Obamacare Tag

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.”

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.”

Odious Obamacare is about more than crippling families with massive cost increases and destroying the market for innovation that has created so many lifesaving drugs and treatments. The small-business regulatory compliance costs for restaurants and grocery stores to report calorie counts for each and every menu offering, which would go into effect in December 2016, are threatening to add yet another burden to ma-and-pa outfits across the country. Wednesday, the bipartisan"Common Sense Nutrition Disclosure Act" was approved by voice vote to move to the full House committee and means some relief from the insanity of Big Government may be on the way. The bill seeks to ease the requirements of restaurants and grocery stores to disclose the calorie counts for their foodstuffs, regulations that add up to nearly 400 pages of national disclosure requirements from the FDA. The compliance required is overwhelming enough for some Democrats to part from their Dear Leader and join Republicans seeking to amend the process. But what's more awkward for the Obama nutrition-gestapo is that a study from NYU reported on in the Wall Street Journal this week shows that there is virtually no difference in menu-ordering when consumers are provided with calorie counts.

Consumers living in the country's fourth largest city will no longer be able to purchase an individual PPO. Market changes sparked by implantation of Obamacare are putting the squeeze on the self-employed and those who purchase health insurance outside of a large employer sponsored PPO. The Lone Star State's largest PPO provider, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas announced earlier this month that beginning in 2016, the would no longer offer individual PPO plans, though some enrolled in certain plans in 2010 might be grandfathered in. Just yesterday, I received a notification from my health insurance provider that my plan, an HMO, would be cancelled.

Needing a break from the computer screen, I wandered out to the mailbox to find an “OPEN IMMEDIATELY, THE APOCALYPSE IS NIGH” envelope from my health insurance provider, tucked between the junk mail and a cooking magazine. Sure enough, it was a cancellation notice. Now, I too am a victim of Obamacare’s reign of insurance premium of terror. Not to worry though. I can pay 20% more for less coverage and a deductible increase from $500 to $3250. But my story is small potatoes compared to many families who are forced to watch in horror as their health insurance premiums triple and their deductibles multiply faster than rabbits. The Obama administration acknowledged Monday that consumers would see health insurance premium increases across the board in 2016. They claim the average premium increases clocks in at 7.5%, though I have no idea where they’re getting these numbers. Don’t want to pay more? Then go back to the exchanges and shop around. You might pay less, but you’ll also have fewer benefits and higher deductibles.

I started writing this post before I checked the mail today. Needing a break from the computer screen, I wandered out to the mailbox to find an "OPEN IMMEDIATELY, THE APOCALYPSE IS NIGH" envelope from my health insurance provider, tucked between the junk mail and a cooking magazine. Sure enough, it was a cancellation notice. Now, I too am a victim of Obamacare's reign of insurance premium of terror. Not to worry though. I can pay 20% more for less coverage and a deductible increase from $500 to $3250. But my story is small potatoes compared to many families who are forced to watch in horror as their health insurance premiums triple and their deductibles multiply faster than rabbits.