Fifteen states opt to run own health exchanges: official

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Only 15 U.S. states plan to operate health insurance exchanges under President Barack Obama's reform law, leaving Washington with the daunting prospect of creating and operating the new online marketplaces in at least two-thirds of the country.

On the eve of a federal deadline for states to say whether they will run their own exchanges, 11 other states have informed the administration that it should plan to be heavily involved in setting up private health insurance markets within their borders, said Gary Cohen, director of the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, on Thursday.

Experts say the number of states planning to operate their own exchanges could reach 18 and the District of Columbia by the time the deadline expires on Friday. But the administration would still be left to set up exchanges in at least 30 states, a challenge that is raising questions about how successfully U.S. officials can implement a key provision of the healthcare reform law known to advocates and opponents alike as "Obamacare".

But the Obama administration insists that exchanges will be operating in all 50 states and the District of Columbia as required by the law.

"All exchanges will be open for enrollment in October 2013," Cohen, who is overseeing implementation of the exchanges, said in written testimony to a health oversight panel in the U.S. House of Representatives.
States that don't run their own exchanges would opt for one of two alternatives: a federally facilitated exchange that requires minimal state participation, and a federal partnership exchange in which states help by performing certain duties.

States have until February 15 to say whether they intend to seek a federal partnership exchange. Four have done so already, Cohen said.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which Obama signed into law more than 2-1/2 years ago, is expected to extend health coverage to more than 30 million uninsured Americans after it comes fully into force on January 1, 2014.

I have a radical idea (that I know will never be implemented!) on how to "fix" all of it. Why not just use the free market as the "exchange."

- Get the government COMPLETELY out of "healthcare" and insurance 100%.
-- All Federal funding (and intrusion) into Medicaid ends in 2014 (Each state is left to its own choices as to how they want to support charity care via state government funding.)
-- Medicare (all Parts) ends in 2014. Those 45 years and older will be grandfathered in unless they decide to opt out. If they opt in, they will continue to pay Medicare wage deductions and will be responsible for premium payment when they elect to obtain coverage. The federal government will continue to subside the program until the last member dies.
-- 0bamacare is completely repealed. All existing rules and regulations are voided. All funding is completely withdrawn. All existing 0care bureaucracies are shut down.
-- Federal Depts of HHS and FDA are closed.
-- Healthcare premium $$$ are no longer deductible for employers, the $$$ value of healthcare premiums (paid by employers) are taxable as income

- Allow private insurance carriers to operate on a free market basis across state lines for whatever the market will bear (cost plus profit), open competition will determine long term pricing
-- Gold-plated (and other levels of comprehensive) plans are available for individual (and family) purchase
-- Catastrophic care coverage is also available for individual (and family) purchase
-- Affinity group (employment or otherwise) is also available for the above at reduced (market based) pricing

I'm not naive enough to think that it will ever happen, but I figure that it was worth jotting down since it isn't that terribly difficult to fix if the will existed. The list above is not complete and would need some fine-tuning along the edges, but it pretty much solves the root of the problem.

(Oh, and of course this would result in tremendous economic displacement and social upheaval, but I figure if we combine it all with the rest of the downsizing of the Federal government to its proper Constitutional authority and limits (and the dissolution of the Federal Reserve), we can just have one big crash and rebuild accordingly!)

Your plan would work if affordable health care was actually the real issue. It's not. 0bamacare is just the Trojan horse to fundamentally transform this country from a constitutional republic into a communist craphole.

Quote: steph wrote in post #3

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Your plan would work if affordable health care was actually the real issue. It's not. 0bamacare is just the Trojan horse to fundamentally transform this country from a constitutional republic into a communist craphole.

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Zitat

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I'm old enough to remember how things used to be, before people had all inclusive health insurance from either the government and/or private carriers. I remember my Mom taking us to the local doctor when we were sick and paying cash for the visits and medications. I also remember the doctors extending us good faith credit if the bill was too large for us to afford to pay at once. Everything cost much less then, doctors still earned a nice living, but medical care was affordable for most folks, and charity care was available for the poor. (And sometimes people got real sick and died, that's always been a part of the natural order.) But big government intrusion (including social engineering in the tax code) changed all of that, and none of us are better off for it. I realize that in many respects the horse has already left the barn and I'm !RR_Bleep! in the wind for the most part.

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I remember those days too. I've never seen the hysteria over health care issues until recently. It truly was a manufactured crisis. Now businesses are laying people off left and right in order to avoid the penalties. The people are brainwashed into thinking 0bamacare is free healthcare. It's not. It's not even about healthcare but health insurance.

Healthcare as a right is a lie.

Obamacare is about health insurance.

What the idiots do not understand is that they cannot demand medical services from anyone. They cannot force doctors to treat them.

Until that is mandated by law.

That will come, too.

How wonderful the day will be when the doctor is forced to give medical treatment at the point of a gun.

Quote: steph wrote in post #5

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I remember those days too. I've never seen the hysteria over health care issues until recently. It truly was a manufactured crisis. Now businesses are laying people off left and right in order to avoid the penalties. The people are brainwashed into thinking 0bamacare is free healthcare. It's not. It's not even about healthcare but health insurance.

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I happen to think that the idea that the feds should even KNOW about my healthcare is an abomination. My healthcare information should be limited to me and my doctor, and my health insurer if applicable. Why did we ever accept the idea that the feds should have ANYTHING to do with our healthcare, beyond a minimal level of regulation of hazards.?