HHS: Bailing out Obamacare insurers an 'obligation' of the federal government

Washtington Examiner ^ | 20 Nov 15 | Philip Klein

[SkyPilot]

The Department of Health and Human Services attempted to reassure private insurers on Thursday that they'll be able to recover losses from participating in Obamacare by claiming it was an "obligation" of the U.S. government to bail them out.

At issue is a provision within the law known as the risk corridors program. Under the program, which runs from 2014 through 2016, the federal government is to collect money from health insurers doing better than expected and use those funds to provide a federal backstop to other insurers who incur larger than expected losses from rising medical claims. The idea was to provide training wheels to insurers in the first years of Obamacare's implementation, and to take away any incentive for insurers to cherry pick only the healthiest customers.

Republicans, fearing that this could turn into an open-ended government bailout in the event of industry-wide losses, included a provision in last year's spending bill that limited the program, requiring HHS to pay out only from the pool of money collected, rather than supplementing it with other sources of government funding. President Obama signed that bill.

Now that insurers have been able to look at medical claims, what they've found is that enrollees in Obamacare are disproportionately sicker, and losses are piling up. For the 2014 benefit year, insurers losing more than expected asked for $2.87 billion in government payments through the risk corridors program, but HHS only collected $362 million from insurers performing better than expected. Thus, the funds available to the federal government only amounts to 12.6 percent of what insurers argue that they're owed. So insurers are not happy.

[Alberta's Child]

Good post, but let's keep in mind that there's no "free market" in medical insurance.

The failure mechanism of the free market only works when you have a transaction conducted with a buyer and a seller. When you introduce a third party into the transaction to pay for the product or service, you end up with a complete disaster ... because you now have a buyer who doesn't care how much the product or service costs (he's not paying for it) and a "seller" (the third party) who doesn't care about the quality (because they don't have to live with the consequences).

[Liz]

QUESTION Who could have possibly anticipated that the losses would be this high and the program would not be self sustaining? ANSWER: 100% of the Freepers who paid even the slightest bit of attention to this piece of Obama Garbage when it was being developed, passed by Congress and implemented.

Such as all those townhallers who were silenced and disdained by the all-knowing Democraps.

[moovova]

Too big to flail.

[Liz]

Obamacare is a sitting president's blunder of Ceausescu-esque proportions. In Obama's feeble mind, the ACA was not about healthcare.

Far from it.

The conniving Obama calculated the ACA to consolidate Democrat power that was supposed to install a permanent Dumbocrat majority. So much for that ding-dong idea....b/c 30 lockstepping Dumbocrats who voted for it were ousted in the 2014 Democrat Demolition Derby. Several retired knowing they could not be reelected.

As far back as 2008, at the presidential debate in Nashville, Democrat candidate Obama advanced his signature plan that was ultimately enacted (by an historic straight Democrat party-line vote) into the "Affordable Care Act:"

QUOTING OBAMA: "No. 1, let me just repeat, if you’ve got a health care plan that you like, you can keep it. All I’m going to do is help you to lower the premiums on it. You’ll still have choice of doctor.”

Repeated over and over by every loyal Democrat---- conning Americans into believing they'd be saving $2500.00 on healthcare costs.

========================================================

LOCK-STEPPING DEMOCRATS WEIGH IN
PARTY LOYALTY NOT SEEN SINCE 1930-40's ERA EUROPE.

SEN. HARRY REID (D-Nev.): “In fact, one of our core principles is that if you like the health care you have, you can keep it.” (Sen. Reid, Congressional Record, S.8642, 8/3/09)

SEN. RICHARD DURBIN: “We believe — and we stand by this — if you like your current health insurance plan, you will be able to keep it, plain and simple, straightforward.” (Sen. Durbin, Congressional Record, S.6401, 6/10/09)

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): “If you like your insurance, you keep it.” (U.S. Senate, Finance Committee, Bill Mark-Up, 9/29/09)

SEN. PATTY MURRAY (D-Wash.): “Again, if you like what you have, you will be able to keep it. Let me say this again: If you like what you have, when our legislation is passed and signed by the President, you will be able to keep it.” (Sen. Murray, Congressional Record, S.6400, 6/10/09)

SEN. MAX BAUCUS (D-Mont.): “That is why one of the central promises of health care reform has been and is: If you like what you have, you can keep it. That is critically important. If a person has a plan, and he or she likes it, he or she can keep it.” (Sen. Baucus, Congressional Record, S.7676, 9/29/10)

