Free Republic

Gigantic losses put exchanges on the brink, send program careening into chaos Remember when everyone watching ObamaCare was focused on how many people had signed up? First they needed 7 million, then 11 million, and on it went as new targets replaced the old. These weren’t meaningless - at least it didn’t appear that way. The targets represented the critical mass the Obama Administration itself said the program needed to be economically sustainable. Insurance, they told us, is about risk pools. If you’ve got enough people in the risk pool, you’d have enough premiums being paid in to cover those...

".....The state has received about 18,000 paper applications, at 19 pages each, and is scrambling to manually file and clear them.....its exchange, known as Cover Oregon, became a victim of its own lofty ambitions and the state's stubborn refusal to dial them back until it was too late.While exchanges in many states are telling applicants who appear to qualify for Medicaid to contact a separate agency, Oregon insists its exchange must be a "one-stop shop" for both Medicaid and private insurance. The state also wants its exchange to eventually be able to help enroll people in a wide array of...

U.S. officials for the first time disclosed insurance prices that will be offered through new federally run health-care exchanges starting Oct. 1, showing that young, healthy buyers likely will pay more than they do currently while older, sicker consumers should get a break. The plans, offered under the health-care overhaul to people who don't get insurance through an employer or government program, in many cases provide broader coverage than current policies. Costs will vary widely from state to state and for different types of consumers. Government subsidies will cut costs for some lower-income consumers. Across the country, the average premium...

WASHINGTON — Federal officials often say that health insurance will cost consumers less than expected under President Obama’s health care law. But they rarely mention one big reason: many insurers are significantly limiting the choices of doctors and hospitals available to consumers. From California to Illinois to New Hampshire, and in many states in between, insurers are driving down premiums by restricting the number of providers who will treat patients in their new health plans. When insurance marketplaces open on Oct. 1, most of those shopping for coverage will be low- and moderate-income people for whom price is paramount. To...

Federal officials often say that health insurance will cost consumers less than expected under President Obama’s health care law. But they rarely mention one big reason: many insurers are significantly limiting the choices of doctors and hospitals available to consumers. From California to Illinois to New Hampshire, and in many states in between, insurers are driving down premiums by restricting the number of providers who will treat patients in their new health plans. When insurance marketplaces open on Oct. 1, most of those shopping for coverage will be low- and moderate-income people for whom price is paramount. To hold down...

December 14 has come and gone—and President Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act—better known as Obamacare—has received a stunning blow. State governments had until December 14, 2012 to decide whether or not they would build their own health insurance exchange, an online service that would allow individuals to purchase private health insurance if it wasn’t provided for by their employees. That date has now passed, and the exchange has been rebuked by half the states—with 25 state governments refusing to participate in this critical component of Obamacare. Their refusal won’t stop exchanges in their states. Under the law, states...

The blaming of governors for not implementing ObamaCare is in hyperdrive for a reason— the federal government and liberals backing ObamaCare overestimated the federal government's ability to build a system of the complexity and technological intricacy necessary to pull this off. They counted on states to do some heavy lifting (with a hefty price tag) to make this happen, yet have given them very little regulatory guidance and passed the bill in a way least likely to engender cooperation. The current rumpus is over ObamaCare’s “exchanges,” the bureaucracies that will regulate the design and sale of insurance and where 30...

What a clusterfark. The Hill: ***** "The Obama administration faces major logistical and financial challenges in creating health insurance exchanges for states that have declined to set up their own systems. The exchanges were designed as the centerpiece of President Obama's signature law, and are intended to make buying health insurance comparable to booking a flight or finding a compatible partner on Match.com. Sixteen states - most of them governed by Republicans - have said they will not set up their own systems, forcing the federal government to come up with one instead. Another five states said they want a...

The Hill has an interesting story reporting on Republican governors refusing to set up state exchanges under Obamacare — which could save the states money since they are on the hook for costs in excess of federal grants. That means the feds will have to do it on a state-by-state basis, a daunting task even for this highly bureaucratic administration. Plus, it is perfectly legal under the law to engage in such passive resistance. Some liberals say that approach isn’t conservative because, in effect, it allows the feds to run state health care. (As if they care!) I’m not buying....

Judge Andrew Napolitano makes it clear that the House repeal of ObamaCare for the 31st time has "real teeth to it," and affirms that States which do not want to set up health care exchanges, legally do not have to set up health care exchanges. See the video below an listen to what Napolitano says about how Romney can handle ObamaCare with both the House and Senate controlled by Democrats. The following is most of the transcript. I've added a link to background information on Governor Rick Perry's decision rejecting health care exchanges and Medicaid expansion [JUDGE NAPOLITANO]...there is an...

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