ObamaCare Triples Kentucky Family’s Insurance Overnight

Breitbart reported: Andy and Amy Mangione of Louisville, Kentucky say their health insurance nearly tripled overnight from $333 a month to $965 due to Obamacare.

“When I saw the letter when I came home from work, it said ‘your action required, benefit changes, act now.’ Of course, I opened it immediately,” said Andy Mangione.

Andy Mangione told Fox News veteran reporter Jim Angle that nothing had changed about the health of his wife, himself, or their two boys.

“This is a high deductible plan where I’m assuming a lot of risk for my health insurance for my family,” Mangione told Fox News. “And nothing has changed, our boys are healthy—they’re young—my wife is healthy. I’m healthy, nothing in our medical history has changed to warrant a tripling of our premiums.”

The Mangiones’s insurance company, Humana, declined to comment. Humana did, however, include the following explanation in the rate spike announcement letter:

If your policy premium increased, you should know this isn’t unique to Humana—premium increases generally will occur industry-wide. Increases aren’t based on your individual claims or changes in health status. Many other factors go in to your premium including: ACA [Affordable Care Act—also known as Obamacare] compliance, including the addition of new essential health benefits.

Obamacare’s government healthcare exchanges go live nationwide in six days.

Obamacare is Slowly Lilling World Renowned Cleveland Clinic

TheBlaze reported: Via US News & World Report:

Administrators at the Cleveland Clinic announced on Wednesday that the health care giant would be cutting as much as $300 million from its 2014 budget, and that the cuts will likely include layoffs.

“Health care reform has really changed things, and the burden of cost is going to be falling on patients,” spokeswoman Eileen Shiel told The Plain Dealer. “We want to make sure we can keep care affordable.”

During a regularly scheduled quarterly meeting, Cleveland Clinic President and Chief Executive Dr. Toby Cosgrove told employees about plans to reduce operating expenses by about 6 percent, and cited the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, as one of the reasons for the cuts.

Purchase Health Insurance or Pay the Penalty? 4 Questions to Ask Yourself

TheBlaze reported: Obamacare is right around the corner, with most of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) policy changes taking place in early 2014. But one recent change to the ACA could drastically affect many individuals who thought their employer would provide the requisite coverage.

A major component of the ACA is the requirement of organizations with 50 or more employees to provide health insurance benefits to their full-time staff. However, this component was postponed until January 1, 2015. That means that the employees of companies who fall into this category may not immediately receive health benefits through their employer or coverage that is sufficient to meet the criteria, and will be required to either purchase individual health insurance by March 31, 2014 or pay a fine that will be collected when filing 2014 income taxes.

This delay will end up directing more people into the new federal and state insurance exchanges, or “Health Insurance Marketplaces.” Plans are available in four tiers of premiums and deductibles designated as “Bronze”, “Silver”, “Gold”, and “Platinum”. Purchasers can compare plans and pick insurance policies that best fit their needs.

The question many people are asking themselves is, “Should I buy health insurance or pay the fee?”

What Is the Penalty?

Adults who do not carry health insurance for at least nine months in 2014 will pay a penalty (or tax, according to a Supreme Court ruling) of $95 per adult and $47.50 per child up to $285 per family, or 1% of income, whichever is greater. This amount escalates each year with a maximum penalty equal to the average cost of a basic insurance policy sold through the appropriate insurance exchange. The penalty is not deductible for tax purposes.

Can I Avoid the Penalty?

Yes, certain groups will not be penalized for failing to purchase health insurance. These groups include:

• Members of religious organizations opposing healthcare benefits
• Individuals qualified for the new income limits for Medicaid, but whose state of residence has chosen not to expand Medicaid eligibility
• Members of a federally recognized Indian tribe
• Individuals whose income falls below the amount required to file an income tax return ($10,000 for an individual, $20,000 for a family in 2013)
• Those who are uninsured for less than 3 months of the year

If you don’t fit into one of these categories, you can apply for an exemption for special circumstances, but the exemption may not be approved.

