Obama DEA Caused A 'Raging Inferno of Tragic Destruction' By MishandlingThe Opioid Crisis, West Virginia AG Says

dailycaller

Tim PearceEnergy Reporter
8:18 PM 05/06/2018
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey filed a formal document in support of a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) proposal that would limit opioid manufacturers to producing only enough to fill legitimate medical need.

The DEA proposal is a direct response to a lawsuit Morrisey filed against the agency in December 2017, pushing the agency to review how it determines drug quotas — the amount of opioids manufactures are allowed to produce to meet market demand.

Morrisey, a Republican, blasted the Obama administration for constructing the current process of setting drug quotas and using metrics and methods that inflate opioid production far above the medical need. Extra opioids are sold on the black market and end up in the hands of addicts largely living in depressed communities, according to Morrisey’s formal demand of support.

“The Obama DEA’s broken quota system resulted in unconstrained and unvalidated increases each year for the past decade that fueled the drug epidemic,” Morrisey wrote. “It is as if the Obama DEA soaked our nation with gasoline that puddled and pooled in vulnerable communities where rampant criminal and negligent conduct ignited this dangerous excess opioid supply into a raging inferno of tragic destruction and death.”


The DEA’s proposal overhauls how drug quotas are determined.

Rather than relying solely on industry input, the DEA would set drug quotas using input from states and other federal agencies as well. The new quota will also account for the number of opioids flowing into the black market. Finally, states will have the ability to call administrative hearing in Washington to show evidence of excess opioids and drug abuse.

The DEA proposal is a huge victory for Morrisey, whose state is one the opioid crisis has hit hardest.

“The excess narcotics supply naturally flowed to the devastated coal fields of West Virginia and other communities that were hardest hit by the recession,” Attorney General Morrisey wrote. “As every West Virginian now knows, next came overdoses, recoveries, and overdoses where no recovery was possible. All of this was made possible because of a broken quota system that failed to protect the public from euphoria producing drugs that also had the power to kill.” 

Thank You Mr Pierce and the DC.

Former Official Will Cooperate With Investigators Probing Scheme To Funnel Money From State Dept To Kerry's Daughter

Well, this is a surprise, said no one.

dailycaller
Ethan Barton Investigative Reporter
10:27 PM 02/21/2018

A former senior Peace Corps official agreed to cooperate with any law enforcement investigations surrounding a scheme that funneled millions of Department of State dollars to a nonprofit founded and run by former Secretary of State John Kerry’s daughter, recently published court documents show.

Warren “Buck” Buckingham agreed to cooperate as a condition of an agreement with the Washington, D.C., U.S. Attorney’s Office that would keep him from facing prosecution for a related illegal lobbying charge, court documents filed Thursday and made public Tuesday show. (RELATED: Former Peace Corps Official Who Steered Contracts To John Kerry’s Daughter May Avoid Prosecution)

Also as part of the agreement, Buckingham admitted to the charge that he lobbied his former Peace Corps colleagues to help his employer, Seed Global Health, secure a $6.4 million State Department-funded contract extension around September 2015.

Buckingham also helped Seed – a nonprofit founded and run by Kerry’s daughter Vanessa Kerry – secure it’s original nearly $3 million contract, which was also funded with State Department money, in September 2012. Buckingham soon left the Peace Corps while under investigation for improperly hiring an employee and subsequently sending the official lewd emails.

Officials from both agencies met with Vanessa and arranged the scheme that would funnel State Department money to Seed through the Peace Corps, previous Daily Caller News Foundation investigations show in detail. (EXCLUSIVE: John Kerry’s State Department Funneled MILLIONS To His Daughter’s Nonprofit)

Additionally, John Kerry’s State Department hired Buckingham as a consultant soon after the former Peace Corps official helped Vanessa’s nonprofit secure its first contract.

Buckingham agreed to cooperate with “any ongoing investigation” the Attorney’s Office or other law enforcement agencies conducts related to the money funneling scheme, court documents said. He agreed to “disclose all factual information” surrounding the scheme, including “any document, record or other tangible evidence.”

Buckingham also agreed to “make himself available for interviews or testimony,” including testifying before a grand jury or in trials and identifying other witnesses who may have information related to the investigation, court documents said.

Seed hired Buckingham around the time the original contract was expiring to “manage [the] relationship with external partners such as the Peace Corps,” the court documents said. Buckingham contacted Peace Corps “to review questions posed by Peace Corps regarding the renewal of” Seed’s contract.

Buckingham was notified in September 2015 that his “communications with Peace Corps about the cooperative agreement were potential violations of conflict of interest laws” and subsequently stopped talking with the agency about the contract, court documents said.

The documents only refer to Buckingham’s work with “Foundation A,” but significant details make it clear the organization is Seed.

First, the timing, value and funding source of the arrangement identified in the court documents were unique to Seed.

Second, the court documents note that the State Department secretary in February 2013 “was the father of the co-founder and CEO of Foundation A.”

Third, the court document shows that the foundation in question hired Buckingham around the same time as Seed.

Fourth, Buckingham lobbied the Peace Corps for Seed’s contract extension, TheDCNF previously revealed.

Neither Seed nor Buckingham’s lawyer immediately returned a request for comment. The U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment.


Thank You Mr Barton and the DC.

ObamaCare Recruiters Get $1.2 Billion Under Proposed Law

 It's Anytime of the year in DC, and the idiots are in bloom.

Judicial Watch
FEBRUARY 01, 2018

A fraud-infested Obamacare “outreach” program will get an astounding $1.2 billion from American taxpayers if legislation introduced by a veteran congresswoman becomes law. The preposterous measure, introduced by California Democrat Maxine Waters a few week ago, aims to recruit customers for the health insurance exchanges set up under Obama’s disastrous healthcare overhaul. The 14-term congresswoman, investigated by the House Ethics Committee for steering federal funds to her husband’s failing Massachusetts bank, crafted the law because the Trump administration slashed Obamacare outreach funding by more than 90%.

