July, 2015, Part 1, The Unfolding Disaster That Is Obama Care: Ever Higher Costs and Ever Higher Stress on American Families

Every month for years now we have had to discuss how bad Obama Care is turning out to be under the continuing theme, “the unfolding disaster that is Obama Care.” This month is no different. As the legislation continues to march through America, driving up health care and health insurance prices as it serves as dead weight on economic growth, it cements it rightful place as the worst piece of legislation Washington has ever produced.

It never had a chance to be successful since it really never addressed the underlying root causes of our ever increasing health costs in the country:

• Americans eat too much of the wrong kind of food, resulting in obscenely high obesity rates for the country.
• Our food chain is infested with overdoses of high fructose corn syrup, salt, and other unhealthy additives.
• Americans smoke too much.
• Americans do not exercise enough.
• The country is in serious need of health care tort reform.
• Barriers to insurance company competition across state lines need to come down.
• Obama Care never “followed the money” to find out who is actually profiting from the ever escalating healthcare costs in this country and how to get those factors under control.
• Obama Care never got the immense amount of fraud and abuse in current government healthcare programs, Medicare and Medicaid, under control in order to save money to efficiently fund other government health care initiatives.
• Obama Care never put serious research money towards curing the major diseases that drive high healthcare costs such as high frequency cancers and dementia type diseases.

You cannot resolve any problem unless you understand and address the underlying root causes. No difference here but with a big exception: Obama Care legislation never addressed these listed root causes and thus, has no chance of ever being successful.

Today and probably for the next few days, we will look at the latest disasters from Obama Care, including the gathering evidence that Obama Care policy holders are in for a big and ugly financial surprise in their 2016 costs along with some personal stories on how Obama Care is causing havoc with American families.

1) Let’s start with some Obama Care insurance rate activity as gathered by the wonder website, “Bankrupting America:”

• The New York Times reported on July 3, 2015 that many Obama Care health insurance carriers are looking for large premium rate increases in 2016: “Health insurance companies around the country are seeking rate increases of 20 percent to 40 percent or more, saying their new customers under the Affordable Care Act turned out to be sicker than expected. Federal officials say they are determined to see that the requests are scaled back.”
• For example, according to the New York Times, Blue Cross And Blue Shield Plans In Illinois, North Carolina, Oklahoma Tennessee And Minnesota Are All Seeking Double Digit Rate Increases For 2016: “Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans — market leaders in many states — are seeking rate increases that average 23 percent in Illinois, 25 percent in North Carolina, 31 percent in Oklahoma, 36 percent in Tennessee and 54 percent in Minnesota, according to documents posted online by the federal government and state insurance commissioners and interviews with insurance executives.”
• New Mexico’s largest insurer, Health Care Service Corporation, is looking for an average increase of a whopping 51.6%, Maryland’s leading insurer, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, is looking for "only" a 30.4% increase, as reported by the Wall Street Journal: “In New Mexico, market leader Health Care Service Corp. is asking for an average jump of 51.6% in premiums for 2016. The biggest insurer in Tennessee, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, has requested an average 36.3% increase. In Maryland, market leader CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield wants to raise rates 30.4% across its products.”
• The largest health insurer in Oregon has already received an increase of 25% for over 200,000 Oregon Obama Care policyholders, again as reported by the New York Times: “The Oregon insurance commissioner, Laura N. Cali, has just approved 2016 rate increases for companies that cover more than 220,000 people. Moda Health Plan, which has the largest enrollment in the state, received a 25 percent increase, and the second-largest plan, LifeWise, received a 33 percent increase. Jesse Ellis O’Brien, a health advocate at the Oregon State Public Interest Research Group, said: ‘Rate increases will be bigger in 2016 than they have been for years and years and will have a profound effect on consumers here. Some may start wondering if insurance is affordable or if it’s worth the money.’”
• And while Obama Care policies are becoming increasingly expensive to have, so are the penalties for NOT having Obama Care insurance coverage, as reported by the Washington Times:. “Larger enrollment will be key to keeping premiums down, as healthier persons balance out the risk that insurers absorb from sicker patients who cannot be denied coverage, and Obamacare’s rising individual mandate tax may or may not spur more people into the marketplace. People who could afford insurance but didn’t acquire it and didn’t qualify for an exemption were taxed $95 or 1 percent of income over the filing threshold in 2014, a penalty that rose to $325 or 2 percent of income in 2015, and ups to $695 or 2.5 percent of income in 2016.”
• And Obama Care insurance policyholders cannot expect to be rescued by the Obama administration since under current law, state regulators can try and reduce rate requests if they can prove them excessive but the Federal government has no authority to do so, according to the Wall Street Journal: “Insurance regulators in many states can force carriers to scale back requests they can’t justify. The Obama administration can ask insurers seeking increases of 10% or more to explain themselves, but cannot force them to cut rates. Rates will become final by the fall.”

As always when it comes to the American political class, the program does not work and Americans get screwed by the financials of the politicians’ failures. The law forces Americans to buy health insurance, does nothing to reduce the cost of health insurance, and then penalizes Americans who cannot afford the more expensive insurance by forcing them to pay the higher fines for not being able to afford the higher insurance. Convoluted logic, insane logic.

2) I get a kick out of the New York Times finally reporting the truth about Obama Care with its July 3, 2015 article, that is referenced above, “Health Insurance Companies Seeking Big Rate Increases For 1016.” Which is pretty funny, and sad, when compared to a New York Times article from eight days earlier that said Obama Care “Is Working Better Than Expected.” What changed in eight days? 

Plus, if Obama Care is working better than expected, how much higher were the rate increases expected to be if 50% plus increases are “better than expected.” Keep in mind that Obama publicly promised that Americans families would see up to a $2,500 DECREASE in their annual health care costs. No one, not even the New York Times, is talking about anything decreasing relative to Obama Care.

3) And what is the cause of the higher insurance rates, at least in the short term? Again, according to the New York Times: “Health insurance companies around the country are seeking rate increases of 20 percent to 40 percent or more, saying their new customers under the Affordable Care Act turned out to be sicker than expected. Federal officials say they are determined to see that the requests are scaled back.”

So, as we have said all along, Obama Care did not reduce costs or reduce illnesses, it just tried to tax everyone more to pay for the ever higher costs. Those that sought out Obama Care policies tended to be sicker individuals who could not get insurance anywhere. Thus, this “sicker than expected” situation which is causing increasing Obama Care policy premiums should have been fully expected. But it was not since the President expected decreases in health insurance. Never has a piece of legislation ever been so wrong about its consequences.

4) Let’s close today’s post, as we often do when discussing the unfolding disaster that is Obama Care, with actual, true life crises the legislation is causing for real American families. The source of these heartbreaking stories is:

www.ourhealthcarestories.com

MARTI - MISSOURI: Because of the "Affordable" Healthcare requirements my deductible is going from $1,000 up to $6,000 & at 64 I have to pay for maternity & pediatric coverage. Seriously?

JOSH - TEXAS: All I have to say is that it's way too expensive I make 1600 hundred a month they want me to pay 650 bucks a month that's BS I live check to check already I'll be homeless if I get health care. I'm 28 with 1600 a month barely enough to put food on the table pay bills and gas in my vehicle I have to borrow money every month as it is so this would just be ridiculous it's cheaper for me to pay the penalty at the end of the year oh well what do you do

PAM - MAINE: As President Obama reached out Thursday to millions of Americans receiving cancellation notices from their health insurers, Pam Pultz waited to see what the latest twist in the health reform law will mean for her.

Pultz, who owns an Agway store in Dover-Foxcroft, buys her own health insurance through Anthem. The plan suits her needs and she wants to keep it, but she said she has been told to expect a cancellation notice by the end of the month because her $14,000 deductible is too high to comply with the Affordable Care Act.

“My fear is I’m going to lose something that I bought and paid for and shopped for,” Pultz said. “I’m not doing anything wrong, and I’m being penalized.”

More typical stories from real Americans. Losing access to their preferred insurance plans, not seeing any reduction in health insurance costs that makes it affordable which forces them to pay for not being rich enough to afford unaffordable insurance, and forcing them to pay for coverage they do not need or want.

That will do it for today. Higher costs and higher pain, lousy piece of legislation. More unfolding disasters tomorrow.

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