The Best Laid Plans
Many formerly supportive constituencies have grown wary of Obamacare in recent weeks as we’ve learned more about the effects it will have on the health care system.
Six years after a Democratic majority rammed the most complex piece of domestic legislation in decades through a party line vote, using a legislative technique that ensured the final bill would be a mess that nobody actually advocated, the law, shockingly, isn’t working very well.
Enrollment is only half of what proponents expected, premiums are going up by double-digits, healthy people are shunning what they see as an over-priced and underperforming program... -The American Interest 
[May 2016]: Obamacare has caused health insurance premiums to skyrocket. It has caused millions of Americans who liked their health plans to lose their health plans. It has caused doctor and hospital networks to narrow. Now the Wall Street Journal reports that the Obamacare exchanges in Alabama and Alaska will each have one—that's right, one—insurer offering plans. We're moving toward "single insurer" health care.
In short, Obamacare is wrecking the private health insurance market. -Jeffrey H. Anderson
Of course mandating and subsidizing health-care insurance will decrease the number of uninsured. Yet Left punditry seems to be under the impression that coercing people to participate in their plans is revolutionary policymaking.
But countless times in 2009, the president promised that exchanges would offer those newly insured Americans more quality “choices” and “affordability” and push down rates overall. (He promised the rest of us that health-care premiums would fall by $2,500 for a family of four. Instead, they’ve risen by over $4,800.) -David Harsanyi
Democrat, Liberal, Incompetence, Obama, Financial, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare
The cost of family health coverage in the U.S. now tops $20,000, an annual survey of employers found, a record high that has pushed an increasing number of American workers into plans that cover less or cost more, or force them out of the insurance market entirely...
The seemingly inexorable rise of costs has led to deep frustration with U.S. health care, prompting questions about whether a system where coverage is tied to a job can survive. As premiums and deductibles have increased in the last two decades, the percentage of workers covered has slipped as employers dropped coverage and some workers chose not to enroll. Fewer Americans under 65 had employer coverage in 2017 than in 1999, according to a separate Kaiser Family Foundation analysis of federal data.
Democrat, Liberal, Government, Incompetence, Obama, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare, Regulation
When Affordable Care Act insurance marketplaces launched in fall 2013, Arizona seemed like a success. Eight insurers competed to sign up consumers, offering a wide variety of plans and some of the lowest premiums in the country.
Today, with ACA enrollment starting Nov. 1, Arizonans will find in most counties only one insurer selling exchange plans for 2017. Premiums for some plans will be more than double this year, some of the biggest increases in the nation. Only last-minute maneuvering prevented one Arizona county from becoming the first in the nation to have no exchange insurers at all.
Democrat, Liberal, Government, Incompetence, Obama, Funny, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare, Regulation
Bill Clinton criticized President Barack Obama's signature policy reform Monday while on the stump for his wife, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, calling Obamacare "the craziest thing in the world."...
"So you've got this crazy system where all of a sudden 25 million more people have health care and then the people who are out there busting it, sometimes 60 hours a week, wind up with their premiums doubled and their coverage cut in half. It's the craziest thing in the world," Clinton said.
Democrat, Liberal, Government, Incompetence, Obama, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare, Regulation
Six years after President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, into law, nearly 11 percent of Americans remain without health insurance... Additionally, 15.5 percent of respondents to the poll said that they had lacked the ability to pay for their health insurance or necessary medications at some point in 2016, a drop of only three percent since Gallup asked the same question in 2010... Gallup also recently found the number of Americans who say they're "satisfied" with the quality of their health care has dropped five percentage points since 2010.
The signature domestic accomplishment of the Obama administration is, the Gray Lady appears to be conceding, a dysfunctional mess. -The American Interest
Democrat, Liberal, Government, Incompetence, Obama, Character, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare, Regulation, Jobs
An influx of employers are getting rid of health benefits by shrinking their full-time workforce and hiring freelancers in 2016 due to the increase in costs caused by the Affordable Care Act according to a study released Tuesday. Nearly one-third of companies intend to work towards “eliminating” healthcare benefits because of the ACA, the study found, and 60 percent of companies intend to hire more freelance employees than full-time employees.
