Health Care for America Now

With Four Months to Go Before Obamacare Marketplaces Open, We Already Know Consumers Will Save Some Serious Money

Will O'Neill — Fri, 24 May 2013 19:43:23 +0000

One of the tenets of free-market economics is the idea that when consumers have complete information, they are able to make informed purchasing decisions. Well-informed comparison shopping drives down prices and increases quality by forcing sellers to compete. Although conservative economists believe this to be true, many have nonetheless objected to the Affordable Care Act structure, which will sell private health insurance to millions of Americans through electronic marketplaces, or exchanges. Many of these right-wing economists have made dire predictions that health insurance premiums will rise sharply next year and state insurance marketplaces created by the ACA will fall apart.

Those arguments were thoroughly and definitively debunked by the first reports from health insurance marketplaces in California and Oregon. In the past two weeks, California and Oregon released their first round of prices for individual health insurance coverage for 2014, and premium filings in both states show rates will be far lower than anyone expected. According to The Washington Post:

The Congressional Budget Office predicted back in November 2009 that a medium-cost plan on the health exchange – known as a “silver plan” – would have an annual premium of $5,200. A separate report from actuarial firm Milliman projected that, in California, the average silver plan would have a $450 monthly premium.

Now we have California’s rates, and they appear to be significantly less expensive than what forecasters expected.

Quoted in Bloomberg Businessweek, Caroline Pearson of Avalere Health said:

“It brought a lot of carriers into the market. It brought the premiums down. It was sort of the best example of the market working.”

In the Los Angeles Times,[1] David Lazarus explained how the Obamacare marketplace Covered California is dramatically demonstrating how consumers – and insurance companies, too – benefit from the program:

For the first time, consumers are in a position to make an informed decision about health insurance. They can opt for the lowest-priced plan or they can factor in other considerations, such as personal convenience.

Insurers, meanwhile, are going toe to toe to win customers, keeping prices as low as possible and stepping up quality of service.

Amazingly, the sky hasn’t fallen and the world as we know it hasn’t come to an end.

In Oregon, insurance companies actually asked to go back and resubmit their rate filings because they realized that their rates were too high – and that the whole market knew it:

Providence Health Plan on Wednesday asked to lower its requested rates by 15 percent. Gary Walker, a Providence spokesman, says the “primary driver” was a realization that the plan’s cost projections were incorrect. But he conceded a desire to be competitive was part of it.

A Family Care Health Plans official on Thursday said the insurer will ask the state for an even greater decrease in requested rates. CEO Jeff Heatherington says the company realized its analysts were too pessimistic after seeing online that its proposed premiums were the highest.

“That was my question when I saw the rates was, ‘Can we go in and refile these?’” he said. “We’re going to try to get these to a competitive range.”

Before the marketplaces were established by the ACA, ineffective regulation and lack of benefits standardization meant it was virtually impossible for consumers to make educated decisions about health insurance.

The health insurance exchanges demonstrate that when consumers have all the information, including clear pricing on directly comparable products, the market will push prices down. Before the marketplaces, insurance companies outmaneuvered these markets by ensuring consumers were unable to make informed choices.

The bottom line: The Affordable Care Act, derided by the GOP as a socialist government takeover of the health care system, is already creating freer markets and more competition than we’ve ever seen. Try as they might (and they will), Republicans and their friends in the insurance industry simply will not be able to explain away this phenomenon by making fun of Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid or Kathleen Sebelius.

The Hill: ObamaCare plans cheaper than expected in key rate filing

Will O'Neill — Fri, 24 May 2013 18:11:50 +0000

New insurance policies under President Obama’s healthcare law will cost significantly less than expected in California.

The state released rate filings Thursday for the policies that will be sold through the health law’s insurance exchange.

Experts had been especially eager to see California’s rates, and it is the first large state to release price information for next year.

Read the full story here.

HCAN Joins Women’s Health Advocates to Demand Timely, Affordable Health Care for Immigrants

Will O'Neill — Thu, 23 May 2013 21:09:41 +0000

Health Care for America Now has joined with women’s groups to urge the Senate to oppose the proposed 5-year delay on lawful immigrants’ access to benefits under the Affordable Care Act. HCAN, the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health (NLIRH) and the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) also called on the Senate to remove health care access exclusions from the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act.

