Free Republic

Great video at Youtube.com - must be seen to be appreciated. For those who do not wish to view it but are curious - here is the Dr's one sentence summary of Obamacare: "So let me get this straight. This is a long sentence. We are going to be gifted with a healthcare plan that we are forced to purchase, and fined if we don't, which reportedly covers ten million more people without adding a single new doctor, but provides for sixteen thousand new IRS agents, written by a committee whose chairman doesn't understand it, passed by congress, that didn't...

Many companies are cutting jobs in response to rising health care costs spurred by the Affordable Care Act, according to a new survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Roughly one-fifth of service sector and manufacturing company executives said they are reducing the number of workers in response to provisions in the healthcare law... The New York fed surveyed about 100 executives in the manufacturing sector and roughly 150 executives in the services sector located in New York State, Northern New Jersey and Fairfield County, Connecticut... The results add to a bevy of bad news related to the...

Tuesday on CNN’s “The Lead,” Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) told a reporter that ObamaCare was “unraveling and at a rapid rate.” McCain said, “It’s clear that Obamacare is unraveling, and at a rapid rate. We’re going to have to go back to square one. We’re going to have to go back and not only repeal, but replace and make health care available to every American.

Double-digit Obamacare premium hikes projected in 2017 may bode in Donald Trump’s favor, as several swing states are being impacted by double-digit increases under the law and consumers are expected to see the hikes around Nov. 1 — one week before heading to the polls. Trump has promised to repeal and replace Obamacare, but Hillary Clinton has vowed to make the Obamacare exchanges work. Some say the way she would do that is through raising taxes.

Aetna, the No. 3 U.S. health insurer, on Monday said that due to persistent financial losses on Obamacare plans, it will sell individual insurance on the government-run online marketplaces in only four states next year, down from the current 15 states. Aetna's decision follows similar moves from UnitedHealth and Humana, which have cited similar concerns about financial losses on these exchanges created under President Barack Obama's national healthcare reform law.

Blue Shield of California (BSC) will be shutting down for four days following Labor Day weekend as a way to stop the financial bleeding resulting from losses in “Covered California,” the state’s Obamacare exchange program. The change will “affect most of [BSC’s] 6,000 employees in California,” the San Francisco Business Times reports, although the “exact number of workers involved hasn’t yet been tabulated.” But BSC hopes that the move could save “an estimated $4 million.” According to the Times, BSC spokesman Steve Shivinsky said, “This is certainly not normal for us. We’re definitely seeing some income challenges as of mid-year.”

Exchanges collapsing, premiums skyrocketing, policies cancelled. Remember when President Obama lied to us about 92 million times and said that if we liked our plan we could keep it? That was fun… Over the past year, we have seen major health insurance companies give up on the massive failure. Now, one of the top health insurers has said enough is enough. BREAKING: Top health insurer dropping out of most ObamaCare marketplaces https://t.co/fkErkcVR3d pic.twitter.com/RaQKisqcIp — The Hill (@thehill) August 16, 2016 From The Hill: Aetna, one of the largest health insurers in the country, announced Monday that it will significantly scale...

Aetna is sharply cutting its participation in Obamacare exchanges for 2017. The health insurer said it will offer individual Affordable Care Act exchange plans in just four states, down from 15 this year, in an effort to reduce its losses. "As a strong supporter of public exchanges as a means to meet the needs of the uninsured, we regret having to make this decision," Chairman and CEO Marc Bertolini said in a statement. The insurance giant says it will offer ACA exchange plans in Delaware, Iowa, Nebraska and Virginia, slashing its Obamacare footprint by 70 percent next year. It will...

METHUEN, Mass. —An 86-year-old Massachusetts woman needed to be rescued by firefighters over the weekend after she was left behind at a dialysis clinic in Methuen that had closed for the day. Fire Chief Scott Sullivan says rescuers came to the aid of Maureen Perry just before 4 p.m. Saturday. The Wilmington woman was taken for treatment to the Fresenius Dialysis Center, where she remained three hours after it closed.

