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Biased Newspaper Reporting

April 3, 2016

inDisinformation and the healthcare system

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Stanley Feld M.D.FACP, MACE

I used to read every word of the New York Times. After all it was “all the news fit to print.”

It took me a long time to figure out it was the same sensational journalism as the New York Daily News and the New York Post. Its sensationalism is subtler.

Both the News and the Post had better Sports sections than the Times. All three newspapers are biased. They all leave out important facts.

The New York Times leaves out important facts and does not connect related facts. The result is intelligent people reading and believing the New York Times can have one world view, while another group of intelligent people reading and connecting the facts can have an opposite world view.

The following headline appeared on the front page of the Sunday Times on Easter Sunday.

On Campaign Trail, Republicans Tone Down Criticism of Obamacare.

On its surface the headline infers that Obamacare is working and citizens like it.

The Times claim is, “Among the most embattled Senate Republican incumbents, the campaign websites of Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, Mark Kirk of Illinois and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin barely mention the health care law.

The article goes on to quotes Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell.

“The explanation for (the lack of criticism of Obamacare) may be that for all its controversy and imperfections, the sweeping law has taken hold.”

“This (Obamacare) is in the fabric of the nation,” said Burwell.

“To be sure, the presidential election outcome will be a determinant of whether the health care law is reshaped, bolstered or downsized.”

Is reporting this Obama administration bias? To me it certainly is. This conclusion is total nonsense. It is an attempt by the New York Times to help the Obama administration spin the truth and save President Obama’s legacy

The Times also points out that; “President Obama took part in a celebration in Milwaukee this month after the city was given an award for increasing health insurance enrollment.”

Paul Krugman’s New York Times articles have been telling reders how successful Obamacare has been. The problem with his commentary is it does not fit the facts.

Meanwhile President Obama and the administration have been modifying the law almost monthly without the consent of congress.

It has also been spending money without congressional approval because the law has not worked out well for President Obama and his administration.

Obamacare has been a failure for all the stakeholders. It has had a negative impact on the economy and the delivery of medical care.

It cannot be fixed with a few modifications.

I hope the New York Times is just printing the Obama administration’s press releases. However, the Times editorials reflect the lies.

Anyone running for congress who believes the New York Times propaganda about the success of Obamacare should not be elected.

Many patients credit the President with giving them access to coverage even if they have a pre-existing condition and are not in a group plan. Meanwhile, the cost of the insurance has changed with higher premiums and deductibles, and the cost of coverage is increasing annually for both Obamacare and private insurance.

Remember President Obama’s promise, “If you like your insurance you can keep your insurance

The cost of HealthCare.gov has been a debacle. It had been riddled with scandals, inefficiency, cronyism, and disrespect for consumers’ intelligence. I thought the original $800 million dollar cost estimate was ridiculously high. Its present estimate is $2.1 billion dollars. the web site healthcare.gov is still not right.

How much did CMS really spent on Obamacare? No one really knows. It has not been cheap. Most of the expenditures have not been approved by congress.

For the last three years the Obama administration has lied about the enrollment numbers. At the same time they have bragged about the enrollment success. In 2014 the grand total enrollment in private insurance through the Obamacare exchange was 260,000 while 14 million privately insured lost coverage.

However the total number of consumers enrolled through Medicaid was 8.99 million. This occurred with only 23 states participating in the expansion of Medicaid

The enrollment figures had not improved at the end of 2015 even though the Obama administration extended the enrollment period constantly throughout the year.

“Earlier this month (2016), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced that nearly 8.8 million Americans had “effectuated” coverage at the end of 2015, meaning they were paying their health insurance premiums.”

The agency praised this number as a sign of Obamacare’s success in expanding access to coverage.”

This is a perfect example of spinning the news. At the of the 2015 enrollment period before the enrollment extensions 11.69 million members signed up and paid. At the end of 2015 only 8.78 million people continued to pay their premiums.

This represents less than the Obama administration claimed enrollment of 2014.

The New York Times is publishing fiction because of it’s bias toward President Obama and Obamacare. The truth about Obamacare’s lack of success is public record. Unfortunately the New York Times ignores the truth.

Obamacare enrollment decreased even further this year (2016). The insurance premiums and deductibles are too high for people making over 50,000 dollars a year. Only the fully subsidized people can afford to stay in Obamacare.

Obamacare’s State Co-Ops were formed to have states run their own state insurance exchanges. Inefficiencies and faulty business model cause 13 of the 23 to fail so far.

The Obama administration provided 2.5 billion dollars in loans to these State Co-Ops. So far the federal government has lost 1.2 billion dollars of it 2.5 billion loaned to the state Co-Ops.

The Affordable Care Act allowed for the creation of consumer-operated and oriented plans, or co-ops, that were intended to inject competition into areas where consumers had few choices.

At present 8 more Co-Ops are on the verge and will probably close for enrollment for 2017.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have little hope or collecting the money lent to the State Co-Ops. Information surrounding the liability of the failed state Co-Ops for the loans has not been transparent.

A total of $2.4 billion in loans was awarded to 23 Co Ops start-up and solvency loans to the 23 co-ops.

Now, 12 of the 23 co-ops that opened their doors in 2013 have closed and have left 900,000 consumers without insurance. No one can tell if these people were assimilated into the federal health exchanges. Republicans in Congress are questioning whether the taxpayers will ever get repaid $1.2 billion loaned to those failed Co-Op insurers.

Obamacare has made insurance available to millions of Americans with pre-existing conditions were denied coverage. This is true. However both the premiums and the $6000 deductibles are unaffordable.

A diabetic wrote to me, “Obamacare is great! Now I can buy insurance. My premium cost $12,000 a year. My deductible is $6,000 for a total of $18,000 a year. My medical bills were $100,000 last year.

I asked what was her HbA1c. She said it was 9.2% (normal 4.5% -5.5%).

The high HbA1c means she is a poorly controlled diabetic.

Shouldn’t this patient be responsible to lower the HA1c to 6% in order to reduce her diabetes complication rate?

Not everyone can afford $18,000 per year. Most of the diabetic patients who cannot afford the high insurance rates in the federal health exchanges have even higher HbA1c levels. They will ultimately cost the payer of last resort, the government, even more after the patient is bankrupt.

A better system needs to be developed to incentivized these people to be responsible for their own diabetes control.

Another feature of Obamacare that is publicized as one of the great successes is that children can stay on their parents’ plans until age 26.

