happen. So the added subsidizing just adds more pressure to the system, and once it reaches the tipping point it goes the route of too big to fail and just gets backstopped by the government into single payer...

 

Its predictable.

I disagree slightly in that your premise seems to be there is no economically feasible way to insure everyone. However the current private insurer system really doesn't allow for it.

[RLLD 3,455]

Soaking the 26-35 year olds who are up to their eyeballs in debt, are underemployed and see relatively little path towards the middle/upper classes just can't happen. So the added subsidizing just adds more pressure to the system, and once it reaches the tipping point it goes the route of too big to fail and just gets backstopped by the government into single payer...

 

Its predictable.

 

I recall reading recently that the opposite is true. That milennials are actually saving far more than their predecessors, they are less likely to buy a home but more likely to rent, they tend to borrow less and save more overall. Further, they are going to inheret (as a group) some absurd amount like $41 trillion too.... they have witnessed the impact of the perverted real estate market and how it crushed misperceptions of "wealth" and they are jaded in many ways.

 

They are much more careful with how they handle their money and as a result are forecast to accumulate significant wealth.

[DankNuggs 305]

 

I recall reading recently that the opposite is true. That milennials are actually saving far more than their predecessors, they are less likely to buy a home but more likely to rent, they tend to borrow less and save more overall. Further, they are going to inheret (as a group) some absurd amount like $41 trillion too.... they have witnessed the impact of the perverted real estate market and how it crushed misperceptions of "wealth" and they are jaded in many ways.

 

They are much more careful with how they handle their money and as a result are forecast to accumulate significant wealth.

its both, that are twice as likely to feel overwhelmed in debt than baby boomers at the same time and also saving much more towards retirement. That doesn't leave much for wildly escalating HC costs.

[TimmySmith 2,782]

I disagree slightly in that your premise seems to be there is no economically feasible way to insure everyone. However the current private insurer system really doesn't allow for it.

There would have been, if someone did not kowtow to the insurance companies. $100 aspirins are not only here to stay, but now that the taxpayers are legally required to pay for them, the price is etched in granite.

[BunnysBastatrds 1,914]

 

Our healthcare system is exactly the same. Kool-aid drinker.

 

 

No it's not. Half of what my wife makes goes to pay our health insurance plan through her work. It was about a third before.

[Strike 3,968]

I disagree slightly in that your premise seems to be there is no economically feasible way to insure everyone.

 

Of course there is. Too bad the ACA didn't address it. They just made it worse.

[Strike 3,968]

 

What you're saying and what I read constantly is not jiving. Just the other day, in my local paper was this for example:

 

http://www.wral.com/insurers-seeking-sizable-rate-increases-on-affordable-care-act-health-plans/14682626/

 

 

Not an isolated occurrence:

 

http://www.wsj.com/articles/more-health-care-insurers-seek-big-premium-increases-1433206078

http://www.cnbc.com/id/102723185

[NewbieJr 540]

LOL So predictable

[SUXBNME 1,328]

LOL So predictable

Facts with links?

[DankNuggs 305]

remember these rate hikes are even before the full system has been really implemented.

[Eaglesin14 12]

Facts with links?

 

[IGotWorms 3,313]

 

Of course there is. Too bad the ACA didn't address it. They just made it worse.

Okay, what's your plan?

[KSB2424 3,083]

Okay, what's your plan?

In my opinion healthcare needs to be either full on single payer or it needs to be full on privatized in a capitalistic model with common sense govt safety nets for the poor and elderly.

 

This half pregnant crap isn't going to work (well)

[drobeski 3,061]

Facts with links?

the crazies hate those

[Eaglesin14 12]

Okay, what's your plan?

I'll let you know after it's signed into law.

[Strike 3,968]

Okay, what's your plan?

 

There are a lot of things we could have done:

 

- Expanded Medicare/Medicaid. We did it anyways but instead of creating all these exchanges we could have just offered people who couldn't afford it healthcare through those. That way we wouldn't have f-'ed with a system the majority of Americans were happy with to expand access for those who couldn't afford it, all under the LIE of lowering premiums for everyone.

 

- Started treating health "insurance" as actual insurance:

http://www.cato-unbound.org/2007/01/07/arnold-kling/insulation-vs-insurance

 

- Actually went after the COSTS of health care instead of simply trying to expand access. Health care consumes an unsustainable amount of our GDP, which was one of the points the Dems made a big deal about when implementing Obamacare, yet they didn't address the actual costs of health care. If they had, we wouldn't be seeing a 20-30% rise in premiums considering one of the tenets of Obamacare requires insurance companies to spend a certain percentage of premiums on health care. If we could have brought the costs down many of those who couldn't afford it would have then been able to afford it, making the whole problem smaller and more manageable.

 

There are so many things we COULD have done. Or SHOULD have done. Unfortunately, we did very few of them with Obamacare.

[gocolts 300]

This is certainly disturbing and I was not aware of it.

