Yes, Those Shocking ObamaCare Rate Hikes Are For Real

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ealth Care: When insurers requested huge rate hikes for their 2016 ObamaCare plans, we were told not to worry because state regulators would force them down. But that's not happening. Death spiral, anyone?

In Alaska, the state regulator approved a 39.6% rate increase for Moda Health, and Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alaska got a 38.7% hike.

BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee asked for and got a 36.3% boost in premiums. Oregon's insurance commissioner approved a 25.6% increase for Moda, the biggest insurer on its ObamaCare exchange. In Kansas, ObamaCare enrollees will face increases of up to 25.4%.

In the pre-ObamaCare days, rate hikes of this magnitude, no matter how rare, would have been cited as proof positive of the need for ObamaCare-type changes. But these eye-popping jumps are showing up across the country, and ObamaCare itself is to blame.

The law's mixture of heavy-handed market regulations, mandated benefits, taxes and fees have sharply increased the cost of insurance, with no end in sight.

Undaunted, ObamaCare backers say that in many states, regulators succeeded in cutting back on some requests, and that premiums in some states didn't go up all that much. But calling a 14% increase a victory because it wasn't 21% isn't a victory for those still faced with a substantially more expensive product.

Fact is, insurers had real claims data to back up their rate hikes, giving regulators little wiggle room. When New Mexico refused to let that state's Blue Cross Blue Shield raise premiums enough to cover its costs, Blue Cross decided to pull out, which will force 35,000 ObamaCare enrollees to find another provider.

In some states, regulators themselves forced premiums up more than insurers requested. Oregon's commissioner told Health Net to raise its premiums by 34.8% instead of the 9% the company had in mind.

In Florida, insurers asked for rate hikes averaging 8.6%. The increase finally approved was 9.5%.

For those eligible for tax subsidies, these premium hikes won't matter much. But for the many who aren't, it means ObamaCare is putting affordable insurance even further out of reach. That's a pretty big failure for a law that is officially titled the "Affordable Care Act."

Via: Investors Business Daily

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[VIDEO] Trump on Obamacare: "Insurance Companies Are Making A Fortune Because They Have Control Of Politicians"

BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS: Gentlemen, the next series of questions deals with Obamacare and the role of the federal government. Mr. Trump, Obamacare is one of the things you call a disaster. 

DONALD TRUMP: Complete disaster, yes.

BAIER: Saying it needs to be repealed and replaced.

TRUMP: Correct.

BAIER: Now 15 years ago you called yourself a liberal on health care. You were for a single-payer system, a Canadian style system. Why were you for that then and why aren't you for it now? 

TRUMP: First of all I'd like to go back to [Iraq] -- in July of 2004 I came out strongly against the war with Iraq because it was going to destabilize the Middle East. I'm the only one on the stage that knew that and had the vision to say it and that's exactly what happened. So I just want to say that. 

As far as single-payer, it works in Canada, works incredibly well in Scotland. Could have worked in a different age, which is the age you're talking about here. What I would like to see is a private system without the artificial lines around every state. I have a big company with thousands and thousands of employees and if I'm negotiating in New York or New Jersey or California, I have like one bidder. 

Nobody can bid. You know why? The insurance companies are making a fortune because they have control of the politicians. Of course with the exception of the politicians on the stage. But they have total control of the politicians. They're making a fortune.

Via: Real Clear Politics Video

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[VIDEO] Supreme Court May Have Saved Obamacare, but It Doomed Young Americans’ Health Care Options

Six Americans in black robes have, yet again, saved the Affordable Care Act (ACA) from a major crisis, but the most important part of this story for young people is their atrocious ruling will cause significant problems for the nation’s youngest and healthiest citizens.

In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in the highly anticipated case King v. Burwell, pictures of young Americans celebrating at rallies in Washington, DC flooded the Internet and newspapers across the country. Nothing could be more ironic. Since the ACA was first implemented in 2013, prices for all health care insurance consumers have skyrocketed, but price increases have been particularly shocking for people between 18 and 35 years old.

