Obamacare Enrollments Surge -- Could It Be Working? Conservatives In Panic

Bah, it isn't even close to working.

Obamacareless is nothing more than a big childrens toy. You can rearrange it (like Obama does), opt out of it (like Obama does), give out free opt outs (like Obama does), plus you get to pretend when you are Obama that you can legislate it by yourself. And so much more.. Created by people who act like these folks:


Might be better to let kids play and opt out on this one, like the landslide majority is already doing.

On top of this, I am not officially married but have been with my "wife" for seven or so years. We're weird people and don't necessarily believe in all the crap most people do..But that's another story.

I have a son with my wife, and a daughter with my ex. Because my daughter lives at another address with her mother, adding her to the quote on the healthcare.gov website was a royal PITA. Because she was at a different address it wanted to know who she was living with at that address. After providing the requested information about my ex it tried to add her to my household and to the policy. After completing the process I was told that there was an error and to please call. I called the number and sat on hold for nearly an hour. Finally someone picked up and told me they could get my application processed with no problems but we would have to start all over.

He asked for the people that lived in my home and I told him, he asked the status of the woman I refer to as my wife and I told him domestic partner, as that was an option. He asked me if we were the same sex, and I said no. He said "domestic partner" means your same sex partner... What?

He got all my information and received the same error I did. During the course of the phone call with him I felt like I had a better understanding of what was happening than he did. He tried a second time to process the application, this time omitting some information - it still wouldn't process. So... we finally tried a third time, this time omitting my wife, my son, and inaccurately stating that my daughter lived at my address (I asked if this would be a problem because it was false information, and he said it wouldn't. Fortunately I record all of my phone calls and have the proof that he advised this.) Anyway, it STILL wouldn't process my application. He told me he would have to "escalate" my application and to expect a call back within 5 days. This was almost 2 weeks ago and I haven't heard back from anyone.

Through limiting my information I was finally able to get a quote and view insurance packages online. I'm not against universal healthcare but this is absolutely the most expensive and least efficient way to go about it. Also the packages being offered that are affordable to middle class people that earn too much for a subsidy are low quality and far too expensive. The only people I know who are happy to participate in this system are poor-ass leeches who don't have to pay a dime because my taxes are paying for them while I'm also being asked (read FORCED) to pay full price for my own healthcare.

I do not understand how any reasonable, thinking person can legitimize this so called "universal healthcare." This is an extraction of wealth in return for sub-par services. This is the new American way.

ETA: The total phone call was nearly 2 hours long.

The only thing I miss about working for someone else was not having to worry about this insurance crap.


I guess my point with all this is that I'm truly and sincerely surprised that 6 million people were even able to complete the application without blowing their brains out. And now I'm going to be forced to pay a penalty because we couldn't get this system to process my application on time, or get a call back from this "escalation" group within the 2 week timeframe I had before the deadline. I'm just going to start having my customers make their payment directly to the federal government.

Skymon612
The more people enroll the lower cost of healthcare and insurance is going to be according to simple economics 101. Economics 101 is a college course I think many people should take including many people here on ATS.

Simple supply and demand. Now that 10 million people now have insurance through the ACA it reduces the burden of hospitals and doctors who otherwise would have patients with no money or no insurance. Doctors and hospitals are jumping in celebration over these new good numbers for Obamacare.

Skymon612, quick, call your Obama supervisor over to your desk, you're going to need new talking points!

Although March 31 was the last day officially to sign up, millions of people were potentially eligible for extensions granted by the administration for various reasons.

That includes consumers who had begun enrolling by the deadline but didn't finish, perhaps because of errors, missing information or website glitches. The government says it will accept paper applications until April 7 and take as much time as necessary to handle unfinished cases on HealthCare.gov. Rules may vary in states running their own insurance marketplaces.

The administration is also offering special extensions to make up for all sorts of problems that might have kept people from getting enrolled on time: Natural disasters. Domestic abuse. Website malfunctions. Errors by insurance companies. Mistakes by application counselors.

To seek a special enrollment period, contact the federal call center, at 1-855-889-4325, or the state marketplace and explain what happened. It's on the honor system. If the extension is approved, that brings another 60 days to enroll.

Health care website crashs

Over the weekend, the site blocked some applicants, but didn't show major technological problems as consumers rushed before the end of the 2014 open-enrollment period for obtaining insurance under the Affordable Care Act.

But the system's human capacity maxed out, with too few "navigators" and other enrollment workers to steer consumers through the complex application process. As a result, many people were told to try again after Monday under recently announced federal and state extensions aimed at those who get stuck while applying.

In Silver Spring, Md., hundreds of people lined up hours before a Montgomery County health service center opened at 10 a.m. Saturday to help people sign up on the state's problem-plagued insurance exchange. Mary Anderson, a spokeswoman for the county's health department, distributed dozens of pink tickets to secure enrollment help at about 6:30 a.m.

