Posted on 05/30/2017 5:01:16 AM PDT by Kaslin
It's finally official. The Affordable Care Act is a public-policy flop of epic proportions. That's the only possible conclusion from the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas City announcement last week that it will drop out of many markets in Kansas and Missouri. The firm lost $100 million under the Obamacare insurance exchanges from 2014 to 2016. This is another body blow to the government-insurance system Barack Obama created in 2010. Blue Cross is one of the biggest health insurers in the nation, and now 25 more counties in these states will have no insurer left.
Nearly every news outlet buried this alarming story and instead shouted in headlines across the country: "23 Million More Uninsured Under GOP Plan." This was based on the Congressional Budget Office's estimate of the impact of the House repeal and replace plan.
Those are troubling numbers for sure, but they're misleading given the Blue Cross news. If we stay with Obamacare, within a few years tens of millions will have no insurance that is even remotely affordable. Aetna, Humana and other major insurers in just recent months have fled Obamacare. The Titanic has hit the iceberg, and it is rapidly sinking; yet the left and the media keep fiddling on the deck. They act as though this can be fixed with "minor reforms," but there aren't enough bandages in America to stitch this back together.
Even more absurd is the idea that Donald Trump and the Republicans are the ones responsible for the insurers' leaving and the premiums' skyrocketing. If you want a bellyaching laugh, here is an excerpt from a lead story from The New York Times last week: "(Insurers complain that) the Trump administration and Congress are rattling the markets. The administration's refusal to guarantee payment of subsidies to health insurance companies, the murky outlook for the Affordable Care Act in Congress and doubts about enforcement of the mandate for most people to have insurance are driving up insurance prices for 2018, insurers say in rate requests filed with state officials."
Stop the presses! What a shock: The insurers say they want more handouts from the government. Trump is supposedly the villain because he won't force families to buy insurance that they can't possibly afford given the massive premium hikes that Obama promised would never happen. This is rich.
Then this showstopper, also from The New York Times: "Opponents of President Barack Obama's signature legislative achievement have made what may be a self-fulfilling prophecy: They repeatedly forecast the collapse of the health law, and then push it along."
Now let's get serious. Blue Cross Blue Shield Kansas is leaving the market because they lost tens of millions of dollars two and three years ago -- long before anyone even imagined Trump running for president. The Wall Street Journal, Heritage Foundation, Cato Institute and others predicted this exact collapse from the day the bill was enacted seven years ago. Trump isn't the one who caused the recent nationwide 25 percent increase in premiums.
It is true that many of the insurers say one reason they are leaving the exchanges is because of "uncertainty" about what will happen with the insurance market next year. But Hillary Clinton would have been facing the same crisis. It is the height of anti-Trump derangement to say that Trump caused that uncertainty. How in the world can you blame the growth of a cancerous tumor on the doctor who is brought in to treat it?
Republicans have to do a much better job of explaining their plan and providing Americans better and cheaper options.
But liberals have to get over themselves and acknowledge that Obamacare is long beyond fixable. Cynthia Cox of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a supporter of Obamacare, glumly told Business Insider last week after the BCBS retreat from the exchange markets, "If the Blue Cross Blue Shield plans or Anthem pull out of the exchanges, then that would be a serious problem for many parts of the country. ... Whenever there is one insurance company right now, it almost always is either a Blue Cross Blue Shield or Anthem plan. It goes to show how much the exchanges rely on those plans."
By the end of the year we could have nearly half the country without insurers if this spiral continues. What we have here is the domestic policy equivalent of the Bay of Pigs.
And make no mistake about it: This calamity is Obama's legacy, not Trump's.
Who’s surprised?
Well, this should increase the impetus for Congress to route around this ludicrous game of Calvinball.
Healthcare consummes 1 out of every 5 dollars in the economy, and growing. That can’t be sustained under any “name”.
Liberals continuously blamed Bush for Obama’s failures years AFTER he took office. They won’t let Trump get away with that so this war will continue. Liberals have no sense of shame.
I'm for catastrophic coverage, tort reform, insurance sales across state lines, and decoupling health insurance from a job.
The Left is very skilled at blaming others for their failed socialist policies.
It doesn't matter who is at fault, it's who gets the blame. Obamacare will collapse on Trump's watch. Justified or not, the Republicans will get the blame.
Even God sometimes permits sinners to get their wishes.
“...many of the insurers say one reason they are leaving the exchanges is because of “uncertainty” about what will happen with the insurance market next year. ...”
What uncertainty?
ObamaCare only guaranteed your profits through 2016.
Why in the hell is no one bringing that up?
