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Re: Medicare Advantage now under threat of attack by ACA

Posted by Olog-hai on Sat Feb 22 14:49:19 2014, in response to Re: Medicare Advantage now under threat of attack by ACA, posted by Train Dude on Sat Feb 22 14:48:47 2014.

fiogf49gjkf0d
. . . even though not a single Republican has a hand in it.

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(1158147)

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Re: Medicare Advantage now under threat of attack by ACA

Posted by Train Dude on Sat Feb 22 14:50:53 2014, in response to Re: Medicare Advantage now under threat of attack by ACA, posted by SelkirkTMO on Sat Feb 22 14:10:03 2014.

fiogf49gjkf0d
All together now, "its the Republican's fault!"

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(1158181)

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Re: Medicare Advantage now under threat of attack by ACA

Posted by SelkirkTMO on Sat Feb 22 18:10:49 2014, in response to Re: Medicare Advantage now under threat of attack by ACA, posted by Olog-hai on Sat Feb 22 14:18:24 2014.

fiogf49gjkf0d
How is Obama doing anything to Medicare going to do anything to Obamacare? Once you hit 65, no more Obamacare for you. And yes, I know that republicans voted to keep more people from MAKING IT to medicare age in the first place.

Republicans run the house ... the house controls the purse strings ... the republicans can fix this. But they won't. :(

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(1158191)

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Re: Medicare Advantage now under threat of attack by ACA

Posted by orange blossom special on Sat Feb 22 18:45:44 2014, in response to Medicare Advantage now under threat of attack by ACA, posted by Olog-hai on Sat Feb 22 11:12:14 2014.

fiogf49gjkf0d
For six years he's been saying this, maybe he'll finally do the executive order.
Whose first to bail bing-bong and itallianstallion out when they find out medicare bankrupts people?

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(1158197)

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Re: Medicare Advantage now under threat of attack by ACA

Posted by bingbong on Sat Feb 22 18:53:05 2014, in response to Re: Medicare Advantage now under threat of attack by ACA, posted by orange blossom special on Sat Feb 22 18:45:44 2014.

fiogf49gjkf0d
Prove that last statement. Post 2010, preferably.

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(1159924)

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Uninsured turning against ACA; "increasingly suspicious"

Posted by Olog-hai on Thu Feb 27 15:22:31 2014, in response to Universal Health Care is HERE in these USA! Apply Now. www.healthcare.gov, posted by SMAZ on Tue Oct 1 13:19:06 2013.

fiogf49gjkf0d
Huffington Post

The Uninsured Are Turning Against Obamacare. That's A Problem

By Jeffrey Young
02/27/2014 11:59 am EST
The Obama administration is running into a somewhat surprising roadblock in its final push to get Americans enrolled in Obamacare ahead of the March 31 deadline: The nation's uninsured are increasingly suspicious of the law.

Fifty-six percent of those who identified as uninsured in a new poll conducted in February by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, a research institution, had an unfavorable view of the health care reform law, compared to just 22 percent who said they view it favorably. The uninsured now see Obamacare less favorably than they did when the enrollment period began in October. As recently as September, more uninsured approved of the law than disapproved.

The survey results illustrate just how deep a hole the Obama administration is in when it comes to gaining the support of those the law is most intended to benefit. Indeed, the new findings show the uninsured feel worse about the law than the public at large. Thirty-five percent of Americans approve of Obamacare and 47 percent are against it, according to Kaiser.



Now President Barack Obama and his allies are once again promising to ramp up their outreach efforts to get as many uninsured Americans as possible signed up for coverage.

"We’ve got more work to do. The fact is that we want everybody covered, not just some. That was always the intention and everybody now has the opportunity to get covered," Obama said at an Organizing for Action event Tuesday. "Right now, we’ve only got a few weeks left. March 31, that's the last call."

In addition to Obama personally promoting the law and the Affordable Care Act's health insurance exchanges offering an easy way for people to comparison shop, Vice President Joe Biden appeared on ABC's The View Tuesday, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is traveling the country to get the word out, and Democratic members of Congress are pushing back after Republican efforts to repeal the law.

At the same time, organizations supportive of health care reform like Enroll America and Organizing for Action are vowing a big, final push to boost enrollment numbers past the 4 million already signed up for private coverage.

An unfavorable opinion of Obamacare among a majority of the uninsured arose in spite of ballyhooed "microtargeting" campaigns to reach that part of the population, including those run out of the White House and those carried out by Enroll America, a nonprofit led by Obama campaign veterans. Using census data and other information, the idea was to target education, outreach and enrollment efforts in geographic areas with large concentrations of low-income, uninsured people who could benefit from the law's subsidized or no-cost health insurance, including cities like Houston and Miami located in states resisting the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

The skepticism among the uninsured revealed by this survey isn't reflective of what Enroll America workers and volunteers hear from the people they contact, Anne Filipic, the group's president, said during a conference call with reporters Wednesday. The emphasis during those interactions is on practical concerns, not politics, she said. "The focus is on the opportunities that are available to consumers."

Enroll America announced its final push for 2014 enrollment Wednesday, calling it "Countdown to Get Covered." The organization, boosted by allied groups including the Service Employees International Union and the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, will stage more than 3,000 events across the country, including a bus tour through Ohio and Texas that will include local elected officials and leaders of religious organizations. The bus will visit Austin, Texas, during the South By Southwest music festival. Special emphasis will be placed on reaching out to African-Americans and Latinos and to students at community colleges.