From NLIRH’s press statement on the letter:

We are deeply concerned that the legislation perpetuates the unjust and harmful exclusion of immigrant women and families from affordable health coverage. Women and families on the roadmap to citizenship who are working and paying taxes shouldn’t be forced to wait up to 15 years or more before they can get basic health care like cervical cancer screenings or contraception. We urge all members of the Senate to work in a bipartisan fashion to address these unresolved issues.

Download the letter here.

Big Health Insurers Secretly Paid $850,000 to Small-Business Front Group

Will O'Neill — Thu, 23 May 2013 20:42:58 +0000

The National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) accepted $850,000 from health insurance companies to oppose planned taxes on that industry as required by the Affordable Care Act, according to a report in the National Journal. America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), the lobbying and trade group for the $925 billion industry, gave the money to the NFIB in 2011. The NFIB is the corporate front group that rents out its “small-business” reputation to big-business interests. The best example is the NFIB’s filing and financing of a lawsuit to invalidate the ACA – a case that it ultimately lost in the U.S. Supreme Court a year ago.

The NFIB acts as a front for corporate interests that want to give their initiatives a makeover. While big corporations generally don’t poll well with most Americans, small-business owners get a sympathetic hearing. The NFIB uses this dynamic to shill for large corporations.

The $850,000 payment was hidden by outdated political spending disclosures rules that haven’t kept pace with the evolving methods of moneyed political interests, especially since the Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizen United.

The National Journal notes that the insurance industry’s dirty tricks are part of a larger attack on the Affordable Care Act:

The look behind the curtain is sure to fuel the already-intense partisan warfare over the Affordable Care Act. Republicans have vowed to run against the law in 2014 and are almost sure to point to provisions like the premium tax as reasons why the law should be repealed and its supporters replaced. Democrats, meanwhile, are likely to point to the insurance industry’s shadowy spending as more proof of why reform is needed.

The NFIB is known to take positions that work against the interests of small businesses and in favor of large corporations. It regularly engages in partisan battles and serves as a funnel for dark money from the likes of Karl Rove and the Koch brothers. AHIP has long paid extravagant amounts to other groups to shill against health care reform. Using similar dark money tactics, AHIP gave more than $100 million to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to oppose the Affordable Care Act after the insurance industry publicly declared it supported health care reform.

Wall Street Journal: Obamacare won’t stop most from offering coverage

Will O'Neill — Thu, 23 May 2013 20:30:31 +0000

As reports stream in about employers trying to decide whether they want to offer health insurance to workers once President Obama’s health-care overhaul takes effect, one survey that has flown under the radar indicates there may not be much to worry about.

Few noticed, but the International Foundation of Employee Plans put out its survey last week, saying that 94% of all organizations are likely to keep offering coverage when the full effect of Obamacare hits Jan. 1. Of that figure, 69% say they will “definitely” offer coverage — up from 46% when the foundation conducted the same survey a year ago — and the other 25% said “very likely.”

Read the full story here.

Fix the Debt Co-Chair Earns Big Promotion – He’ll Be Wall Street’s Top Lobbyist

Will O'Neill — Thu, 23 May 2013 20:05:36 +0000

Former Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH), co-chairman of Fix the Debt, a corporate front group leading the charge for policies that combine austerity for ordinary people with tax breaks for the richest, has been hired to lead the main lobbying group for Wall Street and the financial industry. By agreeing to take the reins of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), Gregg’s took a classic trip through the corrupt revolving door between Congress and K Street.

Gregg was once considered a moderate Republican. He was even offered a cabinet position in the bipartisan Obama administration in 2008, but he spurned the opportunity and became a thorn in the President’s side ever since.

SIFMA aims to ensure that Wall Street never faces consequences or future regulations in response to the way they manhandled the economy and sparked a global credit crisis with their irresponsible investment strategies.

SIFMA is dedicated to opposing Dodd-Frank, the financial reform enacted in the wake the 2008 housing bubble collapse, of at every turn.

While many have worried about the need for more jobs and about the fact that Wall Street’s shenanigans damaged their retirement plans, Gregg has been fronting for Fix the Debt. This group, funding lavishly by some of America’s biggest corporations, is pushing to make the national debt the single biggest issue on the nation’s agenda while promoting severe Medicare and Social Security cuts for average Americans while handing tax breaks huge companies.

The direct linkage between Fix the Debt and the lobbying arm of Wall Street demonstrates that these folks aren’t worries about the best interests of the American people.

