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Today I spoke briefly about O-care with my eclectic, well-informed independent friend who is one of the best people I've met here in Wisconsin for being able to see multiple sides of an issue without relying on partisan crutches.
He said he has encountered two people who like O-care. Both Republican. Both elderly, on Social Security. They've supposedly been carrying $1000+ policies to pay for things not covered by Medicare. And through O-care they're able to get policies which cost closer to $300 or $400.
On the other hand, my friend is currently uninsured and said he can't afford O-care. His premiums would be less than $200 per month but that's still too much of his income. He qualifies for subsidies and would theoretically be able to afford the premiums after subsidies but he says he first has to fork over the full premium and then at year's end he would be reimbursed. He says that's how the subsidies work here.
That sounds terribly wrong, but this guy has been super reliable in the past so I don't know what to think.
Constant glitches keep people from logging into the exchanges. Humiliating live video of reporters normally favorable to Obamacare simply giving up in frustration because they cannot sign up. Consumers who are lucky enough to get through the system are stunned to learn that their premiums have skyrocketed by thousands of dollars. One Pennsylvania mother says that she can either pay her increased premiums or pay for her kids to eat, but she cant do both.
Extremely personal information has already leaked from the system in Minnesota. Software security experts from McAfee predict millions of identity theft victims. And one of the healthcare exchanges was forced to acknowledge that information collected from patients will be shared with law enforcement.
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President Obama radiated confidence when he took to the Rose Garden earlier this week to convince Americans that the flaws in the Affordable Care Act website would be fixed.
It's understandable that the president himself might be upbeat about the prospects of resolving the problems currently plaguing the technology behind the law.
But for anyone not named Obama, the apparent scale of the problems seems daunting. And it doesn't fuel a lot of optimism that the websites will be up and running by Dec. 15, the deadline for open enrollment under the new law. And that's despite the president's promised "tech surge" featuring "some of the best IT talent in the entire country," as Obama put it.
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For the past two weeks, healthcare.gov, the federal government’s new health insurance marketplace, has been bogged down by problems, preventing users (including me) from viewing insurance options and plans on the website.
Federal officials have pointed to overwhelming demand to explain the site’s problems. But web developers, other experts and journalists have uncovered more fundamental issues with the design and functioning of the site.
Here are excerpts from five of the better stories explaining what happened:
For the past two weeks, healthcare.gov, the federal governments new health insurance marketplace, has been bogged down by problems, preventing users (including me) from viewing insurance options and plans on the website.
Federal officials have pointed to overwhelming demand to explain the sites problems. But web developers, other experts and journalists have uncovered more fundamental issues with the design and functioning of the site.
Here are excerpts from five of the better stories explaining what happened:
Read more: Here's why healthcare.gov broke down
As the Goldman Sachs Elevator tweeted: "The Nigerian Scammers already have better-working ObamaCare websites."
Maybe Obama can get the Best and Brightest of the Nigerian Scammers to fix Fed version.
Sue Klinkhamer has a problem.
Its called Obamacare.
And the irony of her situation is not lost on her. In a recent email addressed to her former boss, Illinois Congressman Bill Foster, and other Democratic colleagues, she wrote:
I spent two years defending Obamacare. I had constituents scream at me, spit at me and call me names that I cant put in print. The congressman was not re-elected in 2010 mainly because of the anti-Obamacare anger. When the congressman was not re-elected, I also (along with the rest of our staff) lost my job. I was upset that because of the health care issue, I didnt have a job anymore but still defended Obamacare because it would make health care available to everyone at, what I assumed, would be an affordable price. I have now learned that I was wrong. Very wrong.
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Klinkhamer suggests renaming the Affordable Care Act.
Just call it, she said dryly, the Available Care Act.
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Four sources deeply involved in the Affordable Care Act tell NBC NEWS that 50 to 75 percent of the 14 million consumers who buy their insurance individually can expect to receive a “cancellation” letter or the equivalent over the next year because their existing policies don’t meet the standards mandated by the new health care law. One expert predicts that number could reach as high as 80 percent. And all say that many of those forced to buy pricier new policies will experience “sticker shock.”
None of this should come as a shock to the Obama administration. The law states that policies in effect as of March 23, 2010 will be “grandfathered,” meaning consumers can keep those policies even though they don’t meet requirements of the new health care law. But the Department of Health and Human Services then wrote regulations that narrowed that provision, by saying that if any part of a policy was significantly changed since that date -- the deductible, co-pay, or benefits, for example -- the policy would not be grandfathered.
Buried in Obamacare regulations from July 2010 is an estimate that because of normal turnover in the individual insurance market, “40 to 67 percent” of customers will not be able to keep their policy. And because many policies will have been changed since the key date, “the percentage of individual market policies losing grandfather status in a given year exceeds the 40 to 67 percent range.”
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Those getting the cancellation letters are often shocked and unhappy.
George Schwab, 62, of North Carolina, said he was "perfectly happy" with his plan from Blue Cross Blue Shield, which also insured his wife for a $228 monthly premium. But this past September, he was surprised to receive a letter saying his policy was no longer available. The "comparable" plan the insurance company offered him carried a $1,208 monthly premium and a $5,500 deductible.
And the best option he’s found on the exchange so far offered a 415 percent jump in premium, to $948 a month.
"The deductible is less," he said, "But the plan doesn't meet my needs. Its unaffordable."
"I'm sitting here looking at this, thinking we ought to just pay the fine and just get insurance when we're sick," Schwab added. "Everybody's worried about whether the website works or not, but that's fixable. That's just the tip of the iceberg. This stuff isn't fixable."
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