"We know that people are hungry for these new options and eager to enroll when they find out what is available to them," Filipic said. "We will be pushing right up until the March 31 deadline to make sure as many Americans as possible are able to get covered."

The relatively small impact of these kinds of campaigns so far, however, is evident in another finding from the Kaiser Family Foundation poll: just 15 percent of the uninsured and 13 percent of respondents overall said they'd been personally contacted about the Affordable Care Act by telephone, email, text message, or door-to-door visit.

Combined with a relentlessly contentious political debate and overwhelmingly negative news media coverage of the troubled rollout of the health insurance exchanges, it's not surprising that uninsured Americans continue to have poor knowledge of the Affordable Care Act.

More than one-quarter of the uninsured report knowing nothing at all about the health insurance exchanges, with 37 percent more saying they know only a little. That compares with 24 percent who claim some knowledge and 12 percent who told pollsters they know a lot.

And 60 percent of the uninsured didn't know (or refused to respond) that March 31 is the last day to obtain health coverage for 2014 and to avoid financial penalties for violating the law's individual mandate requiring most Americans get covered. Less than a quarter of the uninsured knew about the March 31 deadline. In spite of all the outreach work and the publicity about Obamacare, lack of awareness remains a major obstacle, just as it did in September before enrollment began.


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Biden tries to sign up girl from *Canada* for ACA

Posted by Olog-hai on Sat Mar 1 16:07:23 2014, in response to Universal Health Care is HERE in these USA! Apply Now. www.healthcare.gov, posted by SMAZ on Tue Oct 1 13:19:06 2013.

fiogf49gjkf0d


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Re: Biden tries to sign up girl from *Canada* for ACA

Posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Sat Mar 1 16:26:53 2014, in response to Biden tries to sign up girl from *Canada* for ACA, posted by Olog-hai on Sat Mar 1 16:07:23 2014.

fiogf49gjkf0d
Yet the woman who accurately predicted current events 6 years ago is a total moron and would have made a horrible VP.

>inb4 butthurt

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Re: Biden tries to sign up girl from *Canada* for ACA

Posted by AlM on Sat Mar 1 17:40:35 2014, in response to Re: Biden tries to sign up girl from *Canada* for ACA, posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Sat Mar 1 16:26:53 2014.

fiogf49gjkf0d
Thank you for explaining so succinctly what President McCain would have done differently that would have prevented the Russian incursion into Crimea.



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Re: Biden tries to sign up girl from *Canada* for ACA

Posted by Easy on Sat Mar 1 18:02:38 2014, in response to Biden tries to sign up girl from *Canada* for ACA, posted by Olog-hai on Sat Mar 1 16:07:23 2014.

fiogf49gjkf0d
Haha! She didn't want to embarrass him!

I still like Obamacare though. Even with it's many flaws it's a step in the right direction.

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Re: Biden tries to sign up girl from *Canada* for ACA

Posted by SelkirkTMO on Sat Mar 1 18:26:45 2014, in response to Re: Biden tries to sign up girl from *Canada* for ACA, posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Sat Mar 1 16:26:53 2014.

fiogf49gjkf0d
Congratulations, Sarah Palin, on your broken clock award! :)



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Re: Biden tries to sign up girl from *Canada* for ACA

Posted by ChicagoMotorman on Sat Mar 1 19:09:15 2014, in response to Re: Biden tries to sign up girl from *Canada* for ACA, posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Sat Mar 1 16:26:53 2014.

fiogf49gjkf0d
Chris, you just jumped the shark.

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Re: Biden tries to sign up girl from *Canada* for ACA

Posted by AEM-7AC #901 on Sat Mar 1 19:20:08 2014, in response to Re: Biden tries to sign up girl from *Canada* for ACA, posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Sat Mar 1 16:26:53 2014.

fiogf49gjkf0d
Yet the woman who accurately predicted current events 6 years ago is a total moron

Except given that we're dealing with the Russians, what were our solutions? Some weak sanctions on them? Some moral posturing? Handing over some weapons to the Georgians who'd still end up losing? At this point, screw the Georgians. They're not "white", and I'm not going to start a war over them, and the same is true for the Ukrainians.

Hard realism is how you run foreign policy, not drunken flights of interventionist fantasy or naive isolationist policy.

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(1160527)

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Re: Biden tries to sign up girl from *Canada* for ACA

Posted by Spider-Pig on Sat Mar 1 19:32:09 2014, in response to Re: Biden tries to sign up girl from *Canada* for ACA, posted by AEM-7AC #901 on Sat Mar 1 19:20:08 2014.

fiogf49gjkf0d
They're not "white"

But they're Caucasian. Thank you for admitting that term is BS.

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(1160528)

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Re: Biden tries to sign up girl from *Canada* for ACA

Posted by Spider-Pig on Sat Mar 1 19:33:47 2014, in response to Re: Biden tries to sign up girl from *Canada* for ACA, posted by ChicagoMotorman on Sat Mar 1 19:09:15 2014.

fiogf49gjkf0d
Why? He was being ironic.

