Obamacare one year later

How quickly time passes. Obamacare was signed into law one year ago today. Then, Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi (D. Ca.), said “we have to pass the bill before you can see what’s in it”.

One year later, let’s see what is in it.

So far, 1040 companies, unions and states, encompassing some 2.6 million employees, have been granted waivers from Obamacare.  Why?  Because if the waivers were not granted those employees would either have to pay premiums far in excess of what they could afford, or, their employer would have to drop their their coverage entirely because the employer couldn’t afford the coverage without laying off employees.

Remember the promise about children with pre-existing conditions will now be able to get their “stand alone” insurance?  Many parents used “child-only” insurance for their children when the parents’ policy didn’t cover dependents, or when the parents didn’t have insurance.  It was very inexpensive, but, it is no more, thanks to Obamacare. Companies have stopped writing “child only” insurance because the are forced to accept all children, regardless of their health, but cannot base the premium upon the child’s health.  So, whether your child has a pre-existing condition or not, there is no insurance to be purchased.

And then, of course, we had the “human shields”.  Those were the folks that couldn’t get any insurance at all because they had a pre-existing medical condition, and, if we didn’t do something soon, they would all die. Personally, I thought this provision of Obamacare made sense, but, so far, (in an update from our earlier post) only some 12,000 people have signed up for it…that’s 12,000 in the entire United States.  Why? Because most states already offered insurance for these people.

On to costs…  remember how President Obama insisted that this program would cost no more than $1 trillion over 10 years?  Well, according to the Congressional Budget Office’s March 18, 2011 report (see page 14) , the cost is now estimated at $1.13 trillion.  And, if you read the entire CBO report, you will learn that the new figure assumes pretty much non- existent increases in reimbursements for doctors who accept Medicare.

What a difference a year makes.

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SoundOffSister

The Sound Off Sister was an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and special trial attorney for the Department of Justice, Criminal Division; a partner in the Florida law firm of Shutts & Bowen, and an adjunct professor at the University of Miami, School of Law. The Sound Off Sister offers frequent commentary concerning legislation making its way through Congress, including the health reform legislation passed in early 2010.

14 Comments

  1. winnie888 on March 24, 2011 at 1:10 am

    Wait, I thought Judge Vinson ruled obamacare was unconstitutional?  Why does this continue to march forward to the detriment of the American people?  I_don't_understand.  But I'm a chick and I'm blond so that may be why.  Does obamacare cover those two "health" problems?



    • SoundOffSister on March 24, 2011 at 4:10 am

      Although Judge Vinson held Obamacare unconstitutional, he issued a stay of his order pending review by the US 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, so the administration can continue to implement the law.  In cases such as this, stays are typical.



  2. winnie888 on March 24, 2011 at 4:48 am

    SOS, did they get their appeal submitted within the specified 7 days?  I'm sure that as soon as anything new surfaces on this you'll be all over it!  Thanks!

     



  3. sammy22 on March 24, 2011 at 6:33 am

    So only 12,000 people (as of some time ago) signed up because of pre-existing conditions. I thought that "saving" even just one life would be a worthy cause. Sounds like that does not apply to Obamacare, but it does in a host of other instances championed on this blog.



    • concernedat18 on March 24, 2011 at 4:24 pm

      well I killed that guy to feed my kid, i guess that one life saved justified it.



  4. concernedat18 on March 24, 2011 at 4:23 pm

    Actually I disagree with you on the pre-existing condition thing.  If they have something that needs to be treated right away are they really looking for insurance or a charity?



  5. concernedat18 on March 24, 2011 at 4:32 pm

    Grandma got run over by obamacare



  6. sammy22 on March 25, 2011 at 6:12 am

    @cocemedat18: glad you saved your boy. Hope he is covered by your insurance instead of by my contribution. And, how do you know you have a pre-existing condition (as defined by the insurance companies) before it's diagnosed? Even Ben Franklin was for free hospital care for the poor!



    • Dimsdale on March 27, 2011 at 6:27 pm

      The preexisting condition clause was put in to encourage membership in an insurance pool and prevent the last minute purchase of insurance to cover a newly discovered medical issue.  It keeps the costs from shifting to the responsible people that have been paying into the system.

       

      As we found out in MA, mandating that preexisting conditions are no cause for rejection (and making the fine less than the insurance) leads to a rush of last minute purchases when uncovered individuals are sick, then they drop off the policy when the disease is mollified.   This is fact, not anecdotal, and has led to a crushing increase in policy costs.

       

      Given Franklin's predeliction for the ladies, I might suspect he had other motives behind his position on health care!  😉



  7. Shared Sacrifice on March 25, 2011 at 6:30 am

    If  Obama-Care were so effin' great, couldn't it stand on its own and compete with all of the other insurance plans out there?  The government could free up some money without raising taxes just to get it started, and then it could raise the bar for all of the greedy private sector schmucks that have thus far only been interested in, uhhh,  separating people from their money.



    • GdavidH on March 25, 2011 at 8:25 am

      If Obamacare were so effin' great, why are so many waivers being granted?



    • TomL on March 25, 2011 at 2:36 pm

      If it were so great, how come Anthony Weiner (a self proclaimed author of obomacare) wants to exempt NY City from obamacare(He's thinking of running for Mayor)



  8. sammy22 on March 26, 2011 at 10:56 am

    Seems like not only some Congressmen do not know what is in Obamacare, but also a number of the people posting here.



    • Dimsdale on March 27, 2011 at 6:14 pm

      Feel free to enlighten and/or contradict.



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