Republicans Sabotage, ObamaCare Succeeds

Government controlled in what way? How is private health insurance a government controlled insurance program? Sure the government regulates the insurance industry and always has to some degree but isn't it the job of our government to regulate food safety, workplace safety, water quality, building codes, public safety, drug manufacturers, and thousands of other critical industries? Why is the regulation of the health insurance industry any different from any of those regulated industries? A citizenry's health seems to me to be the single most important industry to that you'd want your government to regulate. After all, we have safe to eat food, clean drinking water, the best building standards in the world, the safest workplaces anywhere yet regulating the health insurance industry is somehow going to bankrupt this country. Hum? Yeah, I'd walk away from this one too if I were you.

 

I am. Like you, I see a lot that can be improved in the bill, and a lot I flat do not like about it. It is better than nothing for those who have nothing, but I'm very happy I was given the option to keep what I had, even though I pay quite a lot for it. They should have made it an opt-in program only, saying employers already providing coverage would continue to do so unless their employees opted out, on a case by case basis.

 

You're on Medicare. How is that working out for you? Why don't you go out and try to buy the same coverage in the private insurance market and see what it costs an old invalid like yourself. You should get down and kiss every Democrat's feet that has defended Medicare over the decades for worn out useless people like you that should be rightfully warehoused in urine soaked diapers until you die.

Sorry, I slipped into compassionate conservative mode for a second there.

 

I approach anything anyone says with skepticism, why should the media be exempted?

 

The old joke, "It must be true, I found it on the internet!" comes to mind lol

Damn, it's an old joke already? Sheesh, I'm getting old.

 

Ouch:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/theapot...ease-individual-insurance-premiums-by-64-146/

 

FWIW,the title is "Rate Shock: In California, Obamacare To Increase Individual Health Insurance Premiums By 64-146%"

 

Some Unions Angry With Obamacare's Unintended Consequences​

May 24, 2013

WASHINGTON (AP) — When President Barack Obama pushed his health care overhaul plan through Congress, he counted labor unions among his strongest supporters.​

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But some unions leaders have grown frustrated and angry about what they say are unexpected consequences of the new law — problems that they say could jeopardize the health benefits offered to millions of their members.​

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The issue could create a political headache next year for Democrats facing re-election if disgruntled union members believe the Obama administration and Congress aren't working to fix the problem.​

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"It makes an untruth out of what the president said, that if you like your insurance, you could keep it," said Joe Hansen, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union. "That is not going to be true for millions of workers now."​

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The problem lies in the unique multiemployer health plans that cover unionized workers in retail, construction, transportation and other industries with seasonal or temporary employment. Known as Taft-Hartley plans, they are jointly administered by unions and smaller employers that pool resources to offer more than 20 million workers and family members continuous coverage, even during times of unemployment.​

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The union plans were already more costly to run than traditional single-employer health plans. The Affordable Care Act has added to that cost — for the unions' and other plans — by requiring health plans to cover dependents up to age 26, eliminate annual or lifetime coverage limits and extend coverage to people with pre-existing conditions.​

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"We're concerned that employers will be increasingly tempted to drop coverage through our plans and let our members fend for themselves on the health exchanges," said David Treanor, director of health care initiatives at the Operating Engineers union.​

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/...may-jeopardize-health-benefits_n_3330074.html

 

The support of union bosses was gained by promises from the BO admin that their rank & file membership would be excluded from the legislation. Well, they found out what everyone else is starting to realize...the devil is in the details.

 

GAO: HHS Already Rationing Enrollment in Obamacare’s Pre-Existing Condition Plan

May 13, 2013
(CNSNews.com) – A pre-existing condition health insurance program established by Obamacare is already straining its own budget and, to control costs, the administration’s Health and Human Services Department (HHS) has stopped enrolling any new people in the program, according to an audit by the General Accountability Office (GAO).

In addition, to further control spending, HHS has directed the program to shift more of the costs onto the current enrollees, thus raising the out-of-pocket health care expenses for the people with pre-existing conditions.

“Finally, due to growing concerns about the rate of PCIP [Pre-existing Condition Insurance Program] spending, in February 2013, CCIIO [under HHS] suspended PCIP enrollment to ensure the appropriated funding would be sufficient to cover claims for current enrollees through the end of the program,” states the GAO report, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: Enrollment and Spending in the Early Retiree Reinsurance and Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan Programs.

