Posted on 01/09/2014 5:02:14 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid incorrectly claimed that 9 million Americans “have health care that didn’t have it before” because of the Affordable Care Act. That figure includes an unknown number who previously had insurance but switched to a policy sold through the exchanges, plus an unknown number of Medicaid recipients who renewed their coverage.
Reid made the statement on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Jan. 5, saying:
Reid, Jan. 5: [R]ight now, as we speak, there are 9 million Americans … who have health care that didn’t have it before. We have, as you know, we have 3 million Medicare [Medicaid]. We have 3 million on their policies because they haven’t reached, they haven’t reached age 26. And we’ll have more than 2 million. They’re coming.
The 9 million figure includes three categories of Americans: 2.1 million who have selected plans on the federal or state insurance marketplaces, or exchanges; 3.9 million who were determined to be eligible for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (higher than the 3 million figure Reid used); and an estimated 3.1 million young adults under the age of 26 who were able to join their parents’ policies as a result of the ACA.
But it’s wrong to assume, as Reid does, that all of those people were previously uninsured.
Let’s start with those who were uninsured. Some may consider the inclusion of the 3.1 million young adults an attempt to puff up the numbers after a slow, glitch-filled and, by any standard, unsuccessful launch of the exchanges last fall. After all, this provision of the law was implemented in September 2010. But this is the one estimate that’s made up exclusively of those gaining insurance. The estimate comes from the Department of Health and Human Services, which said in a June 2012 press release that the figure was based on the National Health Interview Survey conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics, which found an increase in the percentage of young adults (age 19 to 25) with insurance between September 2010 and December 2011. (Some among this estimate may well have gained coverage in another manner — other than being added to their parents’ plans — but the number does represent an increase in the insured in an age group directly affected by the law at the time.)
It’s the other two categories that include folks who did have health coverage before, contrary to Reid’s remarks.
The 2.1 million people who selected exchange plans include some who had insurance but switched to these marketplace plans, such as those whose insurers canceled specific plans or even pulled out of the individual insurance market altogether. And, as Washington Post Fact Checker Glenn Kessler pointed out, it even includes Reid, who, like other previously insured members of Congress are required to get their coverage through the exchanges, rather than the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, as they did before.
Then there’s the Medicaid estimate. Marilyn Tavenner, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, announced on Dec. 31 that 3.9 million “learned they’re eligible for coverage through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) in October and November.” She noted: “These numbers include new eligibility determinations and some Medicaid and CHIP renewals.”
So, some portion of that 3.9 million — a figure that comes from state reports — includes Americans who already had Medicaid or CHIP and are simply renewing, and it could include those who had insurance through another source and are now eligible for Medicaid. CMS doesn’t have such a breakdown on these Medicaid-eligible folks. The figure also includes those who were previously eligible for Medicaid (before the ACA) and are now signing up. Some of those previously eligible folks may not have been influenced by the law; others may have been prompted to seek coverage because of the individual mandate, or because they’ve heard so much about the health care law.
One last note: Americans buying their own insurance don’t have to go through the exchanges; they can buy directly from an insurance carrier. It’s possible some of the previously uninsured have done so, but we know of no estimate for that.
What we do know is that it’s incorrect to say, as Reid did, that the 9 million figure represents “Americans who have health care that didn’t have it before.”
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated that in 2014, due to the Affordable Care Act, the number of uninsured would decline by 14 million, with 7 million joining the exchanges, 9 million gaining Medicaid and CHIP, and 2 million fewer Americans getting coverage through the individual market. It remains to be seen how closely reality will track with those estimates.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3109878/posts
“The latest Obamacare glitch makes it difficult for consumers to know what they’ve getting.
Wisconsin insurance department officials are warning customers that HealthCare.gov is displaying incorrect prices for some exchange plans. Summaries for several Wisconsin insurance plans on HealthCare.gov indicate that the plan has no deductible, when customers will actually be on the hook for out-of-pocket costs.
Other plans’ detailed summaries of costs and services provided have been switched around, preventing Wisconsin customers from actually knowing what product they’re purchasing at what price.
The federal government is aware of the problem and working on a solution, according to Wisconsin insurance department spokesman J.P. Wieske, but “at least several thousand people” in Wisconsin have been affected by the errors.
Another signature glitch was uncovered in Maryland this week. HealthCare.gov’s search feature to find in-person assistance for picking out a coverage plan is sending consumers with a state-run exchange across state lines to HealthCare.gov for personal help.
The error, noticed by Republican gubernatorial candidate David Craig’s campaign staff, has been confirmed by state officials. Maryland exchange spokeswoman Dori Henry said the state is “aware of the problem” and has asked HHS “to get it fixed as expeditiously as possible.”
“If I can enter a zip code for a Radio Shack and have the nearest store listed, then the government should be able to direct people to the nearest ‘in-person’ assistance,” said Paul Ellington, Craig’s campaign manager, in a statement to The Daily Caller News Foundation.
