"It's a known fact, at least to the ever clueless Left defending Obamacare, that what insurance companies have apparently always wanted to do is to both cancel and rid themselves of most if not all of their paying customers--obviously so that they might stop paying taxes--but also so that they will no longer have to stay in business, which will, therefore, allow them to keep all of that money....which.... they will no longer be making."
"They're on to us folks...."
_______
Conservative Refocus
Barry Secrest
In July of 2010, the Obamacare rules and regulations, as promulgated by the US Government, were painstakingly updated to include one very key piece of information, which proves beyond a shadow of doubt that the President and other members of the US government lied and did so repeatedly with regard to the Affordable Care Act.
According to an NBC News story, the added information included this smoking gun:
"Buried in Obamacare regulations from July 2010 is an estimate that because of normal turnover in the individual insurance market, “40 to 67 percent” of customers will not be able to keep their policy. And because many policies will have been changed since the key date, “the percentage of individual market policies losing grandfather status in a given year exceeds the 40 to 67 percent range.”
That means the administration knew that more than 40 to 67 percent of those in the individual market would not be able to keep their plans, even if they liked them."
Unfortunately for the White House, recent accounts indicate that the folly of Obamacare was known far earlier than the above citation. In fact, shortly after Obamacare was passed, Harvard economics professor and consultant David Cutler warned the Regime of his concerns for the law's implementation, as relayed from the following Washington Post article:
In May 2010, two months after the Affordable Care Act squeaked through Congress, President Obama’s top economic aides were getting worried. Larry Summers, director of the White House’s National Economic Council, and Peter Orszag, head of the Office of Management and Budget, had just received a pointed four-page memo from a trusted outside health adviser. It warned that no one in the administration was “up to the task” of overseeing the construction of an insurance exchange and other intricacies of translating the 2,000-page statute into reality.
So, there you have it, but the plot only thickens at this point, because the end game is most obviously in site, at least for the Obama Regime. Indeed, the President's imperative, as promulgated all along, was to eventually force America into a single-payer health system, as Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Administration earnestly tried during the Clinton years.
But how?
Step One: Paving The Way
First, it was essential for Obama to create an urgent political need to get public opinion flowing against America's formerly private healthcare system, which by the way, was the best in the world prior to 2011. Certainly, the task would be fairly easy since the overall Leftist media both inserted and controlled the conversation from the start. 2009, in fact, saw an avalanche of news article after news article oddly flooding the media, as if concerted by some phantom maestro in an effort to flow public affectation against private healthcare.
WHO Chart showing medical service providers in US as of 2010: Note the miniscule number of providers in both China and India, which make up over half the world's population in billions, as compared to America's 310 million individuals.
For instance, in 2009 we could find chief-apparatchik Paul Krugman, a Left-Wing principality of the New York Times, leading the journalistic fight for state-run Healthcare and against private healthcare in one of his many Leftist pieces titled "The Politics of Spite":
"The same principle of spite has determined Republican positions on more serious matters, with potentially serious consequences — in particular, in the debate over health care reform."
"The Republican campaign against health care reform has shown no such consistency. For the main G.O.P. line of attack is the claim — based mainly on lies about death panels and so on — that reform will undermine Medicare."
Medicare was, by the way, eventually forced to give up over $ 700 Billion of funding in favor of the Affordable Care Act as set by Obama, himself. But also within the same newspaper and appearing on the same day, was "Left-Wing Boy-Wonder" Nick Kristoff who thoughtfully included this rather prophetic attempt to knock down and drag-out America's private healthcare system, as indicated by his closing argument for a healthcare transformation:
"I can only Hope that the Legislators find it in their hearts to overhaul an existing insurance system that is the disgrace of the industrialized world"
In fact, newspaper articles were flooding the media from sea to shining sea in an effort to build support against our then present-day free market-based system. The effort from the Left as required by the Regime would eventually find success.
Step one would finally be completed on October 1st, 2013, with the Obamacare rollout to unquestionably disastrous results, as only six individuals Nationwide would actually be signed up on the first day, and in a nation of well over 300 million people.
