Obamacare “benchmark” premiums are not going up
But that’s because they’re protected by the reinsurance scheme sheltering insurance companies from losses, an arrangement that was set up as part of Obamacare to sweeten the deal, and is due to expire in 2017. Premium rates are not being set in the manner of a normal insurance market, for that and several other reasons (read the whole thing to find out the details), because Obamacare is nothing like a normal insurance market.
The whole thing is a big old shell game, designed to bring money to the coffers of the insurance companies and deceive the voters for as long as possible about what’s really happening with Obamacare. Cool.
But of course, you already knew that.
Every so often there’s a spate of articles with headlines like, “See, Obamacare is working, and the Republicans are angry that they were so wrong.” The writers point to things like “premiums aren’t so high after all,” as though premiums tell the story—what about narrow networks, for example? Or they write that tons of people are enrolled, neglecting to mention how much fewer it is than were projected, and how many remain uninsured, and how many of the enrolled were kicked off previous insurance by Obamacare.
And then there’s the future: what will happen when the whole shebang starts applying to businesses? That’s another can that’s been kicked down the road so far.
And I will remind everyone that Nebraska’s Ben Nelson was the deciding vote for Obamacare.
He was from the insurance industry and he now works for the insurance industry.
Insurance is to protect you from an unpredictable catastrophic economic loss. Insurance does not pay routine predictable expenses. Your automobile insurance pays if you have an accident, it doesn’t pay for oil changes or tune ups. Obamacare isn’t insurance, it’s just a wealth transfer.
Nothing I haven’t seen and experienced first-hand since I manage the health insurance at our office. The day Obamacare was signed, our policy ceased to exist. We have always paid 100% of the insurance premiums, until this last time when Obamacare was fully instituted. We now have to pay a portion for reduced benefits, because it was no longer affordable for our office. Anthem has made out like a bandit from the get-go. A total sham, and the voting public, many who deem themselves intelligent and informed believe all the lies that brought this about in the first place. Everything that could have been done, to deal with the issues wasn’t, and what was done has only made everything that was wrong, worse!
An old and worldly Town Manager once told me that when someone tells a lie, particularly in a public forum, you must never let that lie stand unanswered. NEVER.
Too bad Mitt didn’t do that
Ocare will not only disrupt the medical care system (its purpose? ) but it will have a negative impact on the entire economy as dollars that might otherwise be invested or spent elsewhere will be diverted to pay higher premiums, larger copays, and to bailout insurance companies (not a popular issue among left wing populists). This will haunt Hillary during the 2016 campaign and might prove to be a more hefty albatross than Benghazi.
I’ve spent an embarrassing amount of time posting on this very topic over at
http://www.doctorhousingbubble.com/big-investors-california-llc-lps-purchase-volume-cash-sales/
My primary thesis is that because 0-care is a per capita tax it will ultimately fall with devastating impact on First Time Home-buyers.
For, by definition, they no longer are poor enough to get a cent in subsidy. The compulsory policies have a massive tax embedded into them — so as to support the immense outlays aimed at the bottom 40% of the population.
The numbers are not in: Barry has delayed 0-care. But, it’s a pretty good bet that the tax runs about $1000 per month per policy. Indeed, early projections are so shocking that Barry’s rather pole-axed.
If Hawaii or Europe is any example (they are) then millions will deliberately under-earn so as to retain their 0-care subsidies.
This dynamic is NEVER anticipated by Progressives.
Naturally, the dark economy explodes in size. What’s initiated to save on 0-care taxation — will also affect plain vanilla income taxes, too.
Kevin Drum is already quoting Insurance Cartel spokesmen, publishing to Mother Jones. Good grief. He, they, … they’re all “on the team.” There is no daylight between them and team Barry — ever.
BTW, as a condition of the deal, insurance carriers are not permitted to utter any complaints. So, don’t expect any revelations from the Cartel.
Blert…good comment, thanks for the link. Quite depressing to see that many of the other (likely millennial) commenters (hint: Ernst Blofeld) at that site don’t seem to understand that ALL employers who want to be successful have to include the cost of benefits (medical insurance, employer part of FICA/Medicare, Vacation, etc.) in determining compensation. FWIW…my (Fortune 100) employer sends out a yearly summary showing everything for the clueless.
Had my 90-year-old Mother in to the local emergency room a month ago. Got to discussing the status of the medical profession with the 50ish doc who treated her (think the discussion started about the disaster that is electronic medical records) and he said flat out “the system is about to collapse.” Now, emergency medicine is probably closer to the edge than other parts of the profession, but the matter-of-factness with which he said it was quite shocking.
With nearly a $3 trillion welfare economy, we still has an indigent and even homeless population. That includes the cost savings from planned reduction of nearly 2 million Americans annually in the nation’s abortion clinics.
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It’s cruel to contemplate, but many young women view abortion in the same light as the morning after pill.
And it’s hardly unknown for single women to ‘trap’ a man into marriage — or try to — with a sly pregnancy.
When this gambit fails, she’s off to the abortion clinic.
Unlike Russia — and the rest of the former Soviet Union — young American women are not using abortion to seriously curtail family size.
The single most over represented ethnic group is Black Americans. Yet, their TFR is above 2.3.
The only race that is collapsing due to low fertility is the White race.
This is topped by liberal American Jews, who have a shockingly low TFR — down around 1.0. That statistic invalidates the endless anti-Semitic rage that “the Jews control everything.” For who can control the world with nobody?
As for the homeless: they’re very likely to be men, especially men with emotional or mental illness. Such tragedies are beyond our medical knowledge to cure.
More generally, the ENTIRE financial arc of the modern liberal state has been to take from White men to give to every other member of the nation.
The result is that you have men like Robin Williams committing suicide — largely because of divorce court.
There are no small number of homeless men who are homeless directly due to divorce court. It’s either hiding in homelessness — or state prison for falling behind on divorce payments.
I know of one father who has had to take a horrific pay cut — essentially working under the table — lest the authorities find him and take him to prison — because he fell behind on divorce payments.
Family court simply does not, as a practical matter, reduce a father’s obligations when his income drops or is interrupted.
As for women, they file frivorces all the time. It never quite occurs to them that they are damaged goods — and their prospect of remarriage is bleak.
Too late they find out that they can’t “have it all” — and that sex toys will have to suffice.
By such a time, the immense financial expense of the divorce has ruined the husband. When he goes on the lam — she has to fall back on Big Daddy: the state.
If the equation can break Robin Williams, it can break anyone.
Correcting family court is actually something that can be done. It also would have a material effect on the nation’s TFR, too.