Are There Subsidies for Government-Backed Insurance Plans?

Under the ACA, you may qualify for financial help depending on your income level. These insurance plan subsidies are in the form of:

• The Advance Health Insurance Premium Tax Credit. According to a recent report by Families USA, 25.7 million people will be eligible for the credit in 2014. The amount of credit depends on your family size and income. If you earn less than four times the Federal Poverty Level ($94,200 for a family of four in 2013), you may be eligible for a credit. For example, the Kaiser Family Foundation Subsidy Calculator estimates that a family of four (two adults, two children, non-smokers) with an annual income of $75,000 would pay $9,869 in premiums for a Silver Plan on an insurance exchange and receive a government tax credit of $2,744. The same family earning $50,000 would receive a credit of $6,504. The credit can be used at the time the insurance plan is purchased , rather than waiting until the end of the year when taxes are filed.
• Lower Out-of-Pocket Costs in Specific Circumstances. These savings apply only to those who choose a Silver Plan (the second tier of plan alternatives) and meet specific income and family size limitations. For example, a family of four earning less than $58,875 annually would be eligible for some savings while families of four earning above that amount would not. Savings result from lower deductibles, coinsurance, and copayments so while you pay the premiums of a Silver Plan, you get the benefits of a Gold or Platinum Plan.

Can I Afford to Go Without Coverage?

A number of people, even those who can afford health insurance premiums, decide not to purchase insurance because they are young, healthy, and unlikely to need care. A young, high-income earner who falls into this category probably won’t feel induced to acquire insurance based on the tax penalty. However, this practice ignores the possibility of accidents, epidemics, environmental disasters, and other emergencies that can strike at any time. As such, every knowledgable financial adviser would recommend the purchase of health insurance, regardless of age or health status.

The combination of a Health Savings Account (HSA) and a Bronze Plan offered by an insurance exchange may be the best solution for those who believe they’re bulletproof or whose companies don’t offer health insurance. A HSA – effectively a tax-advantaged savings account combined with a high-deductible healthcare plan (HDHP) – can be used to pay health insurance premiums, copayments, coinsurance, and deductibles if the need arises. Because an HSA is also a savings account, unused funds can help build financial security for later in life. In 2014, IRS regulations will allow individuals and families to deduct $3300 and $6550, respectively, from gross income for HSA contributions. Those over 55 can put an additional “catch up” amount of $1,000 into their plans annually.

When employers become subject to the ACA in 2015, they’re more likely to offer high-deductible health plans to their employees. A recent survey by Towers Watson and the National Business Group indicates nearly 80% of employers will offer a HDHP alternative in 2014. Transferring from a policy purchased through an insurance exchange to an employer-offered policy is easy with a HSA.

Conclusion

Because companies of at least 50 employees will not be required to provide health insurance benefits until 2015, many uninsured individuals will be required to purchase their own plan through the health insurance marketplace… or pay the penalty. The fact is, a serious accident or illness can financially destroy even those with healthy incomes and significant assets. Going without insurance simply isn’t advisable. If you’re stuck in a position where you’re waiting on employer-provided insurance in 2015, go ahead and hedge your bets by choosing a high-deductible health care plan to tide you over. Initial enrollment with pricing information begins on October 1, 2013 with coverage starting January 1, 2014.

Are you looking forward to the health insurance marketplace?

Report: Trader Joe’s Part-Time Workers to Lose Heath Coverage Because of Obamacare

TheBlaze reported: Traders Joe’s announced in a confidential memo last month that employees working less than 30 hours per week will have to get their health insurance via the Affordable Care Act exchanges in 2014.

Trader Joe’s CEO Dan Bane said in the memo that the company will issue part-time employees a $500 check in January to hold them over until they can enroll in President Barack Obama’s new health care law.

