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The horror stories are coming in


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#11 colion

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Posted 22 October 2013 - 09:55 AM

I sure don't see the $2,500 annual savings per family...as promised.


The Obamacare insurance model will not produce such savings. The only thing that I know about that has been demonstrated to produce lower costs is a plan consisting of an HSA + high deductible catastrophic policy which is the route endorsed by many health insurance actuaries. This is a sustainable approach although there would be a need to subsidize the HSA for some in order to get them over the "hump". However, for many who do not run through their HSA account it will continue to build year after year and thereby permit (if desired) raising the deductible on the catastrophic policy and lower its premium.

Over half of the major companies offer such a package and they found that medical costs were reduced by 20%. Why? This approach gives the individual the responsibility to make judgments about the quality and cost of the medical care received and not run to a physician for relatively minor problems. These folks are better "shoppers" of medical services and even engage in negotiations in order to get the best combination of quality and costs. Unless the insured has some skin in the game the only direction for health care costs is up.

#12 Rogerdodger

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Posted 22 October 2013 - 12:12 PM

Retiree groups sue Detroit over steep health insurance cuts

Detroit is axing their city-paid $605 per month retiree health insurance coverage ($1,834 for families) and instead giving them a monthly $125 payment to use toward a private plan on the federal health insurance marketplace exchanges.
Detroit's 10,000 active city workers will see their individual deductibles nearly quadruple from $200 annually to $750, while employees with families on the city's insurance will see their maximum annual out-of-pocket costs rise 50 percent from $3,000 to $4,500.

Edited by Rogerdodger, 22 October 2013 - 12:14 PM.


#13 stocks

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Posted 22 October 2013 - 01:43 PM

After Shutting Down The Government And Calling Republicans Terrorists Three Weeks Ago, Democrats Say That Obamacare Should Delay

WHITE HOUSE OPENS DOOR TO OBAMACARE DELAY –

As the federal government teetered on the brink of shutdown at the end of last month, the White House and Senate Democrats flatly refused a Republican emergency spending bill that would have kept the government open but delayed ObamaCare’s requirement that individuals purchase health insurance by March 31 or face a fine. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid responded to a GOP counteroffer by saying Republicans had “lost their minds.” But after an epic failure of a launch for the new health insurance entitlement and with the partial shutdown over, “delay” suddenly isn’t a dirty word anymore. With many of those subject to the fine unable to sign up due to manifold botches in the enrollment process, Democrats are warming up to the idea.


http://stevengoddard...e-should-delay/
-- -
Defenders of the status quo are always stronger than reformers seeking change, 
UNTIL the status quo self-destructs from its own corruption, and the reformers are free to build on its ashes.
 

#14 diogenes227

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Posted 22 October 2013 - 02:47 PM

After Shutting Down The Government And Calling Republicans Terrorists Three Weeks Ago, Democrats Say That Obamacare Should Delay

WHITE HOUSE OPENS DOOR TO OBAMACARE DELAY –

As the federal government teetered on the brink of shutdown at the end of last month, the White House and Senate Democrats flatly refused a Republican emergency spending bill that would have kept the government open but delayed ObamaCare’s requirement that individuals purchase health insurance by March 31 or face a fine. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid responded to a GOP counteroffer by saying Republicans had “lost their minds.” But after an epic failure of a launch for the new health insurance entitlement and with the partial shutdown over, “delay” suddenly isn’t a dirty word anymore. With many of those subject to the fine unable to sign up due to manifold botches in the enrollment process, Democrats are warming up to the idea.


http://stevengoddard...e-should-delay/


There are delays and then there are delays -- in this case, sounds like they're working to set thing right. Where has that happened before? Oh, with successful businesses. :D

Apple IPad Mini with sharper display faces delay

(Reuters) - Apple Inc will be unable to widely roll out a new version of the iPad Mini with a high-resolution "retina" display this month, people who work in the company's supply chain said, leaving the gadget without the sharper screen found on rival tablets from Google Inc and Amazon.com Inc.


P.S. Your blogger's source is Fox News, and everyone knows what that network's business model is:

INSIDE THE FOX NEWS LIE MACHINE

I happened to turn on the Hannity show on Fox News last Friday evening. “Average Americans are feeling the pain of Obamacare and the healthcare overhaul train wreck,” Hannity announced, “and six of them are here tonight to tell us their stories.” Three married couples were neatly arranged in his studio, the wives seated and the men standing behind them, like game show contestants.

As Hannity called on each of them, the guests recounted their “Obamacare” horror stories: canceled policies, premium hikes, restrictions on the freedom to see a doctor of their choice, financial burdens upon their small businesses and so on.

