Wow, the Left really turning on Obama

[Bfgrn]

It is official....congratulations Chris...

ChrisL and friends...

 

[ChrisL]

Rate Shock Massachusetts Edition 60 Of Small Biz To See Premiums Rise Up To 97 - Forbes

This is a very good and comprehensive article. I'm sure some people are going to complain about it though, without even reading the relevant data.

Rate Shock Massachusetts Edition: 60% Of Small Biz To See Premiums Rise, Up To 97%
Josh Archambault , Contributor

More right wing industry funded propaganda... Pioneer Institute

Staff

• Joshua Archambault, Director of Health Care Policy and Program Manager, Middle Cities Initiative

The Pioneer Institute (PI) is a right-wing pressure group that describes itself as a "think tank" that is "committed to individual freedom and responsibility, limited and accountable government, and the application of free market principles to state and local policy".[1] It houses and runs the Center for School Reform,[2] the Shamie Center for Better Government,[3] and the Center for Economic Opportunity.[4] It is known for having a staff that has served in various positions in the recent Republican Massachusetts governors' administrations (Weld, Cellucci, Swift,[5] and Romney).[6]

The Pioneer Institute is a member of the State Policy Network (SPN).

SPN is a web of right-wing “think tanks” in every state across the country. It is an $83 million right-wing empire as of the 2011 funding documents from SPN itself and each of its state "think tank" members. Although SPN's member organizations claim to be nonpartisan and independent, the Center for Media and Democracy's in-depth investigation, "EXPOSED: The State Policy Network -- The Powerful Right-Wing Network Helping to Hijack State Politics and Government," reveals that SPN and its member think tanks are major drivers of the right-wing, American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)-backed corporate agenda in state houses nationwide, with deep ties to the Koch brothers and the national right-wing network of funders.[7]

Other known funders of the Pioneer Institute include:

• Shelby Cullom Davis Foundation: $641,000 (1997-2006)[47]
• David H. Koch Foundation: $300,000 (1995-2001)[48][49][50]
• Jacqueline Hume Foundation: $309,500 (1999-2011)[51]
• Smith Richardson Foundation: $50,000 (1996)[52]
• Roe Foundation: $83,000 (1998-2011)[53]
• Walton Family Foundation: $479,650 (1998-2001 and 2011)[54][55][56][57]
• John M. Olin Foundation: $2,000 (1992)[58]
• Ruth and Lovett Peters Foundation (family foundation of Pioneer's founder, Lovett Peters, with money made in energy industry): $423,100 (1999-201

I find it fascinating that you cannot address ANYTHING stated within the links posted. This is quite telling. You are completely ignoring the content that is posted, and going after the source. This is just another typical liberal tactic. You guys think that you're clever, but you are quite transparent.

Please address the content of the links and tell me exactly what it is you disagree with. Thank you in advance.

 

[ChrisL]

It is official....congratulations Chris...

ChrisL and friends...

You're only expressing your anger at your failure to be able to address any of the cogent points and facts that were stated in my links. This much is obvious, and since you cannot address the facts, I suppose that means you have lost this debate. Lol! Yay for me!!

 

[Spoonman]

anyone who hasn't wised up to Obama and the democrats and the total failures they are is blind as a bat.

But to be fair I have to give credit where it is due. Obama didn't "fail" without a great deal of "help" from the right doing it's utmost to make sure that he did. Their strenuous efforts from the very outset of his presidency to make him a "failure" deserve to be recognized. The right put a lot of hard work into achieving this outcome and they should be given the credit that comes with reaching their stated goal of failure.

Reagan rose above the democrat party politics and was successful. Did you ever think it was the leader of the free worlds fault that people just don't get along?

Remember Iran-Contra? Amazing how republicans will dismiss criminality or ethical problems in their leaders (John McCain, Keating 5). Dems turn on their members when those are involved in wrongdoing. Traficante, Anthony Weiner for example.

Clinton, charlie Rangel. Wiener? You toads stood here and defended the hall out of him

 

[Bfgrn]

Rate Shock Massachusetts Edition 60 Of Small Biz To See Premiums Rise Up To 97 - Forbes

This is a very good and comprehensive article. I'm sure some people are going to complain about it though, without even reading the relevant data.

