$115 Billion and counting...

That's the latest guesstimate from the Congressional Budget Office on how much more ObamaCare© will really cost:

"The director of the Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday that the health care reform legislation would cost, over the next ten years, $115 billion more than previously thought."

Right-brainers take note: this is what $1 Billion in crisp new $100 bills looks like:
Now multiply that by 115.

Kinda takes your breath away, doesn't it?

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Some Never Learn

Churchill was right. Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it.

Perhaps Massachusetts Gov. Duval Patrick should spend some time studying one of Nixon's failures.

NOT LONG AFTER President Nixon took the unprecedented step of imposing peacetime wage and price controls, the American people learned a basic economic lesson: Artificial controls don’t work unless underlying costs are controlled.

Four decades later, the Patrick administration is imposing controls on small business health insurance rates. The move will prove to be little more than an election-year reprise of Nixon’s failed effort.

Romneycare was passed in 2006 which was supposed to make health insurance more affordable by covering everyone.

Sounds good on paper but in reality, it doesn't work.

For sure, there are people who cannot truly afford health insurance and others who do not qualify based on their medical history. But the latter is not an excuse in Pilgrim country since the state has told health insurance carriers they are required to take anyone who can fog a mirror.

Those who feel they don't need health insurance (because they are healthy) don't buy it while those who are sick will only buy it when it less expensive to pay premiums than to pay for medical care out of pocket.

This type of business model doesn't work.

The Commonwealth Connector, an independent authority meant to act as an insurance plan clearinghouse, was established to provide real choices and information needed to evaluate options. In theory, an informed and robust marketplace would bend the cost curve and get more of the working poor and lower middle class insured.

Gosh this sounds familiar. Kind of like a recent campaign pledge.

But the plan is not working as sold.

First, the Connector focused all its energy on providing nearly free products to the indigent. In contrast, the Connector’s board seemed almost uninterested in market-rate products for small business employees.

The Connector revenues come from selling plans, and selling nearly free products was the path of least resistance. Unsurprisingly, 90 percent of the Connector’s operating revenue has come from the fee it earns for state-subsidized plans.

The words "selling" and "free" do not belong in the same sentence.

the Connector chose to build a top-down bureaucracy rather than leverage the broker and private market community. The quasi-governmental Connector has a $40 million annual budget and 45 employees earning annual salaries that average $100,000. Its board is heavily weighted toward government officials and unions.

Yeah, but $100,000 doesn't really go very far these days, does it?

Utah, the only other state with a health care exchange, demonstrates that there was another path forward.

Utah’s Health Insurance Exchange was started with a $600,000 appropriation and has no board and just two employees. The Exchange provides a technology backbone that enables private entities — brokers and businesses — to take advantage of consumer-based options.

Well yeah, but Utah doesn't have a lot of people so they only need two employees. And don't overlook the fact that Mormon's lead healthy lifestyles. I don't think they eat a lot of beans and lobster in Utah.

Fewer than 1,500 small business employees receive coverage through the Connector. In Utah, with a far smaller population, about 55,000 small business employees have purchased health insurance through the Exchange.

How could they do that without a public option? Everyone knows a public option is needed to instill competition and make premiums affordable.

But I am sure if the folks in Massachusetts hang in their long enough the federal government will bail them out.

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Obamacare Begats Mommy and Daddy Care

The Patient Protection and Unaffordable Health Care Act (Obamacare) requires health insurance companies to allow children to stay on (or even return to) Mommy and Daddy's health insurance plan.

This is not news. We have posted this before. But like all of the other financial aspects of Obamacare, the facts don't match the hype.

The Heritage Foundation reports this on KiddieCare.

Beyond keeping the “Big Kids” dependent on Mommy and Daddy, it also directly undercuts the President’s famous campaign promise that American families would see a $2,500 reduction in their annual premiums.

Now, we learn that family premiums will rise about 1 percent in 2012 just from this one provision of the new law. It will cost $3,380 for each dependent in 2011, according to this Associated Press report.

Wonder if Mommy & Daddy will pass that premium increase on to their children, or wait until they officially become adults at the ripe old age of 27?

