In 1988, Robert Tappan Morris, then a graduate student at Cornell University, decided to write a computer program to measure the size of the still-nascent Internet. Morris’s effort, a cleverly written bit of code that exploited security weaknesses, quickly spread through the computer network,…
One of the least-reported substantial policy victories in recent years was stopping Obamacare’s insurer bailout through last fall’s CRomnibus bill. Now we can attach a price-tag to that victory: $2.5 billion. That’s how much taxpayers would have been funneling to President Obama’s…
Shlomo Papirblat of Haaretz is reporting that:
Obamacare requires employers to provide "affordable" health insurance to full-time employees, and for the purposes of the law, the word affordable is defined very specifically:
Bobby Jindal isn’t as close to announcing a run for president as some of his other would-be GOP rivals, but that hasn’t kept the Louisiana governor out of the news. In recent weeks, Jindal has spoken out on terrorism (he says, contra Obama, Islam “has a problem”), vaccines (he’s unequivocally for…
In an email sent out this morning to customers, Anthem president and CEO Joseph Swedish addresses the cyberattack on the insurance company he runs. Swedish also reveals that his information was hacked too, not just the information of millions of customers.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is looking for vendors to run its "National Data Warehouse," a database for "capturing, aggregating, and analyzing information" related to beneficiary and customer experiences with Medicare and the federal Obamacare marketplaces. Although the…
With the announcement Monday of a five-year, $563 million contract award to Accenture, the Healthcare.gov contractor that rescued the Obamacare marketplace after 2013's disastrous launch, the total cost of the site will well exceed $2.2 billion. The new award is on top of the $1.7 billion in…
When Congress headed home for the year last week without renewing the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) many in the real estate, tourism, and insurance business predicted disaster. The Coalition to Insure Against Terrorism—a broad grouping representing everyone from real estate investors to…
Without offering an alternate theory for President Obama’s 42 percent approval rating — which was about the same even before it became obvious his foreign policy had tanked — the mainstream media is insisting that Obamacare isn’t driving this election. But Republican ads in Senate races say…
In the wake of their passage of Obamacare, the Democrats have repeatedly claimed two things: Republicans don’t have an alternative, and in any case the health care debate is over. But a Washington Post editorial published Saturday makes it clear that neither of these claims is true.
Analysis of Congressional Budget Office projections by the Senate Budget Committee finds that Obamacare will increase the deficit by more than $100 billion over the next decade.
Last year, the New York Times did a glowing profile of the New York Freelancers Union, focused on how it's providing health insurance for a population of workers that typically don't have affordable coverage options:
Even before the Healthcare.gov website disaster unfolded in October 2013, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) had been looking to the future. HHS announced in June of that year that Hewlett-Packard would be replacing Terremark, a Verizon subsidiary, as the main contractor hosting the…
A new poll finds that 58 percent of likely voters are “more likely” to support members of Congress who vote to stop Obamacare’s taxpayer bailout of insurance companies. Half of that 58 percent (29 percent) are “much” more likely to do so. Meanwhile, only 15 percent of likely voters are “less…
A new study from the American Action Forum finds that "1.9 Million Americans [Are] Falling into the ACA Created 'Family Glitch.'"
Obamacare’s defenders are busy declaring victory again. Ezra Klein is touting a new survey of Obamacare benchmark premiums in some regions of the country as evidence that the law is defying the predictions of critics and working to cut costs rather than increase them.
2017 Project executive director Jeffrey Anderson issued a memorandum this morning reporting that the nonpartisan Center for Health & Economy has "scored" the group’s alternative to Obamacare. THE WEEKLY STANDARD readers are familiar with the broad case for the alternative (see here and here), which…
The Palm Beach Post reports that Florida Blue CEO Pat Geraghty is characterizing as “unfair” Marco Rubio’s argument that American taxpayers should not be forced to provide a bailout for health insurance companies that lose money under Obamacare. It’s not entirely clear whether Geraghty thinks it’s…
During President Obama’s second term, about the only thing more common than seeing him out on the golf course has been seeing polls highlighting the striking unpopularity of his signature legislation. Obama has golfed a reported 79 times so far in his second term (compared to a reported 24…
During the open enrollment period for the state and federal health care exchanges, each staff member and volunteer worked with an average of 1.8 people per day, according to a survey of assister programs released by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser calculated the number of people receiving aid…
In March 2010, Obamacare was about to be voted upon by the House of Representatives, and the Democrats were in the process of deciding whether to ignore public opinion at their peril. At that time, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projected that Obamacare would cost $938 billion over a decade…
Colorado's 9News reviews its state's Obamacare exchange and finds that it's "clunky, counterintuitive, and confusing." The site was built with a $179 million grant from the federal government, but even the sign in button doesn't work.