‘Rate Shock’ Mythology Gets Tossed Out the Window

Will O'Neill — Thu, 23 May 2013 19:40:23 +0000

The myth that Obamacare is going to cause a “rate shock” when consumers buy health insurance through the state marketplaces next year will have to be abandoned. The Center for American Progress (CAP) says the phenomenon does not exist, and so far the real-world experience in Oregon and other states spells doom for the anti-health care reform narrative promoted by insurers and their Republican friends.

The study found that only about 3 percent of people between ages 19 and 29 will see higher costs:

The argument that young adults are harmed by the law because they may pay higher premiums is misleading. This claim fails to take into account many of the provisions of the Affordable Care Act that make coverage more affordable. For many young adults, these financial and consumer protections will lower their overall health care costs and improve their health and wellness.

The CAP study, How the Affordable Care Act Helps Young Adults, shows how the traditionally underinsured age bracket known as the “young invincibles” will have multiple options for obtaining affordable health insurance. These include going on their parents’ insurance (up to age 26), enrolling in expanded state Medicaid programs, or purchasing private coverage through health insurance exchanges that provide subsidies on a sliding income scale to cover significant chunks of the premium cost.

In Oregon’s reinvigorated competitive marketplace, there is clear evidence that giving this information to consumers lowered rates:

On Thursday [May 9, 2013], a comparison of proposed 2014 health premiums became public online, causing two insurers to request do-overs to lower their rates even before the state determines whether they’re justified.

Before the side-by-side comparisons were enabled by the Affordable Care Act, rate information was complicated and difficult to compare. The willingness of health insurers to re-evaluate their rates in order to remain competitive is proof that customers will see a marked decrease in rates due to these marketplaces.

Mother Jones: Obamacare Doesn’t Make Employers Cover Spouses. Does That Matter?

Will O'Neill — Mon, 20 May 2013 14:53:51 +0000

Despite the 37 bills to repeal it and the scores of lawsuits filed against it, Obamacare, a.k.a. the Affordable Care Act, is going to be in full swing soon. But the historic health insurance reform law is going to face many more bumps in the road as it is rolled out. One corner of Obamacare that hasn’t gotten much attention is the fact that it will not require employers to cover spouses, which experts say could lead some employers to drop coverage for Americans’ significant others.

…

If you’re middle-income or poor, and your spouse’s employer drops you from her health coverage, you’ll be able to shop on the exchange with a subsidy. Even though your coverage would not be free, the idea is that at least it would be kind of affordable. Unless it’s not. When people buy coverage on the exchange, their subsidy will be based on household income. As Jost points out, the problem is that household income for people using the exchanges will be measured before the household pays for the employer-provided health insurance. So the employee could be paying up to 9.5 percent of her income on health insurance for herself (the most that Obamacare will allow insurers to charge for employer-sponsored plans), or an even greater share of her income for individual and child coverage, and still her spouse’s subsidy on the exchange would be based on that much higher pre-healthcare-costs income level.

“It’s a potential problem,” says Ethan Rome, executive director of Health Care for America Now, a group that backs Obamacare. “There could be some folks that get lost in the shuffle. And that is not insignificant…If you’re one of few people adversely affected by something, it doesn’t matter that everyone else on the planet is getting the benefit.” (The Department of Health and Human Services declined to comment for the story.)

But Rome adds that the situation “has to be put in context.” He points out that this potential glitch doesn’t change the fact that some 30 million people currently without insurance will get coverage under Obamacare. And Jonathan Gruber, an MIT economist who helped craft Obama’s healthcare law, notes that “We’re still a hell of a lot better off than we are today.”

Read the full story here.

GOP to Make 37th Attempt to Take Away Health Care From Millions of Seniors, Women and Families

Will O'Neill — Thu, 16 May 2013 19:53:11 +0000

HCAN Prescribes Radical Therapy for Republicans’ ‘Psychotic Obsession’

Washington, DC – The GOP-controlled House of Representatives is scheduled today to vote – for the 37^th time! – on a bill that would repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), a law that has already improved the lives of more than 100 million Americans. Republicans are doing whatever they can to take away a law that is significantly improving insurance for those who have it and that will provide millions of uninsured people with quality, affordable coverage beginning on Jan. 1, 2014. Within a few years, 25 million people who are currently uninsured will have a health plan under Obamacare.

