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Forum Post: ObamaCare is Shovel Ready

Posted 11 years ago on Sept. 20, 2012, 7:05 p.m. EST by Doglover (10) from Denver, CO
This content is user submitted and not an official statement

September 19, 2012

The Emerging Obamacare Truth Is Disarray

By Scott Gottlieb

A remarkable truth about Obamacare is how many aspects of its initial programs and initiatives are already in disarray.

The Obama team is woefully behind its own schedule for implementing features of the legislation. The critical regulations outlining what the Obamacare insurance benefit will look like was supposed to be out more than six months ago. Now it looks like this regulation won't be dropped until after the election. This is just one key aspect of the program that is way behind the administration's own timeline.

These facts alone should give proponents of the law pause. But the early experience with the elements of Obamacare that have already kicked in is downright dismal.

The core of Obamacare doesn't get started until 2014, when state-based exchanges are supposed to be formed as places for consumers to buy the legislation's tightly regulated, subsidized coverage. But early features of Obamacare are already failing.

· The temporary "high risk" pools that Obamacare created, to provide a way for those with pre-existing health conditions to get insurance immediately, are undersubscribed yet way over budget. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the $5 billion allocated to these pools could enroll 200,000 consumers. They envisioned enrollment growing to more than 400,000. But only 77,877 have signed up as of July, yet the program is way over its budget. More than a quarter of these state-based risk pools are short on cash.

· The CLASS Act, which was supposed to provide consumers government-financed long-term care insurance has been abandoned, blowing an $86 billion dollar hole in Obamacare's cost estimates. The CLASS Act was never financially viable. Its costs would have outstripped revenue as soon as it was in full operation. But since it took in money five years before it started to pay out benefits, budget gimmickry let Mr. Obama capture that revenue and use it to finance Obamacare. In abandoning the measure, the President's own health secretary called the scheme "unsustainable."

· The crown jewel of Obamacare's effort to contain healthcare costs, the creation of Accountable Care Organizations, is so unwieldy that major provider groups have said they won't participate. The idea is to consolidate doctors, turning them into employees of large systems, and then pay these systems lump sums of money to take care of groups of patients. A letter from 10 major medical groups that previously ran similar programs said, "it would be difficult, if not impossible" to accept the financial design created by Obamacare. In another rebuke, an umbrella group representing premier medical organizations said 90 percent of its members wouldn't partake.

· New regulations Obamacare puts on insurers have been so unworkable that the Obama team has had to dole out 1,231 waivers. These exemptions are granted when the Obamacare rules are projected to raise healthcare premiums more than 10 percent, or create a "significant decrease in access to healthcare benefits." These waivers haven't been doled out consistently. Entities winning the preferences are over-represented by plans offered by unionized businesses and other administration allies.

· Obamacare can't even settle on an affordable definition to the term "affordable" -- creating the prospect that millions of middle class families will get priced out of coverage. According to a recent editorial in the New York Times, "the people left in the lurch would be those who had lower incomes but were not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid." Because of the way Obamacare defines what's "affordable" to these families, many working-class people would be unable to afford family coverage offered by their employers, and yet they would not qualify for subsidies provided by the law.

Probably out of recognition of this poor track record, the President points largely to the insurance reforms he passed when he is stumping for Obamacare. The story isn't much better here. Some of these new rules cost insurers money, such as regulations ending lifetime limits on medical claims. Others, such as enabling young adults to remain on their parents' policies, can be downright lucrative. But these popular changes, which Mr. Obama touts as a success, have also been badly implemented.

We're in a terrible economic climate, where medical utilization trends are way down. The cost of healthcare coverage should be falling as well. But premiums have risen far faster than overall inflation or GDP growth since Obamacare's passage. The regulations kicked in with no offsetting incentives to get people into the insurance pool to help absorb the costs. If the President wants to take credit for these costly insurance market reforms, he also has to accept blame for the rising costs.

So what's left for the President to tout?

