[/quote]

The disaster of Obamacare continues to implode....

Quote:Is Obamacare sinking in Texas? Or just facing more growing pains?

Health care spending nationwide will hit a new high this year, rising 4.8 percent, the government said this week. For over 1 million Texans who buy insurance on Healthcare.Gov, they can only dream about having it so good.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas, which has about half the state’s exchange customers, wants to increase premiums almost 60 percent for 2017. Scott and White Health Plan wants to ratchet up premiums over 30 percent, and Cigna, 24 percent. Aetna and Oscar are planning double-digit increases, too.

UnitedHealth, the country’s largest insurer, is pulling out of the exchange business in Texas and over a dozen other states.

Many consumers already feel squeezed by the cost of insurance, along with high deductibles and co-pays. In Texas, 85 percent of exchange customers get federal subsidies to offset premiums and federal officials say shopping around usually uncovers an affordable plan. But subsidies won’t necessarily keep pace with increases at Blue Cross and Scott and White, whose final prices will probably be announced this fall.

This week, a young woman with two children called to discuss dropping the family’s Blue Cross plan for a few months, said broker Bob Garrison of Insurance Connection USA in Denton. She and her husband pay about $1,300 a month and can’t face more sticker shock, he said.

“When your health insurance is bigger than the mortgage, something’s wrong,” Garrison said.

It’s not working for Blue Cross, either.

In justifying its rate increase to state regulators, the company said it paid $1.26 in claims for every $1 in premiums collected last year. For the state’s largest insurer, that resulted in a loss of $770 million in the individual marketplace. And Blue Cross is projecting another loss this year for its exchange business.

To some, this is further evidence that the Affordable Care Act is unsustainable. Higher premiums are likely to drive away potential enrollees, especially healthier people, and that could lead to a downward spiral.

“Pretty soon, health insurance on the exchange will be a good deal only for the very sick,” said Devon Herrick, senior fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis in Dallas. “More healthy folks will drop out and pay the fine. That appears to be happening in Texas.”

http://www.dallasnews.com/business/headl...-wrong.ece

but, but, but.... the insurance companies are to blame!

Aetna will not offer Obamacare exchange plans in Texas in 2017

Quote:Next year Aetna will not sell plans in Texas on the individual health insurance exchange marketplace established under the Affordable Care Act.

Citing more than $430 million in losses since 2014 and enrollment that skews heavily toward individuals in need of high-cost care, the company announced Monday that it will reduce its presence on the individual public exchange in 2017, from 778 U.S. counties to 242.

The insurer will only maintain an on-exchange presence in Delaware, Iowa, Nebraska and Virginia.

"We regret having to make this decision," Aetna chairman and CEO Mark T. Bertolini said in a statement. "Providing affordable, high-quality health care options to consumers is not possible without a balanced risk pool."

Kevin Counihan, chief executive officer for the government-run individual marketplace responded that the marketplace serves more than 11 million people and has "helped America reach the lowest uninsured rate on record."

Aetna's decision to alter its marketplace is no surprise, he said. "Companies are adapting at different rates to a market where they compete for business on cost and quality, rather than by denying coverage to people with preexisting conditions."

Aetna has just over 3 million members in Texas, but declined to release membership numbers specific to the exchange. The company has about 4,100 employees in the state, with offices in Dallas, Arlington, Houston, San Antonio and Austin.

In May, Aetna filed a request to increase rates on its Texas plans, and a few months later announced it would not expand its individual insurance business into new states as previously planned.

The company will continue to offer off-exchange individual product options in affected states. The others include: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and South Carolina.

According to the statement, 55 percent of Aetna's individual on-exchange membership was new in 2016, and in the second quarter of the year individuals in need of high-cost care represented a large share of the company's on-exchange population.

"This population dynamic, coupled with the current inadequate risk adjustment mechanism, results in substantial upward pressure on premiums and creates significant sustainability concerns," Bertolini said.

