Silly Democrats laws have consequences

[baru911]

This about sums up the ObamaCare Website. Funny until you look how much it cost and how much of an epic fail it has been.

Hey, Nick the Dick and the racist Ford. How much should a functioning website cost??? Just like President Ego's staff - you don't have a clue either.

http://screen.yahoo.com/snl/obamacare-website-ad-080000046.html

[Nickdfresh]

This about sums up the ObamaCare Website. Funny until you look how much it cost and how much of an epic fail it has been.

Hey, Nick the Dick and the racist Ford. How much should a functioning website cost??? Just like President Ego's staff - you don't have a clue either.

http://screen.yahoo.com/snl/obamacar...080000046.html

I guess it went as well as the invasion and wars abroad you supported, idiot! No ones been killed yet!

Why don't you go jerk off to the good old days of Bush, the guy you voted for twice, cunt.

[baru911]

ObamaCare hates smokers and poor people who smoke

Hey smokers! You ready for those new 50% higher premiums and the tax subsidies that you are disqualified for under ObamaCare? BTW, the premium subsidies that Obamacare makes available for the poor and lower-middle class are based on a formula that subsidizes an individual or family so that they do not have to pay more than a certain percentage of their income — out of their pockets- for their insurance. However, under the law, those subsidies cannot be applied at all to pay the 50 percent smokers' premium. The loss of that subsidy can be a big deal.

Suppose, for example, someone earning $20,000 a year would qualify for a $3,000 subsidy on an insurance plan costing $4,000 a year. This would make his annual cost $1,000. But if he's a smoker, the same plan might cost $6,000 a year - factoring in the 50 percent surcharge on the $4,000 sticker price. He would still only get a $3,000 subsidy, because the subsidy can't be applied to the smokers' penalty. That means he would pay $3,000 out of pocket instead of $1,000.

Did they forget to tell you about this???

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/09/11/aca-smoking-penalties/2793669/

Health law smoking penalties could hit poor the hardest

WASHINGTON — Smokers – and chewers – in some states may have to pay as much as 50% more in premiums than non-smokers if they sign up for insurance through state health exchanges that open next month, according to provisions in the Affordable Care Act.

Because smokers incur more health costs than non-smokers, supporters of the rule say, it makes sense for them to pay for the higher costs. If tobacco users have to pay higher fees, their argument goes, they may be more apt to quit.

For example, a 25-year-old single man might be charged a premium of $150 a month, but if he's a smoker, that could go up an extra $75 a month. Older people, who can be charged as much as three times more as young people, could be hit much harder if states choose to enact the new smoking rule.

Opponents of the rule argue that smoking is an addiction that can't be ended through punishment and that smokers need insurance because of their health issues. Also, they say, there is no proof that higher costs for insurance cause smokers to quit.

Forty-four states already allow insurers to charge extra for smokers, including for chronic health conditions, said Alwyn Cassil, a spokeswoman for the Center for Studying Health System Change. However, higher fees for chronic conditions will no longer be legal after Jan. 1 because the 2010 health care law forbids insurers from charging higher rates for such conditions.

That means, Cassil said, that smokers with chronic conditions will at least save money because they won't have to pay higher premiums for having health problems even if they have to pay a penalty for using tobacco.

"While it's not the best situation, it's going to be a heck of a lot better than it was before," she said. "It may be that they're priced out now."

Tobacco users can quit, said Cassil, a former smoker. Their health immediately improves when they do, she said, and if they don't quit, premiums for everyone else rise because so many smokers end up with chronic health conditions, such as lung disease or cancer.

"The reality is these people are at risk to having higher costs because they engage in an unhealthy behavior," she said. "This was done to try to keep insurance affordable for as many people as possible."

The federal exchange, which includes 26 states, will be using the tobacco penalty, said Linda Blumberg, who focuses on health insurance research at the Urban Institute, though eight states have decided not to use it. State exchanges may also decide to charge a lower-than-50% surcharge. Through the Affordable Care Act, the extra tobacco cost is not eligible for the subsidies that low-income policyholders can receive to help them pay for insurance, she said.

