GOOD NEWS: Obama’s Exchanges are in Trouble
February 11, 2015
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The Obamacare exchanges are in trouble. This is good news. These data-collecting, dollar-distributing structures hold Obamacare together. The exchanges also expand government dependency (Medicaid/Obamacare). The IRS will use the exchanges to enforce the law, track the insured and uninsured, and impose penalty payments from tax refunds -- for which they seek $67 million.
A whopping $4.8 billion has been spent to build this national system. The exchange system -- a central server (Federal Data Services Hub), a federal website (Healthcare.gov) and state-based feeder websites (MNsure, Covered California, etc.) – has been funded through federal grants to states -- and by federal diversion of ACA funds to build Healthcare.gov.
Obama and Congressional Democrats did not appropriate funding for a federal exchange because they wanted to keep ACA costs under $1 trillion and they expected states to build and fund the entire structure. But 36 states wisely said no to the high costs and federal control. The total spent is expected to rise to $6.2 billion at in 2015, according to an analysis released February 2 by Inside Health Policy.
President Obama is desperate for cash. His proposed 2016 Budget:
“fully funds the ongoing implementation of ACA’s health insurance coverage improvements through the operation of Health Insurance Marketplaces [ACA exchanges]…”
State governors are desperate too. The federal exchange grants disappeared on December 31, 2014. Now state taxpayers may be on the hook. In New York, Governor Cuomo wants up to $25 per health insurance policy to pay for their ACA exchange, a proposal that could squeeze $69 million from insured New Yorkers.
Minnesota’s Governor Dayton wants the legislature to provide $11.6 million (p. 120) to improve and operate MNsure, the state-based ACA exchange. These funds would be added to the final federal grant of $34 million the state received December 22, 2014.
MNsure is a glorified Medicaid enrollment tool. According to Dayton’s budget:
“The original case mix assumption in the fiscal note was that public program participants would make up about 66% of the total cases. Based on actual experience, we now project public program cases to be about 91%.” (p. 120)
Meanwhile, state-based exchanges threaten personal incomes. Employer mandates and penalties exist only in states with ACA subsidies, which are only available through state-based exchanges. Most individuals will also be exempt from the mandate and penalties because there’s no “affordable” (subsidized) coverage.
Don’t do it: Whatever happens in King vs. Burwell, the lawsuit against the IRS illegally providing subsidies in states without state-based exchanges, do not let your state build an Obamacare exchange. It enables the federal takeover of health care, costs millions to operate, expands dependency, increases Medicaid costs, and exposes everyone to the ACA’s mandates and penalties. Just say no.
Working to secure and protect health freedom,
Twila Brase, RN, PHN
President and Co-founder
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