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Re: Biden tries to sign up girl from *Canada* for ACA

Posted by Easy on Sat Mar 1 19:37:33 2014, in response to Re: Biden tries to sign up girl from *Canada* for ACA, posted by Spider-Pig on Sat Mar 1 19:32:09 2014.

fiogf49gjkf0d
They aren't white? Says who?

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Re: Biden tries to sign up girl from *Canada* for ACA

Posted by Spider-Pig on Sat Mar 1 19:38:03 2014, in response to Re: Biden tries to sign up girl from *Canada* for ACA, posted by Easy on Sat Mar 1 19:37:33 2014.

fiogf49gjkf0d
AEM-7AC #901

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(1160531)

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Re: Biden tries to sign up girl from *Canada* for ACA

Posted by Easy on Sat Mar 1 19:40:07 2014, in response to Re: Biden tries to sign up girl from *Canada* for ACA, posted by Spider-Pig on Sat Mar 1 19:38:03 2014.

fiogf49gjkf0d
They're Caucasian, but are they aryan?

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(1160532)

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Re: Biden tries to sign up girl from *Canada* for ACA

Posted by Spider-Pig on Sat Mar 1 19:41:27 2014, in response to Re: Biden tries to sign up girl from *Canada* for ACA, posted by Easy on Sat Mar 1 19:40:07 2014.

fiogf49gjkf0d
No, that's iRan.


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Re: Universal Health Care is HERE in these USA! Apply Now. www.healthcare.gov

Posted by Jeff Rosen on Sat Mar 1 19:56:27 2014, in response to Universal Health Care is HERE in these USA! Apply Now. www.healthcare.gov, posted by SMAZ on Tue Oct 1 13:19:06 2013.

fiogf49gjkf0d
Honest mistake.

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(1160536)

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Re: Biden tries to sign up girl from *Canada* for ACA

Posted by Jeff Rosen on Sat Mar 1 20:13:02 2014, in response to Biden tries to sign up girl from *Canada* for ACA, posted by Olog-hai on Sat Mar 1 16:07:23 2014.

fiogf49gjkf0d
Honest mistake.

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(1160537)

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Re: Universal Health Care is HERE in these USA! Apply Now. www.healthcare.gov

Posted by Jeff Rosen on Sat Mar 1 20:15:36 2014, in response to Re: Universal Health Care is HERE in these USA! Apply Now. www.healthcare.gov, posted by Jeff Rosen on Sat Mar 1 19:56:27 2014.

fiogf49gjkf0d
Meant to respond to "Biden tries to sign up girl from *Canada* for ACA". That's what happens when someone changes the name of a thread and I hit "First in Thread" to respond.

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Re: Biden tries to sign up girl from *Canada* for ACA

Posted by DAnD124 on Sat Mar 1 20:34:20 2014, in response to Re: Biden tries to sign up girl from *Canada* for ACA, posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Sat Mar 1 16:26:53 2014.

fiogf49gjkf0d
yes, had Palin been VP Putin would have been so afraid of her watching him from her house in Alaska that he wouldn't have tried anything

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(1160549)

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Re: Biden tries to sign up girl from *Canada* for ACA

Posted by Olog-hai on Sat Mar 1 21:19:56 2014, in response to Re: Biden tries to sign up girl from *Canada* for ACA, posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Sat Mar 1 16:26:53 2014.

fiogf49gjkf0d
Yeah; you can't get a lib to change its views, even when "mugged by reality".

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Re: Universal Health Care is HERE in these USA! Apply Now. www.healthcare.gov

Posted by Olog-hai on Sat Mar 1 21:21:36 2014, in response to Re: Universal Health Care is HERE in these USA! Apply Now. www.healthcare.gov, posted by Jeff Rosen on Sat Mar 1 20:15:36 2014.

fiogf49gjkf0d
Why would you hit "First in thread" to respond at all?

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Re: Biden tries to sign up girl from *Canada* for ACA

Posted by Olog-hai on Sat Mar 1 21:22:05 2014, in response to Re: Biden tries to sign up girl from *Canada* for ACA, posted by Jeff Rosen on Sat Mar 1 20:13:02 2014.

fiogf49gjkf0d
Yeah, sure.

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Re: Universal Health Care is HERE in these USA! Apply Now. www.healthcare.gov

Posted by Jeff Rosen on Sat Mar 1 22:14:14 2014, in response to Re: Universal Health Care is HERE in these USA! Apply Now. www.healthcare.gov, posted by Olog-hai on Sat Mar 1 21:21:36 2014.

fiogf49gjkf0d
Absent mindedness I guess. I be getting old!!!

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Re: Biden tries to sign up girl from *Canada* for ACA

Posted by Edwards! on Sun Mar 2 01:37:59 2014, in response to Re: Biden tries to sign up girl from *Canada* for ACA, posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Sat Mar 1 16:26:53 2014.

fiogf49gjkf0d
LOL..
Canada has a health care system just as good as ours,if not better.
Is That the reason why so many Americans crossed the border Before the healthcare act passed?