“Our health care system is under attack by a president, administration, and Republican-controlled Congress that – after numerous failed attempts to repeal Obamacare – are sabotaging it for political gain,” Waters said in a statement. “My legislation seeks to reverse their vindictive efforts to undermine and de-stabilize our health care system by ensuring that all consumers are provided with the information they need to make timely and well-informed decisions when purchasing health coverage through the federal and state-run marketplaces.” The bill, Affordable Care Act (ACA) Outreach for the Uninsured, Transformative Recruitment, and Enrollment Action for Compassionate Healthcare (ACA OUTREACH) Act, is cosponsored by 36 other lawmakers. If it passes, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) would dole out $300 million annually through 2021 for “navigator” grants. Minority and underserved communities would be especially targeted, according to language in the bill’s text.

The Obamacare navigator program was rife with fraud and corruption and Judicial Watch sued HHS back in 2014 to obtain records that the agency refused to provide under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). In 2013, the Obama administration gave dozens of leftists organizations a whopping $67 million to help people “navigate” health insurance exchanges that weren’t even fully established. In a “culturally competent manner” the so-called navigators were tasked with helping people shop for and enroll in plans that would eventually be available on the federal government market places. The money was divided between 105 mostly leftist groups that assisted and recruited the uninsured to sign up for coverage and understand their options.

Here are a few examples of the community organizations that received navigator grants from the government; an Arizona nonprofit called “Campesinos Sin Fronteras” that provides services to farm workers and low-income Hispanics; a south Florida legal group that provided navigators in “racially, ethnically, linguistically, culturally and socioeconomically diverse” communities; three Planned Parenthood branches—in Iowa, Montana and New Hampshire—got a combined $655,000 to serve as navigators. Others include; the Arab Community Center in Michigan, which got nearly $300,000 to reach out to and engage uninsured community members through “multicultural” media. A Black Chamber of Commerce in South Carolina received north of $230,000 to “provide outreach around new coverage options” and a Hispanic aging group in Texas got over $646,000 help members that are “socially isolated due to cultural and linguistic differences.”

Some of the navigator money went to a labor front group called Restaurant Opportunities Center of New York headed by an illegal immigrant activist named Maria Marroquin. The group received navigator funds shortly after Marroquin, an illegal alien from Peru, had been arrested for participating in disruptive demonstrations protesting the deportation of fellow undocumented immigrants and demanding amnesty.

Besides the outrage of hiring an illegal immigrant to promote a U.S. government program, it’s equally disturbing to know that navigators have access to the sensitive personal information of healthcare enrollees. This includes Social Security numbers, which can be used for identity theft, a rampant crime among illegal alien populations seeking to establish residency and land jobs in the U.S.

Navigator funds also went to a nonprofit (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), with such a huge history of corruption that Congress issued a federal funding ban. As part of a broader investigation into ACORN Judicial Watch obtained records showing that HHS violated the congressional ACORN funding ban by awarding a Louisiana nonprofit called Southern United Neighborhoods (SUN) a $1.3 million Obamacare navigator grant to recruit customers. Headquartered in New Orleans, SUN is dedicated to combating poverty, discrimination and community deterioration that keep low-income people from taking advantage of their rights and opportunities, according to its website.


Thank You Judicial Watch. 

Insolvent New Mexico Obamacare Co-op Boasted 6 Figure Salaries

dailycaller
Richard Pollock Reporter
4:31 PM 01/10/2018


 
New Mexico Health Connections, one of the four remaining nonprofit Obamacare Co-ops, did not inform its customers in June that it was insolvent and its entire board had resigned, The Daily Caller News Foundation has learned.

It also never told its customers the nonprofit paid its executives up to $450,000 in annual salaries.

The nonprofit, one of 24 Co-op’s originally set up under Obamacare, was supposed to provide affordable health insurance to individuals, predominantly low-income citizens. The demise of the New Mexico Co-op means that only three are fully functioning.

The New Mexico Co-op boasted extraordinarily high six figure salaries per year like many other failed Obamacare nonprofits, according to a DCNF review of its 2015 tax filing Form 990 with the Internal Revenue Service.

Dr. Martin Hickey, the nonprofit’s CEO, received a $450,000 salary, according to its 990. It is unclear what his compensation was in 2017 when the Co-op notified the state insurance superintendent it was insolvent.

All 12 of the nonprofit’s top staff received six-figure salaries, according to its tax filing. Joining Hickey was Chief Medical Officer Dr. Mark Epstein who received an annual salary of $413,000, Chief Operating Officer Anne Sapon who received $342,000, and Primary Care staffer Frances Torres who received $318,000.

The New Mexico Co-op burned through $77.3 million in federal loans awarded by the Obama administration’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid in 2012. The nonprofit was “bleeding about $20 million in red ink a year,” an Albuquerque Journal editorial noted.

Customers first learned in September the Co-op was facing financial difficulties. It announced an agreement to sell its small and large business policies to a for-profit company called Evolent Health for $10 million in cash.

The deal meant the insolvent nonprofit would continue serving individual customers – its most vulnerable and poorest customers. About 22,000 customers were affected.

The nonprofit’s dire financial straits were so severe its total capital and surplus were $3.5 million even after the infusion of $10 million, according to its Sept. 30 financial filings as reported by the Journal last December.

Co-op customers also weren’t informed that their insurer was insolvent and its board had resigned until after the Obamacare “open enrollment” period for 2018 had expired.

Under New Mexico law, that state can take over insurers that face financial distress. Yet, the state did not assume control of Health Connections after the resignation of its board last June, according to the Albuquerque Journal. Instead, it allowed True Health to take over the two smaller divisions and permitted the individual market customers to remain in the cash-strapped nonprofit.

Hickey, the highest paid Co-op executive, left the nonprofit and joined True Health, Evolent’s subsidiary. True Health did not respond to a DCNF inquiry about his current compensation.

Sapon, in a Linked-In posting in the first week of 2018 attempted to claim the co-op wasn’t facing any financial distress.

“The nonprofit’s leadership have continued NMHC is happy to announce that, contrary to rumors that have been circulating, the company is in a great financial position for the coming year,” he wrote. “We look forward to continuing to serve our members with the same high levels of care, expertise, and compassion that we have been providing for the past four years. We wish you a healthy and happy 2018!”