According to a study by HealthPocket, Inc., the average pre-Obamacare premium cost in 2013 for women 23 years old increased by nearly 45 percent in 2014. Women age 30 saw price increases topping 35 percent.

While cost increases for women under age 31 were higher than the increases experienced by men (22.7 percent) and women age 63 (37.5 percent), their price increases were significantly lower than young men. Prices increased by 78.2 percent for men 23 years old and by 73.4 percent for men age 30.

If young Americans’ health care costs composed a significant portion of U.S. health care spending, these price increases might make some sense, but young people, especially young men, are the healthiest demographic in the nation. As John Graham pointed out in his article in Forbes, an analysis by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners says health care costs for 63-year-olds is five times greater than spending on 22-year-olds.

President Barack Obama’s frequent call for all people to “pay their fair share” apparently doesn’t apply to middle-aged and older Americans.

Via: Human Events

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Are Obamacare’s 22 Health Insurance Co-ops Near Financial Collapse?

Ominous signs are proliferating among 22 Obamacare health insurance co-ops of imminent financial collapses that could leave more than a million Americans without coverage, according to a Daily Caller News Foundation Investigative Group analysis.

All but one of the federally funded co-ops are experiencing accelerating net losses. President Obama’s signature health care reform program established the co-ops to provide non-profit competition to private sector health insurance providers.

Many of the 22 co-ops could soon follow an Obamacare co-op that defaulted earlier this year, suffering $163 million in operating losses in a single year.  That collapse left 120,000 customers without coverage on Christmas Eve.

“We’re certainly going to have fewer co-op’s by the end of the year,” Thomas Miller, a resident health care fellow at the American Enterprise Institute think tank, told DCNF.

New figures compiled by Miller and Marie-Grace Turner, president of the Galen Institute, show that net losses for the co-ops reached a record $614 million in 2014. Both AEI and Galen are Obamacare critics.

The figure is nearly three times the $234 million in losses suffered through the first three quarters of 2014 as reported by Standards & Poor’s in a February 2015  report.  It means that the burn rate for the experimental Obamacare co-ops is quickening.

“All but one of the co-ops,” S&P noted, “reported negative net income through the first three quarters of 2014.”

Insurance ratings firm A.M. Best also warned in January that as of September 30, 2014, “the ratio of surplus notes outstanding to capital and surplus exceeded 100% for all of the co-ops.”

Arizona’s Meritus Mutual Health Partners co-op has long-term loans that are nearly 1,000 percent of the value of its capital and surplus, according to A.M. Best.

S&P identified the co-ops suffering the worst capital ratios as those in Illinois, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada and Maryland.

The Community Health Alliance co-op in Tennessee reported that it’s net losses were 314% of its federal funding, according to the S&P report.

Via: Spectacle Blog
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[MUST READ] Californians Struggle to Afford Obamacare Premiums

In May 2013, Covered California officials faced sharp criticism over claims that premiums would actually go down for many health insurance purchasers. Forbes.com’s Avik Roy wrote that the agency implementing the Golden State’s version of Obamacare needed to look at its own data, which suggested health premiums would surge at least 64 percent after the regulations in the Affordable Care Act took effect. Bloomberg analysts offered similar criticisms.

Two years later, the Kaiser Family Foundation has issued a report that suggests these warnings were more accurate than the upbeat predictions of Covered California Executive Director Peter Lee. A key finding:

“Among adults who say that they pay a monthly premium for their health coverage, nearly half of newly insured adults (47 percent) say it is somewhat or very difficult to afford this cost, compared to just 27 percent of adults who were insured before 2014. When looking specifically by type of coverage, 44 percent of Covered California enrollees (not all of whom are newly insured) report difficulty paying their monthly premium, versus a quarter of adults with other types of private coverage. Medi-Cal enrollees do not pay monthly premiums for their coverage.”

