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  Nearly a third of U.S. counties will be left with just one insurance option next year on the ObamaCare exchanges, according to a new analysis fueling waings about the impact of the insurance company exodus from markets across the country.  The Kaiser Family Foundation study found residents in Pinal County, Ariz., are even at risk of having no insurance options on the exchanges, which provide subsidized plans.  Republicans seized on the report Monday to claim that the health care overhaul is not providing the choices promised by President Obama and others.   "The president repeatedly promised that his health care law would provide more choices, ‘bend the cost curve,’ and allow Americans to keep the plans they liked and could afford. He failed to live up to those promises, and families are paying the price," Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said in a statement, noting the majority of counties in Missouri could be left with just one insurance option on the exchanges.  The Kaise,obama,obamacare,obama movie,obama phone,obama net worth,obama age,obama approval rating,obama speech,obama twitter,obama family ...ادامه مطلب

  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 govement 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, ...ادامه مطلب

  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 govement 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, ...ادامه مطلب

  Califoia is on the brink of becoming the first state in the nation to offer illegal immigrants the chance to buy insurance on an ObamaCare exchange -- testing what's being described as a "loophole" in the law.  The Affordable Care Act technically bars illegal immigrants from the insurance exchanges.  But the Califoia bill, which last week passed the state legislature and was sent to Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk, would allow the state to apply for a federal waiver to open its exchange -- Covered Califoia -- to undocumented residents.  There's no guarantee that will happen. Brown first would have to sign the bill and the Obama administration then would have to green-light the waiver. Even if that is granted, it wouldn't necessarily give illegal immigrants access to insurance subsidies.  Critics, though, say it’s a slippery slope and yet another example of how the federal govement has hoodwinked Americans into getting behind the Affordable Care Act, or ObamaCare. “This is the first step in another misrepresentation of the Affordable Care Act,” Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform told US News & World Report. “It was sold to the American people on the fact that you wouldn’t have to subsidize health care for illegal immigrants.” During his monthslong public pitch for the health care overhaul, President Obama had promised repeatedly the benefits that come with the federal and state health care exchanges would not be made available to illegal immigrants.   Currently, it is illegal under ObamaCare for undocumented immigrants to buy into the ACA. According to HealthCare.gov, “undocumented immigrants aren’t eligible to buy Marketplace health coverage, or for premium tax credits and other savings on Marketplace plans.” However, a provision in the law called the “innovation waiver” allows states like Califoia to change portions of the law as long as the state makes coverage available to more people and as long as the federal govement, ...ادامه مطلب

  Califoia is on the brink of becoming the first state in the nation to offer illegal immigrants the chance to buy insurance on an ObamaCare exchange -- testing what's being described as a "loophole" in the law.  The Affordable Care Act technically bars illegal immigrants from the insurance exchanges.  But the Califoia bill, which last week passed the state legislature and was sent to Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk, would allow the state to apply for a federal waiver to open its exchange -- Covered Califoia -- to undocumented residents.  There's no guarantee that will happen. Brown first would have to sign the bill and the Obama administration then would have to green-light the waiver. Even if that is granted, it wouldn't necessarily give illegal immigrants access to insurance subsidies.  Critics, though, say it’s a slippery slope and yet another example of how the federal govement has hoodwinked Americans into getting behind the Affordable Care Act, or ObamaCare. “This is the first step in another misrepresentation of the Affordable Care Act,” Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform told US News & World Report. “It was sold to the American people on the fact that you wouldn’t have to subsidize health care for illegal immigrants.” During his monthslong public pitch for the health care overhaul, President Obama had promised repeatedly the benefits that come with the federal and state health care exchanges would not be made available to illegal immigrants.   Currently, it is illegal under ObamaCare for undocumented immigrants to buy into the ACA. According to HealthCare.gov, “undocumented immigrants aren’t eligible to buy Marketplace health coverage, or for premium tax credits and other savings on Marketplace plans.” However, a provision in the law called the “innovation waiver” allows states like Califoia to change portions of the law as long as the state makes coverage available to more people and as long as the federal govement, ...ادامه مطلب

  A federal judge ruled Thursday for House Republicans in a challenge brought against the Obama administration over the legality of payments to insurers under ObamaCare. U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer ruled the spending unconstitutional -- while putting the decision on hold pending appeal.  The ruling Thursday marks a win for House Republicans who brought the politically charged legal challenge, and a legal setback for the administration. “Today’s ruling by the DC federal court is an important step toward restoring the separation of powers and stopping President Obama’s power grab. The Constitution is very clear: it is Congress’ job to write our laws and it is the President’s duty to enforce them,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said in a statement.  At issue was a $175 million program authorizing payments to insurers that Republicans claimed were not appropriated by Congress. On the question of whether the money could be distributed anyway under another program, Collyer wrote in her opinion: “It cannot.” “None of the Secretaries’ extra-textual arguments – whether based on economics, 'unintended' results, or legislative history – is persuasive,” she wrote. “The Court will enter judgment in favor of the House of Representatives and enjoin the use of unappropriated monies to fund reimbursements due to insurers” under that section.  Collyer said the law is "clear," and money was not allocated for that program.  She then said she would stay the injunction, giving the administration a chance to appeal. Collyer, with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, is a George W. Bush appointee nominated in 2002.  The controversial payments to insurers were meant to reimburse them over a decade to reduce co-payments for lower-income people. The House argued that Congress never specifically appropriated that money and denied an administration request for it, but that the administration is spending the money anyway.  The White House, ...ادامه مطلب

