Obamacare Is Dead

Obamacare is an epic failure it's a tax that burden the middle-class working family. Just like that Former President Barrack Obama's legacy has crashed. Aetna, one of the largest health care insurer in the U.S. which has significantly reduced their Affordable Care Act business this year, is signaling that they will be pulling out of the market in 2018.

On a conference call last Tuesday, Mark Bertolini, Aetna’s chairman and chief executive, said “We have no intention of being in the market for 2018, because of the unclear nature of where regulation’s headed.”

“If you look at the notion of policy development, legislative language and then regulation,” he said on CNBC, “the nearest time we could have a completely new program is January 1, 2019.

Aetna is still giving coverage to 240,000 Obamacare customers in four states Virginia, Nebraska, Iowa and Delaware, back in 2016 they were serving 965,000 members in 15 states. According to the company they have lost $450 million pre-tax on the exchanges last year, when it recorded $2.27 billion in profit on $63 billion in revenue.

Un-Affordable Care Act, Prices are rising dramatically

ObamaCare is hurting millions of people economically and it the insurance exchanges opened last Tuesday. People were shocked when they check their monthly insurance premium. According to government data, the insurance premium are rising by 25% on an average. In Phoenix, the cost of the premium for a benchmark plan is up by 145% to $507 a month. Birmingham took the 2nd place with 71% to $492 a month while Oklahoma City has increased by 67%.

The report uses the cost of the second most affordable plan in the “silver” plan of coverage, which is used to determine the size of the federal subsidy consumers can receive to lower their monthly premium costs.

The skyrocketing premiums is a disaster for the 11 million people enrolled in the exchange plans. It's only good for low wage earner that are getting it for free.

If you are employed and getting your insurance at work well you're not completely off the hook since deductibles is up by 49% since 2011 thanks to ObamaCare.

It has also been reported that about 50% of Affordable Care Act enrollees are skipping doctor visits to save money (study from GfK market research group).

Obamacare enrollees when asked on what they do to lower their health care costs 36% said that they cut back on doctor visits even when they were sick, 22% skipped preventive care, 12% reduced lab testing, and 12% delayed surgery.


Source:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/get-there/wp/2016/11/01/where-obamacare-prices-are-rising-dramatically/

http://nypost.com/2016/11/01/heres-how-the-impending-obamacare-disaster-affects-you/

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/11/01/half-obamacare-enrollees-are-skipping-doctor-visits-to-save-money.html

Obamacare: High Deductibles and Higher Premiums

Bad news for Obamacare enrollees, reports said that there will be an increase in the out-of-pocket costs for deductibles next year 2016 that will significantly diminish the benefits of consumers health care plans and this will further discourage some from purchasing coverage.

Robert Laszewski, president of Health Policy & Strategy Associates, said “That these deductibles are so high is clearly one of the reasons people aren’t buying a plan—they simply don’t see themselves getting anything for the money.”

People have until the end of the year to enroll themselves for the 3rd season of Obamacare. The government said that there are a lot of plans available with low premiums however, most of those plans requires you to pay huge out of pocket costs before they Obamacare coverage actually kicks in.

The average annual out-of-pocket costs per worker increased nearly 230 percent between 2006 and 2015, according to an annual survey of employer health benefits coverage by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

The New York Times report said that majority of the states and more than half the plans being sold on Obamacare insurance exchanges have a deductible of $3,000 or more.

Median deductible in Miami is $5,000. In Jackson, Miss the median deductible is $5,500. Chicago is $3,400. Phoenix $4,000. While in Des Moines, Iowa, it is $3,000.

It is also revealed by the government that Obamacare will not hit their 10 million target by next year. Also another problem hounding the Obamacare is the rising premiums for policies the median rate increase for the lowest priced, most popular “Silver” plan will rise by 11% compared to just a 7% increase in 2015.

Affordable Care Act: 500,000 plus sign up for Insurance

More than 500,000 has already submitted their application to purchase insurance under the Affordable Care Act on healthcare.gov according to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Department spokesman Benjamin Wakana said that 250,000 applications were sent in the first 48 hours.

Enrollment for 2016 opened on November 1, 2015 throughout the country. They want to see if the number of uninsured people will drop. 28.5 million people in the US are still uninsured according to  the U.S. Centers for Disease Control's National Center for Health Statistics.

Texas topped the states with the most number of uninsured (20% or about 5 million people), followed by Alaska (17.2%), Florida (16.6%), Georgia (15.8%) and Oklahoma (15.4%).

Enrollment will continue up to January 31, 2015. Federal officials urge people to consider enrolling early or by mid-December to ensure uninterrupted coverage.

