Forget the hope of those high-risk pools for health insurance:
Funds run low for health insurance in state ‘high-risk pools’A delay in applying to a high-risk pool has been inevitable for some:
Tens of thousands of Americans who cannot get health insurance because of preexisting medical problems will be blocked from a program designed to help them because funding is running low.
Obama administration officials said Friday that the state-based “high-risk pools” set up under the 2010 health-care law will be closed to new applicants as soon as Saturday [February 16] and no later than March 2, depending on the state....
[T]he pools are open only to people who have gone without insurance for at least six months.Warren, one of my dearest friends in my small circle of friends and administrator here at Always On Watch, lost his health insurance (employer based) on January 1. The health insurance company stated that federal regulations precluded the company's viability to operate, so the company went under.
The end result for my friend: after decades of having health insurance coverage, Warren now is forced to go without any coverage for six months so as to be eligible for a high-risk pool that likely will not even exist.
Catch-22.
Obamacare is a scam, the goal of which is the redistribution of wealth.
Welcome to the gulag.
Additional reading: The 7 Biggest Obamacare Lies
Somehow, these stories never seem to make it to be headline news which is where it belongs.
ReplyDeleteIf the government wanted to establish a pool for high risk patients, why didn't it just do that?
ReplyDeleteMy G_d, they run "flood" insurance programs that are absolutely stupid!
Oh, that's right. Somebody has to "pay" for it. That's why they needed to force young, healthy people to buy insurance.
ReplyDeleteNever mind...
Doing "good" with other people's money...
ReplyDeleteTHAT is what passes for "leadership" in America, today.
The plan was always to end up with a single payer government provided healthcare. We don't need insurance companies if we have hard working death panels.
ReplyDeleteMadison, "Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious (aka - Do-Gooder Moral) Assessments"
ReplyDelete..."that the same authority which can force a citizen to contribute three pence only of his property for the support of any one establishment, may force him to conform to any other establishment in all cases whatsoever? "
With, a reported, 2,700 pages of statute and 13,000 pages of regulations you can bet that this is but "the tip of the iceberg"! Hey, Nancy Botoxi, [we] are now finding out what's in it; are you happy now?
ReplyDeleteNancy Pelosi: "We've got to pass the bill so that you can find out what's in it."
ReplyDeleteWell, we're finding out, all right. Pfffft.
Political malpractice.
All those people who couldn't afford COBRA coverage or who ran out of COBRA coverage and cannot now sign up for high-risk health insurance are screwed.
ReplyDeleteMedical bankruptcies for many are now on the horizon.
Forcing everyone including young people who are invulnerable and know they will live forever, ho ho, to buy health insurance is the Socialist Way. No one who voted for Obama should complain.
ReplyDeleteI never had health insurance until I got on Social Security, and with SS, they take out money before you see it for Medicare whether you want them to or not. That's mandated health insurance, but only for people getting SS.
That's the core of this problem. Once government got into the health care business, they found out that old people rack up vastly more medical bills than your average youngster, and they decided that maybe it would be more cost effective if we all shared the burden instead of just those already on SS.
What they should have done instead is either reduce the program's benefits or cancel it out. A lot of us oldtimers would much rather have that extra money anyway.
And while we're all at it, maybe it would be good to accept the fact that we don't get to live forever and that good health has always been a fragile thing. The only people who are actually entitled to first rate health care are the ones who can afford it. We can't all be success stories.
That was me. Every time I accidentally hit the space bar before typing in my name, it loads my comment as "anonymous".
ReplyDeleteEmployers should not be providing insurance to anyone. Period. People should own their own insurance. Obamacare doubles down on this antiquated "benefit." It sure didn't work well for your friend.
ReplyDeletePeople staying in jobs they hate because they "need the benefits" is not the American way. I've seen people who have lost their jobs go the COBRA route when they could have shopped around and bought a high deductible policy for far less than COBRA. I realize that doesn't work for someone with pre-existing conditions, but for others the concept of buying their own insurance is a non-starter.
We never had health insurance until we were well into our fifties and it was a high deductible "catastrophic" policy. Still - I'd rather have the 48K or so that we paid over the years.
Obamacare at it's finest. More to come and none of it good.
ReplyDeleteObamaCare was doomed from the start. It's no secret that the promises and fundamental fiscal assumptions underlying nearly EVERY big government program were deeply flawed at the programs inception. But the lovers of big government will NEVER admit their mistakes (or lies) and allow the termination of a flawed program. They will simply demand more and more and more money.
ReplyDeleteOne day when the money finally runs out they will be first in line demanding a revolution to overthrow the old order that THEY created!
P.S. ObamaCare was designed to fail so that it could be replaced with a system totally run by government. We're ALL screwed then!
When the Government gets involved, the price of things never goes down.
ReplyDeleteGovernment tyranny, plain and simple.
ReplyDelete"The plan was always to end up with a single payer government provided healthcare."
ReplyDelete-----
Who's plan? Certainly not Obummers'.