Cost, not glitches, slowing CA sign-ups

The Kaiser report, which was based on interviews with 4,555 Californians, says the cost factor is the biggest barrier to higher enrollments, not online technical snafus:

“Cost continues to prevent many uninsured adults from seeking coverage. While many people focused on website glitches and administrative barriers during 2014, uninsured adults say that the reason they still lack coverage is because it’s too expensive, with most not even trying to get ACA coverage, and many who did still saying they are ineligible or believe the coverage is too costly.”

Via: California Political Review

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WHITE HOUSE: PROPOSED HEALTH INSURANCE RATE HIKES IS PROOF OBAMACARE IS WORKING

Are you startled by the news that insurance companies are planning health insurance rate hikes of 10 percent or more in 37 states? Well that news, according to the White House, is one of the signs that Obamacare is working.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest explained to reporters that, thanks to Obamacare requirements, insurance companies are forced to report publicly any proposed rate hikes exceeding 10 percent for the coming period. State insurance regulators, he explained, would then conduct a review of the rate increases.

Because these rate increases are now public, Earnest appeared optimistic that the proposed rate increases would not ultimately stand.

“The result typically has been that after that state review is conducted, that insurance companies would slash their rates,” he explained.

When asked if rate increases were contrary to Obama’s promise to reduce health care costs through Obamacare, Earnest focused more on the law’s ability to slow down spiking health care premiums.

“Our goal of this has been to slow the growth in health care costs, and that has been our mantra,” he said. “And we have seen, as our economists can demonstrate to you, that since the health care law went into effect — since the Affordable Care Act went into effect health care costs in this country have grown at the slowest rate in recorded history, the slowest rate in 50 years.”

The rate hikes won’t be officially set until October.

Via: Breitbart

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COVERED CALIFORNIA MAY MERGE WITH BANKRUPT STATE OBAMACARE EXCHANGES

With major insurers in some states proposing up to 51 percent Obamacare insurance premium increases, liberal Democrats are scrambling to avoid a political and financial disaster. One proposal is to merge California’s financially troubled “Covered California” exchange with the even more insolvent state exchanges, like “Cover Oregon,” which was forced to shut down last year.

Obamacare provided $4.8 billion in federal funding for 13 states to set up their own independent healthcare exchanges. But after just 17 months of operations, spending has frittered away that money and most exchanges are experiencing serious cash-flow problems. The Covered California exchange is already running an $80 million deficit as of April, and the Cover Oregon was shut down in April 2014 and opted to transition to the federal system after blowing through $248 million in federal cash.

Governor Jerry Brown has an opportunity to demonstrate his national stature by offering to lead the merger of the California and Oregon exchanges. Conceivably, he could then propose rolling-up other financially struggling exchanges, like New York and Connecticut exchanges, which are just beginning preliminary joint-venture talks.

Oregon tried to publicly berate Oracle Corporation, the lead website developer for “Cover Oregon,” for the failure of the state exchange due to technology problems allegedly outside of bureaucrats’ control.

But in a lawsuit filed against “Cover Oregon,” Oracle claimed they are still owed $23 million under their contract. According to the Los Angeles Times, the lawsuit noted that hundreds of thousands of Oregonians were enrolled in health insurance by back-office customer service representatives and health insurance agents using the software built by Oracle and a dozen other contractors. But state officials never terminated the temporary administrative workers and switched over so consumers could enroll on their own online.

Via: Breitbart

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Marine Can’t Find Doctor Due to Obamacare

A California veteran is having trouble finding a doctor because of a faulty Obamacare plan.

Kyle, affected by chronic Lyme disease he contracted while on active duty, is frustrated with the lack of doctor availability on his Anthem BlueCross insurance plan. “I was on the phone with Anthem for two hours while they were trying to find me a doctor within 20 miles. Finally a supervisor came on the phone and said ‘Sir, we have to go, we have other people to help’ and advised me [that] I need to cancel my plan,” he told KPIX.