Rate Shock Massachusetts Edition: 60% Of Small Biz To See Premiums Rise, Up To 97%
Josh Archambault , Contributor

More right wing industry funded propaganda... Pioneer Institute

Staff

• Joshua Archambault, Director of Health Care Policy and Program Manager, Middle Cities Initiative

The Pioneer Institute (PI) is a right-wing pressure group that describes itself as a "think tank" that is "committed to individual freedom and responsibility, limited and accountable government, and the application of free market principles to state and local policy".[1] It houses and runs the Center for School Reform,[2] the Shamie Center for Better Government,[3] and the Center for Economic Opportunity.[4] It is known for having a staff that has served in various positions in the recent Republican Massachusetts governors' administrations (Weld, Cellucci, Swift,[5] and Romney).[6]

The Pioneer Institute is a member of the State Policy Network (SPN).

SPN is a web of right-wing “think tanks” in every state across the country. It is an $83 million right-wing empire as of the 2011 funding documents from SPN itself and each of its state "think tank" members. Although SPN's member organizations claim to be nonpartisan and independent, the Center for Media and Democracy's in-depth investigation, "EXPOSED: The State Policy Network -- The Powerful Right-Wing Network Helping to Hijack State Politics and Government," reveals that SPN and its member think tanks are major drivers of the right-wing, American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)-backed corporate agenda in state houses nationwide, with deep ties to the Koch brothers and the national right-wing network of funders.[7]

Other known funders of the Pioneer Institute include:

• Shelby Cullom Davis Foundation: $641,000 (1997-2006)[47]
• David H. Koch Foundation: $300,000 (1995-2001)[48][49][50]
• Jacqueline Hume Foundation: $309,500 (1999-2011)[51]
• Smith Richardson Foundation: $50,000 (1996)[52]
• Roe Foundation: $83,000 (1998-2011)[53]
• Walton Family Foundation: $479,650 (1998-2001 and 2011)[54][55][56][57]
• John M. Olin Foundation: $2,000 (1992)[58]
• Ruth and Lovett Peters Foundation (family foundation of Pioneer's founder, Lovett Peters, with money made in energy industry): $423,100 (1999-201

I find it fascinating that you cannot address ANYTHING stated within the links posted. This is quite telling. You are completely ignoring the content that is posted, and going after the source. This is just another typical liberal tactic. You guys think that you're clever, but you are quite transparent.

Please address the content of the links and tell me exactly what it is you disagree with. Thank you in advance.

There is no way to verify what your sources post.

I will AGAIN post THIS from your original post...

Editor's Note: Real facts and figures about the hidden Obamacare taxes and fees and how they will affect everyday Americans and seniors are hard to find. As a courtesy, Money Morning is offering readers a free copy of Betsy McCaughey's new book Beating Obamacare: Your Handbook for Surviving The New Health Care Law. But only a limited number of copies are available.

You are posting information that has a SEVERE bias.

Let's take a look at ACTUAL provisions in the ACA...

New Rules for Insurance Companies: Rate Review Provision and Medical Loss Ratio
The Affordable Care Act contains two major provisions that regulate health insurance providers increasing rates they are:

Rate Review Provision - Insurance companies have to justify rate hikes of over 10% to the State.

Medical Loss Ratio / 80/20 Rule - Insurance companies have to spend at least 80 percent of premium dollars on claims and activities to improve health care quality. 85% in large group markets.

ObamaCare regulates health insurance companies, not your health care. In other words Government offers protections, but is not in control of your health care... You are!

The Facts on ObamaCare Insurance Premiums and the Medical Loss Ratio (80/20 Rule)
The medical loss ratio, or 80/20 rule, helps to decrease the growth in premium rates. Since insurance companies have stricter regulations on what they can spend your premiums on there is less incentive for them to inflate rates.

The 80/20 Rule generally requires insurance companies to spend at least 80% of the money they take in on premiums on your health care and quality improvement activities instead of administrative, overhead, and marketing costs.

The 80/20 rule is sometimes known as Medical Loss Ratio, or MLR. If an insurance company uses 80 cents out of every premium dollar to pay for your medical claims and activities that improve the quality of care, the company has a Medical Loss Ratio of 80%.

Insurance companies selling to large groups (usually more than 50 employees) must spend at least 85% of premiums on care and quality improvement.

