ACA: Repeal and Delay?

[flacaltenn]

I couldn't even get my broker with 24 years of health insurance experience to help anymore. I used him to AVOID the exchanges with all that personal prying and mindless interrogation. And NOW -- even tho I sent a check on Dec 10 for Jan1 coverage -- my wife's prescription were REFUSED today. Don't KNOW if I'm covered. Called every working day since the day after Christmas.

Feds will take up to 90 days to "approve" my subsidy level. Insurance company is swamped because 80% of Tenn LOST coverage when BCBShield pulled out last year. Because THEY didn't get the special "under the table guaranteed" stop loss bailouts that they were promised.

My broker said he'd help me if he COULD -- but the only insurers LEFT don't APPROVE brokers anymore. So I now get a formally trained ObamaCare "navigator" with less than 6 weeks of training in anything insurance. Probably last job involved a forklift or a french fry basket.

Plus the Medicare system has been down on and off since Dec 23rd. You can't call about eligibility ,overlapping claims etc... It even overloaded and went down today and wouldn't accept claims submissions.

Ah...the government at work.

Some day I'll tell you the story of how I lost 3 months of my life after Medicare declared my dad dead..

Fun story..

FYI they do that all the time. And then take back all of the payments they made on several months worth of past claims. Try explaining to an elderly half senile 70/80 year old why they now owe 250k in past due bills and they need to contact SS because Medicare declared them deceased.

Government healthcare sucks...did I mention that?

Funny part of the story is I asked if they could send ANY Federal employee to my Dad's Assisted living place to have dinner with him.. Sadder part of the story is although I had power of attorney, it took his Congressperson's aide to fix it. But BEFORE they fixed it, Medicare suggested I contact the Soc Sec Admin for help. I did -- then SSA declared him dead.

It's get funnier every time I cry about it..

 

[TyroneSlothrop]

01.4.2017 - 1:50 PM EDT
Is GOP Getting Half A Clue On Its Obamacare Mess?

In what may be an important shift, the overall impression that Republicans on the Hill are giving today is that they're beginning to grapple at long last with some of the myriad political and policy downsides of Obamacare repeal. It's still early, and we need more evidence of a real shift before we draw any firm conclusions. But this reporting from Lauren Fox suggests that one of the immediate consequences of growing GOP wariness may be a push from some members to ensure that some sort of replacement plan is passed at the same time as repeal.

Read More →

 

[BlueGin]

I couldn't even get my broker with 24 years of health insurance experience to help anymore. I used him to AVOID the exchanges with all that personal prying and mindless interrogation. And NOW -- even tho I sent a check on Dec 10 for Jan1 coverage -- my wife's prescription were REFUSED today. Don't KNOW if I'm covered. Called every working day since the day after Christmas.

Feds will take up to 90 days to "approve" my subsidy level. Insurance company is swamped because 80% of Tenn LOST coverage when BCBShield pulled out last year. Because THEY didn't get the special "under the table guaranteed" stop loss bailouts that they were promised.

My broker said he'd help me if he COULD -- but the only insurers LEFT don't APPROVE brokers anymore. So I now get a formally trained ObamaCare "navigator" with less than 6 weeks of training in anything insurance. Probably last job involved a forklift or a french fry basket.

Plus Medicare doesn't like being called by brokers or other providers. If you call too much they will fine you.

They suck ass.

 

[flacaltenn]

Repeal and replace with nothing.

That would be political suicide since a lot of Americans would lose their insurance.

And why aren't we upset at the insurance companies who are dropping out of the exchanges? The Republicans don't have to repeal anything for millions of people to lose their insurance. The insurance companies are doing that for them.

As Obamacare choices dwindle, feds face consumer, political backlash

They are dropping out because the Feds reneged on backroom deals to cover their losses for the initial period. Whether those "losses" were real or imagined -- I don't know. Because all those insurance stocks SOARED after O-Care was passed. A true clue that we didn't know shit about the "deals" that had been made.

Even the legislation has TONS of kick-backs and bribes to the insurers. My bet is -- the checks never came.

