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    Sticker shock! Americans floored by Obamacare cost


    Sticker shock! Americans floored by Obamacare cost

    Health policy expert: 'A lot of people think they're going to get free insurance'


    Published: 4 days ago

    The technical problems with the Obamacare insurance exchanges are no surprise, are further evidence the whole program should be delayed or scrapped and Americans will be even more horrified when they can get somewhere on the website, according to health-care policy expert Grace-Marie Turner.
    The first 10 days of the Obamacare insurance exchanges have been a technological and public relations mess for the administration. Many Americans have suffered through hours of stalled or crashed websites, no reporter has yet been able to navigate the site and many people have entered personal information that online security experts believe could make them targets for identity theft.
    When WND spent hours online and on the phone trying to get a cost estimate for an Obamcare plan, it was told to expect a quote by Jan. 1.
    As WND reported, anecdotal evidence on the government’s own health-care Facebook page suggests both problems are significant factors.
    A few users seemed simply confused, but the overwhelming number of comments were critical and many of those were scathing. Complaints about the application process had three recurring themes: long waits, glitches and sticker shock. There was also much ridicule of the site’s inability to handle “tremendous demand.”
    Information technology experts told the Wall Street Journal the website “appeared to be built on a sloppy software foundation.”
    None of this comes as a shock to Turner, who heads the highly respected Galen Institute.

    “I am absolutely not surprised,” she told WND. “Of course, we know the federal government is running the exchanges for about 35 of the states and the other states were setting up their own exchanges. All of them basically have to do the same thing. It is just a gargantuan undertaking to not only figure out how to set up a new website that gathers a tremendous amount of information from individuals: their name, their birth date, where they work, their Social Security number, the names and birth dates of their children, how much they earn, their health habits. All of this has to be gathered just for people to be able to apply to see if they are eligible for coverage and then to pick a plan.”
    Turner added, “Then all that has to be assimilated with federal databases, with the IRS, with Treasury, with Health and Human Services, with state databases to see if you’re eligible or on Medicaid, with Homeland Security to see if they’re actually a citizen, with the Peace Corps for some reason,” she said, noting the administration engaged in a massive rush job to get the exchanges up by the start of October.
    “They were still letting contracts for this this July. This law was passed three-and-a-half years ago. They were just getting around to letting the contracts. Even some of the physical equipment like switches to let all these computers talk to each other, were not ordered until this summer,” she said. “It’s an example of when the federal government tries to run something. They try to re-engineer one-sixth of our economy. They just can’t do it.”
    The exchange problems are only the start of the misery, according to Turner. She said once people get to check out different plans on the exchanges, the stark realities of this new system will kick in.
    “I think a lot of people think they’re going to get free insurance. This is not just some online shopping. You’re required by the federal government to buy this insurance, and it’s going to be very expensive, even with the subsidies. People are not expecting to have to spend $100, $200, $300, $400 a month for health insurance for the rest of our lives, even for some of these policies that seem to be what the government considers to be the more affordable ones,” Turner said.
    “Then on top of that, they’re very likely to have deductibles of several thousand dollars as well as co-payments on top of the premiums. Once people start to see the cost of this, there are going to be a lot of second thoughts. I think there’s going to be a lot of sticker shock.”
    President Obama and Democrats in Congress are not only blaming Republican opposition to Obamacare for the current fiscal divides but also blame the GOP for the very rocky roll-out of the exchanges because of staunch opposition every step of the way. Turner said the GOP has nothing to do with the problems.
    “It’s ludicrous,” she said. “The administration has well over a trillion dollars to spend on this program and has had all sorts of slush funds. It’s given out money right and left. For them to blame the Republican Congress for the fact that they didn’t get around to letting the contracts for the switching equipment for the exchanges until July, how on Earth is that the fault of a Republican Congress?”
    By all accounts, web traffic has been said to be in the millions, but the actual application and enrollment numbers appear to be exceptionally low. Turner is curious not only to see the enrollment numbers in the coming months but what type of patients are enrolling.
    “What really is going to matter in the sustainability of these exchanges is who is enrolling. The people who are most likely to enroll and pay these high prices are those with a lot of health problems. If that happens, then I think you’re going to start to see a death spiral for these exchanges,” said Turner, who noted that the administration has to have young, healthy people buy coverage to prevent premium costs from shooting through the roof.
    “Young people are already being required to pay a much higher premium than their health status would suggest they should and than they would in an open, competitive market,” Turner said. “Those are the very people you most want to get in, and they’re the ones who are going to have to pay the highest relative premium to their health status.
    “They’re penalizing the very people that they need to get into these. I think that over the long term, that the way this is set up is designed not to work.”

