6 Years Later – Obamacare Costs Unsustainable

Posted on Wednesday, April 20, 2016 by Post Scripts

posted by Jack

WE TOLD YOU! On the sixth anniversary of President Obama signing the ObamaCare law and saddling the nation with its regulatory diktats, here’s a disquieting statistic that won’t be trumpeted: $55 billion in waste and counting.

Investor’s Business Daily crunched the numbers. More troubling still is that the hemorrhaging will continue from this health care mess. Among the losses to date:

• $1.2 billion in startup loans for ObamaCare’s 12 (out of 23) failed insurance co-ops.

• $1.5 billion in failed or unrealized state-run health exchanges — and not one of the remaining 14 is fully functional, according to a government audit.

• An estimated $45 billion for the 165 million hours that businesses and individuals spent trying to comply with ObamaCare’s 106 new regulations.

• $750 million in public subsidies to more than 500,000 people who weren’t eligible for coverage.

• $3.5 billion diverted from the Treasury to insurance companies to help cover their losses.

For all the happy talk about gains in the public’s insurance coverage (except, of course, for the unfortunate folks who signed up with one of the government’s failed insurance co-ops), the reality is a burgeoning, unsustainable government bureaucracy that is on pace to cost considerably more.

UPDATE: It’s estimated that we will need about $600 billion in tax subsidies to keep co-ops solvent in 2017, cost overruns in 2016 exceed 106 billion so far. United Healthcare just announced they were dropping out, can’t afford it anymore.

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13 Responses to 6 Years Later – Obamacare Costs Unsustainable

  1. bob says:
    Wednesday, April 20, 2016 at 6:45 pm

    Mr. Jack,

    There are many people in Chico who wanted Obammiecare and now they’re getting it good and hard. I told them if they thought healthcare was expensive back then just wait until it’s free! All of us will get it good and hard one way or another.

    Just look at Abominable Care:


    Tracking the slow motion trainwreck of Obamacare has become one of our preferred hobbies: below is just a random sample of headlines covering just the most recent tribulations of the “we have to pass it to find out what’s in it” Unaffordable Care Act:

    In Latest Obamacare Fiasco, Most Low-Income Workers Can’t Afford “Affordable Care Act”
    The Stunning “Explanation” An Insurance Company Just Used To Boost Health Premiums By 60%
    Your Health Insurance Premiums Are About To Go Through The Roof -The Stunning Reason Why
    Obama Promised Healthcare Premiums Would Fall $2,500 Per Family; They Have Climbed $4,865
    Largest Health Insurer On Colorado Exchange Abruptly Collapses
    Co-Op Insurers Across America Are Collapsing, And Now There Is Fraud
    “$19,000 Premiums, Up 4x Since Passage”: The ‘Crippling Effect’ Of Obamacare On The Middle Class
    Meet The Family That Just Spent Half Its Annual Income Paying For Obamacare


    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-04-08/beginning-end-obamacare-largest-us-health-insurer-exits-georgia-arkanasas

    Reply
  2. bob says:
    Wednesday, April 20, 2016 at 6:57 pm

    Let’s face it. Obammiecare was a poison pill designed to bring in single payer. It was never intended to be anything but a fiasco.

    Reply
  3. Tina says:
    Wednesday, April 20, 2016 at 10:08 pm

    The Daily Caller reports on the failing Obamacare co-ops:

    Federal health officials refuse to give Congress hundreds of subpoenaed documents on Obamacare’s failed co-ops so that people will continue enrolling in the deeply troubled program, a congressional leader said Tuesday.

    Twelve of the 23 co-ops created in 2011 under Obamacare at a cost of $2.4 billion have failed, and another eight of the remaining 11 are likely to go under this year. But the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) won’t hand over documents subpoenaed months ago by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

    The congressional leader, Rep. Jason Chavetz, also said HHS gave “no valid legal reason” for refusing to turn over documents. In fact he said they asserted that “if certain information was released publicly, it could cause consumers to think twice before enrolling in CO-OP insurance plans.”

    Ya think?

    Reply
  4. bob says:
    Thursday, April 21, 2016 at 8:24 am

    “What Congress passes, Congress must live by: Under the Affordable Care Act, members of Congress and their staffs get lavish subsidies — as much as $12,000 a year — to pay their ObamaCare premiums. Nobody else in America earning close to $174,000 a year (a member’s base pay) qualifies for a subsidy.”

    http://nypost.com/2016/04/19/getting-set-to-pick-up-the-pieces-of-obamacares-collapse/

    Reply
  5. Tina says:
    Thursday, April 21, 2016 at 10:05 pm

    Someone here posted the following explanation in August of 2013:

    …most of this controversy has to do with a glitch in the ACA language that had not explicitly allowed the federal government from subsidizing, or paying into, their Capitol Hill employees’ insurance plans. This would mean that Congress and their staff members would be responsible for paying their entire premiums. If the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) had not intervened on August 8 of this year, congressional staff would have been penalized by losing those employer healthcare contributions. To prevent this occurrence, the OPM states that individuals who are forced out of the federal employee health insurance program will continue to receive their employer contribution toward their health insurance, comparable to what they are currently receiving under the federal employee health insurance program. Additionally, it should be noted that although there will be tax credits available for some ACA plan enrollees to help pay their premiums, congressional staffers and members will not have this option.