Obamacare: Open enrollment Nov 1 to Jan 31

The open enrollment for health coverage under the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) will start on November 1 to January 31, 2015. This will be the 3rd year of health care sign-ups. Covered California officials said that there are still 2 million residents who are uninsured, primarily Latinos and African Americans and 36% of them don't know that they may be entitled to premium subsidies available under the Affordable Care Act. In contrast, only 16% didn't know about the tax penalty for lacking health coverage.

Covered California exchange have 500 storefront locations, they employ thousands of enrollment counselors, and have launched a $29 million advertising campaign and a statewide bus tour, to encourage more Californians to come under the health care umbrella.

They said that about 90% of the 1.3 million Covered California enrollees receive subsidies, and more than 200,000 people pay less than $50 a month thanks to that financial assistance.

For those who are uninsured tax penalties for not having health care coverage will increase again in 2016. Under the federal health care law, those without health insurance in 2016 may be subject to a federal tax penalty, which starts at $695 per person in a household or 2.5 percent of income, whichever is greater. For a family of four earning $70,000 a year that chooses not to purchase health care coverage for 2016, the tax penalty could be $2,085, according to Covered California.

For a family of three with an annual income of $61,021 living in Los Angeles I got these premium rates: Molina bronze $332, $0 monthly premium assistance, Oscar Bronze $396, Anthem Bronze $398 and Kaiser Permanente $403. Well, if you ask me those rate are expensive no wonder they are not signing up. If they just used the $29 million they pay for advertising in improving the discount then it would have been great.

Brace Yourself Health Insurance Companies are Seeking Rate Increases up to 27%

For Arizona residents who purchase their own health insurance maybe in for a big surprise next year they are faced up to 27% rate increase. Health Insurance companies said that the increase reflect the higher medical expenses of their customers. They have filed the necessary paperwork with the state and federal regulators to increase the premiums by 11 to 27% for 15 individual plans sold on and off the Affordable Care Act marketplace.

The proposed rate hikes will not affect most Arizonans who get health insurance through an employer or a government-sponsored health plan such as Medicare, Medicaid or Veterans Affairs.

Full story here

Uninsured Citizens Can Still Avoid being Penalized by Obamacare

Citizens who have not yet purchased a health insurance plan can still avoid federal fines, since Washington has offered a second chance. The enrollment period will give a million people who have not yet signed up for Obamacare a one-time chance to enroll.

Most people has negative feedback with President Obama’s healthcare law it has been criticized by a lot of people. The average federal fine is at $170 which will be deducted from tax refund. 2015 will be the first year in which fines are being collected from uninsured people who are able to afford insurance.

The low and middle income individuals and self employed businessmen are among the people fined for not opting for affordable coverage. The government said that about 4 million people will have to pay fines this year if they don't sign up for the coverage during the limited-time window.

The limited time window to enroll for healthcare coverage will be open up to April 30. The penalties for this year will be higher, at $325 for 12 months.

Obamacare Premiums Rising

California officials said that the more than 1.2 million consumers in the Obamacare insurance exchange can expect an average rise in premiums of more than 4.2% in 2015 on California's health insurance exchange.

In other major urban areas will have higher increases than the average, San Francisco had the highest average increase of 6.6%. Orange County is at 6.3%, while Los Angeles was at 4%.

You can check your coverage if it will be affected by the new rates at Covered California's online rate calculator.

The average premium increase for 2015 for the 24 states and the District of Columbia will be at around 7.5% based on the findings and analysis of PwC's Health Research Institute.

Covered California will have 10 insurers next year, including major insurers such as Blue Shield of California and WellPoint Inc.

Obamacare Deadline March 31st; Important Points to Remember

March 31 is just around the corner and it is the deadline of Affordable Care Act open enrollment. If you missed the deadline and have not purchased health care coverage you may be penalized (tax penalty) on your 2014 taxes filed in 2015. You will also have to wait for the next open enrollment period.

If you have already insurance from your work, Medicaid, Medicare, or others you will not be penalized as long as it have the minimum standards under the Affordable Care Act.

Under the ObamaCare Act everyone is required to have health insurance or if you don't you will have to pay a tax penalty (in 2015 when 2014 taxes are filed). However, there are exemptions.

- The household income of your family is less than the IRS income tax filing requirement ($10,000 if you are single, $20,000 if you are married and filing jointly).
- If you are a member of ministries or religious sects, or of a federally recognized Native American tribe.
- If you are uninsured for less than three consecutive months in a year.
- If you can't afford to get an insurance because of financial difficulties or the lowest premium is more than 8% of your household income.
- If your insurance plan was recently cancelled and you can't afford a marketplace plan.
- If your health insurance does not meet minimum coverage standards, but your state insurance commissioner allows your insurer to continue to offer out of date plans until the October 1st, 2016 additional grace period.
- If you are 26 yearsold and below you can opt to stay on or be added to your parents' health insurance plan, even if you don't live with them.

