healthguy

Yet another insurer has decided that they cannot succeed under ObamaCare.  Aetna announced on May 10, 2017 that they will leave all U.S. ACA healthcare markets by 2018. ObamaCare continues it collapse, as insurance companies continue their pull-out. Aetna’s announcement comes only days after he move comes days after Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield announced it was leaving some state markets after this year.  Humana announced they would leave the healthcare marketplace in February.

The pullouts began in just as the government payouts to the insurance companies began to wind down.  Remember, ObamaCare guaranteed the insurance companies profitability until 2016. This built-in aspect of Obamacare ensured that Obamacare would collapse AFTER the 2016 presidential election. Which makes Jonathan Gruber’s comments on Fox in May 7,  2017  that Trump is causing the collapse of ObamaCare downright laughable. See the video of him saying this here.  Remember, Gruber was the architect of Obamacare who said Americans were too stupid to understand what ObamaCare was, which allowed the Dems to pass it – see the video of him saying that here,.

ModernHealthCare.com says:

But the ACA’s program hasn’t worked as planned. The gap between what some insurers are paying in and what others are requesting is widening. Congress in 2014 passed a provision in the 2015 federal budget requiring risk corridors to be revenue-neutral, so the CMS can only dole out what it takes in.

 The Obama administration spent $16.2 billion on the program for 2014 and 2015 and another $5 billion was scheduled to be spent in 2016, at which point the program is supposed to expire.  Many sources (yes, even very liberal sources, like the Washington Post) report that these payouts are not legal; they are inappropriate transfers of federal funds. Surprise, surprise – after the payouts stop, insurance companies decide to leave!

UnitedHealth Announced in April, 2016 that, in the face of mounting losses from individual policies sold in public exchanges under Obamacare, it “will participate in individual public exchanges in 3 states, a reduction from 34 states in 2016.”

As always, the links above take you to reputable sources (left, right and neutral) to veriify our facts and figures.

There appears to be some confusion among the media, but the bottom line is, Congress voted on May 4, 2017 NOT to exempt itself from the requirements of Trumpcare.

Summary:

Here’s how and why it works:

1. Reconciliation bills can be passed with a simple majority (51), instead of 60 votes
2. To be considered as a reconciliation bill, the bill must meet a complex set of requirements having to do with subcommittees areas of responsibilities and more.
3. The Republicans wanted the  American Health Care Act  (The House TrumpCare bill) to be a reconciliation bill to improve its odds of passage in the Senate.
4. One of the basic points of TrumpCare is to return control of HealthCare to state governments, to let local governments determine what they want for themselves. But that created a conflict with senators who work both in their states (that can issues waivers) and at a federal level; (where waivers are the responsibility of a subcommittee)  potentially subjecting them to a catch-22. But that catch-22 had to stay in the bill in order to make the bill a reconciliation bill.
5. So,  Republican Rep. Martha McSally of Arizona proposed a stand-alone bill to REMOVE the exemption of Congress from state waiver provisions should the AHCA be enacted into law. From the House floor, McSally said that “due to very arcane Senate procedural rules within the budget reconciliation process,” the MacArthur amendment “does not and cannot apply to members of Congress. I believe that any law we pass [that] applies to our constituents must also apply equally to members of Congress,” McSally said. “Individuals who are stewards of public trust must abide by the rules that they make.” McSally’s bill passed on May 4 by a 429-0 vote
6. So, the House Rules Committee approved procedural rules Wednesday night to fast-track consideration of both the GOP healthcare bill and the separate measure to address the issue; saying the House passed the American Health Care Act with the exemption intact after first passing a separate bill that would repeal the exemption that would be created by the AHCA if both bills became law.

This means there are now two bills that the House sent to the Senate. The AHCA  which for the reason of the obscure senate procedures must would exempt members of Congress and their staffs from state waiver provisions.And there is also McSally’s bill which wioll remove the exemption if the AHCA becomes law. And since the McSally bill passed unanimously, both partyies agreed a health care law Congress passes should apply in the same way to members of Congress.

FactCheck.org has a much more detailed explanation.