Obamacare fails in 2017...Oh yes it does!

Obamacare was designed to fail…you do not believe me? It was designed by a failed congress run by failed Democratic Politians, It was paid for by a failed budget process (remember when Harry Reid Senator D Nevada would not let a budget come to the floor?), it was then deemed to be a tax instituted by the Supreme Court (Hey… I thought congress develops taxes). It’s gonna be bad!

A healthy debate: was Obamacare designed to fail?

Updated: FEBRUARY 9, 2016 — 11:36 AM EST

Philadelphia Inquirer Daily News

Point: Obamacare’s failures could be a design to promote single-payer

By Howard J. Peterson

Democratic socialist progressives, hard to know what term to use these days, unabashedly embrace single payer healthcare for the United States.  The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) was passed by Congress with no Republican votes in 2010.  It didn’t achieve single payer.  However, an examination of how Obamacare has evolved might lead to the conclusion that it was designed to fail as a way to, ultimately, force a single payer system.

The only material success of Obamacare has been the expansion of Medicaid.  14M new people have been added to the Medicaid roles in states that adopted Medicaid expansion.  According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, the number of uninsured citizens as of June 2015 has only declined by 10 million. So, if you add the growth of the population since 2014 (6M) to the decline in uninsured (10M) (6+10=16) and then subtract the 14M new Medicaid enrollees, the result is that only 2M people who were previously uninsured have gotten insurance through the federal and state exchanges. 

The exchanges have produced no material benefit.  Therefore, one might conclude that these exchanges were simply established to destroy commercial insurance markets. The exchanges have required minimum benefits some of which make little sense (64 year-old women being required to carry OB coverage), dramatically increased co-payments and deductibles, increased overall insurance plans rates rather than reduce them by the promised $2,500, escalated taxes/penalties for not participating and driven insurance companies out of the exchanges given their mounting losses and severed the ability for many people to see your own doctor. 

So, if one were a conspiracy theorist it would go something like this: the Democrats knew there would be growth in Medicare driven by the aging population. Obamacare focused on the expansion of Medicaid with a plan to increase dependency on federal funding.  The exchanges only purpose was the destruction of the commercial insurance market.  Given these factors and the growing national debt due to Obamacare and the fact that 32M U.S. citizens still remain uninsured a compelling case could be made to move to a single payer system as the only and obvious solution.  Great, the VA for everybody.

Democratic socialist progressives, I believe, would applaud the shift of the entire healthcare sector (17% of our economy) to federal government control.  Combine that with a carbon tax and existing social programs and this positions the federal government to define pretty much all of how we live our lives. 

Contrary to this direction, we have enough money currently within healthcare to pay for the clinical needs of our entire population.  The real problem is not cost; its utilization.  The United States provides most healthcare services at two times the rate of other countries (MRIs, orthopedic implants, tonsillectomies).  We do this because of the flawed incentives of our payment system.  We could fix this by changing payment incentives and preserving a commercial insurance market.   But those who crafted Obamacare may be more interested in controlling the citizens than solving the problem.

2017 Obamacare Closes! Premiums rise...Americans cannot afford!

Big PROBLEM looming in 2017! Premiums will skyrocket because the Federal Government will stop insuring Obama Exchanges from losses. Why 2017???? Because Obama, and his henchman will be out of office, and start pointing fingers at the next administration. Here is just one thought….With the huge deficit Obama has run up the next president will be unable to borrow. That means we are all in for less Government spending on everything. Another thought….start firing bureaucrat!  

Most Obamacare insurers lost money

By PAIGE WINFIELD CUNNINGHAM (@PW_CUNNINGHAM) • 7/20/16 5:51 PM

Washington Examiner

A majority of health insurers lost money during the first year of the Obamacare marketplaces, a new study finds.

Two-thirds of the insurers failed to turn any profits from plans they sold to individuals in 2014, although a majority of those insurers didn't profit in the prior year, either, according to a report from the Commonwealth Fund. One-third of the insurers did succeed in turning a profit.

When researchers analyzed data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on insurers' profits, they found that companies underestimated their spending on the new enrollees by 2 percent. Estimating how much the new consumers would cost was a difficult challenge for insurers, because they had to make all kinds of assumptions about how sick or healthy the new customer base would be.

A federal reinsurance program designed to smooth insurer losses helped ease the way for some insurers in the first few years of the Affordable Care Act's exchanges, the authors noted.

"One insurer can have a very different experience than another, so to draw accurate conclusions about how insurance companies are faring in the ACA marketplaces it's important to look at their experiences comprehensively," said Mark Hall, the study's lead author and a professor at the Wake Forest University School of Law.