Subsidies for the cost of health insurance - you can check if you are eligible for financial assistance from the US government, through subsidy. It will be determined based on your household income and family size. You easily check if you qualify for a tax subsidy by using the health care calculator from TurboTax. The subsidy can go directly to your health insurance provider when you purchase insurance if you are qualified. If you qualified you will pay a lower monthly health insurance premium.

Penalties:

In 2014 the amount of one-time penalty is $95 per adult, or 1% of your total income depending on your income. For uninsured children in your household, the penalty is $47.50 per child with a maximum family penalty of $285.

Visit HealthCare.gov to apply for health insurance, you can also compare plans, and enroll online. You can also apply by phone or get in-person help with your application.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
check out my friends blog Unknown Sender

Jimmy Kimmel Take on ObamaCare (Affordable Care Act)

Jimmy Kimmel live opening monologue is about ObamaCare, he ridiculed the young people who are supporting the Law since they will be the one to be disadvantaged. Check out the video clip above.

Accenture is now the lead contractor for Obamacare website HealthCare.gov

Reuters recently reported that the Obama government awarded Accenture as the lead contractor for the Obamacare enrollment website. They will be replacing CGI Federal, which encountered  a lot of failures and bugs when they launched the website HealthCare.gov in October for millions of Americans shopping for health insurance. This was announced by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Saturday.

When CGI build the website HealthCare.gov it was riddled with errors, slow speeds, and glitches that gave President Barack Obama a lot of problems and gave Republican another reason to repeal Obamacare.

CGI Federal announced last Friday that its contract that was awarded in 2011, will end on February 28, and would not be renewed.

Accenture said the contract was worth $45 million for the initial phase of the project, and the final value of the one-year contract would be about $90 million.

March 31 is the deadline for signing up for a 2014 health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, Accenture will need to be ready and take on the surge of last-minute sign-ups.

US Government Extends insurance Enrollment deadline by 24 hours

The deadline for registration for health insurance coverage on healthcare.gov has been extended by the Obama Government by 1 day. The deadline used be 11:59 p.m. last Monday.

Times said that on Monday there's a huge traffic on Healthcare.gov and the Whitehouse wants to be sure that people who wants coverage can have one.

Monday, December 23 had been the deadline for selecting a plan, it will take effect on the 1st day of the new year 2014.

Penalty: Under the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare, you will have to pay $95 penalty or 1% of income in 2014 if you don't have health insurance coverage. It is set to rise to $695 or 2% of income by 2016.

To avoid the penalty, you will need to enroll in a plan by February 15 or qualify for an exemption from the penalty.

Infographics on Why Others Can't Keep Their Old Insurance Plans

Check out the Infographics done by NYTimes, which explains why some people can't keep their insurance plans. It is very detailed and easy to comprehend. President Barrack Obama promised that people can keep their old insurance plan under the Obamacare, however the truth is most need to buy a new plan.

Thousand of Users are Visiting Online insurance Exchanges

FRANKFORT, KY. - More than 160,000 users have visited the kynect.ky.gov to check and review information about health insurance coverage. The online visitors also have viewed more than 2.6 million web pages on kynect since Kentucky launched the health benefit exchange last Tuesday.

Gov. Steve Beshear's office said in a news release Monday that more than 6,080 individuals and/or families are now enrolled in new affordable health care coverage that will go into effect on Jan. 1.

As of 4pm Monday, 142,242 people had completed the pre-screening process to determine if they qualify for subsidies and discounts for insurance policies or to determine if they qualify for Medicaid.

About 19,372 applications for health care coverage have been started and 12,955 are now completed.

States foresee more insurance customers

WASHINGTON — USA TODAY made a survey and shows that from the 19 states operating health insurance exchanges to help the uninsured find coverage, at least 8.5 million will use the exchanges to buy insurance. That would far outstrip the federal government's estimate of 7 million new customers for all 50 states under the 2010 health care law.

USA TODAY contacted the 50 states, and 19 had estimates for how many of their uninsured residents they expect will buy through the exchanges. About 48 million Americans were uninsured in 2011, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Under the law, also known as the Affordable Care Act, people without health insurance provided by their employers, the government or their parents will have to buy insurance on the exchanges, which are websites where they can compare prices and choose policies. They will pay a fine if they decline to buy the insurance.

To stay financially viable, insurers need healthy people to help round out the costs of those with chronic conditions. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office did its own research to determine 7 million people would enroll for the 2014 exchanges.

California alone said it expected to sign up 5.3 million people.

To diversify the health of the pool, the Department of Health and Human Services has targeted three states where half of uninsured people ages 18 to 35 live: Texas, Florida and California.

The states said they made their estimates based on how many individuals are uninsured and aren't likely to become insured by an employer, what insurers in their states expect and conversations with HHS about reasonable goals.

Source: USA Today