SEN. TOM HARKIN (D-Iowa): “One of the things we put in the health care bill when we designed it was the protection for consumers to keep the plan they have if they like it; thus, the term ‘grandfathered plans.’ If you have a plan you like — existing policies — you can keep them. … we said, if you like a plan, you get to keep it, and you can grandfather it in.” (Sen. Harkin, Congressional Record, S.7675-6, 9/29/10)

THEN-REP. TAMMY BALDWIN (D-Wis.): “Under the bill, if you like the insurance you have now, you may keep it and it will improve.” (Rep. Baldwin, Press Release, 3/18/10)

SEN. MARK BEGICH (D-Alaska): “If you got a doctor now, you got a medical professional you want, you get to keep that. If you have an insurance program or a health care policy you want of ideas, make sure you keep it. That you can keep who you want.” (Sen. Begich, Townhall Event, 7/27/09)

SEN. MICHAEL BENNET (D-Colo.): “We should begin with a basic principle: if you have coverage and you like it, you can keep it. If you have your doctor, and you like him or her, you should be able to keep them as well. We will not take that choice away from you.” (Sen. Bennet, Press Release, 6/11/09)

SEN. BARBARA BOXER (D-Calif.): “So we Democrats want people to be able to keep the health care they have. And the answer to that is choice of plans. And in the exchange, we’re going to have lots of different plans, and people will be able to keep the health care coverage they need and they want.” (Sen. Boxer, Press Release, 2/8/11)

SEN. SHERROD BROWN (D-Ohio): “Our Democrat bill says if you have health insurance and you like it, you can keep it…”(Sen. Brown, Congressional Record, S.12612, 12/7/09)

SEN. BEN CARDIN (D-Md.): “For the people of Maryland, this bill will provide a rational way in which they can maintain their existing coverage…” (Sen. Cardin, Congressional Record, S.13798, 12/23/09)

SEN. BOB CASEY (D-Pa.): “I also believe this Democrat legislation and the bill we are going to send to President Obama this fall will also have secure choices. If you like what you have, you like the plan you have, you can keep it. It is not going to change.” (Sen. Casey, Congressional Record, S.8070, 7/24/09)

SEN. KAY HAGAN (D-N.C.): ‘People who have insurance they’re happy with can keep it’ “We need to support the private insurance industry so that people who have insurance they’re happy with can keep it while also providing a backstop option for people without access to affordable coverage.” (“Republicans Vent As Other Compromise Plans Get Aired,” National Journal’s Congress Daily, 6/18/09)

SEN. MARY LANDRIEU (D-La.): “If you like the insurance that you have, you’ll be able to keep it.” (MSNBC’s Hardball, 12/16/09)

SEN. PAT LEAHY (D-Vt.): “[I]f you like the insurance you now have, keep the insurance you have.” (CNN’s “Newsroom,” 10/22/09)

SEN. BOB MENENDEZ (D-N.J.): “If you like what you have, you get to keep it” “Menendez is a member of the Senate Finance Committee, which is expected to release a bill later this week. He stressed that consumers who are satisfied with their plans won’t have to change. ‘If you like what you have, you get to keep it,’ he said.” (“Health Care Plan Would Help N.J., Menendez Says,” The Record, 6/19/09)

SEN. JEFF MERKLEY (D-Oreg.): “[E]nsuring that those who like their insurance get to keep it” “The HELP Committee bill sets forward a historic Democrat plan that will, for the first time in American history, give every American access to affordable health coverage, reduce costs, and increase choice, while ensuring that those who like their insurance get to keep it.” (Sen. Merkley, Press Release, 7/15/09)

SEN. BARBARA MIKULSKI (D-Md.): “It means that if you like the insurance you have now, you can keep it.” (Sen. Mikulski, Press Release, 12/24/09)

SEN. JAY ROCKEFELLER (D-W.Va.): “I want people to know, the President’s promise that if you like the coverage you have today you can keep it is a pledge we intend to keep.” (U.S. Senate, Finance Committee, Hearing, 9/23/09)

SEN. JACK REED (D-R.I.): “If you like the insurance you have, you can choose to keep it.” (Sen. Reed, Town Hall Event, 6/25/09)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-Vt.): “‘If you have coverage you like, you can keep it,’ says Sen. Sanders.” (“Sick And Wrong,” Rolling Stone, 4/5/10)

