OBAMA WAS RIGHT – MY TREND IS DOWN

My University operates on a July 1 to June 30 year. Therefore, our open enrollment for benefits started this week. Since our year crosses into 2015, we tend to be the canary in the coal mine for health insurance premium increases. I just logged on to see my new rates. I was breathlessly anticipating that $2,500 per family health cost savings I was promised by Obama in 2009 when he was selling Obamacare to the gullible masses. Sadly, I was disappointed once again.

It seems my SAVINGS is actually a 12% increase in my premiums. Being the fastidious financial person who has been using Quicken as my checkbook for the last 23 years, I am able to easily go back and see the increases in my monthly insurance premiums since Obama promised me those savings. Here are my increases since 2010:

2010 – 10% increase

2011 – 8% increase

2012 – 6% increase

2013 – 20% increase (12% premium increase and new $1,000 deductible instituted)

2014 – 12% increase

These increases are not for some gold-plated plan. I have the basic Keystone HMO plan. There are two other far more expensive options. I have to stay within the HMO network, get referrals, etc.

Isn’t it ironic that since Obama and his liberal minions jammed Obamacare down our throats in 2009, my annual cost for premiums is now $2,500 higher than it was in 2009? Maybe he mixed up his signs while reading the teleprompter back in 2009. This doesn’t even take into account my co-pays going from $15 per visit to $25 per visit over this same time frame. With a family of five, the number of doctors visits per year is substantial.

Obama touts how his law “allowed” kids up to the age of 26  to stay on their parents’ insurance plans. It didn’t allow anything. It forced insurance companies to expand coverage. They expanded the coverage by raising premiums on everyone. That was the 10% increase in 2010.

We now know the risk pool of those 7.1 million people who signed up for their “free” Obamacare is skewed towards older sicker people and not the young healthy people used to model the finances of Obamacare.

The 12% increase in my premiums is going to cover the skewed risk pool. These are the facts on the ground in the real world. And the reality of Obamacare hasn’t even really hit yet. Wait until 30% of the 7.1 million fail to pay their premiums. The insurance companies will be threatened by Obama to keep quiet about the non-payment and will just pass on the cost to the paying customers like you and me.

I happen to work for the largest employer in Philadelphia, with the most clout when it comes to negotiating insurance rates. If my premiums are going up 12% to 20% per year, imagine the increases hitting employees at small businesses. You understand why small businesses are closing down or not hiring new employees. Those still in business are just doing away with insurance for their employees and letting them sign up for Obamacare.

There is no way to describe Obamacare other than as an unmitigated disaster. And he has unilaterally changed the law by delaying the really bad mandated stuff until after the 2014 mid-term elections. We wouldn’t want the Democrats to stand behind their penultimate legislative accomplishment.

I’ve just addressed the financial aspects to a an average family. HZK and AWD can expound upon the horrible impact on doctors. Millions have poured into the Medicaid system, which will eventually bankrupt the states and limit the care options to practically nothing for the poor. The quality of care will deteriorate rapidly as Obamacare reaches its zenith.

But my increase declined from 20% to 12%, so my trend is down. Well done Savior.

 

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TPC
TPC

I read everything you write, but I try not to post unless I can provide anything other than an echo room response.

card802
card802

And I echo TPC.

Thinker

You’re really going to love this, then: Buried deep on the website of the U.S. Census Bureau is a number every American citizen, and especially those entrusted with public office, should know. It is 86,429,000.

That is the number of Americans who in 2012 got up every morning and went to work — in the private sector — and did it week after week after week.

These are the people who built America, and these are the people who can sustain it as a free country. The liberal media have not made them famous like the polar bear, but they are truly a threatened species.

86M Full-Time Private-Sector Workers Sustain 148M Benefit Takers

Be Prepared
Be Prepared

It’s not surprising that Obamacare was going to be a huge scam. The second this crap was proposed it was a clearly a cluster f@ck. With almost 3,000 pages in the bill and the insurance industry co-writing it all, the middle class, whats left of them, was going to get bent over. The writing on the wall is clear….pay more for less…..be come a slave…work to live. Each incremental brick is being laid in the wall of our cage bringing us closer towards the soon to be issued RFID chip in your arm.