State law stipulates that insurers must have enough doctors to enable patients to get an appointment within 15 days within 15 miles of their home. Kyle was not able to find a doctor under these requirements and neither was Anthem. Inaccurately listed doctors are considered a violation of the law. The list of doctors given to CoveredCalifornia was incorrect.

“If we determine that a health plan has violated the law, we will take action,” Marta Green of Department of Managed Health Care said in response.

Internal emails reveal one individual’s warning about listing doctors that are not actually on insurance plans “I suspect that we are going to have a network adequacy issue very soon.”

Kyle advised CoveredCalifornia not to negotiate with Anthem. “I would tell them to get rid of Anthem BlueCross.”

Via: WFB

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Doctors boycotting California's Obamacare exchange

An estimated seven out of every 10 physicians in deep-blue California are rebelling against the state's Obamacare health insurance exchange and won't participate, the head of the state's largest medical association said.

“It doesn't surprise me that there's a high rate of non-participation,” said Dr. Richard Thorp, president of the California Medical Association.

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Independent insurance brokers who work with both insurance companies and doctor networks estimate that about 70 percent of California's 104,000 licensed doctors are boycotting the exchange.

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“We need some recognition that we’re doing a service to the community. But we can’t do it for free. And we can’t do it at a loss. No other business would do that,” he said. Thorp has been a primary care doctor for 38 years in a small town 90 miles north of Sacramento. The CMA represents 38,000 of the roughly 104,000 doctors in California.

California offers one of the lowest government reimbursement rates in the country -- 30 percent lower than federal Medicare payments. And reimbursement rates for some procedures are even lower.

In other states, Medicare pays doctors $76 for return-office visits. But in California, Medicare’s reimbursement is $24, according to Dr. Theodore M. Mazer, a San Diego ear, nose and throat doctor.

In other states, doctors receive between $500 to $700 to perform a tonsillectomy. In California, they get $160, Mazer added.

Only in September did insurance companies disclose that their rates would be pegged to California’s Medicaid plan, called Medi-Cal. That's driven many doctors to just say no.

They're also pointing out that Covered California's website lists many doctors as participants when they aren't.

Via: Washington Examiner

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After Obamacare, ObamaCar Insurance?

The rollout of ObamaCare is, once again, displaying the federal government's adeptness at managing complexity -- a capability already illustrated by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Amtrak (FUBAR), and the United States Postal Service (USPS).  Given the extraordinary rollout of ObamaCare, it's time to start moving toward single-payer auto insurance.

Here are two reasons why.

First, auto insurance companies offer a mind-boggling array of pricing options. Their nationwide, indecipherable rate structure cries out for the keen, coordinating skills of the Washington D.C. central planners. 

Second, the spread of telematics applied to vehicle tracking will offer the federal government new surveillance and revenue enhancement opportunities.    

Between 1989 and 2010, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) reported a national average increase of 43.3% in auto insurance rates. (By the way, the new NAIC CEO -- essentially a lobbyist job -- is former Nebraska Senator Ben "Cornhusker Kickback" Nelson.)

Sure, 43.3% is less than the CPI 76% inflation rate increase over those same years, but it's still unfair because the increased costs were not equitably shared. The costs need to be redistributed and, when necessary, supplemented by federal subsidies for those living in high-premium urban areas who can't afford auto insurance. 

Via: American Thinker

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CARSON: A health care lemon - Americans have a right to an Obamacare refund

When I was a teenager, my mother broke her own rule of never buying someone else’s trouble and purchased a used car. We were quite excited because it was beautiful and sleek, and it was a convertible.

The salesman said the car was practically new and was the deal of the century. Before long, it was discovered that the engine was completely shot, and the car was essentially a beautiful piece of junk. The salesman did not know my mother, and in the end, gladly refunded her money and took the car back.

