Special Investigation: How Insurers Are Hiding Obamacare Benefits From Customers
By DYLAN SCOTT
——————————–
Across the country, insurance companies have sent misleading letters to consumers, trying to lock them into the companies’ own, sometimes more expensive health insurance plans rather than let them shop for insurance and tax credits on the Obamacare marketplaces — which could lead to people like Donna spending thousands more for insurance than the law intended. In some cases, mentions of the marketplace in those letters are relegated to a mere footnote, which can be easily overlooked.
The extreme lengths to which some insurance companies are going to hold on to existing customers at higher price, as the Affordable Care Act fundamentally re-orders the individual insurance market, has caught the attention of state insurance regulators.
LH, the fact that this kind of shady practice is being noticed by state insurance regulators is good news, although I question how “impartial” these regulators are in the more virulently red states. Still a few high profile cases could help bring people’s attention to the what’s really going on and how insurers, the media, and Republicans are colluding to deceive Americans.
Exactly JG. I won’t hold my breath waiting for the 24X7 breathless reporting on this revelation. It was always suspicious the way the cancellation notices were going out to customers. The reporting on the cancellation letters has been so disingenuous and disgusting. It’s going to take the administration and the twitter brigade to blanket the airways and circumvent the media firewall. This is essentially the dropping of the other shoe. Now we are getting the full picture.
I’ve only left a few comments left in limbo and a couple of shameless pleas for admittance. I’m not on facebook, so figured that held me up. I’ll be good- I promise! I just have to be somewhere to share my love of all things POTUS and FLOTUS!
and thanks again! I feel like I know you all so well; I’ve been lurking almost daily for at least a year. You’ve provided such a sanctuary, Chips… and ut, and lp, and ll… et al… It’s just a nasty jungle out there. Thanks so for letting me come in for some peace.
How Chris Christie Is Becoming The Next George W. Bush — With Democrats’ Help
By LOLGOP
—————————-
In 2013, Governor Chris Christie (R-NJ) is trudging down the George W. Bush path to the presidency — and no one seems to be noticing.
Actually, Democrats appear to be going out of their way to help the governor rack up the kind of landslide with the kind of support from non-white voters that made Bush’s nomination inevitable. In unison, it seems, Democrats are refusing to call out how Christie’s failed policies that favor the rich, while bullying workers and women, have resulted in an 8.5 percent unemployment rate – tied with Mississippi and Tennessee for 41st in the nation – along with little improvement to the state’s miserable bond rating.
In fact, the only politicians who have landed any blows on the governor were on Mitt Romney’s VP vetting team.
LH, I never thought I would say this, but GW Bush had a more adaptable and seemingly more congenial personality than Christie and he ran in an era when running as a compassionate conservative was acceptable to his party base. Because Bush was so bland and had that “good old boy” manner, he seemed inoffensive to a lot of otherwise sensible people. Plus he didn’t exactly “win” the 2000 election and he only squeaked by because Gore ran a lousy campaign. Christie would run in a such an extreme, take-no-prisoners’ time that he would have to go far right to appease the base and he would have to outdo Cruz’s lunacy to even have a shot. What he totally lacks is charm of any sort or any likeability whatsoever. His bullying attitude may fool New Jerseyites, who like that brash, ‘in your face’ manner, but I don’t see him translating that well elsewhere. The media will love him, though, and try to push him on voters. The Democratic candidate will have to be smart and run a pitch-perfect, Obama style campaign and also have cross over appeal with Independents. The women’s vote will be important and I just don’t see Christie winning it.
Gentle hint to Chips and mini-blog tyrants: it would be really fabulous to have a thread that celebrates the first anniversary of the beginning of the second term of the best president ever, our dear PBO, tomorrow.
Aaah, AMK, Happy Birthday eve–a time when all things seem possible until you open your presents and realize they aren’t. Still, the potential for happy surprises is high. Hope all of yours are met.
I have just the cake for you Amk! I use Mumbai time to guesstimate what your local time is. You might want this cake at midnight! So watch for it on twitter and here. Don’t have the strings Chips has to get it delivered by the President though. How many candles do I need to purchase? Many good wishes for your new year.
