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Obamacare Goes Live Today: Here Is The Next Big Problem
Obamacare officially went live at midnight. This means that 2.1 million Americans (the latest enrollment number provided by the administration) will be given a chance to exercise their new plans at hospitals and clinics across the country (it was unclear what the latest number of Americans kicked off their existing plans was most recently: the tally was 4.0 million as of mid-November and it is fair to assume it has risen since then). And then the real glitches will begin.
We reported two weeks ago that navigating the healthcare.gov labyrinth successfully and "signing up" for Obamacare is one thing; actually activating coverage by making a payment is something totally different. We added that "if people don’t pay by Dec. 31, insurers may end up stuck with a disproportionate number of sicker and costlier customers."
It is this "shock" realization that one's Obamacare plan is not active until after the healthcare service has been rendered, that may hit as many as 50% of all enrollees, which means that of the 2+ million Americans who believe they have coverage, up to 1 million is about to be served with a bill which they can't afford. This also happens to be the main story across various media outlets today.
First, The Hill:
Enrollment deadline delays and processing errors at HealthCare.gov have been an administrative nightmare for insurers, and may leave some consumers discovering that they don’t have the insurance they thought they purchased when they show up at the doctor’s office.
It’s also likely that some people think they have insurance under ObamaCare but do not because they have yet to make their first premium payment. Until they do, they aren’t actually insured.
In Washington and Nevada, only about 50 percent of enrollees have made their first premium payments. Those are the only states that provide the breakdown.
“The biggest risk now is people thinking that by picking a plan, that they’re insured, when in fact final step is paying the premium,” Larry Levitt, a senior vice president with the Kaiser Family Foundation, told The Hill. “I haven’t seen good numbers on how many people are paying premiums, so that to me is the uncertainty.”
Next, it's Reuters' turn:
"It will be difficult for us to actually verify coverage - that's my concern," said Dr. William Wulf, CEO of Central Ohio Primary Care, which has 250 primary care physicians.
The task could be made more difficult by decisions by the U.S. government and many states to push back enrollment deadlines toward the end of the year, and to allow some patients well into January to pay for coverage that is retroactive to the start of the year.
The late deadlines mean that many enrollees who seek care initially may lack insurance cards or other proof of coverage. Wulf said his physician offices will assume that an existing patient is covered if they claim to be when they come in for appointments and their coverage cannot be verified immediately. But if they require expensive tests, such as MRIs or heart-stress tests that can cost up to $700, the Ohio practice will check with insurers first to make sure the patient has coverage.
Similarly, Dr. Andy Chiou, CEO of Peoria Surgical Group Ltd in Illinois, said that if the practice finds a "significant minority" of its patients do not have coverage when they believe they do, it might delay elective surgeries for patients until their insurance is confirmed.
"For the protection of patients and us, we'll have to say, 'Sorry, you don't have insurance,'" Chiou said.
That means 1 million Americans, some of whom are very ill, are about to get a big new year's disappointment from their doctor.
To be sure, some stop gap measures have been implemented: the Hill reports that some big insurers "will allow consumers to pay their first premium by Jan. 10 and still be insured on Jan. 1. In addition, Walgreens and CVS Pharmacies announced this week that they will provide up to a month of no-cost medications to consumers that haven’t received their ObamaCare IDs yet, but can prove they enrolled." However, for those who expected Obamacare to be a deus ex with zero payment at all, which appears to have been the case at nearly a majority level, no temporary measures will fix the situation that there is still a payment to be made: a payment which millions simply can not afford.
Needless to say, with 2014 an election year, the stakes for the administration are huge:
For the Obama administration, the political stakes are high in ensuring a smooth transition period for coverage, particularly after the website's problems damaged the popularity of the Democratic president and the healthcare overhaul, his top domestic achievement.
Republicans who have called Obamacare a costly program that will rob many Americans of insurance choices have said they will make Obamacare's problems their top issue in the November 2014 elections, when control of Congress will be at stake.
