The Real Reason Obama won't extend the ACA signup deadline

[Doc]

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-1 ... er-profits

Insurers Oppose Obamacare Extension as Danger to Profits
By Shannon Pettypiece and Alex Wayne October 30, 2013
Obamacare Extension Opposed by Insurers Concerned Over Profits

The Healthcare.gov website is displayed on an Apple Inc. iPhone arranged for a photograph in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, Oct. 24, 2013. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

Allowing Americans more time to enroll for health coverage under Obamacare may raise premiums and cut into profits, insurers are telling members of Congress in a bid to stop such a move.

Extending the enrollment period would have a “destabilizing effect on insurance markets,” said Robert Zirkelbach, a spokesman for the Washington-based lobbyist group American’s Health Insurance Plans. Allowing younger, healthy Americans to sign up later, as they probably would, means less revenue for insurers counting on those premiums to help defray the cost of sicker customers, threatening industry profits.

“If you can enroll at any point in the year, then you can just wait until you get sick,” Brian Wright, an analyst with Monness Crespi Hardt in New York, said in a telephone interview. “This isn’t the industry crying foul and exaggerating the issue, this is actually one of those issues where there is a well-grounded reason for the concerns.”
STORY: Democrats Warm Up to a Delayed Obamacare

It’s a message the industry is taking to Congress after Republicans there, along with at least 10 Democrats, have suggested enrollment be extended beyond its current March 31 deadline because of issues with healthcare.gov, the federal health insurance website that’s been plagued by software miscues.

Consumers who don’t have coverage through their employers or government health programs are being encourage to sign up by mid-December for plans that take effect Jan. 1. After March 31, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act imposes penalties on Americans without coverage.
Costlier Patients

A later deadline would stretch insurers past the time when by law they must set rates for 2015. If insurers only have information from sicker, more costlier patients in hand by the time they have to start reporting premiums to the federal government, it may force them to boost premium costs for the next year ahead, Zirkelbach said.
STORY: Obamacare: What Would Success Look Like?

“Extending the open enrollment period could also cause significant uncertainly and instability in 2015 premium rates,” he said in a written statement. “Health plans would have to start submitting premiums to regulators before knowing who is enrolled in their insurance plans.”

Aetna Inc. (AET:US) Chief Executive Officer Mark Bertolini said yesterday on a call with analysts that he is concerned the flaws with healthcare.gov will lead to an extension of the enrollment deadline.
Full Enrollment

“We worry about things like extended open enrollment and for how long that goes,” Bertolini said. “We think the level of participation of the full population in the exchanges is important, so the enrollment process on the website is incredibly important to get right because, as individuals try these websites, the younger, healthier people aren’t going to give them more than one shot.”
STORY: The Four Things You Need to Know About Obamacare's First Day

In a letter sent to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius last week, the 10 Democratic senators, including seven facing re-election next year, said they are “discouraged and frustrated with the problems.”

“Extending this period will give consumers critical time in which to become familiar with the website and choose a plan that is best for them,” the senators wrote. “Individuals should not be penalized for lack of coverage if they are unable to purchase health insurance due to technical problems.”

Top Obama administration officials say extending the deadline isn’t necessary.
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Coverage Gap

Representative Kevin Brady, a Texas Republican, yesterday asked Marilyn Tavenner, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, if she would “guarantee no American will experience a gap” in insurance coverage.

“What I can guarantee is that we have a system that’s working,” Tavenner answered during a hearing on the health-care law before the House Ways and Means Committee.

Tavenner said that while the exchange enrollment system has worked for some users, it isn’t functioning at the ideal speed or success rate. The healthcare.gov website can now simultaneously process 17,000 customers per hour -- about five a second -- “with almost no error rates,” said Julie Bataille, a spokeswoman for Tavenner’s agency.
BLOG: Small Business Health-Care Shopping Delayed, Again

Jeffrey Zients, a consultant brought in last week to help fix the exchange’s flaws, has said the website will be working smoothly by the end of November.

President Barack Obama appointed Zients, his incoming chief economic adviser, to advise the Health and Human Services how to correct the system before taking on his other job. The federal government website serves consumers in 36 states, including Texas and Florida. Fourteen states and the District of Columbia established websites for their residents to sign up for health insurance plans.

[Doc]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi- ... 5422.story

Kathleen Sebelius sorry for healthcare.gov 'debacle'

Tribune staff and wire reports

10:18 a.m. CDT, October 30, 2013

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius apologized today for the botched rollout of the government's healthcare website, acknowledging it was a "debacle", while also blaming insurers for cancelling coverage for hundreds of thousands of people.

obama promise to the insurance industry.JPG (32.89 KiB) Viewed 177 times

Sebelius, testifying at a congressional hearing on the troubled website at the heart of Obama's healthcare overhaul, vowed to win back the confidence of millions of disappointed Americans.

"Hold me accountable for the debacle. I'm responsible," Sebelius said in response to questions from Marsha Blackburn, the Republican U.S. Representative of Tennessee, about who was responsible for problems that have prevented people from signing up for healthcare insurance plans.

Technical glitches have dogged healthcare.gov since its launch on Oct. 1, preventing many people from signing up for insurance plans. But critics of Obamacare have seized on the hundreds of thousands of Americans due to lose their current plans because they fail to include essential benefits required by the law and are asking whether Obama misrepresented the law.

Sebelius, the cabinet official spearheading the implementation of the 2010 Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, drew intense criticism from Republicans including Fred Upton, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Upton accused Obama of breaking a 2009 promise that people with insurance could keep their current plans.

"They are now receiving termination notices, and for those who lose the coverage they like, they may also be losing faith in their government," the Michigan Republican said.

Sebelius defended the administration by describing hundreds of thousands who have received cancellation notices as the victims of a market long known for discriminating against the sick, cancelling policies and selling inadequate insurance.

"The individual market ... anywhere in the country has never had consumer protections. People are on their own. They can be locked out, priced out, dumped out," by insurers, Sebelius said.

Sebelius said Obama had not broken his promise because plans that have existed since the law was signed have had the option of remaining unchanged.

Democrats on the committee rallied to the administration's position by pointing out that insurance policies being canceled would be replaced by better plans that meet higher standards under Obamacare, many of them at lower costs.

"I would urge my colleagues to stop hyperventilating," said Representative Henry Waxman of California, the committee's top Democrat.

Sebelius has become a political punching bag for Republicans who have repeatedly called on her to resign over the flawed rollout of the website. The White House continues to support her.

"I am as frustrated and angry as anyone with the flawed launch of Healthcare.gov," Sebelius testified. "So let me say directly to these Americans: You deserve better. I apologize.

"I'm accountable to you for fixing these problems. And I'm committed to earning your confidence back by fixing the site."

The hearing was convened to discuss problems with Healthcare.gov, the federal government's portal to online health insurance marketplaces for millions of uninsured Americans in 36 states. The site was crippled by technical glitches at its launch and continues to be plagued by issues including outages.

The administration has set itself a late-November deadline for resolving the issues at Healthcare.gov. Experts say that leaves little time for additional error. Failure to enable uninsured people to sign up for coverage beginning Jan. 1, when the law comes into full force, could jeopardize Obama's goal of enrolling 7 million people through online marketplaces in 2014.

[Nonc Hilaire]

The current system depends on full employment and the insurance industry kicking back to the politicians. It's failing quickly as jobs plummet.

The Obamacare system reverses roles. Profits accrue to government, who then butt-fucks the insurance industry while giving it a reach-around.

Neither place the actual quality of healthcare first. Always money first, actual healthcare as an afterthought.

[Doc]

The current system depends on full employment and the insurance industry kicking back to the politicians. It's failing quickly as jobs plummet.

The Obamacare system reverses roles. Profits accrue to government, who then butt-fucks the insurance industry while giving it a reach-around.

Neither place the actual quality of healthcare first. Always money first, actual healthcare as an afterthought.

Wow !!! your statement is completely disconnected from reality

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/10 ... -insurers/

Obama seeks to soothe big insurers
Chris Stirewalt

By Chris Stirewalt
Published October 23, 2013

OBAMA SEEKS TO SOOTHE BIG INSURERS - President Obama has summoned health insurance CEOs to the White House today as he attempts continued damage control from the failed launch of his new health-insurance entitlement program. The Hill reports that the insurance executives will be joined by their industry’s top lobbyist for the White House huddle that will include senior adviser Valerie Jarrett and Chief of Staff Denis McDonough. Obama partnered with insurance firms to win passage of ObamaCare in 2010, promising to deliver young, healthy customers to the companies to offset costs associated with new regulations forcing them to cover those with preexisting conditions. But the botched launch of the program is proving dire for the industry. Insurers have reported widespread problems in the accuracy of data received as well as low numbers of enrollees.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertlenzn ... reholders/

ObamaCare Enriches Only The Health Insurance Giants and Their Shareholders
18 comments, 18 called-out
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So far in 2013 the value of the S& P health insurance index has gained 43%. Thats more than double the gains made in the broad stock market index, the S & P 500. The shares of CIGNA are up 63%, Wellpoint 47% and United Healthcare 28%. And if you go back to the early 2010 passage of ObamaCare, you will find that Obama’s sellout of the public interest has allowed the public companies the ability to raise their premiums, especially on small business, dramatically multiply their profits and send the value of their common stocks up by 200%-300%. This is bloody scandalous and should be a cause for concern even as the Republican opponents of the bill threaten the close-down of the government.

We warned you back on December4, 2009 in my blog ” The Horrendous Truth About Health Care Reform” that the Obama White House was handing a “ free ride for the health insurance industry” that would allow premium hikes of 8%-10% a year by CIGNA, Humana HUM -0.6%, Aetna AET +2.22%, UnitedHealth Group UNH +0.13% and Wellpoint, and as well a $500 billion taxpayer subsidy, a half trillion dollars without any requirement that the health insurers had to spend the subsidy on medical care. Several US Senators including Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia spoke to me openly of the outrageous sellout being foisted on the nation’s uninsured citizens.