Most Americans don’t think it’s their job to bail out insurance companies who lose money under Obamacare, but that’s exactly what’s poised to happen. Obamacare’s risk-corridor program — which President Obama has been using as a slush fund to placate his insurance allies and keep them quiet about…
Among the arguments in support of the Affordable Care Act was that unless there was something close to universal insurance, the nation’s emergency rooms would be flooded with people needing care. Now, as Laura Unger reports in USA Today:
On Sunday, the White House blog declared that Obamacare made this Mother's Day "particularly special." On Monday, the Obamacare website Healthcare.gov got into the act, suggesting that "Health insurance with Medicaid is the perfect Mother’s Day gift":
Humana joined the ranks of insurers warning about the potential for large premium increases on next year's Obamacare exchanges. In a conference call discussing its first quarter earning results, Bruce D. Broussard, CEO of Humana, said: "we can see pricing levels anywhere in the single digits to the…
The attempts of defenders of Obamacare to rouse the American people in favor of the doomed monstrosity have become more desperate and bizarre. The most recent example is taking place in Florida, where the sudden death of a young uninsured woman is being cited as an indictment of the…
Over two dozen widows in Alabama were dropped from their health care plans due to Obamacare, WHNT reports:
In the months and weeks leading up to March 31, the Obama administration pushed the message through press releases, tweets and blog posts that the last day in March was the final opportunity to get health insurance in 2014. A White House blog post on Monday is typical, beginning with the words,…
Senator Angus King, an independent senator from Maine who caucuses with the Democrats, said this morning on Fox that "There's no such thing as Obamacare."
The state of Maryland has encountered many setbacks in its attempt to get a health care website up and running smoothly. (Sound familiar?) And now, it has run up the white flag. As Mary Pat Flaherty and Jenna Johnson of the Washington Post report:
Would President Obama prefer that you have health insurance of which he doesn’t approve, or no health insurance at all? Well, based on the penalties in play under his signature legislation, it would appear that he prefers for you to have no insurance at all than to have the “wrong” insurance (as…
Well, that may depend upon how you define the word. In the case of the Affordable Care Act, the definition will need to be rather expansive since, as Elise Viebeck of the Hill reports:
A pastor recently diagnosed with cancer, and who is covered under Obamacare, tells a local Iowa reporter that there's "no compassion in the Affordable Care Act."
The administration continues to jury rig the Affordable Care Act, which it sometimes calls “the law of the land.” The most recent fix is a 279 pager, released on Friday afternoon when the administration no doubt hoped most people would have better things to worry about. The 279 pages detailed…
Fifty-two people in Wisconsin were un-enrolled in Obamacare due to a glitch. They all must now re-enroll in order to be covered by Obamacare. WKOW in Madison reports:
Close on the heels of an Obamacare-related "off the record" conference call hosted by Vice President Biden, President Obama will host one of this own on Monday, March 10 with "faith leaders." According to the announcement, the president "wants to thank all of the faith and community leaders across…
The March 31, 2014 deadline for Obamacare open enrollment has been widely publicized since Healthcare.gov launched in October 2013, but, until recently, information about purchasing coverage outside of the open enrollment period was ambiguous at best. For most of February, a page on the federal…
Vice President Joe Biden tried to convince a young Canadian woman to sign up for Obamacare:
Hard to imagine anyone running for anything as a proud and unequivocal supporter of the Affordable Care Act. Anyone, that is, this side of Joe Biden. Democratic candidates for the House and Senate are already running ads asserting, essentially, I was for it before I said we had to fix it. And now,…
As the clock ticks down toward the end of Obamacare's first open enrollment period on March 31, the White House continues to invest considerable resources in publicizing the president's signature domestic program. On Thursday, Vice President Biden will host a 30-minute "off the record" conference…
Despite my earnest intentions, my family and I are still not covered on the Washington, D.C. Obamacare exchange. I am beginning to despair that I will ever obtain insurance from the exchange.
Testifying before the House Budget Committee yesterday, Congressional Budget Office director Douglas Elmendorf said of Obamacare, “[T]he act creates a disincentive for people to work.” He declared, “[B]y providing heavily subsidized health insurance to people with very low income and then…
The Wall Street Journal reports that "Insurers are facing pressure from regulators and lawmakers about plans that offer limited choices of doctors and hospitals, a tactic the industry said is vital to keep down coverage prices in the new health law's marketplaces."
