The Real Story Behind the Phony Canceled Health Insurance Scandal

[babylonsister]

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/11/obamacare-canceled-health-insurance


The Real Story Behind the Phony Canceled Health Insurance Scandal
Insurance companies ripped off Americans for years with lousy health plans. Obamacare was designed to fix that.

—By Stephanie Mencimer
| Mon Nov. 4, 2013 7:13 AM PST

snip//

A good example might be Dianne Barrette, 56, who appeared on CBS News with Jan Crawford last week for a segment about the wave of cancellations. Barrette, a realtor in Florida, was upset because her $54 a month insurance plan was being canceled. She believed a new one would cost her more than $500 a month due to Obamacare. "What I have right now is what I'm happy with," she said. "I just want to know why I can't keep what I have. Why do I have to be forced into something else?"

But here’s the rub: Barrette's $54 plan wasn't even insurance. When I talked to her, she was unsure of what her plan covered. But she said it was what Blue Cross calls a "supplemental" or discount plan, which only pays $50 toward doctor's office visits and a few other out-patient services, including mammograms. What her plan doesn’t cover: hospitalization. Not at all. So if she gets hit by a car, the people ultimately picking up the tab will be the hospital and everyone else (by way of higher medical costs). If she gets cancer, she’s basically out of luck. "It's all I could afford," she told me.

Blue Cross was selling these plans in malls and other retail insurance "shops" in an effort to target young people who don't have or don't think they need health insurance, luring them in with cheap premiums of between $24 to $54 a month. The plans came with a not-well-disclosed caveat that they were not designed to replace hospital-surgical plans, which Blue Cross encouraged people to buy—provided the purchasers could get past all the exclusions for preexisting conditions.

Blue Cross is now canceling 300,000 plans in Florida, and, no doubt, a lot of them are such "Go Blue" plans. (A spokesman from Blue Cross of Florida wouldn't answer any specific questions about which plans are getting canceled.) The ACA was designed to replace plans like the one Barrette bought. And every plan sold on the Obamacare exchanges must provide a minimum and meaningful level of coverage, including free preventive care, mental health and maternity coverage, hospitalization, and rehabilitation services that are indispensable for anyone who has a disability, who becomes injured in a bad accident, or who has a degenerative disease such as multiple sclerosis. These plans don't have annual or lifetime coverage limits of any sort. And the insurance companies selling plans on the exchange must disclose coverage terms in such a way that people know what they're getting and can compare similar plans.

Much of the recent media coverage treats the old junk plans as a national treasure, their loss a true scandal. Far from being a victim of Obamacare, Barrette should have been a story about someone who will benefit immensely from the Affordable Care Act. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation premium calculator, Barrette, who makes about $30,000 a year, is eligible for an annual tax credit of up to $3,967 a year, which could get her a silver plan on the exchange for $234 a month (in cost to her), or a bronze plan, with slightly higher out of pocket costs, for $97 a month. True, with the bronze plans, she’d be paying $43 a month more, but in return, she would have true protection and access to health care, not sham coverage. A bronze plan would replace her $50 doctor's office discount with free preventive care services, including mammograms, cover hospitalization and other services, and cap her out of pocket costs at slightly more than $6,000 a year. Barrette should be cheering the death of her old plan.

The same is true of the other conservatives who've groused about losing a plan, including Malkin. As Metcalf points out, "If they're having to cancel out a plan with a $10,000 deductible and end up with a plan with a $2,500 deductible, that's a better plan, period." Pollack says, "As people now get real protection, the premiums may be somewhat higher, but it's a different product and you're saving money on the back end. The Affordable Care Act eliminates lousy coverage, which ultimately saves cost for people when they receive care."

[Pretzel_Warrior]

1. keep it kicked!

