This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Health Care debate

  • What Goes Around, Comes Around

    Learn something new every day.

    It looks like in passing that Puerile Pararthric Asininity Created by Agnosics Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), Congress – to paraphrase that “intrepid and August font of wisdom”, Paul “Fitzy” Fitzgerald – just might have “went and f***ed themselves.”  And it looks like they did the same to their staffs while they were at it, too.

    How so?  Previously, as Federal employees Members of Congress and their staffs were eligible for insurance coverage through one of the group plans sponsored by their employer (the Federal government) under the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program.  Members of Congress and their staffs could also previously opt to secure health insurance individually.  But now, it seems that the PPACA now REQUIRES Congress and their personal staff to use PPACA health exchanges to secure health insurance.

    Yeah, under the new law Members of Congress and their staff essentially get the same subsidy that they would have under the previous employer group plans.  But it seems that, well, the requirement to use the PPACA exchanges, coupled with the changes mandated by the PPACA, to secure insurance has led to some issues.

    At least one member of Congress – specifically, Representative Michele Bachmann – has now received notice that her existing health insurance is being cancelled because it no longer qualifies under the PPACA’s new requirements.  No word yet on how many other Members of Congress and Congressional staffers have been similarly affected.

    Ya think if that happens about 300 more times Congress might realize something needs to be done to fix the problem?  Maybe.  I ain’t holding my breath, though.

    Sometimes I swear that you can almost see Karma in action.  Here I bet she’s grinning from ear-to-ear while acting, too.  (smile)

  • Sure, It’s All Legit. Trust Us.

    One of the main boondoggle giveaways in features of the P!ss-Poor Abysmally-Crafted Abomination Patient Protection and “Affordable” Care Act (PPACA) is the fact that it subsidizes the cost of insurance for many.  In fact, that’s one of the main ways it will screw over US taxpayers help the “poor”.

    So, no one would ever take advantage of that, right?  No one would ever think of understating their income so that they’d qualify for “free help”, right?

    Yeah, right.  Uh huh.  Sure.  Whatever you say, amigo.  Just like everyone who gets cash income always declares 100% of that cash income on their tax returns.  And just like they always send Uncle Sam their FICA and Medicare taxes from said cash income, too.

    Of course this is going to be abused like hell.  In fact, it already is being abused.

    And the “kicker”?  Some PPACA “Navigators” are advising people to do exactly that.

    Yeah, folks – you read that correctly.  We (US taxpayers) are actually paying people to tell people how to defraud Uncle Sam.

    Don’t believe me?  Then watch this video clip.  And afterwards, watch this one, too.  And then you can read this article.  (You might want to have a barf bag handy, though.)

    Sheesh.

    Dunno about you, but I’m getting damned tired of seeing my tax dollars siphoned off by blatant fraud like this.  And I’m royally p!ssed that the Federal government is actually paying people to help low-life a-holes certain individuals perpetrate that fraud.

  • Another Runaway Roaring Down the ObamaCare Tunnel

    If the Obama administration thinks it has its hands full trying to create an effective system for enrolling participants, as the saying goes, “They ain’t seen nuthin’ yet.” Anyone with experience in the health care market can tell you that a far bigger problem than program enrollment or even delivery of services is billing and collections.

    This ongoing train wreck of an introduction to the enrollment program has had many of us wondering how in the world these clowns will ever be able to handle the much more difficult issue of paying for it. Even the Washington Post can see the pending problems as outlined in an article by the former boss of the Massachusetts forerunner of Obama’s program.

    Jon Kingsdale, who ran the Bay State operation from 2006 to 2010, correctly shows just how those billing and premium payment problems are going to be hugely difficult for ObamaCare. Many of the very people whom ObamaCare was designed to insure are the very poor, and those folks share a common cultural trait that is going to guarantee that difficulty: they don’t use banks, and most can’t get credit cards. Since virtually all health insurance billing and premium collection are done either by bank check or electronic transfer through a bank checking or credit card account, an administrative cost-saver for insurers, how are these folks going to make their payments? According to this report by Jackson Hewitt Tax Services, the number of these “unbanked Americans” is just under 50 million and that:

    More than one in four uninsured Americans eligible for the new premium assistance tax credits under the ACA does not have a checking account. Among the uninsured, non-elderly population with household incomes in the tax credit eligible range, 27 percent are effectively “unbanked.”

    The Jackson Hewitt report says the problem can be easily fixed simply by the government forcing insurers to accept debit card payments. But they fail to note that this will require setting up another federal program akin to EBT, and doing it very quickly — within weeks, in fact. Good luck with that.

    At WaPo, linking to the JH report, Kingsdale notes even more problems:

    Enrollees are not covered until their first month’s premium is received. In the individual insurance market, premium billing and collection is difficult to track. Folks frequently pay late or in weekly installments, or send too little or even too much. And when they stop paying, they often do not notify the insurer; the company must determine whether it is an intentional termination, an oversight, or a lost or late payment. Unlike most of today’s 15 million direct enrollees, who pay premiums on their own, an estimated 27 percent of those who will be eligible for tax credits under the ACA do not have checking accounts. So they must use cash, money orders or prepaid debit cards to pay their share of monthly premiums.

    Remember, enrollees remain uninsured until their first month’s premium is received. And until the exchanges begin to collect premiums, their operations remain underfunded — a bit of a Catch-22.

    This has all the appearance of a runaway locomotive roaring down ObamaCare’s tunnel of troubles, headed smack into the caboose of the already derailed Enrollment Express.

    You have to shake your head in wonder that ObamaCare’s promoters failed to anticipate and address this payment train wreck. It has to make you wonder just how well these liberal elites really understand the poor folks they profess to stand up for.