If your insurance company doesn’t meet these requirements, you’ll get a rebate from your premiums.

ObamaCare Rebates
If your insurance company spends more than 20% (15% in large markets) of premium dollars on expenses other than health care costs they will have to send out rebates for the difference. You may see the rebate in a number of ways:

• A rebate check in the mail
• A lump-sum deposit into the same account that was used to pay the premium, if you paid by credit card or debit card
• A direct reduction in your future premium
• Your employer may also use one of the above rebate methods, or apply the rebate in a way that benefits employees

An estimated 8.5 million Americans will receive rebates from their health insurers this summer thanks to the Affordable Care Act, which says companies that fail to spend at least 80 percent of premiums on health care must refund the difference to consumers.

ObamaCare Insurance Reform: The Rate Review Provision
ObamaCare does not increase insurance premiums directly. In fact, ObamaCare's rate review provision states that as of 2011, insurance companies are no longer be able to raise insurance premiums solely for the sake of profit. If health insurance companies do raise premiums, they will have to justify rate hikes of over 10% to the State they operate in and then disclose this information immediately on both their website and healthcare.gov.

If the State does not have an effective rate review program, the Federal Government will step in. This has already prevented many unjustified rate hikes.

The Rate Review Provision Protects Against "Price Gouging"

What is "Price gouging"? When a seller prices goods or commodities much higher than is considered reasonable or fair, due to a a demand or supply shock it is called "price gouging".

Since tens of millions of Americans will now have to be covered and can't be charged more based on health status or gender many insurance companies wanted to raise their rates. ObamaCare's rate review provision makes sure these rate increases are fair and not for the purposes of "price gouging".

How the Rate Review Process Works
When a health insurance company proposes a rate increase of 10% or more it must be gone over a group of independent experts.

If the reviewers feel insurance price increases are unreasonable, they can try to decrease the proposed increases or deny them outright. For instance, Connecticut reduced a proposed Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield increase from 12.9 percent to 3.9 percent.

When a rate increase does occur, the health insurance provider must post the insurance rate hikes and a justification on their website and on healthcare.gov.

The disclosure process associated with the "rate review" is intended to help consumers to "shop" for private insurance particularly on the health insurance exchanges.

As of Sept. 2012, the rate review provision has saved Americans $1 billion, in States that are enforcing the law.

ObamaCare Insurance Premiums

 

[Bfgrn]

Chris, if you REALLY want to know why health care reform was paramount to our economy and our citizens, invest 30 minutes to hear what a former Executive VP at CIGNA has to say....

Bill Moyers Journal . Wendell Potter on Profits Before Patients PBS

 

[Derideo_Te]

Not contesting that health care reform began in MA. I am asking you to prove your BS allegation about the impact it supposedly had on jobs.

Your link was an epic failure so you are just going to have to start from scratch to find something remotely credible.

Good luck!

Well, I live here in Massachusetts. We have very FEW jobs, and the ones that we do have are mostly part-time and/or temporary jobs. We who live here can see how it has affected the job market. Also, hourly based rate wages are pretty stagnant as well.

New Study Romneycare Cost Massachusetts 18 000 Jobs National Review Online

So all you have is your own personal anecdotal impressions and an article that is 3 years out of date?

Do you think I'm lying? Well, I'm not. We have had a huge increase in temporary and part-time jobs and a loss of full-time jobs here in Massachusetts. I expect it to happen in your state soon as well.

You might not be lying because you believe all the partisan rhetoric that you are gullible enough to swallow without question.

You are trying to make a link between the economy and the ACA. However nonpartisan economists will tell you that we are still suffering from the 2nd great depression. It will probably last until 2020. The ACA is actually alleviating a lot of the suffering that would otherwise be incurred by people working temp jobs and unable to afford healthcare.

So far you haven't provided anything credible that substantiates your allegation. The current economic conditions are not optimal for job growth but the cause is far greater than just Obamacare. The situation would probably be much better had the Republicans opted to do what was best for the American people rather than follow their partisan agenda of making Obama a "failure".

I am basing my statements on my observations on what is happening around me, in my state, regardless of your assumptions.

I think it is completely naive to think that Obamacare is NOT going to have unintended consequences on jobs. It most certainly is!!!

Except that you cannot provide a single credible source that is backed up with data that demonstrates your belief.

