[OPINION] The Unaffordable Care Act Works Like Hell

It Performs Exactly As Designed

Michael Tanner of National Review Online points out some of the awesome positives we see with Glorious Obamacare!

Obamacare generates piles of relative surplus value without requiring any innovation.

Already we’ve seen requests for increases for individual plans as high as 64.8 percent in Texas, 61 percent in Pennsylvania, 51.6 percent in New Mexico, 36.3 percent in Tennessee, 30.4 percent in Maryland, 25 percent in Oregon, and 19.9 percent in Washington. Those increases would come on top of premium increases last year that were 24.4 percent above what they would have been without Obamacare, according to a study from the National Bureau of Economic Research.

This is, admittedly mitigated by the sort of economic competition that Obamacare sought to eliminate.Hospitals, ambulance providers and physicians have all sought out ways of carving this surplus away from the insurance companies. Numerous other parasites have latched on to the insurance companies for their share of the bounty. Karl Denninger describes the process below.

Pull out your car insurance bill and the declarations page. You will find a line there called “Medical Payments” (it may be called “PIP” or similar in some states) which is state-mandated coverage. The price of that coverage is five times what it should be and for drivers with lower liability limits it’s frequently the most expensive part of their policy. In addition, your Bodily Injury coverage cost is jacked, typically by at least twice, due to this same racket. It doesn’t end with auto insurance either; Workman’s Compensation, which is required of businesses once they hire their first employee, is also a multiple of real cost for the same reason and this reflects back into the price of everything you buy from a hamburger to a gallon of gasoline.

Obamacare limits the extent to which insurance companies are ever made to pay back out.

At the same time, deductibles for the cheapest Obamacare plans now average about $5,180 for individuals and $10,500 for families.

Obamacare eliminates policies from the market that compete against the overpriced, shoddy plans insurers make the most money off of offering.

The ACA sets minimum standards for what a plan has to include. What this does is effectively shut competition out of the market. It forces people who would not pay into the racket to pay into it or get fined for not being insured. It makes people buy far more insurance than they need to subsidize other customers that can’t afford the benevolent care they receive from the Unaffordable Care Act. It becomes a wealth transfer vehicle that taxes the young and healthy for as long as they are crazy enough to remain young and healthy.

So The Unaffordable Care Act works like Hell. It robs the bank without exposing the perpetrators to hostile gunfire from the security firm. It works the way Billy Tauzin, Kaiser Permanente and numerous other healthcare industry apparatchiks wrote it to work. Thus, it comes as no surprise they find the potential outcome of King v. Burwell so potentially unpleasant.

Regulating the USG the way our healthcare industry does is all well and good, but it doesn’t do any good if a bribe proof, unaccountable entity shuts off their money reservoir. You can’t buy people who don’t have to run for office. They don’t work for you the way Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) 64% and Barack Obama willingly do. If these SCOTUS Justices decide to become do-gooders and break up the racket, it would mess up something that the politicians and the healthcare companies see as a beautiful thing. The American People are not so enamored, but two out of three isn’t bad. It wasn’t written for the people, so it’s silly to expect it to work for them. Which is fine, because it isn’t like the government works for the people anymore either. It’s not like they did all the hard work of writing themselves an Unaffordable Care Act.

Via: Red State

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Access to Health Care May Increase ER Visits, Study Suggests

Supporters of President Obama’s health care law had predicted that expanding insurance coverage for the poor would reduce costly emergency room visits as people sought care from primary care doctors. But a rigorous new study conducted in Oregon has flipped that assumption on its head, finding that the newly insured actually went to the emergency room more often.

The study, published in the journal Science, compared thousands of low-income people in the Portland area who were randomly selected in a 2008 lottery to get Medicaid coverage with people who entered the lottery but remained uninsured. Those who gained coverage made 40 percent more visits to the emergency room than their uninsured counterparts. The pattern was so strong that it held true across most demographic groups, times of day, and types of visits, including for conditions that were treatable in primary care settings.

The finding casts doubt on the hope that expanded insurance coverage will help rein in rising emergency room costs just as more than two million people are gaining coverage under the Affordable Care Act.

Instead, the study suggests that the surge in the numbers of insured people may put even greater pressure on emergency rooms and increase costs. Nearly 30 million uninsured Americans could gain coverage under the law, about half of them through Medicaid. The first policies took effect on Wednesday.

“I suspect that the finding will be surprising to many in the policy debate,” said Katherine Baicker, an economist at Harvard University’s School of Public Health and one of the authors of the study.

