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Posted by
on
October 16, 2013
99.6% of Healthcare.gov Visitors Did NOT Enroll in Obamacare
Posted by
on
October 03, 2013
"Due to the ACA’s sweeping market reforms, rates for low-premium plans have increased exponentially between 2013 and 2014. In fact, on average, a healthy 30 year old male nonsmoker will see his lowest cost insurance option increase 260 percent"- read the entire analysis here: Premiums Increases under the ACA
How does your state rank? Premium Increases From 2013 to 2014
Posted by
on
October 01, 2013
Today is October 1? Have you tried to enroll in your state's health insurance exchange?
Here is what you will get if you live in one of the 36 states relying on the federal exchange: https://www.healthcare.gov/marketplace/global/en_US/registration#signUpStepOne
Posted by
on
September 27, 2013
Another Obamacare delay
Small businesses won't be able to enroll online for SHOP exchanges on Oct. 1. By JASON MILLMAN and JENNIFER HABERKORN | 9/26/13 11:55 AM EDT Updated: 9/26/13 1:45 PM EDT
The Obama administration is delaying another piece of Obamacare — this time postponing enrollment in most of the small-business exchanges scheduled to open Oct. 1. Small businesses looking to enroll in coverage on so-called SHOP exchanges run by the federal government can start their applications on Oct. 1 — they just won’t be able to enroll online until November. The one-month delay is not a major blow to the health care law — the exchanges for individuals are still expected to open on time. But it’s yet another PR headache for the White House as it ramps up a major Obamacare sales pitch just five days before open enrollment is scheduled to begin. And it’s sure to to further stoke Republican-led concerns that the law is not ready and should be stopped before 2014, though the administration downplayed the delay. “Small businesses will be able to participate in the SHOP beginning on Oct. 1 to evaluate their coverage options,” said HHS spokeswoman Joanne Peters. She noted that coverage doesn’t start until Jan. 1. “Today the administration is announcing a major outreach campaign to make sure small businesses have the information they need,” Peters said. “Open enrollment for the SHOP Marketplace is year round, giving small business owners plenty of time to make a decision. The individual marketplace will still open on time on Oct. 1 with full online enrollment and plan shopping options.” POLITICO learned of the delay Thursday morning as President Barack Obama delivered an impassioned defense of the health law in Maryland. Also on Thursday, The Associated Press reported that the Spanish-language version of Healthcare.gov, the administration’s main Obamacare website, won’t be ready on Oct. 1 either — a delay that could cause problems for the effort to sign up Hispanics, a key health care constituency. The SHOP applications represent the latest glitch in the federal exchange infrastructure. Federal health officials recently said they won’t be able to transfer Medicaid applications to states right away, the Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week. “This law is a disaster, but the exchanges — the heart of the law — are supposed to go live in just five days?” Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said in a statement. “Give me a break. This law will never be ready for primetime because this is what happens when Washington takes over health care.” And earlier in the year, the administration said it would delay by a year a SHOP feature providing employees more flexibility to choose their health plans. Sources said there’s been very little information about how applications will be transmitted from federal-run SHOPs to insurers selling the health plans, prompting the delay. Small Business Majority, which strongly supports the health law, called the delay “disappointing.” But spokesman Rhett Buttle said that “by no means spells disaster for small businesses” which, unlike individuals, can enroll in exchange coverage any time of the year. “I don’t think it’s going to hurt enrollment,” Buttle said. “People can still get enrolled Oct. 1.” The federal exchange glitch comes a day after Colorado and Washington, D.C. — which are running the own exchanges — announced they couldn’t immediately calculate whether customers qualify for a government tax credit to purchase insurance. They said the function would likely be delayed by a month for individuals. D.C. said that its SHOP exchange, however, is completely ready for an Oct. 1 launch. “None of this is going to really impact consumers,” said Mila Kofman, executive director of the District’s exchange. “As long as consumers get enrolled, pay their premium by Dec. 15, their coverage is going to be effective Jan. 1.” Earlier in the week, Obama touted the online enrollment experience in the exchanges during a conversation with former President Bill Clinton. “They’re going to be able to go to a computer, tap on the Web page and they’re going to be able to shop just like you shopped for an airline ticket or a flat-screen TV, and see what’s the best price for you, what’s the plan that’s best suited for you, and go ahead and sign up right there and then,” Obama said. Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/09/obamacare-faces-new-delay-in-small-business-enrollment-97401.html#ixzz2g6akX9FB
Posted by
on
August 22, 2013
Republicans Do Have Ideas for Health CareBut liberals don't like to admit it because the GOP would put patients, not government, in charge.By: KARL ROVE
