More cost increases due to Obamacare
Finding out what’s in it: Obamacare is forcing health insurers in New York to request premium increases from 12 to 20%.
Tag: obamacare
Millions of Obamacare applications can’t be processed
Federal officials have admitted that, of the 2.9 million Obamacare applications that have problems and thus cannot be processed, 85% cannot be resolved.
You ask a government bureaucracy to run things, you get these kinds of problems. Everyone knows this, even liberals, which is why I am endlessly puzzled that they still demand the government to do things for us.
Hobby Lobby wins
The Supreme Court today struck down the Obamacare contraceptive mandate imposed by the Obama administration on all businesses.
Despite the opinions of many on the left, some of whom have even threatened to burn Hobby Lobby to the ground for making this challenge, this is a victory for religious liberty. Since when in this country did the government get the right to force religious people of any religion into doing things that directly violate their religious beliefs? This rules clearly says the government does not yet have that right.
No one who supports freedom, however, should rest easy. The decision was 5-4, and with a Democratic Party today quite willing to put restrictions on free speech, we must be prepared for more assaults on freedom.
Blacklisting “disruptive” vets from medical care.
We’re here to help you! The Veterans administration keeps a database administrated by secret committees that lists vets as “disruptive” and “disgruntled,” which it then uses to restrict their treatment.
Among examples of patients’ behavior referred to the VA’s “Disruptive Behavior Committees” (yes, that’s what they’re called): venting “frustration about VA services and/or wait times, threatening lawsuits or to have people fired, and frequent unwarranted visits to the emergency department or telephone calls to facility staff.”
As Krause explains, the Disruptive Behavior Committees are secret panels “that decide whether or not to flag veterans without providing due process first. The veteran then has his or her right of access to care restricted without prior notice.”
Obviously, the VA demonstrates once again why we must put the entire healthcare industry under government control. If they can do it to vets, why shouldn’t the rest of the government not have the power to do it to us all!
The VA scandal expands with new report
Coming to a hospital near you! A new report indicates that as many as 1,000 veterans might have died because of corruption and incompetence at the VA.
The report also alleges that the VA routinely performs unnecessary preventative care, cannot process claims in a timely fashion, employs health care providers who have lost their medical licenses, and – as has been widely reported – maintains secret waiting lists in order to create the impression that the department is meeting performance goals set in Washington.
The report further alleges that some VA staff have been implicated in criminal activities, including drug dealing, sexual abuse, attempted kidnapping, theft, and conspiracy. “Earlier this year, one former staffer at the Tampa, Florida, VA was sentenced to six years in federal prison for trading veterans’ personal information for crack cocaine,” CNN reported on Tuesday.
In spite of these failures, VA senior managers are still receiving bonuses.
I want to emphasize again that this is exactly the kind of mess we can expect to occur with our private healthcare system as Obamacare forces the government to interfere with it more and more.
Obamacare has caused a significant spike in emergency room use.
Finding out what’s in it: Obamacare has caused a significant spike in emergency room use.
That 12 percent spike in the number of patients — many of whom aren’t actually facing true emergencies — is spurring the Louisville hospital to convert a waiting room into more exam rooms. “We’re seeing patients who probably should be seen at our (immediate-care centers),” said Lewis Perkins, the hospital’s vice president of patient care and chief nursing officer. “And we’re seeing this across the system.”
That’s just the opposite of what many people expected under Obamacare, particularly because one of the goals of health reform was to reduce pressure on emergency rooms by expanding Medicaid and giving poor people better access to primary care. Instead, many hospitals in Kentucky and across the nation are seeing a surge of those newly insured Medicaid patients walking into emergency rooms.
Dozens of Veterans Administration whistle-blowers have been punished by their management for reporting management problems.
Transparency! Dozens of Veterans Administration whistle-blowers have been punished by their management for reporting management problems.
The retaliations included suspensions, demotions, and reassignments.
The VA scandal continues to reveal the kind of future we face with Obamacare.
Almost three million Americans who signed up for Medicaid under Obamacare have not yet had their applications processed.
Finding out what’s in it: Almost three million Americans who signed up for Medicaid under Obamacare have not yet had their applications processed.
The problems are most acute in three states — California, Illinois and North Carolina — where almost 1.5 million Medicaid applicants remain in limbo. Though all three are experiencing high volumes of enrollment, problems vary from California’s balky electronic sign-up system to Illinois’ inability to predict a surge of applications.
The waits are linked in part to the troubled rollout of the federal insurance website healthcare.gov last fall. Alaska, Kansas, Maine and Michigan still are unable to receive applications their residents completed through the federal website. Others such as Georgia received applications submitted last fall in May.
And how is this problem really any different than the problems recently revealed at the VA? In both cases, a large government bureaucracy can’t handle a simple task efficiently and properly. Worse, no one should be surprised. This is what conservatives and tea party activists have been saying since 2009. When you ask the government to handle these kinds of large complex tasks it almost always does a bad job.
“For lack of a better term, you’ve got an organized crime syndicate.”
“For lack of a better term, you’ve got an organized crime syndicate.”
Take a guess what this person is referring to.
