Sunday, May 31, 2015

The Columbia Journalism Review: "Why We Need Stronger Coverage of Covered California"

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The California Press Gets a Critique It Has Long Deserved Covered California, the Obamacare state-run health insurance exchange, has long...
Monday, April 27, 2015

Republicans Would Extend Obamacare Subsidies If the Supreme Court Strikes Down State Exchange Payments––But With Lots of Conditions

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The Republicans should offer an unconditional subsidy extension if the Supreme Court strikes them down Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson (R) ...
Tuesday, April 21, 2015

$1 billion in Federal Tax Dollars and a One Star Rating on Yelp––Quite an Expose––Behind the Scenes at Covered California

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California's Obamacare Insurance Exchange Posts Poor Results and is the Subject of an Expose What a difference a year makes. Last y...
Thursday, April 2, 2015

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's Medicaid Policy––and Now His Position Not to Save Insurance Subsidies if the Supreme Court Strikes Them Down––Says a Lot About How He Would Govern as President

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Speaking to a conservative group in Wisconsin this week, presumptive presidential candidate Scott Walker said he would not move to establis...
Thursday, March 26, 2015

Headline: "Exchanges Struggle to Enroll Consumers As Income Increases" It's Because of the Obamacare Dichotomy

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Here is an excerpt from a post on this blog from June 21, 2014: Kaiser Family Foundation Survey Finds Most People Who Bought Health Insur...
Wednesday, March 25, 2015

The New York Times: Has Obamacare Enrollment Stalled?

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Readers of this blog know that I have made a number of points about Obamacare in recent months: The number of people signing up for Obamac...
Thursday, March 5, 2015

The Obamacare Supreme Court Subsidy Challenge––Surprising Comments From Anthony Kennedy and Maybe a Way Out for John Roberts

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The Supreme Court heard oral arguments yesterday in the King v. Burwell case that would throw out the Obamacare subsidies for millions of p...
Monday, March 2, 2015

Republicans: "We Have a Plan For Fixing Health Care" If the Supreme Court Eliminates Subsidies in as Many as 37 States––It Won't Be So Simple

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Key Senate Republican committee chairman Orrin Hatch (UT), John Barrasso (WY), and Lamar Alexander (TN) have an op-ed in the Washington Pos...
Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Obamacare is "Working a Little Better Than We Expected"––Judge for Yourself

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Here is what President Obama said in a recent video, "The Affordable Care Act is working. It's working a little better than we exp...
Tuesday, February 10, 2015

A Detailed Analysis of the Republican Alternative to Obamacare

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House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton along with Senate Finance Chairman Orin Hatch and Senator Richard Burr have outlined what is, ...
Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Rethink "Repeal and Replace" and Consumer Friendly Obamacare Fixes - Two Op-Eds in USA Today

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I have no doubt Republicans will insist on proposing their own complex plan to reform the health insurance system that will include repealin...
Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Will Tax Season Be Obamacare's Next Big Challenge? Is There Really an Individual Mandate?

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Will tax-filing season be the next reason for consumers to complain about the new health law? Come tax time, will the Obama administration r...
Monday, January 5, 2015

The Single-Payer Health Insurance Failure in Vermont

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For 25 years I've been saying that I wished a little state like Vermont would implement a single-payer Canadian-style health insurance s...
Monday, December 29, 2014

The Letter You Never Want to Get on Christmas Eve

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I was reading the December 18th issue of Inside Health Insurance Exchanges and came across an article entitled, "New Kids on the Block...
Thursday, November 13, 2014

How Many People Have Enrolled So Far in Obamacare's Second Open Enrollment?

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Undoubtedly I will hear that question many times in the coming weeks. The answer is that this enrollment process is so screwed up we will ...
Monday, November 10, 2014

Is the Administration Low-Balling Their 2015 Obamacare Enrollment Estimate?

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Well, with an estimate of only 9 million to 9.9 million, apparently they are. But I will suggest the focus should not be on anybody's es...
Friday, November 7, 2014

Supreme Court Takes the Obamacare Subsidy Case--Justices Will Rule Before July 1

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In a Wow moment, the Supreme Court announced Friday that they will take one of the four pending "Halbig" cases––specifically King ...
Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Obamacare: Death By a Thousand Votes?

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We didn't see a Republican tide on election night. We saw a Republican tsunami. A year after Obamacare went into effect and Democrat...
Friday, October 31, 2014

Health Insurers "Expect at Least 20% Growth" From 2015 Enrollment

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That was the lead in a Reuters story this morning saying, "health plans expect at least 20% growth in customers and in some states ant...
Sunday, October 19, 2014

Figures Don't Lie But Liars Figure––Will There Be Some Obamacare Rate Shock in 2015?

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Hanging around actuaries as long as I have one of the old sayings I picked up was, "Figures don't lie, but liars figure." I ...