‘The Affordable Care Act: 5 Years Later’ (WH.gov)

[WombRaider]

Originally Posted by CuteOldGuy

Example? I mean, of something other than you being an idiot.

An example? Other than him being a cog in the very machine you despise? Get the pigeon shit out of your eyes. He's a millionaire politician, versed in the ways of DC.

[IIFFOFRDB]

[cboat]

Originally Posted by WombRaider

An example? Other than him being a cog in the very machine you despise? Get the pigeon shit out of your eyes. He's a millionaire politician, versed in the ways of DC.

They're all millionaire politicians....

[CuteOldGuy]

Originally Posted by WombRaider

An example? Other than him being a cog in the very machine you despise? Get the pigeon shit out of your eyes. He's a millionaire politician, versed in the ways of DC.

Hardly. You're an idiot.

[IIFFOFRDB]

The Affordable Consolidation Act Moves the Insurance Market From an Oligopoly to a Duopoly

Only massive bureaucracies with huge compliance and legal departments are equipped to deal with the approximately 40,000 pages of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's laws and regulations. It is crushing competition. Ultimately, I suspect we will end up with two nationwide carriers and at that point the market will be so broken we will need the government to intervene and set the market free or turn it into a fully socialized program. The trajectory of U.S. history suggests a renewed lunge toward freedom is the less likely of those choices.



Here is how Megan McArdle summarized it, writing at Bloomberg:

So why is the insurance industry consolidating? Lots of reasons. First of all, heavily regulated industries thrive on consolidation. These companies have a lot of regulatory overhead, first of all for compliance, and second of all for lobbying. The bigger you are, the easier it is to afford a team of experts to make sure that you understand all the pertinent regulations, and a second team of experts to prevent legislators and bureaucrats from burdening you with a lot more pertinent regulations. These are largely fixed costs, and merging reduces them. Getting bigger also makes it harder for legislators to refuse to return your phone calls.

Second of all, Obamacare's new exchanges may play at least a small role. Not all of it, by a long shot -- the individual market for health insurance is a small and not particularly well-loved part of insurers' overall business. However, that piece may get larger, if Obamacare succeeds in restructuring the market for health care, as employers convert more positions to part-time jobs without benefits, or decide it's easier to give people money to shop on the exchanges than to keep dealing with the hassle of providing health insurance. And thanks to the exchanges, that individual market is now competing on price more than it did in the past, because prices are now completely transparent and roughly comparable. Pricing power suddenly matters more -- not so much the power to charge consumers more, but the power to pay suppliers less.

Which brings us to the third big reason for merging: Insurers are under pressure from other parts of the industry that are also consolidating. Hospital networks have gotten bigger and more powerful. Physicians are increasingly going to work for hospitals or large practices. This could put insurers at a disadvantage to negotiate prices. If your suppliers are highly fragmented, you can walk into the meeting and say, "Here's what we're offering; take it or leave it." But if there are only two or three big hospital networks in your area, they can say the same thing to you. This has produced something of an arms race between insurers and providers trying to get bigger so they will better be able to crush the other. When Mothra and Godzilla are battling over the city, you don't want to be the tiny human standing on the ground between them. ...

http://benefitrevolution.blogspot.co...act-moves.html

[flghtr65]

Originally Posted by IIFFOFRDB

The Affordable Consolidation Act Moves the Insurance Market From an Oligopoly to a Duopoly

Only massive bureaucracies with huge compliance and legal departments are equipped to deal with the approximately 40,000 pages of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's laws and regulations. It is crushing competition. Ultimately, I suspect we will end up with two nationwide carriers and at that point the market will be so broken we will need the government to intervene and set the market free or turn it into a fully socialized program. The trajectory of U.S. history suggests a renewed lunge toward freedom is the less likely of those choices.