    In January 2014 NewsMax, citing a Congressional Management Foundation (CMF) report:

    Senior staff members on Capitol Hill are looking for new jobs as the extra cost of healthcare benefits under Obamacare begin to kick in, reveals a new survey.

    A Congressional Management Foundation (CMF) report says almost four out of 10 chiefs of staff and district directors plan to seek new positions in the next 12 months, according Roll Call.

    The job search alarms began going off when members of Congress and their staffs were told they would have to enroll in the Obamacare insurance exchange to continue receiving the government’s employer contribution.

    The CMF survey of 163 senior staff members from Nov. 18 through Dec, 6 showed that 79 percent of respondents felt that the new healthcare law would result in employees seeking new jobs. Thirty-eight percent of senior staffers surveyed said they themselves would also be looking for new jobs in the next 12 months.

    In November 2014 Jazz Shaw wrote the following at Hot Air:

    This almost happened yesterday, but has now been put off until some time next week. Senator David Vitter (R – LA) has an amendment on the table which will make it mandatory for all GOP staffers on the Hill to get their healthcare through Obamacare. This comes as the GOP continues to consider new leadership and resolutions for caucus rules.

    Resolved, that it is the policy of the Republican Conference that all Members shall designate all staff they employ as official for purposes of healthcare when filling out the Annual Designation of “Official Office” staff or otherwise complying with the section 1312 of the Affordable Care Act regardless of whether they work in a member’s personal office, committee office, leadership office, the cloakroom or any other office.

    Challenge to Democrats

    The Republican Conference calls upon the Senate Democrats to adopt a policy that all Democrat members shall designate all staff they employ as official for purposes of healthcare when filling out the Annual Designation of “Official Office” staff or otherwise complying with the section 1312 of the Affordable Care Act regardless of whether they work in the member’s personal office, committee office, leadership office, the cloakroom or other any other office.

    Right now the members and some of their staffers already have to enroll in the DC exchange, but committee and leadership staffers are exempt and can stick with their Federal Employees Health Benefit Program.

    In July of 2015 the Free Beacon posted the following:

    A coalition of 10 organizations has filed an ethics complaint calling for an investigation into whether senators and their staff committed fraud when they submitted applications to the health insurance exchange in Washington, D.C.

    The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste, the lobbying arm of the nonpartisan watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste, led the coalition in filing the complaint to the Senate Select Committee on Ethics. The organizations involved are calling for an investigation into whether members of Congress and their staff violated laws by claiming to be a “small business” in order to buy their insurance and qualify for taxpayer-funded subsidies.

    “The Affordable Care Act (ACA), better known as Obamacare, required that members of Congress and their staff enroll in individual plans through the healthcare exchanges created by the law,” the group said in a press release. “As open enrollment approached in 2014, members and staff realized that by enrolling as individuals, they would no longer receive generous taxpayer-funded contributions to help pay their insurance premiums as they had for decades under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. They would instead only qualify for subsidies if their household income was less than 400 percent of the federal poverty level, just like millions of other Americans that had to purchase insurance in the individual market.”

    The group notes that senators worked with the White House and the Office of Personnel Management for guidance on how to enroll in the Small Business Health Options Program in order to skirt any obstacles.

    On October 2, 2013, the Office of Personnel and Management (OPM) used a federal regulation to deem Congress a small business despite its having more than 12,000 employees and dependents. Additionally, individual congressional offices do not directly pay salaries—their payment comes from the House of Representatives and Senate.

    The group says this was done in order to allow members of Congress and their staff to have access to the taxpayer-funded subsidies.

    “The purpose of this rather arbitrary and capricious action was to enable members of Congress, their staff, and families to gain access to taxpayer-funded subsidies for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This special exemption was cooked up by members of Congress, with help from the White House, to get something that no other individual or business can obtain.”

    As the first Obamacare enrollment period was underway in February 2014, one individual filed an application to the Washington D.C. Small Business Health Options Program acting on behalf of the entire Senate.

    Under the Affordable Care Act, the Small Business Health Options Exchange allows businesses that employ 50 or fewer full-time workers to shop around for health insurance and gives employers greater control of the coverage, such as how much they wish to contribute to their employees’ premiums.

    The right wing postings were NOT LIES!

    The ACA, O’Bummercare, is a confusing, unfair, punishing, unworkable, re-distributionist piece of garbage that favors some and punishes others and has created havoc everywhere…it needs to be repealed!

    Chris is quick to dismiss the right from that high perch of superiority he’s claimed for himself, but he’s not as smart as he thinks. He’s been sold a bill of goods and he still thinks he’s wearing superior suits. Isn’t that a pretty bad case of fool me twice?

