ObamaCare's 'Great Rebate' Was Supposed To Get Votes, Gets Confusion Instead

Forbes ^ | 8/15/12 | Merrill Matthews

[Libloather]

ObamaCare's 'Great Rebate' Was Supposed To Get Votes, Gets Confusion Instead
Merrill Matthews, Contributor
8/15/2012 @ 11:28AM

It appears Democrats have utterly mangled ObamaCare’s much-hyped health insurance rebate that was supposed to be hitting your mailbox. Now, rather than taking credit for putting money in your pocket just a few months before the presidential election, the Obama administration is scrambling to explain, and defend, the plan to millions of confused families and employers.

**SNIP**

The roughly 12 million people who buy their own health insurance will be mailed a rebate check directly if they’re entitled to it. However, for employer-sponsored coverage — which covers about 170 million people — the rebate is being mailed to … the employer.

And that’s where things get confusing.

[Libloather]

But the White House has, once again, run head-on into Nancy Pelosi’s now time-worn comment that we’d have to pass ObamaCare to find out what’s in it.

How about that...

[Psycho_Bunny]

Thank a liberal every single time you bite into this tasty $#@$ sandwich made for us by liberals.

[Chgogal]

"The letter continued: “[the insurer] spent only 80% or a total of $1,082,181,772.17 [in Texas] in premium dollars on health care and activities to improve health care quality. Since it missed the 80 percent target by 0% of premium it receives, [the insurer] must rebate 0% of total health insurance premiums paid by the employer and employees in your group health plan.”

Huh?

Unfortunately, I'm not fluent in Obama/Peloser Speak.

[poobear]

Let me just translate that for you.

IT’S ALL BULL SH@T!

Then, you already knew that.

[9YearLurker]

Bhahaha.

The idiocy of the government forcing business to raise its prices so it can afford to send out rebates the government can take credit for!

[Pit1]

My daughter just got a letter from Blue Cross stating because of ObamaCare, she won’t be getting a rebate. Now that made her feel good.

[heylady]

I got my rebate check for $27.30. That’s certainly going to make me change my mind and vote for Obuma especially since my monthly premium is almost $500.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Good God! Give me the intelligent free market any day of the week over these communist central-planners.

[GeorgeTex]

I got my rebate check for almost $400. And not two weeks later, I got my latest quarterly premium billing of $1800 which has doubled since the great one has been elected. I guess I should vote for Obama too (Heavy Sarcasm).

[RicocheT]

I am in an employer sponsored (and most premiums are employer paid) and I got that letter from the health insurance co. It said it paid out the 85+% amount to providers and neither my employer or I got a rebate. Another ObamaCare regulation that cost more to the health system than it saved in $.

[combat_boots]

I have read this several times.

It is not logical. I do not even want to understand it.

[AlanGreenSpam]

Reading this article, reminds me that I got a meager rebate check for $3.85 a month ago from Anthem Blue Cross, which came with an explanation.

When I read the explanation, I hit the roof.

With Obamacare’s arbitrary and heavy-handed fascist rule that PRIVATE insurance companies MUST spend 80% of premiums on claims (e.g. only 20% for all other administrative/overhead), there is no such thing as private enterprise in the health insurance any more.

Where in the Constitution is it so stated that the Fed can arbitrarily dictate a PRIVATE insurer how they run their business overhead???

It is preposterous that the high-minded elites in government think they know how best to run a business. And how did these wise elites arbitrarily determine that 20% of income is all that heath insurers can spend in Admin/overhead costs? Why not 19%? Or 21%?

Oh, and what about the added administrative cost for the “compliance bean-counter” staff needed to calculate the so-called “rebate checks” and the mailing costs to send them to millions of insured customers?

Oh, and did I mention that Anthem Blue Cross has increased my premium from $250/month to $399/month since ObamaCare was passed?

Gee, I wonder if it has anything to do with them being forced by Obamacare to provide coverage for pre-existing conditions, etc.

The added costs for this requirement (among many others being foisted on the insurers by Obamacare) will be huge. The drafters of Obamacare just didn’t have a clue about how businesses operate to survive under fascism. The money has to come from somewhere.

Oh never mind... Those are details that the myopic masses either don’t understand or are too greedy to admit. I wish it was the former, but I suspect the latter (greed).

I’m so ashamed of this country.