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Re: Biden tries to sign up girl from *Canada* for ACA

Posted by SelkirkTMO on Sun Mar 2 01:48:53 2014, in response to Re: Biden tries to sign up girl from *Canada* for ACA, posted by Edwards! on Sun Mar 2 01:37:59 2014.

fiogf49gjkf0d
Shhhh! Nobody's supposed to know about that - word on the street is that it's the opposite. :)

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Re: Universal Health Care is HERE in these USA! Apply Now. www.healthcare.gov

Posted by Dave on Sun Mar 2 07:39:39 2014, in response to Re: Universal Health Care is HERE in these USA! Apply Now. www.healthcare.gov, posted by Jeff Rosen on Sat Mar 1 22:14:14 2014.

fiogf49gjkf0d
Sarge, you're as young as the woman you feel!

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15,000 applicants "stuck" in Washington state health insurance exchange

Posted by Olog-hai on Sun Mar 2 22:50:20 2014, in response to Universal Health Care is HERE in these USA! Apply Now. www.healthcare.gov, posted by SMAZ on Tue Oct 1 13:19:06 2013.

fiogf49gjkf0d
Seattle Times

15,000 applicants ‘stuck’ in state’s insurance exchange

The launch of Washington’s online insurance exchange came with more than a few problems. Since then, the exchange website’s performance has improved and stabilized, but issues remain.

By Patrick Marshall
Sunday, March 2, 2014 at 5:49 PM
Five months since the launch of the Washington Healthplanfinder insurance exchange, officials say many of the website problems consumers experienced in the early weeks have been fully resolved. At the same time, they acknowledge there are still thorny issues they are working to fix.

At the top of the list are more than 15,000 insurance applications that are “stuck.”

About 5,000 to 6,000 of them have problems because the data entered by consumers isn’t matching up with state databases that track which benefits, including Medicaid, applicants are eligible to receive. An applicant, for example, may name a different head of household or street address than is contained in the state’s other eligibility databases.

An additional 5,000 or so applications have tax-filing related issues, and the remaining 5,000 require more information from the applicant.

Ryan O’Keven, 31, a self-employed mortgage broker in Seattle, is one of those who is stuck. Despite having started his application in early October, he and his wife are still without insurance.

O’Keven has received a number of reasons, including that the eligibility system couldn’t confirm his or his wife’s citizenship.

“I never quite get the feeling from representatives I’ve spoken to that they really have a grasp of what the issues are, or maybe they’re just not being told,” O’Keven said.

For their part, exchange officials say they’re working on the problems.

“We have a team of folks who meet on a daily basis to unstick these applications,” Brad Finnegan, the exchange’s associate director of operations, told exchange board members at a meeting Thursday.

Asked by a board member what fixes are being pursued, Finnegan said the exchange information-technology staff is in discussions with the state Health Care Authority and Department of Social and Health Services about how to change data-matching rules. “We don’t think it’s a good solution to have all these applications require a manual touch,” he said.

While there are still challenges, things have improved steadily since the exchange’s October launch, said Curt Kwak, chief information officer of the Washington Health Benefit Exchange, which operates Healthplanfinder.

“We haven’t had a single outage that was not intended,” he said. “From a stability and operations point of view, it is rock solid.”

The number of enrollments shows the Washington exchange has been working better than those in many states. Indeed, as of Feb. 25, the exchange had enrolled more than 100,000 people in qualified health plans, not counting Medicaid. And even though the end-of-the-year rush of applicants has eased a bit, the exchange site, wahealthplanfinder.org, is getting 55,000 to 60,000 visits a day.

While the site has not crashed in weeks, users do still face problems.

One of the most serious occurs when users find themselves locked out of their accounts, leaving them unable to complete their applications.

This can happen for one of two reasons: a system error, or the user has made too many changes in application data.

With respect to the latter condition, Kwak says it was intentionally designed to work that way. “It was to protect customers from owing money at tax time if the application was being tweaked to qualify for more financial help than allowed under the law,” Kwak said.

He said the tech staff noticed consumers were using the site as a calculator, entering different scenarios and different data to see if they could maximize the tax credit they would receive.

Unfortunately, it seems that many users also have been locked out after making innocent input errors and are unable to correct them. Recognizing that, Kwak said, “We do have some releases coming up that we think should ease the application functionality and allow more changes more easily for users.”

As for “system errors,” Kwak says those have been progressively reduced since the site’s launch. Such errors may require recoding by programmers.

Kwak says the exchange has not kept records on the numbers of accounts that have problems.

If lockouts or system errors do occur, users are advised to contact the exchange call center. But, as Kwak acknowledges, the call center can be an additional source of consumer frustration.

“I understand that the call centers have been swamped and people can’t get through in a timely manner,” he said. “There is an all-out effort to make sure the consumers are notified and taken care of. But it’s just the sheer number and volume that we are continuing to have to deal with.”

In fact, according to the exchange as of Feb. 11, wait times at the call center after an initial menu selection is made were averaging 37 minutes.

The exchange also tracked 100 applications made on Feb. 14 and found that only five involved an error.

The exchange also has had some problems with its autopay system. After consumers set up their accounts to automatically make premium payments, the final step of activating the autopayment, in some cases, was not completed.

Affected consumers received no indication of this. As a result, an unknown number of them received bills in February for two months of premiums (February and March). The exchange advises any consumers who encountered this to return to their online account and complete the autopay activation.

Inconsistent calculators

Another source of confusion stems from having three different calculators on the website that deliver considerably different results.