    audio at link below

    Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/10/sticker-s...b5PdTjLMsTF.99

  2. #2
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    Jon Stewart Wimps Out - Bows Down to Obamacare Chief [Kathleen Sebelius]



    Published on Oct 9, 2013
    Obamacare propagandist Kathleen Sebelius knew she was on "home turf" when visiting Jon Stewart's Comedy Central-Planning Network. He asked a few "fig leaf' fake tough questions, but never had the guts to really call her out on the spectacular fail that is Obamacare. His mind-numbing paradigm is that only "crazy" people are against Obamacare, so could you please make it suck a little less? And what's Jon Stewart's main problem with Obamacare? It's not LIBERAL enough. Face facts, folks. Dude's a tool.
    --

    "Jon Stewart" Blames Gov't Shutdown republicans government shutdown obamacare daily show obama care Jon Stewart Jon
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  3. #3
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    CBS Calls Obamacare Website Launch 'Nothing Short of Disastrous'

    If a one-year delay of the Obamacare mandate tax is good enough for Jon Stewart, Wolf Blitzer and the vast majority of the American people, why won't Democrats in Washington even consider it? To add insult to injury, how much did taxpayers fork over to build the non-functioning Obamacare website? According to government records, the figure appears to be north of $600 million, (somewhat appropriately) way over budget:
    The exact cost to build Healthcare.gov, according to U.S. government records, appears to have been $634,320,919, which we paid to a company you probably never heard of: CGI Federal. The company originally won the contract back in 2011, but at that time, the cost was expected to run “up to” $93.7 million – still a chunk of change, but nothing near where it ended up.



    Three-and-a-half years and more than half-a-billion dollars later, the Obama administration has an unmitigated failure on its hands. This is why people don't trust big government to do big things, especially with spendthrift incompetents at the wheel. People can't enroll, passwords are being reset, insurance companies aren't receiving data -- and the flaws run so deep that they may not be resolved for "months," based on several expert assessments. In the meantime, as millions try to sign up and, the opening for rampant exploitive fraud grows larger. The Chicago Tribune warns its readers to be wary of scam artists, an admonition citizens would be wise to heed:


    Phony ACA Insurance Cards: There is no Affordable Care Act "insurance card." The Better Business Bureau has issued a warning that con artists are trying lure people into providing Social Security numbers or bank account information so they can "send a new insurance card." With that information, the fraudsters can steal your identity. Remember, unlike Medicare, there are NO ACA cards.
    Imposters posing as Navigators: The ACA created a designated breed of advisers known as "navigators," who generally work at nonprofits like the United Way or local agencies. Navigators are supposed to help answer questions and to help individuals enroll for coverage. Imposters are now calling and emailing unsuspecting consumers, posing as navigators and trying to steal their identities or sell them phony health insurance. Remember that NO ONE from the government will call you, email you or show up to your house regarding the ACA, so if one of these posers appears, hang up, hit delete or shut the door!

    Medicare Card Scam: The Federal Trade Commission reports that Medicare-related complaints have skyrocketed from 117 in January to 2,164 in August. One new trick has the scammer saying that you need a new Medicare card under the new law. This is 100 percent false: there are no new Medicare cards as a result of the ACA. This scheme attempts to obtain your Medicare card because your Social Security number is printed on it, which allows for a new identity to be established.

    Fake websites: The government's official website for ACA is http://www.healthcare.gov. However, cyber thieves are creating false sites with faux government seals that phish for personal information. Avoid any site EXCEPT healthcare.gov, because it could lead to identity theft or nasty computer viruses.

    The sad reality is that if you think you've easily signed up for Obamacare, there's a very good chance that you're actually ensnared in a fraud. "Nothing short of disastrous," indeed. A new Associated Press poll shows that just seven percent (!) of Americans say the law's roll-out has "gone well." Who are these people? And haven't they heard that the process is "simple and user friendly"?

    http://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybens...acare-n1720796
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