The unintended consequence of this feature has given the healthcare insurance industry and excuse to raise insurance premiums by double digits increase each year.

President Obama has bragged, and the New York Times has applauded him for it, that health care inflation has been lowered since Obamacare was passed into law. He say that Obamacare has bent the healthcare cost curve.

This is false. Obamacare was collecting Obamacare imposed tax increases on every income bracket for three years prior to implementation of the healthcare coverage.

The cost curve was bent because there were no expenditures in the delivery of healthcare. In 2015 the healthcare cost curve is rising.

There are 20 hidden taxes in the law that effect citizens earning less than $250,000 dollars a year. .

These new taxes contradict President Obama’s promise that “anyone making under $250,000 a year will not pay a dime in new taxes.” Many of these taxes on businesses are being passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices.

https://youtu.be/eHlRY3kHhBk

Insurance companies are leaving the federal health exchanges in droves because they are not making as much money as promised by the Obama administration. Obamacare will disappear without insurance company participation.

“When compared to 2015, 22 states and the District of Columbia have fewer insurers offering coverage on the exchanges in 2016.

Just 10 states have more insurers offering coverage on Obamacare’s exchange.
The New York Times presents deceiving information about Obamacare. I cannot understand why readers believe these lies.

The opinions expressed in the blog “Repairing The Healthcare System” are, mine and mine alone.

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The Obamacare Spin Goes On

March 14, 2016

inDisinformation and the healthcare system, Medicine: Healthcare System, Stakeholder Abuse of the Healthcare System, Stakeholder Mistrust

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Stanley Feld M.D.,FACP,MACE

The Obama administration continues to spin the virtues of Obamacare even as it is becoming more obvious that it is a failure.

Andy Slavitt, acting head of CMS, in testimony before a congressional committee explained the failure of the Obamacare Co-Ops. In an effort to distract the committee Mr. Slavitt repeated Health Secretary Sylvia Burwell’s comment in February, after enrollment ended, that more than 90% of Americans are insured because of Obamacare. She said this was a record number of people who are insured.

The committee was not impressed. To my disappoint none of the Republican dominated committee members pointed out the insignificance of the enrollment statement.

There are 330 million people in this country. If 10% are uninsured there are still 33 million people who are uninsured.

Prior to Obamacare there was an average of 43 million people uninsured or 13% of the population. In 6 years there has only been a 3% increase in insurance coverage at an estimated cost of almost $1 trillion dollars.

Healthcare.gov insurance is even too expensive for people who have receive federal subsidy. A recent blog post said it all.

“Now I Have Insurance. But I Can’t Use It. What Am I Supposed to Do?”

Obamacare is not the successful project Secretary Burwell and the Acting Head of CMS spun to congress and the American people.

The federal loss of $1.23 billion dollars in loans to state Co-Ops alone because of the failure of 13 of the 23 Non-Profit Co-Ops is a large failure. The federal government will never be paid back for the loans to these failed Co-Ops.

The loans will probably not be charged to Obamacare. At present 2 more have failed and 6 of the remaining nine Co-Ops are under investigation and at the verge of failure.

Co-Ops enrolled 400,000 in 2014 and more than 1 million at the end of 2015 enrollment.

Twenty-two (22) of the twenty-three (23) Co-ops lost money in 2014. Only 9 reached targeted enrollment. The 13 failed Co-Ops served 14 states. They have all closed down.

718,000 enrollees lost coverage through the Co-ops that failed.

If the enrollment for 2016 is truly 1 million people these enrollees will be distributed in the remaining half of the states that lost money in 2014. These Co-ops are bound to failure in 2016 unless the federal government pours money into the remaining Co-ops.

As of March 1, 2016 according to acaSignups.net there were 12,668,585 signups for 2016.

9.6 million signed up through HC.gov. The CBO projected 21 million signup for 2016.

The Min-Med programs approved for McDonald’s and other fast food businesses and exempt form Obamacare are still allowed. These workers are essentially uninsured if they become ill. Yet the government counts these workers as being insured.

President Obama and his administration continue to deceive Congress and the American people about the success of Obamacare.

The Republican dominated congress does not challenge the Obama administration on these deceptions. They are afraid the people will react negatively to the congress.

The people are reacting to President Obama, his administration and the congress. Maybe the people are smarter than all the politicians think they are.

The opinions expressed in the blog “Repairing The Healthcare System” are, mine and mine alone.

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Stop Confusing Me With Misleading Facts

February 8, 2016

inPoliticians,Healthcare and Vested Interests

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Stanley Feld M.D. FACP, MACE

The truth is derived from facts. In social sciences such as politics and economics isolated facts can lead to conclusions that are far from the truth. It is also possible to manipulate statistics that lead to false conclusions.

Misleading facts can lead to false conclusions and inaccurate opinions.

The Obama administration has mastered the art of picking isolated facts and manipulating statistics. It has used that skill and the traditional mainstream media to mold public opinion.

Government agencies are supposed to be politically neutral. The Obama administration uses isolated reported facts out of context to mold favorable public opinion using the traditional media.

This methodology has been pervasive in misinforming and transforming America. This phenomenon is especially true as it relates to the healthcare system.

Healthcare.gov’s enrollment supposedly ended for 2016 on January 31, 2016. Enrollment has been abysmal for 2016. It is no higher that the enrollment reported in 2014.

The only real increase has been the increase in Medicaid enrollment.

“As announced yesterday, the official QHP selection number ended up coming in right in the middle of this: 12.7 million nationally (9.6 million via HC.gov).”

Nevertheless, Secretary Burwell announced that enrollment surpassed expectations.

In mid-December President Obama announced as proof of the success of Obamacare;

“Nearly 6 million Americans so far have enrolled in insurance for 2016 through HealthCare.gov, President Obama announced on Friday, touting a big increase over last year that he said shows the Affordable Care Act is succeeding.”

The truth is Obamacare is a failure. State healthcare exchanges are failing. Many states have closed down their state healthcare exchanges. Yet, President Obama’s message is that his signature legislation, the Affordable Care Act, is succeeding.

The administration never addresses the reason Obamacare is failing. However, people who know the facts know it is failing and why it is failing. Obamacare simply does not meet the needs of the middle class consumers.

“It’s time to look at the major reasons for the shortfall.

Some of these are well-documented criticisms: Premiums and/or deductibles are simply too damned high for many policies/regions in general.”

There are many additional reasons for the poor enrollment but that is not the point of this article.

The point of this article is the Obama administration deceiving the public .