But wait, there's more!

health insurance premiums will rise from Obamacare’s new taxes on drugs, medical devices and new insurance fees, plus new insurance rating rules and the yet to be determined health benefit levels that the imperial Feds say must be included an acceptable health insurance plan.

So, how is this hopey-changey thing working out for you folks?

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President Obama vs WellPoint

On Sunday's radio address, President Obama made some very strong comments about an insurance company attempting to rescind coverage of women who developed breast cancer. Although unstated in his address, the remark was appeared to be targeted at WellPoint.

Today's Wall Street Journal covered WellPoint's response, but the print version omitted the full text of WellPoint's letter. It makes interesting reading...

Letter to President Obama from Angela Braly, WellPoint CEO

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Aetna Health Insurance Changes You May Not Have Hoped For

[Welcome Kaiser Health News readers!]

If you have a Georgia health insurance policy from Aetna, there are changes in the wind that you may not like. As a result of the Patient Protection and Unaffordable Health Care Act (Obamacare), the change you hoped for may not be the change you get.

The ink is hardly dry on the law and already Washington is trying to figure out what the law means, and how it will impact health insurance policyholders. In fact, they are making up rules as they go along.

Since Washington has no clue, neither do the health insurance companies. Most of the carriers are taking a wait and see approach before making drastic changes but some have decided to completely abandon the individual major medical market.

So far, Aetna isn't one of them but they are introducing some surprises that will make life difficult.

If you have an Aetna health insurance policy in Georgia, you have have already received a letter telling you of changes that will come about in July. Since Aetna did not bother to tell their agents about the letter, or the changes, we are finding out after the fact.

Here is what you can expect.

If your health insurance policy is more than 12 months old you will be getting a rate increase in July. Even if you just had a policy anniversary or age change increase you are getting another increase in July.

If your policy is less than 12 months old there will not be any changes until the 1st policy anniversary.

If you have an Aetna health insurance policy with doctor and Rx copays, your plan of benefits will change in July as will your rates. In most cases you will be looking at lesser benefits and possibly higher rates.

If you have a high deductible HSA plan there are no changes in benefits but rates may change in July.

The biggest changes will occur for those who have a Value plan or the $0 deductible plan.

We encourage anyone who currently has an Aetna plan to contact a knowledgeable agent that is familiar with plans from Aetna as well as other health insurance companies. In most cases, you will not need to change carriers or plans, but some will benefit from moving to a different plan with a different health insurance company.

Changing to a richer benefit plan within Aetna will require going through the underwriting process once more. Changing to a new health insurance company will require you to submit your medical information to a new carrier for review.

Frankly, some people who bought a plan they liked with Aetna will be stuck and will not have any options. If you chose a Value plan before you may be trapped in a new plan that has a higher deductible than before, fewer allowed doctor visits and no brand name prescription drug coverage.

And you may pay a higher premium as well.

You have every right to blame Aetna but you must also recognize the rules governing health insurance plans have been changed and not for the good. The folks in Washington who make the rules have no idea what they have done to have a negative impact on policyholders. Over the next few months as the new law phases in you can expect even more surprises.

Most will still be able to find affordable health insurance in Georgia, but they may have to look a little harder. That's where we come in. We represent all major health insurance companies in Georgia, California and Ohio and know how to find the best value.

If you have questions about health insurance, hopefully we have answers. If we don't have an immediate answer we know where to go to get a response.

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ObamaKidsCare©: Up is Down?

One of the crucial memes during the run-up to O'Care© was that, despite all evidence to the contrary, it was going to result in lower insurance rates. Exactly how expanding coverage for tens of millions of people would result in lower costs for everyone was never actually explained, but we were assured that, once it was passed, we'd see how it would work.

We now know that, despite an initial screwup by the Feds, the provision allowing "children" (and by "children," we mean 26 year-olds) to stay on their parents' insurance plans is in effect. Remember, we were promised that this would reduce costs.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the truth is at odds with the promise:

"Letting young adults stay on their parents' health insurance until they turn 26 will nudge premiums nearly 1 percent higher for employer plans, the government said in an estimate released Monday."

We needn't remind informed readers that when the gummint estimates a 1 percent hike, the real number will be vastly higher. Just one more promise under the bus.

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