Democrat, Liberal, Government, Incompetence, Obama, Financial, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare
Three years ago, on the eve of Obamacare’s implementation, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projected that President Obama's centerpiece legislation would result in an average of 201 million people having private health insurance in any given month of 2016. Now that 2016 is here, the CBO says that just 177 million people, on average, will have private health insurance in any given month of this year—a shortfall of 24 million people.
Democrat, Liberal, Government, Incompetence, Obama, Financial, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare
The biggest insurer in the nation has exited the Obamacare exchanges in Arkansas and Georgia, as insurers struggle financially in the exchanges. UnitedHealth will leave the two states and not sell plans in Arkansas and Georgia. The move comes as UnitedHealth has detailed more than $400 million in losses in the Obamacare exchanges and threatened to leave the exchanges altogether.
Democrat, Liberal, Government, Incompetence, Obama, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare, Regulation
[Mar 2016]: Other groups have recently indicated that the Affordable Care Act has deepened the ER overuse problem. Last year, a national survey of 2,099 emergency doctors by the American College of Emergency Physicians reported that 28 percent of respondents said the volume of ER patients in their hospitals “increased greatly” since the health law took effect. And 47 percent said the volume “increased slightly.”
Now, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina says that it might drop out of the marketplace because of its losses. Blue Cross of North Carolina CEO Brad Wilson said in an interview that the company had lost $400 million due to its ObamaCare business.
Democrat, Liberal, Government, Incompetence, Obama, Financial, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare, Regulation
A report by Minnesota’s Office of the Legislative Auditor released last month, found that more than 80,000 Minnesotans were enrolled in Medicaid, and the state’s Obamacare exchange even though they were ineligible for the services. That incredible number of ineligible enrollees cost Minnesota taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. The problems apparently stem from “miscommunication and poor training at the Department of Human Services.”
Democrat, Liberal, Government, Incompetence, Obama, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare
Kentucky’s nonprofit health insurer set up under ObamaCare is shutting down because of financial problems, the latest in a string of closures for the nonprofit plans around the country. Kentucky Health Cooperative, a nonprofit insurer known as a co-op, explained that it could not stay financially afloat after learning of a low payment from an ObamaCare program called “risk corridors.”
Democrat, Liberal, Government, Incompetence, Obama, Financial, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare
Bad news for New Yorkers, thanks to ObamaCare: More than 100,000 policyholders just learned that their Health Republic insurance plans will be canceled on Dec. 31. The start-up insurer (spun off from the Freelancers’ Union) is hemorrhaging red ink and has to close down. That’s unfortunate for the policyholders, who now have to scramble to find other coverage and try to keep their doctors.
Democrat, Liberal, Government, Incompetence, Obama, Financial, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare, Regulation
The Washington Post reports that nearly 1 in 4 of the people who picked a health care plan for 2015 through Obamacare marketplaces have dropped or lost their coverage. As of the end of June, 9.9 million people were paying for health care plans they obtained through the federal or state-run insurance exchanges created by the Obamacare legislation. That’s a decline from the 12.7 million who signed up for a 2015 plan.
What explains the drop? The obvious explanation, and the main one cited by the Post, is that a huge number of those who signed up either failed to pay their premiums or paid them for a while but then stopped.
Last week, the Obama administration’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released its official estimates of the uninsured population and of health spending. And in 2014, we learned, Obamacare’s coverage expansion fell between 6 and 12 million short of expectations, while driving the growth of health spending to its highest rate in 7 years.
Democrat, Liberal, Government, Incompetence, Obama, Financial, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare, Regulation
A Nevada health insurance provider that received more than $65 million in taxpayer-funded loans from the federal government announced last week that it is discontinuing operations at the end of the year. The Nevada Health Co-Op will close its doors beginning Jan. 1 because of “challenging market conditions.” The co-op will be the third of the 23 consumer-oriented and operated plans created under Obamacare to shutter.
2016 NPR Harvard Study
Obamacare Cost Increases
Percent of adults in the U.S. who say their health insurance benefits, co-pays and deductibles, and premiums have increased, decreased, or stayed about the same over the past two years.
