A number of wealthy individuals, some of whom were “disgusted” with Obamacare when it first went into effect, nonetheless are now taking advantage of federal financial aid available under that health-care law to help significantly reduce their monthly insurance premiums.
Reflecting slower than anticipated enrollment growth in health insurance purchased through the Affordable Care act, better known as Obamacare, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has lowered its estimate of how many people will get coverage through the law in 2016.
In any given month this year, about 13 million people on average are now expected to be enrolled in a health plan purchased on a marketplace created by the law, often called Obamacare.
UnitedHealth (UNH), which is weighing an exit from the Obamacare exchanges, reported it lost about $475 million on Obamacare-compliant plans in 2015 and expects to lose more than $500 million this year.
The insurer, the parent company of United Healthcare, ended last year with about 500,000 enrollees in Obamacare exchange plans.
The company expects that number to grow towards 800,000 during the 2016 open enrollment period, which ends Jan. 31, before dropping again as some members get jobs, stop paying premiums or find insurance elsewhere. (Also in 2015, it had about 150,000 enrollees who signed up outside the exchanges for individual policies that are compliant with Obamacare.)
Hillary Clinton is attacking rival Bernie Sanders, calling his plan to replace ObamaCare with a socialist single-payer system a “risky deal” and unaffordable. Instead, she says, Dems should back her so she can save ObamaCare.
Not so fast, Hillary.
ObamaCare is on the ropes, and Hillary hasn’t shown us a plan to fix it.
Read more at the New York Post
Republicans in Congress finally achieved their long cherished goal of sending President Obama a bill to repeal his signature health care law. It was a brief victory that lasted only until he vetoed it two days later. But it could be the high-water mark of the repeal drive that has been a pillar of conservative campaigns since 2010 — even if Republicans win the White House.
About 43,000 Obamacare enrollees are bearing the full cost of their insurance plans after losing the tax credits that are meant to make coverage more affordable.
Those enrollees no longer receive Obamacare tax credits because they failed to file a tax return for 2014, according to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The number has never before been released.
Read more at The Hill
Within hours of reconvening Tuesday, the GOP-led Congress will finally act to fulfill a 2010 promise to repeal and replace ObamaCare.
The effort is set to begin Tuesday afternoon when the House Rules Committee meets on the repeal measure, with a full debate and vote as early as Tuesday. With the Republican-led Senate having already passed its version, GOP congressional leaders will send the measure to President Obama, daring him to veto it.
