The Gloom of ObamaCare...

[Obamacare] I have to totally agree with FTR on his post yesterday concerning Obamacare, the “Unaffordable Health Care Act”. My company’s management, in all their wisdom, took away my benefits in 2013, because they were so sure I could get even better coverage through Obamacare.

My insurance through my company had included medical, dental, and vision, and cost me $235 per month, with no deductible and $2500 out of pocket max. Last year, through Obamacare, I paid $859 per month for medical only, with $1900 deductible. This year, the insurance carrier said they weren’t offering the same policy I had last year, but I could get something comparable for $1070 per month. I wound up going with another carrier at $726 per month, but with a whopping $6000 deductible! Affordable health care my arse! And I am considered in the middle class.
BPK.com

News Buzzard wrote:That's all right wing baloney! The amount of uninsured people keeps going down and the amount of people insured through Obamacare will be 19 million when this year's enrollees are added in:

WHL wrote:Christie's hug was nothing compared to Billy Boy hangin' out with pedophiles.  But of course the news will make much more of the hug than Bill's escapades.  

Outerlimits wrote:I fail to see how these actions will make Obama and the Democrats more popular.

WHL wrote:Oh yeah, that's right, they are Dems so anything they do is ok.  

However, this seven percentage point rise in enrollees qualifying for subsidies could be a potential death knell for Obamacare based on a Supreme Court case expected to be ruled on sometime in June.

Plaintiffs in the case argue that the language of the ACA is structured in such a way that only states running their own exchanges can divvy out subsidies to eligible individuals. Thus, if the Supreme Court finds in favor of the plaintiffs, it would mean that the 5.6 million people currently receiving subsidies via Healthcare.gov, the federally run exchange, would no longer receive those payments. I believe very, very few of those enrollees currently receiving a subsidy could afford healthcare without federal assistance.

The obvious solution is that states would need to build their own exchanges, however this is a task that would take one to two years to complete. I'm not certain that Obamacare could survive such a shock.

Very uncertain times...

To say the least, these are very uncertain times for health-benefits providers. Just as Obamacare has relied on subsidies to lower the rate of uninsured individuals, some insurers have geared their enrollment game plan around attracting these government-sponsored members. Redacting these subsidies now could be unpleasant for insurers' bottom-lines..."
bloomberg.com

It was gloomy before, now it's even gloomier!

Rep. Dan Nordberg, the author of last year’s audit bill, had this to say in a statement: “With only a limited performance audit, the state auditor found Connect for Health Colorado committed numerous federal law violations, and nearly 40 percent of sampled contracts had problems totaling more than $32 million dollars.

“Sadly, I am not surprised. I have had ongoing concerns about how Connect for Health Colorado was managing tax payers’ funds, which is why I pushed so hard last year to expand the auditor’s oversight of this organization. I hope Democrats will see the light and support my efforts this year to give the state auditor’s office the authority it needs to expose this kind of government waste and help us better protect tax payer funds.”
...

A state audit released Monday found that Colorado’s health insurance exchange lacks adequate financial controls and failed to ensure it spent public funds in accordance with federal laws…

Findings of the audit include: Connect for Health didn’t properly track fund sources or payments or take steps to contain personnel costs… The exchange does not have adequate financial controls over purchases from vendors… Auditors identified over $32 million in problems with 35 of the 92 payments and reimbursements they sampled, and contracts they reviewed…

The OSA also found high-dollar payments to some vendors without executed contracts or without board approval, and found that Connect for Health did not consistently take steps to contain its administrative costs.
—ColoradoPeakPolitics

News Buzzard wrote:"...The amount of uninsured people keeps going down and the amount of people insured through Obamacare will be 19 million when this year's enrollees are added in...:"

Marilyn Tavenner, head of the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, plans to step down at the end of February, she told her staff in an e-mail.

In November, she acknowledged that her agency had made a mistake in its calculation of the number of people enrolled under Obamacare.

The Obama administration said it erroneously calculated the number of people with health coverage under the Affordable Care Act, incorrectly adding 380,000 dental subscribers to raise the total above 7 million.
—Zero Hedge