The rationing or denial of health care coverage in the marketplace for people with pre-existing conditions, or insurers charging higher premiums to people with pre-existing conditions were among the reasons cited by President Barack Obama and most congressional Democrats for implementing Obamacare, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/gao...lment-obamacare-s-pre-existing-condition-plan

 

Folks who have opted for catastophic illness polices or policies with high deductibles are starting to receive letters from the IRS advising them that their policies do not meet Obamacare minimum standards. If they do not act to change their coverage they will soon fall into the clutches of Obamacare. So much for choice, huh?

 

And then there is the reality of health care costs..... Yeah, let's trust the people that are bleeding us dry to manage the health care system in this country. Good thinking!

The $2.7 Trillion Medical Bill

Colonoscopies Explain Why U.S. Leads the World in Health Expenditures


MERRICK, N.Y. — Deirdre Yapalater’s recent colonoscopy at a surgical center near her home here on Long Island went smoothly: she was whisked from pre-op to an operating room where a gastroenterologist, assisted by an anesthesiologist and a nurse, performed the routine cancer screening procedure in less than an hour. The test, which found nothing worrisome, racked up what is likely her most expensive medical bill of the year: $6,385.
That is fairly typical: in Keene, N.H., Matt Meyer’s colonoscopy was billed at $7,563.56. Maggie Christ of Chappaqua, N.Y., received $9,142.84 in bills for the procedure. In Durham, N.C., the charges for Curtiss Devereux came to $19,438, which included a polyp removal. While their insurers negotiated down the price, the final tab for each test was more than $3,500.
“Could that be right?” said Ms. Yapalater, stunned by charges on the statement on her dining room table. Although her insurer covered the procedure and she paid nothing, her health care costs still bite: Her premium payments jumped 10 percent last year, and rising co-payments and deductibles are straining the finances of her middle-class family, with its mission-style house in the suburbs and two S.U.V.’s parked outside. “You keep thinking it’s free,” she said. “We call it free, but of course it’s not.”
In many other developed countries, a basic colonoscopy costs just a few hundred dollars and certainly well under $1,000. That chasm in price helps explain why the United States is far and away the world leader in medical spending, even though numerous studies have concluded that Americans do not get better care.
Whether directly from their wallets or through insurance policies, Americans pay more for almost every interaction with the medical system. They are typically prescribed more expensive procedures and tests than people in other countries, no matter if those nations operate a private or national health system. A list of drug, scan and procedure prices compiled by the International Federation of Health Plans, a global network of health insurers, found that the United States came out the most costly in all 21 categories — and often by a huge margin.
Americans pay, on average, about four times as much for a hip replacement as patients in Switzerland or France and more than three times as much for a Caesarean section as those in New Zealand or Britain. The average price for Nasonex, a common nasal spray for allergies, is $108 in the United States compared with $21 in Spain. The costs of hospital stays here are about triple those in other developed countries, even though they last no longer, according to a recent report by the Commonwealth Fund, a foundation that studies health policy.

cont'ed....

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/02/h...ds-the-world-in-health-expenditures.html?_r=0

 

.....and the gov't that spends thousands on toilet seats & the agency that spends millions on line dancing lessons & Star Trek parodies is eqipped to handle this how?

 

Government bad! Private industry GOOD! Tarzan like big business.

Hey monkey boy! The government, or a "bureaucracy" which is what the government actually is, is technically the single most efficient way run any large organization. There are always some exceptions that creep through due to the large nature of what the bureaucracy has to accomplish but overall, there isn't a more efficient way to run any country. This isn't just my opinion, this has been proven over hundreds of years all over the world. Remember, in your example, who is it exactly that is bilking the government here? Big business maybe? They seem to bilk not only us but our elected leaders as well. So blame government? Sure, that makes perfect sense. Hold them accountable? A much better solution.

 

OK, let's hold 'em accountable...does that have to include forcing every single US citizen into a gov't controlled healthcare program?

 

Explain what you mean by "government controlled"!!!!! In what way? Specifically?

 

Well, let's see, the gov't decides what coverage is accetpable & what is not...the gov't levies the fines if you don't follow their rules...the gov't ultimately decides who will be part of it's system...any remaining insurance companies have to get the gov't's blessing on coverages & premuims so, yeah, gov't controlled seems to be appropriate.

 

See, I knew that you couldn't do it. Again, the Federal Government regulates countless industries all the time and nobody calls them "government controlled" for some reason. "Rules", "Blessing" both nonsense terms because you can't articulate what you mean by "government controlled".

So in your opinion it seems that government has no right to regulate anything. We should all be subjected to the life and death decisions some corporation makes based on their bottom line. Let me know the next time you get to vote a corporate board member out of the corporation.

 

What other industry is controlled as tightly as healthcare will be under Obamcare?

 

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