Tommy
Tommy

Admin, just be glad you didn’t have a dick post with record views. Then we got problems.

Jim
Jim

@Admin – Everyone loves a good boob, just look at the big O.

harry p.

that’s funny, i just read yesterday that the cbo has reported that obamacare will cost LESS than projected. i am sure your $2500 is right on its way

CBO Says Obamacare Will Cost Less Than Projected
By Brianna EhleyApril 14, 2014 3:15 PM

CBO projects deficit to fall

CBO cuts Obamacare cost views and says program reduces deficits MarketWatch
[$$] CBO Projects Lower Premiums in Health-Insurance Exchanges The Wall Street Journal
CBO lowers cost estimates on Obamacare in report MarketWatch
ObamaCare just got cheaper The Week (RSS)
The Obamacare Win That Wasn’t? The Daily Beast

The White House is kicking off the week with some more good news for Obamacare. The Congressional Budget Office said on Monday that the federal government will spend significantly less than expected on health insurance benefits under the new law.

The CBO and the Joint Committee on Taxation said the law’s insurance coverage provisions will now cost about $1.4 trillion over the next 10 years — about $104 billion less than previously estimated. This year alone the government will spend $5 billion less than projected.

The CBO said lower spending on the health care law is helping shrink deficits overall. The report projected that federal government will run a deficit of $492 billion in 2014—nearly 33 percent less than last year. Even so, budget deficits are projected to rise again starting in 2016 and to top $1 trillion annually by 2023.

The agency credits the expected decrease in Obamacare spending to lower-than-anticipated premiums for plans offered on the exchanges. The CBO projects the price of annual premiums to rise slightly from an average of $3,800 this year for the second-lowest silver plan to $3,900 in 2015 and $4,400 in 2016. The agency expects premiums to keep rising, reaching $6,900 in 2024, for an average annual increase of 6 percent from 2016 to 2024.

President Barack Obama speaks at General Electric’s gas engine facility in Waukesha, Wis., on Thursd …

The new projection for 2016 is 15 percent lower than CBO’s November 2009 estimate, which forecast that premiums for those benchmark plans would average $5,200.

Still, there is a downside to the lower costs, according to the report: “The plans being offered through exchanges in 2014 appear to have, in general, lower payment rates for providers, narrower networks of providers, and tighter management of their subscribers’ use of health care than employment-based plans do. Those features allow insurers that offer plans through the exchanges to charge lower premiums (although they also make plans somewhat less attractive to potential enrollees).”

CBO said it expects major provisions including the individual mandate —which requires people to have health insurance or pay a penalty — to offset total spending for Obamacare. Other major provisions like the employer mandate, which requires medium to large companies to cover their full-time workers, won’t take effect until next year, but will also play a large role in offsetting the costs of subsidies.

Related: How Obamacare Could Affect Your Taxes This Year

Aside from lower spending projections, the CBO said it expects more people to gain health coverage under the law. The report said in 2014 alone about 12 million people are expected to gain coverage through the federal and state exchanges as well as through the law’s Medicaid expansion.

It added that it projects 19 million people to have coverage under the law in 2015, and 25 million more by 2016. By 2024, the CBO says, about 89 percent of U.S. residents will have health coverage. That would leave some 31 million uninsured, which the CBO says is 26 million fewer than would lack coverage without Obamacare.

http://news.yahoo.com/cbo-says-obamacare-cost-less-191500438.html

Tommy
Tommy

Seriously….?! (‘the intruder’ btw….)

Iska Waran
Iska Waran

The total cost of my family coverage is $13,692 through Medica for an HSA account plan with $5,600 individual deductible, $9,900 family deductible and $9,900 total out of pocket. Part of that is arbitrarily called the “employee portion”, but that’s the actual cost. So it’s basically $14k / year and doesn’t pay for anything. If I’d opted for the plan with a single family deductible of $3,600, the premium would have been close to $20k – and it still wouldn’t pay for anything, since I doubt we even use $3,600 of medical expenses, even with glasses, prescriptions, etc. So I basically have a $14k annual premium on a catastrophic-only policy. That’s roughly doubled over the last 4 years.