The penalties will hit some groups harder than others, said Georges Benjamin, executive director at the American Public Health Association, a public health advocacy group.

"Tobacco disproportionately targets low-income communities," Benjamin said. "They are also more likely to die prematurely for tobacco-related conditions."

That means low-income people may be taking a harder financial hit when they may need more help, especially if they are dealing with conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or lung cancer, he said.

Instead of penalizing smokers financially, states should provide therapy to help them quit, Benjamin said. "Incentivize? Addictions don't work like that."

The American Lung Association also opposes tobacco surcharges, said Jennifer Singleterry, the group's manager of lung health policy. "We believe smokers should be helped to quit, but not punished for not doing so," she said.

The surcharge could cost people hundreds or even thousands of dollars more, depending on a person's policy and if they are already being charged more for age, she said.

"People don't usually quit when they're forced to," she said. "They quit when they're ready."

Singleterry said she also worries that smokers' family members, who have higher rates of asthma and other health issues, would also go without care.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 29% of adults with incomes below the federal poverty level smoke, compared with 18% of those above the poverty level. According to the American Lung Association, 32% of the uninsured — or those most likely to purchase insurance from the new exchanges — smoke.

Health insurance plans follow the recommendations of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force for cessation programs, said Clare Krusing, spokeswoman for America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), an industry trade group.

"In terms of the rating, costs are higher for smokers, and that should be reflected in the premiums," she said.

A recent Ohio State University study found that businesses pay almost $6,000 more per year per employee who smokes compared with a non-smoker, Krusing said, adding that AHIP supported the smoking provision in the Affordable Care Act.

Smokers can avoid the surcharge by enrolling in a tobacco-cessation program, which insurers must offer if they have a smoking surcharge, according to the Affordable Care Act. And most insurers don't charge 50% in states that allow surcharges now, according to Mathematica, a research policy group affiliated with the Center for Studying Health System Change. Some employers already charge surcharges for employees who smoke because of a provision in the Affordable Care Act.

The American Lung Association is offering certified counselors to help smokers make decisions about insurance through the exchanges. The number is 1-800-LUNG-USA.

[Nickdfresh]

You mean people that put themselves at vastly higher risk for diseases are going to pay more?

[twonabomber]

Most of our employers hate smokers, too. How many of us get a "tobacco free" credit? How many of our employers don't allow smoking on the premises?

And can't all this shit go in one fucking thread? Instead of "head fluffer," baru's user tag should read "broken record."

[Angel]

Will the insurance cover smoking cessation devices? The elderly and obese also have more health problems. Do they have to pay more too? As a smoker, my life insurance costs more...but not THAT much more!

[Seshmeister]

If the world was fair then it should even out as smokers should pay far less each month for their pensions.

Has no one ever offered a policy like that based on you undertaking to smoke a minimum amount?

[baru911]

President Ego flat out lied to your face!

NBC News is turning on him now...LMAO!

President Ego lied to Americans to get what he wanted. Too bad his website doesn’t work and the clock is ticking on all of those Americans whose coverage was cancelled due to the law. What a mess!

http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/28/21213547-obama-admin-knew-millions-could-not-keep-their-health-insurance?lite

Obama admin. knew millions could not keep their health insurance

President Obama repeatedly assured Americans that after the Affordable Care Act became law, people who liked their health insurance would be able to keep it. But millions of Americans are getting or are about to get cancellation letters for their health insurance under Obamacare, say experts, and the Obama administration has known that for at least three years.

Four sources deeply involved in the Affordable Care Act tell NBC NEWS that 50 to 75 percent of the 14 million consumers who buy their insurance individually can expect to receive a “cancellation” letter or the equivalent over the next year because their existing policies don’t meet the standards mandated by the new health care law. One expert predicts that number could reach as high as 80 percent. And all say that many of those forced to buy pricier new policies will experience “sticker shock.”

