Obamacare sticker shock, Skyrocketing health care costs, Job killer, Millions to pay 20 to 100 percent more in January 2014, Obamacare set to implode
“The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)[1] imposes numerous tax hikes that transfer more than $500 billion over 10 years—and more in the future—from hardworking American families and businesses to Congress for spending on new entitlements and subsidies. In addition, higher tax rates on working and investing will discourage economic growth both now and in the future, further lowering the standard of living.”…Heritage Foundation
“About two-thirds of the hospitals serving Medicare patients, or some 2,200 facilities, will be hit with penalties averaging around $125,000 per facility this coming year, according to government estimates.”…NE News Now
“Can we stop calling ObamaCare the Affordable Care Act now?”…Guilford College student
From the Minneapolis Star Tribune March 13, 2013.
“Insurers warn of sticker shock due to health care law’s new taxes”
“The nation’s big health insurers say they expect premiums — or the
cost for insurance coverage — to rise from 20 to 100 percent for
millions of people due to changes that will occur when key provisions
of the Affordable Care Act roll out in January 2014.
Mark Bertolini, CEO of Aetna Inc., one of the nation’s largest
insurers, calls the price hikes “premium rate shock.”
“We’ve done all the math, we’ve shared it with all the regulators,
we’ve shared it with all the people in Washington that need to see it,
and I think it’s a big concern,” Bertolini said during the company’s
annual meeting with investors in December.
To be sure, there will be no across-the-board rate hikes for everyone,
and there’s no reliable national data on how many people could see
increases. But the biggest price hikes are expected to hit a group
that represents a relatively small slice of the insured population.
That includes some of the roughly 14 million people who buy their own
insurance as opposed to being covered under employer-sponsored plans,
and to a lesser extent, some employees of smaller companies.
The price increases are a downside of President Barack Obama’s health
care law, which is expected to expand coverage to nearly 30 million
uninsured people. The massive law calls for a number of changes that
could cause premiums for people who don’t have coverage through a big
employer to rise next year — at a time when health care costs already
are expected to grow by 5 percent or more”
http://www.startribune.com/business/197791231.html?refer=y
From WND March 14, 2013.
“EXPERT: OBAMACARE SET TO ‘IMPLODE'”
“The House Republican budget plan assumes the repeal of Obamacare, and
while the political votes may be hard to find, a leading health-care
expert told WND the flaws of the system will likely lead to its
implosion in the near term.
Grace-Marie Turner is president of the Galen Institute and one of the
leading policy-based critics of Obamacare.
She said House Republicans are right to keep pushing for the repeal of
Obamacare because of the myriad ways it afflicts the nation’s fiscal
health.
“When you look at the overall impact of this law on the economy, we
know that it’s hugely important in depressing job creation,” she said.
“It’s forcing companies to put people on part-time when they need
full-time workers. The incredible number of new taxes, a trillion
dollars in new taxes in this law just in its own right. It is one of
the major factors that is depressing economic growth. When you have
economic growth depressed, you don’t have the tax revenue that you
need.””
“Turner is still optimistic that state rejection of Obamacare will help
bring about its demise. She noted that only 17 states have agreed to
the exchanges, and some state legislatures may overrule their own
governors on expansion of Medicaid. Turner also noted that even
liberal states like California and Connecticut are pleading with the
federal government to stop the stream of new regulations that may well
prevent exchanges from opening on time in those states.
The bureaucracy is not only impacting state governments, but
individuals as well. Americans used to a couple of pages worth of
paperwork to enroll in a health plan are now forced to fill out dozens
of pages to comply with the government requirements to join the
exchanges. Turner said the amount of federal prying could turn off
many people from the program.”
Expert: Obamacare set to ‘implode’
From the Greensboro News Record March 4, 2013.
“Guilford workers could see cuts to health benefits”
“The county has cut costs for the past two years by increasing co-pays,
deductible amounts and out-of-pocket maximums for employees.
“Over the last four years, no merit increases have been awarded to
Guilford County employees,” Fuller said Friday in an email. “However
… health insurance rates and benefit coverage plan costs have
continued to increase. As a result of those increases, county
employees have experienced a pay decrease that has grown larger each
year.””
