The HCRA

[Palehorse]

And when the insurance companies decide they can't cope with the HCRA regs which have been imposed on them by the HCB and go out of business guess who your insurer will be........well of course.....the government.......duh....single payer.....Canada...UK....long waits for doctors....no premium healthcare available any longer except for the government and the very rich.  Good doctors are already pulling out of taking medicaid and medicare and some are being dropped.

Oh come on! Don't strain something reaching like that.

[me]

Just stay alert.

[Exterminator]

And now for the truth:

Insurance Scam; How Private Insurance Companies Are Using Obamacare Fears To Rip People Off

By now you've probably heard horror stories about how the Affordable Care Act (ACA), otherwise known as Obamacare, has forced so many people to lose their insurance policies. You've heard that affordable health insurance policies are being canceled and replaced with policies that are far more expensive than the canceled policies. But have you heard that across the country, insurance regulators are cracking down on the private insurance companies, because of the scam they are running on their customers? Probably not.

Insurance companies, what's going on?

What's going on? Diane Barrette is a good example of what's going on. Barrette, a 56 year old woman from Florida, who claimed on CBS News that her $54 health insurance policy was going to cost $591 a month because of Obamacare, was a victim of exactly the kind of scam that these state agencies are dealing with.

Barrette had received a letter from one of the private insurance companies, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, telling her that her old policy was canceled. The letter went on to say that the company would be replacing it with the new policy, and quoted a price that was ten times the cost of the old policy. CBS highlighted Barrette's story as if she were the victim of Obamacare. She wasn't. She was the victim of another private insurance industry scam. If CBS had been doing their job and acting as reporters and not right wing spokespeople, they would have known it, too.

Here's how this scam works.

How this scam works is that private insurance companies send out letters notifying existing customers that their current policy has been canceled, because of the ACA's new requirements. They then offer customers a new, ACA compliant policy at far higher rates than what the customer would pay if he went through the ACA marketplace. In most cases the insurance companies do not tell their customers what other options are available or even let them know they have a choice under the new law. Some insurance companies have pressed their customers to sign up for the new policies by a certain date, saying if they don't, their health coverage will be lost.

Consumer Reports found her a policy for $165.00.

On the program, Barrette tells CBS that she has to hurry and make up her mind by November 1st or she will lose out on her chance to buy in. CBS offered her no explanation of her alternatives, but Consumer Reports examined Barrette's story shortly after it aired. They easily found her a policy in the Marketplace for $165.00, not the $591 Blue Cross Blue Shield was shamelessly going to charge her.

What's more, Consumer Reports also looked at her old policy, the one she was paying $54 a month for. They determined that it was "junk." In essence, Barrette had been paying one of these corrupt private insurance companies  nearly $650 per year, to have almost no real medical coverage, under her previous Blue Cross Blue Shield policy.

Insurance companies are exploiting the people who are looking to them for advice.

Talking Points Memo (TPM) recently published an in depth expose' on how insurance companies like Blue Cross and Blue Shield are scamming people all across the country. While in most states it's not criminal, it's a scam nonetheless. By telling consumers that their policies have been canceled under the new law and offering them insurance plans that cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars more than what those consumers would pay in the marketplace, these insurance companies are exploiting the people who are looking to them for advice. High pressure tactics are used to get confused customers to sign up for these overpriced policies, including threatening letters and harassing phone calls.

Humana was fined more than $65,000 in Kentucky for this scam.

In Kentucky, state insurance regulators went after Humana for the scheme. In that state, Humana was one of the worst of these private insurance companies, guilty of exploiting people's fears over Obamacare. The company sent out thousands of letters to their Kentucky customers telling them their policies were canceled and that they had only a short window of time to buy into new (expensive) policies. The letter also told them that their premiums would go up once Obamacare went into effect. In all, 2,200 people fell for the scam, rushing to buy the marked up policies that the company was selling. The policies were sold at a much higher cost than what is offered in the ACA Marketplace. Humana was fined more than $65,000 for the scam. The 2,200 customers who signed up to buy the more expensive policies were released from their contract with the company.

In Washington, state regulators issued a consumer alert about the scams.

In Washington, state regulators issued a consumer alert about the scams.Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler wrote: Don't just take what your insurance company says, make sure you shop around. You have the right to buy any plan inside the new exchange or in the outside market.

The scam is taking place all across the country, not just in some areas or some states. Consumer complaints have been lodged in Colorado, Missouri and Florida, just to name a few. Since health insurance companies like Humana and Blue Cross Blue Shield operate on a national basis, it is not surprising to see these kinds of letters being received all across the U.S.

"The reality is that this could do real harm."

Laura Etherton, a health policy analyst at the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, told TPM: If you're an insurance company, you're trying to hang onto the consumers you have at the highest price you can get them.You can take advantage of the confusion about what people get to have now. It's a new world. It's disappointing that insurance companies are sending confusing letters to consumers to take advantage of that confusion. The reality is that this could do real harm.

[The Troll]

What????  Go take your meds Troll.

  I do and will take meds because my UAW medical drug plan makes it affordable thank you Sweetie Potoota.   

[me]

  I do and will take meds because my UAW medical drug plan makes it affordable thank you Sweetie Potoota.   

At least for now.   

[me]

For those of you who missed this last night on the CMA Awards.  I didn't watch them but did see snippets of this earlier. 
http://www.youtube.com/v/YR3_mM4bpCY

[Palehorse]

http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/07/politics/obama-obamacare-apology/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

He apologized, but does anyone think it is enough for the hyenas? Of course not! Nothing will appease them short of the public lynching of the man. 

[me]

http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/07/politics/obama-obamacare-apology/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

He apologized, but does anyone think it is enough for the hyenas? Of course not! Nothing will appease them short of the public lynching of the man. 

Only if they actually do something.  At this point it's only empty words said because the heat was on and he got caught trying to twist what he said in the first place.

[Palehorse]

Only if they actually do something.  At this point it's only empty words said because the heat was on and he got caught trying to twist what he said in the first place.

See what I mean? 

As for being able to do anything about it, don't hold your breath. Congress will just "say no" as they have for the last 5 years. 

[me]

See what I mean? 

As for being able to do anything about it, don't hold your breath. Congress will just "say no" as they have for the last 5 years. 

He went around them to grant waivers for big business on their tax he can do it for this.  He's all talk anyway so I don't really figure he will even try to do anything.  He knew when he said everyone could keep their policies and doctors that it wasn't going to happen and said it anyway then tried to twist what he said so, like I said in the first place, it was just empty words to take the heat off temporarily.  About all he can do at this point is what he was asked to do in the first place and delay it for a year to keep more people from losing theirs and get that damn website straightened up.

[Henry Hawk]

The man OUTRIGHT LIED.  He said what he had to to be sure that bill was passed. 

Perhaps in his own mind, he believed he was doing a good thing by lying.  He knew if this bill did not pass then, it would NOT happen on his watch.

I honestly believe he has good intentions..........but as we know that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

[Exterminator]

In other news, the racists still hate the non-white president!

[Henry Hawk]

In other news, the racists still hate the non-white president!

[Exterminator]

Denial...not a river in Egypt.

[Henry Hawk]

    good one!

But the bottom line is this....the POTUS did, without any doubt in this world to any thinking, rational human being....LIED.
He is, a LIAR.  PERIOD.  (To steal his phrase.....if you like your current insurance, you can keep it..."PERIOD".