Not much. Obamacare isn't even in full swing, and at every turn, the program is crumbling. The President's team is banking on a second term to try and right all of its fiascos but there's an emerging truth that the scheme is simply unworkable.

American Enterprise Institute (AEI) Resident Scholar Scott Gottlieb, M.D. is a practicing physician. He previously served in senior positions at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

http://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2012/09/19/the_emerging_obamacare_truth_is_disarray_99890.html

50 Comments

50 Comments


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[-] 2 points by hchc (3297) from Tampa, FL 11 years ago

Forced corporatism. Thats not what was campaigned on. Total bullshit.

[-] 2 points by thoreau42 (595) 11 years ago

You can't have everything that was campaigned on, though. I mean, we got assassinations, ramping up drone strikes (even on Americans), potential indefinite detention of Americans signed into law, Gitmo operating smoothly, selling weapons to rebels in other countries, militarization of the police, prosecuting a record number of whistleblowers, smuggling weapons into mexico, handing more money to banks, letting the Federal Reserve destroy the currency...

What else do you want?! Obama can't do EVERYTHING!

[-] 1 points by hchc (3297) from Tampa, FL 11 years ago

Exactly Let the sheep sit on their asses....

[-] 1 points by thoreau42 (595) 11 years ago

Notice that none of the rampant democrats had nothing to say about this post. They run and hide as soon as you start speaking irrefutable truth.

Political parties are slavery, dressed in the clothes of freedom.

[-] 1 points by MattLHolck (16833) from San Diego, CA 11 years ago
[-] 0 points by shoozTroll (17632) 11 years ago

Actually I did have something to say.

You should pay more attention.

[-] 1 points by hchc (3297) from Tampa, FL 11 years ago

Actually, you are just a cheerleader

[-] 0 points by shoozTroll (17632) 11 years ago

And you're a bircher cheerleader, without a clue.

An insulting ( fill in the blank), that hates the 99%.

[-] 1 points by hchc (3297) from Tampa, FL 11 years ago

you wouldnt recognize an a guy whose down if you had a clue....even an answer.....

You're a fraud shooz. Always have been been. "Have fun in you little playground................

RATM "Whatcha Say Whatcha Say What?...."

[-] 0 points by shoozTroll (17632) 11 years ago

I'm not the guy who reads the john birch newsletter and talks about being pro 99%.

That's you.

I didn't start a thread calling the 99% asses.

That would also be you.

Fraud?

That would also be you.

[-] 1 points by Doglover (10) from Denver, CO 11 years ago

I wonder if we'll hear these statistics and facts on MSNBC, DailyKos, Huffingtonpost, Democratic Underground, NBC, ABC, CBS, the New York Times, MotherJones, Politico, etc, etc, etc?

[-] 1 points by hchc (3297) from Tampa, FL 11 years ago

Not a chance. One side screams its the end of the world, the other screams its a step towards universal.

Both are horribly inaccurate, but that doesnt stop the masses from reciting as told by the boob tube.

[-] 1 points by brightonsage (4494) 11 years ago

Non Scholar Scott Gottlieb, M.D. right wing flack supported by Kock heads.

[-] 1 points by Doglover (10) from Denver, CO 11 years ago

If you'd like to dispute the facts in the article, please do.

[-] 1 points by brightonsage (4494) 11 years ago

It's been done, and I am sure even you can find them through the magic of the Google machine. You really aren't interested in learning, are you? I'm not interested in wasting my time on you.

[-] 0 points by TrevorMnemonic (5827) 11 years ago

Why are you on a forum like this if you don't want to share and debate ideas?

You have time to insult but not share a link?

[-] 1 points by brightonsage (4494) 11 years ago

Have you counted the sources/links identified for the claims in the article? The poster cut and pasted a column without expressing any personal thought or reaction to the content. Where is the insult? And you criticize me?

Some of the issues identified have been caused by GOP governors avoiding implementing what would help their people for purely political/ idealogical purposes.. Sure there will be consequences, this or next election, as it starts to show adverse consequences but their people are hurting now.