"When we do that it is clear that estimating exactly how much these new enrollees would cost them was a challenge but the reinsurance program protected them from large losses on enrollees with high medical costs," he said.

But that reinsurance program ends next year, leading insurers to recently propose bigger premium increases than during the first few years of the exchanges. One major insurer, UnitedHealthcare, is withdrawing from the exchanges next year, citing too-big losses.

Obamacare will collapes in 2017! You heard it hear first!

In 2017 Obamacare will collapse! You heard it here first! The below article all but says so! Americans that have been forced to purchase Obamacare will simply stand-up, and tell the bureaucrat to stick-it!

Get Ready for Huge Obamacare Premium Hikes in 2017

By Eric Pianin    April 21, 2016

Amid rising drug and health care costs and roiling market dynamics, the spokesperson for the nation’s health insurers is predicting substantial increases next year in Obamacare premiums and related costs.

Without venturing a specific percentage increase, Marilyn Tavenner, the president and CEO of America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), said in an interview with Morning Consult that the culmination of market shifts and rising health care costs will force stark increases in health insurance rates in the coming year.

 “I’ve been asked, what are the premiums going to look like?” she said. “I don’t know because it also varies by state, market, even within markets. But I think the overall trend is going to be higher than we saw previous years. That’s my big prediction.”

If Tavenner is right, Obamacare will jump dramatically—last year’s premium for the popular silver-level plan surged 11 percent on average. Although Tavenner didn’t mention deductibles, in 2016, some states saw jumps of 76 percent, while the average deductible for a 27-year-old male on a silver plan was 8 percent.

The warning to consumers from Tavenner, the former administration official who headed the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and oversaw the disastrous launch of HealthCare.gov, the Obamacare website, comes at a time of growing uncertainty about the evolving makeup of the Obamacare health insurance market. With many insurers struggling to find profitability in the program, the collapse of nearly half of the 23 Obamacare insurance co-ops and this week’s announcement that giant UnitedHealth Group intends to pull out of most Obamacare markets across the country, anticipating future premiums and copayments is largely risky guesswork.

Premiums for the current 2016 season rose on average by 8 percent over the previous year, with 12.7 million Americans enrolling for coverage and government subsidies, according to CMS. Federal officials stress that the average rate doesn’t tell the whole story, and that in many cases after consumers shop around for the best price and government subsidies are applied, the actual premium increase is lower.

The Department of Health and Human Services did a study looking at what consumers were estimated to pay based on initial filings compared to what they actually paid. The study found that last year, the average cost of Obamacare marketplace coverage for people receiving tax credits went from $102 a month to $106 per month, a 4 percent change -- despite warning from some of double-digit hikes.

Tavenner’s prediction may well be an opening gambit in the negotiations between the industry and insurance regulators about the 2017 premiums. As Morning Consult noted, many insurers have begun submitting opening bids on raising their premium rates and copayments, which will then be reviewed by the government and finalized this fall.

With a major presidential and congressional election looming this fall, the administration is doing all that it can to tamp down fears of major hikes next year in Obamacare insurance premiums and related out-of-pocket costs. Benjamin Wakana, a Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson, said on Thursday that changes in health care insurance rates are “not a reliable indicator” of what typical consumers on average will pay. “Marketplace consumers would do well to put little stock in those initial numbers,” he said in an email. 

But Tavenner outlined several factors that she could put considerable pressure on premium prices next year. Those include:

·        A general rise in the nation’s health care tab. Overall, U.S. health care spending grew by 5.3 percent in 2014 – reaching an historic level of $3 trillion, after years of relative cost stability. Medical costs rise from year to year and will certainly affect the next round of premium hikes.

·        Soaring prescription drug prices. Insurers as well as government health care programs have been struggling to keep pace with rising drug prices, especially newer specialty drugs to treat the Hepatitis-C virus and cancer. Pfizer Inc., Amgen Inc., Allergan PLC and other companies have raised U.S. prices for scores of branded drugs since late December, with many of the increases between 9 percent and 10 percent, according to the Wall Street Journal .

·        The combination of market forces and limitations imposed by the Affordable Care Act will put enormous pressure on insurers to up their premiums. Under the law, there is a cap on insurers’ profits, companies are obliged to insure anyone regardless of their general health or pre-existing conditions, and the insurance plans must be structured in a certain way that often lead to losses.

·        Finally, two of three federal “risk mitigation” programs created under Obamacare are due to expire in 2017. Those programs were set up to protect insurers from huge, unexpected losses from providing health insurance on the Obamacare exchanges. UnitedHealth and other major insurers have found it difficult to accurately anticipate their costs in providing coverage to sicker or older Americans, and set premiums that were inadequate to cover their risks. Without those programs to fall back on, many companies likely will seek to jack up their premiums.