There are other areas of consumer (public) deception by the Obama administration.

One outstanding example is the administration’s conclusion that there is no inflation in America, which is hard to believe. Every time we go into a grocery store the price of food seems to increase. Every time we buy clothing, an appliance, a car or a restaurant meal the price seems to increase.

Few people know that food and fuel are not included in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The CPI is a measure used in determining the inflation rate.

The article that stimulated me to write this blog was last week’s announcement that the unemployment rate has just decreased to below 5%.

President Obama, who expressed frustration that he has not received the credit he feels he deserves for the country’s improving economy, said the jobs numbers were further signs of progress.

“After reaching 10 percent in 2009, the unemployment rate has now fallen to 4.9 percent even as more Americans joined the job market last month,” he told reporters at a White House briefing in Washington. “Americans are working.”

The New York Times reported that the Obama administration has used this figure to brag about how well the economy is doing under his administration.

A non-traditional media publication, PJ media, has reported, in detail, the interpretation of the real numbers using the government’s own statistics. It is worthwhile reading the entire article and forming your own opinion about the unemployment rate.

“Every so often a monthly employment report is full of so many irregularities that it pays to discount the report. This might be one of those times.

We’ve commented several times over the years about the BLS cooking the books on jobs. James Pethokoukis lists some other stats that tell far more of the real story about the employment picture than the bare-bones numbers highlighted by the media:

Not everything was great: job gains far short of 185,000 expectations (though averaging 231,000 the past three months), U-6 unemployment-underemployment rate unchanged at 9.9%, long-term unemployment worsened, labor force participation and employment rate still way below pre-recession levels, wages gains short of what you would expect to see in a full-throttle economy. Particularly vexing for Barclays was job weakness in the service sector.

The unemployment rate figure is a fact used to mold public opinion. The mainstream media is the message. The problem is the Obama administration’s message is an absolute lie.

“In other words, the job situation in America still sucks, and the president is blowing smoke by touting the numbers as good news.”

One commenter wrote, using the government raw data;

“empiresentry 1st Boomer • 15 hours ago

Yeah that 30% was a ‘laugh’ and the Dims fell for it. Cali and some other Dim states mistakenly were unable to submit their numbers (cough cough)
.
For January 2016:
First time INITIAL jobs claims for unemployment insurance
Jan. 9, 2016 284,000
Jan. 16, 2016 294000
Jan. 23, 2016 277000
Jan. 30, 2016 285000
————-
940,000 human being lost their jobs

Jan. 623,000 “stopped looking for work”.
We did not stop looking for work. The government stopped counting us because our unemployment insurance ran out.

151,000 people found new jobs, most were retail and restaurant part time.”

The Obama administration and its agencies have presented distorted facts to us over and over again during the past 7 years. It has distorted the truth and, in turn, public opinion.

If one uses the wrong facts, one will come to the wrong conclusion.

Everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion. They are not entitled to their own facts.

That includes the President of the United States of America and his administration’s agencies.

The opinions expressed in the blog “Repairing The Healthcare System” are, mine and mine alone.

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Accelerating The Destruction Of The Healthcare System

January 18, 2016

inDisinformation and the healthcare system, Medicine: Healthcare System, Stakeholder Abuse of the Healthcare System, Stakeholder Mistrust

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Stanley Feld M.D.,FACP,MACE

Most of you are familiar with my slide of the demise of the healthcare system.

Obamacare is accelerating the total collapse of the healthcare system. Once total collapse has occurred Americans might beg for a complete government taken over of the healthcare system with a single party payer system.

I have pointed out most of Obamacare’s new rules causing the unintended consequences and accelerating the healthcare system’s demise.

An unintended consequence in the Accountable Care Organization leads to a new rule to correct the consequence. Unelected officials then create another rule. The new rule results in other unintended consequences. All of these consequences accelerate the healthcare system’s demise.

Obamacare’s first year in operation was 2014. The Obama administration started taxing everyone in 2010 to support the added expenses Obamacare would generate.

Only the individual insurance portion of Obamacare was initiated.

The following are examples of unintended consequences.

Fourteen million people lost their individual healthcare insurance coverage in 2012 because of Obamacare’s new rules. Insurance coverage premiums increased because of the ACA’s required coverage.

Many workers lost their full time jobs. They were put on part-time employment in order for employers to avoid Obamacare penalties.

CMS reported that 13 million signed up for Obamacare in 2014 despite the healthcare.gov website disaster. The number of enrollees was revised a few of times down to 6.6 million because of counting errors.

The direct and indirect costs of Obamacare were never reported to the public.

Obamacare activated a reinsurance program that was built into the Affordable Care Act. The reinsurance program was a bailout to entice the healthcare insurance industry to participate in the Federal Health Insurance Exchanges without experiencing any loses.

The insurance industry has claims the Obama administration owed it 2.5 billion dollars in 2014. The Obama administration was able to pay only 12%. The law restricted the government’s reinsurance payment to a certain percentage of the premiums paid. The amount owed as promised to the healthcare insurance industry for their participation in Obamacare was $2.2 billion short.

I believe the healthcare insurance industry will be loath to participate in the Federal Health Insurance Exchanges in 2017. UnitedHealth has already threatened to quit participating.

This year (2016) during open enrollment only 8.1 million enrolled in the Federal Health Insurance Exchanges.

It has been difficult to trust CMS’s overall claims for the number of enrollees. It has nothing to do with how many people have paid first premium or the anticipated number who will continue to pay premiums throughout the year.

President Obama stated in his state of the union speech that 18 million previously uninsured have received insurance under Obamacare. This is not true.

For argument’s sake let say his number is correct.

More than half the enrollees received Medicaid. President Obama is urging states to expand Medicaid.

What is going to happen when Medicaid is expanded? More people will get free government supplied healthcare insurance but will not be able to find physicians. Medicaid reimbursement is so poor that few physicians participate.

The healthcare system’s demise is rapidly accelerating. Obamacare’s claiming to increase people being covered but these people cannot obtain healthcare services.

Obamacare does not incentivize these people to be responsible consumers. Obesity continues to increase and the dollars spent for healthcare continues to increase.

The truth is enrollment has been terrible for 2016. President Obama is expanding the enrollment period again this year to try to increase enrollment.

“Eager to maximize coverage under the Affordable Care Act, the Obama administration has allowed large numbers of people to sign up for insurance after the deadlines in the last two years, destabilizing insurance markets and driving up premiums, health insurance companies say.”