The announcement is notable considering the grocery chain has long provided health care coverage to its part-time employees. True, many larger retailers do the same, but Trader Joe’s is famous for having some of the lowest rates available for part-time workers.

However, the company has apparently decided it’d be cheaper to dump its part-time staff into the Obamacare exchanges next year where they will be eligible for tax subsidies to buy health insurance.

“Depending on income you may earn outside of Trader Joe’s … we believe that with the $500 from Trader Joe’s and the tax credits available under the ACA, many of you should be able to obtain health care coverage at very little if any net cost to you,” the Bane memo reads.

When questioned by the Huffington Post, a spokeswoman for Trader Joe’s would neither confirm nor deny the existence of the Bane memo.

“We have made some changes to our healthcare coverage that we believe will be a benefit to all Crew Members working in our stores. We are committed to providing all our Crew Members with benefits that are among the best in our industry,” she said.

A part-time employee who spoke to the HuffPo on condition of anonymity said she was unhappy with the move, citing the company’s health perks as “one of the best parts about the job.”

“There are several folks I work with who are there for the insurance as much as anything, mostly folks with young families,” she said. “I can say that when I opened and read the letter yesterday my reaction was pure panic, followed quickly by anger.”

Now whether company employees fall into the full-time or part-time category depends on their schedules, the Bane memo notes.

“It is important to note … we do not create our weekly schedules with healthcare eligibility in mind,” the memo reads. “Rather, we will continue to create weekly schedules that are solely focused on supporting the customer experience.”

The company will continue to provide employees who work 30 hours or more per week with health care coverage (Obamacare mandates that any company with 50 or more employees must provide health care coverage to its full-time staff).

But, again, being a full-time employee all depends on scheduling.

Obama Uses Secure White House Bunker in Fight for… ObamaCare?

TheBlaze reported: Yahoo News’ Olivier Knox notes:

On Aug. 21, the day of Syria’s alleged chemical weapons attack, President Barack Obama called senior aides together into the White House’s secure, high-tech national security Situation Room to discuss … Obamacare.

The White House released an official photograph of the meeting, which had been scheduled before the apparent massacre, on its Flickr stream. It shows the president at the head of the table in the basement nerve center’s main conference room, apparently addressing officials on various video-conference screens.

That Aug. 21 meeting highlights how the administration has been using a secure facility originally designed to manage the government response to natural disasters or terrorist attacks, or oversee military operations, for purposes unrelated to national security.

It is interesting to compare the president’s position in this official White House image of the president during an Affordable Care Act video conference in the Situation Room…

With this famous Situation Room snapshot during the raid that killed Osama bin Laden:

NYT: Obamacare Increases Tax Rates 12 Times More than Romneycare

Breitbart reported: During the rancorous debate over Obamacare, President Barack Obama and his team said the president’s healthcare plan was modeled on the system Republican presidential challenger Mitt Romney implemented in Massachusetts.

However, a New York Times analysis by University of Chicago economics professor Casey B. Mulligan finds that Obamacare’s impact on nationwide marginal tax rates will be 12 times greater than the rate increases under Romneycare in Massachusetts.

The finding holds critical implications for employment and work hours.

“It follows that the effect of the Affordable Care Act on employment and work hours would be roughly 12 times as great as the effect of the Massachusetts law,” writes Mulligan. “The bottom line was that it was wrong to expect the two laws to have had the same effects.”

Mulligan added: “Call me gloomy, but I’m one economist who thinks that adding, on average, five percentage points to marginal tax rates will noticeably depress the labor market, while adding a few tenths of a point in Massachusetts did not.”

Obamacare’s myriad delays and blown implementation deadlines have given Republicans a key issue for the 2014 midterm elections. The Republican National Committee recently launched its #ObamaCosts publicity campaign to highlight how Obamacare is killing jobs, lowering healthcare access, increasing premiums, and weakening the U.S. economy.

Obamacare’s grand opening is in 25 days.

