What will happen with health insurance on January 1?
Aside from having to date your checks “2014,” that is?
We tried to figure out exactly what the hell was going to happen on January 1st, given that Obamacare kicked five million people off their insurance, and would certainly not manage to sign up that many by the deadline…
John Ekdahl suggested that Obama will just order hospitals and doctors to treat anyone who says he has insurance, whether he does or not. I believe Ekdahl’s term was that Obama will order everyone to be “deemed” as covered by insurance…
So is it actually inconceivable that Obama will simply issue a Kingly Edict and instruct insurers to insure people whether they actually are insured or not? Or that hospitals and doctors must, through this “transition period” which may contain “some disruptions,” must provide care without actual promise of payment?
Not only not inconceivable, but extremely conceivable that Obama will do this.
Remember that Obamacare is founded on estimates/supppositions (with a reckoning to come later) in several other ways. For example, the self-employed are given subsidies based on estimates of their income, and if the figure on line 37 of their federal income tax return ends up higher, the person will have to pay back the difference, and vice versa (if it’s lower they could get more government money). The insurance companies also are protected against loss and will be bailed out by the government under certain circumstances, or penalized (I explained how it will work here). Many deadlines and rules have been suspended by other Kingly Edicts of Obama’s, such as the one about group health insurance, and waivers he has given.
So why not this? As a practical matter, if Obamacare will still be chaotic on January 1—and it almost certainly will—something must be done. The damage to the health insurance market has already occurred, which may have been a feature and not a bug as far as Obama is concerned. Personally, I think it was a feature for him, but it wasn’t supposed to happen so dramatically and catastrophically, and the website was supposed to function properly to take up the slack.
When I try to imagine how I would fix it so that people were covered on January 1, I’m hard-pressed to come up with a solution. Any takers?
“When I try to imagine how I would fix it so that people were covered on January 1, I’m hard-pressed to come up with a solution. Any takers?
Added constraints: Congress (the House, actually) won’t go along with outlandish schemes. So anything Obama does has to bypass them.
Without their support, he needs to come up with the equivalent of law (executive orders) and money (er, money). The only place to get the money is from the insurers since the health care system itself is the one incurring the extra costs.
Additionally, executive orders may be subject to legal challenges.
“So is it actually inconceivable that Obama will simply issue a Kingly Edict and instruct insurers to insure people whether they actually are insured or not?”
The beauty of that edict is that the only group with standing to sue will be the insurers…who are cronies of Obama. Sure, the taxpayers are the ones who will ultimately get screwed when they have to reimburse the insurers, but they don’t really have any rights anymore.
Everyone may consider it flippant, but I see the chaos of the moment as a good thing. It will lead some (many?) to question their basic assumptions and others (many?) to become angry with the DC elitists; in particular Team Obama.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNPTwk8NAYE
Sometimes its best that things get All Shook Up!
Nationalize the insurance companies under a declaration of “national emergency” and order them to pay all claims. At the same time suspend federal elections and declare himself President until he deems the emergency has passed. The rule of law will also be suspended.
Very similar to Hitler. Just watch. April, next year.
While I do not doubt this is something the country’s number one insurance salesman might consider, I’m at a loss to understand how he or the federal government could enforce it. What are they going to charge the companies who don’t follow the order with? Failure to obey Obama isn’t yet a law that I am aware of.
Can the government order the supermarket chains to give food to anyone who walks into the store and hasn’t got any money, simply because the government promised to have money available to pay for it- some day?
I can see him suggesting they do this. And also threatening to screw with them if they don’t, but I can’t see how ordering it will guarantee anything but him looking like a desperate fool.
One would also hope that they reconsider their campaign donations to democrats, and recognize it as wake up call that they’re dealing with a guy who’s going to bankrupt them and resort to total lawlessness whenever it benefits him personally.
Matt, the cronies will realize the scorpion they were taking across the river stung them, that being what scorpions do.
Bob Wiley could tell you: it’s Death Therapy.
Dr. Leo Marvin prescribed it for overly ardent patients of whom he’s lost patience with.
See: “What About Bob?”
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103241/
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This approach would pretty much eliminate the need for Death Panels.
It’s how Russia squared up her pension problem in the late 90’s.
What will happen is that people will barter or pay cash.
People who can’t afford it will receive charity.
It will be better, and it will be cheaper.
In other words, it will return to the real normal.
