canada has big concern over obama care

[Grapesoda]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/gracemar...re-are-harmed/

The Insurance-Salesman-In-Chief Makes His Numbers But Millions More Are Harmed

President Obama is bragging that the administration has surpassed its target of 7 million people enrolled in the ObamaCare exchanges, but he isn?t talking about the millions of people who are being harmed so the insurance-salesman-in-chief could make his numbers.

Millions of people have been driven into the ObamaCare exchanges and out of private coverage they liked. Most are facing higher premiums, higher co-payments, and sky-high deductibles. And Americans are footing the bill for the $2.6 trillion law that was supposed to get us to near-universal coverage and make health care more affordable but which will do neither.

We learned yesterday that even the three television networks couldn?t tolerate the president?s dance in the end zone, denying a request that they air a victory speech in prime time.

Since at least six million people lost their individual private plans ? and the doctors and hospitals they liked ? because of ObamaCare, the enrollment numbers are nothing to boast about.

The 7 million number came from an early Congressional Budget Office estimate. The CBO needed to calculate how many people it believed would gain private health insurance in the exchanges in the first year and therefore what the cost of the taxpayer subsidies would be. The CBO also assumed that the majority of those in the exchanges would come from the ranks of the uninsured.

But, as we now know, as many as two-thirds of those buying coverage in the exchanges were driven out of their private plans because they didn?t comply with the mountain of ObamaCare mandates. Only about one-third of those enrolling in the exchanges were previously uninsured, based upon a yet-unpublished but reported study by the RAND Corporation.
An estimated 86% of those enrolled in the exchanges who previously had insurance have paid their premiums. But the story is different for the remainder of enrollees who had been uninsured. Only about half of them are expected to pay their premium and therefore will be officially enrolled.

The Medicaid enrollment numbers also are being inflated. The Obama administration on Friday said an additional three million people had enrolled in the expanded Medicaid health insurance programs for the poor.

But the Washington Post Fact Checker smacked down an earlier claim that 3.9 million people were enrolled in Medicaid as a result of the ACA. ?Bottom line: This number tells you almost nothing about how the Affordable Care Act is affecting Medicaid enrollment. Reporters need to stop using it,? the Fact Checker said.

And what does this say about an administration bragging that more people now are on a welfare program, enrolled in the worst, most dysfunctional, most wasteful (and that?s saying something) health care program in the country.

Further, the White House also boasts that three million young people are insured because of ObamaCare but this number also is false. Avik Roy writes:

If you give Obamacare credit for the entire difference in the trend between 25-34 year olds and 18-24 year-olds, since 2008, you get to a coverage expansion of between 889,000 young adults (on a 2008 population base) and 931,000 (on a 2012 population base). Again, that?s not nothing, but it?s far from the 3 million cited by Obamacare partisans.

When accurate numbers are finally totaled, it is likely that an additional 1 to 2 million people will have private health insurance as a result of ObamaCare, based upon projections of enrollment and payment of the premiums.

Reason columnist Shikha Dalmiat breaks down the actual numbers and concludes:

So, to recap: Obamacare has extended coverage to a far smaller portion of the uninsured than expected, caused millions of others to lose coverage, raised out-of-pocket costs for many middle-income consumers, diminished patient choice of doctors and hospitals and exposed Americans to future premium hikes.

This is why Americans are not popping the cork. Nor should the administration.

Expanding access to coverage is a worthy goal, but it could have been accomplished with so much less disruption if Congress had targeted that specific problem rather than trying to swallow one-sixth of the economy in one gulp.

Lowering health costs was always a primary goal of health reform. Avik and his colleagues at the Manhattan Institute have found that exchange plans cost on average 41% more than the private plans people had before.

Yes, the policies cover more benefits (many of which people say they don?t want or need). But those in the Bronze and Silver plans are facing both higher costs and narrower provider networks and deductibles of several thousand dollars that can dramatically increase their out-of-pocket costs.

An estimated 80% of those enrolled in exchange coverage are receiving taxpayer subsidies. But the subsidies aren?t free. Taxpayers are on the hook for at least $1 trillion in new and higher taxes ? 20 of them in all ? to pay for ObamaCare, while seniors are threatened with dramatic cuts to Medicare to help foot the bill. This massive shell game doesn?t reduce costs; it only shifts and increases them.

Insurers say double-digit increases in premiums are likely in the exchanges next year. Small businesses are facing a doubling or even tripling of their health insurance costs to comply with the new ObamaCare benefit mandates regulations. And larger companies are restructuring their health benefit plans to increase premiums and deductibles for their employees to get ready for new ObamaCare taxes yet to come.

