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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‘Navigators’ raise identity theft risk

Growing concerns about identity theft and fraud have led the Illinois Department of Insurance to issue a public warning, just as the new health insurance exchanges enter their implementation phase.

Concern focuses on those charged with assisting Illinoisans with enrollment to the new health insurance exchanges, the so-called “navigators.”

Navigators will “educate consumers about the health insurance Marketplace, answer health coverage-related questions, and facilitate consumers’ selection of affordable health coverage through the Marketplace,” according to the navigator training manual.

This will give navigators access to individuals’ personally identifiable information: the information necessary for identity theft.

The Illinois Department of Insurance warns people about giving their personal information through “unsolicited telephone calls of any kind,” as well as to people pretending to be navigators.

“We have been made aware that scams are possible,” said Kimberly Parker, a Department of Insurance spokesperson. “If someone is at your door, err on the side of caution.”

Some steps have been taken to help citizens discern real navigators from frauds. Real navigators will carry licenses provided by the Illinois Department of Insurance. Their names can also be found on an online directory.

However, to find the online directory citizens first have to find the Department of Insurance website, assuming they have Internet access at all.

Other steps are self-contradictory. Although the warning says citizens should “look for government seals, logos or web addresses to make sure the information comes from a trusted source,” it also warns about “entities that have sound-alike government or company names.”

Via: My Journal Courier

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OBAMACARE FACEBOOK ERUPTS WITH CITIZEN STICKER SHOCK

On Thursday, the government's official Obamacare Facebook page was riddled with people expressing sticker shock over the government's high cost premiums after struggling for hours to wade through the technical failures vexing Obamacare exchanges all across the country.  

"I am so disappointed," wrote one woman. "These prices are outrageous and there are huge deductibles. No one can afford this!" The comment received 169 "likes." 

"There is NO WAY I can afford it," said one commenter after using the Kaiser Subsidy Calculator. "Heck right now I couldn't afford an extra 10$ [sic] a month...and oh apparently I make to [sic] much at 8.55/hour to get subsidies."

Another person shared a link found on the federal government's main Obamacare page listing premium estimates for small business employers:

The information is not very complete as I don't see anything about deductible or other detailed info, but it does given an actual price as to the "Premium." It is VERY SCARY!! For example, my insurance plan right now for my spouse and I costs $545 a month with 100% coverage after my $2500 deductible. We are both 32 years old. When I looked at this site for 80% coverage it says it will be $954.78 a month!!!! So compare my old Plan: 100% coverage for $545 a month To New Plan: 80% Coverage for $945 a month. This is only only an estimate but it is VERY Scary for me to see this kind of increase in rates and reduction in benefits!

A single mother of two said she is in school and working full-time while living "75% below the poverty level." She said she was shocked to learn she did not qualify for a healthcare subsidy. "Are you F'ing kidding me????" she wrote on the government's Obamacare Facebook page. "Where the HELL am I supposed to get $3,000 more a year to pay for this 'bronze' health insurance plan!?!??? And I DO NOT EVEN WANT INSURANCE to begin with!! This is frightening," she wrote.

Via: Breitbart

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One Man’s ObamaCare Nightmare

Andy and Amy Mangione of Louisville, Ky. and their two boys are just the kind of people who should be helped by ObamaCare. But they recently got a nasty surprise in the mail.

"When I saw the letter when I came home from work," Andy said, describing the large red wording on the envelope from his insurance carrier, "(it said) 'your action required, benefit changes, act now.' Of course I opened it immediately."

It had stunning news. Insurance for the Mangiones and their two boys,which they bought on the individual market, was going to almost triple in 2014 --- from $333 a month to $965.

The insurance carrier made it clear the increase was in order to be compliant with the new health care law.

"This isn't a Cadillac plan, this isn't even a silver plan," Mangione said, referring to higher levels of coverage under ObamaCare.

"This is a high deductible plan where I'm assuming a lot of risk for my health insurance for my family. And nothing has changed, our boys are healthy-- they're young --my wife is healthy. I'm healthy, nothing in our medical history has changed to warrant a tripling of our premiums.

