Initial attempts to sign up for ObamaCare go about as well as expected

[boutons_deux]

U.S. will spend $2.6 trillion less on health care than expected before Obamacare

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...e=facebook.com

[boutons_deux]

the 99%, it's Repug ideology

Paul Ryan offers Obamacare alternative that raises Medicare eligibility age and caps liability damages

“Obamacare has limited choices for patients, driven up costs for consumers, and buried employers and health care providers under thousands of new regulations,” a draft of the Ryan plan said. “This law cannot be fixed.”

But Ryan’s proposal would keep some popular aspects of the law, including not allowing people with pre-existing conditions to be denied coverage and permitting children to stay on their parents’ coverage until age 26.

The Obama administration says some 20 million Americans have become insured as a result of the Affordable Care Act.

The Ryan plan recycles long-held Republican proposals like allowing consumers to buy health insurance across state lines, expanding the use of health savings accounts and giving states block grants to run the Medicaid program for the poor.

For people who do not get insurance through their jobs, the Republican plan would establish a refundable tax credit. Obamacare, by contrast, provides subsidies to some lower-income people to buy insurance if they do not qualify for Medicaid.

The Republican proposal would gradually increase the Medicare eligibility age, which currently is 65, to match that of the Social Security pension plan, which is 67 for people born in 1960 or later.

Like Obamacare’s so-called Cadillac tax on expensive healthcare plans offered by employers, the Republican proposal would cap the tax deductibility of employer-based plans.

The Republican plan includes medical liability reform that would put a cap on non-economic damages awarded in lawsuits, a measure aimed at cutting overall healthcare costs.

Under Obamacare, many states expanded the number of people eligible for Medicaid. The Republican plan would allow states that decided to expand Medicaid before this year to keep the expansion, while preventing any new states from doing so.

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/06/paul...e+Raw+Story%29

Why stop at 67? that's pretty low. Why not withhold Medicare, no Soc Sec until 70? the 99% harder, it's The Repug Way.

Jobs for people in the '60s are universally wonderful, with lots of benefits.

[boutons_deux]

U.S. will spend $2.6 trillion less on health care than expected before Obamacare, study projects

Expanding health insurance coverage to millions of Americans was bound to increase overall spending.

After the Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010, the actuaries for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services projected that, as the economy recovered, the historically low growth in health spending would return to higher levels, reaching $4.6 trillion by 2019.

But in the intervening years, the annual expenditure increases have been more modest than expected, and the new estimate from the Urban Ins ute suggests national health spending is on to track reach $4 trillion by 2019.

"When CMS originally made those projections, they really thought the slowdown in health-care spending [growth] was mostly due to the recession, and afterward we'd see a return to the higher rates of spending growth — and that didn't really happen,"

U.S. will spend $2.6 trillion less on health care than expected before Obamacare, study projects

A big reason some BigInsurance/investors are getting out. Their looting of America has been somewhat restrained.

[TeyshaBlue]

"But another factor that Levitt and Hempstead pointed to was the increase in deductibles. Research has shown that patients with high-deductible health plans simply avoid the use of health care altogether while they are on the hook for their health care costs.

If that's what's happening, it could look good for reining in spending in the short term, but may not save money in the long run — or be good for people's health."

Duh.

[boutons_deux]

Fight over Medicaid expansion reaches a crossroads

And then there’s Kentucky, which was celebrated as a national model for ACA success, right up until Gov. Matt Bevin (R) was elected. The far-right governor ran on a platform of eliminating Medicaid expansion altogether, though he backed off soon after taking office. Last week, however, as theCourier-Journal in Louisville reported, Bevin laid out some “reforms” that he says are non-negotiable.

A thunderstorm rumbled through Frankfort Wednesday as Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin laid out his sweeping proposal to reshape the state’s Medicaid plan into one

he predicts will encourage responsible health choices (translation: quit getting health care) and

teach Kentuckians the basics of paying for health care (translation: quit getting health care).

As he spoke in the crowded Capitol Rotunda, a crack of lightning and boom of thunder reverberated through the marble corridors, prompting Bevin to pause.

“God’s weighing in on this,” the governor, a conservative Christian, joked. “He agrees with everything I just said.”

Well, that’s certainly one way of interpreting things, but given the details of his pitch, there’s an alternative worth considering.

Medicaid expansion in the Bluegrass State, which has brought coverage to 440,000 people, has been extremely effective, which Bevin is eager to change.

The governor’s plan includes premium hikes on people who can least afford it and new work requirements.
Bevin’s proposal would need approval from the Obama administration, and the governor has already said it’s a take-it-or-leave-it proposition: if federal officials balk at his “reforms,”

Bevin says he’s prepared to scrap Medicaid expansion altogether, leaving 440,000 of his cons uents with nothing.

It’s worth noting the electoral irony of all of this: as we discussed after the governor was elected, a local political scientist who crunched the numbers found that

the Kentucky counties most reliant on Medicaid expansion were also the most likely to vote for the candidate who vowed to tear down Medicaid expansion.