 

[toomuchtime_]

Does not seem like a good idea....so they remove all the subsidies....what's going to happen to the people who depend on those to get insurance?

Not to mention - if they want to reinvent the wheel and replace it with a new plan, they don't have enough votes with out Democrats joining in.

Republicans Take The First Step To Repeal Obamacare

Republicans have to use a special legislative maneuver, called a budget resolution, to undo the ACA because they don't have enough votes to overcome a Democratic filibuster in the Senate. Budget bills aren't subject to filibuster, so lawmakers will be able to repeal the parts of the law that have budget and tax implications.


That means they can essentially gut the law, removing all the subsidies that help low- and middle-income people buy health insurance and getting rid of the smorgasbord of taxes — on medical devices, insurance companies and wealthy individuals — that pay for those subsidies


Enzi's resolution calls on the Senate to get a bill to the Senate Budget Committee by Jan. 27.


Republican lawmakers say they don't want the 20 million people who have newly gained insurance because of the ACA to lose their coverage. So they plan to phase out Obamacare over time while they devise a replacement plan that they say will make affordable health insurance available to everyone, without the much-hated mandate to buy insurance if you don't want it.


Many analysts are skeptical that this "repeal and delay" strategy will work.


"The most likely end result of 'repeal and delay' would be less secure insurance for many Americans, procrastination by political leaders who will delay taking any proactive steps as long as possible, and ultimately no discernible movement toward a real marketplace for either insurance or medical services," said Joe Antos and James Capretta of the conservative American Enterprise Institute in a blog published Tuesday in Health Affairs.​

There is a standing federal court decision that the subsidies are unconstitutional unless Congress appropriates money specifically for them, and the Obama administration has been acting in violation of the Court's decision by continuing to pay them. The two issues Obamacare was supposed to address were healthcare for people with pre existing conditions and people who were not poor enough to get Medicaid but were too poor to buy private insurance. Both of these issues could have been dealt with in a month with already existing programs and without the huge, unwieldy piece of legislation that the Democrats stuffed with all their social and political programs. The campaign for Obamacare was a political scam, and now it is over.

Please explain how pre-existing conditions could have been covered under existing programs

Republicans haven't been able to do it

Republicans couldn't have done it because the Democrats controlled the Congress, but Health and Human services already has thousands of clinics across the country that provide comprehensive medical care, including well patient visits, to everyone who comes in regardless of what you can pay. You are charged according to your income anywhere from the customary fee for that area to $0 if your income is low enough. This would have immediately provided relief to all those with preexisting conditions and those too poor to buy insurance. What's more the program could be expanded to accommodate everyone with a simply appropriations bill that only needs a simple majority to become law.

Bureau of Primary Health Care

 

[flacaltenn]

I'm glad I never had to buy into that Obamacare BS. I feel bad bad for those who did.

O-Care KILLED the professional group policy that I had for 20+ years. Made it illegal. MILLIONS of self-employed were disrupted. Had no choice.

 

[TemplarKormac]

But for some reason, Republicans have yet to come up with something better

It's annoying to see how little liberals pay attention.

Tom Price proposed multiple replacement plans. Whether its "better" or not is only dictated by your own biases, not based on the perceived effectiveness of the bill itself.

Price Introduces Empowering Patients First Act

 

[tycho1572]

I'm glad I never had to buy into that Obamacare BS. I feel bad bad for those who did.

If you have health care coverage it is ACA compliant.

ALL health care policies sold in America are ACA policies - including those offered by employers.

I think what you are saying is that you are glad you didn't have to have your policy subsidized. And, of course, having the wealth/income that obviates the need for subsidies is certainly a good thing!

I work for a hospital. My costs and coverage hasn't changed. That isn't to say obama' BS hasn't costed us anything. People lost their jobs because of this bullshit.

 

[WillReadmore]

I couldn't even get my broker with 24 years of health insurance experience to help anymore. I used him to AVOID the exchanges with all that personal prying and mindless interrogation. And NOW -- even tho I sent a check on Dec 10 for Jan1 coverage -- my wife's prescription were REFUSED today. Don't KNOW if I'm covered. Called every working day since the day after Christmas.