“We all wanted the company to succeed, but we were effectively insolvent in June,” said Diane Denish, a Co-op board member and New Mexico’s lieutenant governor under Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson in an interview with the Journal on Jan. 9.

Other insurance companies are facing significant losses because of the nonprofit’s insolvency. The largest creditor is Presbyterian Healthcare Services, which is owed $7.6 million. Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Mexico said Health Connections will likely owe it several million dollars.




Thank You Mr Pollock and the DC.

Consumers STILL Face Obamacare Website Glitches For 2018 Healthcare

dailycaller
Nick GivasMedia Reporter
8:09 PM 12/11/2017

The Obamacare enrollment website HealtCare.gov is still having technical problems, as consumer advocates report continued glitches and misinformation as the deadline to enroll approaches.

Illinois customers who completed the enrollment were told they were eligible for subsidized health care, but received a message saying no plans were available to them in their area, The Associated Press reported.

Stephani Becker of the National Center on Poverty Law in Chicago told The AP the glitch began late last week and continued into Monday. Becker also said the issue extends beyond Illinois into other states, and believes consumers might give up and “just walk away” when faced with such an obstacle.

President Donald Trump’s administration’s decision to cut funding for Obamacare navigators may cause the process to become even more confusing, as navigators are tasked with helping consumers find the health plan that’s best suits them. Some navigator programs may be cut by as much as 90 percent.

The deadline to enroll in Obamacare — former President Barack Obama’s signature health law — is Friday Dec. 15th, and a last-minute push is expected as millions of patients seek to shore up health insurance for 2018. The increased volume of customers may dramatically slow the site, and even cause it to crash.

This wouldn’t be the first time HealthCare.gov has faced technical problems. During the initial roll out in 2013, former Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius called the site a “miserably frustrating experience” and said the federal government had underestimated how disorganized it actually was.

The site continued to experience a series of crashes and delays, prompting Obama to apologize to the American people for the botched roll out.

“We worked hard to try to make sure that we implemented it [Obamacare] properly,” Obama told Chuck Todd of MSNBC in a 2013 interview. “But obviously we didn’t do a good enough job, and I regret that.”

Some states such as New York and California are extending the deadline past the 15th, and those living in hurricane ravaged areas like Texas and Florida will have until Dec. 31st to enroll, The AP reports.



Thank You Mr Givas and the DC.

Emergency FEMA Funding Went To Old Casino

freebeacon
Elizabeth Harrington
December 7, 2017 5:00 am

IG identifies $13.9 million in unsupported costs given to Omaha Tribe

Federal Emergency Management Agency grants meant for disaster relief ended up going to unauthorized casino repairs and a $300,000 "bonus" to a contractor, according to a new audit by the inspector general.

The inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security questioned roughly $14 million awarded to the Omaha Tribe of Nebraska and Iowa for flood damage in 2011. The audit, released last week, found "serious and pervasive" mishandling of federal funds by the tribe.

"The Omaha Tribe's accounting system and supporting documentation were so unreliable and in such disarray that the only amounts we were able to verify with any degree of confidence were $2.8 million of unneeded funds; $165,000 of unclaimed insurance coverage; and about $74,749 of eligible and supported costs," the inspector general said. "We question the remaining $13.9 million as unsupported."

The office of inspector general said it had "little confidence" in any transactions the tribe listed in its accounting system.

The Omaha Tribe spent $168,764 in taxpayer funding for "ineligible expenditures to repair its old casino" and awarded $312,282 to itself as a "bonus."

FEMA had approved building a new casino, making funds on repairing an old casino ineligible. The Omaha Tribe had money left over on the new casino project and then used it to pay its own contracting company a bonus.

"When the Omaha Tribe's wholly owned construction management contractor spent less than the amount FEMA estimated for the new casino, the tribe simply paid $312,282 to the contractor as a ‘bonus' outside the terms of the contract for ‘savings realized,'" the inspector general said.

"Of course, a payment to its wholly owned contractor is essentially a payment to itself," the inspector general added.

The costs for the new casino were also questioned, as the tribe "could not provide adequate invoices and canceled checks for $5.9 million of the $8.5 million" in construction costs.

The Omaha Tribe also made a $210,000 payment to its own construction management contractor.

The inspector general blamed the misuse of funds on the Omaha Tribe using tribal law, rather than adhering to federal regulations.

"These problems occurred for many reasons; however, the Tribal Emergency Management Director said that the principle of tribal sovereignty overrides Federal regulation and allowed the tribe to manage its grant through tribal law," the inspector general said.

"Tribal sovereignty is the inherent authority of indigenous tribes to govern themselves," the inspector general continued. "However, the principle of tribal sovereignty does not allow Native American tribes to poorly manage their finances, profit from Federal grants, pay themselves bonuses, or disregard Federal regulations."

The inspector general recommended FEMA designate the tribe as a "high-risk grantee" and disallow any funds that went to unauthorized work.
This entry was posted in Issues and tagged FEMA, Government Waste, Native American. Bookmark the permalink.

Thank You Ms Harrington and Free Beacon.

This Obamacare Enrollment Assistance Group Got $200K In Fed Funds, Enrolled 1 Person

zerohedge

by Tyler Durden

Nov 24, 2017 12:05 PM

 

 Earlier this summer, congressional democrats lost their collective minds when the Trump administration announced plans to cut Obamacare's marketing budget from $100 million down to $10 million (see: Democrats Furious After Trump Announces 90% Cut To Obamacare Marketing Funds).  Here was Chuck Schumer's response:

 

Ed; just use the link. 

  Now, per a note from MSNBC, we're getting some new data on just how effective Obama's $100 million marketing budget has been.  According to data supplied by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, one group in South Dakota received $200,000 worth of federal funding and managed to sign up just one person.

A group that is supposed to help Native Americans sign up for Obamacare coverage in South Dakota received $200,000 in federal funds to support its efforts — and managed to sign up just one person in an Obamacare plan, the Trump administration said Wednesday.

The group, the Great Plains Tribal Chairmen's Health Board, had better luck in North Dakota — where it assisted 67 people in shopping for and enrolling in an Obamacare plan that went into effect in 2017.