White House health policy adviser Phil Schiliro said on Tuesday that because of the intense focus on Obamacare, "problems that have never gotten attention before will get some attention now."
The Hill adds:
There’s little doubt the success of the healthcare law will be a big factor in Democratic efforts to retain the Senate, where Republicans need to gain six seats to win back a majority.
Doing so would be a huge blow to Obama’s remaining years in office, virtually assuring him lame-duck status through the rest of his term.
So there’s a lot at stake for the administration to ensure things go smoothly, starting on New Year’s Day.
At this point, some opt out to fall back to a naive belief that things will be well:
John Holahan, a fellow at the non-partisan Urban Institute, said the idea that people will be blindsided is foolish. “If they don’t pay they don’t have insurance, that’s part of the deal, you’re not really enrolled,” he said. “But I assume anyone who goes through the trouble of enrolling will go ahead and pay.”
Actually, most who have the free time to go through the trouble of enrolling likely don't have a source of disposable income.
A more realistic conclusion comes from Joe Antos of the conservative American Enterprise Institute, who predicted the flood of applications would be too much for the administration and the insurers to handle before the newly covered head out to exercise their plans. “There’s no way the insurance industry could hire enough people to process all that paperwork if the data was coming in correctly, and it’s not,” he said. “I think most people who think they have coverage will find some difficulty early in January."
We will find out in the coming days if the next big embarrassment for the administration will unfold and if Obama's ratings will tumble to fresh record lows as a result.
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very good point- if their system implodes who loses? the very unhealthy fucks that NEED health care to live. to bad so sad...my compassion is very strained! i see these unhealthy fucks and really don't think i give a fuck anymore...let em die because they get what they deserve-they ate themselves to death-one of the deadly sins as i recall.
O'LeechCare: A trojan horse of bankruptcy and genocide....
"But if they require expensive tests, such as MRIs or heart-stress tests that can cost up to $700, the Ohio practice will check with insurers first to make sure the patient has coverage."
Payment before life! Come on, if they really need the test, they'll likely get the test, whether it's paid for or not; and besides, I don't know of any plan available that doesn't carry at least a $1,000 deductible -unless it's a Medicare patient.
So what we see in this one-off example is that even the doctors are so consummed with greed and fear that they don't understand how things work; or, if they do, which I find hard not to beleive, they are willing to use deciet and obsfucation in an attempt to mislead those they are entrusted to protect. What a world.
Obamacare is nothing but an attempt by the medical profession to ensure that no test or procedure ever goes without payment again! Worse than the scum of the law, in their eyes there is not even a need for pro bono work or a pricincipal above the value of payment for services rendered.
These health insurance plans are provided by private health insurance corporations. They are licking their chops at massive profits. Let's be honest, President Bush paid of the big pharmaceutical companies with the costly and crooked Medicare Prescrition Drug Law, this is bankrupting taxpayers, then President Obama stepped on stage and paid off Big Health Insurance Corporations with the costly and crooked Health Insurance Mandate. So, how do we look at this Republican and Democratic use of the law making powers of congress to impose two taxper funded rip offs that only load oceans of new money onto the books of Big Pharma and Big Health Insurance? What we see is the corporate power over both parties to get special laws written to benefit the corporate entities that fund the congressmen and president. This is simple to understand, it is crony capitalism at it's ugliest. Would anyone who hates Obama care also admit that hate Bush Drug Care? Both are horrible cases of corporate greed and power running over the American people. Two Parties = One Party State. Keep voting out the bums and replacing them with the other party, have you not learned yet. More war, more debt, more crony capitalism, more bank bailouts, more market manipulation, more wealth transfer. Our elections are a hoax, no matter who you vote for you get the same result. Either don't vote, or find a third party to support. I will die before I ever cast a vote for a republican, I will die before I ever cast a vote for a Democate. Useless pricks, the whole lot of them!
Amen.
The 2 million that have signed up are the ones that will cost the system the most.
Now we need to get every Obama voter to sign up and PAY for them.
I think obama, Nancy and Dirty Harry exempted all of them ;-)
The Free SHit Army has a union? Par for the putt-putt course I guess.