Democrat, Liberal, Government, Incompetence, Obama, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare, Regulation
When the so-called "public option" single-payer healthcare program was scrapped during the legislative "debate" over ObamaCare in 2009, lawmakers working on the bill created the Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan Program as a compromise. The non-profit co-op program is meant to compete with private, for-profit health insurance plans in the individual and small group markets. The 2010 healthcare law provided $3.4 billion in start-up funding to help get the program off the ground.
Well, the 23 op-ops that were subsequently created as a result of ObamaCare are in serious financial trouble, according to a new report from the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the Inspector General. The audit found that 21 co-ops were losing money as of the end of 2014 and 13 are not meeting enrollment projections.
The 21 co-ops lost a total of $382,099,933.
Democrat, Liberal, Government, Incompetence, Obama, Fraud, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare, Regulation
Phony applicants that investigators signed up last year under President Barack Obama’s health care law got automatically re-enrolled for 2015. Some were rewarded with even bigger taxpayer subsidies for their insurance premiums, a congressional probe has found. The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office says 11 counterfeit characters that its investigators created last year were automatically re-enrolled by HealthCare.gov. In Obama’s terms, they got to keep the coverage they had.
Democrat, Liberal, Incompetence, Obama, Financial, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare, Regulation
ObamaCare exchanges have just met a target of 2.8 million young-adult enrollees. The bad news: That target was for last year. By now, there were supposed to have been roughly 5 million paying customers between the ages of 18 and 34. Lagging young-adult enrollment is among the reasons why so many big insurers on the exchanges are seeking premium hikes of 20% or more for 2016. Among the 11.7 million people who selected 2015 exchange plans, 1.5 million never paid or quickly canceled their coverage, the Department of Health and Human Services reported Tuesday.
Indeed, based on the CBO's own numbers, it seems possible that Obamacare has actually reduced the number of people with private health insurance.
In 2013, the CBO projected that, without Obamacare, 186 million people would be covered by private health insurance in 2016... The CBO now says that, with Obamacare, 177 million people will be covered by private health insurance in 2016... -Jeffrey H. Anderson
Democrat, Hypocrisy, Liberal, Incompetence, Obama, Fraud, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare
It wasn't supposed to work this way, but since the Affordable Care Act took effect in January, Norton Hospital has seen its packed emergency room become even more crowded, with about 100 more patients a month... That's just the opposite of what many people expected under Obamacare, particularly because one of the goals of health reform was to reduce pressure on emergency rooms by expanding Medicaid and giving poor people better access to primary care.
Democrat, Liberal, Government, Incompetence, Obama, Financial, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare, Regulation
Forty-six percent of doctors give President Obama's healthcare law a "D" or an "F," according to a new survey from the Physicians Foundation. In contrast, just 25 percent of those surveyed gave the law an "A" or a "B."... Another comment read, "I'm a Canadian physician practicing in the United States. The politicians and policy makers need to understand that government involvement in healthcare never works."
Democrat, Liberal, Government, Incompetence, Obama, Financial, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare, Regulation
Several states are wrestling with one of the key aspects of ObamaCare: keeping premiums low, which the administration wanted to boost enrollment. But that also meant consumers had fewer providers to choose from, since the doctors needed to be willing to accept lower reimbursements... "We're all in the VA now," said Merrill Matthews of the Institute of Policy Innovation. "The things that are happening in the VA are similar to what are happening, what will happen in ObamaCare."
Democrat, Liberal, Government, Incompetence, Obama, Financial, Oops, Waste, Socialism, Healthcare, Regulation
The government may be paying incorrect subsidies to more than 1 million Americans for their health plans in the new federal insurance marketplace and has been unable so far to fix the errors, according to internal documents and three people familiar with the situation. The problem means that potentially hundreds of thousands of people are receiving bigger subsidies than they deserve.
When the administration announced that the enrollment in 2016 will end up being 10 million, it was an admission of failure. Just this March the administration was claiming 11.2 million were signed up, which means it expects an enrollment drop of nearly 11% by the end of next year. -IBD Editorials
Democrat, Hypocrisy, Liberal, Incompetence, Obama, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare
California Obamacare patients are finding it more affordable to drive to Tijuana, Mexico for health care treatment than to use their high-deductible Obamacare plans. Irma Montalvo tells USA Today seeing a Tijuana doctor only costs $15 and that she likes her Mexican doctor better.
