Posted on 12/22/2013 9:22:15 AM PST by Sub-Driver
Krauthammer: Insurance Companies Ruined By ObamaCare Will Need a Bailout Next Year By Noel Sheppard Created 12/22/2013 - 12:00pm
Syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer made a dire prediction Sunday.
Appearing on Fox News Sunday, Krauthammer said that all the exemptions the President has given to ObamaCare will ruin insurance companies thereby necessitating the White House to ask for a huge government bailout of these companies next year that Republicans in Congress should prevent (video follows with transcript and commentary):
CHRIS WALLACE, HOST: I want to go back to this point that George was talking about, because the President in his news conference Friday said that none of these problems get to the core of ObamaCare - you can argue whether that’s true or not, but that’s what he said - and that 85 percent of Americans that benefited from the benefits that you get under ObamaCare. Charles, your reaction to that, and is it possible that for all of the problems so far that they can get this worked out, and as we get – just to pick a month at random – by next November, most people are saying, “You know what, ObamaCare’s okay?”
CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: It’s possible, it’s highly unlikely. One of the things that he did, one of the reasons that this strikes at the heart of ObamaCare is that what he has done is to take away the financial structure underneath it. The reason the insurers are apoplectic about what just happened is because he has now told a whole class of people, “You don't have to be in the exchanges.” And these are people that are probably the healthier and the younger ones who are going to be outside of the exchanges. Which means that the cost to insurers of people left in the exchanges is going to be exorbitant. And there’s also no way he’s going to be able to hold the line on this because of the unfairness.
If you're exempting people who didn’t have, who had insurance and were cancelled, and you’re exempting them from the fine and the requirement of getting insurance, there’s no way you can require, fine people who didn’t have insurance in the past. So you’re going to have an abolition of the individual mandate. You’ve already abolished or postponed the employer mandate.
The insurers understand that they are going to be ruined. And what’s going to happen as a result of this? There’s only one way out: a huge government bailout of the insurers waiting at the end of next year, and that’s an issue that Republicans ought to focus on right now. It's the only way that ObamaCare’ll survive, and it ought to be stopped before it happens. It ought to be, Congress ought to say, “No bailout,” particularly because this isn’t a natural disaster, it's a manmade disaster.
I'm not sure I agree with Krauthammer on this one.
It seems far likelier that the overwhelming majority of ObamaCare enrollees are for Medicaid. The early numbers show upwards of 80 percent of applicants are qualifying for such assistance.
As a result, the burden will initially be on the federal government, but will be transferred to the states with the passage of time.
Contrary to what the liberal media have claimed concerning this issue, that's why so many of the states opted not to take federal funds for Medicaid expansion under ObamaCare because they knew that assistance was temporary and that they'd eventually be responsible for financing healthcare for these added recipients.
As such, the additional cost to insurance companies though large may not be so burdensome that they need a bailout to survive.
What seems more likely is that they'll just raise premiums on all of their policyholders thereby completely destroying the whole premise of ObamaCare.
Whatever the case, it seems almost a metaphysical certitude that the train wreck called the Affordable Care Act will continue to worsen after the New Year, and there's nothing the President can do about it.
Stay tuned.
Yeah, glad Krauthamer finally figured this out.
I think most of us Freepers , HotAirheads, Lucianners etc. figured out two months ago that the insurance companies would be declared “Too Big To Fail”, and get truckloads of that Sweet Sweet FIAT cash from Bernanke’s (and soon to be Yellin’s) printing presses...
Not only at the cost of current taxpayers, but the next few generations of Americans.
You don’t need a Cray Supercomputer to spot this one coming.
How could this be? My rates went up 100 bucks a month!
Obama will want to bail them out because it'll be another crisis they can take advantage of. He'll villify the insurance companies to make it look like his mistakes are their fault, but a bailout means money getting handed from the taxpayers to the insurance companies with his hands in the middle of it. It's the Chicago way.
You got that right.
But - are they following the law or obeying any of Obama’s numerous exhortations to violate the law? If they are obeying Obama’s “decrees” it could work against them.
You got it. And it stinks to high heaven
There have been so many executive exhortations (as you say), that when individuals begin to be harmed and experience damages it’s going to choke the courts. The law is the law after all.
As such, the additional cost to insurance companies though large may not be so burdensome that they need a bailout to survive.
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Except they are guaranteed a bail-out by the law itself. The federal government is bound to cover 80% of any losses the insurance companies might experience in a given “risk pool”.
********
This is true. But 80% isn’t 100% and the stockholders and the stock market will render a harsh judgement on these companies. Premiums will rise to compensate and the pool of good money making customers will decline.
How do you spell Death Spiral?
I’m not challenging you, but I worked for a major BCBS franchise until last year, through the whole passage of the law and first years of implementation. I saw our CEO dragged before Congress to defend our business. AHIP (association of health ins plans) lobbied heavily against the bill. We didn’t want it. But once it was passed, we had no choice but to implement it. Grandfathering, the shutdown of Medicare Advantage Private FFS, mandates, reports - all threatened with huge penalties for non-compliance. Trust me, the insurance companies aren’t dancing in the streets. Don’t confuse trying to survive with support.
-Again, my experience, my perspective. Don’t hate me.
U R right. Bears repeating.
I certainly do not hate you. I know how the Obama fascists operate.
They disgust me with their corruption. Doesn’t change the fact that these companies should have spoke up for all to hear about how they were being played.
Water under the dam now.
So is Blue Shield in one state the same company as in another state? Do they have the same profit and loss?
As a conservative, I opposed the liberal TARP bailouts of big banks.
As a conservative, I opposed the Stimulus.
As a conservative, I opposed the corrupt GM bailout.
As a conservative, I opposed Cash-for-Clunkers.
As a conservative, I will also oppose next year’s bailout of insurance companies that were hoping for a big win from crony capitalism.
Bailing out big business is and always has been a bad habit of liberals, the party of big business. I just wish we could get that message out to the low-information voters.
How do you spell Death Spiral?
O-B-A-M-A-C-A-R-E
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