Don’t cry for Big Insurance if federal Obamacare subsidies go away, folks.

 A helpful reminder: “…the dirty secret is that insurers stand to lose the most from King v. Burwell… The giant players — United Healthcare, Cigna, Aetna, Anthem and Humana — have seen stock prices double, triple, even quadruple since the law was passed in 2010. The coming ruling threatens to put an end to their gravy train.” As Betsy [McCaughey] noted elsewhere in that article, the insurance companies were more than happy to sign onto a program where they had a guaranteed – dare we say, mandated? – customer pool; and one where sweet, sweet tax revenue could be used to stitch together any gaps in this Frankenstein’s Monster* of a health care market.

Which means that health care insurers have absolutely no reason to complain that the State giveth, and the State taketh away.  That’s what the State does; and the insurers took the State’s Shilling.  It’s hardly our fault that this turned out to be unwise.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

PS: A bailout of the insurance industry, by the way, would be most unwise. The Right was not in favor ofsuch a thing in 2014; we’re certainly not going to be more in love with the idea now.  As Betsy [McCaughey] also noted in the above article, removing the subsidies in the federal Obamacare exchange will effectively destroy the various mandates anyway. It might be worth keeping those subsidies around temporarily in exchange for formally killing the individual/employer mandates: I haven’t made up my mind about that yet. But it’s certainly true that if King v. Burwell goes away the mandates will have to as well. One way, or the other.

*One that is, by the way, the sole fault of Democrats.

Via: Red State

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[VIDEO] Second Richest Member Bemoans Health Care Costs (Video)

Turns out Americans without employer-based health insurance might not be the only ones hit with higher insurance premiums.

Rep. Michael McCaul, Congress’ second richest member, took to the House floor this week to criticize the Affordable Care Act. The Texas Republican, with an estimated net worth of at least $114 million, said he lost his health care plan and his premiums on the D.C. Health Exchange went up significantly, impacting his family.

As the health care law rolls out for members and staffers, McCaul — who has significant investments in health insurance companies such as United Health Group and Aetna, according to his financial disclosures — wanted all to know he felt the pinch, too.

Via: Roll Call

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NBCUniversal’s Insurance Premiums to Rise Due to Obamacare

CNBC’s morning anchors were troubled by the news that their own insurance plans will become more costly under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

On Oct. 30’s “Squawk Box,” CNBC Senior Correspondent Scott Cohn revealed details of NBC’s open enrollment, brandishing an official fact book outlining the process. He quoted the document, revealing that the ACA would increase employee premiums.

Cohn observed “Some of these costs, when you look at this, are way up -- double digits.”

Aetna Chairman and CEO, Mark Bertolini explained that “Aetna alone will pass through to its customers over a billion dollars of taxes and fees associated with the Affordable Care Act.”

Ironically, NBC has worked hard to promote Obamacare. In the week before the exchanges opened, NBC launched their own week-long campaign, to “help Americans get the most out of the Affordable Care Act.” NBC affiliate MSNBC was even more blatant in touting Obamacare.

According to the new health plan, “federally mandated health care changes will require Comcast-NBCUniversal to pay new fees and implement plan design changes that will contribute to the increased cost of our plans.”

These plan changes would also affect other NBCUniversal outlets like NBC and MSNBC.

Via: Newsbusters
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Obamacare Monster: Mounting Errors Paralyze Plans

The disastrous rollout of the Obamacare website has taken a new turn with errors turning up for the few who successfully managed to enroll through the glitch-filled site.

Executives at more than a dozen health plans have told The Wall Street Journal that errors include duplicate enrollments, spouses reported as children, missing data fields, and suspect eligibility determinations. 

In one case, a customer successfully signed up on Healthcare.gov for three plans at one company.

"The longer this takes to resolve… the harder it will be to get people to [come back and] sign up," Aetna Inc. Chief Executive Mark Bertolini told the Journal. "It's not off to a great start."

While insurers have indicated they have been able to solve the problems manually, there is concern it won't be possible as enrollment accelerates in the coming months, the Journal reports.

ObamaCare: You Can Win With The Facts 

"We know that people are enrolling in coverage and the system works. As individual problems are raised by insurers, we work aggressively to address them," HHS spokeswoman Joanne Peters told the Journal.

From its launch on Oct. 1, the website has been immobilized by problems, including an inability to cope with high levels of traffic, which prevented people from accessing the site, as well as major software flaws.

Republicans have called for the head of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius for failing to ensure the system would work. 

The administration initially blamed the issues on high demand, but has since admitted the site was fraught with serious flaws, though officials have withheld details.

Via: Newsmax

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ObamaCare effect? 9 companies exit Nebraska’s health insurance market

Nine insurance companies are pulling out of Nebraska's major medical insurance market, and some of them cite Obamacare as the reason for their departure. 

Seven of the nine companies have notified the state of their plans to leave since August. Most of them have a minor piece of the major medical market in Nebraska, and likely don't think it's worth it to make the changes necessary to comply with the federal health care law. 

As Obamacare shifts into a higher gear, all Americans must buy health insurance or pay a fine beginning in January. Insurance companies selling individual plans can no longer sell cheaper, bare-bones plans, must offer an array of benefits and cannot deny people coverage because they're sick or old. 

Aetna, American Family Mutual Insurance, Humana, Independence American Insurance Company, Reserve National Insurance Company, Standard Security Life Insurance Company of New York, Companion Life Insurance and United Security Life and Health Insurance have all informed the state insurance department of their intent to stop selling health insurance to individuals - and in some cases - groups. 

Under Nebraska law, insurers are required to notify policyholders in writing of any such changes. 

State Insurance Commissioner Bruce Ramge was most recently informed of a departure Thursday morning, when he received a letter from Companion Life saying they'll leave the market at year's end, noting that increased regulations under Obamacare would make it difficult to continue. Ramge said the new landscape under Obamacare is the major driving factor in the companies' pullout, largely because of the administrative and policy changes they'd have to make. insurance-market/

Via Fox News

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