Monday, November 11, 2013

November, 2013 The Unfolding Disaster That Is Obama Care, Part 2: Lower Access, Higher Costs, Lower Quality, Higher Idiocy From a Politician

This is the second in this month’s review of the unfolding disaster that is Obama Care. It seems every day there is a new torrent of bad news regarding this legislation, news that is disrupting the lives, health security, and future of Americans across the country. The most blatant insult of the law is that many in this Presidential adminstration knew the chaos the law would rain down on Americans but decided to go ahead with the program anyway. 

And once the program started to be implemented, the disasters that were predicted years ago came true and the promises that were made years ago proved to be immensely misleading and outright lies. And the bad news continues below:

1) I will let two recent reports from the Associated Press speak for themselves. The first report documents how many Americans have already lost their current, preferred health care insurance policy as a result of Obama Care:

The Obama administration insists nobody will lose coverage as a result of cancellation notices going out to millions of people. At least 3.5 million Americans have been issued cancellations, but the exact number is unclear. Associated Press checks find that data is unavailable in a half the states.
Mainly they are people who buy directly from an insurer, instead of having workplace coverage. Officials say these consumers aren’t getting “canceled” but “transitioned” or “migrated” to better plans because their current coverage doesn’t meet minimum standards. They won’t have to go uninsured, and some could save a lot if they qualify for the law’s tax credits.
[…]
But in a nation of more than 300 million, 5 percent is a big number — about 15 million people.

The second AP story confirmed that even those that have current health insurance coverage are being hit with “sticker shock” when the find out how much more they will have to pay for insurance going forward under Obama Care:

The Griffins, who live near Philadelphia on the Delaware border, pay $770 monthly for their soon-to-be-terminated health care plan with a $2,500 deductible. The cheapest plan they found on their state insurance exchange was a so-called bronze plan charging a $1,275 monthly premium with deductibles totaling $12,700. It covers only providers in Pennsylvania, so the couple wouldn’t be able to see the doctors in Delaware whom they’ve used for more than a decade.

“We’re buying insurance that we will never use and can’t possibly ever benefit from. We’re basically passing on a benefit to other people who are not otherwise able to buy basic insurance,” said Griffin, who is retired from running an information technology company.

The Griffins are among millions of people nationwide who buy individual insurance policies and are receiving notices that those policies are being discontinued because they don’t meet the higher benefit requirements of the new law.

They can buy different policies directly from insurers for 2014 or sign up for plans on state insurance exchanges. While lower-income people could see lower costs because of government subsidies, many in the middle class may get rude awakenings when they access the websites and realize they’ll have to pay significantly more.

Those not eligible for subsidies generally receive more comprehensive coverage than they had under their soon-to-be-canceled policies, but they’ll have to pay a lot more.

The AP also told the story of a restaurant manger who lost his $100 per month employer-based health plan. While he will receive an annual  $500 subsidy from the government, the alternative he found on the exchange will still cost him $600 a month. 

So much for the promises of keeping your current policy, keeping your current doctors and saving $2,500 a year on health insurance. All lies, all deceptions, all a disaster.

2) Recent news reports out of Washington report that Senator Joe Donnelly, D-Indiana, said at a closed-door meeting of the Democrats that his son had received notice his coverage was being terminated. So much for Americans being able to keep their current insurance if they liked it. Maybe now those who voted to support this horrid piece of legislation will act to terminate it since impacts are starting to get real and hitting closer to home.

3) Many times we have reported that Obama Care will likely result in a severe doctor shortage in the coming years, resulting in delayed and likely inferior health care going forward. The reasons for this shortage are four fold:

  1. The average age of the doctor population, independent of Obama Care’s negative impacts, is over 50 years old.
  2. Many older doctors are retiring in order to not deal with the hassle and negative ramifications of Obama Care.
  3. In theory, under Obama care, more people will have access to doctors and nurses, increasing demand in the face of a shrinking supply.
  4. The legislation never made provisions on how to increase the number of doctors in the face of the increasing number of patients.

These realities were driven home by a recent New York CBS News report. Quotes from the report include the following:


  • “It’s like shopping during Christmas time. I mean, you’re going to have a tough time if you have all of these people demanding services at the same time,” said Dr. Steven Lamm of the NYU School of Medicine.
  • “I think the concern would be that the system will be overwhelmed, that there will be a greater demand that we can meet in a quality fashion and that we will have to delay services for a lot of individuals,” Lamm said.
  • “Doctors are planning to retire. Anybody who is anywhere near retirement age is talking about retirement. … There’s just too much going on,” said Dr. Sam Unterricht of the New York State Medical Society.
  • “It will be inferior care. They will end up going to clinics, to situations where they don’t have their own private physician. When they go to hospitals they are not going to know any of doctors who are taking care of them,” cardiologist Dr. David Hess said.
  • “They are not training enough residents. The number of medical students has increased a little bit, but the number of residency spots has not. They’ve kept the number of residency spots frozen for, I think, 13 years now,” Unterricht said

Great, paying more and getting less and what we will be getting will be inferior to what we get today, could this legislation be any worse?

4) Let’s review: Millions of Americans are losing access to their preferred health care insurance and their preferred doctors. Millions of Americans are faced with paying much more for their health insurance premiums that come with higher deductibles. Those that want to sign up for Obama Care policies cannot because the website to do so is a piece of garbage. We will not have enough doctors as a result of Obama Care. Nasty stuff.

But what does one of the members of the Washington political class think about all of this? Congressman Steve Cohen (D-TN) recently defended Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, telling Obamacare critics at an event in Memphis to get over it: “Change is hard. Get over it. Barack Obama is President, and the Affordable Care Act is the law.”

So much wrong with this asinine statement:

  • So little compassion for those Americans getting hit with higher costs and lost access, but possibly typical of politicians today.
  • He fails to mention that his Congressional salary puts him in the top 2-3% of all workers’ salaries in the country, allowing him to to much more easily absorb higher health care insurance costs than the vast majority of Americans. 
  • He fails to mention that he and his staff will each receive up to $11,000 a year in taxpayer wealth to help pay for their insurance under Obama Care, money that is not available to just about every other American.
  • I guess in his world, slavery, the inability of women to vote, racial segregation, and other affronts to common sense, humanity, and freedom are okay since at one time they also were the law of the land.

Just another idiotic and out-of-touch statement from a typical politician. Which may explain why we have an idiotic and out-of-touch piece of legislation called Obama care.

Thus, more proof of less access, higher costs, inferior care, and a useless politician. Seems about right for  Obama Care, more to follow over the next few days.

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