Software Bugs
Now ask your Supervisor for your Proof of that Happy six million.

Bombshell warning...

The numbers might be twisted and skived ?

Obamacare Real Enrollment: Just 1.7% of Uninsured Covered

Hmmm.

reply to post by TinkerHaus


Wait a minute - this isn't just helping the poor. My friend makes less than I do and will not be able to get insurance because you actually have to be between 100-400% of the poverty index to qualify for subsidies. On either side of that you're on your own unless your State expands Medicaid (my State did not). So the only thing helping those who cannot afford this is Medicaid in the end and States are not required to expand coverage on this. Therefore - those who are below the poverty level are still SOL unless they qualified for Medicaid previously or their State expanded it.

Hard to call the "project" a success when a considerable number of those signing up qualified for their state Medicaid program (provided the state expanded their Medicaid program). In order for there to be a remote "break even" on the project is if (and only if) 17 million sign up (and pay) for an actual insurance policy between the ages of 18-30 that did not have a policy beforehand and for some unknown reason are not covered under their parents insurance for those aged 18-26.

Essentially, 17 million healthy 27-30 year old must purchase a policy from an insurance company that are currently uninsured and do not qualify for Medicaid. Anything less and the insurance companies will take a loss, thus it fails. These new people must also not be a financial drain on the insurance companies or the whole thing fails. Those opting to pay the fine must be in such numbers and the government willing to part with that IRS collected "tax" (which is really a fine for noncompliance with a federal law without benefit of trial by jury as dictated in the US Constitution) and disperse it to the insurance companies to cover losses, or it fails.

Basically the whole thing will take a miracle to not fail. Signups, partial signups and visitors to the website mean very little towards the success of this experiment. The scariest part is that there is no backup plan should this experiment fail (and odds are that it will) other than a single payer solution which will be a defacto 5%-10% pay decrease for every American still employed. Such a sudden pay cut will result in considerable foreclosures, repossessions and radical corrections in the financial, retail and manufacturing sectors. Not to mention that everyone working in insurance now would be unemployed in a single payer system.

Big question for you: what happens to all the retired insurance agents that retired off the residual income of their policy sales during their career if all those policies become null and void under a single payer system?

There never was a quota for success for this endeavor, only a marginal chance of breaking even. And for the people having to purchase these policies, there was only failure for anyone making less than $45,000 because they would be bankrupted under the prohibitive deductibles for the simplest of procedures such as a few stitches. Those making above $45,000 already had decent insurance plans offered through their employer as part of their benefits package.

Basically the law failed when Obama exempted employers while keeping the mandate for individuals. This was done because forcing employers meant the Democrats were going to lose big in the 2014 midterms. Wait until 2015 when smaller companies decide if they are going to layoff workers to get below the magic 50 number (or is 100 for 2015 now?)

Personally the only "success" I can see coming out of this is if they impeach Obama after the Dem lose control of the Senate.

reply to post by Ahabstar


You are right, this law was mean to fail from the beginning, specially when most of those that sign up will never pay a penny in premiums if they do not qualify for subsidies or Medicaid.

reply to post by Ahabstar


Grim. The subsidies also go from government to insurance companies so did they calculate how many Americans fall into the the category of between 100-400% poverty level before they implemented this idea? Or is it all about the government blank check situation. Where is all of that going to come from?

reply to post by guohua


Domestic abuse is a valid excuse?

I was domestically abused by domestic enemies that conspired amongst all three branches of government to grant a non-enumerated power to the federal government that granted the power to dictate what I as a former citizen (now subject) of the US must spend a sizable portion of my income upon. This was done in direct violation of the 5th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th Amendments; a misapplication of the 16th and a gross violation of Article 6.

reply to post by Dianec


Hopefully there was a line in there about Nancy Pelosi personally funding the shortfall since she has made a fortune in legal insider trading. That would teach her to read it before she passes it.

Ahabstar
reply to post by guohua

 

Domestic abuse is a valid excuse?

I was domestically abused by domestic enemies that conspired amongst all three branches of government to grant a non-enumerated power to the federal government that granted the power to dictate what I as a former citizen (now subject) of the US must spend a sizable portion of my income upon. This was down in direct violation of the 5th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th Amendments; a misapplication of the 16th and a gross violation of Article 6.

edit on 31-3-2014 by Ahabstar because: (no reason given)

YEAH!
OK, Everyone, What He Said!!
Let's have a drink and forget about it!!!!

Skymon612
The other day we learned that over 6 million consumers have purchased private insurance through the exchanges provided by the ACA> Today is the deadline and from reports I am hearing enrollments are having a surge never expected. When the website first opened many doubters went to the internet to pump the idea that the ACA is a total failure. Unfortunately they did not end up on the right side of history as now we could very well see 7,8, or even 9 million people have purchased it.

Does this mean that the ACA is officially working?

Kinda' difficult for it to "surge" when the site was down all day No one has stated how many have "purchased" insurance. Only how many have signed up on the site. One does not equal the other. And of those that have actually enrolled and paid, it's a pretty good bet they either already had insurance that was cancelled because it didn't meet the requirements or they had insurance and by some stroke of massive luck, the exchange actually saved them some money. People who didn't have it prior are not signing up because most are young people who feel they don't need the insurance or are still covered under their parents policy. This law is an abomination and an abysmal failure.

reply to post by Skymon612


What you don't understand is signing up and PAYING for insurance are two entirely different things. A very large portion signing up are going on Medicaid, or are the very sick who must be subsidized by the healthy.

When they sign up, costs of insurance go UP not down. The only thing that can save Obamacare is if it signs up a bunch of young people, but that isn't going to happen because they know they don't need insurance, and even the leftist of liberals forgets their politics when they have to pay more than their fair share for something they most likely will never need.

The real problem with Obamacare is most people don't have any disposable income to afford increases in health insurance or anything for that matter, they are living paycheck to paycheck. The only successful way to reform healthcare involves cost reductions, Obamacare doesn't reduce costs one penny, in fact it increases them greatly for the vast majority.

The affordable care act is garbage if you don't see that you simply aren't looking at the facts.

reply to post by Skymon612


Obama care is having a hard time........Is it any wonder we see a new poster selling this? Readers ask yourself how many hot topics like health care and Crimea have new posters saying exactly what the PTB are saying.




If it walks like a duck.............You do not know who is passionate and who is payed PTB have figured out the internet is a tool just like the mainstream media for propaganda. And this OP fits the type of posters who would be pushing it.

Skymon612
The more people enroll the lower cost of healthcare and insurance is going to be according to simple economics 101. Economics 101 is a college course I think many people should take including many people here on ATS.

Simple supply and demand. Now that 10 million people now have insurance through the ACA it reduces the burden of hospitals and doctors who otherwise would have patients with no money or no insurance. Doctors and hospitals are jumping in celebration over these new good numbers for Obamacare.

Is that why we just had a meeting at my hospital about the 120 million dollars we will lose next year due to Obama policies, and how if we didnt plan years in advance our hospital would have to shut down?

Skymon612
The more people enroll the lower cost of healthcare and insurance is going to be according to simple economics 101. Economics 101 is a college course I think many people should take including many people here on ATS.

Simple supply and demand. Now that 10 million people now have insurance through the ACA it reduces the burden of hospitals and doctors who otherwise would have patients with no money or no insurance. Doctors and hospitals are jumping in celebration over these new good numbers for Obamacare.

I respectfully disagree with your statements about docs and hospitals "jumping in celebration" about Obamacare. I was in the mainstream medical industry at one time and still have quite a few friends and acquaintances in that field. They are saying that beginning in January they are seeing a lot of folks coming in for care and presenting their brand new "insurance" cards thinking they were going to get the "free" health care they had been promised. Then, when informed that their deductible is $3k-$5k, and they will have to pay the deductible before the insurance kicks in, they are a mighty disappointed lot.
Just this morning I was at a dentist's office with an older relative and witnessed a woman screaming and stomping her foot at the receptionist because she had been told that she had "free" dental coverage and would not accept that she had to meet a deductible before the insurance kicked in to pay her costs.
She kept saying, "I'm paying over $500/month for this insurance and you're telling me I have to meet a $5000.00 deductible before I see any benefits?"
I really feel for the people in the profession who are facing all this mess.
I'll be paying the fine and continuing to pay cash for any medical care I need. My docs are delighted with my cash system. They are perfectly happy to charge me the same rate as they charge the insured because they know that they will have the cash in hand before I even leave the office and there's no further paperwork.
I did see a story on Drudge today about Valerie Jarrett tweeting about signing up for Obamacare. She's a Federal government employee and according to a friend of mine who is also a Federal employee eligible for the same bennies as Val, the enrollment period for those employees closed in mid-December so I'm thinking Val may have been mistaken about something or maybe she was confused....or maybe she was flat-out telling a lie?

ETA: If your "supply and demand" theory was correct in the world of health care insurance, I would be paying next to nothing since in the years that I had insurance from 2000 to 2011, I never met the deductible, never had a claim filed and yet every year, my premium costs escalated from $2,300/yr to $7,200/yr for 2012. That's when I realized how totally ridiculous it was and deposited what I would have paid in premiums into an account to use like I had formerly used my HSA. There is still money in that account for my health care needs.
Insurance companies don't work on "supply and demand" theories, they work on medical underwriting, geographical factors, age factors and community rating theories. It matters not if you are as healthy as the 25 year-old, if you are 50 years old, you will pay more in premiums. Same with geography and community ratings. Additionally, there are different rules for individual, small group and large group policies. www.nahu.org...