“It’s kind of a myriad of factors,” Tavenner said in predicting rising premium costs. “It’s not one factor.”

Clare Krusing, director of communications for AHIP, said in an interview on Thursday that health insurance companies “are working through” these factors right now in setting rates for the coming year and deciding whether to participate.

“Plans are just beginning to file their rates, and it’s a long process with state and federal regulators, until those are approved,” she added. “Certainly plans are going to evaluate market conditions and regulatory approvals, and that will all impact their participation overall” in Obamacare.

Obamacare premiums are on the rise, and yes NYC, OR, and VT are hardest hit

Obamacare premiums are on the rise, and yes NYC, OR, and VT are hardest hit! Oh…does it matter Obamacare is going broke. Who could have imagined?....A business system set-up my a bunch of brain dead Government Employees is doomed before it could start day one!  

Double-digit ObamaCare premium hikes projected in 2017

Published June 15, 2016 

FoxNews.com's Joseph Weber and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Americans in markets across the country could be looking at double-digit premium hikes under ObamaCare next year, according to a new study that's already fueling election-year finger-pointing. 

The Kaiser Family Foundation report found premiums for popular low-cost plans under the health care law are projected to increase an average 11 percent in 2017. 

Among the sharpest projected increases are: 26 percent in Portland, Ore.; 21 percent in the District of Columbia; and 16 percent in New York City.  

The study focused on the two least-expensive -- and very popular -- "silver" policies. It specifically examined the impact of rising premiums on those whose income exceeds the limit to get government subsidies to defray the cost of mandatory insurance. 

The income cutoff for those tax credits is $47,520 for an individual and $97,200 for a family of four. 

"Several factors will influence how premiums will change in 2017, and there is reason to believe that increases will be higher than in recent years," the report said. 

The findings were based on 14 metro areas across the country.

The Portland, New York and D.C. increases were for ObamaCare’s lowest-cost Silver Premium plan. Costs are projected to decrease in just two metro areas -- Providence, R.I. (13 percent) and Indianapolis (4 percent).

The full picture on 2017 premiums will emerge later this summer as the presidential and congressional elections head into the home stretch. The next ObamaCare signup starts a week before Election Day.

Presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton wants to build on President Obama’s signature health law while Republican nominee Donald Trump wants to repeal and replace it.

Washington Republicans were quick to point out the projected increases and try to tie them to Democrats seeking re-election in November.

“This latest round of double-digit premium increases for consumers is just further evidence that ObamaCare has failed to make health care affordable for Americans,” Bob Salera, a National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman, said Wednesday.

“House Democrats’ continued support for ObamaCare is a slap in the face to the families who are facing rising costs as a direct result of President Obama’s failed health care law, and voters will hold them accountable in November.”

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokeswoman Meredith Kelly called the NRCC statement “a desperate attempt to distract from what this election will really be about: Donald Trump.”

The administration remains steadfast that proposed rates are not  what consumers ultimately will pay, citing an April 12 Department of Health and Human Services report and arguing that the average premium in 2016 for people with tax credits increased just $4, from $102 to $106 a month, despite headlines suggesting double-digit hikes.

“And consumers will benefit from shopping and tax credits again this year,” HHS spokesman Benjamin Wakana told FoxNews.com. "This is just the beginning of the rates process ... proposed rates aren’t what most consumers actually pay."

Wakana also argued “the vast majority” of consumers qualify for tax credits that reduce the cost of coverage below the “sticker price.”

The Kaiser analysis examined the impact before subsidies are calculated, however, and found the changes in the second least-expensive plan were almost identical -- with the same three metro areas having similar projected increases and just Providence and Indianapolis showing projected decreases.

Kaiser said the two plans are significant because they are the most common choices in the marketplaces and the second-lowest is the benchmark used for subsidies. 

The cheaper plans typically have higher deductibles, with overall costs ranging from market to market. The study found the monthly premium for a 40-year-old nonsmoker in 2017 in the least-expensive Silver plan will range from $192 in Albuquerque, N.M., to $482 in Burlington, Vt.

Final rates may change if regulators push back on the requests from insurers. 

Most workers and their families are covered by employers, but about 12 million people get private coverage through ObamaCare insurance markets. Nearly seven in 10 pick the mid-tier silver plans. 

About 2 million marketplace customers, though, make too much to qualify for the subsidies. And an estimated 3 million to 5 million who buy their policies outside of markets such as ObamaCare do not receive financial assistance.