Feds will take up to 90 days to "approve" my subsidy level. Insurance company is swamped because 80% of Tenn LOST coverage when BCBShield pulled out last year. Because THEY didn't get the special "under the table guaranteed" stop loss bailouts that they were promised.

My broker said he'd help me if he COULD -- but the only insurers LEFT don't APPROVE brokers anymore. So I now get a formally trained ObamaCare "navigator" with less than 6 weeks of training in anything insurance. Probably last job involved a forklift or a french fry basket.

Plus the Medicare system has been down on and off since Dec 23rd. You can't call about eligibility ,overlapping claims etc... It even overloaded and went down today and wouldn't accept claims submissions.

Ah...the government at work.

Some day I'll tell you the story of how I lost 3 months of my life after Medicare declared my dad dead..

Fun story..

FYI they do that all the time. And then take back all of the payments they made on several months worth of past claims. Try explaining to an elderly half senile 70/80 year old why they now owe 250k in past due bills and they need to contact SS because Medicare declared them deceased.

Government healthcare sucks...did I mention that?

Funny part of the story is I asked if they could send ANY Federal employee to my Dad's Assisted living place to have dinner with him.. Sadder part of the story is although I had power of attorney, it took his Congressperson's aide to fix it. But BEFORE they fixed it, Medicare suggested I contact the Soc Sec Admin for help. I did -- then SSA declared him dead.

It's get funnier every time I cry about it..

I have similar stories concerning both the government (SS, especially) and private corporations (such as my health care insurance company).

I really don't believe that bureaucracy is that much different when the number of people is of a similar size. If I went to a hardware store, it would be simple. If I do something involving a million people, screw ups and total BS absolutely do happen, with it not being easy to fix.

 

[BlueGin]

Repeal and replace with nothing.

That would be political suicide since a lot of Americans would lose their insurance.

And why aren't we upset at the insurance companies who are dropping out of the exchanges? The Republicans don't have to repeal anything for millions of people to lose their insurance. The insurance companies are doing that for them.

As Obamacare choices dwindle, feds face consumer, political backlash

They are dropping out because the Feds reneged on backroom deals to cover their losses for the initial period. Whether those "losses" were real or imagined -- I don't know. Because all those insurance stocks SOARED after O-Care was passed. A true clue that we didn't know shit about the "deals" that had been made.

Even the legislation has TONS of kick-backs and bribes to the insurers. My bet is -- the checks never came.

They didn't.

 

[Rustic]

It's embarrassing to the country that we have Obama care…

 

[TemplarKormac]

Forcing everyone to purchase insurance was the only way to have a large enough pool of healthy people paying in to balance the taking in of people with pre-existing conditions and serious illness.

...

It's economics.

Hmmm... so I guess the fine for not having insurance is economics too, is it not?

The government shouldn't be forcing individuals to accept insurance. Their bodies, their choices, right?

 

[TyroneSlothrop]

Chauncey Trump

The AMA, which has been rather comically pro-Trump to date, came out today and told Republicans that they shouldn't repeal Obamacare without a clear replacement. Notably, even two of the most conservative health care economists at AEI, came out yesterday and said that 'repeal and delay' would be a disaster. The truth is that "repeal and delay" is the policy equivalent of taking off from JFK to Heathrow with 2,000 miles worth of gas and saying you're going to figure it out en route. No one who knows anything about health care economics, even people who are staunch free marketeers and hate Obamacare, think that makes any sense.

Read More →
- Josh Marshall

 

[WillReadmore]

It's embarrassing to the country that we have Obama care…

True - they all have coverage for everyone and pay less for health care than does the USA.

And, we have to jack around with insurance companies with deadlines, big bills, near impossibility of getting reimbursed when some provider doesn't have proof of our coverage, etc.

 

[tycho1572]

I'm glad I never had to buy into that Obamacare BS. I feel bad bad for those who did.

O-Care KILLED the professional group policy that I had for 20+ years. Made it illegal. MILLIONS of self-employed were disrupted. Had no choice.

