About half of Obamacare’s
Consumer Operated and Oriented Plans, or co-ops, have imploded, leaving nearly
half-a-million Americans looking for new health coverage.
And instead of addressing the
problem, the Obama administration is pretending it doesn’t exist.
That’s the assessment of Rep. Adrian
Smith, R-Neb., a member of the House Ways and Means Committee who
recently wrote
about the spate of failures in the Wall Street Journal.
“When it passed Congress in 2010,
the Affordable Care Act offered substantial financial support to create
nonprofit health-insurance plans. Today 11 of the 23 such regional Consumer
Operated and Oriented Plans have failed — seven since the beginning of
October,” Smith wrote.“They’ve collapsed despite federal startup loans totaling
more than $1.1 billion. These loans will likely never be fully repaid, while
insurers and consumers will be on the hook for any unpaid claims left behind by
failed insurers,” he added.
The congressman estimates 400,000-500,000
Americans lost their coverage in those 11 failed co-ops.
In an interview with Radio America,
Smith says the co-ops were doomed from the start. “I think they were improperly
structured. They were allowed to charge too low a premium, not reflecting the
actual costs. They thought the original subsidies – or loans if you will,
but let’s face it, they’re subsidies, especially since they’re so unlikely to
be repaid. That wasn’t enough,” said Smith, who is fuming more as he learns how
these collapses transpired. “The more I am learning about this entire
situation, the more offensive it is, and this is just one part of Obamacare,”
Smith said.
The congressman said what galls him
most is that the government forced many people out of coverage they liked and
then left those same people out in the cold. "The thing that bothers me
the most is when a good, upstanding citizen is doing everything they're
supposed to do to be a responsible individual," Smith said. "Yet they
are faced with canceled coverage, or they're faced with a penalty for taking
care of themselves." Adding to Smith's frustrations is what he believes is
utter indifference to the problem from the Obama administration.
"We had a hearing earlier this
week, and the chief of staff from [the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid
Services] was our witness," Smith said. "[Dr. Mandy Cohen] sent
the message that everything is just fine in the Obamacare co-op arena."
He said it's quite obvious that
co-ops are not "just fine."
"It's not a win," Smith
said. "Nearly half of the co-ops have collapsed and that's from New York
to Nevada. Ours, with Nebraska and Iowa together, we were the first to collapse
a year ago. Now we see them collapsing at a much quicker pace."
How can the Department of Health
and Human Services, or HHS, say all is well when almost half the co-ops
have failed?
"In a very dismissive manner, I
have to say, and it's disappointing," Smith said. "I started asking
questions almost a year ago and HHS is not offering any answers."
Not only is the government doing
little to help, in some circumstances it is actually pushing co-ops to their
deaths.
"The administrators of the
Nebraska-Iowa plan saw a larger number of people sign up for their plan than
they originally anticipated," Smith said. "So they requested
permission from HHS to suspend enrollment, to basically cap that at a number
they figured was more manageable. They were prohibited by HHS from capping the
number of enrollees."
The congressman said that hastened
the demise of the Nebraska-Iowa co-op. He said HHS did give permission for the
Tennessee co-op to cap enrollment, but it collapsed anyway.
In the meantime, Smith is sponsoring
legislation that would protect those who lost coverage with the failure of the
co-ops from being fined by the IRS for not having coverage as mandated by
federal law. He believes all of Obamacare will eventually crater, but he hopes
too many people aren't hurt in the process.
"Ultimately, I think it
collapses under its own weight," he said. "I just want to do
everything I can to minimize the damage in the ensuing time. That's what
weighs heavy on my mind is that the heavy hand of the federal government is
actually hurting the very people Barack Obama was saying he was wanting to
help."
Listen to
the WND/Radio America interview with Rep. Adrian Smith, R-Neb.:
http://www.wnd.com/2015/11/obamacare-doomsday-collapses-drop-half-million-americans/
1 comment:
The Big Rate Increases Are Coming a Year Early The Obama administration has posted the 2016 rate increases in excess of 10% that the Obam... how do i sign up for obama care
Post a Comment