Health policy expert: 'A lot of people think they're going to get free insurance'
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/10/sticker-shock-americans-floored-by-obamacare-cost/#ks0BErv3P0o8mALM.99
Health policy
expert: 'A lot of people think they're going to get free insurance'Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/10/sticker-shock-americans-floored-by-obamacare-cost/#ks0BErv3P0o8mALM.99
The technical problems with the Obamacare insurance exchanges are
no surprise, are further evidence the whole program should be delayed or
scrapped and Americans will be even more horrified when they can get somewhere
on the website, according to health-care policy expert Grace-Marie Turner.
The first 10 days of the Obamacare insurance exchanges have been a
technological and public relations mess for the administration. Many Americans
have suffered through hours of stalled or crashed websites, no reporter has yet
been able to navigate the site and many people have entered personal
information that online security experts believe could make them targets for
identity theft.
When WND spent hours online and on the phone
trying to get a cost estimate for an Obamcare plan, it was told to expect a
quote by Jan. 1.
As WND reported, anecdotal evidence on the
government’s own health-care Facebook page suggests both problems
are significant factors.
A few users seemed simply confused, but the overwhelming number of
comments were critical and many of those were scathing. Complaints about the
application process had three recurring themes: long waits, glitches and
sticker shock. There was also much ridicule of the site’s inability to handle “tremendous
demand.”
Information
technology experts told the Wall Street Journal the website “appeared to be
built on a sloppy software foundation.”
None of this comes as a shock to Turner, who heads the highly
respected Galen Institute.
“I am absolutely not surprised,” she told WND. “Of course, we know
the federal government is running the exchanges for about 35 of the states and
the other states were setting up their own exchanges. All of them basically
have to do the same thing. It is just a gargantuan undertaking to not only
figure out how to set up a new website that gathers a tremendous amount of
information from individuals: their name, their birth date, where they work,
their Social Security number, the names and birth dates of their children, how
much they earn, their health habits. All of this has to be gathered just for
people to be able to apply to see if they are eligible for coverage and then to
pick a plan.”
Turner added, “Then all that has to be assimilated with federal
databases, with the IRS, with Treasury, with Health and Human Services, with
state databases to see if you’re eligible or on Medicaid, with Homeland
Security to see if they’re actually a citizen, with the Peace Corps for some
reason,” she said, noting the administration engaged in a massive rush job to
get the exchanges up by the start of October.
“They were still letting contracts for this this July. This law
was passed three-and-a-half years ago. They were just getting around to letting
the contracts. Even some of the physical equipment like switches to let
all these computers talk to each other, were not ordered until this summer,”
she said. “It’s an example of when the federal government tries to run
something. They try to re-engineer one-sixth of our economy. They just can’t do
it.”
The exchange problems are only the start of the misery, according
to Turner. She said once people get to check out different plans on the
exchanges, the stark realities of this new system will kick in.
“I think a lot of people think they’re going to get free
insurance. This is not just some online shopping. You’re required by the
federal government to buy this insurance, and it’s going to be very expensive,
even with the subsidies. People are not expecting to have to spend $100, $200,
$300, $400 a month for health insurance for the rest of our lives, even for
some of these policies that seem to be what the government considers to be the
more affordable ones,” Turner said.
“Then on top of that, they’re very likely to have deductibles of
several thousand dollars as well as co-payments on top of the premiums. Once
people start to see the cost of this, there are going to be a lot of second
thoughts. I think there’s going to be a lot of sticker shock.”
President Obama and Democrats in Congress are not only blaming
Republican opposition to Obamacare for the current fiscal divides but also
blame the GOP for the very rocky roll-out of the exchanges because of staunch
opposition every step of the way. Turner said the GOP has nothing to do with
the problems.
“It’s ludicrous,” she said. “The administration has well over a
trillion dollars to spend on this program and has had all sorts of slush funds.
It’s given out money right and left. For them to blame the
Republican Congress for the fact that they didn’t get around to letting the
contracts for the switching equipment for the exchanges until July, how on
Earth is that the fault of a Republican Congress?”
By all accounts, web traffic has been said to be in the millions,
but the actual application and enrollment numbers appear to be exceptionally
low. Turner is curious not only to see the enrollment numbers in the coming
months but what type of patients are enrolling.
“What really is going to matter in the sustainability of these
exchanges is who is enrolling. The people who are most likely to enroll and pay
these high prices are those with a lot of health problems. If that happens,
then I think you’re going to start to see a death spiral for these exchanges,”
said Turner, who noted that the administration has to have young, healthy
people buy coverage to prevent premium costs from shooting through the roof.
“Young people are already being required to pay a much higher
premium than their health status would suggest they should and than they would
in an open, competitive market,” Turner said. “Those are the very people you
most want to get in, and they’re the ones who are going to have to pay the
highest relative premium to their health status.
