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I thought that stench smelled familiar... Heritage Foundation   h/t Doug Ross

The administration wants small business in the Obamacare net. Three federal agencies have asked the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) to consider raising the "attachment points" on stop-loss insurance for small businesses that self-insure. 70% of insurance claims are paid by companies that self-fund health insurance. Self-insurance means the employer creates its own "trust fund" out of which it pays health care expenses for its employees. The "attachment point" is essentially a deductible. If the deductible is met (attachment point is reached), the stop-loss insurer pays the rest of the cost for care. The stop-loss insurer insures the company...

Under ObamaCare, insurers have the option of charging smokers up to 50 percent more to cover the associated higher costs of providing them with health care — but the District of Columbia, along with several other states, have decided that any plans being sold within their exchange are prohibited from adding tobacco surcharges. That simply wouldn’t be fair, you see: On Monday, the D.C. exchange’s executive board voted to prevent insurers from charging higher premiums to smokers than to nonsmokers — meaning nonsmokers are likely to pay modestly higher rates than if smoking surcharges were permitted. The District joins three...

At an event on Monday night, HHS Secretary Sebelius acknowledged some of the messiness of the ongoing ObamaCare implementation, but of course had at least one readily available excuse as to why the administration is so very unreasonably put-upon at the moment:

Is ObamaCare the reform to end all other reforms? The massive health care law's problems are well known. Major tax hikes and Medicare cuts will fund a massive new government program rather than shore up the nation's finances. ObamaCare already is encouraging companies to cut jobs and work hours. With the administration delaying the insurance exchanges that might help small businesses until 2015, even ObamaCare cheerleaders are growing worried. And the law will leave tens of millions of Americans without health coverage. That's the best-case scenario, the government's own estimates agree. But ObamaCare doesn't just roil the health care system....

In their haste to impose an historic affront to individual liberty, the authors of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) neglected to provide the federal bureaucracy with either the funding necessary to build ObamaCare exchanges within the various states OR the authority to award tax credits or impose penalties on the American public. For when the ACA was written it was foolishly believed by lawmakers that each of the 50 states would immediately take on the near 100 million dollar responsibility of completing an ObamaCare exchange within its borders—an exchange being the sales center without which no ObamaCare business may be...

Health-care fraud, especially insurance scams, costs Americans an estimated $80 billion each year, according to the FBI. And boomers in particular get hit hard: having to pay the price of scams targeted to them, to uninsured older workers and others aimed at the aging parents they are caring for. The loss of a job, and with it employer health benefits, can make people desperate and more susceptible to private health schemes that promises big coverage but often provides few benefits and many loopholes. “Crooks are peddling fake or stripped-down policies camouflaged as full-benefit coverage. Pushy salespeople are preying on people’s...

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz has called for the complete legislative repeal of ObamaCare and its replacement by comprehensive healthcare reforms that actually increase patient choice, decrease the role of government bureaucrats and disconnect health insurance from employment. "If you lose your job," Cruz said, "you don't lose your house, life or car insurance. They go with you wherever you go." It should be the same for health insurance. In a wide-ranging exclusive interview with IBD's weekly M&M podcast, the Texas freshman said, "Our first priority is repealing ObamaCare and repealing it in its entirety. The program isn't working." And he...

"What we've learned through the course of this program is that this is really not a sensible way for the healthcare system to be run." That was Gary Cohen, director of the Department of Health and Human Services' Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, talking. He was specifically responding to the apparently surprising need to halt enrollments in a program designed as a temporary bridge for people with preexisting conditions who couldn't wait until the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare) fully kicks in next year. The program was allocated $5 billion, but some estimate it will take $40 billion...

Patients should welcome this development. Not only does the move toward direct payment have the potential to reduce health costs — it could also yield higher-quality care. Even before Obamacare, direct-pay practices were growing in popularity. According to the Center for Studying Health System Change, direct-payment practices increased from 9.2 percent of the market in 2001 to 12.4 percent by 2008. Nearly 7 percent of doctors say they are planning to change to some form of direct-pay care in the next three years, according to a survey of 13,000 doctors done for the Physicians Foundation. The consulting firm Accenture projects...

A Costly Employer Mandate It's a Regressive Tax:The House and Senate draft proposals for health care reform include employer mandates that require employers to pay higher taxes (as much as an 8% payroll tax) if they do not offer health insurance or if they offer it but some employees decline it and use the government system. The result of such a tax penalty will cause lower pay and job losses, especially for low-income workers. By the Numbers: According to The Heritage Foundation, the mandates could cost businesses up to $49 billion a year, 10.2 million workers will be at risk...