Morning, Chipster! Put your glasses on love:) That was CEB’s suggestion….and by the way, did you see that tomorrow is amk’s birthday??? THAT one needs to be really special:)
This. Calling him Morning Junk isn’t going to hurt his feelings. Basically he’s making a bet that no matter what he says or does folks that complain about him will be sitting in front of the tv set tomorrow morning and everyday after that.
I am going back to Healthcare.gov. today to try once again to enroll if I can get a less expensive plan than the one I have currently. My last attempt was almost 2 weeks ago when there were many glitches. Will report on my experience later today.
With all due respect CEB, you could have signed up on the very first day of enrollment over the phone if you wanted to. I’m not impressed by people that constantly complain about the website, and knowing full well that a person can sign up over the phone. It is amazing that we survived this long before the home computer was invented.
Not complaining and I know that I can use the 800 number ( I actually checked it out and reported on that). I am not in a hurry and I wanted to go through the on-line experience as a way to let everyone know how things were going on that end from a person who comes from a state that did not set up its own exchanges. If you had seen my posts from earlier you would have been aware of this. In any event, I do not come here to be chastised by someone who is not aware of the full story.
The Miami dolphins suspended Richie incognito for Bullying a teammate. The teammate was Martin who has left the team for Emotional reasons.
And the Miami herald beat writer stuck up for the bully yesterday, on nfl network, disguising him as the victim.
I’m thinking that the count is much higher because 1.5 mil is only how many times an application has been generated. It does not say how many people are on each application.
I think it is from all sources, but then again HHS has said repeatedly that they won’t give any hard numbers until mid-November. But from all the things I’ve read from different sources that the number has to be well north of 1.5 Mil, I just don’t see people that have never had insurance waiting until the last minute to sign up. I think the problem with the website is due to issues with volume handling, I think the system was overrun with the number of sign-ups it had to process.
I agree about the volume. The media and GOP don’t want to admit that fact, but it’s true. And they know it – that’s why they will have quietly moved on by mid-November, when the figures are released.
So indeed you could have used the #800 to sign up but instead you wanted to have the “online experience,” and when the online experience didn’t work out you came here to tell us how bad it was. Just go and sign-up and skip the all histrionics.
There was nothing in my tone that was histrionici. I have never been so in all of the times that i have commented here. Not sure where your attitude is coming from, but I will stop here. Too many good things going on to get into something that is based on a misunderstanding.
No…it’s 2014 the Gov race takes place in Maine….the Dem running just came out is all. Good for him and I hope that he wins….maybe a little more sanity can come to Maine if he does.
Plus whatever state you are in, there are local elections. Every one of them is important. Vote even if the only race is for school board. Democrats have to show up for EVERY SINGLE election!!!!!
He’s right. The local GOP have inflicted tremendous damage on the cities and states – undermining whatever progress made on the national scene. It’s really sad when two men who happen to be very rich can control so much and people are just as oblivious….
I’ve seen this posted a bunch of times but finally was able to get the facts of this encounter. The teacher dared to ask Christie, a perpetual teacher basher, “Why do you call our schools ‘failure factories'”? And he yells back, “Because they are! That’s what’s wrong with YOU PEOPLE” and “What do you want?” and when she replied restored funding for public schools, he just yelled back, “Do your job!” and turned his back on her and got on the bus. He took away over a billion in funding for public schools, only seems to care about parochial and private schools, typical Repub, wants that education money to go to the private sector. I agree with the assessment here. Anyone who votes for this bully should be ashamed of themselves. I don’t get the intrigue, the loyalty to him, by Dems—–at all.
The media labeled her an Obamacare victim. Here’s what she really thinks.
By Jonathan Cohn
———————————————–
Even so, Barrette’s take is a reminder that people can have a longer-view perspective about medical bills than pundits frequently assume. When I gave her a broad description of the plans available, she seemed interested. I noted that she’d be paying $100 or $150 extra a month for policies that still had high cost-sharing, so that she would still be a lot of money out of her own pocket. (I also made very clear that I’m not an insurance agent or broker—that, when she finally goes shopping for insurance, she should talk to a real expert for advice.) Here was her response: “I would jump at it,” she said. “With my age, things can happen. I don’t want to have bills that could make me bankrupt. I don’t want to lose my house.”