In remarks at the White House last month, President Obama claimed that if Republicans "had some better ideas" on health care, he was "happy to hear them. But I haven't heard any so far." The Democratic National Committee expanded the president's charge, claiming in a press release last week that "the GOP is simply out of ideas" on health care. Liberal opinion writers are now echoing Mr. Obama. The Washington Post's Ezra Klein writes that "Republicans have no idea what is it is they'll do" to replace the Affordable Care Act. The New York Times's Paul Krugman chimes in that the GOP goal is to "deny essential health care and financial security to millions of their fellow Americans." Mr. Obama and his hallelujah chorus are wrong. Republicans have plenty of sensible ideas to make health coverage more accessible and more affordable Many congressional Republicans, such as Oklahoma's Sen. Tom Coburn and Wyoming's Sen. Mike Enzi, have long advocated making health insurance completely portable so workers can take their plans with them from job to job. This means giving individuals who buy coverage for themselves a tax advantage similar to the one that employers enjoy when they cover employees. That change also could make coverage more affordable for the self-employed and even universal for all workers. In the House, Republicans such as Texas Rep. Sam Johnson and Louisiana's Charles Boustany (a cardiovascular surgeon), want to allow smaller companies to pool their risk to get the same discounts from insurance carriers that bigger companies do. Others, including Rep. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, want to spark increased competition by allowing health-insurance policies to be sold across state lines, as are auto insurance policies. ObamaCare reduced the amount families can save tax free for medical expenses; the House Republican Study Committee wants to raise the amount. Paired with health-savings accounts, this can put quality health care within the reach of many more families. Defensive medicine—the use of unnecessary tests and procedures to ward off malpractice suits—cost Medicare and Medicaid an estimated $55.6 billion in 2008, according to a 2010 study in Health Affairs. Thus Texas Rep. Lamar Smith has championed medical liability reform at the federal level to rein in junk lawsuits, despite qualms that the issue should be left to the states. Texas Reps. Mike Burgess (who practiced obstetrics and gynecology) and Joe Barton have introduced bills to establish transparency in pricing and medical outcomes so patients can compare the costs for procedures at area hospitals and their relative success in performing them. Louisiana Rep. Bill Cassidy, also a physician, has introduced a bill that would allow Medicaid patients to convert the value of their government benefit to pay for private coverage. Republicans have put these and other ideas into comprehensive reform packages. Georgia Rep. Tom Price, an orthopedic surgeon, has introduced a comprehensive alternative to ObamaCare that includes many of the GOP's reforms. Tennessee's Phil Roe, a retired OB/GYN, will introduce a new ObamaCare replacement package next month when Congress returns. Mr. Enzi first introduced a comprehensive bill including GOP reform proposals in 2007 and has updated it regularly. The president and his liberal posse have a fundamental, philosophical objection to conservative ideas on health care. They oppose reforms that put the patient in charge rather than government, that rely on competition rather than regulation, and that strengthen market forces rather than weaken them. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid recently called ObamaCare "a step in the right direction," but noted that his goal is "absolutely" a single-payer system in which government delivers all health care. When he was running for president in 2008, Mr. Obama admitted he "would probably go ahead with a single-payer system" if he was "designing a system from scratch." It's no surprise that he professes not to have heard any good ideas from Republicans. In the past, with a few exceptions, Republicans talked too infrequently and with insufficient passion about health-care reform, leaving the field to the Democrats. There's a different political reality today. Many Americans ache for an alternative to ObamaCare (54% disapprove of the law, according to the July 22 CBS News poll). To dismantle this monstrosity, however, Republicans must make their alternatives widely known. As Wyoming's Sen. John Barrasso, one of the GOP's leading health-care reformers and an orthopedic surgeon, puts it: "Republicans have ideas that actually deliver what Americans want—lower costs and greater access. Our ideas will win because they will improve health care in our country." Mr. Rove, a former deputy chief of staff to President George W. Bush, helped organize the political action committee American Crossroads. A version of this article appeared August 22, 2013, on page A13 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Republicans Do Have Ideas on Health Care. It can be located on the web at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323665504579026711985090336.html?mod=wsj_share_tweet
Posted by
on
June 24, 2013
ACA Exchange Status: 99 Days to Go… With the deadline of October 1st, 2013 less than one hundred days away, the preparation for implementing health insurance exchanges under the Affordable Care Act has been behind schedule, according to a June 19th report by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO). The health insurance exchanges mandated by the ACA are online marketplaces in which Americans will go to compare and purchase certain certified health insurance plans. States have the option to set up their own exchanges, as 16 states have, and those states that choose not to, such as Texas, will use exchanges set up by the federal government. The 34 federally facilitated exchanges (FFE) for the remaining states, that are to be set up by October 1st, when enrollment will begin, will be operated by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). 15 of those FFEs will have the state assisting with certain day-to-day functions. The process for setting up the FFEs include setting up minimum standards for the certification of health insurance issuers to be included in the exchanges, establishing eligibility and enrollment standards, and training consumer assistants. The certification standards were established in April, and insurance issuers’ applications to be included in the FFEs were due May 3, 2013. CMS plans to certify the plans by July 31st and have them online by September 15. CMS has released the final eligibility and enrollment applications, but still needs to test some functions, including verifying income and citizenship. The consumer assistance development is the most behind schedule, with a 2-month delay of the announcement of its navigator program, which trains and certifies navigators to help customers. According to CMS, six states that are operating consumer assistance programs are behind schedule as well. States had only completed about 44 percent of key activities with deadlines of March 2013. In response to the GAO report, CMS states that the state exchanges are still expected to meet the October deadline. -Written by Pooja Prabhakar, Intern in the Office of Michael C. Burgess, M.D.
