Obama administration reportedly makes stunning obamacare admission for the very first

[downtownv]

OBAMA ADMINISTRATION REPORTEDLY MAKES STUNNING OBAMACARE ADMISSION FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME

Can you imagine that......

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013...ry-first-time/

[Ikeo74]

ObamaCare is just like the drug plan Bush forced on us seniors. It forces everyone to buy drug insurance and doesn't save us any money. The big winners are the Drug companies. They are making huge proffits selling all their drugs ay 100% retail price.
Obama care is going to make the insurance companies rich because everyone will now have to buy a plan and pay the premiums. :40: Or face bis fines and penalties.

[chrish]

ObamaCare is just like the drug plan Bush forced on us seniors. It forces everyone to buy drug insurance and doesn't save us any money. The big winners are the Drug companies. They are making huge proffits selling all their drugs ay 100% retail price.
Obama care is going to make the insurance companies rich because everyone will now have to buy a plan and pay the premiums. :40: Or face bis fines and penalties.

Ah, but everyone is NOT required to buy a policy. You can pay a penalty (which for now isn't even enforceable) that doesn't come close to covering the individuals risk exposure to the insurance companies.

Second, insurance companies do not have the profit margin you might think and nowhere near that of the drug companies. And the new profit margin rules in the ACA limit their ability to make a profit and maintain the already existing state regulations on those things even harder than before. Then top it all off with the reinsurance fees that carriers pay are going to go thru the roof now that pre-x, maternity, preventative care are required on every freakin' policy...nope, insurance companies will struggle to stay afloat now. Which is by design.

ACA was a solution to a problem that didn't exist.

The insurance companies are not going to get the guaranteed enrollment that the ACA promised. Rates are going to go up astronomically just to keep it all afloat. The other shoe is gonna drop next year with employer based coverage getting canceled by the 10s of millions and then we'll just have to see how it shakes out. One of two things are gonna happen. Whole thing implodes and they repeal the whole mess and start over with sensible reforms. Or two, whole thing implodes and our government saviors come in and fix it with single payer nationalized healthcare. Only two ways out of this now. The existing ACA will not survive as it has been written and now yet again today, re-written at the whim of the executive branch of the government.


Oh, by 'fix it', I am being sarcastic. Nationalized healthcare is about the worst idea on the planet...well since income taxes, social security, Medicare, Medicaid, Dept of Education, EPA...um, stop me anytime...

[downtownv]

Hmmm and we were all so proud to hire a Black man as president......

[garyb]

Ovomit has really screwed up health care plans in America. He realizes it and Clinton told him so. Ovomit lied by telling Americans they could keep their existing plans. Did you hear him....He said, he hears us complaining about the dropped insurance plans. He felt it would create a more competitive market when people started shopping better plans. What a lame excuse....and more lies. Now he wants the insurances that dropped their plans because they did not meet the requirements he set, to reopen the plans. The insurance companies will not do it because it costs them too much. Ovomit has screwed up health care plans for the people in the USA. He knows it and there is nothing he can do to fix it now. He is eating crow and WE THE PEOPLE will suffer for it for ever more. He needs to drop his Ovomitcare plan and leave things alone in the US. He is not making anything better. The people that voted for him wanted CHANGE. They got CRAP.

[JohnR]

It's worse than fraud, with basic consumer fraud, if the consumer gets fooled into buying something based on intentionally false advertising, they still chose to buy the goods or services. With this, the consumer is forced to buy it. Too bad there's no truth in advertising law applicable to political speech, or we'd definitely see all the bums thrown out, and into jail.

[garyb]

Perhaps there will be some litigation come out of this. He will blame the insurance companies and Bush.

[knkali]

Ah, but everyone is NOT required to buy a policy. You can pay a penalty (which for now isn't even enforceable) that doesn't come close to covering the individuals risk exposure to the insurance companies.

Second, insurance companies do not have the profit margin you might think and nowhere near that of the drug companies. And the new profit margin rules in the ACA limit their ability to make a profit and maintain the already existing state regulations on those things even harder than before. Then top it all off with the reinsurance fees that carriers pay are going to go thru the roof now that pre-x, maternity, preventative care are required on every freakin' policy...nope, insurance companies will struggle to stay afloat now. Which is by design.

ACA was a solution to a problem that didn't exist.

The insurance companies are not going to get the guaranteed enrollment that the ACA promised. Rates are going to go up astronomically just to keep it all afloat. The other shoe is gonna drop next year with employer based coverage getting canceled by the 10s of millions and then we'll just have to see how it shakes out. One of two things are gonna happen. Whole thing implodes and they repeal the whole mess and start over with sensible reforms. Or two, whole thing implodes and our government saviors come in and fix it with single payer nationalized healthcare. Only two ways out of this now. The existing ACA will not survive as it has been written and now yet again today, re-written at the whim of the executive branch of the government.


Oh, by 'fix it', I am being sarcastic. Nationalized healthcare is about the worst idea on the planet...well since income taxes, social security, Medicare, Medicaid, Dept of Education, EPA...um, stop me anytime...

I agree 1000% Although I question ins co profit margins. I don't fault ins co for having profits because that is what they do. However, as you made your point, whenever gov tries to control private business, it never works

[getsome]

Let me get this straight....Back when the Republicans were trying to slow Obamacare down and delay the individual mandate the O Administration said NO WAY...This is The Law of the Land and signed by the President so ABSOLUTELY NO CHANGES can be made, that would be unconstitutional....Well now they are seeing that not only will this "Spruce Goose" not get off the ground, the engines won't even start so now the Democrats suddenly MUST MAKE CHANGES to the Law and allow those who lost their health plans to get them back for a year...Which one is it, unconstitutional or Obamatutional ????