Barrette can’t be sure until she sees the numbers for herself. And so far she hasn’t been able to do so, thanks to the technological problems at healthcare.gov. But as she’s become more aware of her options, she said, she’s no longer aghast at losing her plan—and curious to see what alternatives are available. “Maybe,” she told me, “it’s a blessing in disguise.”
The truth about this controversy is that there is a broad debate in our country over how much government should do to correct for market outcomes that leave so many Americans without enough income, opportunity or access to the essentials of modern life, notably health insurance.
Supporters of Obamacare, including those who wish it had gone even further, believe that social justice requires government to give significant assistance to those who find themselves on the wrong end of an economic system that is producing an increasingly unequal society.
Opponents of Obamacare want government to let the market do what the market does. That’s why the program’s critics have not come up with a plausible alternative to covering the uninsured — and why many in their ranks have been trying to hack away at Medicare and Medicaid. Their overarching purpose is to get government out of the way. If the market generates vast inequalities, this must be because such inequalities maximize efficiency.
Thus, foes of the new health-care law aren’t against it because its Web site worked badly or because the president once said that everybody could keep their current policies when it turned out that some in the small individual insurance market got cancellation notices. For those trying to kill the law, such noise is designed to distract attention from what they really think, which is that we should let non-elderly Americans sink or swim in the insurance arrangements that existed before Obamacare.
LOLGOP @LOLGOP 46s
Even if Rand Paul is “joking” about shooting Maddow for pointing out he’s plagiarized, he still thinks it’s okay to fire her for being gay.
Reply Retweet Favorite More Expand
Obama White House.gov
The Obama Diary 
Fiiiirst!
Morning Chips. Congrats on 1st. Morning TOD.
Moooorning Jackie, moooorning everyone!
Checking in
Flip, found you stuck in spam again Marilyn, this is NUTS. Treble-checking the blocked list now to see if I can find the cause, soooooo sorry!
This is weird. I check to make sure I am all checked in. Oh well. I’ll keep trying.
Good morning TOD family. Yesterday WordPress didn’t let me comment. Maybe I can today.
oh, can it be me- a newbie??
Morning Newbie!
Thanks Chips!! Big morning smooch to Danny-boy, too!
Welcome, Kathleen:)
Special Investigation: How Insurers Are Hiding Obamacare Benefits From Customers
By DYLAN SCOTT
——————————–
Across the country, insurance companies have sent misleading letters to consumers, trying to lock them into the companies’ own, sometimes more expensive health insurance plans rather than let them shop for insurance and tax credits on the Obamacare marketplaces — which could lead to people like Donna spending thousands more for insurance than the law intended. In some cases, mentions of the marketplace in those letters are relegated to a mere footnote, which can be easily overlooked.
The extreme lengths to which some insurance companies are going to hold on to existing customers at higher price, as the Affordable Care Act fundamentally re-orders the individual insurance market, has caught the attention of state insurance regulators.
———————————-
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/insurance-companies-misleading-letters-obamacare
LH, the fact that this kind of shady practice is being noticed by state insurance regulators is good news, although I question how “impartial” these regulators are in the more virulently red states. Still a few high profile cases could help bring people’s attention to the what’s really going on and how insurers, the media, and Republicans are colluding to deceive Americans.
Exactly JG. I won’t hold my breath waiting for the 24X7 breathless reporting on this revelation. It was always suspicious the way the cancellation notices were going out to customers. The reporting on the cancellation letters has been so disingenuous and disgusting. It’s going to take the administration and the twitter brigade to blanket the airways and circumvent the media firewall. This is essentially the dropping of the other shoe. Now we are getting the full picture.
I made it in! I made it in! yippie! Hello to my new TOD friends from a long-time lurker… You don’t know how often you’ve saved my sanity- Thank you!!
Glad you came out to play and to join offficially the TOD ohana.
Welcome Kathleen!
(doing a little snoopy dance : )
Have you been here before Kathleen?
I’ve only left a few comments left in limbo and a couple of shameless pleas for admittance. I’m not on facebook, so figured that held me up. I’ll be good- I promise! I just have to be somewhere to share my love of all things POTUS and FLOTUS!
Ah, ok, thanks Kathleen – and welcome again!
and thanks again! I feel like I know you all so well; I’ve been lurking almost daily for at least a year. You’ve provided such a sanctuary, Chips… and ut, and lp, and ll… et al… It’s just a nasty jungle out there. Thanks so for letting me come in for some peace.
