Obamacare enrollees are reeling from high deductibles

Obamacare (c) Desert Rose Creations / Family Survival Protocol 2013

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First, the administration revealed that enrollments for Obamacare next year will barely hit 10 million, far below previous projections.

Then last week, the consulting firm of McKinsey & Company estimated that premiums for policies under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, were going up substantially in 2016. For instance, the median rate increase for the lowest priced, highly popular “Silver” plan will rise by 11 percent – compared to just a seven percent increase in 2015.

Related: Millions Face Premium and Deductible Sticker Shock under Obamacare

Now there are troubling reports  that consumers will be facing soaring out-of-pocket costs for deductibles next year – increases that in many cases will neutralize the benefits of their health care plans or discourage some from purchasing coverage.

“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,” Robert Laszewski, president of Health Policy & Strategy Associates, a business and policy consultant, said in a newsletter on Monday.

Department of Health and Human Services officials insist that there are still plenty of plans available with low premiums for those willing to aggressively shop on the federal and state operated insurance exchanges. Americans have until the end of the year to enroll for the third season of Obamacare. But even in cases where consumers find good deals on premiums, they are likely to be stung on the back end by requirements to pay sizeable out of pocket costs before their 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.



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Americans Give Health Insurers a Big Thumbs Down

 

By Millie Dent

 

 

November 17, 2015

 

 

Americans haven’t been this fed up with health insurance companies in a decade, and their frustration likely won’t fade soon.

Consumer satisfaction with health insurance providers fell to the lowest level since 2005, largely due to the slow processing of claims and the rising costs of premiums, deductibles and copays, according to a new survey from the American Customer Satisfaction Index that dates to 2001.


Related: How Workers Are Getting Slammed With Higher Health Care Costs
 

Americans are extremely cost sensitive, especially in the health sector, and take notice of how fast their costs go up, says ACSI managing director David VanAmburg.

Obamacare also plays an indirect role. Providers are unable to keep up with customer service as more people purchase insurance, he says. And many insurers haven’t beefed up their staffing to deal with the increase in demand. As insurers become responsible for more consumers, they may need to recalibrate, VanAmburg says.

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Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) : “There are parts of Obamacare, or the Affordable Care Act, that were postponed because they are unpalatable, As these provisions come into effect, the administration thus far is saying, ‘Gee, we really can’t handle this right now so we’re going to delay it.’”

The New American

Wednesday, 23 April 2014 15:08

Democrat Says Worst of ObamaCare Yet to Come

Written by  Raven Clabough

 Photo of Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.): AP Images

It is always noteworthy when a lawmaker breaks what seems to be the “Cardinal Rule” against speaking out against one’s own party, particularly when it regards the party’s signature accomplishment. The Obama administration cannot possibly be pleased with the assertions made by Representative Stephen Lynch (shown, D-Mass.) about the healthcare law, which stand in direct opposition to statements made by the president about the very same law.
On April 17, readers may recall, President Obama announced during a White House news conference that the healthcare law "is working.” Yet during an interview with the Boston Herald, Lynch did not hesitate to criticize the law when he said the worst of the Affordable Care Act has yet to be seen.
“There are parts of Obamacare, or the Affordable Care Act, that were postponed because they are unpalatable,” he told the Herald. “As these provisions come into effect, the administration thus far is saying, ‘Gee, we really can’t handle this right now so we’re going to delay it.’”

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Healthcare cuts canceled amid election-year opposition from congressional Democrats.

April 07, 2014, 05:15 pm

Healthcare cuts canceled after Dem complaints

By Jonathan Easley

Getty Images

The Obama administration announced Monday that planned cuts to Medicare Advantage would not go through as anticipated amid election-year opposition from congressional Democrats.
The cuts would have reduced benefits that seniors receive from health plans in the program, which is intended as an alternative to Medicare.
Under cuts planned by the administration, insurers offering the plans were to see their federal payments reduced by 1.9 percent, which likely would have necessitated cuts for customers.
Instead, the administration said the federal payments to insurers will increase next year by .40 percent.
The healthcare law included $200 billion in cuts to Medicare Advantage over 10 years, in part to pay for ObamaCare.
The Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) on Monday said changes in the healthcare market meant it did not need to make those cuts to Medicare Advantage this year.
It cited an increase in healthy beneficiaries under Medicare, which it said has lowered projected costs for that program.
CMS separately is delaying a risk assessment proposal that was set to take affect under ObamaCare.