“The administration has created more than 30 “special enrollment” categories and sent emails to millions of Americans last year urging them to see if they might be able to sign up after the annual open enrollment deadline.

The Obama administration has done nothing to verify whether these late arrivals are eligible for insurance. They just sign up and are insured.

People have figured out they can wait until they become ill or need medical services to sign up. They then sign up and pay their premiums a few months’ premiums. They stop paying their premiums after they have received their medical services. They figure they do not need insurance any more.

“Individuals enrolled through special enrollment periods are utilizing up to 55 percent more services than their open enrollment counterparts” who sign up in the regular period, the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, whose local member companies operate in every state, told the administration.

The Obama administration has told the healthcare insurance industry that it has heard their concerns. The problem is that CMS has not done anything about the insurance industry’s concerns.

“Many individuals have no incentive to enroll in coverage during open enrollment, but can wait until they are sick or need services before enrolling and drop coverage immediately after receiving services, making the annual open enrollment period meaningless,” Steven B. Kelmar, an executive vice president of Aetna.”

Twenty five percent of Aetna enrollees have signed up during the special extended enrollment periods. It has been reported that last year 950,000 people enrolled during the special enrollment period between February and July 2015.

“Kevin J. Moynihan, the chief executive of the federal insurance marketplace, said it shows the marketplace is working to meet people’s needs. He said certain life changes like losing your coverage, having a child, turning 26, moving or getting married may qualify you for a special enrollment period.”

People who are qualified for insurance do not get verified for insurance. It is easy to understand that this leads to unstable insurance markets and subsequent increases in premium prices.

It is o.k. for progressives if healthcare insurance is considered a right under a single party payer system with the losses taken by the government even if the deficit increases.

It is not o.k. if the Obamacare healthcare system pretends to be developing an efficient free enterprise system with the healthcare insurance industry experiencing the loss under the weight of unidentified risks created by the federal government.

The number of people not continuing to pay their insurance premiums their entire year is enormous. The healthcare insurance industry had no way of anticipating this occurrence.

“On average,” Aetna said, “special enrollment period enrollees stay with us for less than four months, while enrollees who come to us during the annual open enrollment period maintain their coverage on average for eight to nine months.”

The same turnover rate has happened to UnitedHealth. It is one of the many reasons UnitedHealth has threatened to quit participating in Obamacare in 2017.

The result will be even higher insurance premiums next year. Most of the Obamacare insurance rates are unaffordable this year.

“Enroll America, a nonprofit group with close ties to the Obama administration, said the government “should not tighten eligibility or verification standards in ways that could place an undue burden on consumers.”

There is no verification for late enrollment. The last statement by “Enroll America” reflects President Obama’s progressive and irresponsible attitude toward fiscal responsibility.

It is no wonder the national debt has grown to $19.2 trillion dollars.

It is another way to accelerate the collapse of the healthcare system.

I believe President Obama knows exactly what he is doing. His problem is he does not understand or care about the significance of the effect the deficit increase will have on America’s financial stability.

Middle class Americans are getting slaughtered.

Additionally he does not understand that Americans will not accept a government controlled single party payer system.

The Republican Party must get on the stick right now. They must offer a viable alternative to President Obama’s goal of a single party payer system. They should not wait until after the election.

The alternative should work in an efficient way. It should put consumers in charge of their health and healthcare dollars.

It would be a good idea for Republicans to understand and offer as an alternative My Ideal Medical Saving Accounts.

The opinions expressed in the blog “Repairing The Healthcare System” are, mine and mine alone.

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Where Is The Missing Money?

November 30, 2015

inUncategorized

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Stanley Feld M.D.,FACP,MACE

Does anyone know how much Obamacare cost each year? Does anyone know if Obamacare is the cause of America’s more than one trillion-dollar deficit each year despite the Obamacare tax increases that are supposed to pay for it ?

If someone knows they sure are not telling taxpayers. A good friend who is a liberal and a big fan of President Obama said to me he is not worried about the federal deficit. Neither is President Obama. President Obama has convinced his base that the budget deficit and America’s escalating debt is an insignificant problem.

It follows that he can spend money as he wishes and waste money with impunity. I was taught that is not the way to run a business. Especially when the waste fullness gets negative results that leads to more deficit spending.

The problem is the waste of money is reported in dribs and drabs and usually on a Friday afternoon.

We have seen that happen in the VA system. After one year and billions of dollars spent the waiting times have decreased slightly. The medical service to veterans has not improved. No one in the bureaucracy has been held responsible. Veterans have been complaining more loudly since nothing has improved.

Missing Money

“The federal government awarded over $5 billion to help states set up Obamacare exchanges, with the vast majority – $4.6 billion – going to 16 states and Washington, D.C.”

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently reported that most of the money has not been accounted for. Several of those State Health Insurance exchanges have gone out of business this year.

$1.4 billion of that has been spent on IT projects. This sounds very high for 16 different web sites. Why couldn’t everyone use the same website?

Three ($3 billion) has been “spent or drawn down.” Only some of the drawn down spending has been detailed.

At least $1.6 billion is unaccounted for. Only three states returned any portion of the money. The federal government has only received back $1 million.

It sounds like government bureaucracy inefficiency at best and fraud and abuse at worst with no one being held accountable.

Can Americans trust the government to run our healthcare system?

Where did those taxpayer dollars go?

More Missing Money

Obamacare created the co-ops to encourage State Health Insurance Exchanges to increase competition in state insurance markets.

The intent was to offer consumers choices with the hope of holding down premiums.

Co-ops were snuck into Obamacare to replace the public option. No one has spoken about this being a substitute for the “public option.” The public option is an obvious ploy to convert the healthcare system quickly to a single party payer system.

The public option was designed to compete with private insurers on the state level by offering lower premiums in order to force the insurance industry to lower its premiums. The co-ops were designed to do the same thing.

President Obama offered state co-ops $6 billion dollars for start-up costs. Since there were only 23 states co-op formed instead of 50 Congress decreased the total payment to $2.4 billion to the 23 start-up co-ops.

All 23 co-ops received their proportional federal loans to meet solvency requirements as well as start-up costs.

President Obama now claims the Republican house denied Obamacare enough money for the co-op to be successful.

Twelve (12) of the 23 nonprofit insurance co-ops announced they will not offer coverage to consumers who bought healthcare coverage in 2015 in 2016. They are bankrupt. Where did the money go?