The announcement comes after proposed mega-mergers between four of the nation's leading providers of health insurance were faced with an antitrust lawsuit in July from the Justice Department. Those included Aetna Inc.'s deal to buy Humana Inc. for an estimated at $37 billion, and Anthem Inc's proposed takeover of Cigna Corp. estimated at $54 billion.

http://www.dallasnews.com/business/healt...n-2017.ece

I was just telling people that health insurance premiums will cost more than your mortgage.
Rules and regs and what must be included in plans aka obamacare is devastating.

Obama and the left don't care. They want Texas to burn.

"We told them their premiums would go down $2500 a year!"

Again, there needs to be a fix.

1) First, ensure that no profits or gains from reserves can accrue (directly or indirectly) to anyone other than the policyholder. If the policyholder leaves, the insurance company must send that reserve to the new insurance company.
2) Make it illegal for any policy pool to be closed to anyone. Offer it to Shell, then you have to offer it to the pool.
3) Make it illegal for any publicly supported facility to not take Obamacare.
4) Ban any grants or research funds to any facility that doesn't take Obamacare.

And then offer a public option. And require all taxpayer supported facilities to take it. Ban privatization of taxpayer supported facilities.

Problem solved.

----

And Aetna isn't losing money. How much are they paying their CEO this year? How much did they sock away in reserves?

(08-16-2016 11:07 AM)Tom in Lazybrook Wrote:  Again, there needs to be a fix.
1) First, ensure that no profits or gains from reserves can accrue (directly or indirectly) to anyone other than the policyholder. If the policyholder leaves, the insurance company must send that reserve to the new insurance company.
2) Make it illegal for any policy pool to be closed to anyone. Offer it to Shell, then you have to offer it to the pool.
3) Make it illegal for any publicly supported facility to not take Obamacare.
4) Ban any grants or research funds to any facility that doesn't take Obamacare.
And then offer a public option. And require all taxpayer supported facilities to take it. Ban privatization of taxpayer supported facilities.
Problem solved.

Problem created. Nobody is interested in getting into providing health care or health insurance going forward. The economics won't be there. We'll end up with the docs who can't make a go of it in Bangladesh.

(08-16-2016 11:08 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(08-16-2016 11:07 AM)Tom in Lazybrook Wrote:  Again, there needs to be a fix.
1) First, ensure that no profits or gains from reserves can accrue (directly or indirectly) to anyone other than the policyholder. If the policyholder leaves, the insurance company must send that reserve to the new insurance company.
2) Make it illegal for any policy pool to be closed to anyone. Offer it to Shell, then you have to offer it to the pool.
3) Make it illegal for any publicly supported facility to not take Obamacare.
4) Ban any grants or research funds to any facility that doesn't take Obamacare.
And then offer a public option. And require all taxpayer supported facilities to take it. Ban privatization of taxpayer supported facilities.
Problem solved.

Problem created. Nobody is interested in getting into providing health care going forward. We'll end up with the docs who can't make a go of it in Bangladesh.

Plenty of demand to be a doctor.

(08-16-2016 11:10 AM)Tom in Lazybrook Wrote:  

(08-16-2016 11:08 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(08-16-2016 11:07 AM)Tom in Lazybrook Wrote:  Again, there needs to be a fix.
1) First, ensure that no profits or gains from reserves can accrue (directly or indirectly) to anyone other than the policyholder. If the policyholder leaves, the insurance company must send that reserve to the new insurance company.
2) Make it illegal for any policy pool to be closed to anyone. Offer it to Shell, then you have to offer it to the pool.
3) Make it illegal for any publicly supported facility to not take Obamacare.
4) Ban any grants or research funds to any facility that doesn't take Obamacare.
And then offer a public option. And require all taxpayer supported facilities to take it. Ban privatization of taxpayer supported facilities.
Problem solved.

Problem created. Nobody is interested in getting into providing health care going forward. We'll end up with the docs who can't make a go of it in Bangladesh.

Plenty of demand to be a doctor.

Demand, yes. Supply, no thanks.