The plan is to shove a for profit insurer plank up your butt till you bleed money and squeal.
The prescription drug fiasco under Chucklenuts was part 1, this is part 2.
Sorry folks, you don't have enough of Das Kapital to rate a vote.
Continue to enjoy being owned.
Adrienne said:
ReplyDeleteEmployers should not be providing insurance to anyone. Period. People should own their own insurance.
Here in the D.C. area, where government jobs abound, the minute that somebody finds out that he has a chronic health issue (diabetes, high blood pressure, etc.), if he doesn't already have a government job, he moves heaven and earth to try to find a government job because a government employee's portion of health insurance is a pittance compared to other options for health insurance.
Adrienne,
ReplyDeleteIf Mr. AOW had waited until his 50s to get get health insurance, we'd have gone bankrupt.
The "bad thing" happened.
At the age of 44, Mr. AOW developed a benign brain tumor. No known cause for such a tumor. The bill for the required and successful surgery would have been over $100,000 without health insurance. As it was, the bill was around $20,000 (various deductibles and all that). He had COBRA coverage at the time, BTW.
People buy health insurance to prevent themselves against the bad thing -- the bad thing that can happen despite one's healthy habits. Sometimes, the bad thing is a car accident not one's own fault -- as I found out in my own case in 2005.
I don't know how it is in all states. But here in Virginia, if medical bankruptcy ensues, everything is on the table. Everything.
ReplyDeleteI know it hasn't helped us any. I can't believe what we have to pay to keep our insurance. Sheesh!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteOff topic:
ReplyDeleteHere's 1 for your nincompoopery post. Just can't bring myself to comment on the other crap right now because the cussing would be fierce.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/02/18/brothers-blow-up-house-while-celebrating-lottery-win-with-drugs/
Two brothers won $75,000 and decided to celebrate with a little drug party. Funny as Hell!
Duckus Redictulus, How about a democrat just once try to fix something by not screwing up what the rest of us like.
ReplyDeleteOdie said....
ReplyDelete"How about a democrat just once try to fix something by not screwing up what the rest of us like."
How about the fact that DemocRATS/Libturds are nothing more than chronic malcontents who derive solace out of taking away other peoples rights and money. Their mental condition is incurable and their quest to make all others miserable is insatiable!
JonBerg has it right. I work with an Hispanic Liberal CNN watcher on one of my volunteer days at the thrift store. We get first crack at stuff when it comes in, if we want to buy it. So in this sack of toys I found a very clever little battery-operated gerbil. Just right for my cat. Well, the Liberal wanted to see it, and kept messing with it until I made it clear that I wanted it to stay in one piece for my cat. Then I went back to work. Next thing, he's leaving, so I took a quick look inside and sure enough, no gerbil toy. I ran back out and hollered at him to give it back. He did, but it turned out he just stuck it in his pocket and walked out, not even paying the shop. He stole from me AND the shop.
ReplyDeleteThe first thing that came to mind was, Yep, typical liberal.
Coming in 2013: The Health Insurance Marketplace:
ReplyDeleteIndividuals and small businesses can buy affordable and qualified health benefit plans in this new transparent and competitive insurance marketplace. Open enrollment begins October 1, 2013.
Coming in 2014: Tax Credits for Families:
Tax credits to help the middle class afford insurance will become available for those with income between 100% and 400% of the poverty line who are not eligible for other affordable coverage.
http://www.healthcare.gov/law/timeline/
From the WaPo article linked in the body of the blog post:
ReplyDeleteThe program, which was launched in summer 2010, was always intended as a temporary bridge for the uninsured. But it was supposed to last until 2014. At that point, the health-care law will bar insurers from rejecting or otherwise discriminating against people who are already sick, enabling such people to buy plans through the private market.
From the start, analysts questioned whether the $5 billion that Congress appropriated for the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan — as the program is called — was sufficient.
[...]
Of the original $5 billion, about $2.36 billion remains available for the last three quarters of 2013 — enough only to continue coverage for those already in the pools, according to administration estimates.
If one has a chronic health problem or a catastrophic illness before getting medical insurance, medical bankruptcy often ensues. That very thing happened to a friend of mine back in 1992; the man who had never been sick a day in his life and the breadwinner for a household of six, developed brain cancer two weeks before his coverage was due to begin -- at the age of 45. The widow lost the house; it had to be sold to pay the bills.
By the time that Mr. AOW qualified for Medicare after his stroke in 2009, Mr. AOW's health insurance premium for catastrophic coverage with no pharmacy benefits was $908/month. The high premium was not due to the stroke but rather to pre-existing conditions dating back to 1994.
ReplyDeleteMr. AOW had insurance with the stoke felled him. Thank God for that insurance and savings! The medical bills were over $200,000; health insurance covered all except about $15,000. This household had medical bills like that for two years running after Mr. AOW's stroke.
Liberalmann,
ReplyDeleteThe timeline you cited is no longer valid. Read the article linked in the blog post.