On Tuesday, the Congressional Budget Office released a new study finding that the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, will cause "a decline in the number of full-time-equivalent workers of about 2.0 million in 2017, rising to about 2.5 million in 2024."
There are a lot of Republican politicians who ostensibly favor the repeal of Obamacare. But there are a lot fewer who give the impression of having the ability and determination to lead the way in bringing about that nation-defining result.
A local news station brings viewers inside one Pennsylvania company as the employees there learn about their new health care plans under Obamacare:
In a stunning admission, a recently released government document reveals that the original contract for Healthcare.gov contained no "specific concurrent user performance requirement." The federal government's online marketplace was plagued from the outset, in part due to the lack of ability to…
The boss reported this morning on CBS that Republicans will unveil an alternative to Obamacare tomorrow in the Senate:
A local reporter finds a California woman who, since enrolling Obamacare, can't find a doctor:
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced that Accenture Federal Services would be taking over for CGI Federal as the main contractor for Healthcare.gov. CMS documents reveal that without the new estimated $91.1 million contract, the government could end up making…
An official from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services admitted at a House hearing today that no one knows how many people have actually paid for Obamacare coverage:
Robert Laszewski—a prominent consultant to health insurance companies—recently wrote in a remarkably candid blog post that, while Obamacare is almost certain to cause insurance costs to skyrocket even higher than it already has, “insurers won’t be losing a lot of sleep over it.” How can this be? …
The Obama administration has come under fire for weeks now for selectively releasing "enrollment" data for Healthcare.gov and the state exchanges. The latest figure of 2.1 million was met with skepticism by many observers, even some who are sympathetic to the administration. However, based on…
Six days into the new year and fourteen days after the extended December 23 deadline, the federal Obamacare website Healthcare.gov is still holding out hope of coverage beginning January 1 to some consumers. The notice, which first appeared on December 24, advises consumers who had "problems" with…
After a month of trying, I still can't complete an application to join the D.C. Health Exchange. For a week, the Obamacare marketplace asked me to prove my citizenship, my daughter's existence, and my fixed address in the District of Columbia, but it would not allow me to submit the requested…
President Obama did not use Healthcare.gov to sign up for Obamacare. Instead, he sent his people to sign him up for the D.C. health care exchange in person.
In a rare moment of candor, the Obama administration has acknowledged that the so-called Affordable Care Act is making insurance less affordable for millions of Americans.
One could be forgiven for feeling qualms about the age of the Affordable Care Act, the dawning of which is now upon us. It would be difficult to be unaware of the troubles surrounding the new order in health care, some of which John Merline of IBD details in a piece that includes this:
On a recent trip to Miami, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius admitted that, yes, some people will be paying more for health insurance under Obamacare:
According to the University of Maryland student newspaper The Diamondback, the university’s student health insurance plan is considering requiring coverage of sex change operations.
The Obama administration began emphasizing the option of applying for insurance through the Obamacare Marketplace with a paper application ever since it became apparent that the online process at Healthcare.gov was riddled with problems. More recently, however, the administration began to shift…
Rep. Matt Cartwright, a member of President Obama's Obamacare "strike team," says it's a "good thing" that people are losing their old health care plans:
The past two months have laid bare the emptiness of the president’s most prominent Obamacare promises. Millions are losing the plans they have and like against their wishes, contrary to the president’s oft-repeated pledge. And those being forced into Obamacare could lose access to the doctors and…
A Virginia employer is being forced to cancel the health care plan it offers its employees due to Obamacare. As a result, WDBJ reports, one cancer victim will be forced off her employer's plan:
Scott Johnson calls attention to a column in the Roanoke Times by Sharon Ingerson, a registered nurse in Salem, Virginia.
Though the Obama administration has been promoting the benefits of Obamacare for several years now, one perk of coverage through the exchanges that has gone largely unnoticed is a mandated three-month grace period for unpaid premiums. The rule, however, only applies to those receiving subsidies…
The White House has cordially invited executives from the insurance industry to drop by, this afternoon, for a little chat. The topic for discussion will, presumably, be how to “move forward,” on the Affordable Care Act now that the president has announced a temporary fix that amounts to…
Harvard professor David Cutler, a so-called architect of Obamacare, says we "could be" witnessing "the beginning of a death spiral" for the unpopular health care bill. Cutler made the comments last night on Fox News:
The White House this evening released a veto threat of the bill, "Keep Your Health Plan Act of 2013." The bill is expected to be voted upon tomorrow in the House of Representatives.