(08-16-2016 11:10 AM)Tom in Lazybrook Wrote:  

(08-16-2016 11:08 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(08-16-2016 11:07 AM)Tom in Lazybrook Wrote:  Again, there needs to be a fix.
1) First, ensure that no profits or gains from reserves can accrue (directly or indirectly) to anyone other than the policyholder. If the policyholder leaves, the insurance company must send that reserve to the new insurance company.
2) Make it illegal for any policy pool to be closed to anyone. Offer it to Shell, then you have to offer it to the pool.
3) Make it illegal for any publicly supported facility to not take Obamacare.
4) Ban any grants or research funds to any facility that doesn't take Obamacare.
And then offer a public option. And require all taxpayer supported facilities to take it. Ban privatization of taxpayer supported facilities.
Problem solved.

Problem created. Nobody is interested in getting into providing health care going forward. We'll end up with the docs who can't make a go of it in Bangladesh.

Plenty of demand to be a doctor.

There's demand because of a shortage of doctors. One particular one I know decided to to open up some very successful 6th street establishments because, as he said, "it just wasn't worth it anymore" to be a doctor.

(08-16-2016 11:14 AM)Pyrizzo Wrote:  

(08-16-2016 11:10 AM)Tom in Lazybrook Wrote:  

(08-16-2016 11:08 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(08-16-2016 11:07 AM)Tom in Lazybrook Wrote:  Again, there needs to be a fix.
1) First, ensure that no profits or gains from reserves can accrue (directly or indirectly) to anyone other than the policyholder. If the policyholder leaves, the insurance company must send that reserve to the new insurance company.
2) Make it illegal for any policy pool to be closed to anyone. Offer it to Shell, then you have to offer it to the pool.
3) Make it illegal for any publicly supported facility to not take Obamacare.
4) Ban any grants or research funds to any facility that doesn't take Obamacare.
And then offer a public option. And require all taxpayer supported facilities to take it. Ban privatization of taxpayer supported facilities.
Problem solved.

Problem created. Nobody is interested in getting into providing health care going forward. We'll end up with the docs who can't make a go of it in Bangladesh.

Plenty of demand to be a doctor.

There's demand because of a shortage of doctors. One particular one I know decided to to open up some very successful 6th street establishments because, as he said, "it just wasn't worth it anymore" to be a doctor.

Why would anyone choose to be a doctor--or a health insurance provider--in the world that Tom wants to create?

(08-16-2016 11:07 AM)Tom in Lazybrook Wrote:  Again, there needs to be a fix.

1) First, ensure that no profits or gains from reserves can accrue (directly or indirectly) to anyone other than the policyholder. If the policyholder leaves, the insurance company must send that reserve to the new insurance company.
2) Make it illegal for any policy pool to be closed to anyone. Offer it to Shell, then you have to offer it to the pool.
3) Make it illegal for any publicly supported facility to not take Obamacare.
4) Ban any grants or research funds to any facility that doesn't take Obamacare.

And then offer a public option. And require all taxpayer supported facilities to take it. Ban privatization of taxpayer supported facilities.

Problem solved.

----

And Aetna isn't losing money. How much are they paying their CEO this year? How much did they sock away in reserves?

(08-16-2016 11:07 AM)Tom in Lazybrook Wrote:  Again, there needs to be a fix.

1) First, ensure that no profits or gains from reserves can accrue (directly or indirectly) to anyone other than the policyholder. If the policyholder leaves, the insurance company must send that reserve to the new insurance company.

Why in hades would I send my companies earnings to another company because the the risk moved elsewhere. As a risk/loss company, I am still on the hook for any losses occurred while the policy was in effect at my company.

Quote:2) Make it illegal for any policy pool to be closed to anyone. Offer it to Shell, then you have to offer it to the pool.

You want to know why auto insurance is crap in NC. Because of the way ANYONE can just jump into the pool. That means good drivers pay higher prices in NC because the bad drivers have to be let in.

Why the hell do I want to be forced into a health insurance pool with people who are 150 pounds overweight, who have diabetes, and need half a dozen prescriptions? I dont. I want to avoid that pool like herpes. I want my own pool where low risk people can get a better rate because we dont sit on the couch eating ho hos and smoking cigarettes all day.

