A Taxpayer Bailout for ObamaCare

An American public already reeling from the catastrophic rollout of ObamaCare will more than likely be hearing an unfamiliar term being bandied about in the new year. “Risk corridor” refers to a provision in the law that allows the government to “stabilize” premium costs for insurance companies during the first three years of the healthcare rollout.

If insurance companies’ “target” costs for providing healthcare has been miscalculated, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will intercede on their behalf. Syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer illuminates the nature of that intercession. “The insurers understand that they’re going to be completely ruined,” Krauthammer explains. “And what’s going to happen as a result of this? There’s only one way out, a huge government bailout of the insurers is waiting at the end of next year.” More accurately, it will be a taxpayer-funded bailout, similar to the ones given to the banks and the car companies.

Risk corridors were established to protect insurance companies that signed up too many sick people, relative to the number of healthy enrollees. They were part of asystem that also included two other concepts known as “reinsurance” and “risk adjustment.”

The reinsurance part of the equation initially compensated insurance companies for enrollees whose costs exceed $60,000 per year. For 2014, that compensation is funded by a $10 billion fund, fed by a $63 tax that has been levied on all healthcare plans. And while the program collects those taxes even from large employer-sponsored plans, payouts only help to underwrite the costs of individual and small-group plans.

Via: Canada Free Press

Continue Reading.....

Michelle’s 50th Birthday Bash set for January 18

First Lady Michelle Obama, who turns 50 January 17, will host an exclusive dance party for herself at the White House the following day, according to the Chicago Tribune.

From the piece:

The White House has been sending out save-the-date emails for a Jan. 18 gala dubbed “Snacks & Sips & Dancing & Dessert,” sources told the Tribune.

Guests are being told: Wear comfortable shoes, eat before you come and practice your dance moves. Who’s invited and who’ll entertain remain under wraps.

No doubt very famous people will be on hand to croon to her.

At least she won’t be taking the party on the road, like the president did for his 50th celebration, according to the Tribune. His festivities lasted a couple of days, included events in both Washington and Chicago, and even featured a massive fundraiser.

Via: White House Dossier

Continue Reading.....

MSNBCers Wonder Whether Troubled Obamacare Will Be Vindicated by History

On Thursday, an MSNBC panel dug into the theory expressed in a recent Associated Press article which noted that all of the 20th and 21st Century’s major social welfare reform programs encountered “rocky” implementation issues but were ultimately viewed positively by posterity. The panel acknowledged that the Affordable Care Act, too, is confronting roll-out issues but wondered whether that program will be positively received by history. 

MSNBC anchor Kristen Welker asked USA Today reporter Susan Page if the ACA could be received by historians better than it is being received by modern political observers and “at what point” would that shift in perspective occur.

“It’s definitely possible,” Page said. “It’s possible we’ll look back to see it as the transformation of the American health care system that provided nearly universal coverage and worked out.”

RELATED: POLITICO Spots Obama’s 6 Worst Fears as Obamacare Crunch Time Nears

However, Page conceded that the problems associated with the ACA are what most are seeing today. She noted that the “fundamental assumptions” that serve as the foundation for the law’s success have yet to be confirmed.

“Yes, it’s possible that we’ll look back and see this as a huge achievement, but it’s also possible that the reverse will be the case,” Page concluded.

Via: Mediaite.com

Continue Reading....

After a Month of Trying, I Still Can't Sign Up for Obamacare

After a month of trying, I still can't complete an application to join the D.C. Health Exchange. For a week, the Obamacare marketplace asked me to prove my citizenship, my daughter's existence, and my fixed address in the District of Columbia, but it would not allow me to submit the requested material.

That changed, slightly, yesterday when it started allowing me to submit those things, which I did, but it must now validate them via a person. Perhaps this is why Barack Obama’s staff had to physically visit the D.C. exchange in order to sign up the president for Obamacare.

It also apparently keeps losing all of my family's personal information, so I’m having to type my name, address, Social Security number, as well as a) a fixed address or b) whether I’m incarcerated or c) or whether am a member of an American Indian or native Alaskan federally protected tribe. 

And despite selecting "send me all messages via email" it doesn't actually do that—the messages just sit in my account at the D.C. exchange, which tells me when I log in that I have a message there. Which I can't read because when I click on it my computer asks me to select a program to use to access whatever it is and no matter what I select it just displays a bunch of random characters. Word, Word Perfect, Microsoft reader, and PDF are not helping with this—but why would they use that sort of program for a message like that?

Via: Red State

Continue Reading....

Do Democrats really need to promote religious persecution?

Democrat politicians do not want respectful disagreement between evangelicals and gays.  War between homosexuals and evangelicals is important for them.  The Democratic Party, in order to raise money from gays and lock in millennial votes, is attacking freedom of thought, speech and religion.  This is a basic community organizing tactic: encourage grievance, divide the community, fan the flames of conflict, and inject government power into social problems.  By putting their own political interests before every other value, Democrats have pushed our country into a culture clash that is becoming unresolvable.

It is time to take a deep breath and reaffirm the principles we all love.  Phil Robertson, imperfect human being, master of the duck call, has given us a wake up call.

Gays have civil rights in our society -- along with all the rest of us.  When gay rights are made absolute, they threaten everyone's fundamental civil rights.  Homosexual wants and desires for universal acceptance are not civil rights. 

These are our civil rights:  freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom from involuntary servitude, the right to vote, the right to equality in public places, the right to due process of law, the right to equal protection under the law.  That's it.  

Our constitutional civil rights are inalienable, meaning God-given rights, based ultimately on the teachings of the Bible.  These are rights of individuals, not groups. 

Via: American Thinker

Continue Reading....