None of this should come as a shock to the Obama administration. The law states that policies in effect as of March 23, 2010 will be “grandfathered,” meaning consumers can keep those policies even though they don’t meet requirements of the new health care law. But the Department of Health and Human Services then wrote regulations that narrowed that provision, by saying that if any part of a policy was significantly changed since that date -- the deductible, co-pay, or benefits, for example -- the policy would not be grandfathered.

Buried in Obamacare regulations from July 2010 is an estimate that because of normal turnover in the individual insurance market, “40 to 67 percent” of customers will not be able to keep their policy. And because many policies will have been changed since the key date, “the percentage of individual market policies losing grandfather status in a given year exceeds the 40 to 67 percent range.”

That means the administration knew that more than 40 to 67 percent of those in the individual market would not be able to keep their plans, even if they liked them.

Yet President Obama, who had promised in 2009, “if you like your health plan, you will be able to keep your health plan,” was still saying in 2012, “If [you] already have health insurance, you will keep your health insurance.”

“This says that when they made the promise, they knew half the people in this market outright couldn’t keep what they had and then they wrote the rules so that others couldn’t make it either,” said Robert Laszewski, of Health Policy and Strategy Associates, a consultant who works for health industry firms. Laszewski estimates that 80 percent of those in the individual market will not be able to keep their current policies and will have to buy insurance that meets requirements of the new law, which generally requires a richer package of benefits than most policies today.

The White House does not dispute that many in the individual market will lose their current coverage, but argues they will be offered better coverage in its place, and that many will get tax subsidies that would offset any increased costs. “One of the main goals of the law is to ensure that people have insurance they can rely on – that doesn’t discriminate or charge more based on pre-existing conditions. The consumers who are getting notices are in plans that do not provide all these protections – but in the vast majority of cases, those same insurers will automatically shift their enrollees to a plan that provides new consumer protections and, for nearly half of individual market enrollees, discounts through premium tax credits,” said White House spokesperson Jessica Santillo.

Individual insurance plans with low premiums often lack basic benefits, such as prescription drug coverage, or carry high deductibles and out-of-pocket costs. The Affordable Care Act requires all companies to offer more benefits, such as mental health care, and also bars companies from denying coverage for preexisting conditions.

Today, White House spokesman Jay Carney was asked about the president’s promise that consumers would be able to keep their health care. “What the president said and what everybody said all along is that there are going to be changes brought about by the Affordable Care Act to create minimum standards of coverage, minimum services that every insurance plan has to provide,” Carney said. “So it's true that there are existing healthcare plans on the individual market that don't meet those minimum standards and therefore do not qualify for the Affordable Care Act.”

Courtesy of Heather Goldwater

Heather Goldwater, 38, of South Carolina, says that she received a letter from her insurer saying the company would no longer offer her plan, but hasn't yet received a follow-up letter with a comparable option.

Other experts said that most consumers in the individual market will not be able to keep their policies. Nancy Thompson, senior vice president of CBIZ Benefits, which helps companies manage their employee benefits, says numbers in this market are hard to pin down, but that data from states and carriers suggests “anywhere from 50 to 75 percent” of individual policy holders will get cancellation letters. Kansas Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger, who chairs the health committee of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, says that estimate is “probably about right.” She added that a few states are asking insurance companies to cancel and replace policies, rather than just amend them, to avoid confusion.

A spokesman for America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), an insurance trade association, also said the 50 to 75 percent estimate was consistent with the range they are hearing.

Those getting the cancellation letters are often shocked and unhappy.

George Schwab, 62, of North Carolina, said he was "perfectly happy" with his plan from Blue Cross Blue Shield, which also insured his wife for a $228 monthly premium. But this past September, he was surprised to receive a letter saying his policy was no longer available. The "comparable" plan the insurance company offered him carried a $1,208 monthly premium and a $5,500 deductible.

And the best option he’s found on the exchange so far offered a 415 percent jump in premium, to $948 a month.

"The deductible is less," he said, "But the plan doesn't meet my needs. Its unaffordable."