All noobies pay me an entrance fee. How much you got?
this poor little ol’ wimmin, amk?! ha, there are advantages for anonymity!
Hi Kathleen, hope it wasn’t too cold out there. Glad to see you.
It’s been freezing j. I’m coming in to squeeze next to the fire. thx!
welcome, Kathleen!
Good morning TOD.
How Chris Christie Is Becoming The Next George W. Bush — With Democrats’ Help
By LOLGOP
—————————-
In 2013, Governor Chris Christie (R-NJ) is trudging down the George W. Bush path to the presidency — and no one seems to be noticing.
Actually, Democrats appear to be going out of their way to help the governor rack up the kind of landslide with the kind of support from non-white voters that made Bush’s nomination inevitable. In unison, it seems, Democrats are refusing to call out how Christie’s failed policies that favor the rich, while bullying workers and women, have resulted in an 8.5 percent unemployment rate – tied with Mississippi and Tennessee for 41st in the nation – along with little improvement to the state’s miserable bond rating.
In fact, the only politicians who have landed any blows on the governor were on Mitt Romney’s VP vetting team.
—————————–
http://www.nationalmemo.com/how-chris-christie-is-quietly-becoming-the-next-george-w-bush-with-democrats-help/
LH, I never thought I would say this, but GW Bush had a more adaptable and seemingly more congenial personality than Christie and he ran in an era when running as a compassionate conservative was acceptable to his party base. Because Bush was so bland and had that “good old boy” manner, he seemed inoffensive to a lot of otherwise sensible people. Plus he didn’t exactly “win” the 2000 election and he only squeaked by because Gore ran a lousy campaign. Christie would run in a such an extreme, take-no-prisoners’ time that he would have to go far right to appease the base and he would have to outdo Cruz’s lunacy to even have a shot. What he totally lacks is charm of any sort or any likeability whatsoever. His bullying attitude may fool New Jerseyites, who like that brash, ‘in your face’ manner, but I don’t see him translating that well elsewhere. The media will love him, though, and try to push him on voters. The Democratic candidate will have to be smart and run a pitch-perfect, Obama style campaign and also have cross over appeal with Independents. The women’s vote will be important and I just don’t see Christie winning it.
This!!
Well-said jackie!! PERFECT analysis 🙂
https://twitter.com/ammaarahk/status/397212504772059138
Chips – This deserves FP
Thanks Amk, UT is doing today’s R&S but I threw it in to her draft.
Also. Too.
Gentle hint to Chips and mini-blog tyrants: it would be really fabulous to have a thread that celebrates the first anniversary of the beginning of the second term of the best president ever, our dear PBO, tomorrow.
Also. Too. My b’day. So, double yes
Oooooooooooh, let the cake-baking commence!
Aaah, AMK, Happy Birthday eve–a time when all things seem possible until you open your presents and realize they aren’t. Still, the potential for happy surprises is high. Hope all of yours are met.
I have just the cake for you Amk! I use Mumbai time to guesstimate what your local time is. You might want this cake at midnight! So watch for it on twitter and here. Don’t have the strings Chips has to get it delivered by the President though. How many candles do I need to purchase? Many good wishes for your new year.
why, thank you cm. Mumbai time is fine. I am a year older than the kenyan muslin.
Really, I thought of you as forty-something! You wear it well. 😉
Yeah, wifey unit too thinks I’m juvenile.
😆
Did you ever confirm that Amk = A Muslin Kenyan?
How do you know that I am not a Psy-op person unleashed by that shameless real kenyan muslin?
I knew that a long time ago.
You LIE.
A most excellent idea, thank you COS!
Morning, Chipster! Put your glasses on love:) That was CEB’s suggestion….and by the way, did you see that tomorrow is amk’s birthday??? THAT one needs to be really special:)
😳 Brain. Not. Functioning. Mooooorning DF, CEB and COS!
If you squint it kinda looks the same:) Danny was typing, wasn’t he? I knew it…. Happy Monday, Chips…going to be a great day before election day!
Of course it was Danny! As if I’d make a stoooopid mistake like that! 😆
That’s what I thought:)
It’s all good.
Morning Junk is showing a video of every time PBO said ” If you like your insurance , you can keep it .”
