When the Truth is Found to be Lies

So, remember all those promises that the Democrats and the President made about healthcare?  Get to keep your doctor, save you money and it would all be delivered by flying unicorns?

Well, maybe not.

Apparently, some one realized that insuring after the fact, this isn’t really insurance.

The Obama administration, aiming to encourage health insurance companies to offer child-only policies, said Wednesday that they could charge higher premiums for coverage of children with serious medical problems, if state law allowed it.

Earlier this year, major insurers, faced with an unprofitable business, stopped issuing new child-only policies. They said that the Obama administration’s interpretation of the new health care law would allow families to buy such coverage at the last minute, when children became ill and were headed to the hospital.

In September, the administration said that insurers could establish open-enrollment periods — for example, one month a year — during which they would accept all children.

Now, on Wednesday, the administration, answering a question raised by many insurers, said they could charge higher premiums to sick children outside the open-enrollment period, if state laws allowed such underwriting, as many do.

The short form is that the Democrat regime, realizing that it was too soon to run insurance companies out of sectors of the industry made untenable by recent “reforms,” especially in an election year, have relented so as not to further damage their efforts at controlling Congress.  Now, this is just a bandage — this is a temporary grasp of sanity, since it all goes to skittles in 2014.

Okay, I know you’re out there saying that maybe there was an unintended consequence, but this reform is going to strengthen Medicare, just like they’ve promised, right?

Nope.

A Medicare official concedes that seniors may have to dig deeper into their wallets next year thanks to the health care law.

The new analysis obtained by POLITICO finds the health care overhaul will result in increased out-of-pocket costs for seniors on Medicare Advantage plans.

Richard Foster, the actuary for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, also tells Senate Republicans that the overhaul will result in “less generous benefit packages” for Medicare Advantage plans next year. Foster is independent from the administration and non-partisan.
Additionally, between these higher out of pocket costs could have the effect of forcing some seniors out of their current plans… so much for that “You can keep your doctor” business.
So… it is going to cost more, provide less benefit, destroy the market for child-only insurance.
Is this “reform” going to do *any* of the things we were promised?  I mean, the President wouldn’t lie just to get a bill he hadn’t read past, would he?

Dave in EH

6 Comments

  1. Dimsdale on October 15, 2010 at 5:14 am

    "A Medicare official concedes that seniors may have to dig deeper into their wallets next year thanks to the health care law."

     

    And don't forget that they will have to pay these increases with less money, thanks to the freeze on Social "Security" cost of living increases.

     

    As Rush (I think) said, "the only shovel ready jobs are for the seniors".



  2. steve418r on October 15, 2010 at 3:10 pm

    Can you imagine the health care bill will provide free medical for tax takers and illegal immigrants and the seniors on social security will continue to struggle without cola? The seniors have worked and contributed their whole lives so they could enjoy the retirement years. Talk about misdirected alliances.



  3. Dimsdale on October 16, 2010 at 5:25 am

    Trusting your retirement money to government was/is like telling a criminal to hold your wallet: you can be sure it will be lighter even if you actually get it back.  Oh wait, it is a giant Ponzi scheme, so I guess the criminal part is covered.

     

    The return on SS in even the good times was equivalent to the worst return on a savings account.  Imagine what it will be now that it is going bankrupt.  Look at the FICA amount in your next paycheck and try to imagine how you could have done worse.

     

    These kids now re eligible for insurance policies will be thoroughly screwed by current government policies.  The kind of screwing that no insurance can cover.



  4. steve418r on October 16, 2010 at 6:58 am

    The huge challange to retirement savings has to do with the "tax and spend" policies of the government. Trying to make ends meet after paying taxes is hard enough without contributing to retirement savings. Working hadrer to make more money is self defeating because the higher income creates a larger tax burden.

    Comfortable retirements will likely be  less and less availabe to private sector employees.

    The public sector and organized labor will live just fine off the tax revenues, look down on us, then feel sorry because we will be the "downtrodden". 

    Oh, and the ileagal immigrants will have health insurance.



  5. Dimsdale on October 17, 2010 at 4:24 pm

    J. Wellington Wimpy: "I will gladly repay you Tuesday for a hamburger today."

     

    The Democrats and Øbama: "I will gladly let your children repay you for your vote today."



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