[gopiscrap]

2. Exactly k n r

[KelleyD]

3. k and r

[sheshe2]

4. Kick!

[giftedgirl77]

5. Kick

[Rebellious Republican]

6. K&R!

[SalviaBlue]

7. K & R

[Cali_Democrat]

8. DU rec. n/t

[malaise]

9. k & R

for truth

[Peacetrain]

10. Kick

[Fawke Em]

11. Perfect for a conversation I'm having on Facebook.

Thanks for the link.

K & R.

[Agschmid]

12. BIG Kick!

[secondvariety]

13. Kicked.

[Stevepol]

14. K&R

[matt819]

15. The problem

is that low information consumers will not read this or, if they do, will deny it. They get their info from you know who, which somehow has managed to take moderately intelligent people - yes, some on the right might be considered so - and turned them into cult members.

[JEFF9K]

16. Hard to believe that a conservative fraudcaster like Malkin can't afford the best insurance. ...

... "Dishonest conservative pundit" is the highest-paying job in the country!!

[AlbertCat]

17. B-b-b-but Obama lied about it too!

This is why the above meme is being circulated.

The innumerable lies the GOP has told about the ACA and a lot else simply cannot be hidden anymore. So they're trying to go with the "well, he did it too!' ploy.

Won't fly... I don't think it's flying with anyone but the cult-of -hate members.

[INdemo]

18. There are Republicans that would rather die than buy into an AC policy

because they just don't want to see anything with Obama's signature succeed.

[NastyRiffraff]

19. Yes! K&R

Keep this going. Some of the people whining about the cancellations are Democrats.

[INdemo]

24. I agree

There are less informed or uninformed Democrats whining about this healthcare law. But these are probably the same Democrats that thought Obama was goanna take their guns away and didn't vote for him anyway for the same, main reason Repukes hate him.

[KrazyinKS]

20. I'm telling you that is what I have been saying

I posted this story like three or four days ago on DU-

I am 58, white and female-living in Kansas. My story, I think is long. What got me thinking is the latest bad news about the ACA. I am a big supporter of health care reform for a LOT of reasons. I was 43 when I was diagnosed with breast cancer. My struggles with health insurance before that is kind of long winded. My husband had just changed jobs and his latest employer got to where they could no longer afford insurance for its employees, a few had cancer including the owners husband so they dropped her. She bought this policy that actually listed the diseases they would cover, it was a short list. I am self-employed so I went out and bought my own catastrophic policy. Maybe a year later he went to work for a better company that did provide insurance and like a month or two later I went to the doctor because I felt a lump in my armpit. The story actually is much longer, but I think the point is the insurance companies do sell a LOT OF CRAP. I remember reading the policy of the former company, I was shocked-like you better get the diseases on this list or you are up shit creek. These people who are complaining about their insurance changing don't realize what they have is CRAP!! It is not worth paying for. Trust me I'm right, my story actually goes on, to other health issues with my daughter and granddaughter that would probably be too dramatic for a soap opera. People are clueless as to the crappy policies they carry.

Really that actually did happen. That was like 1998-I am still here and feeling well, good enough to raise hell!

[SheilaT]

28. Some years back I took the time to read our health insurance plan.

My then-husband was working for a decent-sized company with what appeared to be decent health care. I no longer recall the details, but I was truly shocked at what wasn't covered. I'm not talking about "pre-existing" conditions here, I'm talking about the list of things they would and would not cover.

I like to joke that I have the Republican Health Care Plan. I don't get sick. And I really am amazingly healthy. Lucky me. But the existing situation with coverage is not a joke, it's a tragedy. Fortunately, the ACA will begin to change things. I sincerely hope this will lead, in a decade or so, to real Single Payer or some other system that provides real coverage for all.

[KrazyinKS]

49. Exactly-

and how many people have done that. Probably not many. I did because it was before I was diagnosed with cancer. I think I could sense it, so I was concerned and read the policy. It is surprising how many people don't educate themselves because they don't think it will happen to them, and probably it won't. My daughter has epilepsy which popped up at age 21, and my granddaughter also has it. My grandaughter also was diagnosed with neuroblastoma at 8 months old, a type of cancer. I never in my wildest dreams thought all that would happen to me. I am self-employed, I think what pisses me off is the people who have cadillac health plans who think they deserve it. People who think I don't work but they do. That pisses me off. I mean really!!!

