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Obamacare Tag

Posted by Leslie Eastman on March 11, 2016 15 Comments
We have continuously chronicled they myriad of symptoms that clearly show the Affordable Care Act is seriously ill. Enrollments have been significantly short of projections. Premiums for health insurance are escalating to the point many Americans can't afford the coverage they were mandated to purchase. Obamacare state exchanges have been closing, and the largest of the co-ops was placed under investigation for under-reporting its financial obligations. Now NPR and Harvard, hardly the bastions of Tea Party activism, have declared Obamacare a failure.
National Public Radio collaborated with Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to survey Americans’ recent experience with health care. As to the Affordable Care Act, the survey’s findings are damning. They suggest that Obamacare has been worse than a complete waste of money.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 26, 2016 20 Comments
Obamacare continues to surprise and excite. The surprise is that it's not as "affordable" as promised, and which excites such panic that people just don't bother to sign up in the numbers predicted. The L.A. Times reports:
Reflecting slower than anticipated enrollment growth in health insurance purchased through the Affordable Care Act, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has lowered its estimate of how many people will get coverage through the law in 2016. In any given month this year, about 13 million people on average are now expected to be enrolled in a health plan purchased on a marketplace created by the law, often called Obamacare. That is down from 21 million people previously estimated by the budget office, whose projections about the impact of legislation are closely watched by both parties in Washington.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on January 24, 2016 18 Comments
Democratic presidential frontrunner, Hillary Clinton recently co-opted Obamacare. In spite of her criticisms of President Obama's hallmark healthcare legislation, Clinton told supporters that the Affordable Care Act, affectionately known as Obamacare, was "HillaryCare" first. The Hill reported:
Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton is out with a new defense of her healthcare record — rival Bernie Sanders may have helped write ObamaCare, but it was her idea first. "It was called HillaryCare before it was called ObamaCare,” Clinton told a crowd of supporters at a country club in Vinton, Iowa. “I don't want to start over."

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 14, 2016 28 Comments
Chelsea Clinton is a highly successful person, for reasons entirely related to the circumstances of her birth, not her qualifications or personal accomplishments. The sweetheart deal she received at NBC came to epitomize the crony political capitalism her parents so effectively turned into a megafortune, as this August 29, 2014, NY Times report reflected:
Ms. Clinton, who is vice chairwoman of the philanthropic organization her father founded, made an annual salary of $600,000 at NBC, according to Politico. She remains on the board of IAC/InterActiveCorp, the digital media company overseen by Barry Diller, a longtime Clinton supporter. In 2011, that position paid an annual retainer of $50,000 and a $250,000 grant of restricted stock.
When Chelsea was the child in The White House, and even after that when she was a private person, she was entitled to privacy and freedom from political attack so long as her political role was limited to trying to make her mother seem human to a skeptical public.

Posted by David Gerstman on January 07, 2016 23 Comments
At a time when tensions in the Middle East are rising, it is perhaps a time to once again review President Barack Obama's qualifications for office. To be sure his qualifications were fabricated, or at least oversold. This wasn't just the doing of the Obama campaign. Campaigns are supposed to do present their candidates in the best possible light. The problem  was that America's supposedly independent media boosted the first terms senator's prospects with little or no skepticism. This was certainly the case in reporting where most reporters bought into the historical aspect of Obama's candidacy as well was the rebuke to Republicans for the failings of the Bush presidency. (If not the failings, then the aspects that the liberal media disagreed with.) For the purpose of this exercise let's look at parts of The Washington Post's 2008 endorsement of Obama. I am using the Post as an example of what we saw so frequetly because even though the Post is a liberal paper, its editorial position regarding foreign policy is generally responsible. However in the Post's enthusiasm for Obama, all caution was disregarded and they promoted a man who did not really exist.

Posted by New Neo on January 05, 2016 17 Comments
[UPDATE 1/6/2016: The answer to the question is yes, the bill will get to Obama's desk. The measure passed.] Remember that slogan, "repeal and replace"? There have actually been quite a few bills passed in the House to repeal Obamacare during the last couple of years, whether you've noticed them or not. Here's an article about it from this past October:
House Republicans pushed forward with another vote to roll back the Affordable Care Act on Friday, passing a bill that would repeal several major pillars of President Obama’s landmark 2010 law, including the requirement that Americans have health coverage. The legislation, the latest of more than 50 bills by congressional Republicans to repeal all or part of the health law, would also halt federal funding for Planned Parenthood. The 240-189 vote will not change anything in the health law or Planned Parenthood, however, as Obama has indicated he would veto the bill if it ever reaches his desk.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on January 02, 2016 11 Comments
One 2016 prediction is very easy to make: Obamacare will continue its trajectory of failure. For example, Covered California has been heralded as one of the greatest state exchange successes for the "Affordable Care Act". The reality is that one-third of California's residents are now using a system that was initially intended for the low income families.
The state's health plan for the poor, known as Medi-Cal, now covers 12.7 million people, 1 of every 3 Californians. If Medi-Cal were a state of its own, it would be the nation's seventh-biggest by population; its $91-billion budget would be the country's fourth-largest, trailing only those of California, New York and Texas. "When the final numbers started coming out, where a third of the population was on Medi-Cal, it went way past anyone's expectations," said state Sen. Ed Hernandez (D-West Covina), who chairs the Senate Health Committee.