Step Two: Riding Out The Storm
As the rollout proceeds, the Obamacare regulations will essentially act as an ever-tightening noose on private health insurance carriers. Individual insurance markets will be forced to continually slake customer after customer. Despite the artificed fanfare from Obama, which few if any paid attention to back in 2010, the grandfathered policies will never be able to continually survive the stringent standards required of compliance laws for very long. Regulatory compatibility will become more and more difficult. As the overall stable of customers are slowly depleted, specific plans will be left at an actuarial risk, thereby depleting carrier claims reserves and causing plan termination letters to eventually flow out.
While many insurance carriers lined up in support at first, as recruited by the Obama Regime, thousands of pages of regulations have been written since that time, and at the Secretary's discretion, but only as directed by the White House.
As time moves inevitably forward, private plans will also suffer from little-known but severe profit limitations as imposed by the Affordable Care Act. Beginning in 2011, one of the first rules of the Affordable Health Act mandated that companies would be required to pay no less than 80% of premium income on medical care for policy holders. In other words, no matter how precise actuarial underwriting efforts might be, plans which were designed to bolster healthy individual enrollment while also allowing starkly less in premiums, would no longer matter.
Profit will now be severely limited.
If a company fails to hit its mandated target of 80% of each premium dollar taken in to be applied towards medical care, the underwriting gain will have to be forfeited back to the policy holders by way of an annual refund. This, in essence, would mean that all administrative costs must be held to no more than 20% of every premium dollar. A difficult proposition at best for companies looking to control fraud or expand into both better plan designs and improving overall efficiencies.
According to a 2012 Fox News story, these limitations on profit, despite being an obvious Marxist construct, could cause more companies to either go out of business or drop specific plans, as is happening even now:
"This puts tremendous pressure on companies," Robert Zirkelbach, spokesman with America's Health Insurance Plans, told FoxNews.com. Foremost, they say the sudden implementation could force some health plans out of the market. Zirkelbach said the new rules could also force insurers to cut down on fraud prevention activities and prevent them investing money in innovation. "Capping what health plans can invest in those activities and to pioneer new initiatives is only going to make it harder for those new types of programs and services ... to come online," he said.
So, with subsidized government forces increasingly aligning themselves against the private market, the shrinking health insurance industry will see more and more carriers forced out of business, which is exactly where the next step comes into play.
Step 3: A Dangerous Deception
There were approximately 806 Health Insurance companies of all types in the US, in 2013. However, over the prior decade, that number was considerably larger, almost double in fact. But as Obamacare continues to take over insurance, that number will shrink considerably. While over 1/6th of the entire US economy is made up of the healthcare industry, that same industry was formerly funded in large part by private and or employer sponsored insurance carriers. Now, about 93 million individuals are covered under the US government's medicare and medicaid programs. The latest data conversely indicates that only about 15 million Americans are presently insured under private insurance health plans with the remainder of the health insurance carrying population being covered by employer sponsored plans, that number approaching roughly 145 million.
The actual problem of sharply increasing premiums began within the insurance industry back in the late 1960's, after Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society" initiative placed the government in the position of eventually dictating fee for service levels which would, overtime, prove to be an industry-wide problem. Private insurance carriers would pick up the shortage in costs gaps associated with lower than nominal costs paid by the government. As the federal and State mandated programs grew, the government became the single largest US insurance carrier of all.
The short answer with regard to spiraling costs being, in effect, that an 800 lb. gorilla pays what it wants pretty much when it wants, with no effective recourse for any meaningful complaints.
As the government's role continually grew, more and more Doctors and providers were forced to opt out of the government's network, to the point that in the present day, many individuals have difficulty finding doctors who will even take on more federally funded patients. This is due simply to the fact that doctors can only see a certain percentage of Medicaid and Medicare patients before the level of reimbursement becomes highly unprofitable, ergo, the private market surges to the rescue for remaining private market patients. On the flip-side, the shortfall in payments by the government forces the private market and its insurance providers to pick up more and more of the costs, creating a death spiral of premium increases while the number of available doctors continues to dwindle.