And while simpler glitches are still keeping consumers from getting the right information from HealthCare.gov, the website is still having its own problems getting the correct data from customers to their insurers.
For Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Plan (CHIP) consumers, new errors are emerging. HealthCare.gov has sent incomplete files on 100,000 Americans that attempted to sign up for Medicaid or CHIP via the federal exchange, according to a recent report by the Washington Post.
The Obama administration confirmed software defects on the federal website had caused the misstep.
Federal officials are issuing robocalls to consumers in 21 states, directing them to reapply for coverage via state agencies. State officials are sending letters with specific directions to their affected residents.
Jeremiah Samples, assistant secretary for the West Virginia Health and Human Resources department, revealed that many West Virginians would have to reapply due to the federal exchange’s software glitch.
“For our consumers,” Samples said, “when the system doesn’t work for them, it just adds unease.” [end]
Why not???,
that dribbling old fool CBS Bob Schiefer isn’t sure going to challenge him. He happily accepts Democrats spitting out completely bogus numbers.
Jeeze, Schiefer looks 100, he has tea-bags under his eyes.
Before the 2012 election, (some, not all) Americans swallowed hook, line and sinker Obama's con that they could, all at the same time: (1) keep their existing health plans, (2) keep their own doctors, (3) keep their 25-year-olds on the family health plan, (4) never be denied coverage for a costly pre-existing condition, (5) sign up instantaneously on a government Web site, (6) buy insurance only after becoming seriously ill, (7) save $2,500 in annual premiums as part of the bargain......(8) all without any new taxes on the middle class.
In 2013 (as Obamacare rolled out), the ruse was revealed. Voters learned that nothing is free, and that it’s impossible to get more coverage for more people at less cost. Plans were cancelled, doctors were dropped, premiums soared, and Web sites crashed. Medicare was raided. Taxes were raised on everything from medical devices to real estate sales. Medicaid enrollments spiraled.--snip-- (By Victor Davis Hanson)
SOURCE http://nypost.com/2014/01/04/the-year-of-the-dud/
Section 1311(h)(1)(B) gives the Secretary of HHS blanket authority to dictate how doctors treat patients. Not just patients in government programs like Medicare and Medicaid, but patients with private plans they pay for themselves. On Dec. 2, 2013, we learned from the Federal Register that the rules are now being written. Starting in 2015, insurance companies will be barred from doing business with doctors who fail to comply.
More than half the cost of O/Care's so-called "senior entitlement" scam is subsidized by actually restricting and rationing senior care---by cutting what hospitals, doctors, hospice care, home care and Advantage plans are paid to care for seniors.
THE CUTS ARE NO ACCIDENT: "Tolerant and compassionate" Obama knows that the most expensive h/care is delivered the last three years of life.......
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Sen Harry Reid, 74, recently said that enrolling in O/Care costs him about $4,500 more than before. But Harry says that's OK b/c the increase is "age-related.”
(Sniffle) "Tolerant and compassionate" Obama knows that the most expensive h/care is delivered the last three years of life...so oldsters HAVE to pay more (sob).
Heck, socking Harry w/ a massive increase could even save money. For sure, decrepit Sen Harry will necessitate expensive medical care for diseases of old age including the ones he's being treated for now--- senility, Alzheimer's, dementia, arthritis, osteoarthritis, heart problems, heart attacks, stroke, kidney failure, prostate enlargement, osteoporosis (brittle bones)....etc.
Course, just in case ol' Harry hangs in there, Obamacare's I-PAB kicks in to ration medical care when stubborn old buzzards like Harry insist on getting more healthcare than his lousy $4500 per month entitles him to.
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Harry's dam lucky he represents Nevada---if he represented Alaska, he'd been on the ice floe w/ the rest of the older, sick Eskimos----floating out into the frigid Arctic Ocean wearing a sealskin coat, bearskin shorts, and a pair of mukluks.
Any private company that B-S’ed the public like the government does would come under attack by the FTC, and who knows how many other government agencies. Not to mention who knows how many class-action lawsuits, 60 Minutes investigations, etc.
The Mother of All Commie 'RAT lies. But hey! The morons living in this country don't care. They love Dingy Harry. He can say whatever he wants to say.
About the same numbers that Senator Udall(D) didn't like about the number of insurance cancellations in Colorado :
From an later FReep article titled :
Sen. Udall Pressured Insurance Division to Revise Cancellation Numbers Due to Obamacare
Colorado Speaks ^ | January 8, 2014
Udall learned his “bully them until they change the numbers to our liking” tactics from the best. Just this week, it was revealed that President Obama asked a contractor to fudge numbers about the jobs impact that his new coal regulations would have. When the contractor refused, the contract was terminated. Too bad Udall can’t terminate the Division of Insurance for not reporting his preferred take. "
It would seem that the DemocRats have a consistant problem with numbers ... which don't favor them !!
Udall and Reid have consistancy. They probably graduated from " COMMON CORE " with 'magna cum level' degrees in mathematics .
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