WFTV in Florida reports that a woman with cancer has been dropped from her insurance plan due to Obamacare:
Those whose insurance has been cancelled as “substandard” don’t have much recourse. They can go to the government’s website, which isn’t working so well. Or they could write their person in Congress as some 30,000 of Senator Dianne Feinstein’s constituents have. And, then, they can submit their…
The full reality of what Obamacare will mean for average Americans is only now becoming clear as the crisis over cancelled insurance plans in the individual market has steadily unfolded in recent days. Some 3 to 4 million people have already received notices from their insurers that their policies…
A video from the House Republicans points to President Obama's statement that "there are some stray cats and dogs that got in" the health care bill:
The rallying cry among those who still believe in Obamacare, and that it will fundamentally transform health care in America, like to say of the program’s current problems, “It’s just a web site.” Implying that it can, like the transmission on your automobile, be fixed and you can then proceed to…
In North Dakota, only 30 people have so far signed up for Obamacare. Meanwhile, 35,000 people have already or will be losing their existing health insurance plans in that state alone. WDAY reports:
By now it's an understatement to say—as Senate Democrats said to President Obama yesterday—that Democrats face a national "crisis of confidence" in the Affordable Care Act. And their confidence likely wasn't buttressed by the closing weeks of the Virginia gubernatorial campaign, in which the…
President Obama’s appearance in Boston was the second most important event in that city yesterday and it was so far behind that it couldn’t even see the first one. Still, the President did say a couple of interesting things, including an affable suggestion for those who are feeling forsaken,…
For what I think is the first time, President Obama admitted that some Americans will pay more for health care under Obamacare. He made the admission in remarks at Faneuil Hall in Boston, Massachusetts.
CNN reports that the White House is intimidating insurance companies not to publicly criticize Obamacare:
Last night, Fred Upton, the Republican chairman of the of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, introduced the "Keep Your Health Plan Act of 2013." The goal is simple: To allow people who like their health care plans to keep them for the next year under Obamacare.
One Florida woman is going from paying $54 a month to $591 under Obamacare, CBS reports:
Democratic senator Joe Manchin said that, under Obamacare, "nobody should be forced to buy a policy that cost more than what they had and is inferior to what they had":
Obamacare is costing one Indiana school district $6 million, WTHI reports:
As the boss said on TV a couple days ago, the next move for the GOP should be to pass a bill that essentially says, "If you like your current health care plan, you can keep it."
While the Affordable Care Act was making its way through Congress in 2009 and 2010, President Obama famously promised the American people over and over again that if you like your health plan, you can keep it.
The siege has been lifted. The 16-day ordeal is ended. Life, once again, is good. As Alexander Bolton and Pete Kasperowicz of The Hill report:
Delaware has finally signed up someone for Obamacare. This has caused officials in that state to celebrate, according to the Associated Press.
On October 8, THE WEEKLY STANDARD reported that the privacy policy of the Maryland Health Connection (MHC), the state's Obamacare insurance marketplace, included a statement that the marketplace "may share information provided in your application with the appropriate authorities for law enforcement…
A New Mexcio man recently saw his health insurance premium triple due to Obamacare:
An Allentown, Pennsylvania TV station reports that, because of Obamacare, one mother is forced to choose between a "new health plan or putting food on the table":
On the very day the Obamacare insurance marketplaces opened for business, a new topic appeared on the HealthCare.gov website:
The Federal Housing Authority is running a little short so the Treasury is advancing a small loan – not even $2 billion – to replenish an insurance fund. This is necessary, as Clea Benson of Bloomberg reports:
In August, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (HHS/CMS) quietly awarded a maximum $11.6 million contract to Novitas Solutions of Camp Hill, Penn., already a CMS contractor, for financial management services related to the…
With Obamacare’s massive Patient Data Hub poised to open soon, a sloppy mistake by an Obamacare employee hasn’t exactly inspired confidence that Americans’ private information will be closely guarded by Obamacare’s powers-that-be. As the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports (and Andrew Johnson…
A local report from Green Bay, Wisconsin says that health care premiuns could increase up to 125 percent because of Obamacare:
An Alabama restaurant owner says that because of Obamacare he'll be reducing employer's hours and that he might have to close up shop:
As the time of implementation (some parts, anyway) draws close, Americans continue to disapprove of Obamacare. According to Gallup:
Democratic senator Mary Landrieu says she's embarrassed to go to places in Europe like France and Spain because some Americans do not have health insurance. Landrieu, who is up for reelection in 2014, represents the state of Louisiana.
