LiveLaughLove
9/20/2012, 02:49 PM
http://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2012/09/19/the_emerging_obamacare_truth_is_disarray_99890.htm l
Maybe here's why.
A remarkable truth about Obamacare is how many aspects of its initial programs and initiatives are already in disarray.
The Obama team is woefully behind its own schedule for implementing features of the legislation. The critical regulations outlining what the Obamacare insurance benefit will look like was supposed to be out more than six months ago. Now it looks like this regulation won't be dropped until after the election.
How convenient.
The temporary "high risk" pools that Obamacare created, to provide a way for those with pre-existing health conditions to get insurance immediately, are undersubscribed yet way over budget. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the $5 billion allocated to these pools could enroll 200,000 consumers. They envisioned enrollment growing to more than 400,000. But only 77,877 have signed up as of July, yet the program is way over its budget. More than a quarter of these state-based risk pools are short on cash.
So it's just that the dumb people won't sign up for it. It's not Obama's over assumptions for sure. Nah, couldn't be.
The CLASS Act, which was supposed to provide consumers government-financed long-term care insurance has been abandoned, blowing an $86 billion dollar hole in Obamacare's cost estimates. The CLASS Act was never financially viable. Its costs would have outstripped revenue as soon as it was in full operation. But since it took in money five years before it started to pay out benefits, budget gimmickry let Mr. Obama capture that revenue and use it to finance Obamacare. In abandoning the measure, the President's own health secretary called the scheme "unsustainable."
Blasphemy!
The crown jewel of Obamacare's effort to contain healthcare costs, the creation of Accountable Care Organizations, is so unwieldy that major provider groups have said they won't participate. The idea is to consolidate doctors, turning them into employees of large systems, and then pay these systems lump sums of money to take care of groups of patients. A letter from 10 major medical groups that previously ran similar programs said, "it would be difficult, if not impossible" to accept the financial design created by Obamacare. In another rebuke, an umbrella group representing premier medical organizations said 90 percent of its members wouldn't partake.
Blasphemy again I say! How dare these elites!
Obamacare can't even settle on an affordable definition to the term "affordable" -- creating the prospect that millions of middle class families will get priced out of coverage.
Here all along we thought he was Carter II. He's actually Clinton II, well at least when it comes to weasling. Terrific for the middle class, huh.
Not in the article but it's being reported that 6 million people will be taxed for not subscribing. 6 million people that make over $250k per year I suppose since he promised to never raise taxes on those below $250k per year.
Of course, by Obamacare math let's see... we add x and carry the 1, then multiply y, and we get about 18 million that probably will be taxed by it. I mean Obamacare was supposed to be $90 billion before it somehow became $2.7 trillion right?
Oh, I forgot it's not a tax, it's a PENALTY. That's why the Solicitor General for the OBAMA ADMINISTRATION argued before the Supreme Court that it was a tax. Huh? I thought the Supreme Court just declared it a tax on their own, while Obama insisted it was a penalty.
So how could his attorney say it was a tax? You mean the Supreme Court just AGREED with the OBAMA ADMINISTRATION?
Wow. Their slick, just like ol' Willie after all. And we get to pay the price.
Maybe here's why.
A remarkable truth about Obamacare is how many aspects of its initial programs and initiatives are already in disarray.
The Obama team is woefully behind its own schedule for implementing features of the legislation. The critical regulations outlining what the Obamacare insurance benefit will look like was supposed to be out more than six months ago. Now it looks like this regulation won't be dropped until after the election.
How convenient.
The temporary "high risk" pools that Obamacare created, to provide a way for those with pre-existing health conditions to get insurance immediately, are undersubscribed yet way over budget. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the $5 billion allocated to these pools could enroll 200,000 consumers. They envisioned enrollment growing to more than 400,000. But only 77,877 have signed up as of July, yet the program is way over its budget. More than a quarter of these state-based risk pools are short on cash.
So it's just that the dumb people won't sign up for it. It's not Obama's over assumptions for sure. Nah, couldn't be.
The CLASS Act, which was supposed to provide consumers government-financed long-term care insurance has been abandoned, blowing an $86 billion dollar hole in Obamacare's cost estimates. The CLASS Act was never financially viable. Its costs would have outstripped revenue as soon as it was in full operation. But since it took in money five years before it started to pay out benefits, budget gimmickry let Mr. Obama capture that revenue and use it to finance Obamacare. In abandoning the measure, the President's own health secretary called the scheme "unsustainable."
Blasphemy!
The crown jewel of Obamacare's effort to contain healthcare costs, the creation of Accountable Care Organizations, is so unwieldy that major provider groups have said they won't participate. The idea is to consolidate doctors, turning them into employees of large systems, and then pay these systems lump sums of money to take care of groups of patients. A letter from 10 major medical groups that previously ran similar programs said, "it would be difficult, if not impossible" to accept the financial design created by Obamacare. In another rebuke, an umbrella group representing premier medical organizations said 90 percent of its members wouldn't partake.
Blasphemy again I say! How dare these elites!
Obamacare can't even settle on an affordable definition to the term "affordable" -- creating the prospect that millions of middle class families will get priced out of coverage.
Here all along we thought he was Carter II. He's actually Clinton II, well at least when it comes to weasling. Terrific for the middle class, huh.
Not in the article but it's being reported that 6 million people will be taxed for not subscribing. 6 million people that make over $250k per year I suppose since he promised to never raise taxes on those below $250k per year.
Of course, by Obamacare math let's see... we add x and carry the 1, then multiply y, and we get about 18 million that probably will be taxed by it. I mean Obamacare was supposed to be $90 billion before it somehow became $2.7 trillion right?
Oh, I forgot it's not a tax, it's a PENALTY. That's why the Solicitor General for the OBAMA ADMINISTRATION argued before the Supreme Court that it was a tax. Huh? I thought the Supreme Court just declared it a tax on their own, while Obama insisted it was a penalty.
So how could his attorney say it was a tax? You mean the Supreme Court just AGREED with the OBAMA ADMINISTRATION?
Wow. Their slick, just like ol' Willie after all. And we get to pay the price.