ACA Continues 'Non-Collapse' - Obamacare insurer pulls out of rural Virginia leaving coverage gaps

[Weatherman2020]

From 1999 to 2009, Kaiser found that the insurance premiums had climbed 131% or 13.1% per year, and workers’ contribution toward paying that premium jumped 128% or 12.8% per year. In 1999, workers’ average contribution to the premium was $1,543, and in 2009 it was $3,515. For employers, their contribution was $4,247 in 1999 and $9,860 in 2009.[5]

Health insurance costs in the United States - Wikipedia

Obamacare Architect: Yeah, We Lied to The Stupid American People to Get It Passed

 

[rightwinger]

News flash. Republicans are in control and do nothing.

News Flash: Obama and Democrats created this cluster-fu@k. Democrats trying to blame the GOP for OBAMAcare is like the Captain of the Exon Valdez blaming the clean-up crew for not cleaning up his oil spill fast enough / good enough.

View attachment 148151

The Republicans' decision not to repeal Obamacare has given them ownership of everything that's bad about it.

Bullshit. You wrote it and passed it and your favorite democrat McCain voted to keep it. You democrats own this. Forever.

Pre ACA we had skyrocketing costs with people going bankrupt trying to pay. Was shit before and shit after. Now where is the great healthcare trump promised?

Ask Merkowski, Collins, McCain and the rest of the democrats they're the ones that decided what you have now is great.

Republicans promised a better plan.....they never delivered one

What they voted for was to repeal Obamacare and kick 30 million off insurance without an alternative plan

 

[Weatherman2020]

Obiecare is the skyrocketing. How does repealing it raise costs even more?

No, costs were skyrocketing long before ACA. You live under a rock?

Why can't I buy insurance someone has in another county?

Ask the repubs. They are in charge.

Democrats had a super majority and changed the rules to pass Hopeycare.
It is obvious they had zero intention of making healthcare affordable.

Whining about democrats helps nothing...

Where's Pelosi's plan to fix it?

 

[easyt65]

 

[easyt65]

 

[Anathema]

So they run on repeal but should do nothing? Amazing.

They SHOULD repeal it. Mypoint was that they have no legal power to fix or alter the program other thsn getting rid of it.

 

[Anathema]

Sure there is. Don't be obtuse.

Then you should be able to easily poibt out the SPECIFIC ITEM in Article I, Section 8 of the US Constitution thst gives Congress authority on matters related to insurance, health care, medicine or similar issues.

 

[RDD_1210]

News flash. Republicans are in control and do nothing.

Are you suggesting Republicans caused this "lack" of coverage?

What do you suggest should be done to address this "lack" of coverage?

News flash.. Nobody is saving $2500.00 and they are not keeping their insurance nor their Doctors.

DUH! Braindead357. I hope the Republicans do nothing and allow this unaffordable carelessness collapse.

Ah politics over country. What a patriot. Trump said everyone would have great healthcare...

Yes. Politics over country.

You are such a patriot.

Obama said everyone would have great healthcare.

He lies and you lie right along with him.

ACA is better than what we had before. Fact.

Like I said...

This monstrosity does not affect me.

There are others that would disagree with you.

They would be wrong.

 

[RDD_1210]

]

Doesn't say much for Republicans that they couldn't come up with anything better, now does it?

Obama and the democrats built a submarine out of cardboard...there ain't no fixin' it...it will work for awhile but comes apart a little at a time until it implodes catastrophically.

Great story, so if it's so bad, why couldn't republicans come up with something better than "a submarine made out of cardboard"?

 

[RDD_1210]

Sure there is. Don't be obtuse.

Then you should be able to easily poibt out the SPECIFIC ITEM in Article I, Section 8 of the US Constitution thst gives Congress authority on matters related to insurance, health care, medicine or similar issues.

Sure!

"The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;"

 

[Missouri_Mike]

Sure there is. Don't be obtuse.

Then you should be able to easily poibt out the SPECIFIC ITEM in Article I, Section 8 of the US Constitution thst gives Congress authority on matters related to insurance, health care, medicine or similar issues.

Sure!

"The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;"

And where does it say they can force you to buy something to achieve that?

 

[Missouri_Mike]

]

Doesn't say much for Republicans that they couldn't come up with anything better, now does it?

Obama and the democrats built a submarine out of cardboard...there ain't no fixin' it...it will work for awhile but comes apart a little at a time until it implodes catastrophically.

Great story, so if it's so bad, why couldn't republicans come up with something better than "a submarine made out of cardboard"?

Because we have a handful of republicans that are actually democrats.

 

[rightwinger]

So how are Republicans going to save these poor people in Virginia?

 

[Anathema]

"The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;"

Ah, the common mistakes....

1. Co did I g the preamble of the Section with the SPECIFIC ITEMS listed below,l it, which define the limits if the Common Defense and General Welfare.

And

2. Confusing the Common Defense and General Welfare of the UNITED STATES (The country) with the Common Defense and General Welfare of the People (individual citizens).

Nowhere in the Section is there any djscussion of medjcal care, insurance or anything of the sort.

Please feel free to try again.

 

[Conservative65]

Obamacare insurer pulls out of rural Virginia leaving coverage gaps - Hot Air

"Virginia-based health insurer Optima announced Wednesday it was pulling out many rural counties in the state, potentially creating a gap in coverage for 70,000 people."

Of course, snowflakes continue to declare that repealing the ACA will .... do exactly what Obamacare has already been doing and continues to do - cause Americans to lose coverage.

News flash. Republicans are in control and do nothing.