Cheap, no-frills insurance that doesn't cover medication, maternity or mental health services will get the scalpel in 2014. Know that health care plan you just signed up for? Don't get too attached. The Affordable Care Act mandate most commonly known as Obamacare has some tight stipulations that, CNN says, are forcing health care companies to rip up most of their current plans and draft new ones that comply. According to a University of Chicago study, just about half of the individual health care plans currently on the market won't cut it once key provisions of the Affordable Care Act kick...

Cancer clinics across the country have begun turning away thousands of Medicare patients, blaming the sequester budget cuts. Oncologists say the reduced funding, which took effect for Medicare on April 1, makes it impossible to administer expensive chemotherapy drugs while staying afloat financially. Patients at these clinics would need to seek treatment elsewhere, such as at hospitals that might not have the capacity to accommodate them. “If we treated the patients receiving the most expensive drugs, we’d be out of business in six months to a year,” said Jeff Vacirca, chief executive of North Shore Hematology Oncology Associates in New...

Remember how since-demoted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said we'd have to pass the massive ObamaCare health law to find out what's in it? Well, now three years later that's happening and a lot of people are not liking what they see. Remember how ObamaCare was going to save you money? Not going to happen. Premiums are going up, some by as much as 100%. And a new study by the nonpartisan Society of Actuaries finds that on average insurers will have to pay 32% more for claims under ObamaCare. Remember how ObamaCare was going to cover more than 44 million...

During his first run for president, Barack Obama made one very specific promise to voters: He would cut health insurance premiums for families by $2,500, and do so in his first term. But it turns out that family premiums have increased by more than $3,000 since Obama's vow, according to the latest annual Kaiser Family Foundation employee health benefits survey. Premiums for employer-provided family coverage rose $3,065 — 24% — from 2008 to 2012, the Kaiser survey found. Even if you start counting in 2009, premiums have climbed $2,370. What's more, premiums climbed faster in Obama's four years than they...

Then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi encouraged us to pass ObamaCare to find out what was in it. Here’s the latest grisly surprise, courtesy of the Associated Press: Millions of people who take advantage of government subsidies to help buy health insurance next year could get stung by surprise tax bills if they don’t accurately project their income. President Barack Obama’s new health care law will offer subsidies to help people buy private health insurance on state-based exchanges, if they don’t already get coverage through their employers. The subsidies are based on income. The lower your income, the bigger the subsidy. But...

Citing the challenges in establishing a new health insurance marketplace, the Obama administration is delaying a key provision of the Affordable Care Act designed to provide employees of small businesses affordable health coverage. The New York Times reported Monday that in most states employers will not be able to provide workers with a choice of health plans as the law intended. Instead, they will be limited to a single plan. One of the health law’s provisions, known as “employee choice,” called for each state to operate a Small Business Health Options Program, known as a SHOP exchange. The exchange, which...

I've seen plenty of Friday night news dumps, but I've never actually seen a Friday night double-dump ... until now. Earlier in the day, the website of the Department of Health and Human Services invited comment on a proposal to cover sex-change operations through Medicare and Medicaid. After a number of news agencies reported on the proposal, however, HHS scrubbed the site: The Health and Human Services Department said early Friday that it would accept public comments on whether to reexamine its decision not to cover sex changes.But a spokesperson said Friday evening that the proposal has been withdrawn. HHS...

Medicare and Medicaid do not pay for sex-change surgery, but that may change. In response to a formal request from a transsexual woman, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced on March 28 that it has launched a formal “reconsideration” of its current refusal to cover surgical treatment for “gender identity disorder.” …

(Reuters) - Millions of Americans will be priced out of health insurance under President Barack Obama's healthcare overhaul because of a glitch in the law that adversely affects people with modest incomes who cannot afford family coverage offered by their employers, a leading healthcare advocacy group said on Tuesday. Tax credits are a key component of the law and the White House has said the credits, averaging about $4,000 apiece, will help about 18 million individuals and families pay for health insurance once the Affordable Care Act takes full effect, beginning in January 2014. The tax credits are geared toward...