 

[JoeB131]

What are you democrats going to do when you run out of other people's money anyway? There must be a limit to your greed. With the economy hurting, people taking pay cuts, where do you think all of this money is going to come from? And just where does this taxation stop? How much MORE of a percentage of my income do you want to take?

It's not a matter of running out of other people's money. It's a matter of allocating it fairly.

The delusion you guys have is the rich "Deserve" their money because they "Created" wealth. This is utter horseshit. They just took a really large slice of pie when the pie was baked.

 

[EriktheRed]

:
Jesus effin Christ could be a republican and he would get no press...no one would pay attention to his plan or his miracles...they would only ridicule his hanging on the cross for votes. People want free stuff...they want something up their ass, and they don't want to work. Fuck them all

Totally cannot see that, hon. Can you try reposting?

 

[JoeB131]

WTH do you liberals THINK about post #303? Do you think about unintended consequences EVER?

I think it's the horseshit you guys have been claiming about ObamaCare for the last five years now. 'Something horrible is RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER!!!"

We just had our yearly review of benefits. Health care costs have gone DOWN for our company.

 

[EriktheRed]

Wow, I'm not easily surprised by anything in politics any more, but it was an eye-opener to see Jonathan Alter going after Obama today:

Exposed The White House s Professor-in-Chief - The Daily Beast

Obviously it's now becoming stylish to pound on Obama now that he can't run for anything, and then line up for Hillary. But holy crap, Obama still has two years in office, gang.

Obama had/has neither the managerial skills nor the temperament to be President, but we put him in there twice. Part of the blame for that has to go to the GOP, which has completely and utterly failed to provide the country with a clear, unified, positive vision for this country.

And here we are. A pox on both houses.

.

It must be quite an eye opener for you lockstep gopers to see that in the real world, people disagree. We aren't so stupid out here that we need talking points and backup every minute.

Yet another hardcore partisan ideologue who doesn't know my politics but thinks they do.

Binary, black & white, either/or, on and on and on.

How simple your world must be.

.

I know what you say you are but actions speak louder than words.

Especially when it came to the "You didn't build that" episode.

 

[JoeB131]

As for the whole "phony scandal" narrative? Nobody is buying that nonsense, Bfgrn and they haven't been for quite some time. It's obvious that not only are the Fast & Furious, Benghazi and the IRS scandals real...but that the Obama White House stonewalled investigations by Congress into ALL of them!

Uh-huh. Hey, why don't you add the Colombian Hooker scandal!

 

[Rotagilla]

What are you democrats going to do when you run out of other people's money anyway? There must be a limit to your greed. With the economy hurting, people taking pay cuts, where do you think all of this money is going to come from? And just where does this taxation stop? How much MORE of a percentage of my income do you want to take?

It's not a matter of running out of other people's money. It's a matter of allocating it fairly.

The delusion you guys have is the rich "Deserve" their money because they "Created" wealth. This is utter horseshit. They just took a really large slice of pie when the pie was baked.

marxist doubletalk and class envy...

 

[EriktheRed]

Partisan for which side?

Looking forward to this.

.

There are extremes on both sides, but the extremism on the right is MUCH broader and much less fact based. Most liberals are pragmatists. Conservatives are driven by ideology, dogma and FEAR.

The absurdity of this statement can only be illustrated by asking you a question. When was the last time an incumbent democrat lost a primary? When did a major political arm, such as the Tea Party, form out of the Democrat party, and no we won't count the KKK or the dixicecrats I'll cut you a break.

Speaking for fear, the democrats want us to fear our veteran, ladies with Tea bags in their hats, the thermometer, and a host of other ideological points.

The tea party just took the far right extreme, to a new extreme, very much like the evangelical right. Pragmatism has no extreme.

Blah blah blah, more ideological crap. What is extreme about the Tea Party? When are they going to start jailing liberals? How more extreme can a person get then to equate marriage between a man and a woman to sodomy?

I provide you the follow which I think pretty much sums up the Tea Party platform. Which of the following do you find extreme? Which do you find excludes anyone? Which one of these do you honestly believe we don't need?

Tea Party Movement Platform
Preamble: The Tea Party Movement is an all-inclusive American grassroots movement with the belief that everyone is created equal and deserves an equal opportunity to thrive in these United States where they may “pursue life, liberty and happiness” as stated in the Declaration of Independence and guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States.