Tying it to workers was a crude way to manage the risk pool. But in a high unemployment situation many were frozen out.
While I’m safely secured inside a major university’s health plan - just had knee surgery and my out of pocket was about $50 for copays.
I was just talking with my sister, her family (man, wife, 3 teen age boys) pays a $2400/month premium with a $6K deductible on a “small business plan”. After the deductible, everything is 80/20. Which is clearly unaffordable for all but the well-to-do. One of the boys had to get some stitches while “out of network” for an out of pocket $600. So, probably $35-$40K / year just for health care.
Obamacare was designed to fail from the beginning with single payer being the ultimate aim. Now comes the implosion.
Wile E Coyote ran out of cliff. He is standing on air.
So the GOP infighting needs to stop.
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The Untraceable $8 Billion ObamaCare PR Budget---truly govt fraud at its finest. Egged on by Pelosi, Democrats slavishly voted for Obamacare by an historic straignt-party line vote.
Not one Democrat told Americans about Obamacare's Section 4002---which mandates an $8B untraceable fund to "promote" Obamacare (apparently b/c Boobamba had so little confidence in his signature legislation).
THE PAYOFF--WHO GOT THE MONEY? In 2010 Taxpayers are extorted $500 million, in 2011, $750 million, 2012, $1 billion, 2013, $1.25 billion, 2014, $1.5 billion, and, in 2015 and on, $2 billion
<><> Where is all that money going?
<><> Was cashing-in the incentive in getting the thing passed?
The sound of West Wing wire-transfers to state Democratic organizations and to offshore banks is almost palpable.
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Turns out Obamacare is a vehicle for consolidating Dummycrat power.....complete w/ a multi-billion dollar slush fund financed by your tax dollar.
ITEM---A local couple called 10News concerned after they received an envelope from Obamacare website, Covered California. Inside was a letter discussing voter registration and a registration card pre-marked with an "x" in the box next to Democratic Party.
ITEM---Obamacare web site is also a voter registration site.
I guess Obama didn't let Gruber in on the "billion dollar secret." Probably Obama was depending on Gruber's stupidity (smirk).
"Now, I don't want you insurers to worry; when you start
losing money, we are going to jump in and bail you all out."
Obama Siphoned off Billions in GSE Dividends To Prop Up OBAMACARE
ZeroHedge ^ | April 2, 2017 / FR Posted on by Zakeet
Earlier this month, Harvard Ph.D. Jerome Corsi of InfoWars (@jerome_corsi) and a CPA "who worked for two years for a major U.S. accounting firm as an outside auditor for Freddie Mac," confirmed a 2012 scheme hatched by the Obama administration.
The audacious looting involved funnelling hundreds of billions in dividends from Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSE) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to prop up the failing Obamacare program - by paying subsidies to insurers to remain in the system. [Snip]
The conclusion reached by Corsi and others is that this was probably illegal. In fact, House Republicans actually sued the Obama Administration in 2014 over the fact that the subsidies to insurers weren't appropriated by congress and won, which the Obama administration appealed.
Zerohedge and the Atlanta Journal Constitution pointed out last week, the Trump administration has until May 22nd to decide whether or not to pursue the appeal: (Excerpt) Read more at zerohedge.com ...
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The Royal Idiot doesn't know much but he learned in "the community" that laws don't matter.
The half-caste misfit could care less about US laws: that monies designated for one use cannot be appropriated for another.
0bamacare should have never been made a law, but then, it was shoved down the people’s throat when only the rats in Congress voted for it.
It doesn't matter if Obamacare fails.
The only thing that matters is whether or not individuals and employers will see lower insurance premiums in their 2018 renewals when they come out later this year.
It's really that simple.
If Obamacare fails and insurance premiums are higher, the Republicans will get blamed.
If Obamacare does not fail and insurance premiums are higher, the Republicans will get blamed.
That's exactly how it should be ... BECAUSE THE REPUBLICANS ARE IN CHARGE NOW.
“That’s exactly how it should be ... BECAUSE THE REPUBLICANS ARE IN CHARGE NOW.”
If only the GOP leadership understood accountability and leadership. They don’t.
Insurance premiums will be higher in the fall, for those who are able to find policy to purchase. The GOP rightly will be blamed. They had the opportunity to put a repeal bill on Trump’s desk on inauguration day. Instead they went with their own form of government controlled health care in the House which the Senate will not pass. Neither the House nor the Senate is even considering straight repeal. Therefore, they own it.
0care was designed to fail, to make government-run HCare palatable. Dems just figure they can get a two-fer out of this by blaming Trump, knowing their snowflake supporters won’t realize 0Care was failing before Trump was even elected.
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