I believe my criticism is more valid than yours.

[-] 1 points by TrevorMnemonic (5827) 11 years ago

I knew the post was most likely going to be off from the title. I was just suggesting that you share your argument instead of saying sharing a counter argument is a waste of time.

Also one of the GOP governors you mentioned is in my state.

Here's a good link from my pal Dennis Kucinich in regards to a counter argument to the post - http://kucinich.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=301382

[-] 1 points by brightonsage (4494) 11 years ago

Counter arguments are fine and I have posted dozens re healthcare. I was suggested that they are out there and readily available if this duffous was actually ignorant of them, and interested in actually learning about it. I think it is obvious that the poster is displaying, shall we say, willful ignorance and I am tired of playing it straight with people who lie. I am an old man, and I don't suffer fools well anymore. I have beaten cancer, I think, and my wife just had her last chemo treatment. Radiation is next. So, you go ahead and tilt with those windmills, Mr. Quixote, and I will cheer occasionally from the safety of the sidelines.

[-] 0 points by stevebol (1269) from Milwaukee, WI 11 years ago

This is a load of crap.

[-] 2 points by MattLHolck (16833) from San Diego, CA 11 years ago

healthcare should be provided to everyone not "affordable"

healthcare should not be put in the hands of private insurers

[-] 0 points by yobstreet (-575) 11 years ago

In NY we're already losing nursing positions as subsidies to hospitals are being cut. It's probably for the best, though, that we reduce them to poverty since these working class people are the very ones who will fall between the cracks with Obamacare. And that appears to be the mentality here - they are just collateral damage in an effort to buy the vote; is an appealing economically feasible approach even possible in a country of open borders with a population in the hundreds of millions headed by a partisan government owned by corporations? I'd say, no f*cking way.

[-] 0 points by stevebol (1269) from Milwaukee, WI 11 years ago

My neighbor told me he just had an operation on his prostate. I was surprized to find out he didn't have HC insurance. He's 63 and he was waiting for Medicare to kick in two years. He's OK but he wishes he had done something sooner. He owes $50,000 now.

[-] 0 points by shoozTroll (17632) 11 years ago

American Enterprise Institute

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/American_Enterprise_Institute

Are you sure you couldn't find something closer to the John Birch Society?

One more time now.........Read this and the book "Deadly Spin" and get back to us,.

http://wendellpotter.com/

Until then....fergetaboutit.

[-] 1 points by Doglover (10) from Denver, CO 11 years ago

Scott Gottlieb, M.D. is a practicing physician. He previously served in senior positions at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

He's a lot more qualified than you to speak to the data in this article. If you don't like something in the article, challenge the data, not the writer.

[-] 0 points by shoozTroll (17632) 11 years ago

Sorry, I'll stick with Wendell's take.

You're Doc is a "right wing" insider. Paid to say what he said.

AEI is RW think tank. you should check your source.

[-] 1 points by Doglover (10) from Denver, CO 11 years ago

Anytime you want to dispute the bulleted points in the article, do so.

Otherwise, you're a hack with no standing.

[-] 0 points by shoozTroll (17632) 11 years ago

Sorry no. I've gone over this a dozen times in the past and won't bother again.

Especially for bullet points out of the AEI. Or bullet points in general.

You're the hack that takes things from a web site built for,propaganda.

[-] 1 points by marvelpym (-184) 11 years ago

Has Obama been pushing his healthcare in any campaign ads?

[-] 1 points by shoozTroll (17632) 11 years ago

Wouldn't know, I don't watch such things.

Is Romoney explaining his replacement plan in his ads?

[-] 0 points by marvelpym (-184) 11 years ago

Don't think so about Romney but nice try changing the subject.

If Obamacare is such a jewel in the crown, you'd think Obama would place it front and center.

[-] 1 points by shoozTroll (17632) 11 years ago

Learn stuff by reading this.