Posted by Jonathan Levin on December 23, 2015 23 Comments
Professor David E. Bernstein has written a great last-minute Christmas present or belated Hanukkah gift. Lawless: The Obama Administration's Unprecedented Assault on the Constitution and the Rule of Law is sure to ruin the holiday for whoever reads it - Republicans because it confirms President Obama has run roughshod over Congress and the Constitution, and Democrats because it confirms what they have so long denied.  Which is why everybody should read it, digest it, debate it and institute changes to prevent future presidents of any party from doing such damage again. Bernstein teaches Constitutional Law, among other things, at George Mason University School of law, and his easy facility with technical, legalistic topics makes Lawless accessible and understandable without eliding over details. The picture Bernstein paints so adroitly is of an unprecedented and unlawful consolidation of power in the executive, and a president unrestrained by his own promises, by custom, by standards of legal ethics, by statute or by the Constitution.

Posted by Mike LaChance on December 19, 2015 10 Comments
At a recent town hall event in Iowa City, Hillary Clinton was asked a question about how the Affordable Care Act is affecting jobs. Her response was somewhat shocking. Alyssa Canobbio of the Washington Free Beacon:
Hillary Clinton: Obamacare is Forcing Americans Into Part-Time Work At a town hall meeting in Iowa City, Iowa Hillary Clinton was asked by a supporter about companies moving to a mostly part-time workforce and the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Clinton said that companies are going to a mostly part-time workforce because of restrictions in Obamacare. “Well that’s why they’re going to part-time. That and the Affordable Care Act. You know, we’ve got to change that because we have built in some unfortunate incentives that discourage full-time employment,” Clinton said...

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on December 04, 2015 13 Comments
Almost six years after President Obama's hallmark legislation passed, Senate Republicans cobbled together enough votes to pass a bill that would repeal most of Obamacare. Passing the Senate by a vote of 52 to 47 Thursday evening, the Senate's revisions made for an even stronger bill than the House version, according to The Hill. The bill with its latest revisions will have to pass through the House once more before making it's way to President Obama's desk. The Hill reported:
Thursday’s vote was a major event in the Senate, as Democrats never allowed a standalone vote on an ObamaCare repeal bill when they controlled the chamber. Democrats were also unable to block the GOP measure, which was brought to the floor under budget reconciliation rules that prevented a filibuster. “For too long, Democrats did everything to prevent Congress from passing the type of legislation necessary to help these Americans who are hurting,” McConnell said on the floor. “Today, that ends.”
If by some miracle this bill actually gets a signature from President Veto, Obamacare and it's reign of health insurance premium terror will be dead. Mostly.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on December 01, 2015 14 Comments
President Obama continued his "Apology Tour" during the Paris UN Climate Conference, by demeaning our nation once again:
Obama sang from the same hymnal on Monday, telling an assembly of world leaders that a future of environmental devastation 'is one that we have the power to change right here right now but only if we rise to this moment,' according to a White House press pool report. 'I've come here personally as the leader of the world's largest economy and the second largest emitter to say that the United States of America … embraces its responsibility to do something about it.
After deriding American productivity and lifestyle choices, he headed out with the other big government elites to a"three-Michelin-starred temple of gastronomie in the Marais neighborhood" for a...working dinner!

Posted by Mike LaChance on November 28, 2015 6 Comments
Remember when Obama and all of his allies in politics and media told us that the Affordable Care Act would save money for working families and the country? It turns out that promise was as good as the one about keeping your doctor. The truth is that the cost of Obamacare is going up pretty much everywhere. Daniel Bassali reports at the Washington Free Beacon:
Our National Obamacare Nightmare Despite enjoying a victory in the Supreme Court this summer, the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama’s signature domestic law, has suffered through a year of bad news. While the administration has touted that nearly 12 million people have gained access to health care insurance, premiums for most Americans are expected to increase in 2016. Insurance companies are seeking rate increases between 20 and 40 percent.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on November 24, 2015 38 Comments
A post by Ed Lasky over at the American Thinker is making its way around the internet. Lasky suggests a little known bill introduced by Senator Rubio may have killed Obamacare. Naturally, we had to dig in. Rubio first introduced similar legislation in 2013. Lumped into the 2014 Omnibus bill, the act passed. Because it was globbed into an appropriations bill, it has an expiration date. The Obamacare Taxpayer Bailout Prevention Act was re-introduced by Rubio in January, the first piece of legislation he introduced in 2015, with companion legislation introduced by Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland. The current version would eliminate tax-payer funded bailouts completely. The Obamacare Taxpayer Bailout Prevention Act's premise is simple -- amend the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act by striking out section 1342. Sen. Rubio's office explained in January:
The bill would repeal section 1342 of ObamaCare, which establishes a risk corridor program to distribute money from exchange plans that earned profits to exchange plans that suffered losses. However, the risk corridor program was not designed to be budget neutral, and section 1342 of ObamaCare puts the American taxpayer at risk of a taxpayer bailout if insurers systematically lose money on exchange plans. By repealing Section 1342, the legislation would force the administration to come back to Congress to request appropriations to cover any losses in the program. ...“Under December’s omnibus spending bill, taxpayers are protected from bailing out insurance companies until September 30, but now Congress has the opportunity to take the possibility of a bailout off the table for good,” added Rubio. “By passing this bill, Congress will ensure that no bailout will occur, in 2016 or ever.”