Via: NYT

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Obamacare forcing Indiana hospitals to cut hundreds of jobs

The Obamacare wrecking ball is not only skyrocketing premiums, but destroying healthcare jobs as well:

Via: The Right Scoop

Hospital Finds Obamacare Harmful to Its Health

Last night the Newark Star-Ledger reported that Obamacare is causing one large New Jersey hospital to lay off workers:

Barnabas Health, the second-largest private employer in the state, said today it was forced to lay off employees because of pressures brought about by healthcare reform….“Healthcare reform, in combination with Medicare cuts, more patients seeking outpatient care and decreasing patient volumes,” a spokeswoman for Barnabas said in a statement. “As a result, we have made the difficult decision to reduce our workforce.”

This move was both predictable and predicted. Even though hospital industry lobbyists supported Obamacare three years ago, the law contains Medicare provisions that will decimate the industry over the long term. As Heritage Foundation President Jim DeMint wrote earlier this week:

ObamaCare’s reductions in Medicare spending could undermine the health system for millions of seniors. According to the non-partisan Medicare actuary, the law’s arbitrary spending reductions could cause 15% of hospitals to become unprofitable by 2019, and as many as 40% of hospitals to become unprofitable in the long term. These hospitals could face the choice between shutting out seniors or shutting their doors for good.

Nancy Pelosi famously said we had to pass the bill to find out what’s in it. Hospitals, whose Washington lobbyists endorsed the law, are now finding out that Obamacare will harm them significantly—and hospital workers are finding out Obamacare could cost them their jobs.

Via: The Foundry

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Under Obamacare, Hospitals and Courts Overrule Parental Authority

Parents be warned!  Under Obamacare guidelines, doctors and hospitals can usurp your parental authority, dictate what medical treatment your child will get and if you don’t like it, they will have your child taken away from you, and in some cases the courts are siding with the hospitals.

 Jacob Stieler, son of Ken and Erin had cancer as a young boy and was treated.  At age 9 he had been cancer free for a year.  With no signs of cancer on any tests, the state ordered Jacob to undergo another round of strong chemotherapy.  There was no need for the chemo and some doctors even said it could do damage to the boy and possible be fatal, but the state insisted that this was the mandated treatment under Obamacare guidelines.  When the parents refused the dangerous chemo treatments, the state threatened that they would charge the parents with medical neglect.

 Sammy Nikolayev made national news at 5 months of age when he was forcibly taken from the arms of his mother by a squad of armed police.  Sammy’s mother Anna was uneasy when a doctor at a hospital told her that Sammy needed surgery.  She told the hospital that she wanted a second opinion and took Sammy to another hospital to be checked.  The second hospital said that Sammy did not need surgery and prescribed treatment.  Doctors at the first hospital were insulted that Anna would take her son elsewhere and they called social services and the police and had Sammy ripped from the arms of his mother.  Eventually, Sammy was returned to his parents, who will never trust doctors, hospitals, police or social workers ever again.

Via: Political Outcast

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OBAMACARE FINES START FOR HOSPITALS THAT READMIT SICK PATIENTS

Hospitals who re-admit patients within 30 days after they were discharged will now have to, under an Obamacare provision, pay fines as of October 1, 2012, which could force hospitals to slash programs that help the elderly, the poor, and the chronically ill. 

According to a study, "about two-thirds of the hospitals serving Medicare patients, or some 2,200 facilities, will be hit with penalties averaging around $125,000 per facility this coming year."

This provision was inserted into Obamacare as a cost-cutting measure, but it will force hospitals to give the poor, elderly, and chronically ill substandard care.

In addition, critics also note that "large teaching hospitals that are affiliated with universities" could be negatively impacted the most because these hospitals are often on the front lines in dealing with the elderly and the poor in addition to people who have mysterious illnesses who constantly need to be re-admitted to the hospital for urgent care. 

As the Examiner notes: 

Some observers believe that the new provision will place an enormous amount of added pressure on these populations, given that patients cannot be certain that their treatment will be up to par in the event of the need for readmission to the hospital after discharge. And hospitals that are already feeling the squeeze financially due to cutbacks in reimbursements from the government may be forced to limit the level of care given during readmission, resulting in patients being discharged long before they are ready.

This is yet another reason why a plurality of Americans want Obamacare to be repealed before it it is too late, as more of such provisions will gradually be implemented. 

Via: Breitbart

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Full List of Obamacare Tax Hikes

Obamacare law contains 20 new or higher taxes on American families and small businesses

Taxpayers are reminded that the President’s healthcare law is one of the largest tax increases in American history.

