Politics and Money

[lesgetrich]

You just keep repeating false and fake RNC propaganda...

FACT: If the Republicans don't fix Obamacare there won't be any choice for millions and with premium increases again, millions more won't be able to afford it.

... and black is white and up is down LMAO So the GOP solution is to take away subsidies and eliminate medicare for 23 million more people

The only people who have trouble paying for Obamacare are people who are making just above the subsidy limit (400% above the federal poverty level which is about $47,000/yr for a single person and $88,000/yr for a family of four). Ideally, the subsidies should be expanded to include higher incomes and taper off more slowly. So why don't republicans just focus on giving them a tax credit instead of taking subsidies away from everyone else? Again from Wikipedia...

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

The Congressional Budget Office reported in March 2016 that there were approximately 12 million people covered by the exchanges (10 million of whom received subsidies to help pay for insurance) and 11 million made eligible for Medicaid by the law, a subtotal of 23 million people. An additional 1 million were covered by the ACA's "Basic Health Program," for a total of 24 million.[4] CBO also estimated that the ACA would reduce the net number of uninsured by 22 million in 2016,...

By 2017, nearly 70% of those on the exchanges could purchase insurance for less than $75/month after subsidies, which rose to offset significant pre-subsidy price increases in the exchange markets.[200] Healthcare premium cost increases in the employer market continued to moderate. For example, healthcare premiums for those covered by employers rose by 69% from 2000-2005, but only 27% from 2010 to 2015,[6] with only a 3% increase from 2015 to 2016.[201]

...As for rate hikes...

For example, the Kaiser Foundation reported that for the second-lowest cost "Silver plan" (a plan often selected and used as the benchmark for determining financial assistance), a 40-year old non-smoker making $30,000 per year would pay effectively the same amount in 2017 as they did in 2016 (about $208/month) after the subsidy/tax credit, despite large increases in the pre-subsidy price. This was consistent nationally. In other words, the subsidies increased along with the pre-subsidy price, fully offsetting the price increases.[221]

Healthcare premium cost increases in the employer market continued to moderate after the implementation of the law. For example, healthcare premiums for those covered by employers rose by 69% from 2000-2005, but only 27% from 2010 to 2015,(6) with only a 3% increase from 2015 to 2016.(201) From 2008-2010 (before passage of the ACA) health insurance premiums rose by an average of 10% per year.[222]

More than 9.2 million people signed up for care on the national exchange (healthcare.gov) for 2017, down some 400,000 from 2016. This decline was due primarily to the election of President Trump, who pulled advertising encouraging people to sign up for coverage, issued an executive order that attempts to eliminate the mandate, and has created significant uncertainty about the future of the ACA. Enrollments had been running ahead of 2016 prior to President Obama leaving office, with 9.8 million expected to sign-up, so President Trump's actions potentially cost about 600,000 national enrollments (i.e., 9.8 million expected - 9.2 million actual = 0.6 million impact).[447] Of the 9.2 million, 3.0 million were new customers and 6.2 million were returning. The 9.2 million excludes the 11 states that run their own exchanges, which have signed up around 3 million additional people.[447] These figures also exclude the additional coverage due to the Medicaid expansion, which covers another approximately 10 million persons, as described in the impact section above.

In February, Humana announced that it would withdraw from the individual insurance market in 2018, citing "further signs of an unbalanced risk pool."[448] That month the IRS announced that it would not require that tax returns indicate that a person has health insurance, reducing the effectiveness of the individual mandate, in response to an executive order from President Donald Trump.[449]

Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini stated that ACA was in a "death spiral" of escalating premiums and shrinking, skewed enrollment.[450] However, a U.S. judge found that the Aetna CEO misrepresented why his company was leaving the exchanges; an important part of the reason was the Justice Department's opposition to the intended merger between Aetna and Humana. Aetna announced that it would exit the exchange market in all remaining states.[451] It stated that its losses had grown from $100M in 2014 to $450M in 2016.[452] Wellmark withdrew from Iowa in April.[453] As of May, no insurer had indicated its intention to offer ACA insurance in Nebraska.[451] Also in May Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City announced it would withdraw from Missouri and Kansas's individual markets in 2018, potentially leaving nearly 19,000 residents in Western Missouri without a coverage option.[454] Anthem announced plans to withdraw from Ohio(455) and later Wisconsin(456) and Indiana,(457) describing the market as "volatile" and referring to the difficulty in pricing its plans "due to the shrinking individual market as well as continual changes in federal operations, rules and guidance."(455)

The CBO reported in March 2017 that the healthcare exchanges were expected to be stable; i.e., they were not in a "death spiral."[458]

Now regarding Obamacare Co-ops...

Cooperatives

The number of ACA nonprofit insurance cooperatives for 2017 fell from 23 originally to 7 for 2017. The remaining 7 posted annual losses in 2015. A General Accountability Report found that co-ops’ 2015 premiums were generally below average. At the end of 2014, money co-ops and other ACA insurers had counted on risk corridor payments that didn't materialize. Maryland's Evergreen Health claims that ACA's risk-adjustment system does not adequately measure risk.

That money didn't materialize because Republicans controlled congress and wouldn't lift a finger to help Obamacare.

BTW The films are ridiculous fake news. A bunch of people complaining but little or no information about how their complaints were actually caused by Obamacare. The guy with the cancer was turned down for a second PET scan BY HIS INSURANCE COMPANY!!! It happens all the time when any insurance company decides that you'r going in for a procedure that's unnecessary. They all have an appeals process for that kind of situation. It happened all the time before Obamacare and it will happen after Obamacare. Then they show a woman who is frightened because she had to get a new policy after Obamacare passed. IT DOESN'T SAY WHAT HAPPENED AFTER SHE GOT HER NEW POLICY. It likely had more coverage at a lower cost. You think that person won't have to get a different policy with less coverage under GOPcare?? LMAO