Author Topic: Health Care Premiuims Skyrocketing - Thank you Obama you POFS!!!!  (Read 3887 times)

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Health Care Premiuims Skyrocketing - Thank you Obama you POFS!!!!
« on: September 27, 2011, 09:44:59 AM »
Health premiums now more than a new car
Family coverage for employer-provided health care
now costs more than a Ford Fiesta. | Reuters
By J. LESTER FEDER | 9/27/11 11:40 AM EDT


Premiums for employer-provided health insurance jumped 8-9 percent in 2011, passing $15,000 for family coverage — which is more than the cost of a Ford Fiesta.

That’s a big jump from the 3 percent increase in 2010. But it’s in line with historical increases that have averaged just over 10 percent per year since 2001, according to the annual Kaiser Family Foundation's Employer Health Benefits survey.


The Kaiser survey also found that 2.3 million young adults now have coverage under their parents’ policies — double the recent U.S. Census estimate of gains since the ACA allowed young adults to stay on their parents’ policies until age 26. Kaiser surveyed employers about the numbers of dependents they were now covering, while the Census counted the net increase of young adults who have coverage under age 26.

Critics have blamed rising insurance premiums on the 2010 health care law, but Kaiser Family Foundation president and CEO Drew Altman said that’s not the case.

Altman attributed most of the increase to rising health costs. The new legal requirements that expanded preventive care and added those young adults contributed to about 1.5 percent of the price increase.

“Since we began doing this survey 13 years ago, worker contributions to premiums have increased 168 percent, wages 50 percent, and inflation 38 percent,” Altman wrote in an essay accompanying the release of the survey done by the foundation and the Health Research and Benefits Trust.

"There are people who blame everything on the Affordable Care Act, including the weather," he told POLITICO in an interview. "The big increase we see this year is not an increase of the Affordable Care Act.” In fact, he added the health reform legislation contains tools that could restrain cost growth in the future.

The rising costs of insurance “underscores that we need to do more about the underlying problem of health care costs in the country,” Altman added. “Right now the main weapon we have long term that could address the problem of health care costs term are the provisions of the Affordable Care Act. There's nothing else on the table.”

The average premium for employer-sponsored insurance for an individual was $5,429 and $15,073 for a family in 2011. But relatively little of the premium increase came directly out of the employers’ pockets, on average $22 more for an individual policy, and $132 more for a family policy. That’s not a statistically significant increase. But some economists say that health costs have been hitting the family pocketbook in another way, by slowing wage growth.

Employers on average paid an additional $358 in premiums for an individual policy, and $1,171 for a family. They have shifted some costs to workers. For instance, one in three covered workers now has a deductible of at least $1,000 for an individual, the survey conducted by Kaiser

The Obama administration attempted to head off likely attacks blaming the ACA for the price rise.

"These premiums were generally set in 2010, when insurance companies thought medical costs would be significantly higher than they turned out to be," an entry on the White House blog said. "The Bureau of Labor Statistics found that the health insurance employer cost index [a measure of the price of health care services] was the lowest it has been in over 10 years in the first half of 2011.

“Additionally, some insurers assumed that the Affordable Care Act would dramatically raise their costs. In the end, both assumptions were wrong — but insurance companies still charged high premiums and earned impressive profits," it said.

This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 11:22 a.m. on September 27, 2011.



Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0911/64525.html#ixzz1ZAj5rvSz


MCWAY

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Re: Health Care Premiuims Skyrocketing - Thank you Obama you POFS!!!!
« Reply #1 on: September 27, 2011, 10:00:47 AM »
And, if Obama has his way, military retirees will be next. I read an article on the NYTimes, referring to Tricare Prime and complaining that they pay $460 per family, and how that is so "unfair", considering the cost of healthcare is increasing.

Under the current rules, service members who retire after 20 years are eligible for pensions that pay half their salaries for life, indexed for inflation, even if they leave at age 38. They are also eligible for lifetime health insurance through the military’s system, Tricare, at a small fraction of the cost of private insurance, prompting many working veterans to shun employer health plans in favor of military insurance.