Somewhere between 300,000 and 600,000 people will be shopping for more expensive healthcare coverage for 2016.

The remaining 11 standing co-ops are $500 million dollar in the hole.

There is no accounting available to explain why these co-ops have failed

Does anyone think these $2.4 billion dollar loans will be paid back to the federal government? I do not. It will simply be added to the federal deficit.

“CMS said the government would “use every tool available to recover taxpayer dollars” from the co-ops going out of business, but it declined to say how much she expected to recoup.”

There are many reasons these co-ops have failed. Republicans not giving the co-ops more money, as progressives and Democrats have claimed, is not one of the reasons.

Another area of missing taxpayers’ dollars.

The Senate Finance Committee is looking into the millions of taxpayer dollars being spent on ads to promote Obamacare enrollment.

The total federal government budget for ads and PR was nearly $1 billion in fiscal 2013. How much was spent on Obamacare?

The Health and Human Services budget for “paid media” is about $35 million for the current enrollment period. The $35 million dollars will be spent in the 38 states using HealthCare.gov in the 2016 enrollment period.

Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, raised concerns about agency ad spending and sent a letter to the acting head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) asking for a full accounting of agency ad spending.

“Increased transparency on government spending on advertising will improve accountability and help ensure that the taxes from hardworking Americans are not squandered and wasted on ineffective or misguided government programs,” he wrote to Acting Administrator Andrew M. Slavitt.

Senator Hatch demanded the accounting by November 25^th. Does anyone think he received it?

In 2010, the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported the Obama administration spent nearly $20 million on a Medicare brochure that contained “instances in which HHS presented abbreviated information and a positive view of Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) that is not universally shared.”

The GAO papered over the ridiculous expenditure.

GAO concluded that “nothing in the brochure constitutes communications that are purely partisan, self-aggrandizing, or covert.”

CRS reported HHS was second only to the Department of Defense, spending $197.4 million on advertising in fiscal 2013.

“The total federal government budget for ads and PR was nearly $1 billion in fiscal 2013.”

Would healthcare be so expensive if the government was transparent and congress was really on top of everything?

Physicians only receive 20% of the healthcare dollars spent.

President Obama and his administration spend taxpayer’s money at will.

Americans have to demand “more efficiency and much more transparency.”

The opinions expressed in the blog “Repairing The Healthcare System” are, mine and mine alone.

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Lie. Why Not?

November 22, 2015

inUncategorized

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Stanley Feld M.D.,FACP,MACE

President Obama and his administration continue to lie to the American people. One of the major criticisms of letting Syrian refugees into this country is that our vetting process is not robust enough to determine if some of the young strong men might be ISIS operatives.

Ben Rhodes, Deputy National Security Adviser, repeated President Obama’s lie about the U.S. intelligence agencies having a robust vetting procedure. The agencies contradicted President Obama.

How can President Obama have the nerve to tell the American people that Obamacare is working when few enrollees are signing up on www.healthcare.gov so far during this open enrollment period.

On Thursday UnitedHealthcare said it is losing too much money on servicing www.healthcare.gov enrollees to continue. It is threatening drop out of servicing the Health Insurance Exchanges.

The traditional mainstream media did not cover this important news release on its important evening cycle.

“In the latest piece of ObamaCare news (Failure) that the liberal media has chosen to ignore, ABC, NBC, and Spanish networks Telemundo and Univision skipped on Thursday night and Friday morning word from United HealthCare from Thursday that it may withdraw from ObamaCare exchanges in the future after reporting losses of around $700 million for the year.”

While ABC and NBC were joined by CBS in censoring this story from their Thursday evening newscasts, Friday’s CBS This Morning stepped forward with a measly 18-second, 46-word brief from co-host Charlie Rose that alluded to a Wall Street Journal piece on United HealthCare.

Charlie Rose said with little emotion, editorial comment or explanation of its meaning, “The Wall Street Journal reports on one of the nation’s biggest health insurance company considering pulling out of ObamaCare. United Health Group said it suffered major losses on the policies sold on the Affordable Care Act exchanges. Operating losses this year will total about $700 million.

The CEO of UnitedHelath’s actual statement was, “in recent weeks growth expectations for individual exchange participation have tempered industrywide, Obama”s co-operatives have failed and market data has signaled higher risks and more difficulties while our own claims experience has deteriorated, so we are taking this proactive step.”

These are the reasons for the UnitedHealthcare pull out. Fox News covered the story in full on Thursday evening in primetime and Friday morning.

“Special Report to devote a full story to the matter from correspondent Rich Edson.”

“Host Bret Baier declared in a short lead-in that “a major setback” is possibly “in the works tonight for ObamaCare” as “[t]he President’s health care law could be losing a huge source of the coverage provided.”

“Edson also made sure to mention that such a story has given “ObamaCare critics” additional reasons to argue that “with rising premiums, fewer health provider choices, is another sign of the unsustainability of the health care law.”

How can anyone expect the public to be informed about Obamacare’s failures when the major networks who these important stories?

But the public is catching on. The major networks are acting as a shill for the Obama administration. The major networks should not be surprised that their viewership is declining.

As opposed to covering the major healthcare story Thursday’s CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News each found time to tout the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of a genetically-modified salmon for human consumption that won’t actually become widely available for at least a few years.

How can President Obama think the American people have confidence in him?

The lies continue daily. The majority of the information sources have become a super pac for President Obama. What is the public recourse to stop this madness?

Most of the people in the country have never heard of Saul Alinsky or his book “Rules for Radicals.”

Saul Alinsky’s recommendations are exactly what President Obama is using.

You lie to the people and restrict information so that the critics of your policies seem unreasonable. Opponents cannot mount an effective offensive and therefore get enough public support to demand change.

I suggest Republicans hire an effective and innovative public relations firm to counteract President Obama’s attacks on the freedoms of the American people.

President Obama’s response to his critics has been that Republicans are fear mongers and should be ignored. He presents no evidence just accusations.

I am republishing the following 2014 blog’s You Tubes because viewing these amazing You Tube compilations of President Obama’s lies are essential to understanding President Obama’s method of operation.

http://youtu.be/4puS-yjwsiE

This You Tube is worse than the Words Matter You Tube

http://youtu.be/1YqXCFCXXL8

The American people must do their own research, get involved and not let President Obama manipulate us into a socialist state.

Socialism does work as we are seeing in Europe. France cannot afford to fight ISIS because entitlements consume 54% of the GDP and taxes are close to 70% of personal income.