“These are the stories that the media refuses to cover,” Hannity interjected.

But none of it smelled right to me. Nothing these folks were saying jibed with the basic facts of the Affordable Care Act as I understand them. I understand them fairly well; I have worked as a senior adviser to a governor and helped him deal with the new federal rules.

I decided to hit the pavement. I tracked down Hannity’s guests, one by one, and did my own telephone interviews with them.


One by one. I doubt you want to find out what he found but it's all there in the rest of the story. Oh...I already gave it away in the title to link. :o

"If you've heard this story before, don't stop me because I'd like to hear it again," Groucho Marx (on market history?).

“I've learned in options trading simple is best and the obvious is often the most elusive to recognize.”

 

"The god of trading rewards persistence, experience and discipline, and absolutely nothing else."


#15 diogenes227

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Posted 22 October 2013 - 04:15 PM

Pre-Obamacare horror story:

Last year, just under 15% of the U.S. population did not have health insurance coverage. But as the different stages of the Affordable Care Act roll out over the next few years — and more Americans become insured — this rate is likely to fall.

For now though, health insurance remains out of reach for many Americans. In states like Florida and Alaska, more than one in five residents are without insurance. And an estimated 22.5% of Texans didn’t have health insurance last year. Based on data recently released by the U.S. Census Bureau, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the 10 states with the lowest rates of health insurance coverage in the U.S in 2012.

People 65 and older are automatically eligible for Medicare. Nationally, 15.5% of the population is covered by this program. Several of the states with lower overall coverage rates have disproportionately fewer residents over 65, and as a result they have lower rates of Medicare coverage.

The opposite is also true. In Florida, where 20.1% of the population is without health insurance, has the the second-highest proportion of residents covered by Medicare.

The other large public health insurance program, Medicaid, covers Americans who cannot afford coverage. Roughly 18% of the population is covered under the program. Many of the states with the lowest health insurance coverage have relatively low median household income and high poverty rates. But, like Medicare, there does not appear to be a strong relationship between high Medicaid coverage and lower overall rates of uninsured residents.

In an interview with 24/7 Wall St., Peter Cunningham, senior fellow at Center for Studying Health System Change, explained that while Medicare and Medicaid can impact a state’s health insurance coverage rate. While Medicaid plays a small roll, “It’s really the variation in the rates of employer-provided private insurance coverage that drives the variation in uninsured rates,” Cunningham said.

Indeed, over 65% of the U.S. population is covered through private health insurance, and the vast majority of that is through employers. All of the 10 states with the lowest overall health insurance coverage rates had among the lowest rates of employer-provided insurance.

These states have low rates of employer-provided insurance, Cunningham explained, because of the industries that are common in these states. Most of these states have lower proportions of higher paying jobs or unionized manufacturing jobs, in which employers tend to provide insurance. In fact, all but one of these states had below the national average manufacturing employment. “We all talk about the decline of American manufacturing, but it’s still the case that in a lot of states, the traditional manufacturing jobs still play a pretty big role.”

Cunningham also explained that states with high uninsurance rates are typically poorer because lower-wage jobs are much less likely to provide health insurance coverage. Cunningham gave the example of Florida. “The economy in Florida is based on tourism. A lot of the service and hospitality sector jobs don’t pay a lot and don’t offer health benefits. It’s a very different economy than states that have much lower uninsured rates.” Florida had the lowest rate of employer-provided health insurance in the country.

Based on the Census Bureau’s 2012 American Community Survey, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the 10 states with the lowest percentage of the population covered by a health insurance plan. We also reviewed a variety of additional data from the ACS for 2012, including age distribution, poverty, income, and the proportion of residents covered by private insurance, Medicaid and Medicare. We also reviewed 2012 average unemployment rates from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

These are the ten states with the worst health coverage.


STATES WITH THE WORST HEALTH COVERAGE

"If you've heard this story before, don't stop me because I'd like to hear it again," Groucho Marx (on market history?).

“I've learned in options trading simple is best and the obvious is often the most elusive to recognize.”

 

"The god of trading rewards persistence, experience and discipline, and absolutely nothing else."


#16 diogenes227

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Posted 22 October 2013 - 04:23 PM

More than 56,000 new people getting insurance in Oregon as a result of the Affordable Care Act and the state exchange is not even up yet. More than 60,000 now have health insurance who didn't have it before in Washington State, where the state exchange is up and running. In both, reportedly the influx is mostly because the the Medicaid expansion in the law but Washington has begun to see the sign-ups through the exchange.


