Obamacare: doing to insurers what the EPA is doing to the coal industry - Granite Grok

Obamacare: doing to insurers what the EPA is doing to the coal industry

Obamacare -Year of the SnakeThe more you look at Obamacare, the more you see that the entire intent is to kill off another industry: healthcare insurance.  I stumbled upon this just a bit ago:

The problem with a 90-day grace period for premium payment is that at the end of it you must pay for three months of premiums, when you couldn’t afford to pay one month in the first place. A lot of people won’t be able to do that, but meanwhile they have been running around with an insurance card receiving health services.

What then? Who is on the hook for those services? HHS has decided to split the baby. The insurance company will have to pay for the first month of non-coverage, but providers (doctors and hospitals) will have to absorb the costs incurred for the second two months. That could be a whole lot of money. The (formerly) insured person will be canceled after three months, but they get to re-enroll again at the end of the year without penalty. (And we were told one of the purposes of this law was to solve the “free-rider” problem. Oh, well.)

Along with paying for services during the first month of the delinquency, the insurer must: 1) notify HHS of the non-payment; 2) notify providers of the possibility of denied claims during the second and third months; 3) notify the insured that he/she is delinquent; 4) continue to collect the advanced tax credit on behalf of the policyholder; 5) return the tax credit for the second and third month to the Treasury; 6) issue a termination notice to the insured at the end of the grace period. Oh, and the carrier must also determine whether the insured has a disability as defined by the Americans With Disabilities Act, and make “reasonable accommodations” for such individuals. These are pretty substantial administrative burdens, and the costs will aggravate the Minimum Loss Ratio requirement for the carrier.

So, how many people do you suppose will do this? I would wager just about everybody. Why not? You can get 12 months of coverage for nine months of premiums and suffer absolutely no penalty.

My head hurts – let’s see if I have this straight:

  • You can scam the system for the first month of premiums – the insurer is on the hook.  Remember, the insurance carrier HAS to “insure” you no matter how sick you are and no matter how long you were healthy and had the funds with which to sign up
  • Hospitals and doctors are on the hook for the next two months.  Umm, wasn’t Obamacare supposed to stop this “free rider” system?  Haven’t the Democrats been jumping up and down and hollerin’ that we can’t afford to pay for “free services” that aren’t being reimbursed – and this differs….HOW?
  • This process will require a LOT of actions and tracking of these “system gamers” sending out reams of paperwork – and not get paid for it.  And if it increases their cost of doing business, Obama will smilingly fine them too for the worthless process placed upon them – for the individual is not to be held account but the EVIL for-profit company is.  And part of the Obamacare is that 20% limit to spank them with – if they have to spend more than 20% of premiums in “overhead” (even if they could show it is because of Government paperwork) – they are screwed.

Frankly – they are pushing the insurers, just the the coal mining companies and the coal using electrical generators, into bankruptcy.  This is a premeditated feature – not a mark of simple incompetence.

So, this is the Freedom that Obama is protecting – his and the Democrats freedom to decide what industry is “acceptable”?

(H/T: LifeSitenews via American Thinker)

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