If consumers click on “Find and Compare Health Plans” on the home page, they’ll see under the heading “Your Savings” a hyperlink labeled “See if you qualify.” That link leads to a calculator that asks for the names and ages of applicants, as well as income information. It then estimates the applicant’s tax credit and provides an estimated premium for a silver-level health plan.

Alternatively, clicking on the site’s large “Find Quality Coverage” button at the top of the same page allows the user to review specific plans, with their estimated tax credit and premiums displayed.

Finally, consumers go through similar calculations in the process of actually applying for the plan they select.

The exchange has acknowledged that each calculator employs different plan data in making those estimates.

But it’s not just the estimated premiums that vary. A test of the three calculators, resulted in estimated tax credits (which help defray the cost of premiums) for a married couple of $913, $679 and $787. Those credits should be the same regardless of the plan chosen.

According to Kwak, the only calculations to rely upon are those in the actual application process. The other calculators, he said, “are just simple estimates.”

Kwak noted that many of the problems result from the very complex set of interactions the site must manage with back-end databases that are not apparent to the public.

“This is still a brand-new marketplace,” Kwak said. “So we’re still working through the startup issues that we expected. I can only ask for patience from consumers as we continue to work through these issues.”


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Re: 15,000 applicants ''stuck'' in Washington state health insurance exchange

Posted by Dan Lawrence on Mon Mar 3 12:06:17 2014, in response to 15,000 applicants "stuck" in Washington state health insurance exchange, posted by Olog-hai on Sun Mar 2 22:50:20 2014.

fiogf49gjkf0d
They ain't the only one!! Maryland can't and probably most of the other states might be in the same problem.

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"Big punt" (delay of individual mandate) looming?

Posted by Olog-hai on Thu Mar 6 21:23:51 2014, in response to Universal Health Care is HERE in these USA! Apply Now. www.healthcare.gov, posted by SMAZ on Tue Oct 1 13:19:06 2013.

fiogf49gjkf0d
Washington (goal)Post

The Insiders: Get ready for the Obamacare ‘Big Punt’

By Ed Rogers
March 6, 2014 at 6:23 pm
Washington’s preoccupation with Ukraine has pushed the continuing decay of Obamacare from the headlines. And what little news about Obamacare there has been is just more of the same — delays, a lack of transparency and the usual efforts by Republicans to repeal and replace Obamacare.

Yesterday, the White House announced yet another Obamacare delay, this time waiving the law’s minimum health care benefit requirements to allow Americans to keep their canceled health care plans until 2017. This came as the House passed H.R. 4118, which would suspend the individual mandate penalty, by a margin of 250-160 (including 27 Democrats who voted for the bill). And the latest enrollment numbers from the Department of Health and Human Services will be announced in the next week, but the administration continues to hide the composition of the 3.3 million who have managed to sign up for Obamacare so far.

Anyway, from what we know about the president’s management style and his lack of interest in details, we can assume that President Obama either didn’t know or didn’t much care about what was actually in Obamacare. Who knew that the president was among those who then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was talking to when she famously said, “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it”? Obama either believed that you could keep your doctor and your health care plan because that was what showed up in the prepared speeches he was given to read, or he willfully lied to the American people. Either way, because the president didn’t really know what was in the bill, he doesn’t mind changing it when it doesn’t fit his political purposes. The distraction of Ukraine and the media’s numbness to the stream of Obamacare travails is providing time and a smokescreen for Obama to prepare a big announcement for after March 31, 2014: The BIG PUNT, i.e. a delay in the individual mandate.

The White House and their Democratic allies must realize that they are on a trajectory to lose the Senate in 2014 and are likely coming to terms with the idea that delaying the individual mandate is one way to attempt to change that path. Look for the president to bite the bullet and give in to the vulnerable Democrats, consultants, pundits and other credible handwringers who are telling the president they must try anything and everything to alter the course of the elections. Otherwise, the last two years of the president’s time in office will be spent either vetoing or signing into law Republican legislation, and only conservative-approved nominees will be confirmed for any federal post by a Republican Senate.

Obamacare is a terminal political cancer for incumbent Senate Democrats, including senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), Mary Landrieu (D-La.), Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) and Mark Begich (D-Ala.). Senators Mark Udall (D-Colo.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) are showing early stage symptoms as well. Combine those races with the open seats in West Virginia, South Dakota, Iowa and Michigan and it’s obvious the Democrats are struggling.

Obamacare is not getting any more popular and neither is the president. It’s obvious that the incremental moves the White House has made to try and temper voters’ anger isn’t working.


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Re: ''Big punt'' (delay of individual mandate) looming?

Posted by SelkirkTMO on Thu Mar 6 21:35:34 2014, in response to "Big punt" (delay of individual mandate) looming?, posted by Olog-hai on Thu Mar 6 21:23:51 2014.

fiogf49gjkf0d
Heh. And you keep insisting that WaPo is "liberal." Unless YOU wrote the last couple of grafs, I think we can put THAT baby to bed now.

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Re: ''Big punt'' (delay of individual mandate) looming?

Posted by italianstallion on Fri Mar 7 00:02:33 2014, in response to "Big punt" (delay of individual mandate) looming?, posted by Olog-hai on Thu Mar 6 21:23:51 2014.

fiogf49gjkf0d
Not gonna happen.