Video: Big rush on ObamaCare, but how many will be insured?

As anyone could have predicted, the deadline for ObamaCare enrollment has prompted a surge in traffic to Healthcare.gov and state exchange websites. Mandate compliance will tend to focus attention, especially when the IRS could end up breathing down your neck for non-compliance. CBS News reports that record numbers of people signed up for insurance on the exchanges over the past week, but no one’s really sure if they actually will have insurance after January 1:

CBS calls these “enrollments,” but that’s actually the question. As CBS notes, insurers aren’t sure that the sign-ups will equate to actual enrollments for a number of reasons. Two of those reasons don’t get a mention in the report. First, the federal exchange and perhaps some of the state exchanges still have issues with their 834s, the electronic report that transmits enrollment data to insurers. The failure rate, by the administration’s own admission, is at least 10%. If the insurers don’t get the proper data, then they can’t enroll the customers. Second, the back-end subsidy payment system isn’t even in place, although the Obama administration’s workaround will be to have the insurers bill CMS for subsidy payments and to issue them without confirmation for a while. If enrollment data gets confused, customers might find their insurance cancelled even if they have been making their partial payments — unless insurers really want to go out on a limb and into the red on provider payments with short revenue.

Via: Hot Air

Continue Reading....

[CARTOON] NSA Spying on Santa

Via: California Political Review

EIGHT WAYS TO OPT OUT OF OBAMACARE

With the deadline to sign up for Obamacare having come and gone, many Americans have decided to “opt out” of President Obama’s signature health care reform law, choosing instead to pay the $95 penalty for sidestepping the individual mandate.

“For many Americans opting out of Obamacare is the best decision they can make, but it's important that they do it the right way—just refusing to buy health insurance and not having another way to pay for catastrophic medical expenses is a mistake,” Sean Parnell, author of the newly-released The Self-Pay Patient, told Breitbart News. “People who want to opt out should be looking at alternatives to conventional health insurance, such as joining a health care sharing ministry or purchasing a fixed benefits policy."

Parnell also strongly advises Americans against opting out and simply paying the “list” price for medical visits and prescription drugs without shopping around, or by relying solely on the local hospital emergency room for routine medical care.

“This approach leaves people who opt out vulnerable to sky-high medical expenses at inflated ‘list’ or ‘chargemaster’ rates, and can result in an inability to obtain needed care because of cost,” Parnell writes on his blog, selfpaypatient.com.

Instead, Parnell recommends the following eight options for those who have opted out of ObamaCare:

1. Join a health care sharing ministry, which are voluntary, charitable membership organizations that share medical expenses among the membership.

Parnell states that Samaritan Ministries, Christian Healthcare Ministries, and Christian Care Ministry are open to practicing Christians, while Liberty HealthShare is open to those who are committed to religious liberty.

Healthcare sharing ministries “operate entirely outside of ObamaCare’s regulations, and typically offer benefits for about half the cost of similar health insurance,” says Parnell. “Members are also exempt from having to pay the tax for being uninsured.”

Via: Breitbart

Continue Reading....

Liberal Commercial Talk Radio Disappears in NY, LA, SF in 2014

2014 will mark the beginning of a massive change for liberal talk radio across the country. In New York, WWRL 1600 AM will flip to Spanish-language music and talk, throwing Ed Schultz, Thom Hartmann, Randi Rhodes, and Alan Colmes off the air. In Los Angeles, KTLK 1150 will be dumping Stephanie Miller, Rhodes, Bill Press and David Cruz off the air in favor of Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. In San Francisco, KNEW 960 will leave Miller, Hartmann, and Mike Malloy without a radio home in the market.

Thanks to radio consolidation and the secondary status of leftist talk in major markets across the country, the final death knell for liberal talkers could be tolling. Leftist talkers simply don’t have the same radio draw as conservatives; KTLK was ranked #41 in the market in November 2013, with WWRL registering almost no pulse at all. KNEW registered just an 0.4 in the San Francisco market in December 2013, placing it #31 in the market.

The failure of commercial leftist talk means that only government-sponsored NPR remains in many major markets.

Via: Truth Revolt

Continue Reading....

Poll: Americans Say 113th Congress is Worst Ever

An overwhelming majority of Americans say the 113th Congress is the worst in their lifetime, according to a new CNN/ORC International poll released Thursday. 

While nearly three quarters of the respondents said this has been a "do-nothing" Congress, two thirds of those surveyed said the current Congress is the worst in their lifetime, with 28 percent disagreeing.

Editor's Note: Should ObamaCare Be Defunded? Vote in Urgent National Poll 

"That sentiment exists among all demographic and political subgroups. Men, women, rich, poor, young old — all think this year's Congress has been the worst they can remember," Keating Holland, CNN polling director, said.

"Older Americans — who have lived through more congresses — hold more negative views of the 113th Congress than younger Americans. Republicans, Democrats and independents also agree that this has been the worst session of Congress in their lifetimes."

The telephone poll of 1,035 adults nationwide showed that 73 percent say Congress has done nothing to solve the country's problems, with roughly 25 percent disagreeing.

Indeed, less than 60 bills have been passed and signed into law during the past year, according to CNN, and there is not much optimism that next year will be much better.

Fifty-two percent believe the policies of Democratic leaders in Congress would move the country in the wrong direction, and 54 percent think the policies of the Republican leaders would do the same, the survey found. The poll, conducted Dec. 16-19, had a sampling error of plus or minus three percent.

One of the first tests of where Congress is headed in 2014 will be the fight over the debt ceiling, and analysts are somewhat divided about the prospects, reports The Washington Times. 

Via: Newsmax
Continue Reading....