Free Republic

Full Title...................'This bill will do you harm!' Obama blasts Republican Senate's Obamacare repeal as he declares it's 'not a health care bill' but a gift to the rich..................... Barack Obama threw himself into the Senate's health care reform deliberations Said in a lengthy post on Facebook that the GOP bill that was unveiled today is 'not a health care bill' at all - it's a transfer of wealth to the rich Obama's final White House spokesman had said the outgoing president would not immerse himself in the partisan about his namesake law once he departed Former president got involved Thursday...

Valerie Jarrett, former senior advisor to President Obama, said the Trump administration is “abdicating” the United States’ role as the “world leader” and the “beacon of hope” by withdrawing from the Paris climate accord.[snip]“So I think it signals to the world that the United States is not serious about protecting our planet. Now, I don’t know what other way to interpret a decision that I think could be as dramatically negatively impactful as that decision. And what it means is the rest of the world will move forward without us and the United States has always been that beacon of...

Anthem is exiting the ObamaCare marketplace in Ohio, leaving around 20 counties in the state without an insurer willing to sell a health plan in its exchange for 2018. The company cited uncertainty as a reason why it’s exiting the exchanges in all of the state’s counties, particularly the question of whether or not the Trump administration will continue payments to insurers that compensate them for reducing out-of-pocket costs for lower-income enrollees.

WASHINGTON — Obama administration officials knew they were on shaky ground in spending billions of dollars on health insurance subsidies without clear authority. But they did not think a long-shot court challenge by House Republicans was cause for deep concern.For one thing, they would be out of office by the time a final ruling in the case, filed in 2014, was handed down. They also believed that a preliminary finding against the administration would ultimately be tossed out. Finally, they figured that President Hillary Clinton could take care of the problem, if necessary.Well, they are out of office, Mrs. Clinton...

The number of health insurers participating in the Affordable Care Act exchanges has declined by 24 percent from 2016 to 2017, according to data from the Kaiser Family Foundation. In 2016, there were 287 insurers who offered insurance on the Obamacare exchanges and in 2017 that number dropped to 218. There were 34 states that saw the number of insurers decline, 15 states have the same amount of insurers from 2016 to 2017 and only one state added an insurer in 2017. Five states, Alabama, Alaska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Wyoming, have only one insurer operating on the exchanges, leaving...

<p>The rift within the Democratic Party was on full display at the California Democratic Party Convention on May 19 in Sacramento, California. Progressives joined members of National Nurses United, protesting the Democratic Party establishment’s refusal to support single payer healthcare system. Rather than follow through with Democratic rhetoric that healthcare is a human right, establishment Democrats have responded to voters by scolding and attacking them.</p>

two years higher than they would be under Obamacare. New data shows just how high the cost has already gotten for people who don't qualify for subsidies now. In the report, eHealth found that individual premiums for insurance plans sold through its marketplace, or exchange, rose to an average of $378 per month in 2017 — an 18 percent increase from 2016's open enrollment season. Since 2014, the average premiums for individual coverage have jumped 39 percent, eHealth found. That year, 2014, was the first for new Affordable Care Act rules mandating designs of insurance plans, which included a set...

Health insurer Aetna Inc said on Wednesday it will exit the 2018 Obamacare individual insurance market in Delaware and Nebraska - the two remaining states where it had offered the plans. Aetna had previously announced plans to exit the individual commercial market in Virginia and Iowa. It has now "completely exited the exchanges," the company said in an emailed statement. The insurer attributed the losses to "marketplace structural issues, that have led to co-op failures and carrier exits, and subsequent risk pool deterioration." Aetna said it had 964,000 individual commercial plan members as of the end of 2016, but that...

Filings have dropped about 50%, from 1,536,799 in 2010 to 770,846 in 2016 (see chart, below). Those years also represent the time frame when the ACA took effect. Although courts never ask people to declare why they’re filing, many bankruptcy and legal experts agree that medical bills had been a leading cause of personal bankruptcy before public healthcare coverage expanded under the ACA. Unlike other causes of debt, medical bills are often unexpected, involuntary, and large. -snip So did the rise of the ACA—which helped some 20 million more Americans get health insurance—cause the decline in bankruptcies? The many experts...

Twitter users concerned about the bill passed the House to repeal and replace Obamacare are sharing their personal health stories on Twitter under the hashtag #IamaPreexistingCondition. The hashtag started to trend hours after Republicans in the House narrowly pushed through the American Health Care Act, which would drastically remake health care in the U.S. By midday Friday ET, it had trended worldwide with about 146,000 tweets so far. Some celebrities joined in.