This kind of story is, of course, the reason that used-car salesmen have such a bad reputation. Just behind used-cars salesmen are politicians, who have also been known to sell people a bill of goods with no substance. Obamacare is such a bill of goods, one that was promoted as one thing and turned out to be something quite different. In the real world, it is frequently possible to gain legal relief in the case of a fraudulent deal, but in the case of Obamacare, we are being told that it is the law of the land and that you simply must live with it.

When you place misdeeds by the government beyond the reach of normal mechanisms of recourse, you establish a condition ripe for abuse. If a bill is passed under false pretenses, shouldn’t we question its legitimacy and. at the very least, reintroduce the bill after disclosing the aspects that were hidden previously? If the bill still passes after such disclosure, it would then become legitimate. We must remember that we are talking about one-sixth of the U.S. 

economy. We should not be playing fast and loose with the laws and details surrounding the most important possession we have: our health. I think this would be a fair-minded solution to anyone who does not have ulterior motives in health care reform.

Via: Washington Times

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Obamacare Web site mocked by, yes, insurance company

Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield decides to launch three ads that tell people to avoid the Healthcare.gov Web site, because its own site works so much better.

Such a struggle.

(Credit: Wellmark/Ad Age screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)

A couple of days ago, I received two letters from my health insurance company.

One welcomed me to its autopay system -- which was a touch odd, given that I had been in its autopay system for many years.

The second told me that I was about to have my health insurance cut off, as I hadn't paid my monthly bill.

Please forgive me, then, if I'm not bathed in admiration for the way health insurance companies do business. There is one, however, that wants me (and you) to believe it's the apogee of efficiency.

Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield wants you to know that the Obamacare Web site is just a painful affair, while its Web site will cure you of all ills.

I am grateful to AdAge for revealing three ads that this no doubt fine, efficient, and gloriously well-priced insurance company has released in Iowa and South Dakota.

These ads portray health-related situations that somehow go wrong. There's the urine sample jar that won't open, the blood pressure gauge that insists on farting, and the reflex test that causes the wrong knee to react.

The words offer you enormous comfort in this hour of your need: "Things don't always work like they're supposed to do. Good thing the government exchange isn't the only place to buy health insurance."

Via: CNET

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Jim Clyburn says Democrats are 'in bed' with insurance companies over Obamacare

Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., conceded that Democrats got "in bed" with insurance companies while crafting Obamacare, as he argued that the companies should do more to promote the law.

"We need to push this out into the insurance companies," Clyburn said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "If we are going to be in bed with them, let's bring them into this process. A lot of these insurance companies could be signing people up, they could be informing their policy holders — this letter that they're sending out, don't just cancel the policies, let them know what their alternatives are."

Clyburn's comment concurred with NBC's Chuck Todd's analysis, who explained why "the White House is disappointed" with the insurance companies' failure to promote Obamacare.

"They're in bed with the insurance companies," Todd said. "They're disappointed that the health insurance companies aren't more publicly enthusiastic since this law was essentially designed to give them more business."

Clyburn seems not to realize that insurance companies are directing policyholders to new Obamacare plans, but some of those policies cost more to provide less. For instance, the city workers in Bel Aire, Kan., lost their coverage only to have inferior alternatives offered to them.

"I simply wanted you to know the pain this is causing me and my staff in losing the terrific health coverage we had through Blue Cross Blue Shield in exchange for worse coverage at a higher price," city manager Ty Lasher wrote in a letter to Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan., last week.

"BCBS offers other plans that we can choose from based on the government’s standards," Lasher wrote. "All offer higher deductibles and the two closest to our old plan each cost more than what we were paying. In addition, because we are under 50 employees, we no longer get a ‘group’ rate so everyone is being judged as a single."

Via: Washington Examiner

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Obamacare fix for canceled health policies could raise costs: insurers

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama's fix for canceled health plans could "destabilize" the insurance market and lead to higher costs for consumers without further steps, America'sHealth Insurance Plans, an industry trade group, said on Thursday.