The wealthy people with large incomes who paid high taxes in the past are fleeing the France.

As corporate taxes and individual taxes have gone up in the United States on President Obama’s watch we have not only had a tax inversion occur with corporations moving over 3 trillion dollars overseas, we are now seeing a tax inversion movement by rich individuals.

President Obama’s lies and manipulations cannot be ignored anymore. These lies are a clear and present danger to America’s economy and way of life.

The opinions expressed in the blog “Repairing The Healthcare System” are, mine and mine alone.  

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Obamacare Is In Big Trouble!

November 18, 2015

inMedicine: Healthcare System, Politicians,Healthcare and Vested Interests, Stakeholder Mistrust

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Stanley Feld M.D.,FACP,MACE

There are so many parts of Obamacare that are failing it would be impossible to describe each failure in a single blog..

President Obama and his administration keeps telling the American people that Obamacare is working great. It is here to stay.

I cannot believe Americans believe him. I cannot believe he thinks Obamacare is doing great.

It could be true that everything is going great for him if he wants Obamacare to fail and cause hardship for millions of Americans.

At that point Americans would beg President Obama or another progressive president loke Hillary Clinton to institute a single party payer system.

A single party payer system has been Hillary’s dream since Hillarycare 1993. Now she is saying she wants a private insurance based system. The purpose of this statement is to neutralize (freeze) her free market system critics.

Once more America is being exposed to Hillary Clinton’s use of a typical Saul Alinsky tactic. The tactic in his “Rules for Radicals” is to freeze your opponent by stating his position as yours even if it is a lie.

Hillary wrote her senior Wellesley College thesis on Saul Alinsky and “Rules for Radicals”. She also became a big fan and good friend of his.

Hillary Clinton and President Obama know Obamacare is failing. They are just waiting for the tipping point. The tipping point will be when the American people say please help us and give us a single party payer system.

At that point we will hear the typical gee shucks, I guess we will have to try a single party payer system.

A single party payer system will be a bigger financial and patient care disaster than what we have now.

The data on the first week of applications for Obamacare’s healthcare.gov was announced to the rave reviews by the Obama administration.

Since few pay attention to the actual numbers President Obama can get away with the lie.

The CBO predicts 19 to 21 million will sign up for Obamacare for 2016. The administration estimates they are going to have 9.1 to 11 million enrollees for 2016.

The Obama administrations estimate is 30% lower than the announce 13 million enrollees in 2015. In reality only 9.7 million enrollee paid for healthcare insurance through healthcare.gov 2015. Of those 9 million only 6.5 million kept their insurance premiums current for the entire year.

The www.acasignup.net quoted the Obama administrations claim that 595,590 filled out applications to get price insurance quotes. Only 8% of the reported applicants or 47,243 paid their first month’s premium for 2016.

These numbers are not a cause for celebration unless you want to misinform the public by claiming a successful first week enrollment.

Let’s do the math. The enrollment period for 2016 is from November 1^st until December 31^st 2015 or eight and one have weeks with four major holidays, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years.

Let us the assume all 600,000 that filled out applications will pass the application requirements and pay their assigned premium for each month. Let us also assume the average weekly application rate is 600,000 per week for the 81/2 weeks. The grand total enrollees would be 5.1 million enrollees for 2016. This is 4.5 million less paid enrollees than in 2015.

There was an attrition rate 2% a month in 2015. President Obama extended the enrollment period several times to get more people to sign up.

2015 FULL YEAR ENROLLMENT/ATTRITION RATE TABLE PROJECTION:

2014 FULL YEAR ENROLLMENT/ATTRITION RATE TABLE (FINAL):

It is clear that President Obama’s victory laps celebrating the success of Obamacare is unwarranted.

However the media is the message. He controls and manipulates the media. It would have been much easier to provide Medicaid and CHIP coverage to the poor outright than destroying the healthcare system with changes that are not working.

The final enrollment for 2014 was 6,338,622 not over 13 million. The final enrollment for 2015 was 9,736,350 and not over 13 million. This is a net gain of 3.5 million new paying enrollees in 2015.

This year the Obama administration estimates that 9 million will purchase insurance through the health insurance exchanges. At the present rate only 5.1 million will purchase insurance for 2016 at the end of the enrollment period December 31, 2015.

The CBO’s estimate was 19-21 million paid enrollees.

It does not represent a very successful net gain when the government publishes that there are 34 million uninsured Americans. No one knows if the 90 million unemployed Americans are counted in the number uninsured.

All anyone hears is the Obama administration’s reasons our taxes, and insurance premiums are going up, while our insurance coverage is going down. The Obama administration is blaming the healthcare insurance industry and Republicans.

President Obama has used, with the help of the mainstream media, the Saul Alinsky tactic to freeze opponents by shocking them with unsustainable factoids.

The Avalere Health consultancy’s analysis of 2015 signup data showed surprisingly weak ObamaCare enrollment at modest income levels. At between 150% and 200% of the poverty level, just 41% of those eligible signed up for coverage. The number falls to 30% among those between 200% and 250% of the poverty level.

In 2016 President Obama is going to penalize people that do not have healthcare insurance.

It’s now clear that the actual impact of ObamaCare’s individual mandate tax penalty will be far worse than the benign intent that the Obama administration claimed.

“What we’re talking about is a penalty for the few people who will refuse to buy health insurance — even though they can afford it — and who expect the rest of us to pick up the tab for their care,” a September 2009 White House defense of the individual mandate states.”

Reality should be coming into focus by now for the average American taxpayer and the poor. Obamacare is ripping everyone off.

“The mandate’s primary impact will be to compel low-income households to buy bronze coverage with deductibles of up to $6,850 per adult that are well beyond their capacity to afford. “

Even after these poor people pay the $6,850 deductible they have a 40% deductible on the rest of the billing.

Who said poor people are too stupid to handle their own money and be responsible for their healthcare dollars?

They are smart enough to know the government is ripping them off.

George Shore101 • 3 months ago

“If the Obama administration and Democrats love the poor why did they force the poor to purchase something they can not afford and then penalize them for not being able to afford it?”

It is a horrible thought to think President Obama is working to make the poor poorer and make the healthcare system fail the American people.

It looks like he is. His plan to replace it with a single party payer system will result in a bigger failure.

Why are Republicans just standing around doing nothing? Why don’t they publicize my Ideal Medical Saving Accounts?

The opinions expressed in the blog “Repairing The Healthcare System” are, mine and mine alone.