For both the subsidized and the unsubsidized, willingness to switch plans may be crucial in keeping premiums more manageable next year.

“If they stay in their same plan they may see a higher premium increase,” said Cynthia Cox, the analysis’ lead author.

The premium increases follow major insurers reporting significant losses, enrollment lower than hoped for, new customers being sicker than expected and other problems. 

Medicare and Medicaid, federal agencies that oversees ObamaCare, said recently that the health insurance markets are still in an early trial-and-error stage which could go on for another couple of years, or well into the next president’s term.

Obamacare is causing Doctors to choose patients. Or better said …. Doctor accept Obamacare patients, and go broke. It is all falling apart!

Obamacare is causing Doctors to choose patients. Or better said …. Doctor accept Obamacare patients, and go broke. It is all falling apart!

So Obama, and the Democrats pass into law a lie! What ever happened to “if you like your Doctor you can keep your Doctor”? Well now we see Doctors cannot afford to keep patients with Obamacare, so Bye..Bye! What about a family will see a $2,500 savings? Another lie. The whole thing is falling apart, and America’s physicians are left holding the bag, which is bad enough, but this bag has a giant hole that negatively affects us all!

Highmark to cut doctors' payments for Obamacare plans

Pittsburgh Tribune

Friday, Feb. 19, 2016, 5:18 p.m.

Wes Venteicher

Citing an estimated $500 million loss last year on health insurance plans sold on the Affordable Care Act marketplace, Highmark Inc. said Friday it plans to reduce what it pays doctors who treat patients with the plans.

Highmark plans to reduce payments to the physicians by 4.5 percent starting April 1 as part of a broad effort to stem losses related to the federal marketplace, said Alexis Miller, Highmark's special vice president of individual and small group markets.

Miller estimated the insurer paid about $500 million more for patients' care in 2015 than it collected in premiums for the plans sold on the federal marketplace, resulting in the loss. Highmark officials have said the people who signed up through the health law's marketplace were sicker than the insurer expected.

John Krah, executive director of the Allegheny County Medical Society, said doctors should not be held responsible for Highmark setting plan costs too low to cover patients' care.

“It's inappropriate for Highmark to seek to compensate for their failure to price these products appropriately by paying physicians less,” Krah said.

Faced with lower reimbursement rates for ACA patients, doctors could end up setting quotas for how many of the patients they would accept at their practices, the way they do for Medicare and Medicaid patients, he said.

“All policy has pushed practices to run on a business basis today,” he said. “So they make the same kinds of decisions a business makes. They can only have certain percentages of patients with those types of insurances.”

Highmark's announcement comes as insurers across the country report losses on the federal marketplace for last year. UnitedHealthcare, the nation's largest insurer, has suggested it may exit the market based on anticipated losses of close to $1 billion.

Miller said decreasing payments to doctors would help Highmark continue to participate in the federal marketplace, ultimately helping to keep the marketplace sustainable.

“Because we're committed to this market, as long as we can make it sustainable or viable, we are systematically working through all of the things that we can do to make that viable,” she said.

The insurer raised premiums by an average of 20 percent for its 2016 marketplace plans, changed its networks, reduced commissions to brokers selling the plans and has taken steps to aggressively manage the care of patients with the plans, Miller said.

The insurer made the change Monday in an online system through which it interfaces with physicians, and began sending letters to physicians Friday, Miller said.

In 2015, 280,000 Pennsylvanians were enrolled in Highmark plans purchased through the federal marketplace. Highmark has said it will announce the latest number in the coming weeks, including signups during the open enrollment period that ended Jan. 31.

UPMC announced Thursday that it had captured a much larger share of the 2016 market than it had in 2015.

Reimbursement for hospitals, whose contracts with insurers work differently, would not change, Miller said. The change affects all Pennsylvania physicians treating patients with marketplace plans from Highmark, including physicians employed by Highmark-owned Allegheny Health Network. UPMC physicians would not be affected since payment arrangements between UPMC and Highmark are set in a state consent decree, Miller said.

Highmark reported the rate change to the Pennsylvania Insurance Department, but the proposed change doesn't require the department's approval, said spokeswoman Ali Fogarty.

Highmark, like other insurers, has not yet received reimbursements the federal government promised for losses on the ACA plans. In June, Highmark expected to recoup $221 million through the federal program.

Wes Venteicher is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 412-380-5676 or wventeicher@tribweb.com.

Best interview technique....Quick read!

This not related to medicine, physicians, or the finance of medicine. This is just a story about a guy in business that teaches what really matters!

