Obamacare: Some insurers begin to drop coverage of children
In recent weeks we have begun to see the fallout from Obamacare– from rationing and higher premiums, longer emergency room lines, doctors dropping Medicaid, paying higher premiums to keep your doctor, to federal funding of abortion the list has become long– but the implementation of Obamacare is just beginning and the list keeps on growing.
The latest casualty of Obamacare? The children.
Insurers are beginning to drop healthcare coverage for children that they had been offering to children as individuals. Most children are covered under family plans offered by employers– only an estimated 8% of children are covered under individual plans– so this drop in coverage will not affect the vast majority of children who are currently covered by most people’s family plans. But this is now one more option that will not be available to people seeking healthcare insurance, and it is part of a growing trend as Obamacare is starting to be implemented. As insurance companies look to cut costs they are finding that the best way to do so would be to offer less coverage to people– this is another example– and this legislation was supposed to be a good thing for the American people?
Obamacare is in its infancy, it won’t be fully implemented for years, but it is already off to one hell of a start. This is as good as it gets, it is all downhill from here. It is only a matter of time before small businesses begin to drop healthcare benefits, choosing to save money by a relatively small fine instead of offering healthcare benefits. But this was all part of Barack Obama’s plan from the beginning as has been written here and all across the blogosphere because– as Democrats have stated– the ultimate goal of this legislation is to move towards a single-payer (government run) healthcare system. And the move is underway.
I do want to touch on one more aspect to this story; it has to do with something else I read in the article lined to above:
We believe that the majority of people who would buy this policy were going to use it immediately, probably for high cost claims,” said Kammer. “Guaranteed issue means you could technically buy it on the way to the hospital
The insurance companies are not going to be offering this type of insurance anymore because many people only buy it once they realize they need it– the coverage is guaranteed.
Obamacare makes it illegal for insurance companies to deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions. This means that Americans can decide not to purchase healthcare benefits, pay the low fine to the government, and then purchase healthcare insurance only after they find out they are going to need it for costly hospital and doctors bills. A non-insured patient could theoretically be lying in a hospital bed waiting to undergo heart surgery and sign up for healthcare coverage without ever having paid a premium to that insurance company and that company will have to pay for the surgery.
The insurance company in that example would not be able to drop coverage after Obamacare is fully implemented the way these insurers are able to drop coverage for individual children now, before Obamacare is implemented. Insurance companies are going to cut out plans now before Obamacare is fully implemented that they believe will prove too costly after the implementation of Obamacare. Instead of being able to refuse people with pre-existing conditions who had chosen not to buy healthcare previously, insurance companies will begin to go out of business.
Again, this is part of the Obama regime’s plan– drive insurance companies out of business, leading to single payer healthcare insurance. It is a devious plot indeed.
America's Watchtower 
Yet more fuel to the fire. If the GOP had done this, the Dems would have kids on the streets with signs saying, “Don’t take my healthcare away.”
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I thought we were supposed to “do it for the children,” not “do it to the children.” 🙂
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2011- de-fund
2013- repeal
That’s all there is to it!
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That seems like a simple enough plan, I hadn’t even thought of the defunding idea.
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Yick – what a poorly written article! After the first reading, I was wondering why they were dropping issuing policies to children now if the legislation requires that children be offered guaranteed coverage later this year. Surely the couple of months’ relief won’t mean much.
What the article writer left for the readers to figure out on their own is that the law only applies to companies that offer children’s policies.
I think the healthcare bill’s going to be in for a lot of revision. The annual open enrollment period sounds promising, because it’s foolish to permit “guaranteed enrollment” at all times. Medicare guarantees enrollment in Medigap plans only during a window around the participant’s 65th birthday, then they must pass medical underwriting.
Take good care, and may God bless us all!
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My apologies! The poorly written article was the one linked to on Breitbart’s site, the one by AP reporter RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR. Steve’s article was just fine!
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I thought you were being a little harsh! Thanks for clearing that up.
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In the “cliche dictionary” next to– Be careful what you wish for is the “hope” poster of B. Obama.
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Interesting to revisit this thread a few years later.. Defunding and repeal never happened, but the open enrollment period did, so that people won’t be able to wait until they get sick to enroll in health insurance.
The children’s insurance concept, and the faux outrage surrounding it, has also died – mercifully for the rest of us. I never sold health insurance, although for a while it was part of my offering. The company offering it didn’t provide for separate policies for children (this was way back in 2009), and I never even questioned it – because children are nearly always covered under their parents’ policies. I cannot imagine a scenario in which they wouldn’t be, although Steve said that 8% of children are covered under individual policies – to my mind, a high figure. Orphans whose policies are paid from a trust or inheritance? Still seems a high figure.
Anyway, the ACA;s here and even the GOP, after 50+ unsuccessful repeal attempts, is finally figuring out that it’s here to stay. Instead of trying to get rid of it and throw us back into a system in which nearly 20% of our people were uninsured, they – and the American people – would be far better off if they focused on improving it.
Take good care and may God bless us all!
TGY
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The 8% number was not my number, it was the number that was being reported. Having said that there is no doubt that all the attempts in the House to repeal Obamacare were symbolic in nature, they knew it was not going to be repealed but did it anyway to please the base by making it look as though they were doing something.
Now that the mandate is in place Obamacare will never be repealed so it is time to focus on the parts of it that need to be fixed. It pains me to say this but it is true. Yes, the GOP is starting to admit this, perhaps you should check out my latest post on Obamacare:
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