  A federal judge ruled Thursday for House Republicans in a challenge brought against the Obama administration over the legality of payments to insurers under ObamaCare. U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer ruled the spending unconstitutional -- while putting the decision on hold pending appeal.  The ruling Thursday marks a win for House Republicans who brought the politically charged legal challenge, and a legal setback for the administration. “Today’s ruling by the DC federal court is an important step toward restoring the separation of powers and stopping President Obama’s power grab. The Constitution is very clear: it is Congress’ job to write our laws and it is the President’s duty to enforce them,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said in a statement.  At issue was a $175 million program authorizing payments to insurers that Republicans claimed were not appropriated by Congress. On the question of whether the money could be distributed anyway under another program, Collyer wrote in her opinion: “It cannot.” “None of the Secretaries’ extra-textual arguments – whether based on economics, 'unintended' results, or legislative history – is persuasive,” she wrote. “The Court will enter judgment in favor of the House of Representatives and enjoin the use of unappropriated monies to fund reimbursements due to insurers” under that section.  Collyer said the law is "clear," and money was not allocated for that program.  She then said she would stay the injunction, giving the administration a chance to appeal. Collyer, with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, is a George W. Bush appointee nominated in 2002.  The controversial payments to insurers were meant to reimburse them over a decade to reduce co-payments for lower-income people. The House argued that Congress never specifically appropriated that money and denied an administration request for it, but that the administration is spending the money anyway.  The White House, ...ادامه مطلب

  An ObamaCare insurance exchange once viewed as a steady ship in a sea of glitch-plagued websites is now running into problems of its own – adding to a new mess of health industry complications under the Affordable Care Act, including premium hikes, jittery insurers and failing co-ops. Your Health Idaho (YHI), the Idaho marketplace that was one of the better-run systems when the law went into effect, was late getting thousands of state residents critical tax forms this year. One recent report said the call center also has struggled to answer customer calls, directing them instead to send requests by email -- and the system has taken months to enroll some people after they signed up.  “We saw this coming years ago. We were promised that by having a state exchange, the customer would have a far superior experience compared to the federal level, and that’s proven to be false,” said Wayne Hoffman, the CEO of the Idaho Freedom Foundation who has opposed the Idaho state exchange from the start. He said they were waed that under the federal exchange, customers might “have to wait months and months for forms to be retued to them, yet, that is exactly the same experience people in Idaho are having today.” Your Health Idaho, meanwhile, is blaming Washington -- saying the reason for the delay in tax forms was faulty information they received from the federal govement. The problems in Idaho mark the latest turbulence for the health care overhaul. UnitedHealth, the nation’s largest health insurer, is projecting millions in losses and recently announced it plans to cut participation in the insurance exchanges to just a handful of states next year; many of the so-called co-ops established under the law have gone belly up; and insurers now are expected to seek steep premium increases for next year to offset financial problems. The state-run exchanges, meanwhile, did not all suffer the high-profile embarrassment brought by the troubled roll-out of the federal HealthCare.gov. S, ...ادامه مطلب

  WASHINGTON –  Insurers will seek significant premium hikes under President Barack Obama's health care law this summer - stiff medicine for consumers and voters ahead of the national political conventions. Expect the state-by-state premium requests to reflect what insurers see as the bottom line: The health law has been a financial drain for many companies. They're setting the stage for 2017 hikes that could reach well into the double digits, in some cases. For example, in Virginia, a state that reports early, nine insurers retuing to the HealthCare.gov marketplace are seeking average premium increases that range from 9.4 percent to 37.1 percent. Those initial estimates filed with the state may change. More than 12 million people nationwide get coverage though the health law's markets, which offer subsidized private insurance. But the increases could also affect several million who purchase individual policies outside the govement system. Going into their fourth year, the health law's markets are still searching for stability. That's in contrast to more-established govement programs like Medicaid and Medicare Advantage, in which private insurers profitably cover tens of millions of people. The health law's nagging problems center on lower-than-hoped-for enrollment, sicker-than-expected customers, and a balky inteal stabilization system that didn't deliver as advertised and was already scheduled to be pared back next year. This year, premiums for a benchmark silver plan rose by a little more than 7 percent on average, according to administration figures. A spike for 2017 would fire up the long-running political debate over the divisive law, which persists despite two Supreme Court decisions upholding Obama's signature program, and the president's veto of a Republican repeal bill. Of the presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton is the only one promising to build on the Affordable Care Act. She's proposed an aggressive effort to increase enrollment along with mea, ...ادامه مطلب

