Free Republic

Canceled plans, lost doctors, higher costs: That is the continuing reality for millions of Americans under President Obama’s health-care law. Unfortunately, for hundreds of thousands more, it’s about to get a lot worse. As of this week, nine of the law’s 23 state co-ops — nonprofit health-insurance companies set up to help people enroll in Obamacare — have collapsed. Over 600,000 people who enrolled in co-op health plans will lose their insurance at the end of this year. Many of them were forced into the co-ops to begin with when Obamacare canceled their private insurance policies in 2013, meaning they...

The standoff between state officials and the University of California over its finances and admissions policy grew tense Tuesday as the university threatened to limit enrollment of California students next year unless it receives more money from the state. UC President Janet Napolitano told an Assembly budget subcommittee that the university will cap in-state enrollment at current levels while continuing to increase the number of nonresident students. “We will not not be admitting students that we don’t know that we actually have funding for,” Napolitano said. UC will still increase the number of out-of-state and international students by up to...

HHS is hitting the malls this weekend to make sure that Obamacare is on the minds of consumers during the busiest shopping weekend of the year. The department on Wednesday will announce new partnerships it has made with retail stores, pharmacies and popular websites to spread the word about the current open enrollment season, which began on Nov. 15 and ends Feb. 15. On three key days after Thanksgiving — Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday — as well as dates beyond, Westfield Shopping Centers, the National Community Pharmacists Association and the XO Group will provide consumers with...

After repeatedly shifting the deadline for the end of ObamacareÂ’s open enrollment period in past spring, the White House crowed when it determined it had finally reached its goal of enrolling 8 million Americans in Affordable Care Act-associated insurance plans. Few in the press made mention of the administrationÂ’s downward revision of that figure in October from 8.1 to 7.1 million Obamacare enrollees. DonÂ’t expect many in the administration or the media to make much of another revision of the estimated number of projected Obamacare insurance customers for this yearÂ’s open enrollment period. Anticipating slightly less than 6 million...

Teachers in Wisconsin's public schools have learned a major lesson from the state's landmark 2011 law neutering public sector unions, with more than a third dropping out of their labor organization. Given no choice but to join and pay dues to the Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC) for decades, teachers have for the last three years been able to opt out. And that is what tens of thousands have done as a result of Gov. Scott Walker’s Wisconsin Budget Repair Bill, also known as Act 10. “Given the evidence, it shows that the union's hold is softening," Patrick Wright, vice...

Are you ready for Round Two? In a little more than a month, the federal Health Insurance Marketplace will swing open its virtual doors and let the masses in. Hopefully, things will go a little smoother than last year. I love Obamacare, but last year's open enrollment process was a mess. Personally, it only took me four applications, three online profiles and two attempts to verify my income before it was all said and done. However, I had it good. I have a friend who lost her employer-sponsored coverage midway through the year and is currently in health insurance hell:...

SNIP “In light of the heightened media coverage of the issue of undocumented immigrant children, VDOE provides the following updated information for your use in responding to community questions or issues,” says the memo distributed to the commonwealth’s 132 school divisions and obtained by Breitbart News. SNIP “While a case-by-case review of each child’s circumstances upon enrolling in a Virginia public school is necessary, many of these unaccompanied children will be deemed homeless under applicable state and federal law,” the memo reads. It goes on: Pursuant to Va. Code § 22.1-3, a homeless child is one who lacks a fixed,...

Earlier this year, supporters of the federal healthcare law known as ObamaCare enthusiastically celebrated reaching its signup goal, with reported enrollment topping eight million Americans. In the months since, however, there has been a noticeable dearth of updates regarding the relative success of the law since its famously rocky implementation. If a recent Investor’s Business Daily report is any indication, there might be good reason for the Obama administration’s silence. **SNIP** Another barometer of public sentiment comes from enrollment numbers reported by individual states. Washington, for example, is the only state that waited until enrollees had paid their first month’s...

Buried in a largely overlooked government audit of the Obama-Care exchanges is a finding that casts still more doubt on the reliability of the 8 million enrollment number commonly cited by the administration and the press. In a section titled "Other Issues," an inspector general report released last week found that the HealthCare.gov marketplace couldn't show it had been reconciling its monthly enrollment numbers with insurance companies. That's despite the fact that the law specifically calls for this reconciliation, and the fact that, as the IG report notes, "the federal marketplace obtained the services of a contractor to reconcile enrollment...