But in that state, GPTCHB received an additional $154,000 in federal cash for its efforts.

That works out to nearly $3,000 per Obamacare enrollee of GPTCHB's in North Dakota.

In both Dakotas, the group's work cost taxpayers $5,200 per enrollee, according to data from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Thank You Mr Durden and Zerohedge 

Read More.

CBO: Repealing Obamacare's Individual Mandate Would Reduce Deficit By $338 Billion

freebeacon
Ali Meyer
November 10, 2017 4:25 pm
Expert says repealing Obamacare's mandate should be included in House and Senate tax reform proposals

Repealing the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate would reduce the federal deficit by $338 billion in the next decade, according to a projection from the Congressional Budget Office.

The individual mandate requires that Americans purchase health insurance or pay a penalty to the Internal Revenue Service for not having coverage. A recent Taxpayer Advocate Service report found that roughly 4 million Americans paid an average penalty of about $708 this year for a total of $2.8 billion.

The budget office predicts that eliminating the mandate would reduce the deficit by $338 billion from 2018 to 2027 and would decrease the number of those with health insurance by 4 million in 2019 and by 13 million in 2027. Even with this loss, the report says that markets would remain stable in almost all areas of the United States over the next decade.

"We're seeing with the CBO report that repealing the mandate would reduce the deficit by nearly $340 billion over 10 years," says Sally Pipes, president of the Pacific Research Institute. "The report estimates that by 2027, about 13 million fewer Americans would enroll in ACA-compliant plans."

"What's great news is that if the mandate were repealed, most markets would remain stable," she said. "That's significant for the millions of Americans who would become free to purchase other health care plans that are better fits for them and their families."

The budget office also projects that premiums would increase by about 10 percent over the decade but says this is due to healthier individuals choosing not to purchase health insurance.

"The individual mandate is one of the most unpopular Obamacare-era regulations—and it's largely been a failure," Pipes said. "Not as many Americans are insured in the Obamacare insurance exchanges as originally projected, and premiums have skyrocketed since 2013."

Pipes says it's disappointing that neither the Senate nor the House has included the mandate repeal in the most recent versions of their tax reform bills.

"However, it could—and should—be added to future versions," she said. "I'm hopeful that the CBO's report will help accelerate the process of getting rid of the mandate. It could also be done either through Sens. Tom Cotton and Pat Toomey's Mandate Relief Act, or an executive order from the president. With that said, I don't think it can be fully repealed through an executive order." 

This entry was posted in Issues and tagged Health Care, Individual Mandate, Obamacare, Tax Reform. Bookmark the permalink.

Thank You Ms Meyer and Free Beacon.

Report: ObamaCare Premiums Up 37% As Health Insurer Participation Declines

freebeacon
Ali Meyer
October 30, 2017 11:10 am

Fewer enrollees will have access to a plan costing less than $200 a month

The average monthly premium for Obamacare's second-lowest cost silver plan, otherwise known as the benchmark plan, is up 37 percent from 2017, according to a report from the Department of Health and Human Services. From 2016 to 2017, the premium for this type of plan increased by 24 percent.

According to the report, in 2014, when Obamacare was first implemented, the premium for the benchmark plan totaled $218 for a 27-year-old. In 2018, that same premium is expected to rise to $411.

Premiums are also increasing by 17 percent for Obamacare's lowest-cost plan. The report finds that fewer and fewer enrollees will have access to a plan that costs less than $200 a month.

"The percentage of current enrollees with access to a plan for $200 or less decreased from 16 percent for plan year 2017 to 6 percent to plan year 2018," the report states. "If enrollees were to stay within their current metal level, only 2 percent will have access to coverage with premiums of $200 or less for plan year 2018."

Taxpayers are also expected to see higher costs as premium subsidies have grown along with premium increases. In plan year 2014 when Obamacare coverage began, the average advance premium tax credit totaled $259. This year, that tax credit increased to $382, and it is projected to grow by 45 percent to $555 in the 2018 plan year.

While enrollees and taxpayers are seeing higher costs, health insurer participation and plan choices are on the decline. The report finds there will only be 132 health insurers participating next year, a decline of 21 percent from the 167 insurers participating in 2017.

There are eight states—Alaska, Delaware, Iowa, Mississippi, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Wyoming—that will only have one health insurer participating in the entire state. In 2016, only 2 percent of Obamacare enrollees had one choice on the exchange. Next year, that number is expected to increase to 29 percent.

"This data demonstrates just how rapidly Obamacare’s exchanges are deteriorating with skyrocketing premiums year after year, more than half of Americans with no more than two insurers to choose from, and the taxpayer burden exploding," said Caitlin Oakley, press secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

"There is an urgent and serious need to repeal this failed law and replace it with patient-centered solutions," she said.
This entry was posted in Issues and tagged Health Insurance, Obamacare. Bookmark the permalink.

Thank You Ms Meyer and Free Beacon.

It's Failing: New HHS Report Continues Drumbeat of Dreadful ObamaCare News

townhall
Guy Benson
Posted: Oct 30, 2017 4:35 PM

[Ed; use the link for screen captures of graphics.]

Last week, we shared the results of an independent study predicting double-digit premium increases across all Obamacare coverage levels in 2018, including a 34 percent jump among "baseline" silver plans. We also highlighted a Politico review of the law's devastating impact on many consumers in Iowa, one of the states hit hardest by Obamacare's enduring and systemic failures. This week brings a fresh report from the Department of Health and Human Services, confirming the "Affordable" Care Act's continued downward spiral. Via the Washington Examiner's summary:


Health insurance premiums for the first Obamacare open enrollment under President Trump will be 37 percent higher than last year for mid-level plans sold on healthcare.gov, according to a new report by the Department of Health and Human Services...The latest report, prepared by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, found that a 27-year-old who buys a mid-level plan, known as a silver plan, and does not receive a subsidy from the federal government will pay an average of $4,932 in premiums for 2018. In 2017, someone with that profile paid $3,600 in premiums for the year, and in 2016, they paid $2,904. During Obamacare's first year, in 2014, someone with that profile would have paid $2,616. Obamacare customers will also have fewer health insurers to buy coverage from, which will also limit the doctors and hospitals that they can see under these plans. The report found that the percentage of customers who have more than two options is shrinking.

