EXCLUSIVE: Just 51,000 people completed Obamacare applications during the website's first week, out

reply to post by JacKatMtn


it could be. The stock price of the insurance companies playing along with obamacare have gone up substantially since the plan was announced. If the plan turns out to destroy those companies, there will either be a rise of new companies that will take their place with different methods for keeping the plans rolling or a complete overhaul of the system.


I doubt it will come to that as I see this thing being pushed off as part of the debt ceiling deal that seems to now be set for November. If obama somehow manages to get his shiny new credit limit without cuts/changes to CACA, it will be something that the next election focuses on with the republican candidate promising to scrap it in exchange for something that really is affordable. Day one of the new president's term will be a repeal of the CACA that is floating over our heads.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


yes, it would be helpful if the site operating as intended but, honestly, a government that spent hundreds of millions of dollars on a website that took 3 years to build and still doesn't work is a sure sign that they are not capable of handling much of anything anymore.

Crakeur
reply to post by boncho

 

they pool the premiums and invest them so that they can earn more money to cover the outlays and, if they do it right, they make enough with the premiums and investments that there's still profits left over. This is why, with some types of insurance, the insured might get back some money from the pooled investments.

And when they lose?

Like say when someone packages some dummy securities into AAA but really it's garbage, no matter what rule the insurance has to keep from suffering losses (like only buy AAA securities...)

Gambling is gambling.

Is it insurance or a casino?

reply to post by boncho


insurance is a gamble. Aetna and Harrahs are far more similar than you'd think. The only real difference is there's no buffet at Aetna

reply to post by Crakeur


Or possibly the government coming to the rescue once again with bailouts, and mandates to the companies they save.. ie the auto bailout where govt set up guidelines on how the companies should move forward?

Closer to a one payer system?

This past 10 years have been surreal in regards to the economy and erosion of folks rights...

I still cannot imagine how we can have record WS numbers while most folks are still walking the fine line of making it or falling off the tightrope..

This does more and more each day look like an effort to destroy our country.

reply to post by NoRulesAllowed

Because "giving THEIR information" is really a factor here...

But if you buy a mobile phone plan (or a car, or get a store credit card)..you are totally fine giving away all the information, right?

Semantics. It's the point of what are they doing with that information. Sure you get a phone or credit card, but are they soliciting that information abroad?

Crakeur

Chrisfishenstein

So, if not enough people sign up (at least 7 million) does it cease to exist?

For an insurance plan to work, the insurer needs a mix of people to sign up. They need healthy people who pay their premiums and reap little benefit. This creates a profitable premium payment for them which helps defray the cost of the sick insured people who go to lots of doctors, have lots of procedures and wind up having the bulk of their medical paid for by the insurance company.

The current theory with the obamacare insurance plans is that the only people willing to suffer through the sign up process are those that need that insurance to cover their medical expenses. The only people willing to do so would be the folks with prior conditions, the very poor etc.

So, if you assume that, thus far, the only people signing up are the folks who will pay very little, thanks to the subsidies, and go for lots of treatments or doctor visits, the insurance companies will be spending more money on those people than the premiums bring in and they won't have the healthy, so called wealthy, who pay larger premiums and don't see too many doctors.

In other words, if this keeps up, Obamacare will destroy the insurance companies.

Outstanding point.

Up until oct 1st, the poor in this country have been covered, the rich have been covered, so the fact that this was sold to helping the poor is silly - they now have to pay for what was covered by us all. There are too few who signed up for it make real sense, are poor people who need insurance internet wired? With most things numbers usually trail off after opening push, I can't see a christmas rush.

Insurance = for profit. The profit comes by not paying claims and imagine that they'll still make a profit by denying service to these early signatories.

crankyoldman


Insurance = for profit. The profit comes by not paying claims and imagine that they'll still make a profit by denying service to these early signatories.

The profit comes from increased premiums, decreased benefit payments, increased deductibles etc.



It was probably much easier for the insurance companies to say "sorry you have cancer, please go away" than to actually try and cover people.



I am fortunate that I have a family that is, for the most part, healthy. I think it's a horrible horrible world we live in where someone who is sick can't get proper care because they can't get insurance but, honestly, I don't make enough money to support them. If I was a billionaire, I'd be more than happy to set up a not for profit that helps get proper care to those that can't afford it. However, I'm not a billionaire. I live in an expensive city and I don't have money for luxuries so, if I'm going to be stuck paying twice as much for insurance now, and never have my insurance company pay for anything, I want to deduct some of my insurance payments as charity because someone, somewhere, is benefitting from my overspending for zero service value.

reply to post by JacKatMtn


That reminded me...is this eligible for Cash For Clunkers? Because that is the only way for this to pay off for individuals.