Advocates of revamping the systems argue that they are not just fiscally untenable but also unfair.

The annual fee for Tricare Prime, an H.M.O.-like program for military retirees, is just $460 for families and has not risen in years, even as health care costs have skyrocketed. Critics of the system say the contribution could be raised substantially and still be far lower than what civilians pay for employer-sponsored health plans, typically about $4,000.


What the article doesn't tell you is that there is reason Tricare Prime is so cheap: YOU HAVE TO USE A MILITARY TREATMENT FACILITY (i.e. military hospital/clinic).

If you live in military-friendly cities (i.e. Norfolk, Jacksonville, Pensacola), you're fine. If not, you're screwed, as your health insurance may not be accepted where you live.

HH6 can elaborate further.





http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/19/us/retiree-benefits-for-the-military-could-face-cuts.html?pagewanted=all

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Re: Health Care Premiuims Skyrocketing - Thank you Obama you POFS!!!!
« Reply #2 on: September 27, 2011, 10:05:10 AM »
And this disgusting piece of communist trash spent  1.5 years on this shit!   


Between this, cap n trade, solyndra, light squared, fast n furios, the stim bill debacle, etc etc, why wy why wont demos primary this disgraceful pofs! 

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Re: Health Care Premiuims Skyrocketing - Thank you Obama you POFS!!!!
« Reply #3 on: September 27, 2011, 10:27:23 AM »
U.S. Health Insurance Cost Rises Sharply, Study Finds
By REED ABELSON
www.nyt.com



The cost of health insurance for many Americans this year climbed more sharply than in previous years, outstripping any growth in workers’ wages and adding more uncertainty about the pace of rising medical costs.

A new study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit research group that tracks employer-sponsored health insurance on a yearly basis, shows that the average annual premium for family coverage through an employer reached $15,073 in 2011, an increase of 9 percent over the previous year.

“The open question is whether that’s a one-time spike or the start of a period of higher increases,” said Drew Altman, the chief executive of the Kaiser foundation.

The steep increase in rates is particularly unwelcome at a time when the economy is still sputtering and unemployment continues to hover at about 9 percent. Many businesses cite the high cost of coverage as a factor in their decision not to hire, and health insurance has become increasingly unaffordable for more Americans. Over all, the cost of family coverage has about doubled since 2001, when premiums averaged $7,061, compared with a 34 percent gain in wages over the same period.

How much the new federal health care law pushed by President Obama is affecting insurance rates remains a point of debate, with some analysts suggesting that insurers have raised prices in anticipation of new rules that would, in 2012, require them to justify any increase of more than 10 percent.

In addition to increases caused by insurers getting ahead of potential costs, some of the law’s provisions that are already in effect -- like coverage for adult children up to 26 years of age and prevention services like mammogram screening -- have contributed to higher expenses for some employers.

The Kaiser survey includes both big and small companies using employer-sponsored coverage representing about 60 percent of all insured Americans of working age. The annual growth in premiums, according to the survey, had slowed in recent years to 5 percent, rising just 3 percent in 2010, in part due to the lingering effects of the recession. After years of double-digit increases, the moderation was a welcome relief.

The unexpected increase in premiums raises questions about whether health care costs are, in fact, stabilizing at all, as people have postponed going to the doctor or dentist and have put off expensive procedures. “No one quite knows,” said Mr. Altman.

Throughout this year, major health insurers have defended higher premiums — and higher profits — saying that their expenses would rise once the economy recovered and people believed they could again afford medical care. The struggling economy will probably keep suppressing demand for medical care, particularly as people pay a larger share of their own medical bills through higher deductibles and co-payments, according to benefits consultants and others. About three-quarters of workers now pay part of the bill when they go see a doctor, and nearly a third have a deductible of at least $1,000 if they have single coverage, up from just one in 10 in 2006, according Kaiser.

Although demand for care appears to be growing relatively slowly, insurers and benefit consultants also say prices for medical care continue to climb as prescription drug makers and hospitals charge more. “If they’re a popular brand or anchor hospital, they’re going to negotiate a significant increase if they can,” said Edward A. Kaplan, a benefits expert with the Segal Company, which recently surveyed insurers about medical costs.

The question for employers and insurers is whether the lackluster economy, as well as recent efforts by employer and insurers to better manage the medical care of workers, will keep premiums increasing at a more moderate level. Early responses to a survey by Mercer, a consulting firm, suggest employers are expecting the cost of providing health benefits to go up about 5 percent next year, according to Beth Umland, Mercer’s director of research for health and benefits. These companies may be factoring in the more pessimistic view of the economy, she said, where any recovery seems further off than it did a few months ago.

Employers are reporting that their workers are using less medical care, said Ms. Umland, but they and insurers have been slow to estimate costs that reflect the lower demand. “It always takes a while for underwriting to catch up with reality,” she said.

Some small business say they expect their premiums to moderate, but only because of changes in their work force — partly caused by younger, healthier employees — that make it less likely that the companies will incur high medical claims. “Up until last year, we saw very hefty increases -- double digits,” said Heather Gombos, an executive for R. M. Jones & Company and affiliated businesses in New Britain, Conn. , a group that insures about 50 of its 80 employees.

Family coverage is now running $12,000 a year, Ms. Gombos said, and she is waiting to see what rate increases her insurer proposes for the coming year. She thinks premiums will not rise as sharply in 2012. “What it comes down to is we’ve had some good luck,” she said.

Some businesses say they anticipate relief from higher costs in the coming year for a variety of reasons. At Ogilvy & Mather, the New York advertising firm, the company believes its efforts to encourage wellness and better oversee its employees’ health through an on-site medical clinic are paying off. "We are not anticipating any cost increase for employer and employee," said Gerri Stone, the senior partner who oversees the firm’s benefits strategy.

Ms. Stone acknowledged that the firm’s 3,600 employees were relatively young and healthy, helping it avoid some of the sharp increases experienced by other businesses. "We’ve never gone into the double digits," she said. Family coverage runs about $16,000 a year, she said.

Insurers and benefits consultants say, however, it is difficult to predict whether health care demand will again take off when the economy rebounds or whether some other factor is at play. "We’ve seen a moderation in the increase in health services, particularly in discretionary services," said Tom Richards, an executive with Cigna. While he attributes some of the moderation to the poor economy, he says the increase in cost-sharing by employees and programs that more closely monitor their health could be having a more permanent impact.

The question, he said, is "what is the economy going to be and what is the new normal."

Obama administration officials argue that new regulations are forcing insurers to be more circumspect about raising rates. Insurers seeking to raise premiums next year by more than the 10 percent maximum will have to publicly justify their rate increases, and the new law requires the companies to spend at least 80 cents of every dollar they collect in premiums on medical care. If they end up taking too much in premiums, they will have to refund the money to consumers.

But employers and others say much more still needs to be done to control overall costs, especially when workers’ wages are essentially flat. Of the $15,073 in average premiums paid for family coverage, Kaiser found that employees paid $4,129 towards the cost, in addition to whatever out-of-pocket costs they shouldered.

“We’re going to continue to have this yawning gap,” said Helen Darling, the chief executive of the National Business Group on Health, which represents employers that provide health coverage to their workers. Health care costs continue to climb much faster than overall inflation, she noted.

“The health economy acts as if it’s a boom economy,” she said.


kcballer

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Re: Health Care Premiuims Skyrocketing - Thank you Obama you POFS!!!!
« Reply #5 on: September 27, 2011, 10:41:10 AM »
Another reason why we need single payer health care!

ps - That’s a big jump from the 3 percent increase in 2010. But it’s in line with historical increases that have averaged just over 10 percent per year since 2001, according to the annual Kaiser Family Foundation's Employer Health Benefits survey.

Obama's fault is pandering to these companies.
Abandon every hope...

Soul Crusher

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Re: Health Care Premiuims Skyrocketing - Thank you Obama you POFS!!!!
« Reply #6 on: September 27, 2011, 10:42:57 AM »
Another reason why we need single payer health care!

ps - That’s a big jump from the 3 percent increase in 2010. But it’s in line with historical increases that have averaged just over 10 percent per year since 2001, according to the annual Kaiser Family Foundation's Employer Health Benefits survey.

Obama's fault is pandering to these companies.

He spent 1.5 years on the disaster known as Commie-Care - he owns this bullshit.   

kcballer

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Re: Health Care Premiuims Skyrocketing - Thank you Obama you POFS!!!!
« Reply #7 on: September 27, 2011, 11:16:08 AM »
He spent 1.5 years on the disaster known as Commie-Care - he owns this bullshit.   

Uh no.  He owns a poor system that is inadequate.  He also owns saying it would lower premiums when it has not.  He does not own the fact that insurance companies are greedy fu*ks who will increase rates until no one is covered.  He was dumb to even allow them into the health care discussion and this is why - they keep jacking the premiums just like they have done every single year.

Time to destroy the system we have and go to single payer. 
Abandon every hope...

Soul Crusher

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Re: Health Care Premiuims Skyrocketing - Thank you Obama you POFS!!!!
« Reply #8 on: September 27, 2011, 11:18:05 AM »
Uh no.  He owns a poor system that is inadequate.  He also owns saying it would lower premiums when it has not.  He does not own the fact that insurance companies are greedy fu*ks who will increase rates until no one is covered.  He was dumb to even allow them into the health care discussion and this is why - they keep jacking the premiums just like they have done every single year.

Time to destroy the system we have and go to single payer. 

He had a chance to do that and punted in favor of his corporate backers.   Sorry - your messiah does not get a second shot at the apple for this.

one and done for the messiah.   

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Re: Health Care Premiuims Skyrocketing - Thank you Obama you POFS!!!!
« Reply #9 on: September 27, 2011, 11:18:32 AM »
Uh no.  He owns a poor system that is inadequate.  He also owns saying it would lower premiums when it has not.  He does not own the fact that insurance companies are greedy fu*ks who will increase rates until no one is covered.  He was dumb to even allow them into the health care discussion and this is why - they keep jacking the premiums just like they have done every single year.

Time to destroy the system we have and go to single payer. 

If you think single payer is so great you have never lived in a country where they have it. I have. It sucks.
I hate the State.

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Re: Health Care Premiuims Skyrocketing - Thank you Obama you POFS!!!!
« Reply #10 on: September 27, 2011, 11:19:30 AM »
He had a chance to do that and punted in favor of his corporate backers.   Sorry - your messiah does not get a second shot at the apple for this.

one and done for the messiah.   

lol...

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Re: Health Care Premiuims Skyrocketing - Thank you Obama you POFS!!!!
« Reply #11 on: September 27, 2011, 11:32:36 AM »
Yeah...didn't the vaunted UK healthcare system almost kill Deicide? Awsome......
L

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Re: Health Care Premiuims Skyrocketing - Thank you Obama you POFS!!!!
« Reply #12 on: September 27, 2011, 11:37:18 AM »
Health premiums now more than a new car
Family coverage for employer-provided health care
now costs more than a Ford Fiesta. | Reuters
By J. LESTER FEDER | 9/27/11 11:40 AM EDT


Premiums for employer-provided health insurance jumped 8-9 percent in 2011, passing $15,000 for family coverage — which is more than the cost of a Ford Fiesta.

That’s a big jump from the 3 percent increase in 2010. But it’s in line with historical increases that have averaged just over 10 percent per year since 2001, according to the annual Kaiser Family Foundation's Employer Health Benefits survey.


The Kaiser survey also found that 2.3 million young adults now have coverage under their parents’ policies — double the recent U.S. Census estimate of gains since the ACA allowed young adults to stay on their parents’ policies until age 26. Kaiser surveyed employers about the numbers of dependents they were now covering, while the Census counted the net increase of young adults who have coverage under age 26.

Critics have blamed rising insurance premiums on the 2010 health care law, but Kaiser Family Foundation president and CEO Drew Altman said that’s not the case.

Altman attributed most of the increase to rising health costs. The new legal requirements that expanded preventive care and added those young adults contributed to about 1.5 percent of the price increase.

“Since we began doing this survey 13 years ago, worker contributions to premiums have increased 168 percent, wages 50 percent, and inflation 38 percent,” Altman wrote in an essay accompanying the release of the survey done by the foundation and the Health Research and Benefits Trust.

"There are people who blame everything on the Affordable Care Act, including the weather," he told POLITICO in an interview. "The big increase we see this year is not an increase of the Affordable Care Act.” In fact, he added the health reform legislation contains tools that could restrain cost growth in the future.

The rising costs of insurance “underscores that we need to do more about the underlying problem of health care costs in the country,” Altman added. “Right now the main weapon we have long term that could address the problem of health care costs term are the provisions of the Affordable Care Act. There's nothing else on the table.”

The average premium for employer-sponsored insurance for an individual was $5,429 and $15,073 for a family in 2011. But relatively little of the premium increase came directly out of the employers’ pockets, on average $22 more for an individual policy, and $132 more for a family policy. That’s not a statistically significant increase. But some economists say that health costs have been hitting the family pocketbook in another way, by slowing wage growth.

Employers on average paid an additional $358 in premiums for an individual policy, and $1,171 for a family. They have shifted some costs to workers. For instance, one in three covered workers now has a deductible of at least $1,000 for an individual, the survey conducted by Kaiser

The Obama administration attempted to head off likely attacks blaming the ACA for the price rise.

"These premiums were generally set in 2010, when insurance companies thought medical costs would be significantly higher than they turned out to be," an entry on the White House blog said. "The Bureau of Labor Statistics found that the health insurance employer cost index [a measure of the price of health care services] was the lowest it has been in over 10 years in the first half of 2011.

“Additionally, some insurers assumed that the Affordable Care Act would dramatically raise their costs. In the end, both assumptions were wrong — but insurance companies still charged high premiums and earned impressive profits," it said.

This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 11:22 a.m. on September 27, 2011.



Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0911/64525.html#ixzz1ZAj5rvSz



It is going to get even worse once all the provisions kick in.

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Re: Health Care Premiuims Skyrocketing - Thank you Obama you POFS!!!!
« Reply #13 on: September 27, 2011, 11:57:46 AM »
I'm not kidding - if every obama voter and supporter fell in to a shark tank - I would feed the sharks chum until every last one of them were eaten alive. 

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Re: Health Care Premiuims Skyrocketing - Thank you Obama you POFS!!!!
« Reply #14 on: September 27, 2011, 12:25:53 PM »
Health premiums now more than a new car
Family coverage for employer-provided health care
now costs more than a Ford Fiesta. | Reuters
By J. LESTER FEDER | 9/27/11 11:40 AM EDT


Premiums for employer-provided health insurance jumped 8-9 percent in 2011, passing $15,000 for family coverage — which is more than the cost of a Ford Fiesta.

That’s a big jump from the 3 percent increase in 2010. But it’s in line with historical increases that have averaged just over 10 percent per year since 2001, according to the annual Kaiser Family Foundation's Employer Health Benefits survey.


The Kaiser survey also found that 2.3 million young adults now have coverage under their parents’ policies — double the recent U.S. Census estimate of gains since the ACA allowed young adults to stay on their parents’ policies until age 26. Kaiser surveyed employers about the numbers of dependents they were now covering, while the Census counted the net increase of young adults who have coverage under age 26.

Critics have blamed rising insurance premiums on the 2010 health care law, but Kaiser Family Foundation president and CEO Drew Altman said that’s not the case.

Altman attributed most of the increase to rising health costs. The new legal requirements that expanded preventive care and added those young adults contributed to about 1.5 percent of the price increase.

“Since we began doing this survey 13 years ago, worker contributions to premiums have increased 168 percent, wages 50 percent, and inflation 38 percent,” Altman wrote in an essay accompanying the release of the survey done by the foundation and the Health Research and Benefits Trust.

"There are people who blame everything on the Affordable Care Act, including the weather," he told POLITICO in an interview. "The big increase we see this year is not an increase of the Affordable Care Act.” In fact, he added the health reform legislation contains tools that could restrain cost growth in the future.