Primary Care Doctors Still in Short Supply in U.S.
In fact, a large proportion of medical inflation is based on the fact that the government often severely underfunds most given procedures. So while the political left insistently snipes at insurance carriers, almost as a hobby, the root of the problem lies within the Federal Government's insertion into the market well over a generation hence.
So, while Obama's two main promises centered on reducing health insurance costs while increasing the number of insured individuals, the fact that extreme government meddling will produce only worse results is only now being found out by the citizenry at large, as in the October 1st health Act rollout. Indeed, more people will stand to lose coverage than will gain it which is the grandest irony of all. However, the upcoming fix that Obama has promised will certainly only make things worse, noting the fact that according to the Washington Post, 9 out of 10 Obamacare enrollments have been redirected into Medicaid, rather than written through Obamacare, which brings us to the next step.
Step 4: Unintended Consequences?
As more and more individuals are signed up into Medicaid as a result of the healthcare.gov website redirection, the required number of enrollments making Obamacare actually function will simply not be enough unless drastic changes are made.
Obamacare will need at least 39,000 enrollees per month in order to perform nominally, as planned. However, since the 10/1/13 rollout, only a comparative handful have actually signed up for Obamacare, while Medicaid enrollment has proven to be an outrageous and yet dubious success. Many of these enrollments may have even transitioned from private insurance, regardless, the current profusion of Medicaid enrollees will massively blow up both federal and state outlays for what is essentially free medical coverage, and quite comprehensive at that, while private market enrollments will increase only slightly, at best.
Obamacare’s Swollen Medicaid Rolls Threaten State Budgets
But, while Medicaid offers first dollar coverage, essentially for free, private health insurance, Obamacare will require excessively high deductibles and phenomenal out of pocket costs simply to keep premiums outside of the "insanity range." The ironic part of this particular issue is the fact that the middle class taxpayers, who're paying out hefty taxes to support Medicaid, are the same individuals being crucified by the Obama Regime in the premium amounts needed to support the act's mandated coverages. Being considered poor, at least by government standards, will allow many people to have far, far, superior coverage to those who both pay for their own coverage while also paying for the poor's coverage, a thing that only a Marxist might find justice in.
But, then despite the coverage superiority, there is also a decaying quality of care issue associated with medicaid, which will only get worse as roles are expanded by government.
These upcoming conditions, as enumerated, rather easily explain why the President inexplicably sought to delay the mandate for employers, which will in 2014 create a tsunami of even greater consequences, while placing an immeasurable strain on employers, health insurance carriers, citizens and even the government itself.
Step 5: Top Down Bottom Up Inside out
But as the program stumbles forward, many individuals who find Obamacare simply unaffordable will most likely opt out of both Obamacare and any meaningful private health insurance coverage, and in complete if not abject disgust, and pay the fine. While before , these individuals were able to easily, if not ironically, afford coverage, now they simply cannot and as a direct result of Obamacare.
As insurance companies find it harder and harder to function within the hostile regulatory atmosphere, healthcare providers will also suffer increasingly if not by magnitude. Individuals will be forced to forego various procedures as many providers will require deductibles to be paid up front. Unfortunately also, the Obamacare enrollees will have another even newer problem. Many top hospitals, providers, and specialists and even doctors have already indicated that they will not be opting into the Obamacare networks due to insufficient reimbursements within the Healthcare Act's payment directives.
Top Hospitals Opt Out of Obamacare - US News and World Report
Over 129 Million Americans Will Not Be Able to Keep Their Healthcare Plans
This will mean that many enrollees may either unenroll themselves or sign themselves up with a private insurance market, which does have the necessary network, assuming one's available, and in many cases one simply will not be. However, this will further strain private markets, which will be forced to enroll individuals with pre-existing conditions causing rates to move up even higher.
As these rates move up incrementally, many of the healthier individuals will be unable to afford them, prompting these to enroll either in Obamacare or Medicaid.