A new study finds that insurance companies will have to pay out an average of 32 percent more for medical claims under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. What does that mean for you? It could increase premiums for at least some Americans. If you are uninsured, or you buy your policy directly from an insurance company, you should pay attention. But if you have an employer plan, like most workers and their families, odds are you don't have much to worry about. The estimates from the Society of Actuaries could turn into a political headache for the Obama administration...

Rep. John Barrows (D-Ga.) said Friday that legislation was necessary to rein in the regulatory power of the Food and Drug Administration over food served from take-out outlets and convenience stores as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. “That’s why it’s essential that we be able to come together in this manner to provide this kind of relief from legislation that wasn’t fairly vetted enough and regulations that are coming down the pike that are way too onerous,” Barrows said at a press conference in support of the Common Sense Nutrition Disclosure Act of 2013....

“Wow, what can go wrong here?… The federal government is going to build 50 exchanges… the design hasn’t been solidified, and must be accessible to a variety of data processing technologies… Each of the 50 states have different eligibility rules, and with a significant number of states opting out, the federal government now has to learn the intricacies of each state’s Medicaid eligibility models which then scale to different applicability rules for different members of a given family. "The thousands of pages of rules that will drive requirements haven’t been completed,… and those requirements are needed to drive design not...

With time-running out before the major provisions of President Obama’s health care law are set to be implemented, the official tasked with making sure the law’s key insurance exchanges are up and running is already lowering expectations.

Over one-third of the 9.1 million full-time jobs among America's diverse business franchises could be cut back or eliminated by Obamacare as small businesses struggle to maintain profitability while coughing up money to pay for Washington-mandated health care coverage, according to the International Franchise Association. The threat of hitting 3.2 million full-time workers as the Affordable Care Act takes effect next year is prompting the owners of fast food restaurants, service companies and other franchises to urge Congress to make significant changes in Obamacare. To help their cause, the association on Friday released a new state-by-state breakdown on the potential...

Today the NY Times has a case study on the cost of Obamacare to one small business. The business in question is Baked in the Sun, a California baker with 95 employees. Baked in the Sun does about $8 million in annual revenue, however margins for bakers are tight so their annual profit is only about $200,000. Because the business has over 50 employees, they will be required to offer health insurance to their employees or pay a fine for not doing so. The owners estimate that the cost of compliance would be $108,000 per year plus $10,000 in overhead...

Last night, having noted the list of Republicans in the Senate who voted to fund Obamacare in yesterday’s Morning Briefing, I went through a series of emails from readers.Readers from Texas, Kentucky, Utah, South Dakota, and Georgia all had the same story. They’d called the offices of Senators Chambliss, Cornyn, Hatch, Thune, McConnell, and Isakson to object to those senators funding Obamacare. They were all told by these Senate offices that these Senators had voted to defund Obamacare or, in the case of Senator Cornyn’s office, that there had been no vote on defunding Obamacare.These Senators and their staffs are...

Just over three years ago, then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi famously quipped about ObamaCare that "we have to pass the bill so you can find out what is in it." But only now, as ObamaCare's third anniversary approaches — President Obama signed it into law on March 23, 2010 — is the country starting to find out what the sweeping health care overhaul will actually do. ObamaCare backers typically tout popular features that went into effect almost immediately. The law expanded Medicare's drug coverage, for example, and let children stay on their parents' plans until they turned 26. But the bulk of...

Last week I posted a copy of the draft application for Obamacare benefits, which clocks in at a hefty 21 pages. Consumer advocates and Wonkblog commenters had similar questions: Why on earth would the federal government create such a complex form to obtain a public benefit? For me, at least, the flowchart below provides a bit of an answer. It comes from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, which represents the regulators who oversee each state’s insurance market. It is an attempt to draw up the most basic, simple questions to determine eligibility for insurance subsidies or Medicaid. It can...

OKLAHOMA CITY -- The federal government has informed Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner John Doak that it intends to take over swaths of insurance regulation in the state to ensure compliance with the Affordable Care Act – commonly known as “Obamacare.” The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is notifying insurers in Oklahoma that it will handle enforcement of the ACA. In a March 15 letter to Doak, the agency notified the Insurance Department of its responsibility to enforce the ACA in Oklahoma because the state has declined to do so. Should Oklahoma enact“market reform requirements,” according to the letter, the...