Of course, the biggest issue isn’t the cost. It’s the fact that Obamacare’s unconstitutional capitation tax established the supposed right of the national government to require us to do anything they want us to do – using a cattle prod of a tax that is qualitatively different from anything that’s come before.

Wyoming Mike
Wyoming Mike

Only a 69% increase in 5 years. What’s the big deal, with inflation around zero & big raises every year, you should be swimming in cash!

Gayle
Gayle

The sad truth is that everything connected to government or Wall Street is a fuckin’ scam and I am one of the idiots who is chronically a victim. We sure do need a Fourth Turning. Or better yet Jesus to return.

AWD

Admin

You don’t know how lucky you are. A 20% increase is nothing, as far as Obamacare is concerned. Many people I know are getting 200-300% increases. My insurance went from $250 a month to $1250 a month, and deductibles went from $2000 to $5000 a year. I’m a doctor, and I don’t have health insurance, because this is obviously a scam and, frankly, I can’t afford it.. And that’s the essence of Obamacare. Dole out free shit on the front end, and further screw people that work for a living.

What the HMO’s are offering now are teaser rates. Your 20% increase is what they can get away with now, but in a year or two, your rates will go up much, much more. Insurance companies have everyone by the balls, because they believe you have to pay it. You have to have that magical thing called health insurance. Good luck using it when you get sick. 600,000 people a year declare bankruptcy because of medical bills, and 75% of them had health insurance.

So, people are just going to opt themselves out of Obamacare and just not have health insurance. Businesses are going to drop employer based health insurance en masse, especially after the elections, when the worst parts of Obamacare start taking effect. And don’t forget, Obamacare is going to cost taxpayers $2.6 trillion and counting. Like you said, it will bankrupt the states that participated in the Medicaid expansion. And hundreds of new taxes.

As far as the office goes, we’re swamped with people and their new free health insurance (Medicaid). People are moving to the socialist state of Illinois in droves, tens of thousands, from all over, but mainly Republican-run states, because it’s easier to get on welfare here. Everyone qualifies. The state solves their Medicaid problems by not paying their bills. They owe billions, and the new recipient’s benefits haven’t even hit yet.

I’m not sure what’s going to happen, but if the state doesn’t start paying their Medicaid bills, doctors and hospitals are going to start closing up in droves. States that didn’t approve the medicaid expansion are already closing down hospitals that serve Medicaid patients. Obama gave Medicaid out to just about anyone who applied, or subsidies, to get the numbers up. Medicaid will wipe out the healthcare system. It’s socialism, plain and simple. I never thought my profession could be wiped out by socialists and Obama, but I was wrong. I’m getting out as soon as I can. Fuck Obama.

Solidum
Solidum

I highly reccomend getting a book called ‘Nourishing Traditions’ put out by the Weston A Price foundation. As the healthcare system collapses, proper nutrition will become extremely important. My family (I have enough kids to make Pirate Jo crap her pants) hasn’t had insurance or been to any doctors in over ten years, except for a broken wrist, which was billed at $6k from the emergency room, and was never paid.

It’s painful, but dropping out of the system is the inevitable conclusion, might as well do it on purpose.

llpoh
llpoh

Admin – if you wanted 1000’s and 1000’s of readers/viewers, you should have started a porn site. Probably would have made some money, too. But you are in this for a different reason.

Fact is, eagles do not flock.

You have attracted a fair number of eagles, and you should be incredibly proud. It is eagles that will make a difference one day, perhaps soon. Every single person that can be converted to an eagle will make a difference. You, by your efforts, both directly and indirectly, have converted numerous folks into eagles.

If you want lots of love and kisses, might I suggest you get a puppy?

But if you want to do the work of the angels, keep doing what you do.

YOU ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE. YOU ARE APPRECIATED.

Now get back to work.

Sorry about your insurance costs. Sure am glad me and mine are exempt from the Obamacare mandate. First time ever I got a benefit from being an Injun.

AWD

Admin does a great job. His analysis is stellar, cuts through the bullshit every time. I get that feeling sometimes, I make a post and expect some outrage or something, and get one comment. I guess you gotta take the good with the bad.