Posted by
on
June 03, 2013
On May 31, 2013 the Energy and Commerce Committee released the following analysis of the California Health Insurance Exchange's published insurance rates.Analysis: What’s Really Happening with California’s #RateShockWASHINGTON, DC – In recent weeks, the Energy and Commerce Committee has explored the looming rate shock that will hit when the president’s health care law takes full effect. Despite widespread evidence that significant price spikes are expected, reports from the state of California claiming potential price reductions created many new questions. After Covered California announced insurance premium rates would remain steady if not decrease in 2014, a number of analyses emerged that poked holes in the state’s announcement and suggested the state was “comparing apples to oranges to grapefruit.” Rather than provide a clear assessment of what consumers pay for their current plan and compare it to the loaded government-approved plans they will be required to purchase under the health care law, California compared the cost to provide more expensive options now versus what the same plan will cost in 2014. The problem? Washington Examiner editorialist Philip Klein explained:
Hoover Institute’s Lanhee Chen commented, “To put it simply: Covered California is trying to make consumers think they’re getting more for less when, in fact, they’re just getting the same while paying more.” The AP also recently reported that state insurance regulators are sending “cancellation notices because their policies aren’t up to the basic standards of President Barack Obama’s overhaul.” According to internal documents obtained by the Energy and Commerce Committee from some of the nation’s top insurers, these new “basic standards,” mandates, taxes and fees will force premiums to dramatically increase. Looks like the picture in California isn’t so rosy after all.
Read more from news outlets covering the California confusion including this one, or this one, or this one
Posted by
on
May 16, 2013
190 Million Hours and Counting…Obamacare Burden Keeps Growing and GrowingMountain of New Mandates, Rules, and Red Tape Threatens Families and Job Creators
WASHINGTON, DC – The House Energy and Commerce, Ways and Means, and Education and the Workforce Committees today released an updated version of the Obamacare Burden Tracker (#ObamacareBurden), which reveals the burden on employers and families has increased to almost 190 million hours. The Burden Tracker, first released in February, is a real-time, online resource to help the public keep track of all of the new government mandates, rules, and red tape resulting from Obamacare. The burden of Obamacare is already being felt, even though many provisions of the law, including the requirement for most Americans to buy government-approved health insurance or pay a tax, are not set to take effect until 2014. According to the Obama administration’s own estimates, Obamacare will require American job creators, families, and health care providers to spend almost 190 million hours per year on compliance.* This burden has increased over 60 million hours since February of this year. Every hour and dollar spent complying with the Democrats’ health care law are time and resources being taken from spending time with family, growing a business and creating jobs, or caring for patients. Since many small businesses do not employ in-house lawyers and accountants, compliance costs are especially expensive and burdensome. Given the new demands of complying with the law, it is not surprising that over 70 percent of small businesses cite the health care law as a major obstacle to job creation. What could be done in 189,822,836 hours?
*Based on administration estimates approved by the Office of Management and Budget
Posted by
on
May 14, 2013
Obamacare Oversight: The Looming Premium Rate ShockOn March 14, 2013, members of the Energy and Commerce Committee sent letters to 17 of the nation's largest health insurance companies requesting analyses of the effect of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's (PPACA's) policies, mandates, taxes, and fees on health insurance premiums. Cick here to read the report. Excerpts | Scope and Methodology | Exhibits | Inquiry to Insurance Companies
Because of the proprietary and confidential nature of the material submitted by these companies, committee staff has redacted identifying information from this report and the accompanying supporting documentation. Publicly identifying the authors of these materials could disrupt the process by which insurers are required to file their proposed premium rates, especially considering that some of the information could change.[1] The committee requested the insurance companies produce their most recent existing analyses rather than create new materials when responding to the committee’s requests. The committee did so in order to capture the most realistic portrait of the PPACA’s effect on premiums. Because the committee requested that insurers submit original analyses, the statistical information is not of a uniform nature.[2] [1] Several insurers made the point that they are doing their best to guess what the market will look like on January 1, 2014. This is difficult considering (as one insurer remarked) that they have to complete these analyses while the administration has yet to issue many “relevant final ACA regulations.” [2] Some insurers calculated premium increases by age and sex, others calculated an average for each state they serve, while others tried to estimate the premium increases for a representative plan in the market. Full Report can be found at: E&C Health Insurance Premium Report |
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