Obamacare

#ACA Trainwreck Update: Carriers Leaving, Rates Going Up

Jun 122017

On Tue, June 6, two days before the media fixation on James Comey Day, Mitch McConnell announced that a repeal bill was close to passing.

This is key as the media and the democrats have been working overtime to protect this precious legislative victory of the Obama administration.

However, the reality of the current situation is causing #ACA to implode.

Blue Cross / Blue Shield withdrew from Nebraska

Health insurer Blue Cross Blue Shield announced Thursday that it would not be participating in the invidual market in Nebraska next year, and the remaining insurer hasn’t decided if it will leave also. Blue Cross Blue Shield is projected to lose $12 million this year from offering plans in the state, and the company would need to increase its price for premiums next year by 50 percent. The company previously participated in the Obamacare exchanges, which resulted in $150 million in losses…About 100,000 Nebraskans purchase their health insurance through the Obamacare exchanges, which allow most enrollees to receive tax subsidies to pay for their plans. Medica is the other insurer offering plans on the exchange in Nebraska.

Note that Aetna withdrew from Nebraska as well.

Anthem also withdrew from Ohio.

“Anthem the only state-wide insurer left in the state of Ohio announced it will be pulling out of every county’s ObamaCare exchange, leaving 19,000 Ohioans without any options,” he said.

The decision could leave 20 counties within the state without access to coverage under the Affordable Care Act, according to The Wall Street Journal. The insurer will continue to offer plans in one Ohio county, but not through the ObamaCare exchanges.

Remember those Co-Ops? Well one of the last ones that is still standing just took a 30% rate increase.

One of the five remaining co-ops created out of Obamacare has requested rate hikes of 30 percent, New Hampshire Union Leaderreported.

Minuteman Health, which operates in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, is requesting the rate hike due to Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion and the risk-adjustment program.

The Trump Administration will win this argument by the sheer inertia of the collapse of #ACA.

So – Why Do I Support the Current Health Care Bill?

2018 Elections, Obamacare 1 Response »

Mar 112017

#RINOCARE #TRUMPCARE #RYANCARE, whatever you call it, you’ve seen the wailing and gnashing of teeth over it.

Let’s talk about why this Insurance Agent (Did you know that is my day job? www.parkfamilyinsurance.com) is a fan of this replacement bill.

All the tax increases are gone – a couple I highlight specifically later.

The devastating slash to Health Savings Accounts is gone, they will be restored to what they were before Obama’s back-door tax increase at the expense of the middle class occurred.

Subsidies are replaced with Refundable Tax Credits. The means testing for how much is based on your age. Gone is the carrot and stick of government picking winners. The Tax Credits will allow a whole bunch of people to write-off the cost of their premiums versus a select few getting welfare.

Obamacare included the following sinister provisions that are gone:

4% per year profit mandate on Insurance Carriers, with no limit on how much you could lose – imagine being prevented from reserving for really bad years? Obama mandated that evil insurance companies issue a dividend when they made more than 4%. This provision was the single biggest driver of the massive rate increases.

Expense ratio mandates on Health Insurance Carriers are gone. This means long waits on the phone for service could be a thing of the past as they will be able to properly staff again.

ACA dictated Territories to Health Insurance Carriers, forcing odd geographical groupings and resulting in circumstances where a move of 2 miles could cause dramatic premium increases.

ACA dictated the ENTIRE outline of coverage. While un-discerning people blamed Insurance carriers for massive deductibles and copays, it was ACA mandates not Insurance Carrier decisions.

ACA dictated that Insurance Premiums index every year versus in 5 or 10 year age groupings, and that rates could only be triple at 64 as what they were at age 18. This caused everyone under 40 to get hammered.

ACA Dictated that families get charged per child versus on a family rate. This sinister provision disporportionally affected married families (think Republicans) with more than 3 children, because…

Subsidies (think Premium welfare) were based on income and the caps for a married couple were only 125% higher than a single person. This was indeed a form of the Clinton-Era “Marriage Penalty” that was built in to the tax code. Therefore, ACA encouraged divorce in order for cash-strapped families to afford health insurance for large families.

ACA forced people of all ages to pay for maternity coverage…

… and everyone regardless of faith to pay for Abortion Coverage, Contraception and of course the all important Sex Change Operations at $500k a piece plus all the drugs that go along with it.

The chilling attack on Religious Freedom was litigated many times with the Obama Administration making extremely scary arguments in court against the First Amendment.

I am not a fan of the Refundable Tax Credits, but let me tell you that they are a far better way of helping people afford Health Insurance as they eliminate the carrot and stick and are calculated on your tax return, not by a liberal activist Social Justice Warrior.