After the Affordable Care Act took effect in 2010, it created a review mechanism intended to prevent exorbitant increases in health insurance rates by shaming companies that sought them. But this summer, insurers are turning that process on its head, using it to highlight the reasons they are losing money under the health care law and their case for raising premiums in 2017. That has ignited an election-year fight between insurers and consumers, who are complaining bitterly about the double-digit increases being sought across the country. The conflicts have been on vivid display at hearings in states like Pennsylvania, where...

The health insurance exchanges that are the beating heart of Obamacare are on the edge of collapse, with premiums rising sharply for ever narrower provider networks, non-profit health co-ops shuttering their doors, and even the biggest insurance companies heading for the exits amid mounting losses. Even the liberal Capitol Hill newspaper is warning of a possible “Obamacare meltdown” this fall. Three states — Alaska, Alabama, and Wyoming — are already down to just a single insurance company, as are large parts of several other states, totaling at least 664 counties. UnitedHealth is pulling out completely, Humana is pulling out of...

A government report finds that the cost of expanding Medicaid to millions more low-income people is increasing faster than expected, raising questions about a vital part of President Barack Obama’s health care law. The law provided for the federal government to pay the entire cost of the Medicaid expansion from 2014 through the end of this year. Obama has proposed an extra incentive for states that have not yet expanded Medicaid: three years of full federal financing no matter when they start. But the new cost estimates could complicate things. In a recent report to Congress, the Centers for Medicare...

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...

Clinton family foundation had not donated to hospital before Hillary's stay BY: Joe Schoffstall August 9, 2016 4:15 pm Hillary Clinton kicked $125,000 in donations from her family foundation to a hospital after receiving treatment for a blood clot in 2013, the Washington Free Beacon has discovered. Clinton was discharged from New York Presbyterian Hospital in January 2013 after being treated for a blood clot. Doctors discovered the clot during follow-up treatment for a concussion she sustained weeks earlier after she passed out from dehydration, causing her to fall and hit her head. The New York Times wrote in January...

The tension rose as one of America’s leading political figures took the stage to deliver a speech which would enthrall the anxious crowd and leave them in a rapturous state. Then Hillary Clinton mounted the stage and reality set in. She chose to harangue Donald Trump and use him as a foil, but she clearly made many statements contrasting herself with him that revealed her own economic plan. So we will take direct quotes from her speech on June 21st and amplify them. In the beginning of her speech, she told us that her economic plan was on her website...

CHICAGO--Health insurance premiums for Illinois residents who buy coverage through the Affordable Care Act's marketplace could increase by as much as 45 percent according to proposals submitted by insurers and made public Monday. The leading insurer on Illinois' exchange, Blue Cross Blue Shield, is proposing increases for 2017 ranging from 23 percent to 45 percent for individual health care plans, according to proposals posted by Heathcare.gov. Another insurer, Coventry Health Care of Illinois, proposed rate increases as high as 21 percent. Harken Health Insurance Company has proposed a nearly 29 percent hike in individual premiums and Health Alliance Medical Plans...

Over at The Motley Fool, Sean Williams has a lengthy analysis of ObamaCare's many woes, but the meat of the matter comes down to two things -- a lack of money and a lack of healthy paying customers. Obamacare was expected to enroll 21 million new people by the end of 2016, at least according to projections from the Congressional Budget Office in 2013. Currently, this figure is about 10 million shy of the CBO's projections from three years ago, and it could fall further as attrition due to non-payment continues. Having fewer enrollees than initially expected is certainly not...

Insurers want to crank up the cost of health insurance premiums by as much as 45 percent for Illinois residents who buy coverage through the Affordable Care Act's marketplace. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois, the most popular insurer on the state's Obamacare exchange, is proposing increases ranging from 23 percent to 45 percent in premiums for its individual health-care plans, according to proposed 2017 premiums that were made public Monday. The insurer blamed the sought-after hikes mainly on changes in the costs of medical services.

Acting CMS Administrator Andy Slavitt has a lot of explaining to do. And a lot of listening. In recent months, the agency issued draft rules carrying out what's intended to bring transformational change to the way Medicare pays physicians. It also rolled out a slew of experiments with payment and delivery reforms, including its first mandatory demonstration programs. In the process, Slavitt has become highly visible on social media and in person, and he has developed a reputation for unusual candor in conversations with healthcare leaders and clinicians. Slavitt spoke last week with Modern Healthcare managing editor Gregg Blesch. This...