We don't have to worry about the GOP dismantling the ACA, the health insurance companies are going to do it for them!
Hum a few bars before we begin: “It’s the end of healthcare as we know it, and I …. don't ... feel … fine.”
One more time, “ITEOHAWKIAIDFF.”
Hold on tight to your pocket books. If you or a loved one has a pre-existing condition, your premiums could be going up next year … and become unaffordable. But, that’s not what the ACA was about, right? Wrong! We no longer have to worry about the right wing congress dismantling healthcare, the insurance companies are going to do it for them!
I remember selling Banker’s Life and Health Insurance many decades ago. It was quite affordable, But, like other health insurance, it came with a catch. If you had certain pre-existing conditions, your healthcare policy would most likely be “rated.” That meant it was going to cost more. Often a great deal more. Which left people in the dilemma of not being able to afford insurance and having to use the ER as their primary care physician. This caused the snowball effect of higher premiums and higher hospital costs. One visit or one terrible illness/ surgery, could set a family back financially to the point of bankruptcy. This went on and on for years, no … decades, until Obamacare. The right said the ACA would fail. But, they were wrong. Very wrong. Not only did it not fail, it thrived. Millions of people signed up for the exchange (there are now over 11 million), including those who had never had health insurance before in their lifetime. But, many had been previously sick, with what is known as pre-existing conditions. They were finally getting care! But alas, the health insurance companies started crying foul. They were not making as MUCH money and God forbid that happen. So they started announcing they were pulling out of ACA/ Obamacare.
Now, the US will be in a transition stage. There will be fewer companies in the exchanges to choose from and the cost could be significantly higher. Speaker Paul Ryan, who has excellent healthcare through the government that we the taxpayers pay for, made a statement recently that was truly sickening, In other words, he wants us folks who are sick, to pay more or simply die. Yes, die! Why? Because the majority of us who are disabled and cannot work. In addition, we do NOT have the extra money to pay outrageous premiums!
“ I want to end Obamacare cost protections for sick consumers.” said Speaker Paul Ryan
Well, I want to end Paul Ryan’s health insurance, period, so he can feel the panic that the rest of us are feeling right now!
U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan called on Wednesday for an end to Obamacare's financial protections for people with serious medical conditions, saying these consumers should be placed in state high-risk pools.
In election-year remarks that could shed light on an expected Republican healthcare alternative, Ryan said existing federal policy that prevents insurers from charging sick people higher rates for health coverage has raised costs for healthy consumers while undermining choice and competition.
The rule, a cornerstone of President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act, has been praised by patient advocates for providing access to medical care for people who previously could not afford private health insurance. The Affordable Care Act also bars insurers from excluding coverage for pre-existing conditions.
www.reuters.com/...
When will the dam break? I would give it until 2018 or longer. At that point there will a total collapse of our healthcare system. It will fail and there may be turmoil.
An alternative, the single payer option or Medicare for all,
www.pnhp.org/...
will be viable again. Many people will be ringing their hands and going back to conspiracy theories that waiting periods to see a doctor or have surgery will be likened to Canada or Britain, which has been debunked over and over. I'm guessing this option in some form or another, will take place in the USA once and for all within the next three years. Unless the right wing intervenes and does something far worse. But, until then, prepare yourself for possibly higher premiums and drug prices. Without notice, like I just experienced yesterday, a drug I've been taking had been moved to a new tier, making the price double. I never received a letter, Email or even a phone call informing me of such. So I put in a call to my health insurance company … which simply left me mad as hell as they gave me a bogus excuse that my pharmacy had not been charging me enough. I explained that couldn't be possible because ALL my prescription drugs had gone up within the month. “It’s on your website!” I exclaimed! I had saved the invoices and the same things happened last year. The representative said she just didn’t have a clue as to why, plus there was no one to talk to about it. THAT is what might happen to you as well. It’s happening to people around the nation!
United Healthcare Pulls out of Obamacare Exchange
Most people are unaware that United Healthcare announced in April 2016, that they would be pulling out of the ACA, also known as Obamacare, in 2017. I have UHC and didn’t even receive a letter to this effect. I happened to read it when it was included in a recent article about Aetna, also pulling out the ACA as they are trying to acquire Humaria, who is also pulling out of many counties and states in the exchange.