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Obama administration proposes 1.9% cut in Medicare Advantage payments

February 21, 2014 8:08 pm by Mary Agnes Carey

Medicare Advantage plans could see payment reductions of 1.9 percent next year under proposed rates announced Friday by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Insurers, who have led a fierce lobbying campaign against payment reductions, have said the combination of the health law’s lower payment rates, new fees on health plans and other factors, including automatic federalspending cuts known as "sequestration," mean that Medicare Advantage plans will see their Medicare payment rates drop by 6 percent – or even more -- in 2015.
CMS said Friday its preliminary estimate is "the combined effect of the Medicare Advantage growth percentage and the fee-for-service growth percentage."
America's Health Insurance Plans said they are reviewing the details of the announcement to determine the total impact of the federal payment rates. In a statement, AHIP President and CEO Karen Ignagni was critical of the proposed rates, saying, "The new proposed Medicare Advantage cuts would cause seniors in the program to lose benefits and choices on which they depend."

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• Capitol Hill Blue

Obama flip-flops on Medicare drug coverage

By DAVID MORGAN
March 11, 2014

(REUTERS/Jonathan Bachman)

The Obama administration, in an abrupt about-face, said on Monday it would drop proposed changes to Medicare drug coverage that met wide opposition on grounds they would harm health benefits for the elderly and disabled.
Late last week, more than 370 organizations representing insurers, drug makers, pharmacies, health providers and patients urged the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to withdraw changes it had proposed for Medicare Part D.
One of the federal government’s most successful and cost-effective healthcare programs, Part D provides drug benefits for the elderly and disabled through private insurers to 36 million enrollees.
Critics said the changes, if adopted in coming months, could not only undermine Part D benefits but impact drug benefits available through Medicare Advantage, a program that allows Medicare beneficiaries to obtain their major medical coverage through private insurers.
“Given the complexities of these issues and stakeholder input, we do not plan to finalize these proposals at this time. We will engage in further stakeholder input before advancing some or all of the changes in these areas in future years,” CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner advised in a letter sent on Monday to members of the Senate and House of Representatives.
The proposals were opposed by both Republicans and Democrats in Congress. The Republican Party had already begun to look for ways to leverage popular anger over the changes into campaign attacks on Democratic incumbents who could be vulnerable in November’s election showdown for control of Congress.
Elated critics of the proposed changes said the government had effectively agreed to start over in the face of broad, bipartisan opposition.

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New York Times SundayReview

Fear Mongering With Medicare

By THE EDITORIAL BOARDMARCH 1, 2014

The Obama administration’s proposed cuts to Medicare Advantage plans — the private insurance plans that cover almost 30 percent of all Medicare beneficiaries — are fair and reasonable. As it happens, they are also mandated by law. Yet Republicans, sensing a campaign issue, are telling older and disabled Americans that the administration is “raiding Medicare Advantage to pay for Obamacare.” The health insurance industry, for its part, is warning that enrollees will suffer higher premiums, lower benefits and fewer choices among doctors if the cuts go into force.

Some of this could in fact happen, although the industry has cried wolf before and continues to thrive. But the key point is this: Over the past decade, enrollees in Medicare Advantage have received lots of extra benefits, thanks to unjustified federal subsidies to the insurance companies. Now they will have to do with somewhat less, unless the insurers are willing to absorb the cuts while maintaining benefits. Enrollment in these private plans, offered by companies like UnitedHealth and Humana, has more than doubled since 2006, in part because of lower premiums and extra benefits, like gym memberships, that are not included in traditional fee-for-service Medicare.

What made these perks possible was, in effect, a subsidy from taxpayers and other Medicare beneficiaries. The federal government paid the private plans, on average, 14 percent more in 2009 than it would cost to treat the same people in traditional Medicare. The insurers used this extra money to reduce enrollees’ costs and add benefits.

The 2010 Affordable Care Act rightly required that these subsidies be reduced, although it stopped short of completely eliminating them. The reductions began to take effect in 2012, and have not, so far, visibly harmed beneficiaries or the plans. Since enactment of the law, Medicare Advantage premiums have fallen by 10 percent, the opposite of what some expected, and enrollment has increased by nearly 33 percent, according to the administration. But as the law intended, federal payments to the private plans dropped — from 7 percent more than services under traditional Medicare in 2012 to 4 percent more last year. The administration now proposes to further reduce the payments to Medicare Advantage plans in 2015. The loudest criticism has come from Republicans, but plenty of Democrats have chimed in.

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• Democrats Facing Political Fallout on Medicare
• UPDATE 2-US administration pulls back on Medicare drug benefit proposals
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• Barber: Obamacare's Medicare Advantage Cuts Could Be Toxic for Dems

Chuckle Factor : According to Harry Reid the Obamacare signup hiccups are the result of People not being educated on how to use the internet.....