No one is excluded from participation in the Tea Party Movement. Everyone is welcomed to join in seeking to achieve the Tea Party Movement goals, which are as follows:

1. Eliminate Excessive Taxes
2. Eliminate the National Debt
3. Eliminate Deficit Spending
5. Abide by the Constitution of the United States
6. Promote Civic Responsibility
8. Believe in the People
9. Avoid the Pitfalls of Politics
10. Maintain Local Independence

Too bad the TP'ers in Congress aren't willing to "Abide by the Constitution of the United States".

Then again they aren't willing to "Believe in the People" either.

As far as avoiding the "Pitfalls of Politics" goes they have managed to stumble into every single one that they have encountered to date up to and including trying to shut down the government and violate the Constitution by failing to uphold the credit worthiness on this nation.

So failing to abide by your stated principles is what makes you extremists in my opinion.

One more point, your fallacious claim that "Everyone is welcomed to join" goes, why is it that single women, gays, blacks and hispanics are conspicuous by their absence? Instead we see lots of angry old white people wearing funny costumes and carrying guns.

Words are meaningless unless you are willing to live by them. The TP'ers scream and shout a lot but their actions give them away.

Partisan for which side?

Looking forward to this.

.

There are extremes on both sides, but the extremism on the right is MUCH broader and much less fact based. Most liberals are pragmatists. Conservatives are driven by ideology, dogma and FEAR.

The absurdity of this statement can only be illustrated by asking you a question. When was the last time an incumbent democrat lost a primary? When did a major political arm, such as the Tea Party, form out of the Democrat party, and no we won't count the KKK or the dixicecrats I'll cut you a break.

Speaking for fear, the democrats want us to fear our veteran, ladies with Tea bags in their hats, the thermometer, and a host of other ideological points.

The tea party just took the far right extreme, to a new extreme, very much like the evangelical right. Pragmatism has no extreme.

Blah blah blah, more ideological crap. What is extreme about the Tea Party? When are they going to start jailing liberals? How more extreme can a person get then to equate marriage between a man and a woman to sodomy?

I provide you the follow which I think pretty much sums up the Tea Party platform. Which of the following do you find extreme? Which do you find excludes anyone? Which one of these do you honestly believe we don't need?

Tea Party Movement Platform
Preamble: The Tea Party Movement is an all-inclusive American grassroots movement with the belief that everyone is created equal and deserves an equal opportunity to thrive in these United States where they may “pursue life, liberty and happiness” as stated in the Declaration of Independence and guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States.

No one is excluded from participation in the Tea Party Movement. Everyone is welcomed to join in seeking to achieve the Tea Party Movement goals, which are as follows:

1. Eliminate Excessive Taxes
2. Eliminate the National Debt
3. Eliminate Deficit Spending
5. Abide by the Constitution of the United States
6. Promote Civic Responsibility
8. Believe in the People
9. Avoid the Pitfalls of Politics
10. Maintain Local Independence

Too bad the TP'ers in Congress aren't willing to "Abide by the Constitution of the United States".

Then again they aren't willing to "Believe in the People" either.

As far as avoiding the "Pitfalls of Politics" goes they have managed to stumble into every single one that they have encountered to date up to and including trying to shut down the government and violate the Constitution by failing to uphold the credit worthiness on this nation.

So failing to abide by your stated principles is what makes you extremists in my opinion.

One more point, your fallacious claim that "Everyone is welcomed to join" goes, why is it that single women, gays, blacks and hispanics are conspicuous by their absence? Instead we see lots of angry old white people wearing funny costumes and carrying guns.

Words are meaningless unless you are willing to live by them. The TP'ers scream and shout a lot but their actions give them away.

The Teahadists aren't actively excluding other groups, they're just repelling them.

 

[JoeB131]

• Medicine Cabinet Tax
Over the counter medicines no longer qualified as medical expenses for flexible spending accounts (FSAs), health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs), health savings accounts (HSAs), and Archer Medical Saving accounts (MSAs).

Okay. I have an HSA, and I couldn't use it for over the counter medicines BEFORE ObamaCare. this was really the best you can come up with?

 

[Vigilante]

 

[JoeB131]

[

It's not a matter of running out of other people's money. It's a matter of allocating it fairly.