  The nation’s largest health insurer, fearing massive financial losses, announced Tuesday that it plans to pull back from ObamaCare in a big way and cut its participation in the program’s insurance exchanges to just a handful of states next year – in the latest sign of instability in the marketplace under the law. UnitedHealth CEO Stephen Hemsley said the company expects losses from its exchange business to total more than $1 billion for this year and last.   Despite the company expanding to nearly three dozen state exchanges for this year, Hemsley said the company cannot continue to broadly serve the market created by the Affordable Care Act's coverage expansion due partly to the higher risk that comes with its customers. UnitedHealth Group Inc. said it now expects to lose $650 million this year on its exchange business, up from its previous projection for $525 million. The insurer lost $475 million in 2015, a spokesman said. UnitedHealth has already decided to pull out of Arkansas, Georgia and Michigan in 2017, and Hemsley told analysts during a Tuesday moing conference call that his company does not want to take the financial risk from the exchanges into 2017. "We continue to remain an advocate for more stable and sustainable approaches to serving this market," he said. The state-based exchanges are a key element behind the Affordable Care Act's push to expand insurance coverage. But insurers have struggled with higher-than-expected claims from that business. A recent study by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association detailed how many new customers nationwide under ObamaCare are higher-risk. It found new enrollees in individual health plans in 2014 and 2015 had higher rates of hypertension, diabetes, depression, coronary artery disease, HIV and Hepatitis C than those enrolled before ObamaCare.   On the heels of Tuesday's announcement, Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., said in a statement it’s a sign of “the President’s broken promise that families would have more c, ...ادامه مطلب

  The nation’s largest health insurer, fearing massive financial losses, announced Tuesday that it plans to pull back from ObamaCare in a big way and cut its participation in the program’s insurance exchanges to just a handful of states next year – in the latest sign of instability in the marketplace under the law. UnitedHealth CEO Stephen Hemsley said the company expects losses from its exchange business to total more than $1 billion for this year and last.   Despite the company expanding to nearly three dozen state exchanges for this year, Hemsley said the company cannot continue to broadly serve the market created by the Affordable Care Act's coverage expansion due partly to the higher risk that comes with its customers. UnitedHealth Group Inc. said it now expects to lose $650 million this year on its exchange business, up from its previous projection for $525 million. The insurer lost $475 million in 2015, a spokesman said. UnitedHealth has already decided to pull out of Arkansas, Georgia and Michigan in 2017, and Hemsley told analysts during a Tuesday moing conference call that his company does not want to take the financial risk from the exchanges into 2017. "We continue to remain an advocate for more stable and sustainable approaches to serving this market," he said. The state-based exchanges are a key element behind the Affordable Care Act's push to expand insurance coverage. But insurers have struggled with higher-than-expected claims from that business. A recent study by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association detailed how many new customers nationwide under ObamaCare are higher-risk. It found new enrollees in individual health plans in 2014 and 2015 had higher rates of hypertension, diabetes, depression, coronary artery disease, HIV and Hepatitis C than those enrolled before ObamaCare.   On the heels of Tuesday's announcement, Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., said in a statement it’s a sign of “the President’s broken promise that families would have more c, ...ادامه مطلب

  The nation’s largest health insurer, fearing massive financial losses, announced Tuesday that it plans to pull back from ObamaCare in a big way and cut its participation in the program’s insurance exchanges to just a handful of states next year – in the latest sign of instability in the marketplace under the law. UnitedHealth CEO Stephen Hemsley said the company expects losses from its exchange business to total more than $1 billion for this year and last.   Despite the company expanding to nearly three dozen state exchanges for this year, Hemsley said the company cannot continue to broadly serve the market created by the Affordable Care Act's coverage expansion due partly to the higher risk that comes with its customers. UnitedHealth Group Inc. said it now expects to lose $650 million this year on its exchange business, up from its previous projection for $525 million. The insurer lost $475 million in 2015, a spokesman said. UnitedHealth has already decided to pull out of Arkansas, Georgia and Michigan in 2017, and Hemsley told analysts during a Tuesday moing conference call that his company does not want to take the financial risk from the exchanges into 2017. "We continue to remain an advocate for more stable and sustainable approaches to serving this market," he said. The state-based exchanges are a key element behind the Affordable Care Act's push to expand insurance coverage. But insurers have struggled with higher-than-expected claims from that business. A recent study by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association detailed how many new customers nationwide under ObamaCare are higher-risk. It found new enrollees in individual health plans in 2014 and 2015 had higher rates of hypertension, diabetes, depression, coronary artery disease, HIV and Hepatitis C than those enrolled before ObamaCare.   On the heels of Tuesday's announcement, Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., said in a statement it’s a sign of “the President’s broken promise that families would have more c, ...ادامه مطلب