Conservative policy analyst Phil Kerpen runs through additional data points from the study:


Nearly one-third of all Obamacare consumers will be faced with one provider "choice" next year, with more than half having just one or two possible options. The total number of state-level plan issuers across the country has been slashed by more than 100 since 2015. And average rates -- which more than doubled on the federal exchange between 2013 and 2017 -- keep heading up. And that doesn't even account for prohibitively expensive out-of-pocket expenses and deductibles. On a county-by-county basis, the receding 2018 coverage map looks like this:


The Trump administration is not setting a sign-up goal for the upcoming open enrollment period, drawing new complaints of "sabotage." But critics would be wise to recall how the Obama administration consistently fell embarrassingly short of their own targets. The Congressional Budget Office's 2010 projections anticipated roughly 23 million Americans would be signed up on the Obamacare exchanges by 2018. This year's actual number: Less than 10 million. And as for claims that the Trump White House is putting its thumb on the scale to make these numbers look as bad as possible, don't forget that the final Obama-era HHS report was packed with dreadful news about the law's trajectory -- and that was before Trump started "undermining" the law by canceling illegal CSR payments and the like. In other words, even when Obamacare was being propped up by a Democratic administration, and most people expected the next Democratic administration would do the same, its impacts on affordability and consumer choice (both hallmarks of Democrats' sales pitch) were negative and deteriorating. I'll leave you with this number, which comes from a D+12 poll, and despite widespread opposition to various Republican 'repeal and replace' bills: 

Thank You Mr Benson and Townhall.

ObamaCare Silver Plan Premiums Up An Average of 34%

hotair
John Sexton
9:21 pm on October 26, 2017

Yesterday Avalere Health published a report on premium increases for 2018 and came up with an average 34% increase for silver plans, which are by far the most popular. A significant contributor to that increase (~14%) is President Trump’s decision to cut off cost-sharing payments to insurers. If not for that factor the rate increase would likely be closer to 20 percent.

“Plans are raising premiums in 2018 to account for market uncertainty and the federal government’s failure to pay for cost-sharing reductions,” said Caroline Pearson, senior vice president at Avalere. “These premium increases may allow insurers to remain in the market and enrollees in all regions to have access to coverage.”

Avalere produced this graph showing average premiums over the past three years plus the average price for next year broken down by plan type (bronze through platinum):


The company also predicts that prices on silver plans could go up beyond 34% if insurers who proposed rates prior to the CSR cut off are given a second chance:

States where health plans were not permitted to provide an amended or second set of rates assuming the loss of CSRs may permit health plans to refile their rates prior to 2018 open enrollment, due to the elimination of the CSR payments. In states where this occurs, it is expected that the newly updated rates will be substantially higher for the 2018 plan year.

That’s exactly what is going to happen in Maryland where insurers are being given a chance to revise their rates. From the Washington Post:

Maryland regulators have given two insurance carriers permission to substantially raise monthly premiums on some plans in a direct response to a Trump administration decision to halt certain subsidies under the Affordable Care Act.

The steep increases will raise costs by as much as 76 percent over last year for silver-level individual plans on the state exchange and come atop already approved increases for 2018.

As usual, there are all sorts of caveats here. For one, most of the people buying these plans on the exchange get subsidies which means they won’t see much of this increase (the taxpayers will). The people who will be hit hard by this are those, mostly buying off the exchange, who make too much to receive subsidies. As you can see in that chart above, the average price of a silver plan premium could jump almost $200 a month next year.

The real problem, which is mentioned in a list of factors by Avalere, is that enrollment was down this year and will probably be down again, perhaps sharply, next year. That will lead to more insurers considering dropping out of the markets. About a quarter of all counties next year are already down to one insurer and those are the counties where insurers are most likely to want to drop out. That and the shrinking size of the risk pool could lead to another round of steep premium hikes next year.
 
Tags: cost-sharing insurers ObamaCare Obamacare exchange premiums

 
Thank You Mr Sexton and Hot Air.

Ending Obamacare Subsidies Will Lower Premiums, Healthcare Experts Say

dailycaller

Jon Street

9:09 AM 10/26/2017

After President Donald Trump recently halted Obamacare subsidies for poor and low-income Americans, many in the media reported that the action will result in more expensive health insurance premiums for millions of consumers who are already struggling to make ends meet. This characterization, however, fails to provide key context that could actually mean lower premiums for Americans with individual health insurance plans.

According to a recent study from the Freelancers Union and Upwork, a record 36 percent of Americans now work as freelancers, meaning that they are not eligible for employer-sponsored health insurance plans offering much lower premiums for consumers. This means that roughly 57.3 million Americans — minus the number of those covered under health insurance plans offered by their spouse’s employer-sponsored plans — are required under the Affordable Care Act to obtain individualized health insurance coverage or pay a penalty.

An estimated eight in ten consumers in the individual market are eligible for taxpayer-funded health insurance plan subsidies. Trump, however, recently halted billions of dollars in health insurance subsidies, because he said they only prop up insurers.
The administration also argues that the subsidies are illegal since the funds were never appropriated by Congress.

The move will not largely affect the eight in ten Americans who are eligible for the premium subsidies, since health insurers are still required to subsidize plans for low-income consumers even without taxpayer-assistance. Trump’s move will only affect the remaining two in ten Americans on the individual market who are not eligible for subsidies because they earn too much, CNN reports.

The move by the president prompted a number of health insurance companies to request substantial premium rate increases heading into 2018. The Maryland Insurance Administration, for example, approved 33-percent average rate increases for 2018.

The Washington Post directly tied Maryland’s health insurance rate increases to Trump halting taxpayer-funded subsidies.

ABC News claimed that “cutting them will likely further roil the already unstable insurance market.”

However, the Washington Post, ABC News, and others failed to mention that while health insurers will no longer receive billions of dollars in taxpayer-funded subsidies, those same 2 in 10 consumers facing increased rates will also have more health insurance coverage options, thanks to Trump signing an executive order allowing them to purchase their coverage across state lines.