Ignoring the Unconstitutionality and treason involved with Obamacare, anyone that has had to use their insurance in the past will know what will happen next.
As the insurance companies, who wrote most of the law, project their profits, they will be more and more inclined to "deny" legitimate claims of care.
So basically, that $500 a month "policy" with a $6,500 a year "deductable" will become a $15,000 a year deductable.
First law suits in 3..2..
"You get a pol and I get a crat and we go down to the guillotine rack."
"As the insurance companies, who wrote most of the law, project their profits, they will be more and more inclined to "deny" legitimate claims of care."
Exactly.
One big cluster F for the Obama supporters. One day when their handing alll their check over they'll wonder why. Just blame Bush, that's it.
Just go on disability and join the illegals/FSA to grab all you can. Why work anymore. Get free phones and rent.
The glitch comes when people realize you can't keep your doctor with obamacare. My wife tells me her hospital only signed BCBS in Texas for the obamacare insurances. They're just going to turn people away.
Of course, the obummers will just blame everyone else. But this is why you can't keep your doctor.
Just need to double check my math here:
+Based on the latest data available, 48 million Americans had no health insurance in Q4 2013.
+On top of this, another 4 million got the FO letter from their private carriers last year with an unknown amount "re-offered" the cancelled insurance at the request of government. I don't know how many people got a chance with the re-offer but being one of the 4 million that got the FO letter (from Aetna), I'm guessing it was well less than 1 million. So let's just say that a net of 3 million lost previously provided coverage.
- 2 Million signed up for Obamacare but the last article/data I reviewed had less than 100k actually paying for it. But let's assume 50% actually pay so the net impact of Obamacare is plus 1 million (based on the 2 million enrolled).
So to start the year, the US now has 50 million uninsured (48 million to start plus 3 million who lost previous coverage less one million in Obamacare).
So refresh my memory, how is this considered a success? Oh yeah, I remember now as the pimps in Washington and their whores in MSM continue to "sell" this story to the masses as a wonderful success. At this point, FUBAR is about the only acroynm that can possibly come close to describing this mess.
I haven't worked in 4 years and the insurance premiums were killing me.
If my job had not been offshored, I'd still be working and would not qualify for the tax credit.
For once, we (the taxpayers) get some of the money going to Bank bailouts!
Since QE is being reduced by $10 billion a month, They could do full tax credits for 8 MILLION people. Math:($120 billion / (1250 *12)).
That could help GDP more than the banks are!
Before getting angry, check your eligibility for the Tax-Credit!
KFF.ORG/INTERACTIVE/SUBSIDY-CALCULATOR will give you an estimate of how much subsidy you qualify for.
The definition of Income is not clear. I've found that line 22 of your 2014 tax return is what s/b used.
Add in Soc-Security income that's not taxable. Many people don't have enough W2/1099 income, less than 15,800, to qualify. The Soc-Sec amount should get a lot of people into the 'qualified' range.
The odd part is references to 2014 Income. Gives folks over the 400% level time to plan their Income levels in advance?
http://www.irs.gov/PUP/newsroom/TD%209611.pdf has the Final published regs on the tax credit.
Search for:
3. Computing the Premium Tax Credit
Also, I picked the Blue Cross Silver plan with no, THAT's NO, DEDUCTIBLE.
Do the application before Jan 15 and you s/b covered by Feb 01.
Stop trolling. Get a job at walmart. Stop posting the same progressive communist marxist NWO bullshit that you posted earlier in the day.
Move to venezula with the other communists.
OFA called. They are looking for their village idiot.
I bet you belong to the CAGW Church.
No thanks. I don't steal.
You'll likely still have a $500 copay for a number of things like hospital admission & ambulance. With no job and liitle if any income, good luck coming up with the $1,000+ for that, God forbid you should ever need it.
Nice wealth transfer! How many middle class folks get thrown out of their old coverage so your lazy fuckin ass could continue being a piece of shit? Enjoy it. Your reckoning is coming.