News flash. The degree to which Obamacare is failing means nothing has to be done to end it. It will end itself.

You mean McCain? He couldn't beat an unqualified black for the job of President.

 

[Conservative65]

"The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;"

Ah, the common mistakes....

1. Co did I g the preamble of the Section with the SPECIFIC ITEMS listed below,l it, which define the limits if the Common Defense and General Welfare.

And

2. Confusing the Common Defense and General Welfare of the UNITED STATES (The country) with the Common Defense and General Welfare of the People (individual citizens).

Nowhere in the Section is there any djscussion of medjcal care, insurance or anything of the sort.

Please feel free to try again.

Something that RDD seems to forget is that Obama himself said Obamacare absolutely wasn't what they use to defend it's existence, a tax.

 

[Spare_change]

News flash. Republicans are in control and do nothing.

News Flash: Obama and Democrats created this cluster-fu@k. Democrats trying to blame the GOP for OBAMAcare is like the Captain of the Exon Valdez blaming the clean-up crew for not cleaning up his oil spill fast enough / good enough.

View attachment 148151

The Republicans' decision not to repeal Obamacare has given them ownership of everything that's bad about it.

Run! Run very fast!

 

[easyt65]

The Republicans' decision not to repeal Obamacare has given them ownership of everything that's bad about it.

Dude, you're so full of shit!

That's like the Captain of the Exon Valdeez declaring the Responding Teams tasked with the clean up of the disastrous oil spill now OWNS the entire blame for the disaster because it has been dumped in THEIR laps.

 

[debbiedowner]

Insurers are scrambling to keep up with ObamaCare drama

Insurance companies blindsided by the Senate GOP’s decision to pull the plug on bipartisan talks and move forward again with ObamaCare repeal are scrambling to figure out how to move forward.

The death of the bipartisan push leaves them with no clear way to shore up fragile marketplaces ahead of the 2018 enrollment season, which begins Nov. 1.

The new ObamaCare repeal bill may get a Senate vote next week.



If it becomes law, insurers will face a whole new world in 2020, with states deciding how to use millions in block grant funding that will come from Washington.
If it fails, it’s uncertain if there will be another bipartisan push.

Either way, it creates huge concerns for insurers.

“They look at this market and see problems,” said Chris Sloan, a senior manager with the consulting firm Avalere Health who describes insurers as having been invested in the bipartisan talks.

The biggest problem for insurers is that they don’t know if the Trump administration will continue federal cost-sharing reduction payments that allow insurers to lower out-of-pocket costs for lower-income consumers.

But there are other worries as well, which Sloan said include premium increases, competition and fear that fewer people will sign up next year because of other administrative changes.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’s deadline to finalize premium rates was Wednesday. Insurers have until next week — Sept. 27 — to sign contracts with HealthCare.gov, locking them into selling plans on the federal exchange.

If some carriers drop out of the marketplaces, it’s possible areas of the country could be left without any plans to buy on the exchanges — a problem state officials and insurers had already fixed after it appeared residents in some states — like Virginia, Tennessee and Ohio — might have no options on the exchanges.

“We may see some departures, I think the uncertainty in Washington is not helping matters,” said Sabrina Corlette, a research professor at Georgetown’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms. “But I think carriers recognize how dire the consequences are if they do make such a late decision on the customers that they serve.”

The outlines of a deal had emerged in the talks led by Senate Health Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and ranking Democratic Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.).

It appeared it would fund the cost-sharing reduction payments, and provide new flexibilities for states to approve insurance plans and prices. The emerging deal also seemed set to let anyone — not just those under 30 — buy catastrophic plans with lower premiums and higher deductibles.

With the deal dead, it’s unclear whether the payments will continue, though the White House did foot September’s bill. A White House spokesman said no decision had been made about future payments.

If the administration stops the CSR payments, insurers still, by law, have to offer discounts to lower income ObamaCare enrollees — whether they get reimbursed from the federal government or not.



“If I was an insurer my biggest concern right now about 2018 — I’ve already submitted my rates, that process is basically done — would be that October or November or December or January, the administration stops paying the CSRs,” Sloan said, “and I’m locked in, and I don’t have an opportunity to adjust my rates, and I’m basically locked in for a year not receiving any of those funds.”

The insurance industry has to price in future risks, so predictability is key — and they’ve been pleading with Congress and the administration for stability.

“I think what’s worrying them is the unpredictability of this administration and the unknown — that they cannot price for,” Corlette said.

“And so that is causing, I imagine, many sleepless nights among insurance executives right now.”

The uncertainty has only been raised by the dramatic resurrection of the GOP’s ObamaCare repeal hopes, this time in the form of a bill from Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). It would end ObamaCare’s Medicaid expansion and subsidies to help people better afford health plans, instead converting the money into block grants for states.

The main insurer trade group, America’s Health Insurance Plans, sent a strong letter Wednesday to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) opposing the bill.

The legislation would have “real consequences on consumers and patients by further destabilizing the individual market; cutting Medicaid; pulling back on protections for pre-existing conditions; not ending taxes on health insurance premiums and benefits; and potentially allowing government-controlled, single payer health care to grow,” the group said.

The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association also has “significant concerns,” though, the association comprised of 36 companies didn’t explicitly say it opposed the bill.

“The bill contains provisions that would allow states to waive key consumer protections, as well as undermine safeguards for those with pre-existing medical conditions,” the association said in a statement Wednesday. “The legislation reduces funding for many states significantly and would increase uncertainty in the marketplace, making coverage more expensive and jeopardizing Americans’ choice of health plans.”