Insurance companies are saying premiums could increase up to 400 percent as a result of Obamacare. Maryland ABC affiliate WMDT reports:
In a press release today, Georgia insurance commissioner Ralph T. Hudgens warns that, because of Obamacare, "Georgia insurance companies are demanding massive rate increases up to 198 percent for some individuals." Hudgens claims this runs contrary to President Obama's promise to "Americans that…
As Obamacare was being pushed through Congress in 2010, the Obama administration and its allies were unequivocal in two claims: If you like your doctor and you like your current health care plan, you can keep them both. HHS Secretary Kathleen Sibelius and then-House speaker Nancy Pelosi backed the…
Critics of Obamacare point to the way in which it disconnects risk from price. As, for instance, with guaranteed issue. You can't be turned down if you are already ill or, even, be charged higher premiums that reflect your condition. This is ordinarily the hard reality of insurance. Higher risk;…
Local affiliate KSLA reports that Obamacare is likely to force the cost of health insurance premiums to rise:
The Obama administration must have been hearing some awfully threatening noises from the business community lately, because its unilateral delay of Obamacare’s employer mandate, from 2014 to 2015, is otherwise very difficult to explain. The delay is an embarrassing move for the White House and will…
In a blatant exercise of arbitrary rule, the Obama administration announced this evening that it has unilaterally decided not to implement a key provision of Obamacare on schedule. By law, Obamacare’s employer mandate — its requirement that businesses with 50 or more workers provide federally…
Aetna, the third largest provider of medical insurance in the country, has mailed a letter to at least some customers this week warning that the "Affordable Care Act (ACA) is changing health insurance" and that "many people will pay more for their health insurance coverage in 2014 than they do…
A local NBC affiliate, WHIZ in Zanesville, Ohio, reports that Obamacare will cause health care premiums to increase 88 percent:
A big part of Obamacare is its massive expansion of Medicaid. Fortunately, this expansion can’t happen in most states without Republicans freely choosing to make it happen. Unfortunately, far too many Republican governors seem to be confused about the distinction between repealing Obamacare and…
On Monday, CNBC reported on a new survey that found that two-thirds of Americans currently without health insurance don't know if they will purchase coverage by the deadline, the first day of 2014. The survey was released by InsuranceQuotes.com, a company that offers comparison shopping for…
Supporters of President Obama’s overhaul of American medicine are touting the early evidence from California’s Obamacare exchange (still under construction) as good news for their side. But as the Los Angeles Times notes, the Golden State’s version of Obamacare will mean higher insurance premiums…
Congressional hearings over the last two weeks have been filled with stories of misconduct due to incompetence and inexperience among certain IRS employees. Both Republicans and Democrats have leveled the accusations, and Internal Revenue officials testifying before Congress have admitted as much.…
From the federal overhaul of American medicine that brought us the Cornhusker Kickback, the Louisiana Purchase, and Gator Aid, we can now add the Sebelius Shakedown. In what it calls an “unusual fundraising push,” the Washington Post writes, “Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius…
Saturday, the White House retweeted a link to an OregonLive.com story on competition among healthcare insurers purportedly instigated by Obamacare:
Democratic senator Chuck Schumer conceded that Obamacare is "part" of the reason health care costs are increasing:
Rahm Emanuel's brother, Zeke Emanuel, told NBC's David Gregory that Obamacare uncertainty is driving up the cost of health care insurance premiums:
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius admitted that Obamacare might cause "some men and younger customers [to] see their rates increase," in regard to health care insurance costs. But the White House refused today to address Sebelius's comments, and would only insist that health…
Will be getting higher. As reported by Chad Terhune in the Los Angeles Times:
Much of Obamacare wasn’t passed as fixed law but rather as an open-ended invitation for the secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to make law, our constitutional separation of powers notwithstanding. That’s how the requirement came about that essentially all health plans must hereafter give…
The Wall Street Journal reports, “Rep. Steve Stivers of Ohio said he was considering introducing legislation requiring insurance companies to let consumers cover adult children on their plans up to the age of 31, charging an additional premium if necessary.” Contrary to what you might suppose,…
The Washington Post reports on a new study by Bloomberg Government, which shows that the repeal of Obamacare would cost health insurance companies more than $1 trillion — yes, that’s trillion — over the remainder of this decade alone. Why? Because Obamacare would transfer colossal sums of money…
A new Gallup poll shows that Americans want repeal and that about two-thirds of those who want repeal think it’s “very important.”
Via Ramesh Ponnuru's twitter feed, comes this ABC News article where the White House finally admits that Obamacare raised the cost insurance premiums: