More good Obamacare news.

[Scout26]

http://news.yahoo.com/woes-reduce-health-care-enrollment-160645560.html

CBO revises estimate of enrollees down to 6 million (IIRC didn't they say they needed 7 million for "break even"?)

So given that the number of people who lost their existing coverage (even if they liked it) is reliably reported to be 5 million, that means that that we spent $394 million (min estimate, although there are reports of over $1 billion) on a non-worrking website, where had we simply given that money to those 6 million people that would been enough for them to continue to buy their existing plans for years, if not decades.  ($65,666 per)*.

That number does not include the projected 8 million who have signed up for "New and Improved Medicaid !!", though I wonder how long the feds will continue to cover the costs before foisting it off onto the states.  

The fun will really begin when those subject to the individual mandate begin to do their taxes and discover that the cost is not $95 for non-compliance, but 1% of AGI.    SURPRISE !!!




*price does not include monies spent on non-functioning state sites like Oregon and California, nor monies spent on advertising, "PSA's", "Navigators" and all the ancillary bureaucracy and bureaucrats that have sprung up and will continue to spring up for this colossal and massive failure.   Were that the case we could have given those people health insurance plans that would have made union bosses jealous.

[Scout26]

And it cost the 'recovery' economy 2.3 million jobs.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/cbo-botched-health-care-law-rollout-will-reduce-signups-by-1-million-people/2014/02/04/c78577d0-8dac-11e3-98ab-fe5228217bd1_story.html

[Ben]

And it cost the 'recovery' economy 2.3 million jobs.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/cbo-botched-health-care-law-rollout-will-reduce-signups-by-1-million-people/2014/02/04/c78577d0-8dac-11e3-98ab-fe5228217bd1_story.html

Just caught a snippet on the Lou Dobbs Report where additionally to what is in the linked article, a video showed Furman saying that those 2 million lost jobs were, "...a choice made by the people not working in them". Gee, nothing to do with Obamacare - those people just made the spontaneous decision that they don't want to work. Their choice, not Obama's fault.

[dogmush]

So choice is OK, as long as they aren't choosing not to have health insurance?

[tokugawa]

Well, since this has put the stake in the economy, and our orders are down , i guess it's good we have no insurance, since it saves us a cool $1000 every month!

 

[Tallpine]

Well, since this has put the stake in the economy, and our orders are down , i guess it's good we have no insurance, since it saves us a cool $1000 every month!

 

We can live on less than that each month 

[lee n. field]

I went to the local health dept. in Sept. to see someone about my knee.  I did something to it, don't know what, and it's swollen, hurts to climb stairs, etc.

That lady looked at it, said it will be fine, here's a couple weeks worth of prescription ibuprofen.  And gave me a long spiel about how I should sign up for 0-care.

Fast forward to now.  If it's getting better, it's doing so very slowly.  So I go in to see an orthopedist.

Torn meniscus, maybe.  The price of an MRI to find out, then $15K-$20K to fix.  (Ain't happening, if so.)

And, this doctor entertained us with a nice extended rant about 0-care, and how it doesn't really fix anything. 

[MechAg94]

Well, since this has put the stake in the economy, and our orders are down , i guess it's good we have no insurance, since it saves us a cool $1000 every month!

 

So if you set aside $1000 per month or half that for a few years, you would have enough to cover quite a lot of issues.  IMO, it should cover anything, but govt regulations and lawsuits have screwed up the "medical treatment" market so that costs are all over the place. 

[Scout26]

If I understand it correctly, you can still contact your local Insurance Agent and purchase catastrophic health coverage on your own, however you just won't get any O-care subsidies. 

Not that they are advertising that option.

I do believe that it might be enough for you to avoid the "Doesn't Have Insurance" penalty.

[tokugawa]

tallpine- yes, we can live on a grand a month, not owing money is a good thing.

Lee N Field-- I just bought a bottle of DMSO for my tennis elbow- gonna try some home brew....