““It looks to me like Obamacare is causing prices to go up and will
continue to make prices go up,” Henning said. “That’s something we’re
going to have to deal with, like everyone else in this economy.”
http://www.news-record.com/news/826898-91/costs-could-erode-county-benefits
From the Raleigh News Observer November 24, 2012.
“The patient – decked out in non-skid footies, a loose hospital gown and a breathing tube – prays she’s finally on the mend. At age 81, Juanita King had logged nearly five weeks at WakeMed Hospital since October after her breathing became so labored she had trouble walking.
The Clayton grandmother, weakened by a failing heart and obstructed lungs, wasn’t home even two weeks after the first hospital stay before returning to WakeMed earlier this month for another round of needles, meds and tests.
WakeMed, along with hospitals across the country, is scrambling to keep patients like King from coming back. Under federal penalties that kicked in Oct. 1 as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, hospitals lose Medicare reimbursements if their patients are readmitted at an excessive rate.
WakeMed officials, for example, estimate that the 15 readmissions since 2010 that Medicare deemed excessive will cost the Raleigh health care company more than $400,000 in the coming year.”
“In North Carolina, a half-dozen hospitals were levied either the maximum Medicare penalty for excessive readmissions or a penalty very close to the 1 percent max. The hospitals are in Ahoskie, Lumberton, Eden, Williamston, Hamlet and Rocky Mount, according to an analysis by Kaiser Health News. Hospital officials note that areas where hospitals get hit with high penalties are typically in economically depressed areas with limited access to therapists, specialists and other resources essential for preventing hospital readmissions.”
http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/11/24/2502095/hospitals-scramble-to-limit-readmissions.html#
From the Greensboro News Record November 25, 2012.
“Hospitals feeling the pinch”
“Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center launched a distress signal in a gathering storm when it said on Nov. 14 that it will cut 950 jobs.”
“He said layoffs are sweeping the industry. Graban referred to a report from the American Hospital Association that says hospitals will cut 93,000 jobs during 2013.”
“The coming changes could cost North Carolina’s hospitals up to $7.5 billion over the next 10 years , Dalton said.”
https://citizenwells.wordpress.com/2012/11/25/obamacare-forces-93000-hospital-job-cuts-in-2013-nc-hospitals-costs-up-7-5-billion-the-next-10-years-medicare-and-medicaid-reimbursements-mass-layoffs/
From Citizen Wells September 26, 2012.
“Health Insurance Costs Skyrocket For College Students Due To ObamaCare”
“Can we stop calling ObamaCare the Affordable Care Act now?
A Young America’s Foundation activist forwarded an email from the Vice President for Finance at his school, Guilford College (Greensboro, NC), informing him that, “For the 2012-13 academic year, the annual cost of the student health insurance is increasing from $668 to $1,179. This insurance premium has been charged to your student account.”
Why the increase? “Our student health insurance policy premium has been substantially increased due to changes required by federal regulations issued on March 16, 2012 under the Affordable Care Act.”
“Guilford joins a long list of colleges raising their premiums. Virtually all current student insurance plans do not meet ObamaCare’s mandates, and Forbes reports colleges have been forced to drop their plans or raise their premiums rates as much as 1,112% (and no, that’s not a typo).”
“Health Premiums Up $3,000; Obama Vowed $2,500 Cut”
“During his first run for president, Barack Obama made one very specific promise to voters: He would cut health insurance premiums for families by $2,500, and do so in his first term.
But it turns out that family premiums have increased by more than $3,000 since Obama’s vow, according to the latest annual Kaiser Family Foundation employee health benefits survey.
Premiums for employer-provided family coverage rose $3,065 — 24% — from 2008 to 2012, the Kaiser survey found. Even if you start counting in 2009, premiums have climbed $2,370.”
https://citizenwells.wordpress.com/2012/09/26/health-premiums-up-3000-obama-promised-2500-cut-student-health-care-doubles-triples-and-more-obamacare-another-obama-lie-kaiser-survey/
Citizen WElls 