SEN. JEANNE SHAHEEN (D-N.H.): ‘if you have health coverage that you like, you get to keep it’ “My understanding … is that … if you have health coverage that you like you can keep it. As I said, you may have missed my remarks at the beginning of the call, but one of the things I that I said as a requirement that I have for supporting a Democrat bill is that if you have health coverage that you like you should be able to keep that. …under every scenario that I’ve seen, if you have health coverage that you like, you get to keep it.” (Sen. Shaheen, “Health Care Questions From Across New Hampshire,” Accessed 11/13/13)

SEN. DEBBIE STABENOW (D-Mich.): “As someone who has a large number of large employers in my state, one of the things I appreciate about the Democrat chairman’s remark is — is the grandfathering provisions, the fact that the people in my state, 60 percent of whom have insurance, are going to be able to keep it. And Mr. Chairman, I appreciate that. That’s a strong commitment. It’s clear in the bill … I appreciate the strong commitment on your part and the president to make sure that if you have your insurance you can keep it. That’s the bottom line for me.” (U.S. Senate, Finance Committee, Bill Mark-Up, 9/24/09)

SEN. JON TESTER (D-Mont.): “‘If you like your coverage, you’ll be able to keep it,’ Tester said, adding that if Medicare changes, it will only become stronger”. (“Tester In Baker To Discuss Health Care,” The Fallon County Times, 11/20/09)

SEN. TOM UDALL (D-N.Mex.): “Some worried reform would alter their current coverage. It won’t. If you like your current plan, you can keep it.” (“What I Learned: About Health Care Reform This Summer, By Your Lawmakers In Congress,” Albuquerque Journal, 9/8/09)

SEN. SHELDON WHITEHOUSE (D-R.I.): “..it honors President Obama’s programs and the promise of all of the Presidential candidates that if you like the plan you have, you get to keep it. You are not forced out of anything.” (Sen. Whitehouse, Congressional Record, S.8668, 8/3/09)

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) the 60th vote on Obamacare: "people who are happy with their current plan, wouldn't need to change it."
FRANKEN YOUTUBE SOUND BITE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCZmAYYNz8Ihttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCZmAYYNz8I

[DH]

“The GOP should require Obama and the Democrats to agree to offsetting permanent domestic spending cuts in return for one year of extra Obamacare cash...”

HELL NO!

That’s the kind of deals that never go away. Once ANY government action is started IT BECOMES PERMANENT!

Rules are rules and laws are laws. Once written they must be obeyed without exceptions.

Allow Obamacare to fall on it’s ass and the people will finally open their eyes and revolt! Obamacare was solely designed to appease the left and now look at it......

[Liz]

Pelosi was orgasmic at the O/Care signing. (Ut, oh. Harry's hands are not visible.)

The Obamacare atrocity was a cunning vehicle for
consolidating Dummycrat power. Dems cashed-in bigtime.

(A) Michelle's buddy---botched the billion dollar web site rollout---still doesn't work.

(B) Harry Reid's $4 billion "accidental" payment to Landrieu is a clue to how the straight party-line vote got this atrocity passed.

(C) A multi-billion dollar slush fund---the Untraceable $8 Billion ObamaCare PR Budget---truly govt fraud at its finest.

Egged on by Pelosi, no one in Congress told Americans about Section 4002---which mandates an $8B untraceable fund to "promote" Obamacare (apparently b/c Boobamba had so little confidence in his signature legislation).

In 2010 Taxpayers are extorted $500 million, in 2011, $750 million, 2012, $1 billion, 2013, $1.25 billion, 2014, $1.5 billion and in 2015 and on, $2 billion........

[mtrott]

No, just NO. No more tax payer bailouts of failing, ill-advised big government programs.

[Tupelo]

“Republicans, fearing that this could turn into an open-ended government bailout”

Na. You really think so? Where would anyone get the idea that the Federal Government would actually take taxpayer money and give it to private companies?
That is the sort of thing that happens with a Socialist or Fascist or totalitarian government. Especially in Banana Republics, but never in a Constitutional Republic.
But wait............................................

[Bobalu]

So the law says you must buy health insurance from these ‘providers’ or get fined.

The government assures the providers that if they lose money the taxpayers will make them whole.

This is a twisted form of single-payer IMO... a very poorly thought out single-payer system.

We have had a poorly thought out form of universal healthcare in the US for some time.. it was medicaid, medicare and the rules that anyone that shows up at an emergency room MUST be treated even if they cannot pay.

Then Obamacare comes along and makes the ill-conceived universal healthcare system we already had even worse by adding countless rules, regulations and fines.