Scout- we have investigated that option , as far as I can tell all insurance plans need to fit the zerocare parameters- For us, the cheapest plan we could find was about $1000 per month. This came with a $5200 deductible per year for each of us, so in a year where we needed the insurance, we could blow through $22,400 before the insurance payed a dime. My mammogram will be covered however.

 if  foreign government had inflicted obamacare this on America, it would be considered an act of war.

[lee n. field]

Lee N Field-- I just bought a bottle of DMSO for my tennis elbow- gonna try some home brew....

How fast does that go bad?  I had some ages ago (as in decades) that I think might have gotten left at my Dad's.

Worth a try.  Like I said, surgery ain't happening.  What I have now is catastrophic -- $10K deductible.  And they know the knee problem predates that, and so won't be covered.

[tokugawa]

How fast does that go bad?  I had some ages ago (as in decades) that I think might have gotten left at my Dad's.

 I don't know- it is pretty volatile i suspect.  Jacobs labs has it online.

[Scout26]

And still more !!!

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/feb/6/bruce-obamacare-isnt-a-train-wreck-its-a-cancer/

tl;dr:

The happy lull you’re supposed to be in will presumably eclipse news of intelligence reports that Belarus, a former Soviet republic and current Russian ally, managed to insert malicious code into Healthcare.gov.

...distracting you from allegations that Covered California, the poster child for “successful” Obamacare exchanges, has been misleading people looking for insurance by providing a “phantom list” of doctors attached to their plans.

One guy ruined the plan after he purchased health insurance on the California exchange and then had the gall to call doctors to set up an appointment. His temerity drove him to call every doctor listed as in-network, and none of them were.

One California woman — an avowed Obama and Obamacare supporter, and cancer patient — was quite taken aback by the disaster.

Danielle Nelson dutifully enrolled in an Obamacare plan, and then went to see her oncologist, but was greeted at the door by a sign announcing they did not accept any Covered California plans.

“I’m a complete fan of the Affordable Care Act, but now I can’t sleep at night,” Ms. Nelson told The Los Angeles Times. “I can’t imagine this is how President Obama wanted it to happen.”

In other news...

Apparently the Dems failed to proof read their bill (the one they had to pass so you could read what's in it):

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/feb/7/gop-leaders-join-suit-against-obamacare-subsidies/

[Perd Hapley]

“I can’t imagine this is how President Obama wanted it to happen.”

 

She thinks Obama wants her to have health care.

 

[Scout26]

Meanwhile in those states that took the "free" (for now) Federal (Chinese and our grandkids) money, Medicaid is running just as well as Obamcare.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2014-03-23/business/ct-medicaid-backlog-0321-biz-20140323_1_medicaid-coverage-health-coverage-human-services

And to no-one's surprise the F-ups are (primarily) on the federal end. 

The states that expanded Medicaid eligibility and use the federal marketplace appear to be those having the most problems, said Matt Salo, executive director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors.

"I can't answer whether the extent of the problem is as bad in other states, but I do know for sure that Illinois is by no means alone," Salo said.

So people are applying 2, 3, 4 or more times; through the healthcare.gov website, on the phone and/or in person with the "navigators", at state offices.  Rinse, wring, repeat.

[tokugawa]

There are a lot of horror stories out there of folks who signed up and find out they may have a "plan", but no one will take it, or the specific malady is not covered.

 I am looking at short term insurance now- it is restrictive, aka no pre existing conditions, no preventative , etc- it is pretty much just a catastrophic plan like in the old days, it costs $350 per month for swmbo and myself for 11 months- it does not renew, one has to reapply, if you get sick toward the end of the policy you are not gonna get much coverage...
 but at least I can go for a motorcycle ride this summer and have some coverage.
 
  This  country is turning into what my whole family spent years opposing- my brothers in Nam, my father and brothers building aircraft engines, missiles and other cold war hardware- now we are run by a bunch of commies who are deliberately destroying the USA and everything it stood for. The Dickwads are now canceling our tomahawk and hellfire procurement from what I read today.