'If You Like Your Plan, You'll Be Able To Keep It" - NOT
Remember when Democrats were first selling Obamacare? They promised over and over again that their law wouldn't force Americans to change their existing insurance plans if they liked them. In July 2009, President Obama said, “If you have health insurance and you like it, and you have a doctor that you like, then you can keep it. Period. And I won't sign a bill that somehow would make it tougher for people to keep their health insurance.” The next day, he pledged, “If you like your current plan, you will be able to keep it. Let me repeat that: if you like your plan, you'll be able to keep it.” And a few weeks later, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said, “In fact, one of our core principles is that if you like the health care you have, you can keep it.”
The Star-Ledger reported, “The bare-bones health insurance policy that’s been the plan of choice for New Jerseyans who can’t afford something better is set to go away next year, thanks to the Affordable Care Act. And what those policy holders will be left with may be a choice among pricey, pricier and priciest. About 106,000 people in the Garden State are insured under what are known as ‘basic and essential,’ or B&E, health care plans, according to state data. But while B&E plans were meant to help young families get coverage and stanch the drop of enrollment in the individual health market, their relatively low price — as little as a couple hundred dollars a month for some people — made them the most popular option for those who don’t get insurance through an employer or a government program such as Medicare or Medicaid. About 71 percent of those covered by the individual health market have a B&E plan. Soon no longer. In addition to requiring most everyone to carry health insurance, the Affordable Care Act — better known as Obamacare — starting next year will force health care plans to cover certain essential services . . . . As a result, after Dec. 31, insurers won’t be able to sell or renew plans that don’t meet this litmus test. That includes B&E plans. And these changes won’t come without a cost. ‘In general, richer products translate into higher premiums,’ said Larry Altman, vice president of the Office of Healthcare Reform at Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield, New Jersey’s largest health insurer.” The article’s headline puts it succinctly: “Obamacare to end health plan used by 100,000 New Jerseyans.”
In Pennsylvania, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported, “A growing number of companies are looking to clamp down on rising health care costs by dumping coverage for their employees' working spouses. Others are requiring their workers to pay extra money to cover a spouse who could get health insurance elsewhere. And some may even consider making employees pay the full cost of insuring their children. The moves are viewed as low-hanging fruit for companies that are expecting higher costs next year under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. ‘We're seeing costs going up,’ said J.T. Shilling, a benefits consultant who runs the Pittsburgh office of consulting firm Mercer. ‘Taxes, fees, more enrollment are driving up costs, and employers are looking for ways to reduce costs. And this is a pretty easy one.’ . . . ‘I do think it's a trend that we will see grow. Every employer is struggling with, “How do we control these costs?”’ [Lorin] Lacy [a health care consultant for Downtown benefits firm Buck Consultants] said. . . . There's also a chance that one spouse might have to accept less coverage and a higher cost than the other. . . . Starting in January, the law will add fees and taxes that are expected to further drive up health costs for companies.”
Meanwhile, according to the Las Vegas Sun, “The Nevada State AFL-CIO passed a resolution slamming Obamacare [Wednesday]. The union claims certain provisions of the law would destroy union health plans, making the usual staunch allies of President Barack Obama just the latest Las Vegas union to publicly condemn the health care law. Unions had originally backed the law but have grown increasingly skeptical of what union leaders like D Taylor, head of UNITE Here and former head of Las Vegas’ Culinary Local 226, called the law’s ‘perverse incentives’ that potentially could shutter union Taft-Hartley health plans and leave workers without good health insurance. Union leaders are concerned with a provision of the law that call for the provision of health insurance for people who work more than 30-hours per week, meaning workers’ hours could be cut so that employers don’t have to provide health insurance. ‘The unintended consequences of the ACA will lead to the destruction of the 40 hour work week, higher taxes and force union members onto more costly plans,’ the resolution reads. The Nevada State AFL-CIO passed its resolution just hours after U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., addressed the union at its annual convention at the Excalibur. Reid made no mention of Obamacare during his brief speech and instead talked about federal transportation spending . . . .”
As Indiana Governor Mike Pence said in the Weekly Republican Address on Saturday, “Everywhere I go in Indiana, I meet business owners and workers who are in survival mode. They’re trying to figure out how to survive the new normal of more regulations, higher taxes and the impending costs and mandates of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. As implementation of this law gets closer, we are learning more about the burdens it will place on hardworking Americans. In Indiana, the Affordable Care Act will raise the average cost of health insurance in the individual market by an unaffordable 72 percent. In addition, the Obama Administration is creating confusion in the marketplace, from its suspension of the cap on out-of-pocket expenses, to providing subsidies without verifying income, to a one-year suspension of the employer mandate, this health care law is weighing down our economy. It’s costing jobs, discouraging investment and making the future bleak for too many families.”