The rising costs of insurance “underscores that we need to do more about the underlying problem of health care costs in the country,” Altman added. “Right now the main weapon we have long term that could address the problem of health care costs term are the provisions of the Affordable Care Act. There's nothing else on the table.”

The average premium for employer-sponsored insurance for an individual was $5,429 and $15,073 for a family in 2011. But relatively little of the premium increase came directly out of the employers’ pockets, on average $22 more for an individual policy, and $132 more for a family policy. That’s not a statistically significant increase. But some economists say that health costs have been hitting the family pocketbook in another way, by slowing wage growth.

Employers on average paid an additional $358 in premiums for an individual policy, and $1,171 for a family. They have shifted some costs to workers. For instance, one in three covered workers now has a deductible of at least $1,000 for an individual, the survey conducted by Kaiser

The Obama administration attempted to head off likely attacks blaming the ACA for the price rise.

"These premiums were generally set in 2010, when insurance companies thought medical costs would be significantly higher than they turned out to be," an entry on the White House blog said. "The Bureau of Labor Statistics found that the health insurance employer cost index [a measure of the price of health care services] was the lowest it has been in over 10 years in the first half of 2011.

“Additionally, some insurers assumed that the Affordable Care Act would dramatically raise their costs. In the end, both assumptions were wrong — but insurance companies still charged high premiums and earned impressive profits," it said.
This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 11:22 a.m. on September 27, 2011.



Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0911/64525.html#ixzz1ZAj5rvSz




333 - did you even bother to read this before you posted it with your standard "blame Obama for everything" title?

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Re: Health Care Premiuims Skyrocketing - Thank you Obama you POFS!!!!
« Reply #15 on: September 27, 2011, 12:28:35 PM »
I read the entire article twice.   Tell me when obama's promise that they would go down by 3000% percent kicks in? 


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Re: Health Care Premiuims Skyrocketing - Thank you Obama you POFS!!!!
« Reply #16 on: September 27, 2011, 12:42:25 PM »
I read the entire article twice.   Tell me when obama's promise that they would go down by 3000% percent kicks in? 

yet you missed the part where the author cites Kaiser Foundation president saying that the 2010 is not the cause of rising premiums and that the reason for the increase was rising health care costs.   You also missed the part where he said
Quote
“Right now the main weapon we have long term that could address the problem of health care costs term are the provisions of the Affordable Care Act. There's nothing else on the table.”

you sure are a careless reader

kind of unusual for a lawyer

Soul Crusher

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Re: Health Care Premiuims Skyrocketing - Thank you Obama you POFS!!!!
« Reply #17 on: September 27, 2011, 12:47:36 PM »
yet you missed the part where the author cites Kaiser Foundation president saying that the 2010 is not the cause of rising premiums and that the reason for the increase was rising health care costs.   You also missed the part where he said
you sure are a careless reader

kind of unusual for a lawyer

So tell me exactly when premiums will go down. 

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Re: Health Care Premiuims Skyrocketing - Thank you Obama you POFS!!!!
« Reply #18 on: September 27, 2011, 12:58:03 PM »
Looking like the piece of sh*t that you are 333! Good find straw!

Abandon every hope...

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Re: Health Care Premiuims Skyrocketing - Thank you Obama you POFS!!!!
« Reply #19 on: September 27, 2011, 12:59:11 PM »
Looking like the piece of sh*t that you are 333! Good find straw!



Why is single payer the answer to all prayers according to you? Have you lived in a country with nationalised healthcare/
I hate the State.

Straw Man

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Re: Health Care Premiuims Skyrocketing - Thank you Obama you POFS!!!!
« Reply #20 on: September 27, 2011, 12:59:29 PM »
So tell me exactly when premiums will go down. 

from your article

"These premiums were generally set in 2010, when insurance companies thought medical costs would be significantly higher than they turned out to be," an entry on the White House blog said. "The Bureau of Labor Statistics found that the health insurance employer cost index [a measure of the price of health care services] was the lowest it has been in over 10 years in the first half of 2011.
“Additionally, some insurers assumed that the Affordable Care Act would dramatically raise their costs. In the end, both assumptions were wrong
— but insurance companies still charged high premiums and earned impressive profits,"

Soul Crusher

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Re: Health Care Premiuims Skyrocketing - Thank you Obama you POFS!!!!
« Reply #21 on: September 27, 2011, 01:00:03 PM »
Looking like the piece of sh*t that you are 333! Good find straw!