ADMINISTRATION STOPS MONTHLY ACA ENROLLMENT REPORTS: Kyle Cheney with today’s top read [http://politico.pro/1qVCBjd] — “The Obama administration has quietly decided to halt its monthly updates on Obamacare enrollment, which were a major pipeline of information about the impact of the health law heading into the 2014 campaign season. ‘HHS issued monthly enrollment reports during the first marketplace open enrollment period in order to provide the best understanding of enrollment activities as it was taking place,’ an HHS spokeswoman emailed. ‘Now that this time period has ended, we will look at future opportunities to share information about the marketplace that is...

Or so says a new McKinsey survey of the numbers: One of the principal flaws in the coverage of Obamacare’s exchange enrollment numbers to date has been that the press has not made distinctions between those who have “signed up” for Obamacare-based plans, and those who have actually paid for those plans and thereby achieved enrollment in health insurance. A new survey from McKinsey indicates that a large majority of people signing up are now paying for their coverage. This is progress for the health law. But the survey still indicates that three-fourths of enrollees were previously insured. Of course...

Tantalizing circumstantial evidence about the demographic mix in the new ObamaCare exchange risk pools. The more those pools are dominated by the old and sick, the higher premiums will have to be next year to cover the cost of their expensive treatments. The X factor here, though, is that the study includes data only from people whose coverage was in effect in January and February. All the sign-ups in March before the deadline are missing from the picture, an important detail since it’s widely assumed that lots of healthy young “knuckleheads” waited until the last minute to enroll. If that’s...

Liberman at JPost Conference: I'd rather go to new elections than release Palestinian terrorists

Cavuto says he is being generous with the 1.2 mil he is crediting the regime of having enrolled in barackobamacare. If you ask me it sounds like the regime is using its own form of math via Common Core to come up with the 7.1 million sign ups they have been bragging about. There is still an estimated 45 mil people without insurance where are they? This crap law was to provide insurance to those 45+ mil at the cost of the millions who had insurance policies they were happy with! This is what progressives do though they destroy something...

After six tumultuous months, open enrollment on the new Obamacare marketplaces comes to a close. Once enrollment is over, a look at the marketplaces will give the nation a better picture of how well the Affordable Care Act is functioning. It's already perfectly clear, though -- to voters and lawmakers alike -- that the law is a work in progress. The first few months of open enrollment were disastrous, after HealthCare.gov -- the site that serves as the Obamacare portal for 36 states -- was launched with major technical problems. Still, the administration says it has largely recovered, with more...

So that’s why they decided to extend the enrollment deadline past March 31st for people who are already “waiting in line” or whatever. Megan McArdle was wondering about that yesterday: Why, having hit five million enrollments just 10 days ago and with the website working reasonably well, would the White House suddenly feel obliged to give people even more time? What do they gain from it? I think this is the answer. They’re now within striking distance of hitting their original target of seven million for the first year, averaging fully 100,000 new sign-ups per day over the last 10...

Health Care: Two more signs that all is not well in ObamaCare land: The administration has pushed back the enrollment deadline while refusing to say how many have actually paid their ObamaCare premiums. ObamaCare has become like that old quip of Mark Twain's about the weather in New England. If you don't like it, wait a few days and it will change. Less than two weeks ago, the administration was emphatic that there would be no delay of the March 31 enrollment deadline for ObamaCare. In fact, the spokesman for the agency in charge of ObamaCare said, "We don't actually...

Once again, the Obama administration is rewriting Obamacare on the fly, in response to political convenience. Amy Goldstein of the Washington Post reports: The Obama administration has decided to give extra time to Americans who say that they are unable to enroll in health-care plans through the federal insurance marketplace by the March 31 deadline. Federal officials confirmed Tuesday evening that all consumers who have begun to apply for coverage on HealthCare.gov, but who do not finish by Monday, will have until about mid-April to ask for an extension. Under the new rules, people will be able to qualify for an...

The big headline from the report: 15.9 percent of adults are now uninsured, down from 17.1 percent at the end of 2013. It's news that the Obama administration and the law's supporters are going to cheer as proof that the Affordable Care Act is working, and you'll likely hear a lot about it this week. The uninsured rate for the highly scrutinized 18-34 year-old demographic is dropping, but not yet to the levels the administration hopes for. The uninsured rate among 18-25 year-olds is now 23 percent, down from 23.5 percent, and the rate for 26 to 34 year-olds dropped...

ORLANDO, Fla. — U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said not enough of central Floridians are signed up for health care, and she's blaming state lawmakers. A YouTube video featuring Orlando resident Ali Kurnaz is part of the latest push to get uninsured Floridians to sign up for affordable health care. "I'm glad I can share my story about the Affordable Care Act," Kurnaz said at a news conference Monday. "I've benefitted a lot from it. My whole family has." But despite the outcome for Kurnaz, Sebelius said there's a lot of work to do in Florida, where...