August 24, 2017
House of Dark Shadows; the Illusion of Obamacare High Enrollment
Timothy Birdnow
In a world of dirty political tricks we are treated to all manner of data manipulation to make things appear what they are not. One of these is the Healthcare Exchange, cenerpiece of the Affordable Care Act. The public was furious over the destruction of the private market when Barack Obama and the Congressional democrats rammed this abomination down our throats, and the Republicans rode the whirlwind to power on the promise that they would repeal it. But now that they are in power and this has been established for several years they have lost their nerve, believing claims that the public now loves this thing. Why do they think that?
Well, for starters, we have been told that there are record numbers of people signing up for Obamacare. Take this article from CNN from the end of last year, for example;
"Nearly 6.4 million Americans have selected Obamacare policies through the federal exchange for coverage starting Jan. 1, federal officials announced Wednesday. That's 400,000 more than had selected policies a year ago"
[...]
"Today's enrollment numbers confirm that some of the doomsday predictions about the marketplace are not bearing out," said Health Secretary Sylvia Burwell. "American people don't want to go backwards. They don't want to gamble with their healthcare during a repeal and delay."
End excerpts.
The article did state that people will be re-enrolled automatically in addition. Now, the authors fail to mention that many people lost their employer provided plans and were forced onto the exchange - as was I when they first instituted it because the new mandates made premiums shoot through the roof for private insurance - but this is CNN after all. But there is a dirty little secret, one I just learned the hard way.
The Exchange is fudging the numbers.
My wife and I had to apply for a new plan when Coventry pulled out of the Marketplace. As a result they received two new applications which they then counted. In July my wife pulled out, and what happened? Instead of just taking her off the account I had to reapply for the exact same benefits (and kept the same insurer). There's three applications now. But wait! It gets better!
Because I was out of work for several months after eye surgery I was drawing on a retirement fund to help catch up the bills - bills which largely consisted of medical expenses which the poor quality Obamacare insurance didn't cover. I received a notification from the Marketplace that my documents didn't match and I had to provide proof of income. So I dutifully sent what I had including the temporary extra I was drawing. This led to an update, making it a fourth application. I then received a call from the Marketplace saying I was making more than I had applied under and that I had to write another explanation saying I wouldn't make any more money. I went onto Healthcare.gov and tried to update the account online. I followed the instructions on the letter they had sent me and was taken to a page where I had to answer a lot of questions. It never once asked about income, even though that was the header of the box I clicked on. When I submitted this (and you had to do it or you could not move on) I was sent to a page thanking me for my application! I tried several times to circumvent this but no dice. There was no way to update my income status - everything I did created a new application!
So now I've applied numerous times, and I am certain that this was intended to pad the numbers of Obamacare applicants. While I am only one person I have now applied multiple times - and that is what will be reported by the medcia nd will be the basis of any acts by Congress.
Republicans in Congress are afraid of their own shadows, and this is nothing but a shadow.
In point of fact, I suspect the number of applicants have declined despite the collapse of the private market as a result of Obamacare and the fact that people are being forced to purchase this product at gunpoint (well, at the risk of being harassed by the IRS at any rate, who ultimately could use guns on you if you told them to pound sand.) But like so many liberal things in our modern society, we are being treated to an illusion, a magic trick designed to frighten Republicans and justify something unpopular. It is a lie, a ruse, a con. It's the pidgeon drop with Congressional Republicans as the pidgeon.
In a world of dirty political tricks we are treated to all manner of data manipulation to make things appear what they are not. One of these is the Healthcare Exchange, cenerpiece of the Affordable Care Act. The public was furious over the destruction of the private market when Barack Obama and the Congressional democrats rammed this abomination down our throats, and the Republicans rode the whirlwind to power on the promise that they would repeal it. But now that they are in power and this has been established for several years they have lost their nerve, believing claims that the public now loves this thing. Why do they think that?
Well, for starters, we have been told that there are record numbers of people signing up for Obamacare. Take this article from CNN from the end of last year, for example;
"Nearly 6.4 million Americans have selected Obamacare policies through the federal exchange for coverage starting Jan. 1, federal officials announced Wednesday. That's 400,000 more than had selected policies a year ago"
[...]
"Today's enrollment numbers confirm that some of the doomsday predictions about the marketplace are not bearing out," said Health Secretary Sylvia Burwell. "American people don't want to go backwards. They don't want to gamble with their healthcare during a repeal and delay."
End excerpts.
The article did state that people will be re-enrolled automatically in addition. Now, the authors fail to mention that many people lost their employer provided plans and were forced onto the exchange - as was I when they first instituted it because the new mandates made premiums shoot through the roof for private insurance - but this is CNN after all. But there is a dirty little secret, one I just learned the hard way.
The Exchange is fudging the numbers.
My wife and I had to apply for a new plan when Coventry pulled out of the Marketplace. As a result they received two new applications which they then counted. In July my wife pulled out, and what happened? Instead of just taking her off the account I had to reapply for the exact same benefits (and kept the same insurer). There's three applications now. But wait! It gets better!
Because I was out of work for several months after eye surgery I was drawing on a retirement fund to help catch up the bills - bills which largely consisted of medical expenses which the poor quality Obamacare insurance didn't cover. I received a notification from the Marketplace that my documents didn't match and I had to provide proof of income. So I dutifully sent what I had including the temporary extra I was drawing. This led to an update, making it a fourth application. I then received a call from the Marketplace saying I was making more than I had applied under and that I had to write another explanation saying I wouldn't make any more money. I went onto Healthcare.gov and tried to update the account online. I followed the instructions on the letter they had sent me and was taken to a page where I had to answer a lot of questions. It never once asked about income, even though that was the header of the box I clicked on. When I submitted this (and you had to do it or you could not move on) I was sent to a page thanking me for my application! I tried several times to circumvent this but no dice. There was no way to update my income status - everything I did created a new application!
So now I've applied numerous times, and I am certain that this was intended to pad the numbers of Obamacare applicants. While I am only one person I have now applied multiple times - and that is what will be reported by the medcia nd will be the basis of any acts by Congress.
Republicans in Congress are afraid of their own shadows, and this is nothing but a shadow.
In point of fact, I suspect the number of applicants have declined despite the collapse of the private market as a result of Obamacare and the fact that people are being forced to purchase this product at gunpoint (well, at the risk of being harassed by the IRS at any rate, who ultimately could use guns on you if you told them to pound sand.) But like so many liberal things in our modern society, we are being treated to an illusion, a magic trick designed to frighten Republicans and justify something unpopular. It is a lie, a ruse, a con. It's the pidgeon drop with Congressional Republicans as the pidgeon.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
10:27 AM
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