At the time I wrote, Goldman Sachs research operation estimated that the 5 giants would increase profits by 10% a year from 2010 to 2019, sending their shares up an average of 59%. In truth, the shares of CIGNA and some others are up a multiple of several times since the contest was resolved by a very tight vote in early 2010. One startling reason for this amazing performance was that Obama took off the table “proposals to significantly reduce health care costs” as the giveaway in getting the bill through, according to Ron Susskind’s best-selling book ,”Confidence Men,” which I wrote about in a blog on September 24, 2011. ( “Obama’s Incoherent Policy-Making”) Some 3 years later, UnitedHealthCare Group(UNH) was rewarded by being added to the elite list of the Dow 30 industrials.

I understood belatedly that there would have been no Affordable Care Act of 2010 if the White House had not given into demands from the giant profit-making health insurance companies. Had he not done so, I am being assured that there would have been no bill passed, a priority goal that Obama promised in his 2008 Presidential campaign. How the profits have risen so impressively requires further investigation as the bill is meant to limit the profits earned to 20% of the revenues.

One of the other downsides to the supposed reform bill was the surprisingly unfair treatment of small business owners who faced even larger potential premiums for their employees. It has been the fear of these higher health costs that has resulted in the overwhelming trend toward hiring part-time employees whom the employers need not offer healthcare insurance.

So much for the reforms embedded in the mis-labeled Affordable Care Act of 2010. It may not die a bloody demise this month, but it is certain to be reformed itself, let’s hope for the benefit of the 300 million, not just the millions of lucky shareholders who may have understood the ramification of ObamaCare, which was to multiply the profits of five giant insurance companies, just as the major bank oligopoly was rewarded by the federal bailouts and Fed monetary policy.

Yeah that sounds like the Health Insurance companies are GETTING A REAL GOOD BUTT F*ING

[Nonc Hilaire]

Reach-around, Doc. Short term reward model. In ten years there will be no private insurance for anyone except maybe hospital employees. Private physicians will all be forced to submit to corporate/HMO control or do pay for play with the condemned gentry. Out of business within a generation.

[Doc]

Reach-around, Doc. Short term reward model. In ten years there will be no private insurance for anyone except maybe hospital employees. Private physicians will all be forced to submit to corporate/HMO control or do pay for play with the condemned gentry. Out of business within a generation.

So giving the big insurance companies $500 billion with no strings attached is going to help exactly how?

[Doc]

Reach-around, Doc. Short term reward model. In ten years there will be no private insurance for anyone except maybe hospital employees. Private physicians will all be forced to submit to corporate/HMO control or do pay for play with the condemned gentry. Out of business within a generation.

So giving the big insurance companies $500 billion with no strings attached is going to help exactly how? Obama had a meeting with them to smooth things out but is outrageously making statements that Obama did not lie when he said "If you like your plan you can keep it PERIOD" He knew he was lying every one of the at least 12 times he made that statement. He felt that he could not get Obamacare passed beceuse it was so unpopular if he didn't lie. The people complaining about it were call all sorts of names like Racists and stupid people that don't know what is good for them. BUT THEY WERE RIGHT. Sebelus made the statement the other day they they are her boss.

Obamacare has nothing to do with saving money in health care. Controlling the big insurance companies or having fewer people uninsured. It all about constructing a national political machine that cannot be defeated at the polls.

If it is about saving money then why are 70 year old women require to have insurance that gives them maternity benefits? Why do 20 years olds need anything other than catastrophic care health insurance? Why is it that Obamacare does not allow for out of network Care if it is so great?

[Nonc Hilaire]

Reach-around, Doc. Short term reward model. In ten years there will be no private insurance for anyone except maybe hospital employees. Private physicians will all be forced to submit to corporate/HMO control or do pay for play with the condemned gentry. Out of business within a generation.

So giving the big insurance companies $500 billion with no strings attached is going to help exactly how? Obama had a meeting with them to smooth things out but is outrageously making statements that Obama did not lie when he said "If you like your plan you can keep it PERIOD" He knew he was lying every one of the at least 12 times he made that statement. He felt that he could not get Obamacare passed beceuse it was so unpopular if he didn't lie. The people complaining about it were call all sorts of names like Racists and stupid people that don't know what is good for them. BUT THEY WERE RIGHT. Sebelus made the statement the other day they they are her boss.

Obamacare has nothing to do with saving money in health care. Controlling the big insurance companies or having fewer people uninsured. It all about constructing a national political machine that cannot be defeated at the polls.

If it is about saving money then why are 70 year old women require to have insurance that gives them maternity benefits? Why do 20 years olds need anything other than catastrophic care health insurance? Why is it that Obamacare does not allow for out of network Care if it is so great?

Stop thinking like a person and start thinking like a politician, you chucklehead

The goal is to put government in firm control of the capital, so that it may disbursed to all friends and not squandered on friends of friends who may not be securely in the kickback loop. Can't let money leak out to mere service providers who do not contribute to the system.