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-s...d=sm_fb_maddow

[boutons_deux]

Another Obamacare Success: It's Cut Premiums By 30-50%



They imply that ACA marketplace premiums for the [second-lowest-cost silver] plan in 2014 came in a remarkable 21 percent lower than average individual market premiums the year prior,

or 32 percent lower when accounting for the new plans’ higher actuarial value, even without incorporating likely utilization increases in response to the additional coverage.

....That the ACA might have caused premiums to drop so precipitously when its marketplaces took effect may seem surprising at first — it was to us....However, the premium reductions make more sense upon deeper analysis.

First, even though sicker people were charged higher premiums in the pre-ACA world (and some were denied coverage altogether), many still purchased insurance, but likely at significantly higher rates....Moreover, by creating large premium subsidies and imposing the individual mandate, the ACA may have caused a greater influx of relatively healthy enrollees into the individual market in 2014 and beyond.

....Second, the ACA creates a price-compe ive and transparent market structure, where consumers can compare similar health insurance products.

....Third, selling costs are likely to be lower in the ACA marketplaces because of the prohibition on medical underwriting and limited variation in the policies and policy riders that can be offered.

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-dru...premiums-30-50

The main reason some insurers are pulling out: the ACA cost reductions means they can't rape Americans for profit.

[rmt]

Those individual policies in your post are peanuts compared to Medicaid. Those states that accepted Obamacare Medicaid expansion are in for huge expenses as the feds pull back and they take over the costs:

A new government report shows that the average ObamaCare Medicaid expansion enrollee cost the federal government $6,366 in 2015, 49% above the per-person cost of $4,281 projected a year ago.

http://www.investors.com/news/obamac...ast-estimates/

[boutons_deux]

Those individual policies in your post are peanuts compared to Medicaid. Those states that accepted Obamacare Medicaid expansion are in for huge expenses as the feds pull back and they take over the costs:

A new government report shows that the average ObamaCare Medicaid expansion enrollee cost the federal government $6,366 in 2015, 49% above the per-person cost of $4,281 projected a year ago.

http://www.investors.com/news/obamac...ast-estimates/

well, poor people on Medicaid, they are undeserving, criminal untermenschen in Repug/conservative ideology. America doesn't give a about losers.

[CosmicCowboy]

well, poor people on Medicaid, they are undeserving, criminal untermenschen in Repug/conservative ideology. America doesn't give a about losers.

We care about some losers. We just don't like YOU.

[boutons_deux]

We care about some losers. We just don't like YOU.

no, you don't GAF. Your Repug politicians are relentlessly ing over TX losers, of all "sub groups".

[rmt]

Well, boutons, if you want to trot out an article about Obamacare premiums going down, I think I can find 10 articles saying they're going up for every one of yours. The risk corridors are coming off and you are going to see premiums sky-rocket. Imo, Obama will find some way of delaying the opening of enrollment (Nov 1) until after the election.

[boutons_deux]

Well, boutons, if you want to trot out an article about Obamacare premiums going down, I think I can find 10 articles saying they're going up for every one of yours. The risk corridors are coming off and you are going to see premiums sky-rocket. Imo, Obama will find some way of delaying the opening of enrollment (Nov 1) until after the election.

They're going up, yes, but from being reduced by ACA.

BigHealthCare is an unstoppable ripoff, has been 30+ years.

[rmt]

They're going up, yes, but from being reduced by ACA.

BigHealthCare is an unstoppable ripoff, has been 30+ years.

How many times do I have to remind you that the health insurers are limited to 20% - 80% must be spent on healthcare. The 10 essential benefits mandated by Obamacare is mostly responsible for driving up costs. Why should we pay for benefits we don't need - why should every man, child's and old person have to carry maternity benefits - that can never be used?

[Th'Pusher]

How many times do I have to remind you that the health insurers are limited to 20% - 80% must be spent on healthcare. The 10 essential benefits mandated by Obamacare is mostly responsible for driving up costs. Why should we pay for benefits we don't need - why should every man, child's and old person have to carry maternity benefits - that can never be used?

To offset the cost of the people who do use it.

[Pelicans78]

Obamacare doesn't mean much if doctors aren't willing to see those patients with that type of insurance. Just means alot more insured people not being able to see a doctor unless they go far away.

[boutons_deux]

Kentucky Republicans try to redefine ‘insured’

Under former Gov. Steve Beshear’s (D) leadership, Kentucky became a national leader in health care. The Bluegrass State implemented the Affordable Care Act to perfection and saw results that most states envied. No state has seen a sharper improvement in its uninsured rate.

Kentucky voters decided last year, however, to go in a very different direction, electing a far-right amateur, Matt Bevin (R), as their new governor, inadvertently endorsing his anti-healthcare platform.

The Republican, in his first year, has already scrapped Kentucky’s state-based marketplace, choosing instead to direct consumers to the federal healthcare.gov, and now he’s pushing to overhaul Kentucky’s Medicaid-expansion policy, uprooting an effective system while demanding conservative “reforms.”