Llpoh, we’re a country of peacocks, not eagles.

Only God can help this country now….

“A prominent member of Chicago’s homosexual community claims Barack Obama’s participation in the “gay” bar and bathhouse scene was so well known that many who were aware of his lifestyle were shocked when he ran for president and finally won the White House.

“It was preposterous to the people I knew then to think Obama was going to keep his gay life secret,” said Kevin DuJan, who was a gossip columnist in Chicago for various blogs when Obama was living in the city as a community organizer and later a state senator.

“Nobody who knew Obama in the gay bar scene thought he could possibly be president,” said DuJan.

DuJan, founder and editor of the Hillary Clinton-supporting website, told WND he has first-hand information from two different sources that “Obama was personally involved in the gay bar scene.”

“If you just hang out at these bars, the older guys who have been frequenting these gay bars for 25 years will tell you these stories,” DuJan said. “Obama used to go to the gay bars during the week, most often on Wednesday, and they said he was very much into older white guys.”

Obama, DuJan said, is “not heterosexual and he’s not bisexual. He’s homosexual.”

Stucky

“I highly reccomend getting a book called ‘Nourishing Traditions’ put out by the Weston A Price foundation.” ————- Solidum

Trust me, TBP’s resident chef, the Weston website is one of the very very very best food sites on the web.

Lots and lots of resources. For example, great on-line classes on how to make butter.

Foodies go to Weston.

Home

Zarathustra

Okay, let’s just compromise here…be practical. Almost nobody knows what a fucking burning platform is. Hell, I don’t remember myself. Clearly this blog should be renamed to both attract people who have no idea what it is about as well as those who are looking for something substantive. Rename this place:

The Truth about Boobs, Dicks and other things.

cahuitabeachbound
cahuitabeachbound

@Thinker:

Were you listening to Joe Soucheray today also? Shame shame shame; give credit where credit is due!

AWD

“one of the very very very best food sites on the web”

You are sure using “very” a lot. I hope you’re not going bi-curious, or worse.

sensetti
sensetti

comment image

Tommy
Tommy

Jeez admin, you should file for hazard pay. Blood AND in-laws!?….they know all your secrets…yeah, them too. Wait till the booze loosens up that sticky valve and the stories flow like keg beer with no cover. Admin’s private fourth turning. Hehhehheh.

llpoh
llpoh

Admin is taking being pussy whipped to a whole new level. He will be kowtowing to three ladies for the best part of a week. I hope he remembers to pack his apron.

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS483yP-0BKamkjXV2X-meKhk_ld6_rtqAk1VbBWCXBGYh9A8UK

http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTEfo0xtkyNxKReK7c0uWIK2czN4nNBHZpW6zfSSWPEw1Fl7diU5A

https://i.chzbgr.com/maxW500/1525980928/hBB2B3746/

AWD

I wonder if Admin sent Avalon off to New Orleans with a chastity belt. Somehow I doubt it. I bet all the ladies were snickering and giggling, thinking about all they did while a dutiful admin drove them home like a whipped puppy. Can’t wait to hear about the Wildwood insults forthcoming.

Hagar
Hagar

The wife and I opted out of health insurance, processed foods, and into organic food about 10 years ago. Now we both are at the same weight we were in H.S. and college (we are now in our mid sixties). Other than annual checkups (for her thyroid) neither of us suffers any ailments. Of course, the cost of organics is higher, and we have no children at home, but our overall food bill is not bad. Seems like we eat a lot less and more simply now. Started organic gardening 2 years ago with moderate success…this year will be better. Just wish we had wised up sooner. Point is, take care of your health with organics and you’ll need less health care. Edgar Casey said that there is a cure for everything provided in nature…makes sense to me. I do miss hotdogs with slaw and chili though.

Gayle
Gayle

T4C

I referred to your chart. Now carry on.

Gayle
Gayle

Perhaps an unintended consequence of Obamacare will be that people become more responsible about building health instead of treating symptoms. Those high deductibles are gonna suck.

I echo the other comments about the Weston Price website and material. Dr. Mercola has a great site too , just ignore the ads to buy his supplements.