"Changing the rules after health plans have already met the requirements of the (Obamacare) law could destabilize the market and result in higher premiums," AHIP President Karen Ignagni said in a statement.

"Additional steps must be taken to stabilize the marketplace and mitigate the adverse impact on consumers," she said.

Via: Reuters

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'Fairy Tale' Continues as Obama Proposes Extralegal Obamacare Fix

Earlier this week, former President Bill Clinton advised President Obama to "honor the commitment" he made and to allow Americans to keep their health care plans, if they like them. That was a central promise Obama made when he sold Obamacare, but one that turned out not to be true when Obamacare began to be implemented last month.

"So I personally believe, even if it takes a change to the law, the president should honor the commitment the federal government made to those people and let them keep what they got," Clinton in an interview released Tuesday.

Now President Obama is taking Clinton's advice and trying to honor that commitment. In remarks today at the White House today, Obama said, "I completely get how upsetting this can be" lose insurance plans that I promised Americans would be able to keep. "To those Americans, I hear you loud and clear."

But there's a catch with president's proposed solution. The president is not proposing that the law be changed to allow all health insurance plans grandfathered into Obamacare's eligibility requirements.

No, instead the White House is saying that it will use "enforcement discretion" to allow illegal health insurance plans to be able to still be sold. That is, the Obama administration will not enforce the penalty on individuals for not having eligible health insurance plans and they'll allow the insurance companies to still sell so-called bad plans -- plans they technically can't sell under Obamacare.

Via: Weekly Standard

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The Drift toward Despotism - Too many of our rulers and their enforcers reflexively see the citizenry as a threat. By Mark Steyn

At a time when over 4 million people have had their health insurance canceled, it’s good to know that some Americans can still access prompt medical treatment, even if they don’t want it. David Eckert was pulled over by police in Deming, N.M., for failing to come to a complete halt at a stop sign in the Walmart parking lot. He was asked to step out of the vehicle, and waited on the sidewalk. Officers decided that they didn’t like the tight clench of his buttocks, a subject on which New Mexico’s constabulary is apparently expert, and determined that it was because he had illegal drugs secreted therein. So they arrested him, and took him to Gila Regional Medical Center in neighboring Hidalgo County, where Mr. Eckert was forced to undergo two abdominal X-rays, two rectal probes, three enemas, and defecate thrice in front of medical staff and representatives of two law-enforcement agencies, before being sedated and subjected to a colonoscopy — all procedures performed against his will and without a valid warrant.

Alas, Mr. Eckert’s body proved to be a drug-free zone, and so, after twelve hours of detention, he was released. If you’re wondering where his lawyer was during all this, no attorney was present, as police had not charged Mr. Eckert with anything, so they’re apparently free to frolic and gambol up his rectum to their hearts’ content. Deming police chief Brandon Gigante says his officers did everything “by the book.” That’s the problem, in New Mexico and beyond: “the book.”

Getting into the spirit of things, Gila Regional Medical Center subsequently sent Mr. Eckert a bill for $6,000. It appears he had one of what the president calls those “bad apple” plans that doesn’t cover anal rape. Doubtless, under the new regime, Obamacare navigators will be happy to take a trip up your northwest passage free of charge. That’s what it is, by the way: anal rape. The euphemisms with which the state dignifies the process — “cavity search” — are distinctions that exist only in the mind of the perpetrator, not the fellow on the receiving end. Fleet Street’s Daily Mail reports that this is at least the second anal fishing expedition mounted by local authorities. Timothy Young underwent a similar experience after being fingered by the same police dog, Leo, who may not be very good at sniffing drugs but certainly has an eye for a pert bottom. At the time of Mr. Young’s arrest, Leo’s police license had reportedly expired a year-and-a-half earlier, but why get hung up on technicalities?

Via: NRO

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