An exhaustive study by three congressional committees delivers startling news about the dire effects of Obamacare: President Barack Obama’s signature legislation could increase health insurance premiums by over 200 percent and render insurance coverage unaffordable for millions of Americans. Broadly, the new report declares that Obamacare “breaks its core promise” to make healthcare coverage affordable. The report, “The Price of Obamacare’s Broken Promises,” was prepared by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Majority Staff; Senate Committee on Finance, Minority Staff; and Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, Minority Staff. “Studies and analyses from the Congressional Budget Office,...

Miyamoto Musashi was a serious man. The warrior-poet walked the medieval Japanese countryside seeking duels with the strongest warriors he could find. He lived a pure ascetic existence. He didn't care where he slept. He carried no money or food. And when too old to fight, after a life on the edge of mortality, he wrote philosophy in a cave. So, pretty much the exact opposite of the modern American lifestyle. Yet as our country grapples with a dangerous debt/deficit problem, caused by demographic challenges and an overpriced and inefficient health care system, we should pay heed to two of...

TUESDAY, March 19, 2013 (Kaiser Health News) — When visiting the doctor, there may be strength in numbers. In recent years, a growing number of doctors have begun holding group appointments — seeing up to a dozen patients with similar medical concerns all at once. Advocates of the approach say such visits allow doctors to treat more patients, spend more time with them (even if not one-on-one), increase appointment availability and improve health outcomes. Some see group appointments as a way to ease looming physician shortages. According to a study published in December, meeting the country's health-care needs will require...

Remember that repetitive presidential promise to “cut the cost of a typical family’s premium by up to $2,500 a year”? As 2014 and full implementation of Obamacare get closer, it is crystal clear that won’t be the case. Obamacare’s most onerous insurance regulations will directly cause insurance premiums to skyrocket, particularly in the individual and small group markets. While there are many provisions that will increase premiums, two will have the most expensive impact: Age rating restrictions. Obamacare limits variation in premium costs to a ratio of 3 to 1 based on age. But as Heritage research shows, “The natural...

ObamaCare is pushing physicians into becoming hospital employees. The results aren't encouraging. The irony is that in the name of lowering costs, ObamaCare will almost certainly make the practice of medicine more expensive. It turns out that when doctors become salaried hospital employees, their overall productivity falls. The result? It is estimated that by next year, about 50% of U.S. doctors will be working for a hospital or hospital-owned health system. Once they work for hospitals, physicians change their behavior in two principal ways. Often they see fewer patients and perform fewer timely procedures.

If allowed to go into effect, a March 1 notice from HHS (the Department of Health and Human Services) will eliminate Medicare payments for tests and referrals ordered by physicians not enrolled in the Medicare program, as of May 1. "Because of Medicare's increasingly costly and restrictive rules placed on doctors, many Medicare-eligible patients are receiving medical care from physicians not enrolled in the program," states Jane M. Orient, M.D., executive director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS). "This looming change by HHS will deprive the patients of benefits for blood tests, x-rays, and specialist consultations—benefits for...

Some Americans could see their insurance bills double next year as the health care overhaul law expands coverage to millions of people. The nation's big health insurers say they expect premiums — or the cost for insurance coverage — to rise from 20 to 100 percent for millions of people due to changes that will occur when key provisions of the Affordable Care Act roll out in January 2014.

MIAMI (CBSMiami) — Pet owners listen up: You may want to start saving more money for veterinarian care this year. The reason goes all the way back to Washington and an unintended consequence from medical reform.

It runs 15 pages for a three-person family. The online version has 21 steps, some with added questions. At least three major federal agencies, including the IRS, will scrutinize your application.

By now, most people have concluded that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA, Obamacare) does not reduce the cost of healthcare for the majority of Americans, and certainly does not protect them. Healthcare costs - both insurance and out of pocket expenses - have more than doubled for many and will continue to increase. What is difficult and confusing to most of us is attempting to understand how this all fits together and why. Just a few months ago, the Obama administration had serious concerns regarding formation of state health insurance exchanges. This vital component of the ACA...

More doctors are telling their older patients they'll no longer accept Medicare. Likewise, poorer patients on Medicaid are receiving similar news. East Texas News visited with one Nacogdoches doctor putting the brakes on Medicare/Medicaid reimbursements and the hardship the decision is causing for patients. Dr. Kelly Moon is a primary care physician. She has a lower percentage of older patients, so she can afford to place this sign announcing she will no longer accept government insurance. "It's very bad, and I feel horrible for my patients, and it's a very unfortunate situation," Moon said. The situation is that doctors are...

