I know this isn’t the topic of this article, but there’s something related to it that’s highly significant that bears noting. It involves the attempt to get the Supreme Court to destroy Obamacare by claiming the federal exchanges are not “established by the state”. It appears that one of the consequences of the Supreme Court ruling that the federal exchanges are NOT established by the state, then every state that refused to set up their own exchanges have been in violation of federal law since January, 2014, namely Section 1311 of the ACA. Here’s the discussion on another TPM article between Lestatdlc, who referred to that section, and myself. So how much prison time will Rick Perry, Greg Abbott, Bobby Jindal, and the other usual suspects get for violating what Scalia says is the law?
ME:
The law merely says that subsidies will be provided to people who sign up through exchanges “established by the state.”
Lestatdelc:
Well, the rest of that sentence is crucial. “established by the State under Section 1311.”
And if the State kicks it to HHS to set up, that is how the state
chose to establish its exchange which under under previous sections
states unequivocally that an exchange SHALL be established in all 50
states and it is up the states to chose to do itself, or have HHS do it
if it can’t or won’t.
ME:
By golly, you’re right! Why hasn’t this fact come
up in the media? I checked Section 1311 and it says: “Each State shall,
not later than January 1, 2014, establish an American Health Benefit
Exchange (referred to in this title as an ‘‘Exchange’’) for the State
…”
So, if the federal exchange in a state is not an exchange
“established by the state”, then all states that refused to set up their
own exchanges have been in violation of the law for over a year.
The full five years of dumb haven’t made the slightest dent in the dummies noggins unfortunately. They are still talking train wreck and all.
The leaders and leaders to be of the Republican Party are using Obamacare and so are Obama’s most devout haters. The Prez takes this to heart in his typical humble way. Nothing says win more than this.
I’m sure Senator Orrin Hatch wouldn’t lie to you, either. After all, he’s a republican and we all know that republicans never lie. Just out of curiosity, though, did he give you any of those “objective accounts” that “prove” Obamacare is an “unmitigated disaster”?
I can speak from experience that’s typically how it goes down. If it’s a generic, routine medication it’s typically not as bad to deal with them. But get diagnosed with something other than hypertension or a cold and need an expensive medication? You get to spend half a day talking to a webwork of insurance company assholes who will say and do anything to get you off the phone, where they hope you’ll just die before you can call back. The ACA has helped with a lot of things, but insurance companies are still insurance companies and they still pull crazy shit to make sure you don’t receive treatment. Here and there they’re even successful in enough fuckery to get out of paying for very expensive ($20,000+) procedures, even though the patient is covered with a decent plan that should have covered much of the cost. I’ve seen it happen.
Republicans like this system, and will do anything to make sure it remains in place and reform is never discussed.
In an expose I watched, a former insurance adjuster confirmed what you say. She said the rule was to deny a claim three times, in the hope that the customer would just give up and pay. If they came back after 3 denials, only then would the clam actually be considered. They got bonuses for finding original premises for denying claims.
A claim denied means the premium dollars go right to the bottom line. Insurance companies had entire staffs dedicated to screwing their premium-paying customers, because it paid off.
The only aspect of the ACA that might address this (that I know of) is the requirement that at least 80% of premium revenues go to actual claims payments instead of overhead (i.e., bloated staffs, outrageous CEO salaries, lobbying, advertising). But despite the law, I bet this practice is still prevalent.
I’m still fuming that he sold out his base and didn’t give us the Death Panels. It was the one part of Obamacare I was most looking forward to. Hell, I had my heart set on getting a well-paid patronage appointment to my local Death Panel and sending some Fox-watching old bastards to the Soylent factory.
No, he just repeated lies about how costs are rising, people are losing their doctors, and premiums are reaching record levels.
And he’s completely ignoring that fact that he, personally was the guy who told us all in 1994 that if we were going to have national healthcare of any kind, it had to be this plan.
Having moved to Utah in 1990, I proudly voted for Hatch’s opponent in 1994, 2000, 2006, and 2012.