But I get it with you. You are very high risk, and the only way your insurance costs come down is if people like me are forced into your high risk pool. F*ck that.

Quote:3) Make it illegal for any publicly supported facility to not take Obamacare.

I would say make it illegal for any facility to accept Obamacare. But, go ahead and do it your way, and you will either see them shut down, or not take public support. They will then counter and say they no longer have to take emergency room transits as well, so be careful of the slope you are going down.

Quote:4) Ban any grants or research funds to any facility that doesn't take Obamacare.


And then offer a public option. And require all taxpayer supported facilities to take it. Ban privatization of taxpayer supported facilities.

Problem solved.

That s a sh*tload of mandates to proclaim "problem solved". And it doesnt solve my problem.

1. I want my own doctor
2. I want my own plan
3. I want rates that reflect my low risk

It doesnt solve those problems at all. It solves your sh*tty problem, at the expense of me.

F8ck that.

My wife and I have an outlay of $500 per month more for our insurance than our mortgage. Id love to crotch kick anyone that tries and defend the insanity of that.

(08-16-2016 11:23 AM)UofMstateU Wrote:  It doesnt solve those problems at all. It solves your sh*tty problem, at the expense of me.

Well, that's the entire point.

Obamacare created winners and losers. It's at best a zero sum game. Tom was all excited because he thought he was going to be a winner. Now he's all butthurt because he's finding out that he's a loser.

Funny how all of the major insurance providers are leaving the Obamacare exchanges once the taxpayer subsidy was cut off.

(08-16-2016 11:23 AM)UofMstateU Wrote:  

(08-16-2016 11:07 AM)Tom in Lazybrook Wrote:  Again, there needs to be a fix.

1) First, ensure that no profits or gains from reserves can accrue (directly or indirectly) to anyone other than the policyholder. If the policyholder leaves, the insurance company must send that reserve to the new insurance company.

Why in hades would I send my companies earnings to another company because the the risk moved elsewhere. As a risk/loss company, I am still on the hook for any losses occurred while the policy was in effect at my company.

Quote:2) Make it illegal for any policy pool to be closed to anyone. Offer it to Shell, then you have to offer it to the pool.

You want to know why auto insurance is crap in NC. Because of the way ANYONE can just jump into the pool. That means good drivers pay higher prices in NC because the bad drivers have to be let in.

Why the hell do I want to be forced into a health insurance pool with people who are 150 pounds overweight, who have diabetes, and need half a dozen prescriptions? I dont. I want to avoid that pool like herpes. I want my own pool where low risk people can get a better rate because we dont sit on the couch eating ho hos and smoking cigarettes all day.

But I get it with you. You are very high risk, and the only way your insurance costs come down is if people like me are forced into your high risk pool. F*ck that.

Quote:3) Make it illegal for any publicly supported facility to not take Obamacare.

I would say make it illegal for any facility to accept Obamacare. But, go ahead and do it your way, and you will either see them shut down, or not take public support. They will then counter and say they no longer have to take emergency room transits as well, so be careful of the slope you are going down.

Quote:4) Ban any grants or research funds to any facility that doesn't take Obamacare.


And then offer a public option. And require all taxpayer supported facilities to take it. Ban privatization of taxpayer supported facilities.

Problem solved.

That s a sh*tload of mandates to proclaim "problem solved". And it doesnt solve my problem.

1. I want my own doctor
2. I want my own plan
3. I want rates that reflect my low risk

It doesnt solve those problems at all. It solves your sh*tty problem, at the expense of me.

F8ck that.

I regret that I can only give you three rep points for calling out the most self-centered, envious SOB on this board.


Newsflash for Lazytom and the rest of you leftist bastiges.......your healthcare isn't my financial concern so keep your grubby little hands out of my wallet.

Trash Obamacare.
Implement a National Medicaid program for the 12 million that were dumped into the private market.
Open competition across state lines.
Call it a day.