UnitedHealthcare, the biggest health insurer in the United States, said Tuesday that it plans to exit most of the Affordable Care Act state exchanges where it currently operates by 2017.
Hemsley explained that UnitedHealth will leave most states by 2017 because the markets for these exchanges are relatively small and also have higher risks for the company over the short-term.
As such, he said UnitedHealth (UNH) could not serve these exchanges on an "effective and sustained basis." money.cnn.com/...
money.cnn.com/...
To date, the insurer is pulling out of 26 of the 34 exchanges it offered coverage on last year. UnitedHealthcare enrolled 795,000 consumers as of March 31, and the company expects to see that number decline to 650,000 by the end of 2016.
dailysignal.com/...
What does this mean? For starters, shame on you for being sick. You are causing insurance companies to lose money. That’s right, those pre-existing conditions that so many of us have, are unforgivable in the eyes of a health insurance company! Off we go, or so they hope. Their ultimate goal is to increase premiums. The big question is, how will we afford them?
There’s disagreement over whether the nation’s largest health insurer’s decision to leave Affordable Care Act markets will raise premiums and limit choices.
Will it increase health insurance premiums, limit consumer choices, and cause other companies to bolt?
Or is it just a bump in the Obamacare road created by a company that didn’t have a solid business plan?
Those are some of the questions swirling around the announcement this week that the nation’s largest insurer has decided to significantly scale back its participation next year in statewide markets operating under theAffordable Care Act (ACA).
What is the effect of UHC’s decision? Depends on whom you ask.
“The marketplace should be judged by the choices it offers consumers, not the decisions of any one issuer. That data shows that the future of the marketplace remains strong,” Ben Wakana, press secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), said in an email to Healthline.
Dr. Elaina George, a board certified otolaryngologist and author of the book “Big Medicine: The Cost of Corporate Control and How Doctors and Patients Working Together Can Rebuild a Better System,” has another view.
“This is happening and it’s only going to get worse,” George told Healthline.
Read More: Scoring Obamacare After Two Years »
Why UnitedHealth is Losing Money
UHC’s prime reason for its decision is basic finances.
Company officials said they expect to suffer a combined $1 billion in losses for this year and last year in those exchanges.
They said the losses are partly due to the higher risk associated with customers on those exchanges. That has resulted in higher-than-expected claims.
A report by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association concluded that new enrollees in individual health plans in 2014 and 2015 had higher rates of hypertension, coronary artery disease, diabetes, hepatitis C, HIV, and depression than those enrolled before Obamacare was on the books.
Those enrollees, the report added, also received “significantly more medical care,” and used “more medical services across all sites of care.”
www.healthline.com/...
Aetna latest insurer to question Obamacare's future
Aetna (AET) said Tuesday it is canceling plans to expand into five more states next year and will reassess its involvement in the 15 states where it currently offers coverage on the individual exchanges. Aetna -- which expects to lose $300 million (pre-tax) on its Obamacare business this year -- must conclude its review by the end of September and notify states where it intends to withdraw.
"...in light of updated 2016 projections for our individual products and the significant structural challenges facing the public exchanges, we intend to withdraw all of our 2017 public exchange expansion plans, and are undertaking a complete evaluation of future participation in our current 15-state footprint," said CEO Mark Bertolini in a second-quarter earnings statement.
Humana announced last month that it was pulling out of nearly 1,200 counties in eight states next year. Afterward, it will only be selling insurance on the exchanges in 156 counties in 11 states. Others, including several Blue Cross Blue Shield companies, are also scaling back.
And more than half of the co-op insurers, created and funded by the health reform law, have failed. This means consumers in a growing number of areas have only one or two insurers to pick from.
To cover these sicker patients, many insurers are requesting big premium hikes for 2017, some in the high double digit percentages.
So to conclude, we are in for a bumpy ride when it comes to our healthcare. I think it IS a right of every US citizen to have it, where other’s still disagree. When times get rough, we must pull together and look at the options Bernie Sanders presented to us when he was a Presidential candidate. Single Payer or Medicare for All, will not only be the best solution, but will endure for many decades to come.
