Yep, Bill Clinton Called Obamacare "The craziest thing in the world," http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/10/03/bill-clinton-calls-obamacare-crazy-system-while-campaigning-in-michigan.html.
Bill Clinton explained, "You’ve got this crazy system where all of a sudden 25 million more people have health care, and then the people who are out there busting it, sometimes 60 hours a week, wind up with their premiums doubled and their coverage cut in half and it’s the craziest thing in the world,” adding, " the people getting killed in this deal are the small-business people and individuals who make just a little bit too much to get any of these subsidies."
The statements are a starting point that raise an important consumer fact, that our government has proven itself at both a state and federal level UNABLE to govern health insurance companies.
THE problem: The health insurance companies make money by taking in as much as they can and paying out as little as they can. In order to do this, risk pools (basically metrics trying to predict costs) are used by companies to determine how much they have to charge in order to make profits AND insurance companies consider the coverage they'll provide in order to limit what they'll pay for.
That's why you see the most expensive drugs often EXCLUDED from coverage. That's why you'll often see the best hospitals often EXCLUDED from inclusion. That's why you'll often see your chosen provider EXCLUDED from your plan. That's why you'll see finite charges of checkups covered while leaving consumers who actually have a NEED for medical care and services are paying more for those services. Charge more and-or cover less IS the insurance coverage protocol.
In its partnership with insurance companies, Obamacare IS the craziest anti-consumer plan we've seen in decades for this very reason--from the start it made the federal government the insurance companies' bitch (as defined at http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Someones%20bitch).
In 2008, the insurance company lobby made a "deal" with the Obama campaign/administration, we'll cover those with pre-existing conditions if you force everyone to purchase the consumer financial product of health insurance." Obama said, "Yes." (Hillary Clinton will not repeal the individual mandate and the Republicans intend to call it by a different name "continuous coverage," penalizing anyone who goes without health insurance with authorized higher rates, forcing everyone to have coverage).
But they weren't done. The insurance companies made another deal with Obama, "We'll participate on your exchanges if you make it a no-lose situation for us," and Obama said, "Yes," and we got the three Rs, Risk Adjustment, Risk Corridors and Risk Reinsurance, Sec. 1341. Transitional Reinsurance Program for Individual and Small group markets in each state, and Sec. 1342, Establishment of Risk Corridors for plans in individual and small group markets, http://conoutofconsumer.blogspot.com/2014/09/fool-us-oncerisk-corridors-and-elections.html. REINSURANCE and THE RISK CORRIDORS provisions end this year (2016) and naturally, insurance companies are leaving the exchanges in droves.
(The Republicans would do away with exchanges, so they wouldn't have to bribe insurers, and Hillary Clinton plans to lure insurers with a whole new group of people to insure, people "regardless of immigration status," eroding yet another provision of Obamacare that it's only available to people present LEGALLY in the US.)
But the insurers weren't done, "Include a whole laundry list of finite charges for junk services for well people like free checkups instead of meaningful coverage for needed medical services," Obama said, "Yes." Hillary Clinton and the Republicans both intend to keep up the hyper-focus on prevention that provides a laundry list of "included" benefits including some that are simply duplicative or unnecessary for large swaths of the population in order to distract us from INADEQUATE COVERAGE OF NEEDED MEDICAL SERVICES which is evident in the higher copayments, higher deductibles, higher coinsurance rates, and higher out-of-pocket maximums and the narrow networks of providers insurance plans offer ("Plans initially offered through the exchanges appeared to have, in general, lower payment rates for providers, narrower networks of providers…" CBO, Pub. 49973, page 22, http://conoutofconsumer.blogspot.com/2016/03/whos-stupid-democrats-and-obamacare.html).
Still the insurers weren't done: "Get us more of those young-healthies, the ones we likely won't have to pay out on who have money to pay us," Obama said, "Yes." The individual mandate forced us all to purchase the consumer financial product of health insurance, that got some of them, and entitlement payouts from the government would help those young healthies purchase "better-still-bad" policies by giving cost sharing options ONLY to those who purchase silver or better plans (premium assistance available under Bronze but not cost sharing).
Still the insurance companies weren't done: "We want more money from those young-healthies to help even out the fact that we often 'lose' money on sicker folks," Obama said, "Yes." So Obamacare said the insurance companies CAN charge more to older people and since younger people's premiums are based on what's charged to older people, a 3:1 ratio, they'd be paying more too.
Still the insurance companies weren't done. "We're not getting enough young people on our more expensive plans." Obama said, "OK," and this summer tried to tighten a 'loophole' that was used by many young healthies, "short term health insurance," telling insurers, "Don't offer those plans, force them into more expensive plans," (HHS, has taken action to curb "abuses of short-term plans," that have kept "some of the healthiest consumers out of the Affordable Care Act's single risk pool," https://www.cms.gov/Newsroom/MediaReleaseDatabase/Fact-sheets/2016-Fact-sheets-items/2016-06-08.html).
Still the insurance companies weren't happy: "We need more young-healthies," and Obama said, "Yes," granting amnesty to young illegals that would then become eligible to buy into Obamacare. Hillary Clinton plans to go one step further and give anyone "regardless of immigration status," the option to buy in.
Still the insurance companies weren't happy: "Those young-healthies STILL aren't buying our expensive products," and Obama said, "Yes," fighting in court to continue government payouts for premium assistance contrary to the "state-established" exchange requirements of Obamacare, "King v. Burwell," http://conoutofconsumer.blogspot.com/p/sabotage-or-disagreement-obamacare-and.html.
This is THE problem with Obamacare is that it started as a politically motivated "deal" with insurance companies that required a government that gives into insurance companies and having paid the ransom once is vulnerable as long as this law exists to keep paying that ransom for a product that as Bill Clinton noted makes consumers, "…wind up with their premiums doubled and their coverage cut in half and it’s the craziest thing in the world."
For consumers ANY suggestion for a "fix" that ignores these facts CANNOT fix our current healthcare crisis.
