Well, maybe this one little bitty exemption won't hurt

"The White House has approved a deal that will exempt members of Congress and their staff from some of the provisions of the Affordable Care Act, Politico reported late Thursday [August 1] . . . the Office of Personnel Management now plans to rule that the government can continue to make a contribution to the health-care premiums of the lawmakers and their staff, [Politico] said, citing unnamed congressional sources and a White House official. "

And here.


Except of course that this is not just one little bitty exemption -  instead it joins the hundreds  of previous exemptions, exceptions, delays, interpretations, and political paybacks that this administration has made using the incredibly broad discretionary authority written into ACA - and enacted with not a single Republican vote in either the House or Senate.  

As we all learned in our high-school civics classes, America is a government of laws.

Sure it is.

Cavalcade of Risk #189: Call for submissions

R J Weiss hosts next week's Cav. Entries are due by Monday (the 5th).

To submit your risk-related post, just click here to email it.

You'll need to provide:

■ Your post's url and title
■ Your blog's url and name
■ Your name and email
■ A (brief) summary of the post

PLEASE remember: ONLY posts that relate to risk (not personal finance tips and the like). And please only submit if you are willing to link back to the carnival if your submission is accepted.

Who is Cindy Zeldin?

Georgia state Insurance Commissioner Ralph Hudgeons "grudgingly" approved Obamacare

health insurance exchange rates which he characterized has representing "massive rate hikes".

Wednesday was the deadline. Because he didn’t get a response in his request for more time, Hudgens said, he was left “with no viable option’’ but to approve the premiums submitted by health insurers.

Georgia was the only state that asked for a 30-day extension to continue to analyze the rate increases. Hudgens said he wanted Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to review the Georgia premiums as well.

“Although not surprised, I am disappointed in the unresponsiveness of the Obama administration,’’ Hudgens said in a statement. “Obamacare will inflict substantially higher health insurance costs on Georgia consumers.’’

Georgia Health News

Mr. Hudgeons comment prompted this reaction from Cindy Zeldin.

Cindy Zeldin of the group Georgians for a Healthy Future told GHN on Thursday that the current insurance rates in the state don’t reflect coverage for unhealthy people, who are now denied insurance or are given prices that are unaffordable.

Those currently insured on the individual market, she said, “are the only ones the insurance companies want to cover.’’

Well Cindy, that response makes as much sense as saying mortgage loan rates only reflect interest rates on individuals where banks are willing to approve a loan.

And if you think prices now are unaffordable you will not like the ones approved by Mr. Hudgeons.

Of course she then follows up with this disclaimer.

The exchange rates also don’t reflect the subsidies that many people will receive so they can afford coverage, Zeldin said. The subsidies could be as high as thousands of dollars annually for some individuals, she added.

You do realize where the subsidies come from, don't you?

This is a massive wealth redistribution plan whereby the federal government takes money by force from productive members of society, medical device companies, health insurance carriers and seniors and then gives that money to people who earn less than 400% of the Federal Poverty Level.

Estimates vary, but some sources say as much as 60% of the population will qualify for a subsidy.

That's an awful lot of people the government considers "poor".

41%

Breaking news from the Ohio Department of Insurance!

Just wait, soon you will be hearing about how it doesn't take into account subsidies.

Metaphor of the Day

Via FoIB Holly R:

"New Website to Answer Obamacare Questions for Businesses Crashes on First Day"

Heh.

Gamers

Oh the games people play, now. Every night and every day, now. Never meaning what they say, now. Never saying what they mean.  

Comes now the biggest taxpayer funded give away in the history of the United States. Obamacare subsidies are nothing more than an invitation to game the system and get more "free" benefits.

"Mike" is a low paid, full time worker in a company that still offers health insurance.

Mike’s $3,241 contribution is tax-deductible. Still, that’s a hefty 11.6 percent of his wage income, which might make it appear that Mike’s coverage meets Obama-care’s definition of “unaffordable.” In that case, he would qualify for subsidized coverage on the exchange. Unfortunately, exchange eligibility is restricted to those whose cost for “self-only” coverage under their employer plan exceeds 9.5 percent of household income, and Mike has family coverage. Since Mike’s share of a “self-only” premium would be only 4.9 percent of his income, he is not legally permitted to buy subsidized coverage through the exchange.

Weekly Standard

Do you see his predicament?

The way Mike sees it, Uncle Sam is levying a substantial tax on him simply for working for a large employer that responsibly offers health benefits.

The administration’s ineptitude in rolling out Obama-care has given Mike a lucky break. In 2014, his employer may not be reporting to the exchange any details about the coverage offered him at work. The final rule on premium tax-credit eligibility verification requires that any applicant for premium tax credits attest to the exchange whether he or she has employer coverage, its cost, and extent

Now he has a plan.

Work the system in his favor. If he gets caught, he figures nothing will happen or he can always plead ignorance and promise not to do it again.

Wonder how many "Dan's" there are who will find a way to game the system?

We may never know unless they go on TV and brag about it like the woman who got the free Obamaphone.

Genworth LTCi in the crosshairs

Genworth, one of the last remaining "players" in the Long Term Care insurance (LTCi) market, is about to drop the hammer on some of its long-time policyholders:

"We're conducting an intense, very broad and deep review of all aspects of our [long-term care] insurance business ... believe the company has to increase the price of products sold before 2002 to bring them closer to the break-even point"

Yikes!

Actually, this is far from unexpected, and arguably overdue: as we've seen over the years, the current long term pricing models just aren't sustainable. For one thing, too many folks have kept their policies (not a bad thing, per se, just that carriers count on a certain amount of attrition), so both claims and reserves continue to mount.

And, of course, as the LTCi business itself matures, it becomes more and more obvious that earlier plans were substantially under-priced. While that may have been a good deal for early adopters, over time it's a problem.

Which is not to say that the LTCi market is 'kaput;' indeed, more folks than ever seem to be taking a serious look at these plans. But it's important to keep in mind that, with few exceptions, rates will continue to climb for at least a while.