Here is how Megan McArdle summarized it, writing at Bloomberg:

So why is the insurance industry consolidating? Lots of reasons. First of all, heavily regulated industries thrive on consolidation. These companies have a lot of regulatory overhead, first of all for compliance, and second of all for lobbying. The bigger you are, the easier it is to afford a team of experts to make sure that you understand all the pertinent regulations, and a second team of experts to prevent legislators and bureaucrats from burdening you with a lot more pertinent regulations. These are largely fixed costs, and merging reduces them. Getting bigger also makes it harder for legislators to refuse to return your phone calls.

Second of all, Obamacare's new exchanges may play at least a small role. Not all of it, by a long shot -- the individual market for health insurance is a small and not particularly well-loved part of insurers' overall business. However, that piece may get larger, if Obamacare succeeds in restructuring the market for health care, as employers convert more positions to part-time jobs without benefits, or decide it's easier to give people money to shop on the exchanges than to keep dealing with the hassle of providing health insurance. And thanks to the exchanges, that individual market is now competing on price more than it did in the past, because prices are now completely transparent and roughly comparable. Pricing power suddenly matters more -- not so much the power to charge consumers more, but the power to pay suppliers less.

Which brings us to the third big reason for merging: Insurers are under pressure from other parts of the industry that are also consolidating. Hospital networks have gotten bigger and more powerful. Physicians are increasingly going to work for hospitals or large practices. This could put insurers at a disadvantage to negotiate prices. If your suppliers are highly fragmented, you can walk into the meeting and say, "Here's what we're offering; take it or leave it." But if there are only two or three big hospital networks in your area, they can say the same thing to you. This has produced something of an arms race between insurers and providers trying to get bigger so they will better be able to crush the other. When Mothra and Godzilla are battling over the city, you don't want to be the tiny human standing on the ground between them. ...

http://benefitrevolution.blogspot.co...act-moves.html

From your post.

Second of all, Obamacare's new exchanges may play at least a small role. Not all of it, by a long shot -- the individual market for health insurance is a small and not particularly well-loved part of insurers' overall business. However, that piece may get larger, if Obamacare succeeds in restructuring the market for health care, as employers convert more positions to part-time jobs without benefits, or decide it's easier to give people money to shop on the exchanges than to keep dealing with the hassle of providing health insurance. And thanks to the exchanges, that individual market is now competing on price more than it did in the past, because prices are now completely transparent and roughly comparable. Pricing power suddenly matters more -- not so much the power to charge consumers more, but the power to pay suppliers less.

Of course the individual market is not loved by the health insurance companies. It is a lot more difficult to achieve balanced risk pools for individuals than let's say a company of at least 10,000 people.

Before the ACA was passed there were about 40 million uninsured people. You are not going to get more that 30 million people looking to buy health insurance on the government exchanges. Even if companies make more people work part time, you are not going to see 100 million people looking to buy health insurance on the exchanges. The hardware is not set up to process that many people anyway. If that many people try to get on you will have the same problems that occurred with the rollout.

[nwarounder]

Anybody see the expose on BCBS Anthem tonight? Remember those death panels that they said did not exist? Well they do, Anthem pays one doctor, nicknamed "Dr. Denial", around $25,000 per MONTH to sit at his house and deny mental illness claims, having never even seen or talked to the patients or other doctors. His average rate of denial is over 96%.

Yay Anthem, keep signing them up and killing them off.

You people that fell for this shit are absolutely hilarious!

[flghtr65]

Iffy, did you watch the prime-time republican debate? Are you ready to kick Gov Kasich out of the republican party for accepting the expanded Medicaid for his state? Is he a socialist for relying on a "Big Government" solution? LOL. Kasich has a much better chance of getting the republican nomination that "space cadet" Ted Cruz. LMAO.

[IIFFOFRDB]

Originally Posted by flghtr65

Iffy, did you watch the prime-time republican debate? Are you ready to kick Gov Kasich out of the republican party for accepting the expanded Medicaid for his state? Is he a socialist for relying on a "Big Government" solution? LOL. Kasich has a much better chance of getting the republican nomination that "space cadet" Ted Cruz. LMAO.

FUCK the UNI-PARTY...