Giant insurer Aetna said Wednesday it will not sell Obamacare plans in Virginia next year, citing expected financial losses on such plans in 2017. Aetna left open the question of whether it will sell such individual health plans anywhere in the United States. Aetna's decision to exit Virginia in 2018 comes several weeks after it said it would drop out of Iowa's individual market next year. The company was selling Obamacare plans in just two other states this year: Delaware and Nebraska. "Despite significantly reducing our exchange footprint, our individual commercial products could potentially lose more than $200 million in...

Aetna Inc will exit the Obamacare individual insurance market in Virginia and will not offer these plans on or off the online exchange created by the Affordable Care Act, the company said on Wednesday. The company said last month that it would leave Iowa. It is selling these plans in four states in 2017.

See this Freerepublic.com thread for more information: Obamacare Implosion Now? Since Obama (Illegally) Siphoned GSE Dividends To Prop Up ... From this article (sourced from ZeroHedge.com), the Trump Administration has until May 22nd to appeal the decision to cut funding (Republican House forced this in 2014). From the other article: 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. As Zerohedge and the Atlanta Journal Constitution pointed out last week, the Trump administration has until May 22nd to decide...

".@RepDaveBrat: New health care plan in GOP pipeline "the same fundamental bill" as one that faltered last month https://t.co/kK1lWALm5T" — New Day (@NewDay) April 21, 2017 A revised GOP healthcare bill is the 'same fundamental bill' as the first one, but it contains some significant amendments and lawmakers will likely approve it, Rep. Dave Brat said Friday. "[Republicans] like to rely on free markets as much as we can," the Virginia Republican told CNN's "New Day" anchor Chris Cuomo. "This is still a federal government structure. I'm not totally happy with that outcome." The plan "at least cracks the door...

The GOP’s first shot at fixing Obamacare was an absolute dumpster fire. Paul Ryan never bothered to get conservatives involved and it cost him big time. He couldn’t even get his Obamacare lite bill to the floor for a vote. Now, it looks like Mike Pence got involved in the negotiations and an agreement was made. "#BREAKING Sources tell me @mike_pence, @SpeakerRyan, @RepMarkMeadows and @RepTomMacArthur negotiated a possible amendment to the #AHCA." — Brian Schwartz (@schwartzbFBN) April 20, 2017 "#BREAKING The possible amendment is titled the "MacArthur Amendment" and sources tell me it could bring up to 15-20 new @freedomcaucus...

An amendment to the GOP's repeal plan would dole out $15 billion to insurers over nine years to help cover the costs of sick, expensive patients. Lawmakers say the new funds would bring down premiums for healthy people by subsidizing medical costs for people with especially high expenses. Under ObamaCare, insurers are required to charge everyone of the same age the same amount for premiums, regardless of their medical history or conditions. That means costs are spread out among healthy and sick people, and insurers would essential pass those costs on to healthy people. The $15 billion would help subsidize...

First, Humana pulled out of Obamacare for 2018. Then, Wellmark announced it was leaving. Which health insurer could be next? The failure of the GOP health care plan in Congress and the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the Trump administration's next moves have left insurers skittish about participating in the Obamacare exchanges next year. Certainly, Obamacare was troubled before President Trump took office. But many experts, including the Congressional Budget Office, felt Obamacare was stable overall. Certainly, Obamacare was troubled before President Trump took office. Several major insurers scaled back their involvement on the exchanges, while others hiked premiums to cover their...

The Hidden Monopolies That Raise Drug Prices How pharmacy benefit managers morphed from processors to predators David Dayen March 28, 2017 Rob Frankil of Sellersville, Pennsylvania, followed his father into the family business after college. “My entire life,” he said, “I’ve been involved with managing and owning independent pharmacies.” He now owns two stores, a traditional community pharmacy and another that caters to long-term care facilities.Like any retail outlet, Frankil purchases inventory from a wholesale distributor and sells it to customers at a small markup. But unlike butchers or hardware store owners, pharmacists have no idea how much money they’ll...

After a stunning healthcare defeat last week, delivered at the hands of his own party no less, Trump took to twitter to predict the imminent 'explosion' of Obamacare. ObamaCare will explode and we will all get together and piece together a great healthcare plan for THE PEOPLE. Do not worry!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 25, 2017 The Democrats will make a deal with me on healthcare as soon as ObamaCare folds - not long. Do not worry, we are in very good shape!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 28, 2017  As it turns out, that 'explosion' could come...

For those keeping score at home, here’s a recap of where the Washington healthcare debacle currently stands: Obama and the Democrats inflict a massively overcomplicated system of healthcare regulations that raised insurance premiums on Americans, decreased insurance options, dictated doctors and coverage, and largely just sucked.Republicans saddled up the Obamacare nightmare and rode it to the electoral bank in 2010, 2012, 2014, and 2016, promising that once they had full control, they would repeal the beast.When given full control, the Republicans authored an absurd Obamacare-lite compromise bill that didn’t repeal the beast, but attempted to manicure it. It failed...