    Crossposted at American Thinker

  • Déjà Screwed

    I swear, sometimes I think every freakin’ day is Groundhog Day when it comes to our Federal government.  They simply don’t seem to learn a damn thing from past fiascos.

    Well, at least the current Administration doesn’t.

    Remember the Lifeline fiasco I wrote about the other day – that “free phone” program where the Federal government depended for years on unchecked self-certification to determine eligibility?  Remember how well that worked out?

    Wanna guess how the Federal government is going to determine whether people qualify for tax credits under the new Patently Phoney Patient Privacy and Absurd  ‘Affordable’ Care Abomination Act next year?  C’mon – take a guess.

    But hey, I’m gonna be a hardass here.  You only get one guess.

    If you guessed “self-certification with no requirement for backup documentation or cross-checking” – AKA the “honor system” – give yourself a freaking gold star.  ‘Cause that’s exactly how the Federal government plans to hand out PPACA-related tax credits next year.

    Until last year, that’s the same method the Federal government used to determine eligibility for Lifeline phones.  Based on early indications from imposing cross-checking and requiring annual re-certification, looks like that program had about a 41% fraud rate.

    It’s also how the Federal government determines eligibility today for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).  That program is estimated to lose 20-25% of its total annual outlays to fraud.

    Ya know, I kinda think I’m seeing a pattern here.  But maybe it’s just me.

    Predictably, the FBI expects to see fraud related to this new tax credit – a LOT of fraud.  They’re currently estimating we’ll see on the order of $20 billion in healthcare tax credit fraud next year.  I think that might be in the ballpark – for the first year.  Then it will skyrocket.  And it’s possible that estimate could be way low for the first year, too.

    Looks like it really is “Here we go again.”  And remember:  that’s yet another “bennie” to the US taxpayer, courtesy of the PPACA.  So just grit your teeth and bend over.

    Yeah, that’s courtesy of the PPACA, too.

  • And In the “More ‘Affordable’ Care Act ‘Good News’ ” Department . . .

    Anyone with three or more working brain cells can see that there are serious problems with the Pathetically Puerile Patient Protection and Asinine “Affordable” Care Abomination Act (PPACA), often referred to as “Obamacare”.  Yet it seems that each day reveals yet another little hidden “gem” – now that the law’s been passed and we’ve actually been allowed to read it.

    The latest little “gem” coming to light is a real pearl.  In effect, on 1 January 2014 the law changes who can determine whether an individual qualifies for Medicaid.

    No, I’m not talking about the new income limits for Medicaid imposed by the PPACA Medicaid Expansion.  I’m literally talking about the law changing who can determine if an individual qualifies for treatment under a state’s Medicaid program at state expense.

    Medicaid is a state program – or, more precisely, a collection of individual state programs – to which the Federal government kicks in a large part of the funding.  The fraction of the funding provided by Uncle Sam depends primarily on a state’s per capita income.  Wealthier states get less; poorer states get more.  (Hmm, that sounds familiar – something about “. . . to each according to his need” keeps coming to mind.)

    Previously, Medicaid eligibility and rules were determined by state legislatures when they passed enabling state legislation and established regulations for the operation of Medicaid within that state.  That’s by design; these are state, not Federal, programs.

    The PPACA changes who can make Medicate eligibility decisions.

    (more…)

  • Karma, Perhaps?

    This is rich (emphasis added).

    Democratic officials said top administration aides got a close-up view of the cancellation controversy last week, when Sen. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., said at a closed-door meeting of the party’s rank and file that his son had received notice his coverage was being terminated.

    Senator Donnelly’s office reportedly has declined several requests for comment on the matter.

  • Just When You Thought You’d Seen It All . . .

    . . . you see something that makes you realize you haven’t.

    ‘Healthy Ho’s Party’: ObamaCare Registration Drive For Prostitutes

    (Additional details can be found here.)

    Yeah, it was in the SF area and was co-ed.  It was sponsored by a “sex-worker” prostitute and/or madam calling herself “Siouxie Q”.  About 40 reportedly signed up at her “gala”.

    Sheesh.  Now the government is subsidizing the sex trade – a typically all-cash business whose employees often operate illegally and report at best a fraction of their actual income.

    What’s next?  A “Healthy Hitmen” party sponsored by a Mafia Don?

  • Looks Like Joe Was Right

    Well, there he goes again.

    The other day, the POTUS blamed “bad apple insurers” for the rise in premiums under the AHCA.  This in spite of the fact that it was the increased AHCA coverage requirements that caused the rise in premiums.  And the fact that regulations promulgated by his administrations HHS Secretary made it virtually impossible for a plan to remain grandfathered.  And in spite of the fact that his own advisors knew – and presumably told him – that millions would lose their existing insurance under the AHCA for exactly these reasons.

    In fact, this seems to be a pattern from the current Administration:  when problems occur, claim they didn’t or shamelessly blame others for your own failings.  According to this Administration, “Benghazi was because of an inflammatory film.”  “We couldn’t get anyone there in time to help.”  “We didn’t know about Fast and Furious when we testified before Congress”.  “No, the IRS didn’t target conservatives and rubber-stamp political allies and those with connections.” “No, we won’t monitor phone conversations of US citizens.”  “We don’t know how many signed up for the ACHA.”

    And don’t even get me started on the other “whoppers” the Administration has told about the ACHA – like keeping existing insurance and doctors if you’re satisfied with them, for starters.  That would take all day.

    Joe caught a lot of grief about his public statement.  But yeah, now it sure looks like Joe was right.

    No, not Joe the VP and his nonsense about shotguns.  Joe Wilson.