The Affordable Care Act

[CarlV]

I was reading somewhere yesterday that these "risk corridors" were originally a GOP thing that they put into and is in Medicare Part D.


Carl

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by bobabode

Here we go again. Rubio proposes legislation to gut the ACA and link it to their upcoming debt ceiling fight. When will these spinning idjits ever learn?....

I think ol' Marco went off half-cocked again. Just after he announced this plan, the CBO released a report saying the "risk corridor" provisions (introduced originally by Dubya in Medicare Part D expansion) actually saves the government $8 billion. So, in an effort to force reduced spending by the government, he proposes to hold us hostage to a plan that will cost us an additional $8 billion. Feckin' brilliant.

FWIW, they're doing the same thing for their other ransom plan to force cancelling reductions in veteran's benefits (another multi-billion expenditure to force spending cuts ). You just can't make this shit up.

[BlueStreak]

Originally Posted by icenine

let me tell you one thing...if the ACA does in fact liberate people from working jobs just because they do not need the healthcare anymore from the employer there will be no going back

That's the problem. I'm not sure it will. That's why I've never really been a big fan of ACA. It's a half measure, mainly because our president is either too corrupt, or lacks the balls, to drive insurance companies to their knees and strip employers of their influence over the American citizens healthcare. Instead, he guarantees them an even more compliant audience. He's an asshole of nearly Republican magnitude.

Dave

[icenine]

Originally Posted by finnbow

I think ol' Marco went off half-cocked again. Just after he announced this plan, the CBO released a report saying the "risk corridor" provisions (introduced originally by Dubya in Medicare Part D expansion) actually saves the government $8 billion. So, in an effort to force reduced spending by the government, he proposes to hold us hostage to a plan that will cost us an additional $8 billion. Feckin' brilliant.

FWIW, they're doing the same thing for their other ransom plan to force cancelling reductions in veteran's benefits (another multi-billion expenditure to force spending cuts ). You just can't make this shit up.

Is that the cut in the recent budget for non-disabled retired veterans?

They want to restore that but have no problem cutting food stamps...wow

[CarlV]

The Latest GOP Lie About Obamacare

By REP. HENRY WAXMAN, REP. SANDER LEVIN and REP. GEORGE MILLER

February 04, 2014

There’s a saying that “nothing is more admirable in politics than a short memory.” But we are amazed by the audacity of the latest attack by Republican leaders on the Affordable Care Act.

The target of Republicans’ new criticism is a sensible mechanism to ensure an even distribution of risks across insurance companies. According to Republican leaders like House Budget Chairman Chairman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, these risk corridor provisions are “massive insurance company bailouts.” Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has even introduced a bill to strip them from the ACA. Some conservative groups are calling them “nothing more than a built-in, blank check bailout for insurance companies.”

What’s most remarkable about their comments on risk corridors is that Republican leaders are denouncing a model they created to smooth out rate increases in prescription drug coverage under Medicare. When Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell voted in 2003 to create Medicare Part D, he called the law “the most important social legislation … in my memory” and said it provided “a genuine opportunity for the private sector to actually compete in offering this new drug benefit.” House Republican Leader John Boehner made similar comments, noting in 2007, “By almost every measure, this drug benefit has exceeded expectations, and it continues to score high marks among seniors for providing big savings on their prescription costs.”

An innovative part of the law McConnell and Boehner voted for was its “risk corridors” program, a new idea back in 2003. The corridors are a mechanism to distribute or balance risks across insurance companies, so that those that sign up healthier enrollees help those that attract sicker enrollees. Under the program, if insurers’ actual costs for medical claims are more than 3 percent below their expected costs, they will transmit a portion of their profits into the federal Treasury. Those funds will then be redistributed to insurers whose actual costs exceed their expected costs by more than 3 percent. The provisions were included in Medicare Part D to give the insurers confidence to enter a new market. And they worked.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/sto...#ixzz2sZVO7m00



Carl

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by icenine

Is that the cut in the recent budget for non-disabled retired veterans?

Yep, and it's something passed by the entire Congress (including the 'Baggers). Now, they want to force its reinstatement at a cost of $7-8 billion in an effort to compel reduced spending. Only in 'Baggerland does this make sense.

[BlueStreak]

Originally Posted by finnbow

Yep, and it's something passed by the entire Congress (including the 'Baggers). Now, they want to force its reinstatement at a cost of $7-8 billion in an effort to compel reduced spending. Only in 'Baggerland does this make sense.

It makes sense to the far right, because they know their core constituency has the attention span of a gnat. In the moment they will only know the GOP protected "the troops" from the Evil Obamas cuts, completely glossing over the fact that the GOP had a hand in forcing the cuts in the first place.

Timing is everything in leading the bleating masses into Corporatist Fascism.

Dave

[BlueStreak]

Pat, you only see it, because you have a long memory and see the big picture. To understand the mind of a 'bagger, you must limit your scope to the last day or two and your knowledge to whatever you've been told "...some people say."

Dave

[merrylander]

Originally Posted by whell

Its not the fact that folks leave the workforce that's bothersome here. It would the the reasons why they'd consider leaving.

For pete's sake the CBO speculates about something completely unlikely and already it is historical fact. is there one single brain out there? It never happened in other industrialized nations, why should it happen here? Healthcare coverage is just what the name says 'healthcare'. It is not 'foodcare' or 'housingcare'. So what are all these people planning to live on SSI? Don't make me laugh we could not keep our kitties fed on SSI.

[bobabode]

Holy shit! The 'risk corridor' deal is a Republican idea? You mean just like the rest of Romneycare?

Nice to see that "sonuvabitch" Henry Waxman D-Ca. is still holding the Repub's feet to the fire! Thanks Carl.