Another One Bites The Dust
I’ve written multiple times previously on the problems inherent in that “wonderful” law called the Puerile, Pathetic, and Abominable Collection of Asininity Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, AKA “ObamaCare”. Short version: totally stupid idea, ignores basic economic realities, and is completely unaffordable.
Well, for that “wonderful” law . . . “the hits just keep on coming”.
Yesterday, Humana announced that it will withdraw from ObamaCare health insurance exchanges next year. That’s assuming, of course, that those exchanges still exist next year.
Why? Simple. Insurance companies exist to make money. Requiring immediate coverage of preexisting conditions makes that virtually impossible – because making money under those conditions requires premiums so high that they’re unaffordable. That leaves insurers two choices: leave the market . . . or lose money. And if they lose enough money, they go bankrupt.
All of this was completely predictable. Well, it was to anyone with a functional understanding of real-world economics.
Hopefully the current Administration and Congress will euthanize the ignorant economic abomination called ObamaCare before Humana acts.
Category: Health Care debate
I thought you were talking about that Super Duper Stand Up guy Flynn. Russia’s secret Ambassador to America. Was not in office before he started breaking the Law and did not even last a month. Great Pick.
P.S. That Law you hate so much was Written by the Heritage Foundation. That Liberal Bastion of Free Market enterprise. You know as a guarantee kiss from the Feds to the insurance companies.
No, that law was written by communists long ago and was designed to take control of the economy. Hell, even Reagan did a public service video warning about it back in the sixties. I’m old. That means I recognize the same old commie shit every time I smell it.
Heritage Foundation? Um, that would be a “hell no”.
ObamaCare had 5 primary authors. None of them were even remotely associated with the Heritage Foundation – except perhaps to have it listed on their personal “enemies list”.
They were: Sen Max Baucus; his former aide for healthcare matters, Liz Fowler; Jonathan Gruber of MIT; John McDonough of Harvard; and Zeke Emmanuel – and yes, his brother is the current Mayor of Chicago.
http://hardnoxandfriends.com/2013/11/22/who-actually-wrote-the-affordable-care-act/
You are correct. Unfortunately, CB Senior is more like CB Senile. He probably has either TDS or CRS.
That’s quite a stretch there, CB. I assume you are talking about an idea from the 90’s that garnered about 20 sponsors and never made it out of either chamber?
Lack of understanding of real-world economics is an understatement. But when you consider that this brilliant idea came from someone who never held a real job in the private sector in his entire life, and whose ideas were based on pocket lint, dust bunnies and dry wall shavings, it comes as no surprise.
If we ever get the health insurance business straightened out, let me know.
“Insurance companies exist to make money.” It’s a simple declarative statement but one that the Left, the progressive/socialist/marxist/commie bastards take issue with. If the gov’t would only get in the healthcare business altogether, hiring staff, setting up community health centers, effectively rendering insurance companies obsolete, then the world would be just so, so peachy.
The VA is ‘talking’ about turning VA health care over to the private sector. That should be the most abysmal thing ever.
Could not disagree more. The VA serves no useful purpose other than to stonewall veterans, denying service in the hope they will die before the VA has to shell out any money. How can the VA buy multimillion dollar art and statues and stuff if they keep having to wait on the likes of us? Kill it, fire everyone, and have the Gov foot veteran health care bills in the professional sector of medicine.
I don’t mind insurance companies making money – if there isn’t money to be made, there wouldn’t be private insurance groups, and thus no competition, and that’s a bad thing.
But how do you balance that with the predatory tactics insurance companies have had whereby people have paid in for years, finally get hit with some illness, make a claim, and find that claim gets denied because, say, seven years ago, on question 17a on form 3I, they forgot to sign their initials in triplicate? Shit like that happens. I’ll try to dig up a link later, but I recall an insurance company in California that was in trouble because it came out they literally looked for ways to drop people if they got cancer.
There does need to be some balance. Part of the problem is people wait to buy insurance until they get sick, dramatically raising costs, whereas others -like myself- just have a history of cancer that can come back and don’t want to be fucked over by my insurance company if it returns. How do you balance that?
It’s also going to be interesting to see what President Trump and the GOP do because the ‘preexisting conditions’ part of the ACA is, I believe, fairly popular, and something the President has said he wants to keep. This whole ‘repeal-without-replace’ thing the GOP has going for it is going to bite them in the ass, I think.
Hy lars…….
STFU, you don’t know shit and nobody cares what you think…
LC is not Commissar, Thunderstixx. Just want that to be clear.
Yeah, but he might as well be. His bottom line is still proglodyte.
The problem, LC, is that insurance companies are required by state law to have a cash pool to pay claims. They use risk managers to determine whether or not the risk of a specific health condition or a specific geographical area is too high to be accommodated by them as the insurers. Yes, they will use every excuse in the book, including discovery, to not pay a claim, especially on a pre-existing condition which may or may not recur. HOWEVER, there a condition-specific coverages available to insureds, IF you have the means of paying the premiums.
The best course would be to set money aside, as in an undesignated (health care) savings account that you can turn to in the event that you have to return to treatment.