AFL-CIO President Trumka Admits Obamacare Making Employers Cut Hours

Breitbart reported: As President Obama attempts to convince Americans that employers are not cutting employees’ hours to save their jobs from the costs of the Affordable Care Act, evidence to the contrary is piling up.

Even the President of one of the largest private sector unions in the country has admitted that Obamacare is costing employees hours.

In a recent interview, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said employers are “restructuring their workforce,” giving employees fewer hours—and it’s all because of the negative impacts of Obamacare.

http://www.mrctv.org/embed/122616

AFL-CIO PResident Richard Trumka: The Affordable Care Act does need some modifications to it, because as it does right now, what’s happening is, you have employers that the law says if you pay your, if your employees work 30 hours or more a week, you’ve got to give them healthcare. So they’re restructuring their workforce to give workers 29 and a half hours so they don’t have to provide them healthcare. They’re also doing some taxing to nonprofit plans to pay for for-profit plans.

Meanwhile, a growing list of up to 258 large employers in states all across the country have announced that they are cutting jobs and hours as a result of the impact Obamacare will have on their businesses, organizations, and institutions.

Employers such as Subway sandwich shops, Republic Foods (owner of Burger King), Royal Farms Convenience Stores, public institutions such as Southern Illinois University, Youngstown State University, as well as counties and government agencies on the state level are laying off employees and cutting the hours of others in order to steer clear of the fees and taxes imposed by Obamacare.

With this admission by one of Obama’s biggest boosters and largest political donors, the AFL-CIO casts further doubt on the claim that Obamacare is good for American’s jobs.

Obama Claims New Health Care Law Will Be ‘Cheaper’ For Some Than a Cell Phone Bill

TheBlaze reported: President Barack Obama in a radio interview Tuesday morning boasted that the cost of enrolling in the Affordable Care Act will, “for a lot of people,” be “cheaper” than a cell phone bill.

“We were just talking with some folks earlier about the fact that, for a lot of people, it will be cheaper than your cell phone bill,” the president said during an interview on the Tom Joyner Morning Show.

He continued, explaining that it’s important everyone sign up for the new health care law:

The president was asked at one point by the show’s hosts what he thinks civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. would have said about Obamacare.

“Oh he’d like that,” the president said. “Well, because he understood that health care, health security is not a privilege, it’s something in a county as wealthy as ours, everybody should have access to.”

Kathleen Sebelius Ties MLK’s March to Obamacare

TheBlaze reported: Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius sought to tie the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. with President Barack Obama’s health care law using the White House website on Monday.

King, who led the March on Washington 50 years ago, used the phrase “fierce urgency of now” when talking about the civil rights struggle. Sebelius said the term applies to the implementation of Obamacare, as the new health exchanges with government-approved insurance plans prepare to open on Oct. 1.

“A half century later, Dr. King’s words have renewed meaning,” Sebelius said in a White House blog post.

“Without the opportunity to live a healthy life, there is no opportunity to live the American dream or participate fully in our communities,” Sebelius added later. “Without the freedom which comes from having access to quality health care, there is no freedom to reach our full potential in the workforce or watch our kids or grandkids grow up. Without the security of health insurance, there is no economic security for middle-class families, and so many other families working their way into the middle class.”

Sebelius then quoted a speech from King to the Medical Committee for Human Rights, when he said, “Of all forms of injustice, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.”

The secretary went on to write about her father Jack Gilligan, a Democratic politician who represented Ohio in the House of Representatives before he was elected governor of the state, and his votes for both civil rights and Medicare and Medicaid in the 1960s.

“My dad strongly supported the Voting Rights Act, and he helped write the Medicare and Medicaid laws,” Sebelius said. “He saw all these struggles as connected to the broader goal of a more perfect union.”

She continued, “Today, this legacy continues. The Affordable Care Act is the most powerful law for reducing health disparities since Medicare and Medicaid were created in 1965.”