Are they all new or are some who lost their ins for some reason e.g. company cut hrs.


THE MYTH THAT OBAMACARE IS DESTROYING FULL-TIME JOBS JUST GOT DEBUNKED

"If you've heard this story before, don't stop me because I'd like to hear it again," Groucho Marx (on market history?).

“I've learned in options trading simple is best and the obvious is often the most elusive to recognize.”

 

"The god of trading rewards persistence, experience and discipline, and absolutely nothing else."


#17 Rogerdodger

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Posted 22 October 2013 - 06:22 PM

The Big Lie has "shocked many consumers in light of President Barack Obama’s promise that people could keep their plans if they liked them."

300,000 LOSE HEALTH PLANS IN FLORIDA
October 22nd, 2013

Health plans are sending hundreds of thousands of cancellation letters to people who buy their own coverage, frustrating some consumers who want to keep what they have and forcing others to buy more costly policies.

The main reason insurers offer is that the policies fall short of what the Affordable Care Act requires starting Jan. 1. Most are ending policies sold after the law passed in March 2010. At least a few are cancelling plans sold to people with pre-existing medical conditions.

By all accounts, the new policies will offer consumers better coverage, in some cases, for comparable cost — especially after the inclusion of federal subsidies for those who qualify. The law requires policies sold in the individual market to cover 10 “essential” benefits, such as prescription drugs, mental health treatment and maternity care. In addition, insurers cannot reject people with medical problems or charge them higher prices. The policies must also cap consumers’ annual expenses at levels lower than many plans sold before the new rules.

But the cancellation notices, which began arriving in August, have shocked many consumers in light of President Barack Obama’s promise that people could keep their plans if they liked them.

“I don’t feel like I need to change, but I have to,” said Jeff Learned, a television editor in Los Angeles, who must find a new plan for his teenage daughter, who has a health condition that has required multiple surgeries.

An estimated 14 million people purchase their own coverage because they don’t get it through their jobs. Calls to insurers in several states showed that many have sent notices.

Florida Blue, for example, is terminating about 300,000 policies, about 80 percent of its individual policies in the state. Kaiser Permanente in California has sent notices to 160,000 people – about half of its individual business in the state. Insurer Highmark in Pittsburgh is dropping about 20 percent of its individual market customers, while Independence Blue Cross, the major insurer in Philadelphia, is dropping about 45 percent.

Read more: http://www.kaiserhea...-insurance.aspx

Edited by Rogerdodger, 22 October 2013 - 06:22 PM.


#18 diogenes227

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Posted 22 October 2013 - 08:14 PM

The Big Lie has "shocked many consumers in light of President Barack Obama’s promise that people could keep their plans if they liked them."

300,000 LOSE HEALTH PLANS IN FLORIDA
October 22nd, 2013

Health plans are sending hundreds of thousands of cancellation letters to people who buy their own coverage, frustrating some consumers who want to keep what they have and forcing others to buy more costly policies.

The main reason insurers offer is that the policies fall short of what the Affordable Care Act requires starting Jan. 1. Most are ending policies sold after the law passed in March 2010. At least a few are cancelling plans sold to people with pre-existing medical conditions.

By all accounts, the new policies will offer consumers better coverage, in some cases, for comparable cost — especially after the inclusion of federal subsidies for those who qualify. The law requires policies sold in the individual market to cover 10 “essential” benefits, such as prescription drugs, mental health treatment and maternity care. In addition, insurers cannot reject people with medical problems or charge them higher prices. The policies must also cap consumers’ annual expenses at levels lower than many plans sold before the new rules.

But the cancellation notices, which began arriving in August, have shocked many consumers in light of President Barack Obama’s promise that people could keep their plans if they liked them.

“I don’t feel like I need to change, but I have to,” said Jeff Learned, a television editor in Los Angeles, who must find a new plan for his teenage daughter, who has a health condition that has required multiple surgeries.

An estimated 14 million people purchase their own coverage because they don’t get it through their jobs. Calls to insurers in several states showed that many have sent notices.

Florida Blue, for example, is terminating about 300,000 policies, about 80 percent of its individual policies in the state. Kaiser Permanente in California has sent notices to 160,000 people – about half of its individual business in the state. Insurer Highmark in Pittsburgh is dropping about 20 percent of its individual market customers, while Independence Blue Cross, the major insurer in Philadelphia, is dropping about 45 percent.