This move, according to conservative healthcare policy experts, will actually result in lower premiums.

Heritage Foundation experts Marie Fishpaw and Edmund Haislmaier called the October 12 executive order “a step in the right direction, partly because it encourages more health insurance associations, according to Fishpaw and Haislmaier:

A change of this sort could allow small businesses and the self-employed to escape Obamacare’s costly benefit mandates and access new options run by associations that they have a stake in.

It could also help more small employers offer coverage to their workers. Newly enrolled individuals could save money—up to 20 to 50 percent on the cost of their insurance—by taking advantage of the tax break for employer-provided health insurance.

Cato Institute healthcare policy expert Michael Cannon said Trump’s executive order “could save millions from ObamaCare.”
“Since the Affordable Care Act took full effect in 2014, premiums in the individual market have more than doubled. The average cumulative increase is 105 percent, equivalent to average annual increases of 19 percent. Family premiums have increased 140 percent,” Cannon wrote.

Cannon attributed the rise in premiums to Obamacare’s “hidden taxes,” which Trump’s recent executive order seeks to help consumers avoid by purchasing guaranteed renewable short-term health insurance plans that would not be subject to Obamacare’s onerous regulations.

According to Cannon:

Consumers could avoid Obamacare’s hidden taxes and low-quality coverage by purchasing relatively secure insurance that protects them against the long-term financial cost of illness, and that protects them against their premiums rising if they get sick. Premiums would be far lower than they are in the Exchanges. If the administration gets the regulations right, this change could even allow innovations that reduce the cost of health-insurance protection by a further 80 percent.

“Absent Obamacare’s health-insurance regulations, premiums would fall for the vast majority of exchange enrollees by an estimated 45-68 percent, ” Cannon wrote in a July column published by The Hill.

“It would allow insurers to reintroduce innovative products, which Obamacare effectively outlawed, that would reduce premiums a further 80 percent(!),” Cannon added.

Tags: Obamacare, Obamacare subsidies

 

Thak You Mr Street and the DC.

ObamaCare Individual Mandate Falls Heaviest On Families Making $50K Or Less

Democrats. "Workers of the World, Unite!"

dailycaller
David Sivak
Fact Check Reporter
6:03 PM 09/20/2017

Republican Senator Bill Cassidy claimed Wednesday on CNN that middle and lower-income families pay the majority of individual mandate penalties under Obamacare.

“Fifty-eight percent of those penalties are paid by families which make $50,000 or less,” said Cassidy.

Verdict: True

Tax filers with an adjusted gross income (AGI) under $50,000 paid 58 percent of the $3.1 billion in penalties collected by the IRS in 2015, the most recent tax year for which data was available.


Fact Check:

The individual mandate requires non-exempt Americans without health insurance to purchase a health plan or face a penalty. Today, the penalty can cost families up to $2,085 a year or 2.5 percent of applicable income above a certain threshold, whichever is higher.

The IRS collected $3.1 billion from 6.7 million taxpayers in 2015, and according to IRS data tables, $1.8 billion – or 58 percent – were collected from taxpayers with an AGI of less than $50,000. AGI is taxable income minus specific deductions like retirement plan contributions.

By and large, the IRS collects individual mandate payments from lower- and middle-income taxpayers. Twenty-two percent of penalties were paid by tax filers with an AGI under $25,000 and 86 percent were paid by those with an AGI under $100,000.

The Daily Caller News Foundation also looked at the income distribution of the 6.7 million tax filers who paid the penalty and found that 79 percent had an AGI under $50,000.

Nearly all of these taxpayers had an AGI under $100,000.

Wealthier taxpayers did pay a proportionally larger share of the penalty. Only four percent of the 6.7 million tax filers had an AGI greater than $100,000, but they paid 14 percent of the $3.1 billion in penalties.

All of these calculations deal with AGI as opposed to gross income, which Cassidy could have clarified in his interview. Barring this caveat, however, Cassidy’s claim is true.

Follow David on Twitter

Have a fact check suggestion? Send ideas to sivak@dailycallernewsfoundation.org

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.


Tags: Bill Cassidy, Check Your Fact, Individual mandate, Obamacare

Thank You Mr Sivak and DC.

New Doctor Recruiting On The Verge of A Feeding Frenzy

Since Fierce Healthcare doesn't want their content reposted in whole or in part, and says so, you'll have to read it at the link.


And WHY are new Doctors being chased with job offers, with a Bat, as it were?

Thank the Democrat Coup De Medicine/Coup De'tat; the ACA.

ObamaCare has made BEING a Doctor a major pain in the ass.

It's not just the patients and Health Insurers who got screwed on this Govt Rollover of a 6th of America's economy.

It's Everyone.

It's Closing Time For Last ObamaCare Co-ops

dailycaller

Richard Pollock and Ethan Barton
2:25 PM 09/12/2017

A government watchdog reported Tuesday that the remaining six Obamacare CO-OPs don’t “appear to be financially viable and sustainable.”

That means the $2.4 billion in taxpayer funds awarded by the Obama administration to the 24 original health care CO-OPs is a complete loss. 

(Ed; Told you this kind of fraud was gonna happen from the start.)

The Consumer Operated and Oriented Plans, more commonly known as CO-OPs, are nonprofit health insurance providers established under the Affordable Care Act.

Five of the 11 CO-OPs operating on Jan. 1, 2016, had either ceased or planned to cease operations by the end of the year, and the remaining six will likely follow suit based on the analysis of their financial status by the Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General (IG).

“[E]ach of the remaining 6 CO-OPs reported net losses and had drawn down nearly all available CO-OP loan amounts as of December 31, 2016,” the IG said. “These six operational CO-OPs did not appear to be financially viable and sustainable based on the reported net income and available capital and surplus.”

“Medical claims costs exceeded premiums for three of the six CO-OPs,” it continued.

The $2.4 billion loss does not include millions more in losses that individual states will face to cover for CO-OP shortfalls on outstanding payments to doctors, hospitals and medical professionals. In New York state, for instance, the losses to medical providers was reported in excess of $150 million.