I had to mute him
Muting won’t hurt his ratings.
True dat! You must change the channel as in *CLICK*
This. Calling him Morning Junk isn’t going to hurt his feelings. Basically he’s making a bet that no matter what he says or does folks that complain about him will be sitting in front of the tv set tomorrow morning and everyday after that.
I am going back to Healthcare.gov. today to try once again to enroll if I can get a less expensive plan than the one I have currently. My last attempt was almost 2 weeks ago when there were many glitches. Will report on my experience later today.
With all due respect CEB, you could have signed up on the very first day of enrollment over the phone if you wanted to. I’m not impressed by people that constantly complain about the website, and knowing full well that a person can sign up over the phone. It is amazing that we survived this long before the home computer was invented.
Not complaining and I know that I can use the 800 number ( I actually checked it out and reported on that). I am not in a hurry and I wanted to go through the on-line experience as a way to let everyone know how things were going on that end from a person who comes from a state that did not set up its own exchanges. If you had seen my posts from earlier you would have been aware of this. In any event, I do not come here to be chastised by someone who is not aware of the full story.
AARP HEALTH LAW ANSWERS (One of the best OBAMACARE tools available.)
================================================
Learn how the health care law works for you and your family. It takes just minutes. Let’s get started.
================================================
http://healthlawanswers.aarp.org/en
Just tune into morning Joe he’s very informative .
NOT!!!
thank you dear!
The Miami dolphins suspended Richie incognito for Bullying a teammate. The teammate was Martin who has left the team for Emotional reasons.
And the Miami herald beat writer stuck up for the bully yesterday, on nfl network, disguising him as the victim.
Here it is:
Via MikeGarafolo on FOXSportsLive: Martin’s people shared w/Dolphins texts and voicemails from Incognito that are racially charged threats
— Courtney Fallon (@CourtneyNBC6) November 4, 2013
Jalali is in Tehren telling supporters of anti America rally this
No wonder with this type of propaganda? Right?
https://twitter.com/el_jovie131/status/397343864010584064
That’s good!
I’m thinking that the count is much higher because 1.5 mil is only how many times an application has been generated. It does not say how many people are on each application.
And that’s just thru the website, right? Or does it also count the people who signed up via phone or in person with an ACA rep/agent?
I think it is from all sources, but then again HHS has said repeatedly that they won’t give any hard numbers until mid-November. But from all the things I’ve read from different sources that the number has to be well north of 1.5 Mil, I just don’t see people that have never had insurance waiting until the last minute to sign up. I think the problem with the website is due to issues with volume handling, I think the system was overrun with the number of sign-ups it had to process.
I agree about the volume. The media and GOP don’t want to admit that fact, but it’s true. And they know it – that’s why they will have quietly moved on by mid-November, when the figures are released.
I just came back to the computer and saw your response to my earlier comment. Please check my reply.
So indeed you could have used the #800 to sign up but instead you wanted to have the “online experience,” and when the online experience didn’t work out you came here to tell us how bad it was. Just go and sign-up and skip the all histrionics.
There was nothing in my tone that was histrionici. I have never been so in all of the times that i have commented here. Not sure where your attitude is coming from, but I will stop here. Too many good things going on to get into something that is based on a misunderstanding.
https://twitter.com/el_jovie131/status/397345355085676544
Kal El?!?!?
ROTLMAO 🙂 🙂
That’s my real name from Krypton!
Bob Cesca’s back from vacation and brings a good perspective about Obamacare and other lessons we should remember!! Must Read
http://thedailybanter.com/2013/11/some-much-needed-historical-perspective-regarding-the-affordable-care-act/
Good Morning TOD!
Before I leave for work please share this reminder all day today with your social network.
Have a great O’Day everyone.
And Maine governor!
Tomorrow???
I hadn’t heard that….bet Maine has buyer’s remorse
No…it’s 2014 the Gov race takes place in Maine….the Dem running just came out is all. Good for him and I hope that he wins….maybe a little more sanity can come to Maine if he does.
Plus whatever state you are in, there are local elections. Every one of them is important. Vote even if the only race is for school board. Democrats have to show up for EVERY SINGLE election!!!!!