The delusion you guys have is the rich "Deserve" their money because they "Created" wealth. This is utter horseshit. They just took a really large slice of pie when the pie was baked.

marxist doubletalk and class envy...

NO, guy, just a matter of common sense.

the 1% has 43% of the weatlh. Did they do 43% of the physical labor?

 

[Freewill]

I only go by what I see not what I read in the papers, unless that is all I see.

I know for a FACT that people are being thrown off of healthcare because of Obamacare. My company is doing it in 2015 and it is a real big company.

I know for a fact to replace group coverage with Obamacare is REALLY expensive unless you receive subsidizes. Anyone can go on the site and see what they would pay for themselves.

I was reviewing my Father's health care insurance for next year and man for a senior it is really going up. Up in the department of co-pays and deductibles.

I realize that the left probably won't believe what I posted but it is true. If I feel like it I will post the increase for my father in another post.

The only people who love Obamacare are those covered under a group plan from work and they don't think it effects them. Or people who are heavily subsidized. Other then those two groups I don't see how anyone can be happy.

That said, the no pre-condition and a free preventative checkup a year are good but could have been handled without the other 1500 pages of Obamacare.

 

[ChrisL]

Rate Shock Massachusetts Edition 60 Of Small Biz To See Premiums Rise Up To 97 - Forbes

This is a very good and comprehensive article. I'm sure some people are going to complain about it though, without even reading the relevant data.

Rate Shock Massachusetts Edition: 60% Of Small Biz To See Premiums Rise, Up To 97%
Josh Archambault , Contributor

More right wing industry funded propaganda... Pioneer Institute

Staff

• Joshua Archambault, Director of Health Care Policy and Program Manager, Middle Cities Initiative

The Pioneer Institute (PI) is a right-wing pressure group that describes itself as a "think tank" that is "committed to individual freedom and responsibility, limited and accountable government, and the application of free market principles to state and local policy".[1] It houses and runs the Center for School Reform,[2] the Shamie Center for Better Government,[3] and the Center for Economic Opportunity.[4] It is known for having a staff that has served in various positions in the recent Republican Massachusetts governors' administrations (Weld, Cellucci, Swift,[5] and Romney).[6]

The Pioneer Institute is a member of the State Policy Network (SPN).

SPN is a web of right-wing “think tanks” in every state across the country. It is an $83 million right-wing empire as of the 2011 funding documents from SPN itself and each of its state "think tank" members. Although SPN's member organizations claim to be nonpartisan and independent, the Center for Media and Democracy's in-depth investigation, "EXPOSED: The State Policy Network -- The Powerful Right-Wing Network Helping to Hijack State Politics and Government," reveals that SPN and its member think tanks are major drivers of the right-wing, American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)-backed corporate agenda in state houses nationwide, with deep ties to the Koch brothers and the national right-wing network of funders.[7]

Other known funders of the Pioneer Institute include:

• Shelby Cullom Davis Foundation: $641,000 (1997-2006)[47]
• David H. Koch Foundation: $300,000 (1995-2001)[48][49][50]
• Jacqueline Hume Foundation: $309,500 (1999-2011)[51]
• Smith Richardson Foundation: $50,000 (1996)[52]
• Roe Foundation: $83,000 (1998-2011)[53]
• Walton Family Foundation: $479,650 (1998-2001 and 2011)[54][55][56][57]
• John M. Olin Foundation: $2,000 (1992)[58]
• Ruth and Lovett Peters Foundation (family foundation of Pioneer's founder, Lovett Peters, with money made in energy industry): $423,100 (1999-201

I find it fascinating that you cannot address ANYTHING stated within the links posted. This is quite telling. You are completely ignoring the content that is posted, and going after the source. This is just another typical liberal tactic. You guys think that you're clever, but you are quite transparent.

Please address the content of the links and tell me exactly what it is you disagree with. Thank you in advance.

There is no way to verify what your sources post.

I will AGAIN post THIS from your original post...

Editor's Note: Real facts and figures about the hidden Obamacare taxes and fees and how they will affect everyday Americans and seniors are hard to find. As a courtesy, Money Morning is offering readers a free copy of Betsy McCaughey's new book Beating Obamacare: Your Handbook for Surviving The New Health Care Law. But only a limited number of copies are available.

