“When Congress wrote 2,700 pages of legislation to create ObamaCare, that was only the starting point in the government’s re-engineering of our health sector. Tens of thousands of pages of regulation – or more – are needed to provide detailed guidance dictating exactly how its maze of new programs must operate.”
“Early this morning, the Hill reported that the Obama administration’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is relying on a private company — a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group — to play a central role in establishing and running Obamacare’s insurance ‘exchanges.'”
“The Obama administration is relying heavily on outside contractors to implement a core component of healthcare reform as it races to set up a federal health insurance marketplace before 2014. The fast-approaching deadline gives the administration little time to scrutinize private-sector partners for conflicts of interest. The purchase of one of these contractors, Quality Software Services, Inc. (QSSI), by UnitedHealth Group, a major healthcare conglomerate, has sparked concerns about a potentially uneven playing field.”
“The once-steady stream of regulations and rules from the Obama administration — instructions for insurance companies, hospitals and states on how to put the law in place — has slowed to a trickle in recent months in an attempt to avoid controversies before the election. Many states, too, have done little public work to avoid making the law an election issue for state officials on the ballot.”
“Some low-wage employers are moving toward hiring part-time workers instead of full-time ones to mitigate the health-care overhaul’s requirement that large companies provide health insurance for full-time workers or pay a fee. Several restaurants, hotels and retailers have started or are preparing to limit schedules of hourly workers to below 30 hours a week.”
“On Tuesday, Americans will go to the polls to choose whether or not to nationalize their health-care system. The choice for president will have numerous other consequences. But in most cases we will be choosing between tendencies shrouded in uncertainty. The candidates have staked out positions and made some explicit promises—but how these work out in practice will depend on many future contingencies, and many an earnest campaign promise has been confounded or even reversed in the past. The health-care choice is singular not only for its importance but for its certainty.”
“A Cigna Corp. executive said Thursday that taxes on the health insurance industry related to the Affordable Care Act, or federal health care reform, will be pushed onto customers in the form of higher premiums. Cigna’s Chief Financial Officer Ralph J. Nicoletti responded to a question about the taxes during a conference call with financial analysts Thursday morning when the Bloomfield-based health insurer reported third-quarter earnings.”
“With the Presidential election one week away, it’s worth reviewing how Obamacare will impact the residents of key swing states. In Ohio, as elsewhere, Obamacare will drive up the cost of private health coverage, especially for those who buy insurance on their own. A non-partisan study found that, by 2017, individual premiums in Ohio will increase by as much as 85 percent. “
“In just 14 months, Americans will be required to prove that they have federally “qualified” health insurance or face an Obamacare tax of $695 to $2,085. That is unless you are in prison, below the poverty line, or are an undocumented immigrant, according to the anti-tax group Americans for Tax Reform.”
“As the federal government tries to leave the states with the freedom to set up individualized local health exchanges, state officials say they’ve received so little guidance that they’re afraid they’ll have to make changes as more regulations come out after the presidential election.”