[Iliyah]

21. K & R

Corporate media is still spreading lies.

[loyalsister]

22. The best explanation I have read

Thanks!

[ProSense]

23. Apparently, cutting through the media BS worked:

Obamacare 'rate shock' victim changes her mind, calls the law a 'blessing in disguise'
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/11/04/1253038/-Obamacare-rate-shock-victim-changes-her-mind-calls-the-law-a-blessing-in-disguise

[babylonsister]

25. Wow-great news!

[rhett o rick]

26. I would love to see a percentage breakdown of how many Americans are affected directly

by the ACA. I think Ms. Sebelius said 5%. Then how many of the 5% are currently signed up for the ACA? How many of the 5% are losing their crappy insurance.

In the hearing the republicans keep speaking about how Americans are being "this or that". I think it should be pointed out what a very small percentage of Americans are, for example, losing their current insurance.

[Blanks]

38. Judging by the outrage that I see on Facebook...

I'd say all Americans are losing their coverage.

I'm like you, I hope we see some numbers on just how many people are affected.

[kmlisle]

27. Had Blue Cross through my employer in Fla for many years

They paid out thousands a year for almost 20 years with only one year that I actually used it for other than check ups and preventative care (it did cover mammograms and one free check-up a year). The year I retired I was diagnosed with Leukemia and the the tests are very expensive. The real value of my expensive policy showed its rather ugly face. There seemed to be multiple deductibles so I ended up paying almost 6000 of my own money on a 2500 $ deductible plan plus the teaching hospital where my Oncologist practices comped over 2000 and Blue Cross paid out a grand total of 600 bucks! This is after 20 years of close to ten thousand a year paid out in a group plan by my employer. This must be why in Fla Blue Cross has been nicknamed "Double Cross". And I am well at the moment, thank you and really appreciate the single payer VA healthcare I qualified for in retirement along with medicare. All these are far superior to Double Cross!

[BlancheSplanchnik]

29. k n r!

[SheilaT]

30. A couple of comments.

First, what I truly find appalling is that the health care apologists think people should be free not to have health care and die in the streets.

Second, in response to posts here and elsewhere on DU, there was a time, around 50 years ago, when Blue Cross was the Cadillac of health care plans. In 1962, after a cross-country move, my mother made a point of keeping her Blue Cross/Blue Shield of New York because with six kids she needed it. I have no idea what she paid, but I recall times it was used, such as when my younger brother broke an arm and wound up needing surgery. In recent decades I've noticed that the BCBS network seems to get the most complaints of any major system.

I am absolutely no expert on different plans. I've had the good fortune to have both good health care coverage through work most of my life, and excellent health. For both of those reasons I'm furious that everyone doesn't have the good coverage, especially if they don't have the good health. The ACA is a good start.

[King_Klonopin]

31. I had to watch Fux News for 45 minutes last week.

I had no choice as I was not in my own home at the time.

Of those 45 minutes in hell, 30 minutes were dedicated to "stories"
about the horrors of Obamacare -- all lies and fiction in order to
promote Fux propaganda. Subliminal messages were repeated
ad nauseum to instill the belief that they will be forced to buy
the government insurance plan called "Obamacare" that will be
more expensive and less beneficial than the piece-of-shit health care
plan they have now, which will be canceled by that heartless and
evil Obama.

I knew the lies could be easily exposed and refuted by the above-
mentioned facts. I had a private (not provided by an employer)
health care plan in 1997 that was total shit. I was very happy to
get rid of it. I expect to see more of these bullshit, anecdotal,
apples-to-oranges type stories from individuals who distort the truth
because they don't want the ACA to be successful.