Crakeur

In other words, if this keeps up, Obamacare will destroy the insurance companies.

A dream come true. When an health insurance company is more beholden to its stockholders than to the needs of its insured, there is a real priorities issue.

Sink them all, and let the non-profits move in.

reply to post by Rulkiewicz


You beat me too it.

But Obamacare is dead in the water if no one signs up.

Sends a clear message as well that this isn't what people want.

reply to post by Rulkiewicz


Is another thread running the same article I'll reiterate what I said over there ...

These numbers are wrong ...

Causing web traffic gridlock and running into software dead-ends, millions of New Yorkers visited and more than 40,000 signed up for health insurance in the first week of business at the state’s online health benefits marketplace.

Westfair Online

California said 28,699 people were signed up in the state’s health-insurance exchange in the first week, while New York had more than 40,000 sign up.

Bloomburg

Bloomburg confirms New York numbers, those two markets alone put the enrollments at 68,699

Then back home ...

LOUISVILLE, Ky — More than 16,000 applications for health insurance have been started in Kentucky since enrollment began this week under the state's new online marketplace, prompting Gov. Steve Beshear to declare that the state has become the "gold standard" for implementing the federal health care overhaul.

The governor's office said nearly 11,000 applications had been completed by early Friday, and 4,739 individuals or families had picked health plans and signed up for coverage.

Also, 166 small businesses had started applications for health insurance for employees, it said.

Courier Press

Add another 11,000 for a total of 79,699.

Plus 166 small businesses.

I call bunk on this article, reminds me of this dude ...

Wolf Blitzer on CNN this Wednesday, GOP Congressman Buck McKeon made the outrageous claim that fewer than 10 people have signed up to purchase health insurance through the government run exchanges.

Incredulous, Blitzer asked him, “When you say single digits, I’m not exactly clear what you mean by that.”

McKeon replied, “Single digits would be less than ten.” He went on to say that he had read an article in Forbes which made that claim, apparently referring to an article from last Thursday, three days after the exchanges opened, in which an anonymous insurance company spokesman made some blatantly false claims.

Source

Personally, I believe there will be much egg on peoples faces before this is all over ...

Like anything else in life there are pros and cons but I personally would like to see it be more affordable for people but there are also some really great things in this reform too, it has greatly enhanced my employer provided insurance.

reply to post by Tazkven


Only time will tell...

Still 80k sign up... that's no where close to the 7 million they'll need to make it financially stable.

reply to post by Rulkiewicz


80k is just what I found in three states, I didn't try to research past that. But yea, to get the numbers they need they will have to drop the prices or something.

Here's how you know this was designed to fail.

She also said that the servers handling the Obamacare exchanges were designed to deal with only 50,000 visitors per day, but that there have been an average of 250,000 visitors per day — which is actually good news because it means people are eager to enroll.

There's a video there as well.
www.theblaze.com...

So, Obama wants to provide health care options for the nation but builds a site that can only handle 50,000 visits a day. So, basically, he didn't expect more than about 1.75% of the country to care enough to check it out. If they spent in excess of $600,000,000 for a site that does the same traffic as this site, it's time to ponder whether a financial guardian needs to be installed to ensure we don't overpay for everything.

reply to post by Crakeur

I'm starting to think what they did was literally bid and build this whole thing out to an expected maximum # of visitors on an average day across the program as a whole. Not what would happen when all the 'long term' expected members came to see in less than a nice, orderly way on something we're all being told is legally required to have. This goes under the heading of 'what could they have expected to see happen'?

Their resources must also have been.. Well...? Did someone know someone with a good deal on shared hosting?? Did Godaddy or Ipage loads just skyrocket by some odd chance? lol.. I gotta wonder...

I looked at the stats on the Forums page here at ATS, and unfortunately, one number for a record is missing. Probably the worst number to not have, given the volume of data it would take to sort, to get the right one. That would be record # of users on ATS for any one day or at any one moment.

I did see a record for posts in one day though, and that was over 13,000. ATS, of course, not having the limitless finances of Washington to build something ...or the limitless ability to recruit thousands of people to sit in rooms at high pay just to hand-code out a web site (or whatever it took this long at that price to do)?

Well, I can't see how that doesn't tend to make Uncle Sammy look downright foolish. If ATS got 13,000+ posts in a single day, and watching those stats occasionally since coming here, I know the ratio of guests or lurkers to actual members is always very heavy to lurkers? I can only guess, that single day, many times that number logged in and out as sessions/users. Yeah... Uncle needs better designers....and server makers...and well, just about everything at this point.

Opening night may have been a bust but sooner or later people will realise just how amazing it is. If not then maybe the fines can convince people who are being stubborn to buy it.