Thanks donna for the great reminder and have a great day at work. It’s a good time to be a Dem! 🙂
Since when is Gulpio a “star?” What a joke….
Gulpio—-haha.
Heh???
Happy Birthday in advance to even amk!
🙂 Thx hf.
He’s right. The local GOP have inflicted tremendous damage on the cities and states – undermining whatever progress made on the national scene. It’s really sad when two men who happen to be very rich can control so much and people are just as oblivious….
I’ve seen this posted a bunch of times but finally was able to get the facts of this encounter. The teacher dared to ask Christie, a perpetual teacher basher, “Why do you call our schools ‘failure factories'”? And he yells back, “Because they are! That’s what’s wrong with YOU PEOPLE” and “What do you want?” and when she replied restored funding for public schools, he just yelled back, “Do your job!” and turned his back on her and got on the bus. He took away over a billion in funding for public schools, only seems to care about parochial and private schools, typical Repub, wants that education money to go to the private sector. I agree with the assessment here. Anyone who votes for this bully should be ashamed of themselves. I don’t get the intrigue, the loyalty to him, by Dems—–at all.
‘I Would Jump At It’
The media labeled her an Obamacare victim. Here’s what she really thinks.
By Jonathan Cohn
———————————————–
Even so, Barrette’s take is a reminder that people can have a longer-view perspective about medical bills than pundits frequently assume. When I gave her a broad description of the plans available, she seemed interested. I noted that she’d be paying $100 or $150 extra a month for policies that still had high cost-sharing, so that she would still be a lot of money out of her own pocket. (I also made very clear that I’m not an insurance agent or broker—that, when she finally goes shopping for insurance, she should talk to a real expert for advice.) Here was her response: “I would jump at it,” she said. “With my age, things can happen. I don’t want to have bills that could make me bankrupt. I don’t want to lose my house.”
Barrette can’t be sure until she sees the numbers for herself. And so far she hasn’t been able to do so, thanks to the technological problems at healthcare.gov. But as she’s become more aware of her options, she said, she’s no longer aghast at losing her plan—and curious to see what alternatives are available. “Maybe,” she told me, “it’s a blessing in disguise.”
—————————-
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/115457/obamacare-victim-florida-happy-she-can-get-real-coverage
Poor GG. Hi world just turned upside down.
http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/internacional/en/brazil/2013/11/1366475-brazilian-agency-spied-on-foreign-workers.shtml
Debunking Conservative Lies About The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA)
http://mediamatters.org/research/2013/11/02/debunking-conservative-lies-about-the-employmen/196724
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ej-dionne-jr-the-noise-around-obamacare/2013/11/03/1b6f8e6c-4352-11e3-8b74-d89d714ca4dd_story.html?hpid=z6
The truth about this controversy is that there is a broad debate in our country over how much government should do to correct for market outcomes that leave so many Americans without enough income, opportunity or access to the essentials of modern life, notably health insurance.
Supporters of Obamacare, including those who wish it had gone even further, believe that social justice requires government to give significant assistance to those who find themselves on the wrong end of an economic system that is producing an increasingly unequal society.
Opponents of Obamacare want government to let the market do what the market does. That’s why the program’s critics have not come up with a plausible alternative to covering the uninsured — and why many in their ranks have been trying to hack away at Medicare and Medicaid. Their overarching purpose is to get government out of the way. If the market generates vast inequalities, this must be because such inequalities maximize efficiency.
Thus, foes of the new health-care law aren’t against it because its Web site worked badly or because the president once said that everybody could keep their current policies when it turned out that some in the small individual insurance market got cancellation notices. For those trying to kill the law, such noise is designed to distract attention from what they really think, which is that we should let non-elderly Americans sink or swim in the insurance arrangements that existed before Obamacare.
How they do math in TX??? This would be 5 POINTS!!
http://www.texastribune.org/2013/11/04/uttt-poll-governor-race-abbott-leads-davis-6/
LOLGOP @LOLGOP 46s
Even if Rand Paul is “joking” about shooting Maddow for pointing out he’s plagiarized, he still thinks it’s okay to fire her for being gay.
Reply Retweet Favorite More Expand
That’s why It confuses and bothers me as to why Maddow is a such Ron Paul fan. It really does.
Rise and Shine.
http://theobamadiary.com/2013/11/04/rise-and-shine-657/