HHS Releases RULES Requiring Pre-Existing Condition Coverage

Remember, this is not a government takeover of the insurance industry. The government will only tell insurance companies the following:

• Who their customers must be
• What services they must provide
• What prices they can charge for their services
• What percentage of their profits they can spend on executive salaries, client services, administrative functions, etc.

This in no way is government-run health care (wink).

From The Hill:

The Obama administration issued new rules Tuesday that require insurance companies to cover people with preexisting medical conditions — one of the most popular provisions of President Obama’s healthcare law.

The Health and Human Services Department also began to implement other popular, but expensive, parts of the Affordable Care Act.

Regulations released Tuesday will prohibit insurers from charging women a higher premium than men, and will require plans in every state to cover certain services.

The regulations still leave key questions unanswered, including the structure of a federally run insurance exchange in the roughly 30 states that won’t set up their own. HHS officials said more information on the federal exchange will be coming soon.

“I’m confident states will have what they need to move forward,” HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told reporters Tuesday.

…

The new regulations also put a finer point on some of the most politically popular elements of Obama’s signature healthcare law. The proposed rules implement the health law’s ban on denying coverage to people with preexisting conditions and also require insurers to renew those customers’ coverage.

HHS also began putting in place new limits on how much insurers can vary their premiums — for example, allowing them to charge older patients only three times more than younger customers. The law prohibits insurers from varying premiums at all based on some factors, including gender.

The regulations also bar insurers from charging sick customers a higher premium. Everyone who buys insurance through a newly created exchange, rather than getting it through an employer, will be combined into one large risk pool, meaning insurance companies can spread out their risks more broadly.

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Rising Insurance Costs Crimping Companies’ Plans Despite Obama’s Health Savings Promise

I thought ObamaCare was to make insurance more affordable and save money. Instead the opposite is happening.

BuffaloNews.com:

Western New York’s three big health insurers are again seeking to jack up rates by significant amounts in some cases – and some employers are taking desperate measures as a result.

BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York is asking for double-digit hikes for most plans, while Independent Health Association and Univera Healthcare are seeking increases of mostly less than 10 percent.

The price hikes, detailed in the carriers’ filings with the state Department of Financial Services, mark another year in which premiums are rising much faster than the rate of inflation or household income.

That adds to the burden on households and businesses already straining from past increases. And it shows that, at least so far, the efforts by insurers, employers and medical providers to control the spiraling costs are having limited effect.

“The train wreck continues. It’s unfortunate, but it seems that whatever products the carriers develop, whatever wellness programs they put together, it just doesn’t seem like they can get a lot of answers that people are looking for,” said Gregory D. Leifer, director of life and employee benefits at brokerage firm Scott Danahy Naylon.

“It’s pretty much the same old story from year to year,” said Howard N. Silverstein, CEO of Choice Employee Benefits Group LLC in Williamsville. “The community-based products just are obviously a burden to many of the employers.”

That’s forcing many to make tough decisions, such as dropping or reducing coverage, or shifting entirely to newer plans with high deductibles and cost-sharing that puts much more of the burden on employees. Traditional HMOs or similar plans, with low co-pays, are becoming dinosaurs.

That was Obama’s goal. Obama said he wanted us off the employer-paid in 10, 15 or 20 years. His health care plan will ensure employers will drop employee health benefits which will force them into the government exchanges.

Some companies are slowing or delaying hiring to control health care costs.

“If they’re really looking to reduce their expenses, they’re going into these plans where there’s unfortunately more of an out-of-pocket cost to the employee or consumer,” said Nick Siradas, account manager for small groups at Lawley Insurance.

…Meanwhile, carriers, businesses and consumers await the promised benefits of the Obama administration’s Affordable Care Act. While some provisions have taken effect – such as expanded benefits for dependents until age 26 - they are more likely to drive up health care costs, not lower them, because they expand coverage.

The health insurance exchanges are supposed to help with expenses by bringing an estimated 32 million uninsured Americans into the system, so costs can be spread over a larger base with more competition.

But those provisions don’t kick in until 2014, and the details remain vague. So businesses are guessing about the impact, and many are skeptical the exchanges will yield desired results.

“They’re really not optimistic,” Silverstein said. “They’re in fear of these exchanges.”

“A lot of my clients are taking a wait-and-see attitude,” Siradas said. “Until the exchanges are in place, we won’t know what they’re going to do.”

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Papa John’s Pizza CEO: We Are Raising Pizza Prices Due to the Cost of ObamaCare

Prices are going up due to Obama

As most of us already knew, ObamaCare is going to add to the deficits, cause Americans to lose their insurance plans and will cause employers to end their employer-paid health care benefit plans and increase unemployment. Not to mention that these added costs these companies endure will be passed back onto consumers (taxpayers).

From HuffPo:

After President Obama’s health care law takes full effect, the slogan for national pizza chain Papa John’s may need an update. Instead of, “Better ingredients. Better Pizza,” may we suggest, “Better health care. Pricier pizza.”

Typical HuffPo spinning for the President. Rationed, more expensive health care isn’t “better health care.” All one has to do is look to Canada and the UK to see the results of “better health care” provided by the government.

Papa John’s CEO John Schnatter says thatObamacare will result in a $0.11 to $0.14 price increase per pizza, or $0.15 to $0.20 cents per order, Pizza Marketplace, a trade publication, reports. (Hat tip: @dkberman via Twitter.)

Under Obamacare, the company, which is the third-largest pizza takeout and delivery chain in the United States, will have to offer health care coverage to more of its16,500 total employees or pay a penalty to the government.

It’s a tax, not a penalty. The Supreme Court said so. More spinning by HuffPo.

The National Restaurant Association pointed out following the health care law’s Supreme Court approval that it may adversely affect restaurants’ ability to maintain already slim profit margins because it requires companies of more than 50 employees to provide affordable health insurance.

One Papa John’s franchise owner in Texas, Judy Nichols, says the law could interfere with her ability to open more restaurants.

“I have two options, I can stop offering coverage and pay the $2,000 fine, or I could keep my number of staff under 50 so the mandate doesn’t apply,” she told Legal Newsline. Nichols added that the law may cost her between $20,000 to $30,000extra in taxes. “Obamacare is making me think about cutting jobs instead,” she said.

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1 in 8 Small Businesses expect to have their Health Care Plans Terminated thanks to ObamaCare

This was an intended goal. Obama said he would like to see Americans off the employer-paid health care system in 10 to 15 years.

Jump to 0:51 of the video to hear his own words:

From theDaily Caller:

One in eight small businesses have had or expect to have their health insurance plans terminated since the passage of President Obama’s health care reform.

This figure comes from a National Federation of Independent Business report which surveyed small businesses one year after the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

The report, released today, found prevailing negative attitudes about the law’s impact among small business owners.

Among the most striking of NFIB’s findings was the number of employer health insurance plans that have been or will be eliminated since PPACA’s passage — 12 percent, or one in eight. Eliminating employer health care plans “is the first major consequence of PPACA that small-business owners likely feel,” the report said.

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Supreme Court unlikely to hear ObamaCare law anytime soon

 Americans better hope the Supreme Court takes this up before it goes into full effect. Not only is it unconstitutional, it was sold by frauds using lies, bribes and fraudulent numbers.

(Reuters) – The Supreme Court will likely reject a request to speed up a ruling on President Barack Obama’s healthcare overhaul law, legal and financial analysts said.

The justices on Friday are scheduled to consider Virginia’s request seeking to bypass the normal appeals process for a quicker ruling on the constitutionality of the law, which has been Obama’s signature domestic accomplishment and has provoked a fierce political battle.

The analysts said such requests are rarely granted and the Supreme Court would likely allow the sweeping law to be considered first by the appeals court under the usual process.

They said that probably means any Supreme Court review of the law would be put off until its 2011-12 term that begins in October, depending on how fast the appeals courts rule.

The analysts said a high court decision then could come before the 2012 U.S. elections, in which the politically charged law could face renewed criticism from Republicans and could emerge as a major issue as Obama seeks re-election.

Kevin Russell, a Washington lawyer who argues before the Supreme Court, said it would be surprising if the justices granted Virginia’s appeal seeking expedited review.

“The court has granted only a handful of such requests in the past and almost never over the objection of the federal government, which has opposed Virginia’s request,” he said.

Several federal trial judges around the nation have upheld the law but others declared it unconstitutional on the grounds Congress overstepped its authority in requiring that Americans start buying health insurance in 2014 or pay a penalty.

…and those of us who know the Constitution know that it does not grant Congress the power to fine/penalize. They only have the power to tax.

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Health and Human Services Claims 1/2 of Americans have “Preexisting Conditions”

I guess this is part of HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’ “re-education” of America.

The Washington Post reports:

As many as 129 million Americans under age 65 have medical problems that are red flags for health insurers, according to an analysis that marks the government’s first attempt to quantify the number of people at risk of being rejected by insurance companies or paying more for coverage.

The secretary of health and human services released the study on Tuesday, hours before the House plans to begin considering a Republican bill that would repeal the new law to overhaul the health-care system.

This is part of Sebelius’ ‘re-education’ plan. Put out numbers, that can’t be trusted or verified, right before a vote to repeal ObamaCare is to take place.

Also, those who pushed the passing of ObamaCare told us that those evil insurance companies refuse insurance coverage for those with preexisting conditions.  Then they come out with this ‘study’ that says half of Americans have preexisting conditions. How is it that anyone has health insurance? Wouldn’t that mean that half of America is without health insurance?

This is not the case. 

A vote is expected on Wednesday. But while Republicans may muscle through a repeal bill in the House, its prospects are slimmer in the Senate, where Democrats andindependents will enjoy a 53-47 majority.

The new report is part of the Obama administration’s salesmanship to convince the public of the advantages of the law, which contains insurance protections for people with preexisting medical conditions.

Guess WaPo didn’t want to tell those who are paying for their own insurance about the rate increases on top of medical cost increases. No mention about the tax increases that are included inside ObamaCare. Reporting these facts goes against the liberal media’s propaganda.

Republicans immediately disparaged the analysis as “public relations.” An insurance industry spokesman acknowledged that sick people can have trouble buying insurance on their own but said the analysis overstates the problem.

The study found that one-fifth to one-half of non-elderly people in the United States have ailments that trigger rejection or higher prices in the individual insurance market. They range from cancer to chronic illnesses such as heart disease, asthma and high blood pressure.

Why shouldn’t people with more problems have to pay higher insurance premiums? If you have a lot of tickets and accidents, don’t you pay more for car insurance? And we know, Obama has used that car insurance analogy several times.

Obama doesn’t even have an understanding about car insurance, much less health care insurance.

The smaller estimate, by Health and Human Services Department researchers, is based on the number of Americans whose medical problems would make them eligible for states’ high-risk pools - special coverage for people denied insurance because of their medical history. The researchers arrived at the larger figure by adding in other ailments that major insurers consider a basis to charge customers higher prices or to exclude coverage for some of the care they need.

Are these the same ‘high-risk pools‘ that nobody is joining?

Using those two definitions, the study took 2008 findings, the most recent available, from a large federal survey of medical expenditures to figure out how many people had reported that they were bothered by those health problems, had visited a doctor for them or had been at least temporarily disabled because of them.

Two definitions? In other words, they used numbers that support their argument. Why didn’t HHS just get CBO to produce the numbers to support their claim?

The study is laced with reminders about provisions of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act – as the health-care law is formally known – that are designed to eliminate insurance problems for such people.

The goal is to eliminate employer-paid health insurance. Obama said so himself…

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Obama threatens to veto ObamaCare repeal

Fight for it now, Mr. President. In 2012 it will be repealed.

The Hill reports:

President Obama officially drew a line in the sand Thursday evening, threatening to veto House Republicans’ attempt to repeal Obama’s landmark healthcare law.

In a statement of administration policy released by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the administration said that repeal would “would explode the deficit, raise costs for the American people and businesses, deny an estimated 32 million people health insurance, and take us back to the days when insurers could deny, limit or drop coverage for any American.”

It’s already raising the costs for Americans and businesses…and it doesn’t go into full effect until 2014. How does this administration explain the ObamaCare waivers those 222 corporations and unions received? Employers are dropping health care coverage because they can’t afford the rising health care costs brought by the ObamaCare law.

Using the preliminary budget numbers Democrats seized upon on Thursday morning, OMB said that a preliminary analysis said that repeal would raise the “deficit by $230 billion in the first decade and roughly one-half of one percent of GDP, or over a trillion dollars, in the second decade.”

“Repealing the Affordable Care Act would not only increase deficits in the coming decade, but would also significantly worsen the long-term fiscal burdens on American businesses and families,” OMB said.

Yes, because we all know that adding 32 million into any system will save us money. The Democrat’s reasoning is exposed.

Repealing a bill before it becomes law will add to the deficit but adding 32 million new individuals into a system that creates more bureaucracies than can be counted upon adding more IRS agents to enforce the law supposedly lowers the deficit. Common sence overrules hopeful thinking that is backed by fraudulent numbers. Garbage in, garbage out.

How does taking a $1 trillion plus bill out of a budget increase the defict?

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Questions for those who support ObamaCare

If ObamaCare is so great for our nation, why all the health care waivers? Why would the Obama administration let anyone be exempted from his health care mandate?

The Department of Health and Human Services has issue over 200 health care waivers to those ‘evil’ corporations and Obama’s beloved unions. If his health care takeover is needed to improve the system, why exempt these favored groups from partaking in the splendor that is ObamaCare?

These waivers were used to cover the truth that ObamaCare causes medical costs and insurance premiums to go UP, not down as was claimed. These companies and unions would drop health care coverage for their employees and the waivers stopped this from happening. These waivers were issued to hide the truth.

Thankfully, this fraud called health care reform will eventually go to the Supreme Court to be decided if its constitutional to force Americans to purchase a product. In the meantime, when can the taxpayers, who pay for their own health care insurance, expect their waivers to be exempted from the rising costs of ObamaCare?

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ObamaCare’s “Individual Responsibility” is really a TAX

Listen carefully to the phrase change…

This is what Progressives Liberals Progressive Socialist do. Remember this exchange between President Obama and George Stephanopoulos where Obama claims the individual mandate IS NOT A TAX?

But now that the Obama administration is arguing the constitutionality of his health care takeover, they’re saying it is a TAX. Constantly changing their words to takeover another industry.

The bill was passed with lies, bribes and outright fraud. Need more proof?

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Support for Health Care Repeal Hits Highest Point Since September

It’s unconstitutional and a takeover of our health care system. The worst piece of legislation in U.S. history.

Rasmussen Reports:

Time doesn’t seem to be winning the new national health care law any more friends. Most voters have favored repeal of the law every week since it was passed and support for repeal has now inched up to its highest level since mid-September. Many Americans remain concerned that the law will force them to change their health insurance coverage.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 60% of Likely U.S. Voters at least somewhat favor repeal of the health care law while 34% are opposed. As has been the case since the law was first passed, those who favor repeal feel more passionately than those who want to keep the law–46% Strongly Favor repeal while just 23% who are Strongly Opposed. (To see survey question wording, click here.) 

Total support for repeal is up four points from a week ago but consistent with opposition to the law for months. Support for repeal has ranged from 50% to 63% in weekly tracking since Democrats in Congress passed the law in late March.

Voters remain almost even divided over whether the law will mean they have to change their existing health insurance coverage. Forty-four percent (44%) think it is at least somewhat likely they will have to change their health insurance, including 20% who say it is Very Likely. Nearly as many (42%) believe they are unlikely to have to change their coverage, with 15% who say it is Not Likely At All. Thirteen percent (13%) are not sure.

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