Further, hundreds of thousands will discover they have to scramble for new health insurance.

“[M]any of the remaining operational CO-OPs have financial issues similar to those of the CO-OPs that were liquidated,” the report said.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services placed 10 of the 11 CO-OPs the IG reviewed on “corrective action” or “enhanced oversight plans” in 2015 and 2016.

“CMS conducted the required oversight of the CO-OP program, but this did not prevent the CO-OPs from ceasing or planning to cease operations,” the report said.

“When a CO-OP ceases operations during the plan year, health plan participants can be significantly affected,” the report continued. Participants, for example, “may have to select a new health plan, resulting in possible changes of providers, medications, and medical services and possibly higher premiums and other cost-sharing expenses.”

Follow Ethan on Twitter. Send tips to ethan@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
Tags: Investigative Group, Obamacare, Obamacare Co-ops

Thank You Mr Pollock, Mr Barton, and DC.

ObamaCare'sOut Of Pocket Costs For Specialty Drugs Increases 16% In One Year

freebeacon

Ali Meyer
September 12, 2017 5:00 am

Out-of-pocket costs for specialty drugs under the Affordable Care Act increased 16 percent from 2016 to 2017, according to a report from HealthPocket.

While prescription drug coverage comes standard with Obamacare plans, not all medications prescribed to individuals will be paid for.

"For a plan to help pay for a drug, the drug must first be included on the health plan's formulary," the report states. "Drugs that are off-formulary are not only paid for completely out-of-pocket by the enrollee but those expenses do not count towards the annual cap on out-of-pocket spending."



continue reading

Trump Could Blow Up The ACA Marketplaces Tomorrow By Stopping Subsidy Payments

Then 86 them. Healthcare is not a Right. It is a commodity. 

When Govt turns the provision of any commodity into a tax payer funded Right it becomes a textbook definition of fascism. 

Don't believe us? Go read the stories of the endless misery psychiatry has occasioned it's patients, often times through outright force though usually fraud and out right lying in fact or through omission at Mad In America. 

Yank its money from Govt out from under it, and you've solved a good 90% of the problem.


Kaiser Health News

The president has threatened to end the payments to insurers before, and now with the failure of the GOP's proposed bill, the deadline hangs like a guillotine over companies' heads. “My advice to the plans this morning was, ‘If you get it, cash the check quickly,’” one health care lobbyist who represents insurers said Tuesday.

Politico: Trump Threatens To Gut Obamacare Markets
Donald Trump holds a fuse in his hands — and he could decide to light it and blow up Obamacare insurance markets as soon as Thursday. That’s the deadline for sending out the next monthly Affordable Care Act subsidies to health plans to defray the cost of care for individuals with low incomes. The president has toyed for months with the idea of stopping the payments to force Democrats to the negotiating table to avoid the prospect of millions of vulnerable Americans losing access to health coverage. (Demko and Dawsey, 7/18)

Bloomberg: Health Insurers’ Next Obamacare Scare Is Just Two Days Away 
The health insurance industry’s Obamacare drama reached a climax on Tuesday, but it isn’t over. With Senate Republicans’ failure to advance their bill to replace Obamacare, insurers are facing a summer of uncertainty. President Donald Trump’s administration won’t commit to making critical payments under Obamacare. Health plans have pulled out of some markets, and raised rates in others. And there’s always the chance that Republicans could revive their effort to repeal the law. (Tracer, 7/18)

Reuters: As Obamacare Repeal Falters, Insurers Start To Press On Subsidies
A failed Republican effort to replace Obamacare raised new concerns on Tuesday for U.S. health insurers over whether the government will continue to fund billions of dollars in medical benefit subsidies. The healthcare bill under consideration in the U.S. Senate would have settled the funding question, but was scrapped after Republican leaders were unable to rally enough party members to win approval. (Humer and Abutaleb, 7/18)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Tom Price Holds The Keys Obamacare After Senate Bill Collapse
With the Senate’s health care overhaul dead in its current form, Obamacare lives another day. That leaves a familiar Georgia face, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, in charge of implementing the law, one that he’s vilified for the last seven years. (Hallerman, 7/19)

The Washington Post: Affordable Care Act Remains Intact, But Consumers And Insurers Are Left With New Worries
The implosion of the Senate Republicans’ health-care ambitions leaves the Affordable Care Act intact for the moment — but immediately creates worrisome unpredictability for the 10 million Americans who buy health plans through the law’s insurance marketplaces. These consumers could face a rocky few months at the least, as the insurers on which they rely decide how to respond to the political chaos. Some companies could become more skittish about staying in the marketplaces for 2018, while others could try to ratchet up their prices depending on how events in Washington unfold. (Goldstein and Winfield Cunningham, 7/18)

The Wall Street Journal: Health Insurers Brace For New Uncertainty After GOP Bill’s Collapse
For the health-care system, it’s back to square one. Insurers, hospitals and state officials are facing the prospect that the Affordable Care Act will remain the law of the land for now at least, but they also are left with huge questions about how key aspects of the law will be handled under the Trump administration as deadlines loom for insurers’ decisions about next year. (Wilde Mathews and Evans, 7/18)

The Associated Press: 'Repeal Now, Replace Later' Has Immediate Consumer Impact
Consumers would feel the impact immediately if Republicans repeal "Obamacare" with no replacement. Problems could start this fall for customers buying individual health policies, say independent experts, with more insurers likely to exit state markets around the country, and those remaining seeking higher rates. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 7/19)

Los Angeles Times: The U.S. Spends More On Healthcare Than Any Other Country — But Not With Better Health Outcomes
Despite repeated attempts by Senate Republicans to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, the healthcare debate in Washington appears to have collapsed — for now. The United States has much room for improvement when it comes to healthcare, experts said. “The U.S. spends more on healthcare, but we don’t have the same health outcomes [as other countries],” said Cynthia Cox, associate director at Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit organization that researches national health issues. (Etehad and Kim, 7/18)

But it's not all doom and gloom for some insurers —

The Associated Press: UnitedHealth 2Q Profit Surges As ACA Participation Shrinks
UnitedHealth Group's second-quarter earnings soared as the nation's largest insurer dove deeper into government-funded health coverage like Medicare and Medicaid and continued to distance itself from the turbulent Affordable Care Act insurance exchanges. (Murphy, 7/18)

Bloomberg: UnitedHealth Puts Obamacare In Rearview As Business Expands
UnitedHealth Group Inc. is putting its Obamacare struggles behind it just as Republicans in the Senate are trying to do the same. The biggest U.S. health insurer reported second-quarter results Tuesday showing expanded membership as it moved away from the Affordable Care Act and added customers mainly in the government funded programs for the elderly and poor: Medicare and Medicaid. The company largely quit Obamacare going into this year, after racking up losses selling policies to individuals last year. (Tracer, 7/18) 

This is part of the KHN Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.