It's been a disaster on many levels. The only people who still still think it's worth saving are clueless. They're not seeing what most people are.

 

[WillReadmore]

Forcing everyone to purchase insurance was the only way to have a large enough pool of healthy people paying in to balance the taking in of people with pre-existing conditions and serious illness.

...

It's economics.

Hmmm... so I guess the fine for not having insurance is economics too, is it not?

The government shouldn't be forcing individuals to accept insurance. Their bodies, their choices, right?

Health care is more than an optional product.

 

[TemplarKormac]

Forcing everyone to purchase insurance was the only way to have a large enough pool of healthy people paying in to balance the taking in of people with pre-existing conditions and serious illness.

...

It's economics.

Hmmm... so I guess the fine for not having insurance is economics too, is it not?

The government shouldn't be forcing individuals to accept insurance. Their bodies, their choices, right?

Health care is more than an optional product.

Tell that to a pro-choice liberal.

 

[TyroneSlothrop]

It's been a disaster on many levels. The only people who still still think it's worth saving are clueless. They're not seeing what most people are.

Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) on Tuesday posted a poll on Twitter to get feedback on Republicans' proposed ObamaCare repeal. As it turns out, though, a majority of Twitter users who voted recommended keeping the healthcare law in place.
@MarshaBlackburn

Read more: GOP rep's ObamaCare Twitter poll backfires

 

[Maryland Patriot]

Forcing everyone to purchase insurance was the only way to have a large enough pool of healthy people paying in to balance the taking in of people with pre-existing conditions and serious illness.

...

It's economics.

Hmmm... so I guess the fine for not having insurance is economics too, is it not?

The government shouldn't be forcing individuals to accept insurance. Their bodies, their choices, right?

The government should not be forcing people to pay for other peoples insurance either. If these people never cared enough to purchase insurance all the time they were healthy, I have no concern for them when the do get sick.

 

[flacaltenn]

I couldn't even get my broker with 24 years of health insurance experience to help anymore. I used him to AVOID the exchanges with all that personal prying and mindless interrogation. And NOW -- even tho I sent a check on Dec 10 for Jan1 coverage -- my wife's prescription were REFUSED today. Don't KNOW if I'm covered. Called every working day since the day after Christmas.

Feds will take up to 90 days to "approve" my subsidy level. Insurance company is swamped because 80% of Tenn LOST coverage when BCBShield pulled out last year. Because THEY didn't get the special "under the table guaranteed" stop loss bailouts that they were promised.

My broker said he'd help me if he COULD -- but the only insurers LEFT don't APPROVE brokers anymore. So I now get a formally trained ObamaCare "navigator" with less than 6 weeks of training in anything insurance. Probably last job involved a forklift or a french fry basket.

Plus the Medicare system has been down on and off since Dec 23rd. You can't call about eligibility ,overlapping claims etc... It even overloaded and went down today and wouldn't accept claims submissions.

Ah...the government at work.

Some day I'll tell you the story of how I lost 3 months of my life after Medicare declared my dad dead..

Fun story..

FYI they do that all the time. And then take back all of the payments they made on several months worth of past claims. Try explaining to an elderly half senile 70/80 year old why they now owe 250k in past due bills and they need to contact SS because Medicare declared them deceased.

Government healthcare sucks...did I mention that?

Funny part of the story is I asked if they could send ANY Federal employee to my Dad's Assisted living place to have dinner with him.. Sadder part of the story is although I had power of attorney, it took his Congressperson's aide to fix it. But BEFORE they fixed it, Medicare suggested I contact the Soc Sec Admin for help. I did -- then SSA declared him dead.

It's get funnier every time I cry about it..

Anybody explain to me what the demented Slothrapper finds funny about BOTH Medicare and SSA declaring my father dead? I think this guy is terribly insecure in his political spamminations. And needs to incite folks.

There are a LOT of political hacks and political charlatans required to IGNORE the implosion of O-Care and problems with choice-less govt services. Bunch of ******* ostriches. Both freaking incompetent parties.