You Also Can't Keep Your Doctor
Some families will actually begin forfeiting income in order to qualify for Medicaid, while others will find ways to work the system for free coverage.
As this trend continues, the smaller private insurance carriers will continue to consolidate and merge. Eventually there would be very few carriers left and those would be the largest, however, even these carriers would continue to suffer while the healthcare providers will also merge and become larger.
If Obamacare is allowed to continue, eventually the entire system would be measured by only a few gigantic entities with a veritable army of specialized lobbyists and extreme amounts of rationing since the number of providers will be abnormally restricted. As written earlier, clinics and smaller hospitals will begin to suffer, as various lesser insurance carriers and medical vendors begin either opting out or selling out of their traditional roles within the healthcare system, itself.
Step Six: The Final Outcome
Rural medical care will also begin to suffer, as the rates being charged to lesser populated regions begin to overwhelm Obamacare's less affluent victims.
Poorest of the poor left out of Affordable Care Act's health insurance
Job losses will soar, even as Medicaid roles are expanded, leaving fewer and fewer victims for Obamacare to advantage, while also forcing states to raise taxes to cover ever-increasing social funding outlays.
ObamaCare Employer Mandate: A List Of Cuts To Work Hours, Jobs ...
Seniors, who have seen their Medicare premiums increase expansively, will find making ends meet harder and harder, forcing many into poverty-like conditions, while others will be unable to gain medical care for life-threatening conditions, formerly repairable, under prior government healthcare.
Prescription costs, for those at higher risks, will be unaffordable, which will then put pressure on big pharma to maintain profits, thereby forcing even more costs onto remaining private insurers, which will still cover certain prescriptions.
Eventually, the entire system will substantially erode and begin to collapse, as the government will be forced to take over various clinics and hospitals within regions of starkly depressed economic conditions.
Corporations will be forced to slake both employees and healthcare plans as available receipts worsen. Individual disposable income will drop due to the increased amount of premiums being paid into a waning healthcare system. This will put pressure on virtually every sector of the economy. Taxes will need to be raised to support a system, which was fully independent only several years prior, while rationing will eventually become the rule rather than the exception, as intervals of required care will widen out significantly.
Finally, the government will act to save the system it initially sought to fix and thereby ruined with one fell swoop of legislation. America will become engrossed within a medical labryinth of unimaginable expense and unparalleled bureacratic complexity.
All of this because one single man and one particular party set out to force insurance on 3o million people, who probably didn't want it anyway, and to reportedly save $2,500 per year for families. Nevermind the 15 million who will soon lose coverage and are apparently considered expendable by the White House. But as politics comes into play regarding how to correct this undeniable debacle of deception, many within both parties have indicated a desire to actually sew the Frankenstein monster of Obamacare back together and try to improve it, and yet no matter what government does, it will still remain a slowly moving but still terrifying monster.
Going forward, the only credible answer will have to be one of "Full Repeal or No Deal," and once the blasted thing is dead and buried, government can specifically address the real problem areas, rather than trying to create yet another government leviathan of impending failure, if not doom. The only practical way to achieve this outcome is a simple push of the reset button, all the way back to the day before the law was passed--as if it never truly happened.
Regardless of the final outcome, perhaps now, some few Americans will finally understand why the Tea Party and the Conservatives, increasingly hated by the President and his Progressive Decepticons, fought so terribly hard and long to rid America of this fraudulently induced plague of collectivist impracticality.
It's simply because we were right, we knew we were right, and soon everyone else will know it, too....unfortunately.
Barack Obama Then:
“If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. Period. If you like your health care plan, you will be able to keep your health care plan. Period. No one will take it away. No matter what.”~Barack Obama, on 6/15/2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012
Barak Obama Now:
Now, if you have or had one of these plans before the Affordable Care Act came into law and you really liked that plan, what we said was you can keep it if it hasn’t changed since the law passed. ~Barack Obama, 11/4/13
Barry Secrest is an author, political commentator, and multiple business owner of over 20 years, and has been a health & property & casualty insurance specialist and risk manager for over 26 years.