Gone is the 3.5% Real Estate Transfer Tax that was a direct assault on inheritances, businesses and land owners.

Added is the flexibility for insurance carriers to offer varied outlines of coverage.

Gone is the deliberate flaw in ACA that allowed dishonest states like California to flaunt the paperwork, instead requiring real proof of Citizenship or legal alien status to get Tax Credits and also mandating a 6 month review in order to keep cases from getting buried. This provision is the single most important in the whole replacement bill.

Today’s Batch of Federal News – Complete with Draconian Overreach, Religious Persecution and Corruption!

Abortion, Federal Spending, Obamacare Comments Off

Mar 262015

The EPA believes it can regulate ALL water. Obama’s America – ruling by decree.

Like BBQ? Well, the EPA wants to ban barbecuing. There is a price when you vote for free stuff, it comes with tyranny. Obama’s EPA is completely out of control.

So, Nancy Pelosi and John Boehner came up with a critical fix to several problems with Obamacare. What does Harry Reid do? He is leading an attempt to kill the deal via filibuster over a provision continuing the practice of de-funding abortions at the federal level (that the dem-controlled Senate in the past has signed off on).

Say it ain’t so! The DHS gave preferential treatment to relatives of Clinton, Dem Staffers and Donors? I am SHOCKED, I tell you, SHOCKED.

5 years later – Obama is declaring Obamacare a success! We want some of what he is smoking. Let’s see, delaying implementation, stretching out deadlines, making it the law and fining people – then claiming success? Only in government.

FEMA to States – Either submit to global warming BS or lose your funding. Obama’s America.

Democrats Filibustering Sex Trafficking Bill – why? Anti-Abortion provisions. That’s right, Abortion is more important than stopping human trafficking.

Obama admin’s attempt to continue the military social experiment is hitting snags. Transgender policy is meeting a lot of resistance.

In Case you missed it – a Christian Chaplain is being run out of the service for espousing biblical values. He was set up by a staffer who combed through his files and emails, then went and filed a complaint against him. The staffer turns out to be gay and the military could care less about how the staffer got the info he used for the complaint or the motivations behind it. Instead, in a fit of bureaucratic arrogance, they are pursuing this Lt. Colonel until they get their pound of flesh.

Thank you for stopping by to visit. More news coming soon!

Interesting News Roundup 3/19/2015

Abortion, EPA, Gay Marriage, Obamacare Comments Off

Mar 192015

In an effort to deliver some extra content beyond lighting candidates on fire – enjoy periodic posts of stories that got my attention!

With an eye on 2016, congressional Republicans are adopting a new strategy on repealing ObamaCare.

For years, the effort to kill President Obama’s signature healthcare law has stalled in the GOP-led House. Now, Republicans have a new goal: getting a bill to his desk.
Congressional Republicans plan to pass a deficit-reduction package that repeals the Affordable Care Act (ACA). After a shaky start this year, GOP leaders want to show they can govern and set the terms for 2016, when they will try to retain control of Congress and retake the White House.
Even though the ObamaCare repeal bill will not become law this Congress, Republicans believe they will benefit politically if they can force Obama into a veto. They claim that would send the message to voters that Republicans just need the White House in order to shake up Washington.
The decision to target the ACA through a budget measure is clearly a nod to the right, as well as an effective way to round up votes for the GOP blueprint this spring.

The Out of Control EPA wants to monitor how long you spend in the shower!

The agency is spending $15,000 to create a wireless system that will track how much water a hotel guest uses to get them to “modify their behavior.”

Democrats Attempt to Kill Human Trafficking Bill Over Abotion Language.

Senate liberals don’t want to help victims — they want to create more! That’s the takeaway from yesterday’s cloture vote on Sen. John Cornyn’s (R-Texas) bill to limit human sex trafficking. The bill, which is a political no-brainer for both parties, came to a screeching halt last week, when Democrats feigned surprise that the legislation included a ban on taxpayer-funded abortion — standard operating procedure for any spending measure.

Religious Persecution in the Name of Equality Update: NJ Teacher Fired for Supporting Natural Marriage.

Like Dr. Ben Carson (and science!), Patricia believes homosexual behavior is a choice. So when the popular Republican came under fire for saying as much, Jannuzzi backed him up in a post. “They (advocates of same-sex marriage),” she wrote, “want to reengineer western civ into a slow extinction. We need healthy families with a mother and a father for the sake of the children and humanity!” Furious that Dan Savage lived up to his name with another disgusting tweet, Patricia shared an article about his rant (so vile we can’t repeat it) against Carson.