“They’re penalizing the very people that they need to get into
these. I think that over the long term, that the way this is set up is designed
not to work.”
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/10/sticker-shock-americans-floored-by-obamacare-cost/#ks0BErv3P0o8mALM.99
AND then there is THIS:
How Much Is Your Health Insurance Going Up?
Have you gotten a letter from your insurance company about
your premiums going up? Has your employer told you that more will be
coming out of your paycheck to pay for your health plan?
President Obama promised that Obamacare would lower premiums by $2,500. But instead, Americans everywhere are facing higher premiums because of Obamacare.
George Schwab, who lives in North Carolina, was notified in a letter from Blue Cross Blue Shield on September 23 that his current plan doesn’t meet Obamacare’s benefit requirements and would be canceled at the end of the year. While Blue Cross did suggest a comparable plan, it was $980 more than what he now pays.
“The President told the American people numerous times that… ‘If you like your coverage, you can keep it,’” Schwab told The Charlotte Observer. “How can we keep it if it has been eliminated? How can we keep it if the premium has been increased 430 percent in one year?”
Michael Yount and his wife, a retired couple in North Carolina, buy their individual insurance through Blue Cross Blue Shield and pay about $380 a month with an $11,000 deductible. But they were just informed their new plan will be three times the price, costing them $1,124.50 a month, The Christian Science Monitor reported. The couple said they plan to drop out of formal health insurance, pay the penalty, and “self-insure.”
Cindy Vinson in California “will pay $1,800 more a year for an individual policy,” reports the San Jose Mercury News. She is an Obama voter who was surprised by the personal impact of Obamacare. “Of course, I want people to have health care,” Vinson said. “I just didn’t realize I would be the one who was going to pay for it personally.”
Higher costs and dropped coverage are just two of the many reasons Obamacare must be stopped. Members of Congress are getting distracted by political maneuvering on Capitol Hill, but the most important thing for them to be focused on is acting to save America from this unpopular, unfair, and unworkable law.
Across the country, people are being notified of price increases in the hundreds or thousands of dollars. Have you gotten a notice? How much is your insurance going up? We want to hear from you.
Send us a picture of yourself like George did above. Tell us how much your insurance is going up per month—write your increase on a sign.
Ways to send your picture:
Quick Hits:
President Obama promised that Obamacare would lower premiums by $2,500. But instead, Americans everywhere are facing higher premiums because of Obamacare.
George Schwab, who lives in North Carolina, was notified in a letter from Blue Cross Blue Shield on September 23 that his current plan doesn’t meet Obamacare’s benefit requirements and would be canceled at the end of the year. While Blue Cross did suggest a comparable plan, it was $980 more than what he now pays.
“The President told the American people numerous times that… ‘If you like your coverage, you can keep it,’” Schwab told The Charlotte Observer. “How can we keep it if it has been eliminated? How can we keep it if the premium has been increased 430 percent in one year?”
Michael Yount and his wife, a retired couple in North Carolina, buy their individual insurance through Blue Cross Blue Shield and pay about $380 a month with an $11,000 deductible. But they were just informed their new plan will be three times the price, costing them $1,124.50 a month, The Christian Science Monitor reported. The couple said they plan to drop out of formal health insurance, pay the penalty, and “self-insure.”
Cindy Vinson in California “will pay $1,800 more a year for an individual policy,” reports the San Jose Mercury News. She is an Obama voter who was surprised by the personal impact of Obamacare. “Of course, I want people to have health care,” Vinson said. “I just didn’t realize I would be the one who was going to pay for it personally.”
Higher costs and dropped coverage are just two of the many reasons Obamacare must be stopped. Members of Congress are getting distracted by political maneuvering on Capitol Hill, but the most important thing for them to be focused on is acting to save America from this unpopular, unfair, and unworkable law.
Across the country, people are being notified of price increases in the hundreds or thousands of dollars. Have you gotten a notice? How much is your insurance going up? We want to hear from you.
Send us a picture of yourself like George did above. Tell us how much your insurance is going up per month—write your increase on a sign.
Ways to send your picture:
- Email: Respond to this email and attach your photo.
- Facebook: Post your photo on our Facebook page.
- Twitter: Tweet your photo to @Heritage and use the hashtag #ObamaHikes.
- Instagram: Post your photo on Instagram with the hashtag #ObamaHikes.
Quick Hits:
- Do you watch Megyn Kelly on Fox? So do a lot of other people.
- If you know anything about websites, you might wonder who programmed the Obamacare website.
- A new report finds the Administration might need a refresher course in freedom of the press.
- Washington faces a dual crisis of excessive spending and debt. Here’s the role Obamacare plays.
- The Libyan prime minister was kidnapped, briefly held, then freed on Thursday.
- Government spending is growing at an excessive rate. What would the Founding Fathers say?
- More bad news about the Obamacare exchanges: A lot of doctors won’t be accepting this insurance.