"Well I'm the one that does the budget,” said his wife. "Eventually I've got that coming down the pike that I gotta figure out what we're gonna cut what we're gonna do, to afford a $1,000 a month premium."

Via: Fox News

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Oh, by the way: With 10 days to go before launch, ObamaCare websites still can’t calculate insurance subsidies correctly

Via Avik Roy. I know what you’re thinking. “Doesn’t this mean ObamaCare’s insurance subsidies are bound to be plagued by fraud and waste?” Why, yes — but the good news is, HHS decided weeks ago to suspend the program’s anti-fraud measures. You’ll be punished if they catch you cheating, but they’re telling you in advance that they won’t try too hard. So if a website glitch means you end up with twice the amount of subsidies you’re supposed to get based on your income, hey. They promised you life would improve with universal health care, didn’t they? (Sidenote: “Universal health care” isn’t remotely universal.)

Good enough for government work?

Less than two weeks before the launch of insurance marketplaces created by the federal health overhaul, the government’s software can’t reliably determine how much people need to pay for coverage, according to insurance executives and people familiar with the program…

A failure by consumers to sign up online in the hotly anticipated early days of the “exchanges” is worrisome to insurers, which are counting on enrollees for growth, and to the Obama administration, which made the exchanges a centerpiece of its sweeping health-care legislation…

Four people familiar with the development of the software that determines how much people would pay for subsidized coverage on the federally run exchanges said it was still miscalculating prices. Tests on the calculator initially scheduled to begin months ago only started this week at some insurers, according to insurance executives and two people familiar with development efforts.

“There’s a blanket acknowledgment that rates are being calculated incorrectly,” said one senior health-insurance executive who asked not to be named. “Our tech and operations people are very concerned about the problems they’re seeing and the potential of them to stick around.”

People have until March to sign up but the more word gets around that the websites don’t work correctly, the less inclined would-be enrollees may be to try again later after an initial failure. And of course, early glitches are a looming PR disaster for the White House as they try to convince a skeptical public that Republicans are cuh-ray-zee to think the law should be delayed for a year. The GOP may end up having some unlikely allies in that effort, though: Per Roy, the head of Connecticut’s own ObamaCare exchange says he’d welcome a year’s delay in the name of working out the kinks before the system goes live. “Sometimes it feels like we’re driving a car and then changing the tire at the same time,” he said. There’s a nifty line for Boehner’s first press conference after he finally gives up the “defund” strategy and embraces delay.

Via: Hot Air

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Poverty Rate Remains High Under Obama, 48 Million Uninsured

The number of Americans living in poverty remained steady last year at 15 percent after rising for several years in the wake of the recession, while the number of people without health insurance fell slightly to 48 million, U.S. government data released on Tuesday showed.

The Census Bureau in its annual report said about 46.5 million Americans were living in poverty last year, little changed from 46.2 million in 2011

Editor’s Note: Retirees to be Slammed With 85% Pay Cut 

The Census data also showed the 2012 median U.S. income was $51,017, also statistically unchanged from the previous year.

The share of Americans without health insurance coverage - another key indicator economic of well-being - was 15.4 percent in 2012 compared with 15.7 percent in 2011.

About 48 million people were uninsured in 2012 compared with 48.6 million in 2011, a change the Census Bureau described as statistically insignificant. The number of people with health insurance increased to 263.2 million in 2012 from 260.2 million in 2011, the bureau said.

The uninsured rate for people ages 19 to 25 fell to 27.2 percent, down from 27.7 percent a year earlier, and for ages 26 to 34 year fell to 27.2 percent from 27.5 percent a year earlier.

Employment-based insurance coverage fell to 54.9 percent from 55.1 percent. The rate of people insured through government programs like Medicare and Medicaid rose to 32.6 percent from 32.2 percent.

The rate of uninsured by race fell the most for the Asian population to 15.1 percent from 16.8 percent in 2011. The uninsured rate for Hispanic people fell to 29.1 percent from 30.1 percent.