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Is the POTUS losing faith in the ACA?

Posted by Olog-hai on Fri Mar 7 13:28:04 2014, in response to Universal Health Care is HERE in these USA! Apply Now. www.healthcare.gov, posted by SMAZ on Tue Oct 1 13:19:06 2013.

fiogf49gjkf0d
Yahoo Finance | The Exchange

Even Obama seems to be losing faith in Obamacare

By Rick Newman
March 7, 2014
If you’d like the government to change something about Obamacare, give the White House a ring. They’re in a flexible mood.

President Obama this week approved yet another delay to provisions in the Affordable Care Act, giving insurers until 2016 to sell a type of insurance policy that’s supposed to be banned under the health-reform law. The ban, which was supposed to begin this year, would prevent insurers from selling bare-bones plans that might be affordable but don’t abide by 10 “essential service rules” required under the new law.

When insurers began canceling such coverage last year, however, several million Americans were forced off plans they had chosen, with most alternatives being more expensive. That undermined Obama’s frequent claim that “if you like your health insurance, you can keep it,” and turned into one of the most controversial elements of a law that hardly lacks detractors.

In November, Obama announced a one-year delay in the ban on “substandard” plans, as he used to call them. Now, extending the delay to 2016 will “provide consumers with choices so they can decide what is best,” the government says. Yet these limbo plans — temporarily allowed but bound to vanish at some point — defy the whole intent of Obamacare, as if the president is losing faith in his own plan. “This is a political move to minimize the impact of this as an argument against Democratic candidates,” says Sean Nicholson, a management professor at Cornell University.

Obama and his fellow Democrats certainly need some political cover as the November midterm elections approach. Support for the ACA has never risen above 45% and it actually weakened as the law went into effect. A recent Gallup poll shows 23% of Americans say they’ve been hurt by the law, while only 10% say they’ve been helped. That may overstate the ACA’s actual impact — since 16% of people said the ACA harmed them a year before it even went into effect — yet the negative impression alone is a big problem for Democrats who voted for the law and now must defend it as they run for re-election.

People with bare-bones insurance plans tend to be healthy enough to feel comfortable skimping on coverage. Yet it’s critical to get such people to enroll in the new federal program, so the premiums they pay will help offset the cost of older, sicker enrollees. If the ACA exempted everybody who wanted a cheap, limited plan, it could thwart the whole program, since it would include too many costly patients and premiums would be prohibitively high.

Obama now seems to be backing off one of the key planks of the whole reform effort. Yet many of the people “allowed” to keep a substandard plan will be forced to enroll in Obamacare anyway. The pressure, however, comes from three sources other than the federal government:

States. Insurance commissioners in each state must explicitly allow insurers to offer the limbo policies, and only about half of the states have said they will. So people in many states won’t be able to get a limbo plan even though Obama has said they can.

Insurers. Insurance companies spent three years preparing for the onset of Obamacare, including the ban on bare-bones plans. While reinstating old policies might earn them a few extra bucks, it’s also a hassle to cancel policies, then reinstate them only to cancel them again in a couple of years. “I would expect insurers that have already decided not to offer these are not going to change their minds in great numbers,” says Tim Jost, an expert on health law at Washington & Lee University law school.

Healthcare consumers. Bare-bones plans are the type consumers drop most frequently, as they get new jobs that offer better coverage, go onto a spouse’s plan or simply drop their insurance. Since insurers are only allowed to carry over plans that were offered in 2013 — not offer new ones — turnover alone should quickly reduce the number of people who have such plans, diminishing the importance of limbo plans.

The change means Democrats will be able to say Obamacare really does let you keep your insurance plan (wink, wink). But Jost says even that strategy carries risks. “By delaying it until 2016, that means some people might get cancellation notices right before the next presidential election," he says. “That doesn’t seem very smart.”

Of course, Obama could always extend the deadline.


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Re: Is the POTUS losing faith in the ACA?

Posted by ChicagoMotorman on Fri Mar 7 13:38:40 2014, in response to Is the POTUS losing faith in the ACA?, posted by Olog-hai on Fri Mar 7 13:28:04 2014.

fiogf49gjkf0d
Why are you posting this when post people here (not me) will disagree with this?

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Re: Is the POTUS losing faith in the ACA?

Posted by Olog-hai on Fri Mar 7 15:17:45 2014, in response to Re: Is the POTUS losing faith in the ACA?, posted by ChicagoMotorman on Fri Mar 7 13:38:40 2014.

fiogf49gjkf0d
You just answered your own question.

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(1162628)

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Re: Is the POTUS losing faith in the ACA?

Posted by italianstallion on Fri Mar 7 19:36:24 2014, in response to Is the POTUS losing faith in the ACA?, posted by Olog-hai on Fri Mar 7 13:28:04 2014.

fiogf49gjkf0d
Uh, no.

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ACA squeezing middle class in California

Posted by Olog-hai on Sat Mar 8 13:53:11 2014, in response to Universal Health Care is HERE in these USA! Apply Now. www.healthcare.gov, posted by SMAZ on Tue Oct 1 13:19:06 2013.

fiogf49gjkf0d
Guess it ain't "universal" health care after all.

