eNews Commentary • Apr 2014 • Health Care Reform - Obamacare • Health Disparities • Medicare

7.1 Million: Not the Number to Watch

April 2, 2014

**To receive this commentary directly to your email, click the "subscribe to the Health Freedom eNews" button above.

The White House is gloating. President Obama’s cast and crew are celebrating their 7.1 million sign-ups. They claim success. Not so fast. This was just an April Fool's joke on the American people.

The reality is quite different. First of all, these are only sign-ups not actual enrollees. Second, the Rand Corporation estimates that two-thirds were previously insured. Only 2 million were previously uninsured.

Third, insurers say approximately 10-20 percent have not paid their first premium. Furthermore, 2- 5 percent of those who enrolled in January have not paid their February premium. After three months of non-payment, the law requires the Exchanges to cut them from the rolls. They must be disenrolled. What will the numbers look like in May or June?

Here are just a few of the numbers that every American (including the mainstream media) should be focusing on:

4.5 million cancelled policies, so far

16 million cancelled policies expected

$70 billion a year in lost wages

2.9+ million workers lost

$5,000 to $10,000 deductibles

$6,350 for individuals and $12,700 for families for out-of-pocket expenses.

200% to 600% premium increases for “young invincibles”

68% of individual policies offering narrow networks, up from 33% last year.

44 percent of New York doctors refuse to participate in Obamacare

$15,000 “claw back” payments for older higher-income folks who no longer qualify for subsidies due to change in income or life circumstances.

Top 18 hospitals nationwide don’t accept all Obamacare policies

Only 4 of 19 nationally-recognized cancer treatment centers are available in all Obamacare polices

40% of small employers dumping employees into the Obamacare Exchange

Thousands of doctors dropped from UnitedHealth’s network.

Families making $60,000 will be fined $1,500 by the IRS if they don’t enroll.

We will continue to see the emergence of hurtful numbers from Obamacare. One self-described single payer advocate already had this to say,

“Many people (like me) signed onto a marketplace plan assuming the insane deductibles only applied to big-ticket surgeries. Imagine my surprise when I found out I couldn’t even see a doctor until I’d paid $6,000 out of pocket. Okay, so I decided to switch to an HMO, but then found out I couldn’t see my doctors at the local teaching hospital without paying as much as $100 in co-pays – as opposed to $30 for the incompetents at the other area hospital. (Remember “you can keep your doctor”?) It seems we still have a medical caste system.”

Premium prices are about to double or even triple for Obamacare coverage. Robert Laszewski, an oft-quoted health care expert, writes in his blog, “I don’t expect the insurance industry to be patient past 2015 before it has to begin charging the real cost of the program to consumers.”

Mr. Laszewski has written of his own consternation over being cancelled. Although a supporter of Obamacare, on one blog post, he writes about the extension of cancelled policies, “I am happy to be able to keep my policy with a better network, lower deductibles and at a rate 66% less than the best Obamacare compliant policy I could get.”

Obamacare claims are a charade. Claims of 7.1 million are just that. Claims. Meanwhile the administration and states have kept Obamacare open for enrollment in hopes of boosting actual enrollment (premiums paid) and snaring more young and healthy into the Exchange. Please consider a generous donation toward our continued “Refuse to Enroll” campaign.

Working with you from realities to repeal,

Twila Brase
President and Co-founder
CCHFREEDOM.ORG