ObamaCare is bending the cost curve UP!   Not down - and the report from the ohio IG confirmed that. 

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Re: Health Care Premiuims Skyrocketing - Thank you Obama you POFS!!!!
« Reply #22 on: September 27, 2011, 01:01:01 PM »
from your article

"These premiums were generally set in 2010, when insurance companies thought medical costs would be significantly higher than they turned out to be," an entry on the White House blog said. "The Bureau of Labor Statistics found that the health insurance employer cost index [a measure of the price of health care services] was the lowest it has been in over 10 years in the first half of 2011.
“Additionally, some insurers assumed that the Affordable Care Act would dramatically raise their costs. In the end, both assumptions were wrong
— but insurance companies still charged high premiums and earned impressive profits,"

I dont give a shit what the WH spin is - tell me - when will the retail consumer see lower costs as promised by obama? 

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Re: Health Care Premiuims Skyrocketing - Thank you Obama you POFS!!!!
« Reply #23 on: September 27, 2011, 01:02:20 PM »
Scary truth about Obamacare keeps seeping out
Washington Examiner ^ | 09/25/11 | Editorial Board




When House Speaker Nancy Pelosi famously said that she had to pass Obamacare through Congress so that we could find out what was in it, Americans were given a preview of what they are seeing now -- a profusion of legislative errors and broken promises related to President Obama's virtual government takeover of health care. Just this month, we have seen another tranche of bad Obamacare news.

Last week, Howard Dean, former governor of Vermont and chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2005 to 2009, acknowledged that -- as Obamacare's critics have contended all along -- the bill will prompt many employers to drop their health plans. "Most small businesses are not going to be in the health insurance business anymore after this thing goes into effect," he said. Dean, of course, spun this as a cost reduction for business. But in fact it undercuts two key promises Obama made in order to pass his bill. First, if you like your health coverage, you probably won't be able to keep it. Second, millions of Americans will be dumped by their employers into subsidized insurance exchanges, which means that Obamacare will add significantly to the deficit.

Then again, thanks to a glaring but heretofore unnoticed flaw in the bill's language, Obamacare might not cost as much as expected because it won't serve those it was intended to help. Because supporters failed to read their bill before passing it, the letter of the law provides that low-income Americans in many states will not be eligible for the promised subsidies to purchase insurance. This simple technical mistake, reported this month by Investor's Business Daily, threatens to un-insure millions of those currently insured if they are dumped by employers into federally established insurance exchanges.

Also last week, we learned the true nature of another of Obamacare's empty promises. One of the key programs that made Obamacare appear deficit-neutral on paper -- the CLASS Act -- has now been exposed as nothing more than an accounting gimmick. On paper, this old-age care program brought in extra revenue in its early years by charging premiums without paying out benefits until the out years. It thus helped Obamacare's bottom line temporarily, but obliterated it in the long run. The fact that Obama's Department of Health and Human Services shelved the program indefinitely exposed the president's sleight of hand. Obamacare was designed to game the budget referees so that a massive, budget-busting bill could pass under the radar.

Obamacare, like most large-scale government schemes, has proven to be one man's dream and most Americans' nightmare. Obama has not yet paid the full political price for its passage, but Americans will pay even more dearly if the courts leave it in force.



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Straw Man

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Re: Health Care Premiuims Skyrocketing - Thank you Obama you POFS!!!!
« Reply #24 on: September 27, 2011, 01:05:33 PM »
ObamaCare is bending the cost curve UP!   Not down - and the report from the ohio IG confirmed that. 

again from your article:

"There are people who blame everything on the Affordable Care Act, including the weather," he told POLITICO in an interview. "The big increase we see this year is not an increase of the Affordable Care Act.” In fact, he added the health reform legislation contains tools that could restrain cost growth in the future.