Someday, when things return to normal all the way, justice will knock on the doors of those who deserve it.
@ southpaw & Sam L.
The executive doesn’t need laws to back up its threats. It only needs administrative leeway to harass those that don’t comply. IRS, EPA, SEC, FTC, FBI, NSA, etc.
And the administration doesn’t need to threaten the entire business, it just needs to get to the CEOs.
Those that play ball are protected from scrutiny/prosecution like the big financial institutions. I’m sure every time Obama meets with the heads of the insurance industry, he reminds them of that.
That’s why these industries continue to donate to the Democrats even though they’re being extorted…they’re greedy cowards.
Matt_SE: all true. But their survival is threatened either way they go. If I were a CEO, I would bet on the 2014 elections getting me out of trouble, and in the worst case, hanging on 3 more years and outlasting this asswad. If another 80 million employer provided policies are cancelled, as has been widely predicted, Obama will not be able to leave the White House without having an angry mob to fend off. There’s nobody in the democrat party who would cover for him as we head into the 2016 presidential race.
But this is also why I’m not a CEO- share holders come before everything and greed as you say, is the real motivator. If they can make money by getting in bed with BO, they’ll jump on it.
Relatedly, here is a link to an article at Redstate by “streiff,” whose work I tend to like a lot, that discusses strategies and counter-strategies in the ongoing Obamacare debate:
http://www.redstate.com/2013/12/05/obama-offers-gop-distractions/
There’s something else I’ve been hearing — that people are being sneakily signed up BY DEFAULT if they don’t tell their [former] insurance company that they don’t want an Exchange plan.
Also, according to the ACA law [cue riotous laughter] the subsidies were supposed to go ONLY to those who signed up on the State Exchanges, not those on the Federal only. (A carrot to get the governors to sign up?)
This whole thing is what we Insensitives call a Chinese Fire Drill. Hell, it’s worse.
[The night before the great Battle of Agincourt, October 25, 1415, as told by the Bard]
Now entertain conjecture of a time
When creeping murmur and the pouring dark
Fills the wide vessel of the universe.
From camp to camp through the foul womb of night
The hum of either army stilly sounds,
That the fixed sentinels almost receive
The secret whispers of each other’s watch:
Fire answers fire, and through their paly flames
Each battle sees the other’s umber’d face;
Steed threatens steed, in high and boastful neighs
Piercing the night’s dull ear, and from the tents
The armourers, accomplishing the knights,
With busy hammers closing rivets up,
Give dreadful note of preparation:
The country cocks do crow, the clocks do toll,
And the third hour of drowsy morning name.
Proud of their numbers and secure in soul,
The confident and over-lusty French
Do the low-rated English play at dice;
And chide the cripple, tardy-gaited night
Who, like a foul and ugly witch, doth limp
So tediously away.
The poor condemned English,
Like sacrifices, by their watchful fires
Sit patiently and inly ruminate
The morning’s danger, and their gestures sad
Investing lank-lean cheeks and war-worn coats
Presenteth them unto the gazing moon
So many horrid ghosts. . . .
But the “poor condemned English” won that battle, though the foe outnumbered them three to one.
@Skullbuster
I am beginning to think you have it right.
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The conversion to a “banana republic” is at least half way complete.
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All that is left for King Barry to decide is go “Fascist” or go “Totalitarian”. He has done the prep work for a “Police State” either way.
He’s just going to skip entirely to the American Evil Empire. That’s what they have been talking about for the past 10 years or so, you know.
Those without insurance can still present themselves to ERs for treatment. As far as I know the EMTALA law passed in 1984 is still on the books, so they cannot be turned away. The uninsured can also bargain for care using a time payment plan, but it’s difficult to do that unless you have substantial assets/income.
EMTALA is one of the reasons why our healthcare pricing and delivery remain such a mess.
The others are:
1. The deductibility of company paid health insurance premiums that makes them less expensive for employers.
2. The lack of portability of insurance from one job to another.
3. The opacity of medical care provider prices.
4. The high cost of medical malpractice insurance and settlements.
The outrage will, IMO, become so great after Jan 1 that Congress will have to step in and repeal the individual mandate so people can buy insurance outside the exchanges.
We should just make all of the congresscritters that signed this bill into law personally liable for any damages to all individuals in the US.
@ Beverly,
Thanks for the Shakespeare interlude. We may need more to make it through this debacle.