meanwhile Barry ponders his LEGACY.......in relative isolation...
Posted on 11/12/2013 7:01:51 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Amazing stuff via Mediaite. The “Keep Your Plan Act” is Fred Upton’s bill, which Jay Carney spent a few minutes attacking at today’s press briefing because it would make canceled plans available to all consumers, not just the ones who’d been enrolled in those plans before. That would be a disaster for the insurance industry. Healthy people would flee the new, more expensive plans for the resurrected cheaper ones, leaving no one in the new risk pool except sick people with very expensive treatments. That means either heavy losses for insurers, steep premium hikes next year to make up the difference, or some sort of federal bailout (congrats, red-state Democrats!) — or maybe a little of all three. You’ll have the same problem, though, albeit to a lesser extent, even if Upton’s bill is amended so that it applies only to people who’d been enrolled in a particular plan before it was cancelled. You can’t run a two-tiered healthy/sick insurance system. If the risk pools aren’t merged, replete with higher rates for the former, you can’t pay for the latter.
I understand why the GOP would back Upton’s bill. It’s a slam dunk politically, grinding Obama’s face in the consequences of his lie. This is the Democrats’ mess; Reid and the Senate can/will kill the bill if they like. I can’t understand why House Democrats, aware of the adverse selection problem that’s lurking here — and the political humiliation for the White House — would sign on, unless they’ve already reached a point of such pure terror over the “if you like your plan” backlash that they’re willing to kneecap ObamaCare six weeks out of the gate. Did they … not understand that millions of people were going to face cancellations and higher premiums under the law’s redistributive scheme? Of course they did. Steny Hoyer, number two in the Democratic caucus admitted it on October 29th. Fast forward two weeks and here’s where Hoyer is now:
“I don’t know what I’m gonna do on the Upton bill,” the Maryland Democrat said at a Tuesday briefing with reporters when discussing legislation sponsored by Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich.
Hoyer noted that he was “inclined not to be for the Upton bill at this time,” but he emphasized that he was “not closed to the option,” and would “reserve judgment” until he had seen the legislative text, which is reportedly undergoing some tweaks.
“I agree that people who purchased their policies prior to [the law's enactment date] ought to be able to keep their policies,” he said.
If he agrees that they should be able to keep their policies, why did he vote for ObamaCare? The whole point of the law is that healthy middle-class people shouldn’t be allowed to keep policies that have relatively low premiums. We need to gouge those suckers with higher premiums for new “comprehensive” plans so that we can pay for the preexisting conditions of the sick. It’s like voting for immigration reform and then feigning surprise in five years when the newly “secure” border hasn’t halted illegal immigration. It’s not supposed to do that. That’s something you tell the hoi polloi in order to give Congress enough cover to vote for it.
The vote on Upton’s bill is set for Friday, which, per CNN’s source on the Hill, means the White House has 48 hours or so to come up with its own proposal for letting people keep their plans — adverse selection problem or not — before Democrats head for the lifeboats. Greg Sargent claims that the Democratic leadership is now warning the rank and file that rich liberal donors won’t look kindly at them if they abandon The One on his big “accomplishment.” I’ll leave you with this, just to show that the fear isn’t limited to Dems in red states. After a million cancellations, even DiFi’s nervous:
Feinstein: "I have decided to cosponsor Senator Mary Landrieu’s (D-La.) legislation: Keeping the Affordable Care Act Promise Act."
CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO
Nut. That was during the Nixon Years. Cameras were not allowed. :^)
What they need to do is repeal it with an effective date of Jan, 1 2015, giving the entire healthcare industry time to recalculate. There’s too many moving targets right now for anybody with a brain to make any intelligent decisions.
I don't think "adverse selection" will be a problem, because only 50,000 people have signed on so far, and many of those have probably signed on for Medicaid.
If the Democraps are bailing, they should be able to override Obama's veto.
Is this really happening?
Too late.
Declaring it so doesn’t make it so.
Imagine a zoning law draconian enough that whole neighborhoods had to be bulldozed to comply. As the last houses tumble, the occupants scream “but you said we could keep our homes!” loud enough that the zoning board relents and declares “fine, you can keep your homes.” Too late, the homes are destroyed and gone.
Likewise health care plans. Anything which doesn’t comply with the new law has been overhauled to a modified & more expensive form, or cancelled outright. The plans we wanted to keep are gone. The insurance companies are not going to recreate them for a few people, as they required broader adherence to work. “You can keep your plan!” the Left will declare. Too damn late: the plans are gone, the declaration meaningless but as an example of how far out of touch with reality the Left is.
I can't see any reason for Obama and insurers to resurrect the old non ACA compliant plans AND let people come off the exchanges plans and buy an old plan (if they qualify??).
Of course. That's why the Collaborators have been pushing the "let it collapse under its own weight" theme. They know it won't.
So, Obama could hold the Democrats hostage? Sweet!
I agree. Best that the idiots who voted for it suffer good and hard.
The breakdown is happening too fast. The insurers have a bailout baked into Obamacare, but perhaps they're realizing they are not ever going to sell very many of those "shiney new" policies, and getting back those old policies and the customers that go with them could be looking pretty good about now. The bailout doesn't work if the industry dies altogether. Because it's flaring out so fast, the insurers have perhaps finally realized they've been duped, and would be willing to back off the whole sorry idea, while there's still time (and there is). Perhaps they'll decide they don't want to wait around for the evil emperor to say, "Young fool...only now, at the end, do you understand..."
I told you guys that when the Debt Limit can the Democrats kicked down the road came rolling to a stop the Obamacare worms would slither out. They are now out and they don’t have a clue as to how to get then back in the can.
Boehner will fold before you can say, "cheap suit."
Still, this would be for the best. Allowing people to keep their plans will gut Obamacare, and end it legislatively.
If they suffer, I suffer, and I don't want to suffer. Because if I suffer, my family suffers, and that would make me suffer even more. That whole idea is just ... wait for it ... insufferable.
Republicans should NOT get suckered into this!
Maryland "Freak State" PING!
Don't forget Hillarycare '93 as her Obamacare alternative.
But if funds are appropriated to make up the losses Obamacare won’t be ‘gutted’. It will be given life.
And that’s what I expect to happen, voters want ‘free stuff’, and insurance companies want subsidies for their campaign donations.
lol...bela pelosi..
EMPLOYER FUNDED Health Insurance. Health insurance existed before that, you bought an individual policy, just like any other insurance. THAT interference by the government is the Ur problem with our healthcare to this day.
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