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Obamacare Is Unaffordable For All

October 18, 2015

inMedicine: Healthcare System

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Stanley Feld M.D.,FACP,MACE

The 2016 Obamacare enrollment period through healthcare.gov is going to have lots of problems. The Obama administration knows it.

The enrollment projection by the Obama administration is far below the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office’s projection of about 21 million people.

The CBO gets the numbers to calculate its projections from the Obama administration.

“ The administration has set the goal of 10 million to have coverage. That is about the same amount of enrollees who have paid for Obamacare now.”

“We believe 10 million is a strong and realistic goal,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell. “

The next sentence is the Obama administration’s spin to confuse the public about the truth.

“We’ve seen high levels of satisfaction with the marketplace and expect the vast majority of our current customers will re-enroll. And our target assumes that more than one out of every four of the eligible uninsured will select plans.”

The original Obama administration enrollment prediction for 2015 was 17 million.

The Obama administration claimed Obamacare was a success in 2014. Eleven million people enrolled despite the healthcare.gov problems. Enrollment in 2014 was extended for most of the year.

The final enrollment number was reduced to 6.6 million after not payment of premiums, false applications, miscounting and dropouts.

Enrollment numbers for 2015 were published as more than 13 million. It was again revised to 11 million and finally 9 million. Enrollment again was extended in 2015.

Two weeks ago it was announced that 330,000 enrollees did not make their second month’s premium payment. Enrollees have a 90 grace period in which they can use their insurance to pay for medical care.

The result is enrollees can have four months of healthcare insurance for the price of one.

People stopped paying the premium because they realized they could not afford the 2015 premium cost. This year the cost will be between 10-40 percent higher than 2015.

In 2012 fifteen (15) million people lost their individual healthcare insurance because of Obamacare’s changes in insurance policy requirements.

The CBO predicts there will be 21million enrollees in 2016.

The Obama administration, using taxpayers’ money, has loaned health insurance co-ops more than $2.4 billion spread over just 23 states.

Most of the Co-Ops are hemorrhaging cash. Four have gone bankrupt and Colorado and Oregon are on the way. Consumers who bought healthcare insurance from these “Co-Op’s” are going to have to find another insurance company through the health insurance exchange.

People are not going to be able to find an affordable insurer. Premiums and deductibles are going to be out of reach to everyone including people on subsidies.

In 2015 the 300,000 that did not pay after the first premium payment has proved this already.

Obamacare has other huge problems. Medicare is one of them

Medicare will expose millions of senior americans to a staggering 50 percent increase in their premiums for Medicare Part B.

It is a result of provisions in the laws governing Medicare and Social Security.

Here is the impending disaster.

The Part Medicare B premiums have been rising each year. The premiums are deducted from Social Security payments made to beneficiaries’ each month.

There is a “hold harmless” provision in the Medicare rules that guarantees that a dollar amount increase in Medicare’s premium one year cannot be so big that the senior is left with a Social Security check payment that is less than the year before.

The goal of the provision is to ensure that senior beneficiaries don’t have less money to live on the next year than the year before.

Inflation is not calculated into the equation.

Watch this.

Seventy percent of the Medicare beneficiaries are held harmless and do not have to pay the increased premium because of the rising premiums. These seniors will pay the same premium they paid the previous year.

The increased costs to the government will have to be paid by higher Medicare premiums and deductibles by the remaining 30 percent of beneficiaries not held harmless.

The Medicare rule is that beneficiaries have to cover at least 25% of the government’s Medicare Part B costs.

As premiums to the government are increased 10-40% by the healthcare insurance companies that do the administrative services for the government, the premium costs to the 30% who are not held harmless are going up over 50% of the previous year’s premiums.

“Medicare Part B deductible, which must be paid by everyone on Medicare (no one is “held harmless”). Medicare Part B premiums will rise from $147 in 2015 to $223 in 2016.”

“This will pose a particular burden to beneficiaries just above the poverty line who aren’t eligible for assistance from Medicaid in paying deductibles.”

The Medicare deductible of $1300 for each hospital admission is a tremendous burden on a senior.

President Obama and the Democrats are frantically seeking ways to avoid a senior uproar as seniors discover yet another hidden Obamacare tax increase.

The Democratic leadership is trying to figure out how to blame Republicans for this mess.

The leadership of both parties is quietly trying to figure out a way around the increase to the affected seniors.

“Premium increases could affect about 30 percent of the 51 million people enrolled in Part B of Medicare, which covers doctors’ services, outpatient hospital services, some home health care and other items.”

Nancy Pelosi has started grandstanding to blame the Republicans for the increase in premiums.

She said, “Congress has a responsibility to act,”

“If we do nothing, millions of American seniors will suffer. Democrats continue to press the Republican leadership to bring a fix to the floor so we can prevent the serious harm this increase will have.”

To avoid a big uproar from seniors Democrats want the federal government to absorb the estimated $7.5 billion dollar premium increases in 2016.

The blame game starts. John Boehner’s aids told Mrs. Pelosi’s staff that the cost would have to be offset by savings elsewhere in the federal budget.

“ President Obama’s staff is considering administrative action to moderate the increase in premiums, perhaps by using a Medicare contingency fund.”

The White House is grandstanding without regard for the law or fiscal responsibility.

“We share the goal of keeping Medicare’s premiums affordable, are exploring all options, and appreciate the interest and ideas of members of Congress,” said Katie Hill, a White House spokeswoman.

Republicans are worried that Democrats will depict them as waging a “War on Seniors” if they do not go along to soften the affect of any premium increase on some irresponsible funding solution.

Isn’t this terrible? Congress and the President refuse to look at and solve the real cause of these problems. They are the unintended consequences of Obamacare that got us into this situation.

The Democrats are using the banal excuse is that the country is to far down the road with Obamacare to abandon it.

Nonsense!

Maybe this is exactly what President Obama intended?

Obamacare has only enrolled 9 million people and yet.

It is destroying employer insurance.
The cost of adjusting to Obamacare’s rules is too high.
It has left more uninsured than insured.
It has caused insured persons healthcare insurance to be unsustainable.
It has added millions to the Medicaid roles.
Medicaid reimbursement is very low.
People on Medicaid cannot find a physician because of low reimbursement.
It has pushed up premiums and deductible for seniors who can barely afford the costs.
Seniors on Medicare cannot find a physician.
Obamacare has made the cost of our healthcare system more unsustainable that previously.

Why don’t Republicans teach the people to understand why Obamacare is such a terrible law?

Why can’t they stand up for what they believe?

Why can’t they use my ideal medical saving account to simplify and solve the complications of Obamacare?

The answer always is 50% of people are getting entitlements and they do not want to give them up.

Entitlements can be formatted so that they are earned and responsible entitlements that will not bankrupt the country.

Entitlements can be formatted to help people become independent and prosperous as opposed to more dependent on government and poorer.

Socialism has not worked well anywhere not even in Sweden.

The opinions expressed in the blog “Repairing The Healthcare System” are, mine and mine alone

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The Defects In Obamacare

June 14, 2015

inMedicine: Healthcare System, Patients Problems, Physician's Problems, Stakeholder Mistrust

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Stanley Feld M.D., FACP, MACE

We live in an era of sound bites driving opinions rather than details driving opinions. The devil is always in the details.

The defects in Obamacare are too numerous to count. President Obama provides the traditional mass media with sounds bites leading to false conclusions.

The sound bites are misleading. Many of the sound bites are lies. One such sound bite is Obamacare is working and therefore does not need changing.

He and the Democrats keep the discussion on the sound bites level and do not dig into the real issue. President Obama even keeps the details away from congress the very people he is dependent on to pass the bill.

President Obama kept the facts and details about Obamacare away from the congress and the people. He is now doing it with the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a proposed regional regulatory and investment pact. Just as with Obamacare, President Obama expects congress to vote in favor of a pact they have not debated and have not had an opportunity to read the details in the final bill.

It is another one of those bills where the administration is telling the congress and the American people you have to pass the bill in order to see what is in it.

Americans are tired of his lack of transparency and lies. They do not trust President Obama anymore.

Congress should never make the same mistake they made with Obamacare. If they do all Americans should rally to throw all the bums out.

The devil is always in the details.

United States Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) said,

“Congress is being kept in the dark as to the substance of the TPP negotiations, while representatives of U.S. corporations—like Halliburton, Chevron, PHRMA, Comcast, and the Motion Picture Association of America—are being consulted and made privy to details of the agreement. […]

" More than two months after receiving the proper security credentials, my staff is still barred from viewing the details of the proposals that USTR is advancing. We hear that the process by which TPP is being negotiated has been a model of transparency. I disagree with that statement.^[98]”

President Obama and the speaker have told us it is good pact for the country’s economy. Senator Cruz is right. “Don’t vote for something whose details you do not know.”

There are many defects in Obamacare. One major defect is that it is not affordable to consumers, the federal government or state governments. When fully implemented the cost of healthcare to the federal government will be at least 50% of our GNP not the 23% of GNP predicted. Twenty three percent is bad enough.

Federal and State taxes will have to be increased to cover all medical care entitlement costs.

President Obama keeps telling us that Obamacare is working. He says it is here to stay.

The reality is Obamacare is an unworkable and costly failure in multiple areas including the health insurance exchanges, healthcare.gov, insurance premiums and deductible costs, the development of Accountable Care Organizations, maintenance of employer insurance and more.

Americans deserve a better system than Obamacare.

It is impossible to cover all of the harmful details of every category in one blog.

It is disingenuous for President Obama to claim, in his repeated sound bites, that there is no need to change anything in Obamacare because Obamacare is working fine.

The real cost of Obamacare to consumers (especially taxpayers), the federal and state governments and the economy have not been disclosed nor are they transparent.

The real costs start to leak out with stories about how the costs affect consumers and their lifestyle.

This usually leads to the sound bites that it will be better to have a government single party payer system.

The underlying defect is that this system leads to consumers being dependent on government and not responsible for themselves. Government changes rules on a whim. Consumers do not have options. This is a road to serfdom.

“After the Affordable Care Act kicked in, a 52-year-old sales and marketing entrepreneur reported his monthly health-insurance premium to cover himself and his family grew to $848 from $513. Like others, he wasn’t happy about it. “It’s taking a lot out of pocket,” he said.”

He is one of millions of Americans who earn too much to qualify for government subsidies on policies purchased through the federal insurance exchange. He was in favor of Obamacare before he realized Obamacare’s effect on reality.

Obamacare requires insurance companies to offer insurance policies with broad coverage and greater protection against catastrophic medical costs. It also requires coverage on illnesses and conditions such as pregnancy and birth control coverage for people who do not need this coverage.

Obamacare was supposed to save every family $2,500 a year. It costs families more than $2,500 dollars a year. It was not supposed to affect anyone making less than $250,000 per year.

It is true that many of the above a not taxes. However it is a cost burden on consumers making less than $250,000 a year.

Others, making less than $50,000 a year, receive complete or partial government subsidies. This is what is meant by redistribution of wealth. It is a significant cost burden on consumers making $50,000 to $250,000 dollars a year.

Everyone remembers President Obama promising that Obamacare will not cost families making less that $250,000 one dime.

Obamacare premiums have become unaffordable to people earning less than $50,000 per year as well.

Obamacare’s goal was to cover everyone with broad insurance coverage and greater protection against catastrophic medical costs.

Yet, only 10 million out of 330 million are covered by the exchanges. Each enrollee in the exchanges also has high deductibles. These deductibles can be as high as $6,000 a year.

Many of the insurance companies claim they will be losing money after the government’s health insurance industry subsidies disappear in 2016.

These companies will leave the Obamacare federal health exchanges reducing competition. This in turn will increase premiums further and make premiums more unaffordable.

Another detail overlooked is enrollees are poorer, sicker and older. The pool is not diluted by younger, healthier and richer. The result is more expensive insurance rates.

“ HHS was saying that it needed about 40 percent of the exchange policies to be purchased by people age 18-35 to keep the exchanges financially stable. It was 28 percent in both 2014 and 2015, according to HHS data. The CBO had projected about 85 percent of exchange enrollees to be subsidized, falling toward 80 percent as enrollment grew; instead, that number is 87 percent and actually rose slightly from 2014.”

According to a study last year by the National Bureau of Economic Research, people who bought silver and bronze plans on the federal and state health insurance exchanges saw total premiums and out-of-pocket payments rise an estimated 14% to 28% higher than pre- Obamacare premiums and out of pocket expenses.

Obamacare is not fulfilling any of President Obama’s sound-bite promises.

His claim that Obamacare is working well and does not have to change makes absolutely no sense.

If one tells a lie enough times it becomes eventually becomes the truth.

The opinions expressed in the blog “Repairing The Healthcare System” are, mine and mine alone

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