  Health insurance premiums have increased faster than wages and inflation in recent years, rising an average of 28 percent from 2009 to 2014 despite the enactment of Obamacare, according to a report from Freedom Partners. President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law on March 23, 2010, and Wednesday is the law’s sixth anniversary. The Obama administration expressed conce in 2009 about skyrocketing health care premiums in a report entitled, “The Burden of Health Insurance Premium Increases on American Families.” They were conceed that premiums had increased by 5.5 percent from 2008 to 2009. However, from 2010 to 2011 in the first year after Obamacare was enacted, premiums increased by 9.4 percent. “In 2009, when the [Executive Office of the President] issued its report, states had seen premiums increase on average by 30 percent between 2004 and 2009,” states the Freedom Partners report. “But since 2009, health insurance premiums have continued to grow faster than wages in nearly every state, averaging a 28 percent increase from 2009 to 2014, resulting in a greater amount of disposable income being consumed by rising premiums.” According to the report, while premiums increased by 28 percent from 2009 to 2014, wages increased by only 7.8 percent. From 2004 to 2009 when premiums increased by 30 percent, wages increased by only 12.2 percent. Click here for more from The Washington Free Beacon Let's block ads! بخوانید, ...ادامه مطلب

  The Supreme Court appeared deadlocked Wednesday along ideological lines as justices weighed another legal challenge to ObamaCare -- this one, brought by a religious nonprofit that objects to paying for insurance covering birth control. The case before the court is a hot-button trifecta — health care, abortion and religious freedom — and conces ObamaCare's controversial contraception mandate. The eight justices will decide whether religious-affiliated institutions like the Little Sisters of the Poor, a Catholic charity of nuns, can be exempt from having to pay for -- or indirectly allow -- birth control and other reproductive health coverage in their health plans. But the First Amendment challenge coming amid an election-year vacancy at the Supreme Court leaves this legal fight very much up in the air, and may not be fully resolved until the vacancy is filled. A 4-4 split could leave the provision in place for now.  The 90 minutes of debate grew tense at times, highlighting the split on the current court. The justices drew ideological differences over the moral and administrative implications of the law, President Obama's signature domestic policy accomplishment. "It can't be all my way. There has to be an accommodation, and that's what the govement tried to do," said Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She said creating an exception for the nuns would open the "floodgates" to make the law unworkable. But Chief Justice John Roberts repeated the nuns' rhetoric when saying the plaintiff "has used the phrase 'hijacking,' and it seems to me that that's an accurate description of what the govement wants to do." He said, "They want to use the mechanism that the Little Sisters and the other petitioners have set up to provide services because they want the coverage to be seamless."  Members of the Little Sisters of the Poor rallied along with their supporters in front of the court Wednesday, many carrying signs and buttons with "I'll Have Nun of It." Nearby were supporters o, ...ادامه مطلب

  Republican critics say an ObamaCare program is breaking the law by shorting the U.S. Treasury -- and therefore U.S. taxpayers-- billions of dollars collected from the insurance industry. Rep. Joe Pitts, R-Pa., chairman of the health subcommittee of the Energy and Commerce Committee, called it “an illegal wealth transfer from hard-working taxpayers to (insurers).” He recently joined Republican colleagues in grilling Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell about the shortfall of money  supposed to be flowing into Treasury coffers - as mandated in the Affordable Care Act of 2010. They followed up that hearing by sending a letter this week seeking clarification from the administration, according to The Hill. Under the law, money is collected each year from insurers for the ACA’s reinsurance program, which helps plans taking on higher costs associated with sicker enrollees. While $10 billion was supposed to go back to the market to pay those costs in 2014, the first year, an additional $2 billion was supposed to go to the U.S. Treasury under the law. It never arrived. That was because not enough money was brought in to cover both, so the administration prioritized. Then HHS published a new rule saying payments would be made to insurers first in the event of a shortfall. The rule, set in 2014, was published publicly for comment and received no reaction at the time, Burwell told a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing when the matter was raised again by lawmakers last week. According to health care law expert Tim Jost, a professor at Washington & Lee University School of Law, the reinsurance program is not permanent and was instituted as a way to shoulder some of the burden for the new costs connected with new, at-risk enrollees who weren’t able to get adequate coverage before ObamaCare. The reinsurance program was to collect $10 billion from insurance companies in 2014, $6 billion in 2015, and $4 billion in 2016. The Treasury would get $2 billion i, ...ادامه مطلب