Oh......turn off the TV and radio first.

http://wendellpotter.com/

[-] 0 points by marvelpym (-184) 11 years ago

Sure, turn them off. Heaven forbide that i might hear all sides talk and possibly change my opinions. Might force me to have to think instead of just react and i know the thought of that scares the heck out of you. Stay safe in your little world, Bubble Boy.

[-] 1 points by shoozTroll (17632) 11 years ago

"Force" you to think?

That's highly unlikely, you show no signs of doing that so far.

I prefer not to listen to the "side" propagating lies.

Taking a bath in that, is not good for you.

[Removed]

[-] -3 points by alva (-442) 11 years ago

used to be when you went to a doctor, the MD took hand written notes , now everything goes into a laptop, right to the govt. your privacy is compromised. questions asked by the doctor ( a GP) on a recent visit,..........have you had sex in the last 12 months and if so, what type of birth control was used, what type of protection, was the sex with men, women or both? another question was asked ,....... do you own a gun? I was there for a visit concerning cholesterol. for an eye exam, you read the chart, have your pupils dilated to be examined for cataracts. .now there is charge for the dilation,.....new obamacare rules.

[-] 1 points by stevebol (1269) from Milwaukee, WI 11 years ago

The only really odd question is the gun thing. If they were to ask if you had thoughts of suicide in addition to the gun thing it makes sense but on it's own? Sounds weird. Still, you're being a little paranoid. And who tells the truth about sex anyway? Just tell them something. I didn't have sex with that woman....Ms.....Lew...Anyway, republicans could have accomodated people with pre-existing conditions and we could have avoided all this Obamacare BS but they just don't care. Get a grip, really.

[-] -1 points by alva (-442) 11 years ago

after being asked about owning a gun , i asked why the question, the doctor said it was a safety thing,..... i told her it was about knowing who hs guns and who doesnt.information that is a lot easier to get to when the info can be put into her govt supplied lap top. its not about telling the truth about sex, its that the questions are even asked.

[-] 1 points by shoozTroll (17632) 11 years ago

They also want to know if you prefer pancakes or waffles!!!

[-] -2 points by alva (-442) 11 years ago

what i said is the truth. why the need for the dopey response? why not address the questions asked and the new ( obama care) lack of doctor-patient privacy.

[-] 1 points by shoozTroll (17632) 11 years ago

I will ask you one more time to accept a bite of reality.

http://wendellpotter.com/

[-] 1 points by MattLHolck (16833) from San Diego, CA 11 years ago

just pay the insurance company

[-] -1 points by alva (-442) 11 years ago

this is obamacare, not private insurance. you have no problems with the questions asked by the doctor on behalf of the govt? no problem with the privacy of doctor patient relationship now being non existant?

[-] 0 points by MattLHolck (16833) from San Diego, CA 11 years ago

Affordable Healthcare At a cost is payed to private insurance companies

couldn't give a rat's ass about privacy

[-] -2 points by alva (-442) 11 years ago

this is medicare,...........which obama took 716 bil from. and still you have no response to the questions asked by the govt via the doctor and demise of the doctor/patient privacy relationship?

[-] 2 points by MattLHolck (16833) from San Diego, CA 11 years ago

speak in english

[-] -1 points by alva (-442) 11 years ago

learn reading comprehension.

[-] 2 points by MattLHolck (16833) from San Diego, CA 11 years ago

get a haircut

my standardized tests placed my at the top of reading comprehension

[-] 0 points by slizzo (-96) 11 years ago

in other words, you can't respond to any of the points he's making and won't admit he knows this subject about a kajillion times better than you.

typical ows intellectual lightweight. spoiled kid. time to grow up, son.

[-] -1 points by stevebol (1269) from Milwaukee, WI 11 years ago

A two class society should have two HC systems- one that covers everyone and one for rich people in a hurry who can pay. Is that too much to ask?

[-] -1 points by Orwellwuzright (-84) from Lockeford, CA 11 years ago

Obamacare isn't even on the radar this election. Notice how no one is really talking about it? Even if mittens wins he won't get rid of it.