 

Since NC is known to be one of the states with an aggressive conservative GOP controlling all levers of power, I presume that you guys are one of the states that refuses the federal Medicaid expansion funds and also refused to set up exchanges.

 

I have no idea how that would affect anything however. Obummercare has been getting better reviews elsewhere.

This is the kid of thing I was referring to in that other thread about you not having all the information. I am not slamming you for it either, just letting you know bro so you can maybe get it. In the other thread, you mentioned you were no longer getting the NYTimes. THEY have actually been exposing a lot of this shtt, believe it or not.

[Voltaire 4,558]

This is the kid of thing I was referring to in that other thread about you not having all the information. I am not slamming you for it either, just letting you know bro so you can maybe get it. In the other thread, you mentioned you were no longer getting the NYTimes. THEY have actually been exposing a lot of this shtt, believe it or not.

What can I say? As you have correctly deduced, I can't go back and re-read the recent Paul Krugman columns on how quietly successful Obummercare has been doing to try to figure out who's BS-ing me and who isn't.

[kutulu 1,545]

Thank God for Obamacare for those who really need it. I got a great plan perfect timing as I'm going to be using it a lot now.

Are you bruce jenner?

[SUXBNME 1,328]

Are you bruce jenner?

She's worse.

Trust me on this. Bad things, man...Bad things

[KSB2424 3,083]

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCAQqQIwAWoVChMIn4CxrfmAxwIVh14sCh1O2Qda&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newsobserver.com%2Fliving%2Fhealth-fitness%2Farticle29266627.html&ei=eBi5VZ_kPIe9sQHOsp_QBQ&usg=AFQjCNGNpstxDmEV2uX9yYvO7AzI9Ubjaw&bvm=bv.99028883,d.bGg

 

 

Health care spending will outpace the nation's overall economic growth over the next decade, the government forecast on Tuesday, highlighting a challenge for the next president, not to mention taxpayers, businesses and individual Americans.

A combination of expanded insurance coverage under President Barack Obama's law, an aging population, and rising demand will be squeezing society's ability to pay.

By 2019, midway through the next president's term, health care spending will be increasing at roughly 6 percent a year, compared to an average annual rise of 4 percent from 2008 through 2013.

 

 

 

The main point is that the bill will continue to grow faster than the economy, which is what pays the bill," he added. "The next president faces the task of reining in the growth of federal entitlement spending."

"I do think this becomes something of a liability for anybody coming into office, and they need to have a very proactive policy to address it," said Dan Mendelson, CEO of Avalere Health, a market analysis and consulting firm. Mendelson served in the Clinton White House as a health policy expert.

 

 

Things changed in 2014, the report says, with coverage expansion under the new health care law. Some 8.4 million gained coverage that year, and people with health insurance use more medical services and prescriptions than do the uninsured.

At the same time, expensive new drugs that can cure hepatitis C are boosting spending on medications. In 2013, prescription drug spending rose by 2.5 percent. For 2014, the projected increase is 12.6 percent, according to the report. Hepatitis C is a viral infection that gradually destroys the liver, afflicting about 3 million Americans.

Spending on Medicaid, the federal-state health insurance program for low-income people, also has jumped. The 2013 increase was 6.1 percent. But the program is projected to have grown by 12 percent in 2014, again boosted by coverage expansion under the health care law.

Expanded Medicaid is one of two paths for covering the uninsured under Obama's law. The other is subsidized private insurance. Spending on private insurance is projected to have grown by 6.1 percent last year, more than double the rate in 2013.

The effects of expanded coverage won't be as dramatic in the years ahead, the report says. Likewise, the spike in drug costs will work its way through the system as government programs and insurers demand rebates from the manufacturers of hepatitis C drugs.

But the other big factors pushing spending higher may harder to deal with. An aging population means older and sicker Medicare beneficiaries who will need more services, and more intense medical attention. Also, economic recovery creates demands for higher pay, and hospitals and doctors' offices are labor-intensive enterprises.

Government will become a more dominant player as the federal, state, and local government share of health care rises to 47 percent in 2024, from 43 percent in 2013.

The health care spending report was published online by the journal Health Affairs.

 

 

 

 

 

The next POTUS will have some work to do.

[NewbieJr 540]

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCAQqQIwAWoVChMIn4CxrfmAxwIVh14sCh1O2Qda&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newsobserver.com%2Fliving%2Fhealth-fitness%2Farticle29266627.html&ei=eBi5VZ_kPIe9sQHOsp_QBQ&usg=AFQjCNGNpstxDmEV2uX9yYvO7AzI9Ubjaw&bvm=bv.99028883,d.bGg

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next POTUS will have some work to do.

She'll be fine

[Baker Boy 1,485]

Since almost 40 million Americans are still uninsured I would say we are looking at a giant fail for what it has cost the country.

[NewbieJr 540]

Since almost 40 million Americans are still uninsured I would say we are looking at a giant fail for what it has cost the country.

I bet the 16 million who have insurance that otherwise wouldn't disagree with you.