More Obamacare fuckups

[Parkbandit]

Blue Cross/Blue Shield in many states is technically non-profit. I guarantee they have higher salaries for their CEOs. This isn't some disease limited to health insurance co-ops.

One is paid by tax payers.

[Tgo01]

I think someone posted before about the 20+% rate increases that some insurance companies are asking for in 2016 but I think at that point none of the rate increase had been approved yet.

Well, here we go:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/04/us...2016.html?_r=1

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.

25% and 33% rate increase. Sure fucking sounds affordable to me!!

I like this part:

In financial statements filed with the government in the last two months, some insurers said that their claims payments totaled not just 80 percent, but more than 100 percent of premiums. And that, they said, is unsustainable.

Wait, wait. A business paying out more in expenses than they bring in is unsustainable? Get out of here!

I also like this part:

Health Net, for example, requested rate increases averaging 9 percent in Oregon. The state approved increases averaging 34.8 percent. Oregon’s Health Co-op requested a 5.3 percent increase. The state called for a 19.9 percent increase.

The state of Oregon actually looked at the numbers and said to insurance companies "You idiots aren't asking for enough money!" and actually approved rates higher than they were seeking.

Yes we can!

[Atlanteax]

http://money.cnn.com/2015/07/15/news...d=hp-stack-dom

Nearly a dozen fake Obamacare enrollees were able to keep their plans -- and subsidies -- for 2015.

The federal Obamacare exchange, known as Healthcare.gov, did not catch 11 fictitious policyholders who were enrolled last year as part of an undercover investigation by the Government Accountability Office. The watchdog agency last summer announced that it had created 12 fake identities and 11 were able to sign up for coverage, qualifying for a total of $2,500 a month in subsidies.

An update to the probe found that all 11 enrollees had their coverage automatically extended for 2015. Republican lawmakers released the new information Wednesday ahead of a Congressional hearing on Obamacare controls.

Six policyholders had their coverage terminated a few months later because they did not submit the necessary documentation. But GAO investigators were able to get five enrollees reinstated after talking to Healthcare.gov phone representatives. The representatives also increased the enrollees' subsidies by a total of $1,000 for the year. The application of the sixth policyholder is still pending.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which runs the federal exchange, has "limited ability to respond to attempts at fraud," according to prepared remarks by Seto Bagdoyan, director of the GAO's forensic audits and investigative service. Also, CMS officials told the GAO they must balance program integrity with allowing consumers to "effectively and efficiently" sign up for coverage.

CMS said the federal exchange has multiple layers of verification and continues to improve its process for confirming applicants' identity and eligibility. The agency noted that it ended the coverage of 226,000 consumers at the end of March because failed to provide sufficient documentation of their citizenship or immigration status.

Some 7.3 million Americans enrolled in coverage for 2015 through Healthcare.gov, according to the latest federal statistics.

[Buckwheet]

There was a plan here in MN that asked for a 74% increase.

[Parkbandit]

There was a plan here in MN that asked for a 74% increase.

They asked for a 74% increase, but the government only let them have a 60% increase.. SO OBAMACARE IS WORKING!!

OBAMA
OBAMA
OBAMA!

[Atlanteax]

http://money.cnn.com/2015/07/22/news...urge-stack-dom

About 7.5 million Americans paid an average penalty of $200 for not having health insurance in 2014 — the first year most Americans were required to have coverage under the Affordable Care Act, the Internal Revenue Service said Tuesday.

The government had estimated in January that from 3 million to 6 million households would have to pay a penalty: 1% of their annual income or $95 per adult in 2014, whichever is greater.

By contrast, 76% of taxpayers checked a box indicating they had insurance coverage all year.

Final figures for the tax year aren't available. The IRS has so far processed about 135 million of the estimated 150 million returns expected.

So far, the IRS said it has collected $1.5 billion from the individual mandate penalty included in the health law.

Some 12 million people avoided the penalty because they received exemptions. They included those whose incomes were too low and Native Americans.

24% w/o coverage last year? Sounds like it was an UNaffordable Healthcare Act.

[Latrinsorm]

I haven't seen any other stats by taxpayer to give a frame of reference, but the percentage of Americans uninsured has dropped dramatically since Obamacare.

[Warriorbird]

All this sturm und drang is hilarious.

Republicans believe that companies raising their prices on insurance plans (much like on bullets) are solely Obama's fault. I can't wait till when he's out of office and clever companies still use him as an excuse to raise prices and Republicans buy it hook, line, and sinker.

"We didn't want to raise our prices and make more (like companies do)! It was that evil Obama!"

"Okay! We knew it was Obama all along! You never raised your prices before!"

This is followed by companies counting their money and wondering what they'll do after the best excuse ever leaves office.

[Tgo01]

I don't blame Obama for prices rising. I blame Obama for prices not going down. That was the point of Obamacare, right?

[Warriorbird]

I don't blame Obama for prices rising. I blame Obama for prices not going down. That was the point of Obamacare, right?

And here I thought it was to cover uninsured Americans so we don't have to pay for them as often and have more people get the old Republican "skin in the game" for their healthcare.