[CuteOldGuy]

Originally Posted by flghtr65

Iffy, did you watch the prime-time republican debate? Are you ready to kick Gov Kasich out of the republican party for accepting the expanded Medicaid for his state? Is he a socialist for relying on a "Big Government" solution? LOL. Kasich has a much better chance of getting the republican nomination that "space cadet" Ted Cruz. LMAO.

Republicans LOVE big government socialists. Kasich fits right in.

[southtown4488]

Id like to see any one of u republicunts tell a kid with cancer he cant have his medical treatment because he was born poor and he cant get insurance due to having a pre-existing condition. Which one of u will sign up for that duty???

[dirty dog]

Originally Posted by southtown4488

Id like to see any one of u republicunts tell a kid with cancer he cant have his medical treatment because he was born poor and he cant get insurance due to having a pre-existing condition. Which one of u will sign up for that duty???

Enough with this heart string bullshit. Every fucking kid in this country can get medical treatment regardless of income. This treatment is free and is some of the best medical treatment in the world. The Hospital will fly the child and their family in for free and house them, this is a typical left wing bullshit lie. When Obama said it, it was a lie and when you say it, its a lie. St. Jude's and the Children's Hospitals provide some of it not the best medical treatment in the world. In addition, children of poor families are eligible for medicare. Your one special kind of faggot with your obsession for the use of the word cunt, is that what your boyfriend calls you when you face is in the pillow and his fist is in your ass.

[WombRaider]

Originally Posted by dirty dog

Enough with this heart string bullshit. Every fucking kid in this country can get medical treatment regardless of income. This treatment is free and is some of the best medical treatment in the world. The Hospital will fly the child and their family in for free and house them, this is a typical left wing bullshit lie. When Obama said it, it was a lie and when you say it, its a lie. St. Jude's and the Children's Hospitals provide some of it not the best medical treatment in the world. In addition, children of poor families are eligible for medicare. Your one special kind of faggot with your obsession for the use of the word cunt, is that what your boyfriend calls you when you face is in the pillow and his fist is in your ass.

Tsk, tsk. Every kid? That, sir, is a lie. It's not a left-wing lie, it's just an outright one. It's obvious from your tone that you have little patience or heart when it comes to those less fortunate. Why don't you leave us and go try and break 80 from the women's tees again, hmmm?

[dirty dog]

Originally Posted by WombRaider

Tsk, tsk. Every kid? That, sir, is a lie. It's not a left-wing lie, it's just an outright one. It's obvious from your tone that you have little patience or heart when it comes to those less fortunate. Why don't you leave us and go try and break 80 from the women's tees again, hmmm?

Oh go fuck yourself faggot, I have little patience for left wing lies, just as I do right wing lies. Like I said Pedro, anytime you want to stop gardening and want to play for $500 a hole I would love to see you on the course, tell then save it.

[IIFFOFRDB]

Federal Gov't Pumped Out 324 Pages of New "Law" Per Work Day in 2014 Devouring 29% of an Annual Family Budget
Unelected federal bureaucrats issued 16 new regulations for every law in 2014 — that’s 3,554 new regulations compared to 224 new laws.

These regulations severely hamper businesses, individuals, hiring and economic growth. The Competitive Enterprise Institute publishes an “annual snapshot of the federal regulatory state” entitled, “Ten Thousand Commandments.” This year’s edition paints a stark picture of the hidden cost regulations impose:
Federal regulation compliance and intervention costs $1.88 trillion/year or 11% of U.S. Gross Domestic Product.

Federal regulations now exceed half the amount the federal government spends annually.

The total cost of federal regulation on U.S. households equates to $14,976 per home per year - around 29% of an average family budget of $51,100.

If U.S. regulation was a stand-alone economy, it would be the world’s 10th largest, just behind Russia and ahead of India.

The 2014 Federal Register contains 77,687 pages. That equates to 324 new pages of federal rules, laws, cases and orders per work day.

Of the 77,687 pages in the 2014 Federal Register, unelelected bureaucrats issued 24,861 in the form of regulations.

Ozombies---> http://benefitrevolution.blogspot.co...-pages-of.html







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