Numerous Business Are Worried About Obamacare — and Here’s What They’re Starting to Do About It

TheBlaze reported: Mid- and large-sized companies overwhelmingly expect health-care costs to increase under Obamacare — and most are eyeing possible changes to their health insurance offerings because of a looming excise tax for pricier plans under the health-care reform law, a new survey of employers finds.

In fact, 40 percent of 420 companies surveyed by Towers Watson said they will be changing their insurance plans’ designs in 2014 in light of the coming excise tax as well as to control employee-related health costs.

And nearly 60 percent of the companies view private health insurance exchanges as a possible way to control their health-care and administrative costs by shifting the work of insuring their workers off to those exchanges in the future.

But most of those companies — which collectively employ 8.7 million people — don’t have firm near-term plans to do so.

The study also found those same companies are increasingly unlikely to offer their employer-sponsored plan for retirees older than age 65 as Obamacare state insurance exchanges go into effect, and as Medicare remains available to those people.

The number of employers either very or somewhat likely to discontinue such plans for those retirees grows from 25 percent in 2014 to 44 percent in 2015, according to Towers Watson, the global professional services company, which released its study Wednesday.

But the same study found a very strong majority of those companies — 82 percent — see their ability to offer subsidized health benefits to existing workers as an “important” as part of their “employee value proposition” for 2014, according to the study.

And 98 percent of the employers have no definite plans to discontinue health-care coverage in 2014 and 2015 and direct their full-time workers to the state health insurance exchanges.

“Most companies very much still see health-care benefits as a core offering,” said Ron Fontanetta, a senior health-care consultant at Towers Watson.

“It’s a very visible benefit, and it garners a lot of attention among executives, in part because it’s very visible to employees and also because it costs a lot,” Fontanetta said.

Companies taking action

However, the Towers Watson study is being released on the same day that it was revealed that delivery giant United Parcel Service told white-collar employees two months ago that UPS was excluding 15,000 working spouses from the Atlanta-based company’s health plan next year because of increased medical casts, and “costs associated with the Affordable Care Act,” according to a memo cited by the Kaiser Health News service.

UPS’ decision, according to Kaiser Health, is based on the ability of the affected employees’ spouses to obtain insurance coverage elsewhere.

A UPS spokesman told Kaiser Health that the company expects to save about $60 million per year with that decision.

The Towers Watson study, in a reflection of the high costs that UPS and other companies are identifying and reacting to, found that the chief financial officers of the companies surveyed are increasingly involved in decision-making for those businesses’ health-care strategies.

When the survey asked companies to what extent their CFOs are more involved in such decisions than they were three to five years ago, 46 percent of the companies said it was to either a great or significant extent.

Fontanetta said those CFOs aren’t necessarily sitting down with benefits managers and designing health-care offerings. But, he said, “They are increasingly asking questions about ‘where are we taking our future strategy? how does the challenge of offering health care reconcile with our broader financial goals as an organization?’”

“They want to understand, increasingly, what are the different strategic pathways [the companies] might take,” Fontanetta said.

Looming excise tax

At the forefront of many of those CFOs’ minds, and the minds of other executives at the surveyed companies, is the looming threat of an excise tax on benefits under a provision of the Affordable Care Act that goes into effect in 2018.

That tax on the companies will initially be on health-care coverage whose aggregate cost for workers exceed $10,200 for self-only coverage and $27,500 for other coverage.

The tax is 40 percent of the amount that the worker pays in excess of those limits. Despite the fact that the tax doesn’t kick in for more than four more years, it is already affecting having an effect on decision-making.

A total of 60 percent of employers said that the excise tax will have either significant or moderate influence on their health-care benefits strategy in 2014 and 2015, the study found.

“This is a big deal,” Fontanetta said of those results. “It’s one of the most important findings.”

He noted that more than 60 percent of the companies expect to be subject to the excise tax, absent any changes in their health-care offerings that would avoid it.

“But we don’t think companies are going to sit tight,” Fontanetta said.