It was a peak week for concern about Obamacare. On Tuesday, the big insurance company Aetna announced it will leave the Obamacare exchanges in 11 states. That’s 500 counties across the country that are losing another carrier. Only one or two insurers are left in Arizona, North and South Carolina, and parts of Florida. There were reports of a county in Arizona that may have NO Obamacare insurer next year.
Aetna’s departure put Obamacare on the front page once again. There were stories EVERYWHERE about how this may be the beginning of the end for the Affordable Care Act. Many of the stories put it in terms of Obamacare being “unstable”. That’s no surprise to Tea Partiers. We knew from the beginning that any law forcing insurers to ignore correct underwriting principles and deliberately misprice their policies flies in the face of economic reality and cannot go on in its present form indefinitely. How can anything that starts with such economic lunacy ever be stable? What we have here is the stupidity of the American mastermind on full display.
I can’t predict there will be an insurance death spiral, but you know it’s bad when LIBERAL publications like the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post worry that Obamacare is unstable and ask out loud, “Can Obamacare be saved?”
The word “unstable” gives us a rhetorical opportunity. Just keep saying “Obamacare is unstable” every chance you get. That should wake some people up, and it has the added virtue of being true. Put the law’s supporters on the defensive. Make them explain how this law is going to work when we’re getting down to one or two insurers in so many parts of the country. You might add, “Obamacare is growing even more unstable over time, not less, as we were promised.”
Meanwhile, the administration promised it would try to boost the number of purchasers in the next enrollment period which is coming up soon. But the plans they’ve announced so far are a big yawn – another advertising campaign and targeting young people. That’ll really get’em. Make Pajama Boy Great Again!
But we can’t spend our time gloating over Obamacare’s troubles and saying ‘see, I told you so.’ It didn’t take long after Aetna’s announcement for the single-payer crowd to start up in full cry again: ‘See, it’s those greedy insurance companies. They’re the problem. They’re avoiding the sick. If it weren’t for their bad behavior, we would have had $2,500 off our insurance and been able to keep our plans, just like President Obama promised us. So we tried the free market and it didn’t work. The government has to put every private insurance company out of business and take over healthcare completely for these problems to be solved, once and for all.’ All of this is preposterous, of course, but even Bernie Sanders is back, promising to introduce a single-payer bill in the next Congress.
So keep your eye on the ball. Single-payer IS the next debate. The Truth Squad is arming you up. We put out the bad news about single-payer most Mondays at 10 a.m. Eastern Time, and there’s a lot of it that the supporters of single-payer want you to ignore. So join us on Twitter and please ask your members to follow us there. I’ll put the link in Chatzy and send it in for the wrap-up.
Links
Obamacare Truth Squad – ‘All the Bad News About Obmacare, Every Day’
https://twitter.com/ObamacreTrthSqd
“Aetna to pull out of most Obamacare exchanges”; saying good-bye to 500 counties
http://money.cnn.com/2016/08/15/news/economy/aetna-obamacare/
Arizona, North and South Carolina, Georgia and parts of Florida hurt the most; only one or two insurers left
http://khn.org/news/obamacare-marketplace-shakeout-rocks-arizona-southeast/
The flood of bad news can no longer be denied. E.g.:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-17/obamacare-s-in-trouble-as-insurers-tire-of-losing-money
http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/291655-insurer-exit-darkens-obamacare-picture
http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20160816/NEWS/160819928/aetna-pullout-heightens-pressure-for-aca-exchange-fixes-as-elections
“The exchanges do not seem to be stabilizing; instead, they seem to be growing more unstable over time”
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-08-16/aetna-s-retreat-from-obamacare-is-more-than-it-seems
ACA inherently unstable because forces sale of mispriced insurance. #UnicornsAndRainbows
http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-unstable-economics-in-obamas-health-law-1471452938
You know it’s bad when staunch liberal publications worry aloud Obamacare is unstable.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/aetna-decision-exposes-weaknesses-in-obamas-health-care-law/2016/08/16/3bed308e-63d1-11e6-8b27-bb8ba39497a2_story.html?hpid=hp_rhp-more-top-stories_no-name%3Ahomepage%2Fstory
You know it’s bad when staunch liberal publications are asking, “Can Obamacare be Saved?”
http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-obamacare-saved-20160816-snap-story.html
O-admin flailing about looking for ways to boost enrollment. (Deja vu all over again. Give it up, it’s hopeless.)
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/18/us/politics/as-insurers-balk-us-makes-new-push-to-boost-health-care-act.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fhealth&action=click&contentCollection=health®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=3&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=0
Dems won’t bail out insurers; angling for public option / single payer.
http://healthpolicyandmarket.blogspot.com/2016/08/latest-proposals-to-fix-obamacare-come.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+HealthCarePolicyAndMarketplaceBlog+%28Health+Care+Policy+and+Marketplace+Blog%29
“Bernie Sanders: My single-payer plan will solve Obamacare’s problems”
http://hotair.com/archives/2016/08/17/bernie-sanders-my-single-payer-plan-will-solve-obamacares-problems/
“The case for a single-payer health plan: Aetna shows how insurers are avoiding the sick”
http://www.salon.com/2016/08/20/the-case-for-a-single-payer-health-plan-aetna-shows-how-insurers-are-avoiding-the-sick_partner/