Obamacare is a way to tax people who cannot afford to buy health insurance.

This mess all needs to be replaced by something better!

We shall always have some form of universal health care in the country.... we have had it for too long and there is no way to go back. It just needs to be less of a disaster than it is now. Maybe Trump can concoct something less bad?

[DH]

You go to a sporting business to buy fishing lures.
You go to a sporting business to buy hunting lures.

You go to the government to get hooked on money lures.

[SkyPilot]

Whoa. People should reread that third paragraph in the excerpt. The GOP Congress managed to successfully sneak a poison pill into Obamacare last year.

Republicans, fearing that this could turn into an open-ended government bailout in the event of industry-wide losses, included a provision in last year's spending bill that limited the program, requiring HHS to pay out only from the pool of money collected, rather than supplementing it with other sources of government funding. President Obama signed that bill.

There a few conservative Congressmen and Senators who are responsible for that. Obama signed the budget agreement because his strategy is to just keep passing Executive Orders, and when he runs out of money, to force the GOP to cave in - as they seemingly always do.

But you are correct - because of that budget provision, we see the Dept of HHS pitching a tantrum, which this article hightlights.

[Bobalu]

I think it was mainly Rubio who managed to insert the poison-pill.

If only he wasn’t an amnesty pimp :-/

[St_Thomas_Aquinas]

At issue is a provision within the law known as the risk corridors program.

Give me liberty or give me the risk corridors program!

I don't know if the Founders are laughing or crying.

[SkyPilot]

We have had a poorly thought out form of universal healthcare in the US for some time.. it was medicaid, medicare and the rules that anyone that shows up at an emergency room MUST be treated even if they cannot pay.

Exactly.

When I was a kid, my father had a employee insurance plan that covered some things, but we went to our family doctor for most medical issues. Most everything was handled in his office, even the time I needed 10 stitches in my arm. I still remember my mother writing out the checks in the doctor's office.

But those costs, while high, were not astronomical.

Today, we have hundreds of thousands of people employed (and profiting) as "middle men" in the health care industry. Cost are massively excessive. Fraud (due to billing the Federal government) is truly incredible to behold. Just as tuition went through the roof when the Federal government guaranteed Trillion in student loans, our health care has become unaffordable because the government is involved.

Almost every medical procedure you can imagine, from knee surgery to treatment for a skin ailment, follows the trend of the chart below:

The Illegal Invaders place a huge burden on the system as well, and they do nothing to contribute to it. We all pay for that, in both terrible service and increased premiums.

[St_Thomas_Aquinas]

I wish writers/reporters would replace the word “federal government” with “taxpayers”.

It*s up to us. The Democrat media sure as hell won*t.

And BTW, I recommend *Democrat media* over *lamestream* or *leftist.* It makes the issue understandable to the lofos, and there is no rhetorical comeback.

[RedEyeJack]

The Demcrats OWN this monster! They passed it to find out what was in it and told their voters they would take care of them; a huge lie, or at best amateurish stupidity.
There should be blood to pay, if not financial then at least political.

First, before Republicans even consider increasing this mess Obama, Reid, and Pelosi will have to publicly admit they were wrong and are totally responsible for the mess they have created. In the meantime let the insurers fail. They supported the Democrats and they should pay for their poor judgement too. Let those who are caught in the Democrats trap continue to pay the TAX (are are you listening John Roberts?) the ACA PLACES on them - or the huge deductibles now coming to pass in the ACA market.

When the Dems ask for help use this as an opportunity to create a form of catastrophic insurance for the needy and a Medicare plan to cover the high costs of end-of-life care... and also remove illegal immigrants from any form of taxpayer supported healthcare.

[SteveH]

unexpected+drink bump

[St_Thomas_Aquinas]

Republicans, fearing that this could turn into an open-ended government bailout in the event of industry-wide losses, included a provision in last year's spending bill that limited the program, requiring HHS to pay out only from the pool of money collected, rather than supplementing it with other sources of government funding. President Obama signed that bill.

HHS will supplement it with other sources of government funding.

[SkyPilot]

SEN. MAX BAUCUS (D-Mont.)

I remember watching live on C-SPAN back in 2010 (I believe) when Sen Baucus was clearly smashed out drunk on the Senate floor, ridiculing Republicans for not supporting ObamaCare.

Senator Max Baucus Drunk / Intoxicated on Senate Floor - Shouts Down Wicker

[St_Thomas_Aquinas]

Send the bill to John Roberts

Roll it into a tube first.