Harry Reid: People Are Not Educated On How To Use The Internet

 

Washington Free Beacon

Published on Mar 26, 2014

Harry Reid: People Are Not Educated About How To Use The Internet
March 26, 2014
www.FreeBeacon.com

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Heritage.org

Reid’s Justification for New Obamacare Signup Delay: ‘People Are Not Educated on How to Use the Internet’

Katrina Trinko

March 26, 2014 at 1:55 pm

It’s not that HealthCare.gov is a nightmare. Instead, it’s the fault of incompetent Americans.
That’s the jist of what Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D–Nev.) said today, when asked by a reporter about the Obama administration’s decision, which was reported on last night, that people could claim they had tried to sign up before the March 31st deadline and still enroll in Obamacare in April.
“There’s no hiccup or delay,” Reid said. “We have hundreds of thousands of people who tried to sign up and they didn’t get through.”

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House panel says Obamacare co-op improperly diverted $25 million

 Washington Examiner

By Richard Pollock and Kelly Cohen | FEBRUARY 5, 2014 AT 7:11 PM

 

"I am here protesting this report that was dumped on us," Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Pa., said...

A New York nonprofit improperly diverted $25 million meant to help establish three Obamacare health insurance co-ops to a wholly owned for-profit subsidiary, a congressional oversight committee said Wednesday.
The Freelancers Union, which received $340 million in federal loans to set up co-ops in New York, New Jersey and Oregon, gave some of that cash to a for-profit entity called Independent Worker Services.
The accusation appeared in a congressional report made public Wednesday by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, chaired by outspoken Obamacare critic Darrell Issa, a California Republican.
"The shortcomings of Obamacare co-ops demonstrate" the Department of Health and Human Services' "mismanagement of the co-op loan awarding process as well as serious deficiencies in the Administration's healthcare reform efforts as a whole," the report said.
The report was the focal point of an acrimonious hearing on Capitol Hill Wednesday, in which two of the key Democrats on the committee walked out in protest, saying they did not get the report until an hour before testimony began. "I am here protesting this report that was dumped on us," Rep. Matt Cartwright of Pennsylvania said before leaving.
The report referenced documents the committee obtained showing that the Freelancers Union "sought to further the group’s ‘power in markets’ and ‘power in politics’ through the CO-OP program. Freelancers Union, by transferring co-op funding through one of its subsidiaries, received approximately $25 million of taxpayer funds,” the report said.
Also: “Emails between Freelancers Union officials discuss the intention to ‘use returns from the CO-OPs to advocate for our members in states where they are served now and served in the future. Example: We will push to get colonoscopy legislation passed in New Jersey.' "
Since federal regulations barred co-op funds from going to for-profit enterprises, officials from Freelancers Union successfully lobbied HHS and the Obama White House for an exception.
The Freelancers Union officials met and communicated repeatedly with HHS officials, as well as at least 30 times with senior White House presidential aides in seeking the exception, according to the report.
Sara Horowitz, the founder and sponsor of the Freelancers Union and founder and sponsor of both Health Republic and IWS, told the oversight committee Wednesday that the $25 million that went to Independent Worker Services funded support services to get all three states' co-ops launched.
"I really want to be able to explain it to you, but it's complicated," Horowitz told the committee Wednesday.
"IWS' job — as was put in our application to begin with — was to be able to help to launch, setting up their IT systems, their back-end operations, helping them to select their vendors. And for that IWS was paid $25 million in the last two years.
"That's how the three co-ops were able to launch on time and on budget," she said.


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Hundreds of AIDS patients in Obamacare limbo as insurers reject checks

By Reuters
PUBLISHED: 18:28 EST, 8 February 2014 | UPDATED: 18:28 EST, 8 February 2014

Hundreds of people with HIV/AIDS in Louisiana trying to obtain coverage under President Barack Obama's healthcare reform are in danger of being thrown out of the insurance plan they selected in a dispute over federal subsidies and the interpretation of federal rules about preventing Obamacare fraud.
Some healthcare advocates see discrimination in the move, but Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana says it is not trying to keep people with HIV/AIDS from enrolling in one of its policies under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

The state's largest carrier is rejecting checks from a federal program designed to help these patients pay for AIDS drugs and insurance premiums, and has begun notifying customers that their enrollment in its Obamacare plans will be discontinued.

Blocked: Hundreds of HIV/AIDS patients are in danger of being thrown out of the insurance plan they selected in a dispute over federal subsidies and the interpretation of federal rules about preventing Obamacare fraud

The carrier says it no longer will accept third-party payments, such as those under the 1990 Ryan White Act, which many people with HIV/AIDS use to pay their premiums.
'In no event will coverage be provided to any subscribers, as of March 1, 2014, unless the premiums are paid by the subscriber (or a relative) unless otherwise required by law,' Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana spokesman John Maginnis told Reuters.