“While Americans clamor for jobs, House Republican Leadership has instead opted to hold its umpteenth vote to deny families and small businesses access to quality, affordable health care,” said Ethan Rome, executive director of Health Care for America Now, the nation’s leading grassroots health care coalition. “It’s time for the GOP to recover from its psychotic obsession with taking away people’s health care. The ACA is raising the quality of care, halting skyrocketing health costs, saving seniors money on prescription drugs, providing preventive care without co-pays and eliminating the worst insurance company abuses.”

Instead of improving health care, the Republican repeal plan would strip seniors and middle-class families of vital health benefits and patient protections and replace them with nothing,” Rome said. “The Republicans want to return all of us to a broken health care system that drove honest, law-abiding families into bankruptcy and allowed insurance companies to deny people health care and jack up premium rates whenever they pleased,” Rome said.

If the Republicans succeed at repealing the ACA, the effects would be disastrous, Rome said. Repeal would:

Block new consumer protections against insurance company abuses. Beginning Jan. 1, the ACA makes it illegal for insurers to discriminate against adults with pre-existing conditions. Without this protection, 129 million people with chronic conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure and asthma would be vulnerable to being price-gouged or denied coverage, as they were for so many years before the law.
Revive the loathsome practice of allowing insurers to deny coverage to children with pre-existing conditions. Soon after it was enacted, the ACA required insurance companies to cover children with pre-existing conditions. The insurers fought this before and after the law passed. Repeal would permit insurance companies to push sick children back into the uninsured population to spruce up their profit reports.
End prescription drug savings for seniors. In only three years, the ACA has saved 6.3 million seniors a total of $6.1 billion on their prescription drugs. Repeal would force elderly Americans to give that money back to overpaid drug company executives. The ACA also strengthens and protects Medicare and eliminates waste, fraud and abuse.
Kick young adults off their parents’ health plans. About 3.1 million young adults are now covered on their parents’ insurance plans because of the ACA. Repeal would dump them into a broken marketplace that doesn’t offer them affordable, quality coverage.
Make it more expensive to get preventive care. Preventive health services are now provided without co-pays in all new private insurance plans and through Medicare. These benefits include an expanded list of preventive health services for women, from domestic violence counseling to contraception. More than 71 million Americans have already benefited from the full range of these services. Repeal would restore co-payments and increase out-of-pocket costs for everyone.
Shut down small-business tax credits. Last year, hundreds of thousands of small employers used the small-business tax credit created by Obamacare to provide health insurance for workers. Repeal would eliminate the tax credit and cause these small businesses to pay more, which would compromise coverage.
End rebates to consumers by health insurance companies that charge too much. Last year, the law required insurers to refund $1.1 billion to 12.8 million Americans because the companies spent more than 20 cents of each premium dollar on things other than actual health care, such as profits, administration and bloated executive pay.

“Doing away with these and many other Obamacare benefits because of rank partisan politics would be unconscionable,” Rome said. “Today’s political stunt in the GOP-led House should be recognized for what it is: economic vandalism in the service of partisan gamesmanship and an extraordinary waste of time when there are important things do. Never before has the House of Representatives taken so much pride in doing so little. It is time for Congress to put politics aside and address the real needs of the American people.”

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Health Care for America Now, the nation’s leading grassroots health care coalition, led the fight to win health reform. HCAN works to promote the Affordable Care Act, protect Medicare and Medicaid, and keep Congress from being steamrolled by corporate special interests.

TAKE ACTION: Psychotic Obsession

Will O'Neill — Thu, 16 May 2013 18:05:30 +0000

Call Congress today at 888-344-0683 and tell them to vote today against repealing Obamacare.

Once again, the psychotically obsessed Republicans are out to destroy the Affordable Care Act and put the insurance companies back in charge.

Today the GOP is trying – for the 37^th time! – to repeal Obamacare and put the big insurance companies back in control of your health care. The GOP just can’t quit hating a law that does so much good.

They would kick kids with pre-existing medical conditions off their insurance, cause cancer patients to run out of coverage because of lifetime limits and allow insurers to refuse coverage to any of the 129 million people with a pre-existing condition.

Call your Representative now at 888-344-0683. Tell them to vote “NO” TODAY on H.R. 45, their latest bill to repeal health care reform.

The GOP doesn’t have a plan to deal with our country’s problems. All they have is a psychotic obsession with taking away your health care. Make the call – it will be therapeutic for them.