"I'm sitting here looking at this, thinking we ought to just pay the fine and just get insurance when we're sick," Schwab added. "Everybody's worried about whether the website works or not, but that's fixable. That's just the tip of the iceberg. This stuff isn't fixable."

Heather Goldwater, 38, of South Carolina, is raising a new baby while running her own PR firm. She said she received a letter last July from Cigna, her insurance company, that said the company would no longer offer her individual plan, and promised to send a letter by October offering a comparable option. So far, she hasn't received anything.

"I'm completely overwhelmed with a six-month-old and a business,” said Goldwater. “The last thing I can do is spend hours poring over a website that isn't working, trying to wrap my head around this entire health care overhaul."

Goldwater said she supports the new law and is grateful for provisions helping folks like her with pre-existing conditions, but she worries she won’t be able to afford the new insurance, which is expected to cost more because it has more benefits. "I'm jealous of people who have really good health insurance," she said. "It's people like me who are stuck in the middle who are going to get screwed."

Richard Helgren, a Lansing, Mich., retiree, said he was “irate” when he received a letter informing him that his wife Amy's $559 a month health plan was being changed because of the law. The plan the insurer offered raised his deductible from $0 to $2,500, and the company gave him 17 days to decide.

The higher costs spooked him and his wife, who have painstakingly planned for their retirement years. "Every dollar we didn't plan for erodes our standard of living," Helgren said.

Ulltimately, though Helgren opted not to shop through the ACA exchanges, he was able to apply for a good plan with a slightly lower premium through an insurance agent.

He said he never believed President Obama’s promise that people would be able to keep their current plans.

"I heard him only about a thousand times," he said. "I didn't believe him when he said it though because there was just no way that was going to happen. They wrote the regulations so strictly that none of the old polices can grandfather."

For months, Laszewski has warned that some consumers will face sticker shock. He recently got his own notice that he and his wife cannot keep their current policy, which he described as one of the best, so-called "Cadillac" plans offered for 2013. Now, he said, the best comparable plan he found for 2014 has a smaller doctor network, larger out-of-pocket costs, and a 66 percent premium increase.

“Mr. President, I like the coverage I have," Laszweski said. "It is the best health insurance policy you can buy."

[DrMaddVibe]

I'll just take the same plan our Legislative Branch gets and we'll call it even...okay?

[ELVIS]

Nope, not a chance...

[Angel]

A politician lie!?!?

They're all elitist bastards....

[baru911]

Silly Democrats laws have consequences

Democrats hate the rich old folk who live on the Jersey Shore. It looks like President Ego isn’t the only Democrat that hates old people. Good ‘ol Maxine Waters co-sponsored H.R. 5114 in 2010 and got it to pass into law. What did this well thought out piece of legislation do?


According to the CBS Evening News

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57609700/a-year-after-sandy-flood-insurance-premiums-are-skyrocketing/

Congress passed a law to get rid of that shortfall by raising insurance premiums and eliminating those federal subsidies. But roughly one million homeowners from coast to coast and in Hawaii will see their rates skyrocket.

In the next five years, Kelleher's annual premium could jump from $850 to more than $9,000.

Rep. Maxine Waters co-sponsored the bill, but the California Democrat says she never expected her own legislation could have such a devastating impact.

"We did have unintended consequences. Some of the premiums that are being talked about we think are outrageous, and we're going to go through this program and go through it piece by piece and fix it," she said.

Way to go Dems! Hammering the helpless like the older woman who may lose her home. Oh, the party that keeps on helping. Helping you right out of your home and into the streets.

[DrMaddVibe]

I don't like the Jersey Shore either!



Why should ANYONE get a subsidy for building a house on the oceanside?

[twonabomber]

Democrats hate the rich old folk who live on the Jersey Shore. It looks like President Ego isn’t the only Democrat that hates old people. Good ‘ol Maxine Waters co-sponsored H.R. 5114 in 2010 and got it to pass into law. What did this well thought out piece of legislation do?

Have you ever posted anything other than political shit?

[ELVIS]

It's all designed to bankrupt the American people...