Today, when the poor get sick — even with minor ailments — they are often forced to go to the hospital emergency room, handing taxpayers a giant and unnecessary bill. The average cost of such visits to the public is around $1,000. “At our clinic, all with donated services — the physicians and nurses donating their time, and all the support services are donated — it’s only $13 per patient visit, paid for by private donations with no taxpayer money,” Dr. Eck explained, adding that her clinic operates very efficiently and does not cost the public a dime. “The Medicaid...

The Affordable Care Act, also known as ObamaCare, has transformed the healthcare landscape across America. Though not yet fully implemented, it is already changing the way we buy and access healthcare, mostly in negative ways. Premiums keep going up. Doctors are speeding up their retirements to avoid having to deal with the law. Its push to digitize our medical records may expose Americans to violations of our privacy, and even to misdiagnoses as doctors and nurses are forced to use templates rather than handwritten notes to describe the ailments patients present them. ObamaCare is also creating chaos in how states...

If you are an illegal alien, criminal or other various leeches on our society, this won't concern you. Your health care will be paid for by US CITIZENS and you will never have to pay it back! This concerns the typical US citizen who has worked for decades, followed the rules, sacrificed to pay off his house, or most of it. Buried deep in Obamacare (remember Nancy Pelosi told us we had to pass it to find out what was in it!) is a provision taken from the Budget reconciliation act of 1993, signed into law by Bill Clinton. Often...

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie SEE Christie Agrees To Medicaid Expansion In Annual Budget Speech Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, see Sandoval Announces Nev. Medicaid Expansion New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, SEE Gov. Martinez Announces Medicaid Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, see Mich. governor signs on for Obama’s Medicaid expansion Ohio Gov. John Kasich, see Gov. Kasich looks to expand Medicaid in Florida Gov. Rick Scott, see Womp: Florida Gov. Scott decides to expand Medicaid North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple, see Dalrymple: Funding For Obamacare Medicaid Expansion Is “Free Money Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, see Brewer faces tough fight expanding Medicaid The...

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has posted a draft of proposed "health insurance providers fee" (RIN 1545-BL20) regulations. Consumer representatives and others are trying to get the IRS to write the regulations in such a way that the agency will discourage health insurance providers from trying to "recover a large portion of the fee from policyholders," officials said in a preamble to draft regulations. The rulemaking notice is set to appear in the Federal Register Monday. Comments will be due 60 days after the official publication date. The fee The proposed regulations are supposed to help the IRS implement Section...

More than 700 pages of healthcare rules released By Megan R. Wilson - 03/01/13 12:37 PM ET The Obama administration on Friday released more than 700 pages of new regulations to implement portions of the Affordable Care Act. The four rules, which are scheduled for publication in mid-March, finalize both major and minor parts of the healthcare reform law that Congress passed in 2010. Three of the regulations are final and roll out the multistate healthcare exchanges and reforms to the insurance market, including provisions to encourage cost-sharing, stabilize health insurance premiums and prevent providers from denying coverage. The Department...

You want to know why the left is more successful at politics? They are willing to move heaven and earth to create new dependency programs, despite the electoral risks. They understand that once the program is implemented, Republicans will never have the guts to undo it. And they are correct. Even some of our best conservatives lack the gumption to do what it takes to eliminate the worst program of all time – Obamacare. In fact, House conservatives, not just the general rank and file Republicans, appear set to endorse Obamacare and approve its funding. Yes, even former Republican Study...

It’s really simple, folks. Everything boils down to Obamacare. Do we really believe that Obamacare will make private health insurance unaffordable? Do we really believe Obamacare will bankrupt the nation and relegate the next generation of Americans to a dimmer future of less freedom and opportunity? Do we really believe Obamacare will create incorrigible dependency? Do we really believe that Obamacare will lead to a deterioration of healthcare services and rationed care? Are we really serious about balancing the budget and reforming entitlements? If the answer to the aforementioned questions is a resounding yes, which is presumably the case for...

The U.S. health care system is a giant money making scam that is designed to drain as much money as possible out of all of us before we die. In the United States today, the health care industry is completely dominated by government bureaucrats, health insurance companies and pharmaceutical corporations. The pharmaceutical corporations spend billions of dollars to convince all of us to become dependent on their legal drugs, the health insurance companies make billions of dollars by providing as little health care as possible, and they both spend millions of dollars to make sure that our politicians in Washington...