Democrat, Liberal, Crime, Government, Incompetence, Obama, Character, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare, Law, Regulation
The new health insurance marketplaces appear to be making little headway so far in signing up Americans who lack health insurance, the Affordable Care Act’s central goal. A pair of surveys released on Thursday suggest that just one in 10 uninsured people who qualify for private health plans through the new marketplace have signed up for one...
The defects of the ACA are plain for all to see. Everybody knows what they are. But what has been the Democratic response to attempts to fix them?
Screeching that Republicans are cruel, that they hate poor people, or that they are influenced by obscure financial motives.
Democrat, Liberal, Government, Incompetence, Obama, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare, Law, Regulation
The state received more than $205 million in federal money to build a health insurance exchange to serve those still uninsured. Yet four months after enrollments began, the Hawaii Health Connector has allocated $120 million while signing up only about 4,300 people for health plans — fewer than any other state.
Democrat, Liberal, Crime, Government, Incompetence, Obama, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare, Law, Regulation
The fourth Georgia hospital in two years is closing its doors due to severe financial difficulties caused by Obamacare’s payment cuts for emergency services. The Lower Oconee Community Hospital is, for now, a critical access hospital in southeastern Georgia that holds 25 beds... Because the Affordable Care Act’s authors believed they’d forced all states to implement the Medicaid expansion, Obamacare vastly cut hospital payments, the Associated Press reports.
If you ask President Obama how Obamacare is going, he will say awesome, couldn’t be better. But how about asking 367,000 Texans who are having their health insurance coverage eliminated because the insurer lost $400 million on that group in 2014.
Democrat, Liberal, Crime, Government, Incompetence, Obama, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare, Law, Regulation
Five months, hundreds of millions of dollars and two top exchange officials later, Oregon’s Obamacare exchange was scheduled to finally launch a partial version of its website last week — and then delayed it again. Despite $340 million in federal funding and another $160 million from state taxpayers, Cover Oregon’s site was unable to enroll any customers online on day one in October and officials quickly gave up on having online enrollment ready anytime soon.
Democrat, Liberal, Crime, Government, Incompetence, Obama, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare, Law, Regulation
OREGON—The story behind the massive failure of the Oregon health exchange website continues to unravel as allegations of fraud and gross mismanagement mount. Local news agencies have obtained emails and other reports suggesting state officials lied about the progress of the website, possibly even creating dummy sites to present to federal officials.
Democrat, Liberal, Government, Incompetence, Obama, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare, Law, Regulation
Supporters of President Obama’s health care law had predicted that expanding insurance coverage for the poor would reduce costly emergency room visits as people sought care from primary care doctors. But a rigorous new study conducted in Oregon has flipped that assumption on its head, finding that the newly insured actually went to the emergency room more often.
Democrat, Liberal, Government, Incompetence, Obama, Financial, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare, Law, Regulation
Illinois reported only 7,043 enrollments in Obamacare in the first two months of the program, according to the Department of Health and Human Services, the Chicago Tribune reports. The eventual goal is 300,000 Illinois enrollments.
The losses are racking up.
A co-op in Vermont closed in 2013. Iowa’s CoOpportunity Health collapsed in January, taking $145 million in federal loans with it. Louisiana’s Health Cooperative shut down in July, after a steady stream of red ink. And in August, Nevada’s co-op announced it will close up by Jan. 1. It had $65.9 million in federal loans on its books. A July inspector general’s report warns that several remaining co-ops are tottering. -Betsy McCaughey
Democrat, Liberal, Government, Incompetence, Obama, Character, Oops, Socialism, Lie, Healthcare, Law, Regulation
A sweeping national effort to extend health coverage to millions of Americans will leave out two-thirds of the poor blacks and single mothers and more than half of the low-wage workers who do not have insurance, the very kinds of people that the program was intended to help, according to an analysis of census data by The New York Times.