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on November 22, 2015 28 Comments
In the wake of rising costs for health insurance in the ObamaCare market, consumers are simply opting out, and this is taking its toll on ObamaCare's viability not only for consumers but for health insurers.  So much so that United Health, one of the nation's largest health insurers, acknowledged this week that it is considering leaving the ObamaCare market. Watch: The Obama administration responded by "quietly" promising to bail out health insurers in yet another attempt to save his clearly ineffective and flailing signature law.  The debate centers, once again, on the so-called "risk corridors" built into ObamaCare.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on November 18, 2015 18 Comments
As it turns out, the Affordable Care Act is not exactly affordable after all. With the third Obamacare open enrollment in full swing, consumers nationwide are reeling from health insurance premium sticker shock. Which explains why healthcare costs and access to healthcare remain the single most important issue to Americans. A few weeks ago, we discussedthe issue of some health insurance markets suffering disproportionately under Obamacare. In the fourth largest city in the country, Houstonians will have the option of a grand total of zero independent Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) plans to choose from. Why? Providers say they can no longer offer independent plans for an affordable price. Yet another Texas market faces the downside of Obamacare fallout. According to a new study, Dallas is the recipient of the nation's largest premium rate hikes. Consumers not wanting to pay higher premiums for the same or less coverage are being encouraged to enroll in another health care plan. The Dallas Morning News reported:
Dallas County is the country’s major metropolitan area with the largest potential premium increase next year for people currently enrolled in the most popular health insurance plan on the Affordable Care Act marketplace, a new report shows. Collin County residents who also are enrolled in the popular, lowest-cost silver plan through Healthcare.gov face an identical predicament as their counterparts in Dallas County, according to a Dallas Morning News review of the underlying data in the Kaiser Family Foundation report. In both counties, a 40 year old adult who doesn’t qualify for subsidies and purchased a Blue Cross and Blue Shield “Blue Advantage Silver HMO” policy for 2015 will have to pay $1,116 more next year if he or she doesn’t shop around in the state exchange — and switch.

Posted by Amy Miller on November 16, 2015 12 Comments
President Obama's approval ratings may be circling the drain, but a new Gallup poll released today shows that they're slightly less terrible than usual. Small miracles? American approval of Obama's handling of health care and the economy just clocked in at 44%, which represents a three-year high in both categories. The last time Obama did this well in the polls, he had just been elected to his second term; back then, an anemic 44% still represented a significant boost over the President's first term numbers. Gallup explains the trend:
Americans have not been as approving of Obama's performance on the economy since November 2012, just after the president was re-elected to a second term. The 44% he received then was similar to the 45% right before Election Day. Both scores were major improvements from the sub-40% ratings he'd received during much of his first term -- including a record low of 26% in August 2011 after contentious negotiations with Congress to raise the debt limit. Obama's best marks on the economy -- between 55% and 59% -- came during his first few months in office. Over the past three years, Obama's economic approval rating has fluctuated, reaching a low of 33% in 2014.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on November 15, 2015 31 Comments
As ObamaCare co-ops close and people lose ObamaCare subsidies while getting hit with sky-rocketing premiums, the New York Times has noticed that the deductibles associated with ObamaCare make the plans useless to many people. The NYT reports:

Obama administration officials, urging people to sign up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, have trumpeted the low premiums available on the law’s new marketplaces.

But for many consumers, the sticker shock is coming not on the front end, when they purchase the plans, but on the back end when they get sick: sky-high deductibles that are leaving some newly insured feeling nearly as vulnerable as they were before they had coverage.

“The deductible, $3,000 a year, makes it impossible to actually go to the doctor,” said David R. Reines, 60, of Jefferson Township, N.J., a former hardware salesman with chronic knee pain. “We have insurance, but can’t afford to use it.”

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on November 11, 2015 5 Comments
12 of the 23 taxpayer funded non-profit co-ops created under the Affordable Care Act are shutting down, all due to financial trouble. Now, the nation's largest non-profit co-op is under investigation by state authorities. New York’s largest co-op Health Republic, also on the failure closure list, is in far worse shape than originally reported. Other co-ops will continue offering their plans through the end of the year, but Health Republic of New York is in such dire financial shape, they’re closing a month early. The closure will leave more than 200,000 New Yorkers with cancelled health insurance plans. Monday, The Hill reported the New York Department of Financial Services launched an investigation into Health Republic's financial reporting:
“NYDFS investigators are collecting and reviewing evidence relating to Health Republic's substantial underreporting to NYDFS of its financial obligations,” the state said in a statement. “Among other issues, the investigation will examine the causes of the inaccurate representations to NYDFS regarding the company’s financial condition.”
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