Sacramento Bee

In California, middle class feels health insurance squeeze

By Christopher Cadelago and Phillip Reese
Published: Saturday, Mar. 8, 2014 12:00 am
Dawn and Nick LaPolla of Fair Oaks are solidly middle class, and they aren’t uninsured.

Yet their required switch to a new health insurance plan under federal changes puts them at a financial crossroads.

If they earn less than $94,200 a year, the family of four’s preferred plan through the California health exchange would cost about $750 a month. But if they make even slightly more, they’ll pay about $1,040. That’s because they would exceed the threshold to qualify for federal subsidies. Their current high-deductible plan, which expires in two months, costs $573 a month.

Unlike wealthier state residents who more easily can afford the new, often more comprehensive plans, or lower-income people aided by government subsidies, the LaPollas are part of a sizable segment of Californians slowly coming to grips with dedicating a greater percentage of their income to new policies.

“It’s completely unfair,” said Dawn LaPolla, 40. “Wouldn’t you consider us still part of that struggling group? We’re not buying yachts. We’re not going on trips every year. We’re not putting our kids in private schools. We’re not buying Fendi bags. We’re still unsure whether we will be able to pay our mortgage.”

For the vast majority of residents, the Covered California subsidy isn’t an issue. Low-income residents receive health insurance through Medi-Cal. Millions of others have insurance subsidized by their employer.

Through the exchange, subsidies are available for those making up to four times the federal poverty level. Eighty-six percent of those enrolling are getting some form of financial assistance. That means hundreds of thousands of Californians would be better off financially if they made a little less money because of the sharp income cutoff.

In addition to families like the LaPollas, at least 1 million of the state’s estimated 7 million uninsured residents won’t be eligible for subsidies if they purchase health care through Covered California because they earn too much, according to a Sacramento Bee review of census figures and Affordable Care Act guidelines.

Of those, at least 240,000, or nearly one in four, would qualify for subsidies if they made $10,000 a year less. More than 9,500 people who barely miss out on subsidies live in the Sacramento region.

A study before the new law took hold found that the proportion of income dedicated to health care spending varied widely. Half of non-elderly Californians spent 2.4 percent or less of their income on health care, including out-of-pocket services, while 10 percent spent 18.9 percent, according to researchers at the nonpartisan Urban Institute.

Health policy experts recommend spending no more than 10 percent overall on health care. In the LaPollas’ case, the discrepancy between obtaining a subsidized “silver” plan, the second cheapest and most-chosen alternative, or paying the full cost themselves is considerable. They’ll pay either 9.45 percent or 13.25 percent of their income on premiums alone.

Experts say the problem could be addressed without adding costs by expanding subsidies to those making more than four times the federal poverty level, while paring back premium assistance for lower income levels. But right now, many on the cusp of receiving financial aid, particularly those in their 50s and 60s, stand to pay significantly more than those who are subsidized for even the cheapest plans.

A 58-year-old earning $46,000 a year and living in Bakersfield would pay about $5,075 a year, or 11 percent of his pay, for the most-affordable plan. If he made $45,000 a year, he would pay $2,570, or 5.7 percent of his income, for the same plan.

A household of three, ages 16, 45 and 46, earning $80,000 and living in San Jose would pay $8,928 a year, or more than 11 percent of their income, for one of the cheapest policies. At $75,000 a year, the cost would drop to $4,512, or 6 percent of their income.

The numbers are estimates using the state exchange’s shop-and-compare tool, which is based on the federal poverty level for 2013.

Frank Gallo, an insurance broker in Burbank, said he recently helped a client find a health plan and had to give her some bad news. She earned $52,000 a year, too much to receive subsidies, and her advancing age pushed the quoted premium to more than $8,000 a year, about 15.4 percent of her income.

That’s well beyond what health policy experts consider affordable.


“It’s a little bit upsetting for them,” Gallo said. “They say, ‘I barely make a living and I don’t get any aid?’ They are caught in the middle. They feel they would like to have insurance, and some have had it, but now they see the cost is higher and they don’t have the aid to pay for it.”

While many of the new plans are more robust, they often come with unneeded services. Gallo said his client is in her early 60s, and has no use for maternity and newborn care. The new exchange plans also must cover mental health and substance use disorder services, preventive and wellness assistance as well as certain pediatric care.

Karen Pollitz, a senior fellow at the Kaiser Family Foundation in Washington, said the current subsidy levels are on the mark. The new coverage is more protective and comprehensive than virtually any plans on sale last year, she said.

Pollitz urged customers to take a more holistic view of their health care spending rather than comparing only the premium amounts from this year and last. Some with expiring policies were taking advantage of relatively low first-year rates that would have spiked regardless of whether the overhaul took effect, she said.

A recent analysis by Mountain View-based eHealth, the nation’s largest online health insurance broker, found that the cost of an individual plan in California outside the state exchange rose to an average of $331 a month from $196 a month a year ago.

For those with plans on and off the exchange that trend is unlikely to repeat, Pollitz said.

“I think the only comfort for them — and it might not be much — is they have moved to a new premium glide path,” she said. “Even if they didn’t experience it directly, they need to know that there was tremendous volatility.”

Jamie Court, the president of Consumer Watchdog, said the onus should be on insurers to bring down rates.