Conclusion: If You Like Your Plan, You May Not Be Able To Keep It.
Tags: Obamacare, if you like your plan, broken promises To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
The Star-Ledger reported, “The bare-bones health insurance policy that’s been the plan of choice for New Jerseyans who can’t afford something better is set to go away next year, thanks to the Affordable Care Act. And what those policy holders will be left with may be a choice among pricey, pricier and priciest. About 106,000 people in the Garden State are insured under what are known as ‘basic and essential,’ or B&E, health care plans, according to state data. But while B&E plans were meant to help young families get coverage and stanch the drop of enrollment in the individual health market, their relatively low price — as little as a couple hundred dollars a month for some people — made them the most popular option for those who don’t get insurance through an employer or a government program such as Medicare or Medicaid. About 71 percent of those covered by the individual health market have a B&E plan. Soon no longer. In addition to requiring most everyone to carry health insurance, the Affordable Care Act — better known as Obamacare — starting next year will force health care plans to cover certain essential services . . . . As a result, after Dec. 31, insurers won’t be able to sell or renew plans that don’t meet this litmus test. That includes B&E plans. And these changes won’t come without a cost. ‘In general, richer products translate into higher premiums,’ said Larry Altman, vice president of the Office of Healthcare Reform at Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield, New Jersey’s largest health insurer.” The article’s headline puts it succinctly: “Obamacare to end health plan used by 100,000 New Jerseyans.”
In Pennsylvania, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported, “A growing number of companies are looking to clamp down on rising health care costs by dumping coverage for their employees' working spouses. Others are requiring their workers to pay extra money to cover a spouse who could get health insurance elsewhere. And some may even consider making employees pay the full cost of insuring their children. The moves are viewed as low-hanging fruit for companies that are expecting higher costs next year under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. ‘We're seeing costs going up,’ said J.T. Shilling, a benefits consultant who runs the Pittsburgh office of consulting firm Mercer. ‘Taxes, fees, more enrollment are driving up costs, and employers are looking for ways to reduce costs. And this is a pretty easy one.’ . . . ‘I do think it's a trend that we will see grow. Every employer is struggling with, “How do we control these costs?”’ [Lorin] Lacy [a health care consultant for Downtown benefits firm Buck Consultants] said. . . . There's also a chance that one spouse might have to accept less coverage and a higher cost than the other. . . . Starting in January, the law will add fees and taxes that are expected to further drive up health costs for companies.”
Meanwhile, according to the Las Vegas Sun, “The Nevada State AFL-CIO passed a resolution slamming Obamacare [Wednesday]. The union claims certain provisions of the law would destroy union health plans, making the usual staunch allies of President Barack Obama just the latest Las Vegas union to publicly condemn the health care law. Unions had originally backed the law but have grown increasingly skeptical of what union leaders like D Taylor, head of UNITE Here and former head of Las Vegas’ Culinary Local 226, called the law’s ‘perverse incentives’ that potentially could shutter union Taft-Hartley health plans and leave workers without good health insurance. Union leaders are concerned with a provision of the law that call for the provision of health insurance for people who work more than 30-hours per week, meaning workers’ hours could be cut so that employers don’t have to provide health insurance. ‘The unintended consequences of the ACA will lead to the destruction of the 40 hour work week, higher taxes and force union members onto more costly plans,’ the resolution reads. The Nevada State AFL-CIO passed its resolution just hours after U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., addressed the union at its annual convention at the Excalibur. Reid made no mention of Obamacare during his brief speech and instead talked about federal transportation spending . . . .”
As Indiana Governor Mike Pence said in the Weekly Republican Address on Saturday, “Everywhere I go in Indiana, I meet business owners and workers who are in survival mode. They’re trying to figure out how to survive the new normal of more regulations, higher taxes and the impending costs and mandates of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. As implementation of this law gets closer, we are learning more about the burdens it will place on hardworking Americans. In Indiana, the Affordable Care Act will raise the average cost of health insurance in the individual market by an unaffordable 72 percent. In addition, the Obama Administration is creating confusion in the marketplace, from its suspension of the cap on out-of-pocket expenses, to providing subsidies without verifying income, to a one-year suspension of the employer mandate, this health care law is weighing down our economy. It’s costing jobs, discouraging investment and making the future bleak for too many families.”
Conclusion: If You Like Your Plan, You May Not Be Able To Keep It.
Tags: Obamacare, if you like your plan, broken promises To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
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