Thank You KHN.

It's Failing: Blue Cross Blue Shield Abandons ObamaCare In Nebraska

townhall

Guy Benson

Posted: Jun 05, 2017 10:31 AM

As one of the few major carriers that hasn't announced sweeping plans to pull out of Obamacare's crumbling marketplaces nationwide, Blue Cross Blue Shield is sometimes touted by the failing law's defenders as a tenuous "success" story.  They occasionally point to a narrowly-tailored study that purports to demonstrate that the exchanges may be turning a corner toward profitability.  This optimism flies in the face of a drumbeat of business decisions made by numerous insurers over recent years, based on cold, hard accounting calculations.  For many of them, despite Obamacare's ineffectual requirement that everyone in America purchase their products, participation in the law has racked up hundreds of millions of dollars in annual losses (further underscoring the silliness of the Congressional Budget Office's religious faith in the power of the mandate tax).  BCBS might be a ray of hope, we're told, based on some data and projections.  But as we've seen in greater Kansas City and the entire state of Iowa, reality is once again intruding on the company's balance sheets -- this time in Nebraska:

Blue Cross Blue Shield drops out of Obamacare exchange in Nebraska https://t.co/qAZLFmEhzv via @dcexaminer

— Kimberly Leonard (@leonardkl) June 2, 2017

Health insurer Blue Cross Blue Shield announced Thursday that it would not be participating in the invidual market in Nebraska next year, and the remaining insurer hasn't decided if it will leave also. Blue Cross Blue Shield is projected to lose $12 million this year from offering plans in the state, and the company would need to increase its price for premiums next year by 50 percent. The company previously participated in the Obamacare exchanges, which resulted in $150 million in losses...About 100,000 Nebraskans purchase their health insurance through the Obamacare exchanges, which allow most enrollees to receive tax subsidies to pay for their plans. Medica is the other insurer offering plans on the exchange in Nebraska.

Nebraskans purchasing insurance on the Obamacare-dominated individual market are down to just one "choice" in coverage, and that remaining carrier is also contemplating its future in the state.  The Obamacare chorus, exulting in recent polling showing that the law is less unpopular than ever before (sentiments likely driven by dishonest demagoguery against a GOP replacement proposal, anti-Trump polarization, status quo bias, and the fact that most Americans are not affected by turmoil in the individual market), are trying to blame the ongoing upheaval on Republican-caused "uncertainty" and "sabotage."  There is some evidence that a continued lack of clarity on the future of certain bailout-style reimbursement payments to insurers is contributing to some of the skittishness, but this terribly-written and promise-shattering law is sabotaging itself -- and has been for years.  The underlying problems of Obamacare's unsustainable risk pools and adverse selection dilemma have nothing to do with Republicans.  They're inherent, destabilizing flaws in the law itself, which was written and imposed entirely by Democrats.  Premium hikes and access shock have been enduring flaws, long predating Donald Trump's presidency.  The fundamental issue, as Nebraska's Governor correctly notes, is the unworkable structure of Democrats' disintegrating scheme:

Medica Health hasn’t decided whether to offer plans next year that meet the Affordable Care Act’s standards. If Medica joins the ranks of health insurance companies leaving the individual marketplace because they have been losing millions of dollars, Nebraskans seeking individual policies may not be able to find health plans at any price...Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts said Blue Cross’s decision “demonstrates the failure of Obamacare and how the system was so poorly designed that great companies like Blue Cross Blue Shield can’t stay in the marketplace. It highlights that Congress needs to act to make the health care system sustainable.” An additional 86,000 people in Nebraska have ACA plans this year, about 50,000 of those from Aetna Health, which decided last month it wouldn’t offer the plans in 2018 because of financial losses. That will leave only Medica, which covers about 36,000 people this year.

Recent public opinion surveys have shown that only 40 percent of voters support the House-passed American Health Care Act as written, with most wanting to see significant changes in the Senate. Major shifts in the law are virtually inevitably as the upper chamber does its work, which is currently being debated by a 13-member working group. According to a Senator involved in those negotiations, differences over 'essential health benefits' are being overshadowed over disagreements about the rate at which Medicaid outlays should increase in the future; moderate GOP Senators would like to see a more generous standard growth rate, while more conservative members prefer that benchmark be pegged at a lower clip.  Regardless of polling and policy details, the current system is falling apart, necessitating a replacement.  Even extremely liberal states are beginning to contemplate a post-Obamacare future, with California taking another step toward an economically ruinous (that's not hyperbole) single-payer system. The plan would more than double their entire state budget, which is already in bad shape, and sponsors have offered zero concrete plans for how to pay for it. But facts and empirical reality aren't meaningful obstacles to California Democrats:

Single-payer healthcare plan advances in California Senate — without a way to pay its $400-billion tab https://t.co/UzKrsVodGv

— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) June 2, 2017

Good luck with that, California taxpayers. And I'm looking at you, working- and middle-class families; not "the rich." I'll leave you with this since-deleted incitement of Obamacare, via Deputy DNC Chairman Keith Ellison in the wake of the awful Portland killings:

Hey @keithellison! Why did you delete this tweet? Was it the moment you realized we are still under Obamacare? pic.twitter.com/YsCaoU4AaK

— Nat Shupe (@NatShupe) May 30, 2017

 Thank You Mr Benson and Townhall.