“Subsidies mask the fact that the rates are too high and people are paying too much,” said Court, whose organization is sponsoring an initiative on November’s ballot that would require health insurance rate hikes to be approved by the state insurance commissioner.

“We created this law because people had to to choose between paying the mortgage and paying for health insurance so they didn’t go bankrupt from medical bills,” Court said. “Now some of them need to make new choices: Should they work or cut back in the labor force to get the subsidies?”

Anne Gonzales, a spokeswoman for Covered California, said working with financial planners or tax professionals could help customers receive subsidies and save thousands of dollars. Reducing taxable income by increasing retirement savings is one option, she said.

“There is no reason why somebody should have to pay 10 percent of their income for insurance,” Gonzales said. “So we encourage people to use this as an opportunity and to become aware of their options.” She noted that families whose lowest-cost premiums exceed 8 percent of their income have the opportunity to buy less expensive catastrophic coverage.

Seated at her kitchen counter one recent morning, Dawn LaPolla opened a folder full of research on her family’s health insurance options, which she described to friends on Facebook as the “Middle Class Cliff of Doom.”

A trained graphic artist, she designed an image of a family of four standing on the edge of a ravine. The couple had originally narrowed its options to plans from Anthem Blue Cross and Kaiser Permanente that pay 70 percent of the average costs. But all options remain on the table, including buying the less comprehensive catastrophic coverage.

Their company, Red Zebra Media Inc., is geared toward online marketers, and business is unpredictable. Two years ago, the family’s income was slightly less than four times the federal poverty level. Last year, it exceeded the threshold, but they dipped into an IRA to cover expenses.

Nick LaPolla, 44, said the family would almost certainly consider reducing orders at the end of the year if it appeared the extra money would put them over the edge — and they didn’t expect to receive a large windfall.

“It’s such a steep penalty for making more money,” he said. “Basically, the guy that works a little harder is really just giving himself a pay cut.”


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Re: ACA squeezing middle class in California

Posted by SelkirkTMO on Sat Mar 8 14:00:58 2014, in response to ACA squeezing middle class in California, posted by Olog-hai on Sat Mar 8 13:53:11 2014.

fiogf49gjkf0d
Someone should tell them that these are conservative times. They should work harder. :)

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Re: ACA squeezing middle class in California

Posted by Fred G on Sat Mar 8 14:04:04 2014, in response to Re: ACA squeezing middle class in California, posted by SelkirkTMO on Sat Mar 8 14:00:58 2014.

fiogf49gjkf0d
People should just stop doing what makes them poor :)

your pal,
Fred

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Re: ACA squeezing middle class in California

Posted by Olog-hai on Sat Mar 8 14:10:16 2014, in response to Re: ACA squeezing middle class in California, posted by SelkirkTMO on Sat Mar 8 14:00:58 2014.

fiogf49gjkf0d
No, it's more like communism. Remember?

In the (State of California), work is a duty and a matter of honor for every able-bodied citizen, in accordance with the principle: "He who does not work, neither shall he eat."


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Re: ACA squeezing middle class in California

Posted by Easy on Sat Mar 8 14:10:35 2014, in response to Re: ACA squeezing middle class in California, posted by Fred G on Sat Mar 8 14:04:04 2014.

fiogf49gjkf0d
Cut back on some of that food and housing. Then they could pay more in sales tax so that the wealthy could pay less tax.

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Re: ACA squeezing middle class in California

Posted by SelkirkTMO on Sat Mar 8 14:10:43 2014, in response to Re: ACA squeezing middle class in California, posted by Fred G on Sat Mar 8 14:04:04 2014.

fiogf49gjkf0d
Exactly! And don't get sick, and don't retire. :)

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Re: ACA squeezing middle class in California

Posted by SelkirkTMO on Sat Mar 8 14:13:17 2014, in response to Re: ACA squeezing middle class in California, posted by Olog-hai on Sat Mar 8 14:10:16 2014.

fiogf49gjkf0d
I always knew today's conservatives were communists. We can see it at work now in Ukraine.

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Re: ACA squeezing middle class in California

Posted by SelkirkTMO on Sat Mar 8 14:14:03 2014, in response to Re: ACA squeezing middle class in California, posted by Easy on Sat Mar 8 14:10:35 2014.

fiogf49gjkf0d
THIW. Gotta make sacrifices so Karl Icahn can raise his dividend.

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Re: ACA squeezing middle class in California

Posted by Fred G on Sat Mar 8 14:18:08 2014, in response to Re: ACA squeezing middle class in California, posted by Easy on Sat Mar 8 14:10:35 2014.

fiogf49gjkf0d
If they would just buy RV's and consolidate housing and transportation, then they could probably afford to eat better and buy more stuff.

your pal,
Fred

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Re: ACA squeezing middle class in California

Posted by salaamallah@hotmail.com on Sat Mar 8 14:20:15 2014, in response to Re: ACA squeezing middle class in California, posted by SelkirkTMO on Sat Mar 8 14:10:43 2014.

fiogf49gjkf0d
big iawtp

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Re: ACA squeezing middle class in California

Posted by SelkirkTMO on Sat Mar 8 18:57:01 2014, in response to Re: ACA squeezing middle class in California, posted by Fred G on Sat Mar 8 14:18:08 2014.

fiogf49gjkf0d
Plus live in WalMart parking lots so they can save on gas. :)

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