Former speaker Nancy Pelosi insists we should call the law the ?affordable? care act ? it?s ?affordable, affordable, affordable, affordable?? But the president?s promise that the average family would save $2,500 a year on health costs if the law passed merits Four Pinocchios. Their costs are going up by at least that much.

What?s next? There was, and continues to be, bi-partisan support in Congress for legislation to expand access to coverage by providing subsidies for those who needed insurance and can?t afford it, make health insurance more secure so people who have coverage don?t lose it, help those with pre-existing conditions, and allow states to reform the abysmal Medicaid program so that it provides actual access to physicians for recipients.

Liberals defend ObamaCare by saying that Republicans don?t have ?a plan? so we might as well stick with ObamaCare. No, they don?t have a plan to turn one-sixth of our economy over to the government, disrupt coverage for tens of millions of people, drive up the cost of health insurance and health care, leave at least 30 million people without insurance and spend $2.6 trillion in the process. Conservatives do not have a plan to do this.

Which is why we should not expect or want a massive reform bill from Republicans and why Republicans should unite behind principles and explain their vision for reform to begin to chart the path for their legislative agenda to get to the right health reform moving forward.

[MrTrollkien]

I sure wouldn’t buy a used car from this crook.

[_Richard_]

... Canada?

[SilentKnight]

What's Canada have to do with this article?

[Sly]

Canada is afraid Americans will be storming the border.

[_Richard_]

Originally Posted by Sly

Canada is afraid Americans will be storming the border.

like they did during the vietnam war?

we actually didn't mind that much

[Sly]

Originally Posted by _Richard_

like they did during the vietnam war?

we actually didn't mind that much

20 million of us will get annoying real quick. We'll drink all your beer and eat your maple syrup.

[_Richard_]

Originally Posted by Sly

20 million of us will get annoying real quick. We'll drink all your beer and eat your maple syrup.

funny how history repeats itself

lemme guess, all the southern states are gonna say it's a good idea, the northern states will go 'ahh, lets not'

and we burn shit down

right?

[arock10]

Shame we went with the conservatives plan and not single payer

[wehateporn]

There is reason why US don't dare fuck with Canada

[_Richard_]

Originally Posted by wehateporn

There is reason why US don't dare fuck with Canada

its coming.. no one wants Prince Charles on the currency

[Rochard]

I am a little bit confused by Obamcare. We shouldn't be looking at "how many people signed up to Obamacare" but instead what percentage of people in the US have health insurance. There are over three hundred million people in the US - there should be over three hundred million people in the US getting healthcare.

We all know what's happening here - they set a lame goal, reached it, and now they are tooting their horn. I want what percentage of people have healthcare.

[Sly]

Originally Posted by _Richard_

funny how history repeats itself

lemme guess, all the southern states are gonna say it's a good idea, the northern states will go 'ahh, lets not'

and we burn shit down

right?

Ohhh shit, are you bragging about a 200-year-old house burning done by the British and claiming it as Canadian? You guys need something new to brag about. The Greyhound decapitation is worth bragging about, run with that.

[_Richard_]

Originally Posted by Sly

Ohhh shit, are you bragging about a 200-year-old house burning done by the British and claiming it as Canadian? You guys need something new to brag about. The Greyhound decapitation is worth bragging about, run with that.

it's called a joke!

as i am assuming you are with the 20 million man invasion of a country that has been nothing but good to you for the past 100+ years

run with that. and run along.

[InfoGuy]

Originally Posted by Sly

20 million of us will get annoying real quick. We'll drink all your beer and eat your maple syrup.

and take advantage of your women.

[WDF]

ObamaCare vs. Curling and some nasty looking food named Poo something? Hmmmmmm!

[AsianDivaGirlsWebDude]

Grace-Marie Turner, the writer of the Op-Ed cited by the OP is a longtime right-wing health industry lobbyist/shill/tool:

According their web page, the Galen Institute is funded by:

"[a]variety of sources, including philanthropic foundations, individual donors, and companies both inside and outside the health sector."

According to Powerbase.org's page on The Galen Institute, they received funding from the following grants:

-The Scaife Foundations, the umbrella for multiple foundations, which is "Financed by the Mellon industrial, oil and banking fortune. At one time its largest single holding was stock in the Gulf Oil Corporation. Became active in funding conservative causes in 1973."

-Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, which supports "[the] organizations and individuals that promote the deregulation of business, the rollback of virtually all social welfare programs, and the privitization of government services."

-----

Do you really think that the Galen Institute would write an Op-Ed that would favor individuals getting access to health care that was efficient and cheap?

Or would they write an Op-Ed in favor of a busted system that denies care, jacks rates, and does it's very best to deny care if it is too expensive? Here's Ms. Turner's money quote from her op-ed:

"ObamaCare imposes a battery of new rules on insurance plans, dictating that they must spend a certain percentage of premium payments on medical care vs. administrative costs. But many firms simply can?t meet the test, for a number of reasons."

Her problem is the new health care law mandates that 80 to 85 cents of every dollar spent by these plans go directly to actual health care, and not administrative costs or profits. What are the reasons they can't comply? Is it because she is funded by for-profit companies that don't want to lose their profit margin?

Galen Institute: ?partner organization? of the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation

Grace-Marie Turner Distorts Data About Health Care Law's Impact On Job Creation

I saw Pain?s post at Hell and as I listened to this lying shitbag, Grace Marie Turner, spew, I knew I had to post video this here.

This is the perfect example of listening to a person speak and offer advice and then doing precisely the opposite to be on the safe side.

Pain says she is ?in bed with Big Medicine to the tune of nearly 700 000 USD per year?. Just a cursory listen by an informed individual reveals that what she is saying is nothing more than shilling for Insurance and Meds.

Galen was founded in 1995 by Grace-Marie Turner. In 2003, Galen established the Center for Consumer Driven Health Care.

Funding

According to Galen's 2005 report to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS form 990), the organization had $695,022 in income and $607,615 in expenses that year. Turner's compensation for an estimated 60 hours per week of work at Galen was $180,000.

ADG

[Black All Through]

Healthcare is a citizens right, not a luxury for them that can afford it.

[Grapesoda]

Originally Posted by Rochard

I am a little bit confused by Obamcare. We shouldn't be looking at "how many people signed up to Obamacare" but instead what percentage of people in the US have health insurance. There are over three hundred million people in the US - there should be over three hundred million people in the US getting healthcare.

We all know what's happening here - they set a lame goal, reached it, and now they are tooting their horn. I want what percentage of people have healthcare.

Richard, most of the people signed up on obama care are people that got dumped off the health care they had previously, then were forced to sign up with Obama care, like me.

[Grapesoda]

Originally Posted by SilentKnight

What's Canada have to do with this article?

I've been wondering for some time what Canada has to do with American politics

[2MuchMark]

Wow there is so much right-wing garbage in the OP message. Start with "Insurance-Salesman-In-Chief " and that will give you an idea of how far-right leaning it is.

[Axeman]

Originally Posted by **********

Wow there is so much right-wing garbage in the OP message. Start with "Insurance-Salesman-In-Chief " and that will give you an idea of how far-right leaning it is.

You mean he isn't currently the #1 insurance salesman in the nation? Pretty sure he is.

[wehateporn]

This is the difference between a Corporatocracy and a real honest government that represents the people; if it were the latter that insurance money would simply go into a big pot, nobody private corporations required, no 40% skim to Fat Cats, just money in a pot that is used for healthcare.

[Grapesoda]

Originally Posted by **********

Wow there is so much right-wing garbage in the OP message. Start with "Insurance-Salesman-In-Chief " and that will give you an idea of how far-right leaning it is.

sorry Mark I hadn't realized that Forbes was a rightwing rag.... and BTW it's pretty easy to label something, disregard the information, and move on.. pretty sure you only search for information to confirm your ideas and beliefs, not to learn anything new... but don't worry that's a very common trait so your in good company

[woj]

Originally Posted by **********

Wow there is so much right-wing garbage in the OP message. Start with "Insurance-Salesman-In-Chief " and that will give you an idea of how far-right leaning it is.

what don't you like about that article? you think the facts are not accurate? if so, which ones?

[Best-In-BC]

Originally Posted by Sly

20 million of us will get annoying real quick. We'll drink all your beer and eat your maple syrup.

Highly doubt all your fat ass dumb ass citizens will even know where Canada even is

[SilentKnight]

Originally Posted by Sly

Ohhh shit, are you bragging about a 200-year-old house burning done by the British and claiming it as Canadian? You guys need something new to brag about. The Greyhound decapitation is worth bragging about, run with that.

As said above...it's a joke. Get a sense of humour.

Failing that...feel free to brag about Vietnam.