How would you react? Charles Schwab CEO tells how he interviews job candidates over breakfast - and makes the restaurant mess up their order to test their reaction

·        Walt Bettinger shows up early and promises a good tip for the mistake 

·        He said it's a way to see how prospective employees deal with adversity 

·        Bettinger wants to see what's in their 'heart' instead of their head  

By ANNETA KONSTANTINIDES FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

When a restaurant messes up your order, what do you do? 

That answer could determine whether you get a job at Charles Schwab, CEO Walt Bettinger has revealed.

Before taking job candidates on a breakfast interview, Bettinger shows up early and asks the restaurant to purposely mess up the order, with the promise of a good tip in exchange.

Bettinger says that he's most concerned about a prospective employee's character, and this is a test to see how they deal with adversity, he told the New York Times. 

'Are they upset, are they frustrated, or are they understanding? Life is like that, and business is like that,' he explained. 

'It's just another way to look inside their heart rather than their head.' 

And the heart is what Bettinger is trying to understand, asking candidates about their greatest successes in life before he offers them a job at the brokerage and banking company.

'What I'm looking for is whether their view of the world really revolves around others, or whether it revolves around them,' he said. 

'And I'll ask then about their greatest failures in their life and see whether they own them or whether they were somebody else's fault.'  

Bettinger revealed in the same interview that it was one of his last college exams, which ruined his perfect 4.0 average, that reminded him how important it was to recognize the people 'who do the real work'. 

After spending hours memorizing formulas for calculations, a young Bettinger showed up to find that the text was merely a blank sheet of paper. 

'The professor said, "I've taught you everything I can teach you about business in the last 10 weeks.'

'But the most important message, the most important question, is this: What's the name of the lady who cleans this building?' 

Bettinger didn't know. He failed and got a B in the class.

'That had a powerful impact,' he said. 'Her name was Dottie, and I didn't know Dottie. I'd seen her, but I'd never taken the time to ask her name.' 

'I've tried to know every Dottie I've worked with ever since. It was a great reminder of what really matters in life.'  

2015 Physician Salaries- Some are up, most are down!

While some physician compensation packages are increasing most are decreasing!

Take a look!

Regional Differences

The Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states had the lowest average physician salaries at $253,000-$254,000, while the best paying region was the Northwest at $281,000.

"The top earning states are North Dakota, Alaska. Pay tends to be lower in major metropolitan areas where there are more doctors competing for jobs.

Orthopedic Surgeons

Orthopedics remained the top-paying medical specialty for the third year in a row. The Medscape survey found orthopedists earned an average of $421,000 for patient care in 2014.

In addition, orthopedists earned more than any other type of physician for non-patient care activities such as speaking engagements, product sales, and serving as expert witnesses -- another $29,000 a year, on average.

Cardiology

Cardiology was the second-highest paying medical specialty in 2014, with average compensation of $376,000 for patient care plus $19,000 in non-patient care earnings.

While medical specialties like this remain lucrative, Kane says the economic incentives in medicine are shifting.

"Everything is happening because all of the efforts to lower the cost of health care to society and keep Medicare payments down," she said. "There's an effort to move from fee-for-service, where a doctor gets paid for each visit or procedure, to different types of payments structures like bundled payments for episodes of care. So for example if a patient is in hospital for heart attack, and lots of doctors work on that patient, many people are involved, but the hospital gets one payment for that patient and that has to be divvied up among many people."

Gastroenterology

Gastroenterology moved up a notch to #3 on the list, with average compensation of $370,000 for patient care and another $14,000 in additional earnings.

Anesthesiology

Anesthesiologists made an average of $358,000, making this the fourth-highest earning specialty on the list.

Plastic Surgery

Plastic surgery rounds out the top 5 highest paying specialties, with average earnings of $354,000 for patient care and another $26,000 for non-patient care activities. The specialty has steadily moved up from tenth place on the list five years ago.

Family Practice

Down towards the bottom of the list, family medicine practitioners remain among the lowest paid physicians, averaging $195,000 a year. However, they've seen an increase of about 10 percent since 2013.

"Because of the Affordable Care Act, there was a 10 percent bonus in Medicare payments to primary care physicians, basically to help elevate their pay because they expected a lot more patients going into the system once the exchanges were set up," Medcape's Leslie Kane said. "But primary care pay is still down there, it's still one of the lower paying fields."

Pediatrics

Out of 26 medical specialties surveyed, pediatrics was the lowest paid, with an average compensation of $189,000.

Regional Differences

The Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states had the lowest average physician salaries at $253,000-$254,000, while the best paying region was the Northwest at $281,000.

"The top earning states are North Dakota, Alaska -- they're trying to get doctors to come there," Kane said. Pay tends to be lower in major metropolitan areas where there are more doctors competing for jobs.