Read more: http://www.kaiserhea...-insurance.aspx


Always suspected Obamacare would put insurance companies out of business eventually since it mandated they apply 80-85 percent of premiums to actually health care instead of to executive pay and company jets, but had no idea it would be this fast. Funny, it's the insurance companies doing this and you want to blame the President. Why not put the blame where the blame belongs? Hopefully those who got notices have scratched the companies that sent them off their list.

A free market would indicate somebody is going to take the opportunity to grab these customers from the fools who are dropping them, or it will be time to move on to single-payer (write your Congressman).

I bet the million-dollar baby-sitter would know now to take care of this. :D

"If you've heard this story before, don't stop me because I'd like to hear it again," Groucho Marx (on market history?).

“I've learned in options trading simple is best and the obvious is often the most elusive to recognize.”

 

"The god of trading rewards persistence, experience and discipline, and absolutely nothing else."


#19 mss

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Posted 23 October 2013 - 08:19 AM

After Shutting Down The Government And Calling Republicans Terrorists Three Weeks Ago, Democrats Say That Obamacare Should Delay

WHITE HOUSE OPENS DOOR TO OBAMACARE DELAY –

As the federal government teetered on the brink of shutdown at the end of last month, the White House and Senate Democrats flatly refused a Republican emergency spending bill that would have kept the government open but delayed ObamaCare’s requirement that individuals purchase health insurance by March 31 or face a fine. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid responded to a GOP counteroffer by saying Republicans had “lost their minds.” But after an epic failure of a launch for the new health insurance entitlement and with the partial shutdown over, “delay” suddenly isn’t a dirty word anymore. With many of those subject to the fine unable to sign up due to manifold botches in the enrollment process, Democrats are warming up to the idea.


http://stevengoddard...e-should-delay/


There are delays and then there are delays -- in this case, sounds like they're working to set thing right. Where has that happened before? Oh, with successful businesses. :D

Apple IPad Mini with sharper display faces delay

(Reuters) - Apple Inc will be unable to widely roll out a new version of the iPad Mini with a high-resolution "retina" display this month, people who work in the company's supply chain said, leaving the gadget without the sharper screen found on rival tablets from Google Inc and Amazon.com Inc.


P.S. Your blogger's source is Fox News, and everyone knows what that network's business model is:

INSIDE THE FOX NEWS LIE MACHINE

I happened to turn on the Hannity show on Fox News last Friday evening. “Average Americans are feeling the pain of Obamacare and the healthcare overhaul train wreck,” Hannity announced, “and six of them are here tonight to tell us their stories.” Three married couples were neatly arranged in his studio, the wives seated and the men standing behind them, like game show contestants.

As Hannity called on each of them, the guests recounted their “Obamacare” horror stories: canceled policies, premium hikes, restrictions on the freedom to see a doctor of their choice, financial burdens upon their small businesses and so on.

“These are the stories that the media refuses to cover,” Hannity interjected.

But none of it smelled right to me. Nothing these folks were saying jibed with the basic facts of the Affordable Care Act as I understand them. I understand them fairly well; I have worked as a senior adviser to a governor and helped him deal with the new federal rules.

I decided to hit the pavement. I tracked down Hannity’s guests, one by one, and did my own telephone interviews with them.


One by one. I doubt you want to find out what he found but it's all there in the rest of the story. Oh...I already gave it away in the title to link. :o

SOLON is so far to the left it will fail to be used by the news media of CNN & HNL.
But you already know that. It started in 2013. Has a long history of good accurate honest news. NO wait, 2013 started as a "gossip rag".
BY THE WAY: Copyright © 2013 Salon Media Group, Inc. Reproduction of material from any Salon pages without written permission is strictly prohibited.

SALON ® is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as a trademark of Salon Media Group Inc.

Associated Press articles: Copyright © 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

And while you are at it, of the 10 states with the worst insurance coverage, check how many are controlled by Democrats.
WOMEN & CATS WILL DO AS THEY PLEASE, AND MEN & DOGS SHOULD GET USED TO THE IDEA.
A DOG ALWAYS OFFERS UNCONDITIONAL LOVE. CATS HAVE TO THINK ABOUT IT!!

#20 Rogerdodger

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Posted 23 October 2013 - 09:06 AM

Free Market experts called in to fix Big Government fiasco.
Good luck with that!
Big government command & control always fails eventually, whether the website works or not.

Read about East Berlin, Cuba, USSR and learn.

TAX DOLLARS FOR NFL TEAM TO PROMOTE OBAMACARE...
"The professional football team that won this year’s Super Bowl is getting $130,000 from American taxpayers to promote Obamacare."

Edited by Rogerdodger, 23 October 2013 - 09:10 AM.