In 2008,
when George W. Bush was president, according to Gallup, 14.9 percent of adult
residents of the United States lacked health insurance coverage. That increased
to 16.2 percent in 2009, the year that Obama was inaugurated, and to 16.4
percent in 2010, the year that Obama signed his law requiring that all
Americans have health insurance.
In the first
half of 2011, according to data released by Gallup in 2001, the percentage of
adults in the United States lacking health insurance ticked up to 16.8 percent
- that is 55,440,000 people based on a population of 330 million.
That
conclusion is based on Gallup’s interviews with 177,237 American adults from
January through June of this year. The interviews were part of the ongoing
Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index survey.
Today it is
being estimated that an additional 37 MILLION people will be dropped by their
insurance. Add the 55.5 mil to the 37 mil and we now have 92 million people
uninsured or 28% of the population. In addition
75% of all new job growth is part time and specifically does NOT offer
benefits.
Florida
Blue, for example, is terminating about 300,000 policies, about 80 percent of
its individual policies in the state. Kaiser Permanente in California has sent
notices to 160,000 people – about half of its individual business in the state.
Insurer Highmark in Pittsburgh is dropping about 20 percent of its individual
market customers, while Independence Blue Cross, the major insurer in
Philadelphia, is dropping about 45 percent.
Before
Obamacare, a lot more people had jobs; those jobs provided their insurance.
Millions of people have LOST their insurance due to Obamacare. McDonalds hired
62,000 people AFTER getting a waiver from having to change their insurance
coverage for their employees. They can't afford it and we won't pay $10 for a
Big Mac.
Executives
at several staffing firms told Reuters that the law, which requires employers
with 50 or more full-time workers to provide healthcare coverage or incur
penalties, was a frequently cited factor in requests for part-time workers. A
decision to delay the mandate until 2015 has not made much of a difference in
hiring decisions, they added.
"Us and
other people are hiring part-time because we don't know what the costs are
going to be to hire full-time," said Steven Raz, founder of Cornerstone
Search Group, a staffing firm in Parsippany, New Jersey (he needs a grammar
lesson). "We are being cautious."
Raz said his
company started seeing a rise in part-time positions in late 2012 and the trend
gathered steam early this year. He estimates his firm has seen an increase of
between 10 percent and 15 percent compared with last year.
Other
staffing firms have also noted a shift.
"They
have put some of the full-time positions on hold and are hiring part-time
employees so they won't have to pay out the benefits," said Client
Staffing Solutions' Darin Hovendick. "There is so much uncertainty. It's
really tough to design a budget when you don't know the final cost
involved."
Part time
jobs also don't show up on the unemployment numbers. Ironically, if enough
businesses hire, say, two 20-hour workers instead of one 40-hour worker, there
could be an apparent improvement in the unemployment figures. The unemployment
data counts a person as “employed” if they worked at least ONE hour in the
reporting period. By switching from full-time workers to a larger number of
part-time workers, it would make it appear that unemployment dropped — even
though the total amount paid to workers remained unchanged.
Citing from
a New Jersey example the cheapest plan Horizon offers on the exchange that
covers two 55-year-olds would cost $1,217 per month, a 63 percent increase from
what the one New Jersey couple was paying. That plan, another New Jersey man, Mark
Butler said, only offers 50 percent coinsurance and 50 percent prescription
drug coverage, and has a $5,000 family deductible. They could also choose a
plan with a $1,546 per month premium that offers a 20 percent coinsurance and
$2,000 family deductible. None of this is affordable. Take into consideration also that at this
age, statistically speaking our income level has peaked. It trends downward as we get older.
Butler goes
on to say, "If my small business makes $100,000 in a given year — not a
lot of money in Morris County — I will have to pay between 15 percent and 19
percent of my pretax income on health insurance," Butler said. "That
is not affordable."
So in
conclusion the "Affordable" Care Act is not affordable. Fewer not more citizens are covered by health
insurance. The young, who are already
saddled with paying of the national debt, are being gouged and are being forced
to subsidize higher risk individuals in the pool. In what universe does this make sense?
I don't
often quote Bill Clinton but he gave us a pearl of wisdom where Barak Hussein
Obama is concerned:
Obama, Bill
Clinton said, “doesn’t know how to be president” and is “incompetent.” For once
I agree with Bill!
