Obamacare Effect on Job Numbers | States Announce Health Insurance Premium Hikes | Senate Dems Avoid Focus On Obamacare

Will It Ever End?

Today in Washington, D.C. - July 7, 2014
The Senate will reconvene at 2 PM today. At 5:30, the Senate will vote on confirmation of the nomination of Cheryl Krause to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Third Circuit and then on cloture on the motion to proceed to (i.e. whether to take up) S. 2363, a sportsmen’s bill.

The House will meet at 1 PM for a couple minutes and then adjourn until 2 PM tomorrow, July 8, 2014.

Rick Manning, Vice President of Americans for Limited Government noted Obamacare’s part time economy. "The unemployment rate headlines were joyous and Wall Street took off. The Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that June’s unemployment rate was down to 6.1 percent. But what did the numbers mean, after you looked beneath the headline? The good news was that 407,000 more Americans were employed in June than in May. The bad news was that 1.1 million more Americans are temporary/part time workers according to the same survey. . . . There is nothing wrong with working part-time, temporary employment, in fact, it is usually a sign of the start of a growing job market. But this year, like last, is different. It is different because of Obamacare, which requires employers with more than 50 employees to pay for health insurance for their full-time employees at the end of this year.

"Now the piper is being paid, as it appears that employers are making the logical step of job-shifting employees from full to part-time. When the cash registers aren’t ringing, you cannot dramatically increase your labor costs, so instead you get creative and simply schedule workers to four shifts of seven hours a week each. Of course, you have to hire about 20 percent more people to cover the shifts, but it saves thousands of dollars in health costs each month. . . . The other unnoted aspect of the “great” job numbers released the day before Independence Day, is that 111,000 more people left the labor force in June. This continues a negative trend that has the percentage of people participating in the workforce at levels not seen since Jimmy Carter was president in 1978. . . .

"Obamacare continues to be the gift that keeps on giving for those still pretending that big government is a grand idea. In the greatest Obama Administration tradition, another Obamacare paper dump occurred on the afternoon of July 3rd, just in time for reporters and analysts to have already escaped the DC swamp for a respite. This time there was a mere 1,300 more pages of regulations released by the Department of Health and Human Services made public just in time for the virtual news blackout that occurs over any holiday weekend. Only one thing is certain, Team Obama doesn’t dump good news into a holiday media void, so there must be some doozies hidden in the long Stephen King novel length bureaucratese."

Then we must note as more states announce health insurance rate increases this summer and fall, Democrats are desperate to distract attention from the story so they can avoid talking about Obamacare.

Politico writes, “Most state health insurance rates for 2015 are scheduled to be approved by early fall, and most are likely to rise, timing that couldn’t be worse for Democrats already on defense in the midterms. The White House and its allies know they’ve been beaten in every previous round of Obamacare messaging, never more devastatingly than in 2010. And they know the results this November could hinge in large part on whether that happens again. So they’re trying to avoid — or at least, get ahead of — any September surprise. . . . So far, although no state has finalized its rate, 21 have posted bids for 2015. Average preliminary premiums went up in all 21, though only a few by double digits.”

So far, the summer has featured a steady stream of states announcing health insurers seeking rate increases. Politico notes that “Iowa’s seen one of the biggest spikes among the states that have come in so far — an average premium increase of 11.5 percent, though rates aren’t expected to be finalized until October.” Back in May, one of the first states to report 2015 health care premiums was Washington, where Group Health Options is looking for a 14.2% increase and Group health Cooperative is seeking an 11.2% hike. Around the same time CareFirst BlueChoice in Virginia said it’s proposing a 14.9% rate increase and Anthem HealthKeepers is looking for an 8.5% increase. CareFirst in Maryland is proposing increases of up to 30%. In New York, Excellus Health Plan is requesting a 19.7% increase, MVP Health Plans is proposing a 19% increase, and the largest plan on the states Obamacare exchange, Health Republic Insurance of New York, “is requesting a 15% increase.” Oregon’s Moda Health Plan wants a 12.5% hike. And in Vermont, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont is seeking an average 9.8% increase while MVP Health Care is proposing an average 15.4% hike.

Of course all this directly contradicts Democrats’ assurances that Obamacare would lower premiums. President Obama boasted in December 2009, “Families will save on their premiums.” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), Democrats’ Assistant Majority Leader, declared around the same time, “Bringing down costs of health insurance and making it more affordable is job one for this health care reform.” Trying to sell the unpopular bill before a critical House vote, the president claimed in March 2010, “Your employer, it's estimated, would see premiums fall by as much as 3,000 percent … which means they could give you a raise.”

No wonder, then, that recent stories feature Democrats doing everything they can to take attention away from the consequences of their failing health care law. Politico writes, “Aware that state insurance rate hikes could give Republicans a chance to resurrect Obamacare as a political liability just weeks before the midterms, the White House’s internal health care enrollment outreach apparatus immediately redirected into a rapid-response, blocking-and-tackling research and press operation geared toward preempting GOP attacks on the issue. In what aides say is a sign of a changed approach within the White House — but also heightened concerns around the midterms — they’re even coordinating with Hill Democrats, funneling localized background analysis and talking points to each state’s delegation through Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and New York Sen. Chuck Schumer’s Senate Democratic Policy and Communications Committee.” And the AP features a story today titled, “Senate Democrats try to pull focus from Obamacare,” reporting, “For Republicans, it's all about tying Democrats to Obama — especially to a health care law that remains unpopular with many Americans. And for Democrats, the election is about just about anything else, especially if they can steer attention away from Washington and federal matters. It's a political strategy that sometimes gives the campaigns an inside-out feel, with veteran senators running as if they were first-timers without a Washington resume to defend or tout.”

As Senate GOP Leader McConnell said recently, “The Middle Class is being pummeled by Obamacare. A recent study showed that an average 27-year old Kentuckian from Taylor County saw his premiums skyrocket by almost 60 percent this year. Constituents like him are looking to Washington for leadership and solutions. But Senate Democrats won’t even allow sensible, bipartisan health care solutions to come to a vote.” Indeed, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) told Politico, “The White House is putting a lot of pressure on the Democratic leadership to not allow a vote on a significant change to Obamacare that would likely pass,” referring to her bill with 31 cosponsors that would repeal the law’s employer mandate. Politico adds, “Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has shown little willingness to allow votes on measures repealing or revising it.”

Democrats simply don’t want to discuss, vote on, or be held accountable for Obamacare or its negative effects on Americans and their health care.

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