[Crunchy Frog]

32. I had to listen to FUX News in the background

for about an hour yesterday. Nonstop whining about people losing their "insurance" plans, interspersed with coverage of the Benghazi "scandal".

I should receive hazard pay for putting up with that.

[King_Klonopin]

33. It's enough to make a person vomit. Or a lark vomit.

[fasttense]

34. Just because Obamacare is being implemented, it WONT STOP Insurance Corporations

from fraudulently advertising, lying and conning their customers.

Insurance corporations routinely lie and hide the true cost of most health insurance. They are very difficult to understand and use because that makes money for the corporation. This fraudulent behavior by a corporation is routine and found in almost all US corporation. It is a symptom of a very dysfunctional economic system called capitalism.

[Blanks]

39. The interesting thing about this...

Is why we aren't hearing about this story?

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/3472978/

How is it after two years of rebates, all we hear about is the bad stuff?

[ReRe]

35. K&R

When you say the word "supplemental" to some people, their eyes cross. They don't know the difference between supplemental and primary. Not a clue. If they had a mind to look it up, they wouldn't be able to find it even if they did own a dictionary. So, they just watch FOXed Up News for explanations, and all they get is confusion and propaganda. Rather than learning that the ACA is not optional, they are learning that they should avoid it. They are being taught to break the law, which they will be held accountable for. Ignorance is eating this country alive.

[libtodeath]

36. K&R

[99Forever]

37. K&R

[Iwillnevergiveup]

40. Excellent explanation

Mother Jones rocks! Thanks for posting.

K&R

[Daemonaquila]

41. I agree with this excellent story in all ways but one...

In the debunking of the rabid anti-ACA myths, a real thread of classism is starting to creep in.

"[The $54/mo plan was] all I could afford," she told me...

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation premium calculator, Barrette... is eligible for an annual tax credit of up to $3,967 a year, which could get her a silver plan on the exchange for $234 a month (in cost to her), or a bronze plan, with slightly higher out of pocket costs, for $97 a month. True, with the bronze plans, she’d be paying $43 a month more, but in return, she would have true protection and access to health care, not sham coverage... Barrette should be cheering the death of her old plan.

Yes. Real coverage. Excellent pricing. No doubt. However, for many people even doubling their cost to some mere 2-digit figure is still not affordable. This is the rub - we have a much better system coming into place, and the value is phenomenal, but for many people even $10 or $20/mo makes all the difference in the world, and it is not right of us to be scoffing at their complaints. Will lower income folks eventually be better off? No doubt. That doesn't mean it isn't a crisis for them today. Proponents of ACA aren't doing it any favor by making this argument.

I lived off $75 or less per week in my early college days. I really needed to see a doctor several times, but I couldn't even afford the very small quarterly student health services fee. Paying it would've made the difference between running out of food before the end of the week, or losing the lights, or getting evicted. Thankfully I got creative and found the sliding scale community health services clinic instead, where I was able to get a better deal. I paid maybe $10 or $20 once or twice a year when I was sick. That still caused problems but they were more manageable. I'm glad I'm now financially comfortable, but there are a lot of people out there who aren't. Many of them are my clients. Many of them have literally been dying because they do have some access to health care, but when push comes to shove that last $10 that pays for medicine or an office visit might as well be $1000, or $10,000. So let's not be dismissive, and instead acknowledge that some people are going to have a harder time dealing with the ACA. We might not be able to fix that for years, but it's not just some myth.

[Ian_rd]

44. Subsidies

[chervilant]

42. Does anyone else suspect that

the Big Insurance Corporations are unhappy with the ACA, and resent their potential loss of profit?

[Ian_rd]

43. There you go again, MJ

Journalism. Actual journalism.

[myrna minx]

45. K&R n/t

[rosesaylavee]

46. K&R

[LiberalLovinLug]

47. k & r

[redqueen]

48. K&R