Before It Drags Us All Down the Drain
ObamaCare is an unmitigated disaster. A total, miserable failure.
Everything President Barack Obama and his Democrats promised it would do?
Obama Promises ObamaCare Won’t Add ‘One Dime To The Deficit’
36 Times Obama Said You Could Keep Your Health Care Plan
Obama Montage: If You Like Your Doctor You Can Keep Your Doctor
Obama Promises To Lower Health Insurance Premiums by $2,500 Per Year
Not so much.
CBO: Cost of ObamaCare Subsidy Will Increase 8-Fold in 10 Years
Health Insurance Cancellation Notices Soar Above ObamaCare Enrollment Rates
ObamaCare Deductibles Hit Patient Pocketbooks And Hospital Finances
And the states that set up their own ObamaCare exchanges? More epic disasters.
Oregon Gives Up On State ObamaCare Site, Switches to Federal Exchange
Failure and Corruption in the Massachusetts ObamaCare Exchange
Almost Half of ObamaCare Exchanges Face Financial Struggles in the Future
Many of the online exchanges are wrestling with surging costs, especially for balky technology and expensive customer call centers — and tepid enrollment numbers.
What’s their alleged “solution” to this completely predictable – and predicted – problem?
(O)fficials are considering raising fees on insurers…and pressing state lawmakers for cash infusions.
Even more of our money. Completely predictable – and predicted.
What else are these failed states contemplating?
States Quietly Consider ObamaCare Exchange Mergers
Many of the 13 state-run ObamaCare exchanges are worried about how they’ll survive once federal dollars supporting them run dry next year….
“What is happening is states are figuring out the money is running out,” said Jim Wadleigh, the director of Connecticut’s exchange….
Umm, the law from its inception sunset the federal coin. To these panicking states one can only say “Duh.”
But a shared marketplace…has become an increasingly attractive option for states desperate to slash costs.
I get it – miserable loves company. But I’m not sure how taking two (or more) individual state failures and combining them – is a solution to anything.
Having the makers of the Chevrolet Corvair, the Edsal and the DeLorean combine forces doesn’t seem to be a winner. Multiple people who can’t swim desperately clutching at one another – just means they’ll all sink together.
It certainly won’t slash costs. Quite the opposite – there will be additional, huge expenses attending these states attempting their misery mergers.
By most accounts, creating a multi-state marketplace would be a logistical nightmare.
It’s unlikely that states could ever merge the full responsibilities of a marketplace, such as regulating plans and managing risk pools.
But even with a simpler model, like a shared call center or website platform, there are big questions about how states could share those costs and duties.
Jennifer Tolbert, a state health expert with the Kaiser Family Foundation, said “one of the trickiest issues” would be determining a governing structure for multi-state exchanges.
“I don’t know how that would be resolved,” she said.
Again, if none alone can get it together – how will their getting together help? Indeed, it won’t.
These hurdles have been big enough to thwart multiple states from moving forward with their plans. Delaware, Maryland and West Virginia, which commissioned a study on the option in June 2013, have all dropped the idea.
So why on Earth are any states still considering it?
It’s time for Congress to do what Congress before the last election promised it would do.
Anti-ObamaCare Ads Dominate GOP Ad Buys in October
Which worked.
ObamaCare Opposition Drives 2014 Election Results
Congress needs to head off this latest, looming ObamaCare disaster.
And start rolling back all the others.
Editor’s Note: This first appeared in Human Events and Red State.