The head of the third-biggest U.S. health insurer said he has “serious concerns” about whether or not ObamaCare’s new markets are sustainable, echoing criticism from other top for-profit insurers. “We continue to have serious concerns about the sustainability of the public exchanges,” Aetna Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mark Bertolini said on a call Monday while…

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Daniel Mitchell at the Cato Institute has proposed a “golden fiscal rule:” ensure that government spending, over time, grows more slowly than the private economy.  This is an idea that should command support from fiscal conservatives on both sides of the aisle, not just libertarians. Mr. Mitchell has done a more than adequate job demonstrating that…

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Before you try a short-term plan, consider the pros and cons: PROS You can buy them any time of year. Their premiums are generally lower than major medical insurance plans. The average premium for short-term plans sold by eHealth in California last year was $177 per month, Purpura says. They may have broader networks of…

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Criticism of the Obama administration’s implementation of ObamaCare from the administration’s critics is not particularly surprising. There’s not much newsworthy about an administration taking fire from across the aisle. It is more notable when a prominent defender of the Obama administration acknowledges that the administration has colored outside the lines, and not always with good justification.…

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We shouldn’t be surprised that health insurance premiums continue to rise at record rates — by 15-20% for many employers and their employees in 2016 alone. Between private insurance, Medicare and Medicaid, the number of insured Americans has grown dramatically to nearly 90% of the population. While more people than ever before are seeking health…

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Blue Cross and Blue Shield of NC is expecting to lose more than $400 million on its first two years of Obamacare business. According to this morning’s News and Observer, “The dramatic deterioration in Blue Cross’ ACA business is causing increasing alarm among agents and public health officials.”  In response to its bleak experience with the…

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Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce has analyzed all publicly available information for health-insurance premiums from healthcare.gov and state insurance departments. It then calculated the weighted averages for all health-insurance plans available on the Affordable Care Act’s exchanges. The weighted average gives a more accurate view of overall premium increases, because it takes into account each…

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The third open-enrollment season for health plans under the Affordable Care Act moved into its final hours Sunday night with little fanfare from Obama administration officials who had been urging consumers to buy insurance. It was unclear whether the close of the three-month enrollment window drew any stampede of last-minute shoppers on HealthCare.gov, as was…

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Eliminating the artificially low limits on FSA accounts would provide significant benefits to families with special-needs children, diabetics, and employees who – or whose families – need vision, hearing, dental or orthodontic care, or any other health care not normally covered by health insurance. It would also lessen the pain of higher health insurance deductibles…

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Yesterday, in its budget and economic outlook for the next decade, the Congressional Budget Office substantially changed its short-term Affordable Care Act estimates in ways that show the law is performing far worse than expected. CBO’s new projection of 13 million exchange enrollees in 2016 is nearly 40% below previous expectations. CBO’s also projects that the average subsidy…

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