Does "we had to pass it so you could find out what's in it" (chuckle chukle), ring a bell?
If you ran a farm the way the ACA runs healthcare, you'd end up with a barren wasteland in no time flat.
Jerry, it's Frank Costanza! Mr. Steinbrenner's here, George is dead, call me back!
The Democrats and Republicans are screwed this year. The Mexicans are moving back to Mexico and everybody hates Obama and the guys he works for.
If only that were true. You got any news reports to verify the claim that the Mexican freeloaders are going home?
The polls are down. Barry is doing lots of silly things on the sidelines to point to as the numbers go down...and so then will claim its his funeral 'selfie' that caused his bad numbers. The bad BO is coming from ACA and they will do everything to 'save' the ACA.
pollster: Reporters should stop covering polls in 2014
http://dailycaller.com/2013/12/31/obama-pollster-reporters-should-stop-covering-polls-in-2014/
and then....
White House looks to spread good Obamacare news
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/12/obamacare-launch-white-house-101583.html#ixzz2pDIl2qfs
Reporter: "We should stop reporting the News. Except for ball scores."
America. Lawyered to Death.
I am Rod Serling. Tonight, a trip to the Twilight Zone, where an entire country is ruled by a Man with No Past."
Obamacare is a Jewish plot. Unless they enslave all the young goyim of America, they are finished and they know it.
This may be the first nation in history to engage policies which deliberately transfer health care from one group to another.
Interestingly, the lower-income group receiving the maximum benefit of heavily subsidized health insurance is more likely to vote for dems while the middle-income group (tasked with paying the subsidy) may have to forego insurance and happens also to be people more likely to vote for repubs.
Just sayin'.
THIS is what tyranny looks like!
Obama's Tyrannycare has become America's Calamitycare!
I got my bill, only went up %100. I figure I'll pay it for now and figure out how to cut my income in half so I can blend in with the the rest of the sheeple.
Sonny & Cher The Beat Goes On
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umrp1tIBY8Q (2:14)
Cher - Half Breed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6E98ZRaU1s (3:02)
Cher - Gypsys Tramps And Thieves
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOSZwEwl_1Q (2:53)
http://www.ijreview.com/2013/12/105176-alabama-mom-shares-devastating-ex...
http://www.wral.com/after-14-attempts-franklinton-man-not-sure-if-he-has-insurance/13262862/
A certain Congress woman from California; What the hell? Why are they all surrounding the building? Why are they all carrying pitchforks and bags of feathers? Is that... TAR!?!
Well, Nancy, it appears they are finding out what's REALLY in it...
Throw that bum out of office.
Nothing good is coming out the Japanese Tepco Fukushima shitshow. Too many sources are reporting the same thing. Another fucking overbudgeted GE disaster that we all have to pay for.
Nobody, not even commie/fascist control freak progressives, can be this obtuse.
Ergo, The Plan Was Meant To Fail.
****
"Barrykins, look at these horrible headlines. Your signature plan is in Big Trouble."
"No, it's actually working as planned, Reggie. A girl's place is in the home, my Imam used to say. You look hot in that apron. C'mere."
"Oh, Baby, you are so incorrigible!"
(Fade to black)
Lake my old friend. I have done something questionable. You must understand that, via my friend who happens to be a Bitcoiner, that there is a way to play Command and Conquer Red Alert II and all of the rest of them for about $12,87.(17 games)
I am not a video game player but I always loved Command and Conquer RA2. I learned to master the comp on my 800 mghz system with an AMD processor. I paid big money for that system and the only thing I got out of it was a wife.:-) I thought I had the fastest comp.
Now, I have this new computer that I have been "terking?" that really rock. The game plays so fast that it reminds my just how old I am becoming. I have played a few games on my new comp only to find that the processor speed is beyond any human ability.
If nothing else, Millennials might like it for kicking ass old school.
That's what you get for listening to an Imam that CAN"T READ!
This is RACKETEERING pure and simple, the government forces you to do something you did not need to do before under the threat of penalty!