Tim
Tim

@ Stuck

RE: Weston Price. I’m familiar with his/their work, and find it very intriguing. I think there’s a lot of sense to all of the “low-carb” diets, including Paleo, Primal, Atkins, and what-have-you.

But, the ideas behind Price’s teachings are SOOOO counter to everything we’ve been taught, it’s hard to accept. There’s at least one youtube video (There’s many more, I’m sure, but…) called, “The Oiling of America.” This woman (The guru at Weston Price Foundation. I can’t think of her name.) basically teaches that we need more saturated fat in our diet, apparently much more, and that cholesterol counts don’t matter.

Since I’m basically a bachelor for the time being, I’ve been cooking what I want. Lots of bacon, fried in bacon fat, with cheese on the side. Maybe some green veggies, also fried in bacon fat. I haven’t lost any weight, but, God-Damn, that bacon is some tasty shit!!

If you haven’t seen it yet, take a look at her video. I’m interested in your opinion. What do you think about eating more saturated fat?

Tim

AWD

Brain Surgery Patient’s Obamacare Plan Denies Meds, Drops Doctors

by Wynton Hall 16 Apr 2014

A New York woman suffering from a neurological disease that has required four brain surgeries has been dropped by all of her doctors and denied medications due to her Obamacare plan.

“I’ve been vomiting. I lost 22 pounds. The pain is unbearable,” said Margaret Figueroa, 49, on Wednesday. “My medication helps me function during the day.”

Figueroa suffers from a disease known as Arnold Chiari Malformation and Syringomyelia. Even though the Obamacare plan she purchased assured her that she was covered, her insurance card was denied when she went to fill her prescriptions. Then she learned that none of her doctors accept her Obamacare plan. Figueroa says she cannot find a doctor who accepts her Obamacare plan; indeed, there are only six doctors in all of Staten Island who take her plan, none of whom she’s been able to get appointments with.

Figueroa’s congressman, Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY), intervened to help her obtain some of her vital prescriptions. Grimm says he’s already received calls from at least a dozen Staten Island residents facing the same problem with Obamacare’s “narrow networks” – extreme restrictions to doctor and hospital access imposed by Obamacare.

“Even though the insurance company cashed your check, it doesn’t mean it (the policy) has been implemented,” said Grimm at a Wednesday press conference with Figueroa. “That’s the problem – that the back end of Obamacare hasn’t been fully built. You can go on the front end of an application and look at a list of plans, but what they don’t tell you is that many of those plans don’t have doctors yet.”

Figueroa is not alone.

As Breitbart News reported in January, the Washington Post warned that “Obamacare’s narrow networks are going to make people furious – but they might control costs.” Breitbart News contributor Scot Vorse learned the hard way about Obamacare’s narrow networks when the nearest dentist who accepted the mandatory dental plan he was required to purchase for his children was over 100 miles away.

Obamacare’s narrow networks have also shut out access to top cancer centers. The Associated Press says just 4 of 19 nationally recognized comprehensive cancer centers offer Obamacare access through all insurance plans in their state Obamacare exchanges, and a McKinsey and Co. study revealed 38% of all Obamacare plans only allow patients to pick from just 30% of the largest 20 hospitals in their areas.

Experts say the narrow network horror stories will only grow as more and more Obamacare customers attempt to use their Obamacare insurance only to realize its harsh realities.

Obamacare remains deeply unpopular nationally. The latest USA Today/Pew Research poll finds that just 37% of Americans now support Obamacare.

Thinker

CBB – I don’t know who Souchery is. I think I found that story on Drudge or one of the other sites I visit.

Gayle
Gayle

Tim

I understand that if you eat a lot of starchy carbs, your body burns the carbs (sugar) and stores the fat you eat. If you cut out the carbs and sugar, your body burns fat. Thus some bacon is not harmful, but I wouldn’t overdo. Better to ingest fats like olive oil, coconut oil, nuts, avocado. Enjoy all the butter you want as long as it’s not on top of a potato. I find that when I eat proteins and fat I don’t get as hungry. Enjoy all the eggs you want, too.

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