Obamacare short comings begin to become clearer

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Obamacare short comings begin to become clearer

Let’s stop kidding ourselves folks by continue to believe this “pie in the sky” federalized Obamacare is affordable health care coverage for the masses.

It seems every time we turn around we’re hearing of nightmare stories from people who can’t get the health care help they need or still can’t afford the rising costs of co-pays.

With the exception of the over 260,000 Arkansans classified as poor who qualify for government subsidies under the hand-out cash drawers of the Medicare cash register the rest of the nearly 3 million Arkansans are being straddled with unexpected costs, reduction in treatments and soaring costs of prescription medicines. Now, we’re hearing more and more grim news from states, such as Arkansas, that health insurers under contract to provide Obamacare coverage are seeking higher rates on individual policies.

Just the other day, Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s administration wants serious questions answered from four of the five health insurance providers that are seeking rate increases of more than 10 percent.

Hutchinson’s administration says it is just not convinced the proposed hikes are justified. There is just no substantive justification for the proposed rate hikes, says Hutchinson’s spokesman J.R. Davis.

Get this, one insurer in Arkansas, Celtic Insurance, also known as Ambetter, has requested an increase of less than 10 percent and so it does not have to justify or publicly disclose its request, leaving policy holders stuck with the higher premium costs.

We’re told the companies have used the excuse such as higher-than-expected demand for medical services; the end of the federal transitional Reinsurance program, which has helped insurers pay claims of highercost customers; ;changes in the federal government’s standards for qualified benefits, which will require insurers to change the benefits in their plans; and new state legislation that removed a premium tax credit.

Let’s all admit the requested rate increases are clear evidence that we’ve been duped, conned and clearly deceived.

We’ve also learned the largest health insurer in Texas wants to raise its rates on individual policies by an average of nearly 60 percent, which is clearly a sign we should all admit that Barack Obama’s overhaul hasn’t solved the problems of price spikes.

Oh sure, this federally subsidized socialized health care scam has provided so-called “free” health care to the hundreds of thousands of people classified as “poor”, proponents say include children, elderly and disabled.

But, let’s point out the soaring costs are attributed to lower-than-expected customers that pay premiums, sicker-than-expected customers and problems with government’s financial backstop for insurance markets.

Arkansas and Texas aren’t alone in this dilemma.

We’ve also been informed North Carolina’s largest insurer wants an average increase of 18.8 percent.

And, a recent analysis of nine states found that average premium increases for the most popular kind of plan ranged from 5 percent in Washington state to a whopping 44 percent in Vermont.

This Affordable Care Act is not affordable to those paying the bills or to retirees who have paid into Medicare throughout their careers. What we are experiencing is many hard working people having to choose between paying for ever-increasing premiums or medications, food, and other necessities.