Democrat, Liberal, Government, Incompetence, Obama, Character, Oops, Socialism, Lie, Healthcare, Regulation
Enroll Alaska, an organization that was specifically created to aid Alaskans in enrolling for Obamacare, has thrown in the towel, at least for the time being. As the Peninsula Clarion reports, Enroll Alaska has been able to enroll a grand total of only three people since the launch of the health-insurance marketplaces on October 1. It has now given up entirely on that goal, at least until Healthcare.gov, the federal health-care exchange, gives Alaskans accurate figures on the subsidies they’re eligible for.
Democrat, Liberal, Government, Incompetence, Obama, Financial, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare, Regulation
Health insurance premiums for young people will rise in all 50 states under Obamacare, with an average increase of 260 percent, according to a study released Thursday. The young and healthy segment of the uninsured is considered crucial for the Affordable Care Act to succeed. Former President Bill Clinton suggested last week that Obamacare only works "if young people show up."
Democrat, Liberal, Obama, Funny, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare
Under a wrinkle that dates back to enactment of the law, members of Congress and thousands of their aides are required to get their coverage through new state-based markets known as insurance exchanges. But the law does not provide any obvious way for the federal government to continue paying its share of the premiums for the comprehensive coverage. If the government cannot do so, it could mean an additional expense of $5,000 a year for individuals and $11,000 for families under some of the most popular plans.
Obamacare June 2015: Enrollees also are visiting hospital emergency rooms more than expected – the health care law was designed to provide coverage to more people so they wouldn't resort to an ER visit for routine care.
Democrat, Liberal, Incompetence, Obama, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare
The Obama administration — in yet another health care overhaul delay — has quietly notified insurers that a computer system glitch will limit penalties that the law says the companies may charge smokers. A fix will take at least a year to put in place... "This was an administration that was telling us everything was under control," health care industry consultant Robert Laszewski said. "Everything was going to be fine. Suddenly this kind of stuff is cropping up every few days."
Democrat, Liberal, Government, Incompetence, Obama, Financial, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare
It's called the Affordable Care Act, but President Barack Obama's health care law may turn out to be unaffordable for many low-wage workers, including employees at big chain restaurants, retail stores and hotels... "Some people may not gain the benefit of affordable employer coverage," acknowledged Ron Pollack, president of Families USA, a liberal advocacy group leading efforts to get uninsured people signed up for coverage next year. "It is an imperfection in the new law," Pollack added. "The new law is a big step in the right direction, but it is not perfect, and it will require future improvements."
Democrat, Liberal, Tax, Government, Incompetence, Obama, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare, Law
Parts of ObamaCare are starting to fray, even before full implementation. The Obama administration now says a special system of exchanges designed to make it easier for small businesses to provide insurance will be delayed an entire year -- to 2015. "Lots of small businesses struggle with providing insurance for their workers so this was supposed to facilitate it and make it easier for small business to do this," said Jim Capretta of the Ethics and Public Policy Center. "It was a huge portion of the sale job. When they passed the law in 2010 there were many senators and members of Congress who were saying 'I am doing this because it's going to help small businesses.'"
Democrat, Liberal, Government, Incompetence, Obama, Financial, Oops, Socialism, Healthcare
Citing financial concerns, the Obama administration has begun quietly winding down one of the earliest programs created by the president's health care overhaul, a plan that helps people with medical problems who can't get private insurance.
Obama Said You Could Keep Your
Health Care Plan
"But frankly, he should never have said as much as he did, that if you like your current health care plan, you can keep it. That wasn't true. And you shouldn't lie to people. And they just lied to people." -Barney Frank
Obama Promises To Lower Health Insurance
Premiums by $2,500 Per Year
So, the Congressional Budget Office had an update on the 2016 projections regarding Americans being insured by the Affordable Care Act. They were off by 24 million people. -Matt Vespa
No doubt, you’ll remember all those romantic charts and stories from the liberal smart-set predicting Obamacare’s affordability and success. Remember the jeering aimed at conservatives who argued state-run markets that inhibit genuine competition and increase regulations would only spur costs to rise? “Lies,” they said. -David Harsanyi