The dispute goes back to a series of statements from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the lead Obamacare agency.

In September, CMS informed insurers that Ryan White funds 'may be used to cover the cost of private health insurance premiums, deductibles, and co-payments' for Obamacare plans.

In November, however, it warned 'hospitals, other healthcare providers, and other commercial entities' that it has 'significant concerns' about their supporting premium payments and helping Obamacare consumers pay deductibles and other costs, citing the risk of fraud.

The insurers told healthcare advocates that the November guidance requires them to reject payments from the Ryan White program in order to combat fraud, said Robert Greenwald, managing director of the Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School, a position Louisiana Blue still maintains.

Sick: Hundreds of indigent HIV/AIDS patients are dependent on Ryan White payments for Obamacare because they are not eligible for Medicaid and Obamacare federal subsidies don't kick in until people are at 100 per cent of the federal poverty level

'As an anti-fraud measure, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana has implemented a policy, across our individual health insurance market, of not accepting premium payments from any third parties who are not related' to the subscriber, Maginnis said.

On Friday, CMS spokeswoman Tasha Bradley told Reuters that, to the contrary, Ryan White grantees 'may use funds to pay for premiums on behalf of eligible enrollees in Marketplace plans, when it is cost-effective for the Ryan White program,' meaning that having people with HIV/AIDS enroll in insurance under Obamacare could save the government money.

'The third-party payer guidance CMS released (in November) does not apply to' Ryan White programs.

Maginnis did not respond to further requests, sent after business hours, for comment on CMS's Friday statement.

Hundreds of indigent HIV/AIDS patients are dependent on Ryan White payments for Obamacare because they fall into a gap.
They are not eligible for Medicaid, the joint federal-state health insurance program for the poor, because Louisiana did not expand the low-income program, and Obamacare federal subsidies don't kick in until people are at 100 percent of the federal poverty level.


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AOL cuts benefits, blames Obamacare and Complications during Pregnancy

By Tami Luhby  @Luhby February 6, 2014: 6:03 PM ET

 

AOL CEO: Obamacare leads to 401(k) cut

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

AOL became the latest company to blame Obamacare for cutting back on employee benefits.

The tech firm will now pay its 401(k) company match only to employees who are active on Dec. 31 of that year, as opposed to in their paychecks throughout the year. So those who leave the company before the end of the year will forfeit the match.

AOL (AOL) CEO Tim Armstrong blamed $7.1 million in additional Obamacare costs the company is facing this year. Had the company not made the change in its 401(k) payments, employees would have seen their health insurance costs increase, he told CNN Thursday.
Armstrong did not provide a lot of specifics about what aspects of Obamacare were pushing up the company's health care costs, but said it was one factor affecting the 401(k) restructuring.
"The Obamacare Act and some of the changes that happened there had increases in our health care costs," Armstrong told CNN. "We had to make a choice whether we pass those on or whether we took other benefits and reduce them."
Some employees will still see their premiums rise, depending on the plan they picked, though AOL "ate a huge piece of the increase."
The news came on a day when AOL announced 2013 was "its most successful year in the last decade," reporting revenues of $2.3 billion.


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• The Washington Post

AOL chief cuts 401(k) benefits, blames Obamacare and two “distressed babies”

By Jia Lynn Yang

• February 7 at 11:07 am

AOL chief executive Tim Armstrong blames the new health care law for why his company has made a major change to its 401(k) benefits. (Photo by Pete Marovich/Bloomberg)

AOL chief executive Tim Armstrong Thursday offered a number of unusual explanations for why his company pulled back its 401(k) benefits for employees this year. The first reason: Obamacare. The second: two women at the company who had "distressed babies" in 2012.

The stock, which reached $51 on Thursday morning because of a good earnings release by AOL, fell to 47.15 by the end of regular trading. It's down another 2.5 percent Friday.

How did this mess begin? The Washington Post reported Tuesday that AOL quietly made a major change to its 401(k) plan by switching its match to a lump sum at the end of the year, rather than contributing with every paycheck. The benefit is only available to employees who are still active on Dec. 31.

Retirement experts widely agree that the change hurts all employees--not just those who leave mid-year--since savers miss out on the benefits of investing more money throughout the year, a strategy known as “dollar cost averaging.”
When he was asked on CNBC this morning why AOL was making the change, Armstrong said it was to spare employees from what he described as the added costs of Obamacare.
Here's the video:







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