You are posting information that has a SEVERE bias.

Let's take a look at ACTUAL provisions in the ACA...

New Rules for Insurance Companies: Rate Review Provision and Medical Loss Ratio
The Affordable Care Act contains two major provisions that regulate health insurance providers increasing rates they are:

Rate Review Provision - Insurance companies have to justify rate hikes of over 10% to the State.

Medical Loss Ratio / 80/20 Rule - Insurance companies have to spend at least 80 percent of premium dollars on claims and activities to improve health care quality. 85% in large group markets.

ObamaCare regulates health insurance companies, not your health care. In other words Government offers protections, but is not in control of your health care... You are!

The Facts on ObamaCare Insurance Premiums and the Medical Loss Ratio (80/20 Rule)
The medical loss ratio, or 80/20 rule, helps to decrease the growth in premium rates. Since insurance companies have stricter regulations on what they can spend your premiums on there is less incentive for them to inflate rates.

The 80/20 Rule generally requires insurance companies to spend at least 80% of the money they take in on premiums on your health care and quality improvement activities instead of administrative, overhead, and marketing costs.

The 80/20 rule is sometimes known as Medical Loss Ratio, or MLR. If an insurance company uses 80 cents out of every premium dollar to pay for your medical claims and activities that improve the quality of care, the company has a Medical Loss Ratio of 80%.

Insurance companies selling to large groups (usually more than 50 employees) must spend at least 85% of premiums on care and quality improvement.

If your insurance company doesn’t meet these requirements, you’ll get a rebate from your premiums.

ObamaCare Rebates
If your insurance company spends more than 20% (15% in large markets) of premium dollars on expenses other than health care costs they will have to send out rebates for the difference. You may see the rebate in a number of ways:

• A rebate check in the mail
• A lump-sum deposit into the same account that was used to pay the premium, if you paid by credit card or debit card
• A direct reduction in your future premium
• Your employer may also use one of the above rebate methods, or apply the rebate in a way that benefits employees

An estimated 8.5 million Americans will receive rebates from their health insurers this summer thanks to the Affordable Care Act, which says companies that fail to spend at least 80 percent of premiums on health care must refund the difference to consumers.

ObamaCare Insurance Reform: The Rate Review Provision
ObamaCare does not increase insurance premiums directly. In fact, ObamaCare's rate review provision states that as of 2011, insurance companies are no longer be able to raise insurance premiums solely for the sake of profit. If health insurance companies do raise premiums, they will have to justify rate hikes of over 10% to the State they operate in and then disclose this information immediately on both their website and healthcare.gov.

If the State does not have an effective rate review program, the Federal Government will step in. This has already prevented many unjustified rate hikes.

The Rate Review Provision Protects Against "Price Gouging"

​

What is "Price gouging"? When a seller prices goods or commodities much higher than is considered reasonable or fair, due to a a demand or supply shock it is called "price gouging".

Since tens of millions of Americans will now have to be covered and can't be charged more based on health status or gender many insurance companies wanted to raise their rates. ObamaCare's rate review provision makes sure these rate increases are fair and not for the purposes of "price gouging".

How the Rate Review Process Works
When a health insurance company proposes a rate increase of 10% or more it must be gone over a group of independent experts.

If the reviewers feel insurance price increases are unreasonable, they can try to decrease the proposed increases or deny them outright. For instance, Connecticut reduced a proposed Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield increase from 12.9 percent to 3.9 percent.

When a rate increase does occur, the health insurance provider must post the insurance rate hikes and a justification on their website and on healthcare.gov.

The disclosure process associated with the "rate review" is intended to help consumers to "shop" for private insurance particularly on the health insurance exchanges.

As of Sept. 2012, the rate review provision has saved Americans $1 billion, in States that are enforcing the law.

ObamaCare Insurance Premiums

I'm sure the insurance companies will come up with plenty of reasons to raise rates (and have here in Massachusetts). I'm pretty sure that Massachusetts is one of the most expensive places to purchase health insurance, and we've had this plan (or very, very similar) for years now.

I don't have links to these things, but this is my opinion because of what I've seen happening in my own state. Apparently, more people are covered under insurance here in MA than a lot of other states, but it is not without paying a price in other areas.

 

[Vigilante]