In 2012, the uninsured rate for households with annual income less than $25,000 was 24.9 percent compared with a 7.9 percent rate for those households with income of $75,000 or more, the report said.

Via: Newsmax

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Not Looking for Work: Why Labor Force Participation Has Fallen During the Recession

Abstract

The post-recession economy has undergone the slowest recovery in 70 years. In addition to more than 8 percent unemployment, labor force participation has fallen sharply since the recession began in December 2007. Today, 6.4 million fewer Americans are working or searching for work. The drop in unemployment since 2009 is almost entirely due to the fact that those not looking for work do not count as unemployed. Demographic factors explain one-quarter of the decreased labor force participation. The rest comes from increased school enrollment and more people collecting disability benefits. Six percent of U.S. adults are now on disability insurance. This is no time to make it more difficult for businesses to create jobs.

The American economy is experiencing the slowest recovery in 70 years. In addition to persistently high unemployment, labor force participation has fallen sharply since the recession began in December 2007. Today, 6.4 million fewer Americans are working or looking for work. This drop accounts for virtually the entire reduction of the unemployment rate since 2009—those not looking for work do not count as unemployed.

Demographic changes explain approximately one-quarter of the drop in labor force participation. The baby boomers are aging and thus more likely to retire, dropping out of the labor force. The remaining drop in participation primarily comes from millions more people going on disability insurance or attending school. While those enrolled in school will probably return to the labor force, those going on the disability rolls will not. They will remain permanently outside the labor force.

 

Via: Heritage

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DEMS OFFER FREE 'I HEART OBAMACARE' STICKERS

Democrats seem to be making peace with the probable "train wreck" of ObamaCare's implementation. The DCCC, which assists Democrats running for the House, is offering free "I 'Heart' ObamaCare bumper stickers. The organization even took to twitter to advertise and promote its efforts. 

The DCCC has over 112,000 followers. Just 31 retweeted the message. This could be an ominous sign for Democrats. In a recent poll, just 36% of Americans believed the law would help the middle-class. 

Even a perfect implementation of a law as complex as ObamaCare would spark some level of confusion, misunderstanding, and pain. Unfortunately, the implementation of ObamaCare is very far from being perfect. Already, Obama has delayed two important components of the law, the most significant being the delay of the employer mandate. 

The employer mandate delay will drive even more people into the federal and state health insurance exchanges, which are scheduled to open on October 1. Because of coverage mandates in the law, premiums for individuals will be higher than those currently offered.

Those premiums could skyrocket if young and healthy people decide against purchasing the expensive insurance. The fine for failing to buy insurance is just $92 in the first year. 

The DCCC deserves some points for accepting their fate on the law. I don't expect a lot of Democrat candidates to scoop up their bumper stickers, however. 

Via: Breitbart

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Are You Getting Fooled by Obama? Check Out These 5 Pictures and Find Out

Organizing for Action, President Obama’s campaign group, is good at what it does. Its activists know how to get people fired up about President Obama, and they know they’ve been able to fool a lot of Americans.

They also know the 2,700-page Affordable Care Act is an overwhelming piece of legislation filled with bureaucracy, complexity, and regulation—bad news for everyone.

So it’s no surprise they aggressively posted “facts” about Obamacare on all of their social media outlets last week to try to hide the truth about Obamacare.

We refuse to let Organizing for Action fool us on Obamacare. Join us. Get the actual facts below and share the truth with your friends:

1. 

Via: The Foundry

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5 Effects Obamacare Will Have on Working Americans

Obamacare will certainly have a negative impact on every American, but here are five ways it will harm working Americans:

1. Two-thirds of American employees’ wages will decrease as employers deal with increasing costs. Heritage’s Drew Gonshorowski explains the results of an Urban Institute study: “The Urban Institute claims that mid-size firms will see spending per person increase by 4.6 percent, while large firms will see spending increases by 0.3 percent per person. According to the U.S. Census, this accounts for 65.1 percent of employees—or roughly 79 million—in the U.S. who are employed by medium- or large-size firms. The study suggests: ‘Any increase in employers’ health-related costs will be offset by decreases in other compensation—whether wages or other benefits.’ This means that individuals in mid- and large-size firms will receive less in take-home wages (or other benefits) and pay a greater proportion of their compensation to health care due to Obamacare.”
2. Loss of existing insurance coverage. Because of Obamacare’s high costs, experts predict that employers will stop offering employees health coverage, forcing employees into the new government-run exchanges. Although estimates vary, it is likely that millions of Americans will lose their current coverage. For instance, the non-partisanCongressional Budget Office estimates that between 5 million and 20 million Americans will lose employer-sponsored coverage, the American Action Forum estimates 35 million, and McKinsey, a consulting firm, estimates that 30 percent of employers will definitely or probably stop offering coverage after Obamacare takes full effect in 2014.
3. Premiums in the individual market are set to skyrocket. Obamacare’s new, extreme insurance rules and regulations will have dire effects on the cost of coverage that individuals and small businesses purchase on their own. As Forbes columnist and health policy analyst Avik Roy has pointed out in recent articles, “Obama adviser Jonathan Gruber has estimated that, by 2016, the cost of individual-market health insurance under Obamacare, relative to what it would have been under prior law, will increase by an average of 19 percent in Colorado, 29 percent in Minnesota, and 30 percent in Wisconsin. A prestigious actuarial firm, Milliman, has estimated that individual-market premiums in Ohio could increase by 55 to 85 percent.”
4. Full-time workers turned part-time to avoid the employer mandate. As Heritage predicted, businesses have already begun limiting the hours their employees can work, turning full-time workers into part-time workers, to avoid paying the employer mandate penalty or providing costly insurance coverage. For example, one of the nation’s 30 largest employers, Darden Restaurants, is experimenting with keeping employees under the 30-hour threshold established for Obamacare’s mandate. According to the Orlando Sentinel, “In an emailed statement, Darden said staffing changes are ‘just one of the many things we are evaluating to help us address the cost implications health care reform will have on our business.’”
5. The heavy burden of 18 taxes and penalties. Obamacare imposes 18 new taxes and penalties that will cost Americans over $836 billion between 2013 and 2022. These taxes will either hit consumers directly or be passed on through higher prices. For example, the infamous individual mandate to purchase health insurance will be imposed on 6 million Americans in 2016, many of whom are the working middle class. Nearly 70 percent of payers will be below 400 percent of the federal poverty level, and even those below the poverty level could be forced to pay the mandate tax.

Obamacare must be repealed in order to protect hard-working Americans from its harmful and far-reaching effects.

Via: The Foundry

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Biden to FL Voter: When Insurance Rates Go Down, 'You'll Vote For Me In 2016'

Biden 2016? The following exchange between Vice President Joe Biden and a GOP voter in Florida was reported by this tweet from NBC News' Carrie Dann:

 

Carrie Dann@CarrieNBCNews

Biden, chatting by phone with a GOP voter in FL, "After it's all over, when your insurance rates go down then you'll vote for me in 2016"

Via: Fox News

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American Workers Collecting Federal Disability Hits Another Record High

(CNSNews.com) - The number of American workers collecting federal disability insurance benefits hit yet another record high in October, according to the Social Security Administration.

This month 8,803,335 disabled workers are collecting benefits, up from the previous record of 8,786,049 set in September.

In February 2009, the first full month after President Barack Obama took office, there were 7,469,240 workers collecting federal disability insurance. Thus, so far in Obama’s term, the number of workers collecting disability has increased by 1,334,095. That works out to a net increase of about 29,646 per month (1,334,095 divided by 45 months), or an average increase of about 975 per day (1,334,095 divided by 1,369 days).

During George Bush’s eight years as president, the number of workers collecting federal disability insurance increased by 2,375,258, rising from 5,067,119 in February 2001 to 7,442,377 in January 2009. That equaled an average net increase of about 24,742 per month and 813 per day. In Bush’s second term alone, the number of workers on disability increased by 1,198,575, equaling an average monthly increase of about 24,970 and an average daily increase of about 820.

Via: CNS News

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