    Reply
    • Chris says:
      Friday, April 22, 2016 at 2:56 pm

      Tina, why did you make me read all that, when none of it supports Bob’s false claim that members of Congress get a special subsidy for the ACA? Do you have something against me? 😉

      “The right wing postings were NOT LIES!”

      The right wing claim that Congress members were getting special subsidies for Obamacare was a lie.

      Reply
  6. Harold says:
    Friday, April 22, 2016 at 6:50 am

    ‘Isn’t that a pretty bad case of fool me twice?’

    Pretty easy to do with a liberal mind set, after all, most of the time they do have their heads up their rumps, if only to see where all that liberal smoke is going.

    Reply
  7. Dewster says:
    Friday, April 22, 2016 at 5:19 pm

    You folks really have not a clue! You are still repeating the Ins Company Propaganda! In fact while the United Healthcare group is writing media complaining on how they can not sustain they are tweeting at how big their profits are…That is a fact!

    Any of you on medicare? Cause that is socialist Obammmiecare too!

    The ACA is a Law not health ins.

    We need to take it a step further. Health Insurance is a scam to start with. They are traded companies on wall street. Their goal is to make CEO and investor profits not cheap rates for you.

    What did the law say? They have to use 80% on actual healthcare. Oh My!

    They can not look for some stupid reason like you are pregnant or test for diabetes and throw you off when you need a major service. Oh My that is not fair! Why should they have to treat you!

    A college student can stay on parents til 26. Oh My Not fair throw them off let the taxpayers pay!

    The problem with the law is it leaves the working poor out.

    You people never think things through. The fact is healthcare for investor profits is not the way to go. You want better rates? Take the investor profit out of it.

    We pay higher prices for the same exact drug made in the same factory than other countries. Not because of Obammie but because of Private profits.

    The kid that bought the Aids Drug that sold for $13 a pill and made it $600 a pill? That is how our healthcare system works profit before people.

    My Blue cross PPO was $1500 a month from $500. In 3 years it went up during Bush. Ya see an unregulated Ins Industry gambles with life itself.

    many of these drugs your Drs prescribe do more harm than good for you. They create more problems! Excellent for profits!

    Again You can hate the law but your facts are no more than myths and repeated Media Propaganda!

    Never Mind it came from the Heritage Foundation right? just call it Obammiecare cause there;s a black man in the white house!

    Bottom line our Healthcare system is a corrupt scam another failure of Saint Ronnie Conservative privatize everything for profit.

    Reply
  8. Tina says:
    Saturday, April 23, 2016 at 12:31 am

    Dewey it is you who hasn’t “a clue.” Your information is only half right. United health did post profits in the first quarter, however, growth and profit came from, “lines of business outside of its health maintenance organization segment. Accounts from those businesses pay higher premiums.”

    “What did the law say? They have to use 80% on actual healthcare. Oh My!”

    It also said people had to buy insurance or pay a fine. It also made premiums and deductibles so high for many people they haven’t been able to use it. It also was written so that the actually cost wouldn’t show up for several years and will add much more to the debt than we were told in the beginning. It also allows an un-elected bureaucratic body to regulate and set policy (13,000 new regs and growing). It was also given a billion dollars in implementation money and that money is all gone. It also cuts in Medicare:

    …MA (Medicare Advantage) enrollees will lose $3,714 worth of extra services by 2017 due to the MA reductions in ObamaCare. These reductions will also mean that 7.4 million beneficiaries who would have enrolled in MA in 2017 will be forced into less preferable options by the MA cuts. That’s a full 50% reduction in expected MA enrollment. The impact of the cuts will be even more dramatic in certain localities (as documented in the Book-Capretta analysis). This is one of the most concrete violations of the President’s pledge that “If you like your plan, you can keep your plan” in the entire law.

    The ACA says a lot of things, Dewy, too dang many things that just do not work! It has added to an already looming doctor crisis.

    How is it that you can’t stand corruption in government and yet you trust government to manage how we pay for and receive healthcare?

    You make absolutely zero sense!

    Medicare and Medicaid had waste and fraud problems before Obamacare was implemented. What made them think this plan would be any different or better?

    The truth is they didn’t care!

    The goal was never affordable healthcare for everyone.The goal was government control of what is expected to become 20% of the economy by 2021 (fascism, moron).

    If Bernie and Hillary get their way, that level of fascist control will be complete!

    BOTTOM LINE: Profit is not a dirty word. Profit is what is used to extend business or services into the future and to pay the overhead costs of running the business. Without profit there would be no work other than that seen in third world countries where people barely eke out a living. The wage we earn is our profit. The returns we get on investment is our profit. Profit, well managed, can make anyone rise on the ladder of success. Profit is the means to growing a personal nest egg.

    BOTTOM LINE: Private sector control means we have choices. Choices about who we trust to deliver our health insurance AND our health care. It also means that it’s easier, and possible, to weed out bad companies or corrupt practices…try that with government. We established the rule of law for exactly this purpose.

    Dewey your thinking is exactly backwards.

    Reply

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