Skymon612
The more people enroll the lower cost of healthcare and insurance is going to be according to simple economics 101. Economics 101 is a college course I think many people should take including many people here on ATS.

Simple supply and demand. Now that 10 million people now have insurance through the ACA it reduces the burden of hospitals and doctors who otherwise would have patients with no money or no insurance. Doctors and hospitals are jumping in celebration over these new good numbers for Obamacare.

Funny thing about your post.. is that theoretically you would be correct based on the average business... but in the insurance world you are wrong. Look at how many people have car insurance, every claim filed makes the insurance company pay out more money... the more insureds they have the more claims they have the more they raise their rates. Rates go up even for people who have never filed a claim due to loss ratios in states and based on certain demographics, but generally it is spread all over the board, car insurance rates even go up due to high loss ratios on homeowners claims in some states. It's not fair, and the actuaries have to wiggle numbers but it happens.

Health insurance is even worse, people are more likely to go to the doctor or hospital and have the insurance billed than they are to file an auto or homeowners insurance claim. Everyone gets sick , but not everyone gets into a car accident or has their house get damaged.

Health insurance claims are much more expensive than standard auto insurance or homeowners insurance claims. Health insurance companies rely on large numbers of insured to stay afloat. Economics "101" does not follow the same laws as the regular supply and demand that a retail store or a restaurant or any standard business does... because they pay out for many of their insured... something most other businesses don't have to do.

Brush up on that economics again, because in the insurance world it doesn't work the way you think it does.

oh and economics 101 was course they taught at my high school to freshmen.

reply to post by marg6043


If there actually is a surge in sign ups it's simply because we're coming up against the deadline where we have to sign up or be hit with penalties on our taxes.

So, my wife and I checked it out and I can't express enough what a dismal failure it is.

First off, our "affordable" monthly premium comes with a 10,000$ + deductible.

For those unfamiliar, that means our insurance will not pay for anything until we've PAID that more than 10000 dollars out of our pockets. That's not "billed", that's "paid". The insurance company needs proof you actually paid that money before they will start covering anything.

Best of all, that deductible resets every year, so every year we have to come up with 10000 dollars of healthcare out of pocket before insurance kicks in.

And this is supposed to be an improvement?

Some say it's designed to fail, so a socialized medical system like the UK has will look preferable in comparison.

I can't disagree.

With that kind of deductible the insurance is really only useful if you want protection against a catastrophic health issue that would cost you more than 10k. Otherwise, if you're young and healthy it's cheaper to just pay the tax penalty.

Plus, you can always sign up "if" something does happen and get immediate coverage thanks to the way the system has been setup.

The burning question is if this "insurance" is so great, does that mean the congress, Senate and other federal government employees have all lost their old coverage and replaced it with this crap?

I don't think anyone really needs an answer to that....

reply to post by Skymon612


Enrolling and buying are two entirely different things.

A good portion of the poorest who never had insurance will pay the first premium and then expect to be covered forever... No Dear, insurance is like a lotto ticket, if you don't win this month you can't use the same ticket for the next you have to buy it again... No pets are not covered under your family plan even if they were roosters are not pets...

Here is some food for thought.

The White House has proudly announced that 4 million Americans are now enrolled in Obamacare. More astute analysts rightly point out that being “enrolled” doesn’t mean enrollees have made their first premium payment, which could be a big hurdle. But the even bigger question is: In the volatile individual health insurance market, how many will continue to pay their premiums?

That's a good question a year from now how many of those people will still have insurance.

Lot's of things called life happen to people every single day.

Since its inception, the Obama administration has repeatedly misled the public about Obamacare’s progress.

YES THEY HAVE.

Estimates about how many have actually paid their premium have ranged between 50 percent and 80 percent of the enrolled figure.

ESTIMATES.

100% of those premiums will be subsidized to get those 'affordable' rates.

However, making the first monthly payment isn’t the same as making 12 of them.

There it is.

Making 12 months of payments is not the same as making 1 payment.

Because other things pop up. Like increase food prices,increase gas prices, and the devaluation of the dollar.

Lost in the discussion is that the individual health insurance market is very volatile, for several reasons. People who buy individual coverage tend to have lower incomes, and so a major car-repair bill or some other unexpected expense can cause them to miss their premium payments.

A year from now let's see who still jumping for 'joy'.

Let's see how many people still have insurance.

And for those who do that their following premiums will be for the next year.

www.forbes.com...

The truth is out there.

And NO TRUTH comes out of the current administrations lips.

That is how you can tell when they are lying.

They are talking.