Ace:
Or, as Obamacare defenders call cancellations followed by roiling chaos: “transitioning.”
The New York Times reported (on Saturday, the least-read day of the news week) that the insurance market was in chaos, with insurers not knowing who their supposed insured clients even are. Digested at Hot Air:
In addition to the difficulties many face in proving they have coverage, patients are also having a hard time figuring out whether particular doctors are affiliated with their health insurance plan. Doctors themselves often do not know if they are in the network of providers for plans sold on the exchange.But interviews with doctors, hospital executives, pharmacists and newly insured people around the country suggest that the biggest challenge so far has been verifying coverage. A surge of enrollments in late December, just before the deadline for coverage to take effect, created backlogs at many state and federal exchanges and insurance companies in processing applications. As a result, many of those who enrolled have yet to receive an insurance card, policy number or bill.
Many are also having trouble reaching exchanges and insurance companies to confirm their enrollment or pay their first month’s premium. Doctors’ offices and pharmacies, too, are spending hours on the phone trying to verify patients’ coverage, sometimes to no avail.
ObamaCare SuperFan Ezra Klein interviewed Obamacare critic and insurance industry executive (i.e., someone who actually knows something) Bob Laszewski and heard similar grim tidings. @benk84 linked this in the morning news dump, but here’s some of the more important stuff:
There are two things [insurance companies are doing with the massive pile of botched, error-ridden 834s Obamacare is generating]. There are some obvious errors you get and the insurer can go back to the customer and straighten them out. That’s a very laborious task. The other thing that the administration is doing is a manual reconciliation. There’s unfortunately no computerized check between who HealthCare.Gov thinks is enrolled and who the insurance industry’s computer systems think is enrolled. So it’s being done manually. That’s a big problem.The other challenge now is getting people to pay for coverage. I was surprised today calling around to people to find only about 50 percent have paid. That’s not a reason to panic yet. The due dates for payment have been sliding all around, so people can be confused. But it can be a mess. Some insurers are doing autocalls like politicians do the night before the election asking people to pay.
Laszewski also says everyone’s all but given up on the prospect of getting balanced risk pools in Obamacare:
It’s not positive. I don’t want to say people have given up on the notion they’ll get a good mix. They know the administration will make a big push. The insurance companies will spend big on advertising and outreach. So no one has given up. But it doesn’t look good right now.There’s a big misconception that this is about young people. That’s baloney. It’s about healthy people. A healthy 20-year-old might only pay a $100 premium. You want healthy 40 and 50-year-olds. The big problem right now is really total enrollment. We only have about 10 percent of the uninsured in here. Insurers think you need more like 70 percent of a pool of people to sign up.
…
The problem with the enrollments today is that they’re so small, it’s less than 10 percent of the uninsured coming in, it really can’t be anything but sick people.
And all that, the Washington Post is surprised to discover, is just a preamble for what’s coming. Also digested at
Hot Air:When millions of health-insurance plans were canceled last fall, the Obama administration tried to be reassuring, saying the terminations affected only the small minority of Americans who bought individual policies.But according to industry analysts, insurers and state regulators, the disruption will be far greater, potentially affecting millions of people who receive insurance through small employers by the end of 2014.
Obamacare Enrollment Exploded In December To 2.2 Million
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/obamacare-december-enrollment-numbers
@This one:
LOL, repeating lies don’t change the facts. Basically no one is signed up except those that the government will be paying for. Actually, that was the intent of the Clusterf**k. About the only thing the Dims know how to do. Throw a Clusterf**k.
Those who already had insurance haven’t had any need to sign up.
I’m still waiting to hear details about a republican alternative, btw. With their House majority, no one has been stopping them from putting together and presenting proposals. They’ve had plenty of time to do so.
@Greg:
Had? Those that HAD insurance that got cancelled, what was the 50 million? 2 million tried to sign up, so far no one has been confirmed as signed up. Why should Repubs try to rescue the Dims? It’s their clusterf**k. let them stew.
@Redteam, #4:
I’m afraid the 50 million number is totally imaginary. It’s estimated that 4.7 million people were carrying insurance policies that were cancelled by carriers because they didn’t meet minimum standards—less than one-tenth of the 50 million figure. Of that 4.7 million, the vast majority are eligible for new marketplace plans that meet the minimum requirements of the Affordable Care Act.
During the run up to Obamacare any and all Republican plans or ideas were shut out by Obama and the Dems. So why all of a sudden is there an interest in a Republican alternative? No alternative would get any kind of traction with Obama anyway so why put forth one? Even those who support Obamacare can’t ell you what’s in it anyway. They have not read it nor understand it. They just parrot left wing talking points.
Over 6 million folks have had their plans canceled. Plans they liked. I recall hearing if you like your plan you can keep your plan. That was and is a LIE. PERIOD.
Greg
yes the REPUBLICANS HAD MORE THAN ONE BETTER PLAN,
but OBAMA DON’T WANT TO NEGOCIATE ON ANY IDEA, REMEMBER?
no way to make him comprehend any better ideas, because his narcicist refuse to think
any other could do better, he should have listen to TED CRUZ, HE WOULD HAVE GAIN FROM TRYING TO HEAR WHAT TED CRUZ WAS COMING WITH DIRECT FROM THE PEOPLE, WHO HAVE THE PRIORITY OVER THE PRESIDENT’S DECISIONS,
no he said no negotiation and shut the GOVERNMENT INSTEAD, what a way to run away,
BY DOING IT HE EXPRESS HIS MISCHIEF INTENT,THAT IF YOU DON”T WANT IT ,
I’LL PUNISH YOU ALL, and he did punish the MOST IMPORTANT PEOPLE OF THIS NATION,
UNABLE TO VISIT THEIR MEMORIALS PARKS,
he should have thought of it first as a president,
@This one:
yes but how many of them are PAYING customers. Some months ago in Kentucky, over 80% of their enrollees were for medicare which is ‘free’. The wizard of oz is combining medicare, paying customers and those who put items in their cart and not paid. This is nothing more then a shell game.