It’s not that. A very small number of people are responsible for most of the expense. Think “Big Medicine”: dialysis, conditions that are degenerative, the so-called ‘orphan’ diseases, transplants with the immune suppresent drugs. A lot of money goes out the door very fast, and it is unlikely the person involved
will ever pay into
the system again.
That’s where there are huge losses. And then the millions of dollars in medical fraud every year. It’s a mess.
I work every day with medical billing, and the effects of (to use a generic term) medical welfare. It comes down to this: behind every medical claim, there is a sick human being — and some of them are beyond “sick.” The only system we have is very nearly worthless for people with chronic conditions. It’s fine to say we should get rid of what we currently have — god knows I wouldn’t miss the regulation monster. And then I see our patients in our hallways, the ones who are looking, sometimes desperately, for someone to help them. I don’t have the answer, I wish I did. I’d shout it from the rooftops. But letting the insurance companies off the hook by letting people suffer and die?? Because that’s what it boils down to. And to that, I say No.
The only reason prior conditions is so popular is because people who neglect or refuse to buy health insurance can wait until they are gravely ill before they buy health insurance. It’s sort of like letting people drive without getting car insurance until after they have an accident. Unfortunately, there is no way an insurance company can do that and remain in business for long.
rgr, no offense but another reason it’s really popular is that you can take care of yourself your entire life and then get cancer through no fault of your own (unless you’re suggesting cancer is your own fault) that becomes a pre-existing condition for the rest of your life….
So you get skin cancer because the military keeps you outside in the sun for 20 years mostly unprotected….without pre-existing condition coverage you’d be fucked as so many were prior to this.
What’s needed is probably a higher risk pool where insurance can still be purchased by those individuals but I suspect it will be so costly they still couldn’t afford it…so the solution is let them die from their pre-existing conditions or generate a plan to provide care for them.
LC,
They could all go on Tricare-prime; that fine example of how the patient, doctor, insurance relationship should work. NOT!
I’m rather healthy for an old man. But, my Blushing Bride of 45 years does have some issues. One of MY issues is that you never know if, when or why Tricare is going to deny payment, drop a drug, or deny a referral.
“Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, AKA “ObamaCare””
Is that the one they needed to vote on so they could read it? Or is it the one that you could keep your doctor?
Both!
Except in the latter case that was a lie used by King Putt to sell the deal on this soon to be broken down used beater car.
Recall that anytime someone tries to rush you into buying something, it’s usually a problem. Classic result, this. Smoke, mirrors, and keep your own Dr.
Madame Pelosi is an idiot and an embarassment everytime she opens her mouth. She needs to retire, live on her husbands millions, and open a yarn shop, and live out the rest of her days in well deserved obscurity.
Divine intervention publicly would be nice, also.
Lightning, that sort of thing.
Recall also this was forced onto the American people by a Democratic House and Senate, without a single Republican vote in either House. Barry, err, SCofMF, couldn’t sign it quickly enough into law.
The rest, as they say, is history.
Yeah Nanny Lugosi who promised as Speaker that every bill would be read before a vote was taken that suddenly said “We need to hurry up and pass this so we can find out what’s in it.”. That gargantuan bucket of shit was forced on the American Public SANS even a single Republican vote and I hope it remains to be like a millstone tied around that political party’s neck while they’re in a sinking boat.
And that’s why I say push for a full repeal. Of course with the promise of a replacement program…….one day down the road,
Tired of paying for leeches.
I believe it was planned to fail, so the commie ba$tard$ could usher in a single payer system…have the Gov “save the day” (and sick babies)
Yep. That was exactly the plan. From their perspective, even if that step took a decade or more, they still won because it caused unnecessary panic, angst, confusion, chaos, and distracted absolutely everyone and will continue to do so for a very long time.
One of parts that seemed the most absurd is the preexisting condition thing. Sure, I sympathize with everyone whose life is negatively impacted by illness, injury, and all that, but, forcing insurance to pay for health issues that already exist sounds quite like buying homeowners insurance while your house is burning.
Good news is that IRS is already not going to look for proof of insurance.
The means used to obtain all the demonrat votes needed to pass it was reprehensible. There was one or more corrupt gimmee’s in numerous venues to get the votes of the respective congress critters who had never even read the POS bill.
Trump signed and EO to allow people not to answer the coverage question, and therefore the penalties won’t be enforced. In other words, the IRS cannot reject your return because the question is not answered. It will save me 2k. And, oooh. I get an exemption H because I have a taxpayer who kicked the bucket…
The ACA is a mess, the Republican however are starting to understand that just getting rid of it is a death sentence to their political careers.
Republicans would be wise to remember Trump didn’t win because he was Trump he won because he isn’t Clinton. He’s a minority president, and most likely will remain so unless he delivers on the jobs.
There is no majority mandate to overturn everything from the previous administration. There might be a desire to simply end the ACA, and Trump probably doesn’t care if he’s out in four…but I don’t see Congress suddenly hot with desire to be the party that kills insurance for millions of registered voters….overhaul is a good idea, a newer option might be a better idea….who knows. But thinking it’s going to be repealed and not replaced is probably not a wise political move.
Especially for those folks who were quoted on TV as saying they want Obamacare gone because they prefer the ACA….that was a special set of interviews.