There has not been a historic drop in uninsured – this is misleading,” [cabinet spokeswoman Jean West’s] statement said. “Medicaid is not health insurance – it is a benefit program like SNAP (food stamps) or TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) … What we have seen is a historic rise in people on taxpayer-funded Medicaid.”

Got that? It may look like a low-income Kentucky family has coverage, which means being able to afford a doctor’s visit or a trip to the hospital, but that’s because that family is covered through Medicaid.

And according to the Republican governor of Kentucky,

Medicaid coverage shouldn’t count as coverage at all because, well, because the Bevin administration says so.

How exactly does Team Bevin intend to tell struggling families,

“Don’t worry, we’re taking your coverage away, but it didn’t really count in the first place”?

As things stand, Bevin’s administration has told federal officials that if the Obama administration rejects the governor’s Medicaid “reforms,”

the Republican will reject Medicaid expansion altogether and strip over 400,000 Kentuckians of their coverage.

That may seem needlessly cruel, but according to Bevin’s office, “Medicaid is not health insurance,” so the crises these families would face don’t really count.

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-s...d=sm_fb_maddow


And Repugs wonder why their redneck, ignorant, white racist, low-wage, low-education, bubba base revolts against their establishment, Rand Paul? , by choosing Trash?

[boutons_deux]

Obamacare Appears to Be Making People Healthier

Obamacare has provided health insurance to some 20 million people. But are they any better off?

This has been the central question as we’ve been watching the complex and expensive health law unfurl.

We knew the law was giving people coverage, but information about whether it’s protecting people from debt or helping them become more healthy has been slower to emerge.

A few recent studies suggest that people have become less likely to have medical debt or to postpone care because of cost.

They are also more likely to have a regular doctor and to be getting preventive health services like vaccines and cancer screenings.

A new study, published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine, offers another way of looking at the issue.

Low-income people in Arkansas and Kentucky, which expanded Medicaid insurance to everyone below a certain income threshold, appear to be healthier than their peers in Texas, which did not expand.
The study took advantage of what Dr. Benjamin Sommers, an author of the paper and an assistant professor of health policy and economics at Harvard, called “a huge natural experiment.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/09/up...er=rss&emc=rss

Naturally, the Repug asshole KY governor is wants to remove coverage from 400K KY citizens.

[TeyshaBlue]

Probably need to actually read the study rather than be told what to think about it. It's stuffed full of caveats.

[boutons_deux]

New report: Rate of uninsured young adults drops by more than one-third in Texas

HOUSTON - (Aug. 23, 2016) - The percentage of young adults ages 18 to 34 in Texas without health insurance has dropped by 35 percent since the Affordable Care Act (ACA) went into effect, according to a new report released today by Rice University's Baker Ins ute for Public Policy and the Episcopal Health Foundation.

The report found the uninsured rate among young adults in Texas dropped from 33 percent in September 2013 to 21 percent in March 2016. This age group is often called "young invincibles" by the health insurance industry because they don't always purchase health insurance since they believe they are too healthy to warrant the cost.

Prior to the ACA going into effect, young invincibles had higher uninsured rates than older Texans. However, the report found this group of young Texans now has a lower uninsured rate than Texans ages 36 to 49.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releas...-nrr082316.php

[TheSanityAnnex]

New report: Rate of uninsured young adults drops by more than one-third in Texas

HOUSTON - (Aug. 23, 2016) - The percentage of young adults ages 18 to 34 in Texas without health insurance has dropped by 35 percent since the Affordable Care Act (ACA) went into effect, according to a new report released today by Rice University's Baker Ins ute for Public Policy and the Episcopal Health Foundation.

The report found the uninsured rate among young adults in Texas dropped from 33 percent in September 2013 to 21 percent in March 2016. This age group is often called "young invincibles" by the health insurance industry because they don't always purchase health insurance since they believe they are too healthy to warrant the cost.

Prior to the ACA going into effect, young invincibles had higher uninsured rates than older Texans. However, the report found this group of young Texans now has a lower uninsured rate than Texans ages 36 to 49.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releas...-nrr082316.php

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing ins utions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system

[Th'Pusher]

[/FONT][/COLOR]

Why is that disclaimer ?

[boutons_deux]

Why is that disclaimer ?

it's boilerplate on lots of articles, but gun fellator nutcase means the good news about ACA in TX is a lie.

[boutons_deux]

ACA is bad because Barry HUSSEIN Obama is a Muslim devil

Alex Jones: 'Flies Landing On' Obama Prove He’s Satanic

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/conten...e-he-s-satanic

[Th'Pusher]

it's boilerplate on lots of articles, but gun fellator nutcase means the good news about ACA in TX is a lie.

Yeah. It aggregates articles from a number of different sources, which is why I didn't get the from TSA. He probably didn't understand what the service does...

[boutons_deux]

Yeah. It aggregates articles from a number of different sources, which is why I didn't get the from TSA. He probably didn't understand what the service does...

rightwingnuts, there's a LOT of stuff they don't understand, but when there down there ankle biting, the view ain't so good.