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Is the Administration Low-Balling Their 2015 Obamacare Enrollment Estimate?
Well, with an estimate of only 9 million to 9.9 million, apparently they are. But I will suggest the focus should not be on anybody's estimate for 2015 but rather on how many people need to enroll in Obamacare to make it sustainable. A few points: The Kaiser Family Foundation estimated that when Obamacare launched in 2014, 17.2 million people were eligible for subsidies. The only place you can (Source: Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review)
Source: Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review - November 10, 2014 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: ROBERT LASZEWSKI Source Type: blogs

Supreme Court Takes the Obamacare Subsidy Case--Justices Will Rule Before July 1
In a Wow moment, the Supreme Court announced Friday that they will take one of the four pending "Halbig" cases––specifically King v. Burwell. The issue is over whether the new health law actually authorizes the payment of premium subsidies in the 37 states that will rely upon the federal government to run their exchange in 2015. This effort is being made on a number of fronts but has been (Source: Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review)
Source: Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review - November 7, 2014 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: ROBERT LASZEWSKI Source Type: blogs

Obamacare: Death By a Thousand Votes?
We didn't see a Republican tide on election night. We saw a Republican tsunami. A year after Obamacare went into effect and Democrats said people would come to support it voters gave one Republican candidate after another, who made Obamacare a big part of each of their campaigns, one victory after another. So, how will the Republicans use their convincing result on Obamacare? Republicans will (Source: Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review)
Source: Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review - November 5, 2014 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: ROBERT LASZEWSKI Source Type: blogs

Health Insurers "Expect at Least 20% Growth" From 2015 Enrollment
That was the lead in a Reuters story this morning saying, "health plans expect at least 20% growth in customers and in some states anticipate more than a doubling in sign-ups" from the 2015 Obamacare open-enrollment. Well they better do a hell of a lot better than that! The CBO has estimated that 13 million people will ultimately be covered in the Obamacare insurance exchanges in 2015. The (Source: Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review)
Source: Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review - October 31, 2014 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: ROBERT LASZEWSKI Source Type: blogs

Figures Don't Lie But Liars Figure––Will There Be Some Obamacare Rate Shock in 2015?
Hanging around actuaries as long as I have one of the old sayings I picked up was, "Figures don't lie, but liars figure." I have read one story after another this summer and fall about the modest Obamacare rates increases––or decreases––for 2015. On this blog you have also seen me write about the complex way the 2015 Obamacare rates will hit people particularly because of the impact the changes (Source: Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review)
Source: Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review - October 19, 2014 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: ROBERT LASZEWSKI Source Type: blogs

Obamacare is in Hiding Until After the Election
How our government is obstructing facts about your health insurance until after the election. Read my op-ed in Monday's USA Today (Source: Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review)
Source: Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review - October 13, 2014 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: ROBERT LASZEWSKI Source Type: blogs

The Most Transparent Administration Puts a Gag Order on HealthCare.gov Testing
With the second Obamacare open-enrollment beginning on November 15th, the enrollment system's testing begins with insurance companies this week. Of course, last year the enrollment system testing was a real mess resulting in a humiliating Obamacare launch for the administration. Up until now I wasn't expecting any major problems with HealthCare.gov's consumer enrollment system given all of the (Source: Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review)
Source: Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review - October 8, 2014 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: ROBERT LASZEWSKI Source Type: blogs

One Year Later: The Affordable Care Act's Launch on October 1, 2013––So How Did it Go?
Here unedited is what I posted on September 29, 2013: The Affordable Health Care Act's Launch On October 1st––So How Did it Go? Unavoidably, that will be the big question come Tuesday. But there will be much more to it than that. A 180-Day Open Enrollment––Not a One-Day Open Enrollment What happens on the first day, for good or bad, will constitute only a tiny percentage of the open (Source: Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review)
Source: Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review - October 1, 2014 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: ROBERT LASZEWSKI Source Type: blogs

The "7.3 Million"
The administration finally released the Obamacare enrollment count this week. Like everything else about their scorekeeping we got a number. Just one number. A number that was conveniently better than we had expected. And, we got no real context for the number or any of the back-up information. I thought this quote in a Politico article was telling: The figure is complex to unravel. The number (Source: Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review)
Source: Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review - September 19, 2014 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: ROBERT LASZEWSKI Source Type: blogs

The Next Chapter of Obamacare
Welcome back from the summer. It's been pretty quiet lately on the Obamcare front. So quiet, that there has been a flurry of articles recently over how Obamacare has dropped to a second or even third tier issue and will hardly matter come election-time. Wishful thinking. Obamacare has largely been out of the news cycle for a couple of months but that is about to change. A few thoughts. The (Source: Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review)
Source: Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review - September 7, 2014 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: ROBERT LASZEWSKI Source Type: blogs

Average California Obamacare Rate Increase Only 4%––Success!!!
The weighted average increase for plans being sold on the Obamacare California public exchange in 2015 will be 4%. So, that means Obamacare is working really well, right? Well, wait a minute. Let's consider a few things: This week the California insurance commissioner reported that the average unsubsidized 2014 rate increase carriers charged going into Obamacare was between 22% and 88%. That (Source: Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review)
Source: Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review - July 31, 2014 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: ROBERT LASZEWSKI Source Type: blogs

Halbig Decision Puts Obamacare Back on the Front Burner and Will Give Republicans a Huge Political Headache
Today's 2-1 decision by the DC Court of Appeals striking down federal premium subsidies, in at least the 27 states that opted for the feds to run their Obamacare insurance exchanges, has the potential to strike a devastating blow to the new health law. The law says that individuals can get subsidies to buy health insurance in the states that set up insurance exchanges. That appears to exclude (Source: Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review)
Source: Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review - July 22, 2014 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: ROBERT LASZEWSKI Source Type: blogs

"Biggest Insurer Drops Caution, Embraces Obamacare"
Kaiser Health News is out with that headline today reporting that UnitedHealthcare is expanding its Obamacare exchange presence planning to sell polices "in nearly half the exchanges next year." The story goes on to report that United's leadership is saying the new public marketplaces look sustainable. There may be more to it than that. Consider: A carrier laying back the first year will have (Source: Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review)
Source: Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review - July 17, 2014 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: ROBERT LASZEWSKI Source Type: blogs

Kaiser Family Foundation Survey Finds Most People Who Bought Health Insurance on the Exchanges Are Happy With It and That 57% Were Previously Insured––No One Should Be Surprised On Either Count
Let's take a look at both of these headlines: Most People Are Happy But Kaiser only asked the people who bought health insurance on the exchanges if they were happy with what Obamacare offered them. As I have said before on this blog, two out of three subsidy eligible people did not buy a health insurance plan in the first open-enrollment. This week the administration also reported that 76% (Source: Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review)
Source: Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review - June 20, 2014 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: ROBERT LASZEWSKI Source Type: blogs

Obamacare: What About the Working Class and the Middle Class?
The administration issued a report yesterday that says individuals who selected plans in the federal health insurance exchanges have a post-credit premium that is on average 76% less than the full premium for the plans they selected. And, 69% are paying less than $100 after the subsidies––46% are paying $50 or less. The administration also pointed out that 65% of individuals selecting the Silver (Source: Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review)
Source: Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review - June 18, 2014 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: ROBERT LASZEWSKI Source Type: blogs