What possible incentive do the Insurance Companies have for doing this? It will cost them millions of dollars to try and re-do what Obamakong undid....Now there may not be many but I'll bet there are some people who bought minimal catastrophic plans back in 2009 and since then developed some awful disease that would keep them from getting the same coverage again and now are uninsured due to cancellation so what about them, how do you make them whole again ???

I really don't see how Barry can even show his face anymore and why Jim Carney doesn't just walk off and say "Dude, You're on your own"

[jeepster09]

ObamaCare is just like the drug plan Bush forced on us seniors. It forces everyone to buy drug insurance and doesn't save us any money. The big winners are the Drug companies. They are making huge proffits selling all their drugs ay 100% retail price.
Obama care is going to make the insurance companies rich because everyone will now have to buy a plan and pay the premiums. :40: Or face bis fines and penalties.

Make the insurance companies RICH....REALLY? by being forced to take high risk customers and the rest of us subsizing them. You are dreaming.

[garyb]

Let me get this straight....Back when the Republicans were trying to hold Obamacare up and delay the individual mandate the O Administration said NO WAY...This is The Law of the Land and signed by the President so ABSOLUTELY NO CHANGES can be made, that would be unconstitutional....Well now they are seeing that not only will this "Spruce Goose" not get off the ground, the engines won't even start so now the Democrats MUST MAKE CHANGES in the Law and allow those who lost their health plans to get them back for a year...Which one is it, unconstitutional or Obamatutional ????

What possible incentive do the Insurance Companies have for doing this? It will cost them millions of dollars to try and re-do what Obamakong undid....Now there may not be many but I'll bet there are some people who bought minimal catastrophic plans back in 2009 and since then developed some awful disease that would keep them from getting the same coverage now so what about them, how do you make them whole again ???

I really don't see how Barry can even show his face anymore and why Jim Carney doesn't just walk off and say "Dude, You're own your own"

Exactly on all points. The insurance companies are not going to kiss O's butt and turn things around for him. He has made it tough for them and the rest of us. He is shooting from the hip and does not know what is going to happen. He's a lost cause and the country is suffering for it. A POOR IMPLEMENTER.

[chrish]

...I question ins co profit margins.

Yea, I know a lot of folks think that and there have been a TON of inaccurate articles claiming 15-20%+ profit margins in the industry. But that is weighted toward drug, medical supplies, and hospitals/docs. If you segment out the health insurance companies, the number drops below 10% and even 5% in some cases, particularly w/ the bigger companies that are better (and more protected due to the law of large numbers of enrollees) protected from catastrophic claims. Plus, as you said, they exist for one reason, to make money for their share holders. That's what business do. Now, we can also bring mutual companies into the mix, which are dinosaurs now. But mutual companies are regulated out the ying-yang in their respective states and are required to keep no-more and no-less than a regulated reserve for X months into the future. They are not-for-profit anyway, by definition of mutual company.

Anyway. Just always find it humorous that the insurance industry (which I am an ex-member of the pricing/underwriting/actuarial side of that industry) is so vilified for making a nasty profit that really doesn't exist.

Not saying there are not gouging companies out there, there are, but they are typically the small players and justify their profit margins and rate increases to insurance regulators due to the small pools (and higher risk) they are taking on as a smaller company. Companies like WellPoint, Humana, United, yadda yadda...the big guys...are watched like a hawk by state regulators and all for-profit companies have to have their premium increases APPROVED in many states for decades now.

Prices would not be so high if drug companies and equipment companies were similarly regulated by the states. Not sure how a true capitalist like myself would/will agree with that. I won't. But that's one way to control those costs, regulate profits of those industries like they are already regulating health insurance. You can't hammer away at one part of the cost while leaving the rest to run wild. Regulate them all, or regulate none. I'm for the latter.

Which brings me to the real issue, the government(s) involved created this problem in the first place by not allowing competition across state lines, anywhere. Let any company sell anywhere and stop this Blue Cross Blue Shield model of having a monopoly (or close to it) in every state and watch prices come down. Leave them to continue to work directly w/ hospitals and docs to negotiate volume deals for products and services and let the market work. Trust but verify. Watch and protect. But leave the hell alone otherwise. $%^&*#@ government is gonna be the death of us all ! ! !

[muggsy]

I have to defend the president on this one. When he uttered those words his fingers were crossed. It's not his fault that no one noticed.

[muggsy]

I think that drug prices are high because of the costs associated with R&D and because of the FDA testing requirements. It takes forever and a day to get a new drug to market. Of course, being a heartless conservative I favor throwing granny off a cliff, so it doesn't really matter.

[chrish]

I think that drug prices are high because of the costs associated with R&D and because of the FDA testing requirements. It takes forever and a day to get a new drug to market. Of course, being a heartless conservative I favor throwing granny off a cliff, so it doesn't really matter.

That is EXACTLY true. And, they have actuaries too, to price and protect themselves from stupid litigation because they can't evaluate every freakin possibility out there and they know that if one person turns pink from some medication they produce they'll be sued out the waazuu.


Hope I was clear when I suggested regulating them. I don't advocate that. But if you are gonna regulate insurance pricing, you have to regulate every aspect of the cost structure to make it fair (or fairer). The only fair solution is to leave everybody the hell alone. Make laws to protect people (which we have) and hold all parties involved accountable if they break the rules. You know...kinda like murder...or stealing...oh wait, we don't hold people accountable for those either. Oops. Sorry.