Obamacare contains 20 new or higher taxes on American families and small businesses. 

Arranged by their respective effective dates, below is the total list of all $500 billion-plus in tax hikes (over the next ten years) in Obamacare, where to find them in the bill, and how much your taxes are scheduled to go up as of today:

Taxes that took effect in 2010:

1. Excise Tax on Charitable Hospitals (Min$/immediate): $50,000 per hospital if they fail to meet new "community health assessment needs," "financial assistance," and "billing and collection" rules set by HHS. Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,961-1,971

2. Codification of the “economic substance doctrine” (Tax hike of $4.5 billion).  This provision allows the IRS to disallow completely-legal tax deductions and other legal tax-minimizing plans just because the IRS deems that the action lacks “substance” and is merely intended to reduce taxes owed. Bill: Reconciliation Act; Page: 108-113

3. “Black liquor” tax hike (Tax hike of $23.6 billion).  This is a tax increase on a type of bio-fuel. Bill: Reconciliation Act; Page: 105

4. Tax on Innovator Drug Companies ($22.2 bil/Jan 2010): $2.3 billion annual tax on the industry imposed relative to share of sales made that year. Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,971-1,980

5. Blue Cross/Blue Shield Tax Hike ($0.4 bil/Jan 2010): The special tax deduction in current law for Blue Cross/Blue Shield companies would only be allowed if 85 percent or more of premium revenues are spent on clinical services. Bill: PPACA; Page: 2,004

6. Tax on Indoor Tanning Services ($2.7 billion/July 1, 2010): New 10 percent excise tax on Americans using indoor tanning salons. Bill: PPACA; Page: 2,397-2,399

Taxes that took effect in 2011:

7. Medicine Cabinet Tax ($5 bil/Jan 2011): Americans no longer able to use health savings account (HSA), flexible spending account (FSA), or health reimbursement (HRA) pre-tax dollars to purchase non-prescription, over-the-counter medicines (except insulin). Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,957-1,959

8. HSA Withdrawal Tax Hike ($1.4 bil/Jan 2011): Increases additional tax on non-medical early withdrawals from an HSA from 10 to 20 percent, disadvantaging them relative to IRAs and other tax-advantaged accounts, which remain at 10 percent. Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,959

Tax that took effect in 2012:

9. Employer Reporting of Insurance on W-2 (Min$/Jan 2012): Preamble to taxing health benefits on individual tax returns. Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,957

Taxes that take effect in 2013:

10. Surtax on Investment Income ($123 billion/Jan. 2013):  Creation of a new, 3.8 percent surtax on investment income earned in households making at least $250,000 ($200,000 single).  This would result in the following top tax rates on investment income: Bill: Reconciliation Act; Page: 87-93

Via: Americans for Tax Reforms

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More than 2,200 Hospitals Face Penalties Under ObamaCare Rules

A provision of ObamaCare is set to punish roughly two-thirds of U.S. hospitals evaluated by Medicare starting this fall over high readmission rates, according to an analysis by Kaiser Health News.

Starting in October, Medicare will reduce reimbursements to hospitals with high 30-day readmission rates -- which refers to patients who return within a month -- by as much as 1 percent. The maximum penalty increases to 2 percent the following year and 3 percent in 2014. 

Doctors are concerned the penalty is unfair, since sometimes they have to accept patients more than once in a brief period of time but could be penalized for doing so -- even for accepting seniors who are sick. 

"Among patients with heart failure, hospitals that have higher readmission rates actually have lower mortality rates," said Sunil Kripalani, MD, a professor with Vanderbilt University Medical Center who studies hospital readmissions. "So, which would we rather have -- a hospital readmission or a death?"

But according to federal government figures, nearly one in five Medicare patients is readmitted to a hospital within 30 days of release, costing taxpayers an estimated $17.5 billion.

"Readmissions has been a low-hanging fruit for Medicare," said Jordan Rau, a staff writer with KHN, an editorially independent program of the non-partisan Kaiser Family Foundation. "They've been very unhappy that about 2 million Medicare beneficiaries are being readmitted every year between 30 days of discharge."

Medicare evaluated readmission rates at 3,367 of the nation's hospitals and will impose penalties on 2,211 starting in October, according to KHN. The analysis shows 278 hospitals will receive this year's maximum penalty of 1 percent. On the other side of the spectrum, 50 hospitals will receive the minimum penalty of 0.01 percent, KHN reports.

Via: Fox News

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