Two VA patients committed suicide after their treatments were delayed against the wishes of their psychiatrist.
Finding out what’s in it: Two VA patients committed suicide after their treatments were delayed against the wishes of their psychiatrist.
Dr. Margaret Moxness, who says she was employed at the Huntington VA Medical Center in Charleston, W.Va., from 2008 to 2010, told “Fox & Friends” on Monday that she was told to delay treatment even after she told supervisors they needed immediate care. She said at least two patients committed suicide while waiting for treatment between appointments.
Though the story is specifically about the widening scandal involving the Veterans Administration, it also tells us exactly what to expect from Obamacare in the coming years: bureaucracy, bad patient care, long wait times, and corruption by management. This is what one should expect from any monopolistic government-run program that doesn’t have to deal with competition on the open market.
Benghazi: Some pertinent questions.
Two California residents have filed a class action suit against their health insurance company for misrepresenting the doctors and hospitals that their plan would include.
Finding out what’s not in it: Two California residents have filed a class action suit against their health insurance company for misrepresenting the doctors and hospitals that their plan would include.
The lawsuit accuses Blue Shield of advertising “one of the largest networks in the state” – with more than 60,000 physicians and 351 hospitals – and of failing to disclose that the networks for certain plans were substantially smaller. After receiving medical treatment numerous times between January and March, Harrington and Talon later discovered that their providers were not covered, forcing them to pay the charges out-of-pocket, the complaint said. The lawsuit alleged claims of false advertising, unfair business practices and breach of contract under California law.
We must remember that though Obamacare itself is not the subject of this suit, the law is still the root cause of the problem. It forced these individuals to buy insurance they might not have wanted, and it forced the insurance companies to restructure and narrow their insurance plans to meet the dictates of the law.
Newly released IRS emails show that the harassment of conservatives was directed by higher management in Washington and elsewhere, not confined to low level employees in Cincinnati.
Working for the Democratic Party: Newly released IRS emails show that the harassment of conservatives was directed by higher management in Washington and elsewhere, not confined to low level employees in Cincinnati.
The key fact here is that these emails prove that Lois Lerner and other officials in the Obama administration lied when they made the claim that the harassment was the work of low level employees.
But then, lying by this administration is par for the course.
“We have to break people away from the choice habit that everyone has.”
Finding out what’s in it: “We have to break people away from the choice habit that everyone has.”
The quote says it all about what Obamacare is really about: The wielding of power by politicians and the squelching of freedom for everyone else. Along the way society becomes poorer and more oppressive.
This year saw the biggest increase in healthcare spending in thirty years.
Finding out what’s in it: This year saw the biggest increase in healthcare spending in thirty years.
The cause is undeniably Obamacare, but whether the increase is good or bad can be argued. Supporters of Obamacare (few as they are) would say that this is because of the increased demand for healthcare and larger customer base that Obamacare mandated. Opponents (like me) would agree, but add that the increases are impractical, unrealistic, and raise prices unnecessarily. Many of these new unwilling customers are being forced to buy a product they don’t need.
A doctor’s declaration of independence.
A doctor’s declaration of independence.
I don’t know about other physicians but I am tired—tired of the mandates, tired of outside interference, tired of anything that unnecessarily interferes with the way I practice medicine. No other profession would put up with this kind of scrutiny and coercion from outside forces. The legal profession would not. The labor unions would not. We as physicians continue to plod along and take care of our patients while those on the outside continue to intrude and interfere with the practice of medicine.
We could change the paradigm. We could as a group elect not to take any insurance, not to accept Medicare—many doctors are already taking these steps—and not to roll over time and time again. We have let nearly everyone trespass on the practice of medicine. Are we better for it? Has it improved quality? Do we have more of a voice at the table or less? Are we as physicians happier or more disgruntled then two years ago? Five years ago? Ten years ago?
The Health & Human Services department spends an average of $146 per month per employee for email services.
Typical government: The Health & Human Services department spends an average of $146 per month per employee for email services.
Considering the number of employees, 70,000, you would think the government could get a discount making the cost less that what an ordinary citizen pays for home service. Instead, they pay about twice as much.
Which means we must of course give them control over 1/6 of the nation’s economy. How else can we rein in costs?
To avoid the cost of Obamacare ski resorts are being forced to shorten their seasons.
Finding out what’s in it: To avoid the cost of Obamacare ski resorts are being forced to shorten their seasons.
Over two dozen widows in Alabama were dropped from their health care plans due to Obamacare.
Finding out what’s in it: Over two dozen widows in Alabama were dropped from their health care plans due to Obamacare.
Hey, no big deal. It’s only some southerners from a red state, and just a handful when you think about it. Moreover, we all know that the Democrats and Obama care about women, while the Republicans are evil haters who want women enslaved and helpless.
Then there’s this: No dentists available under Obamacare for children in California.
And we all know how much the Democrats care about children. It’s always for the children, y’know.
The disaster that is in Obamacare in 15 charts.
The disaster that is in Obamacare in 15 charts.
The charts are very comprehensive, covering everything from the rise in premiums to the economic damage the law is causing.