Commissioner of Insurance Wayne Goodwin found himself in a firestorm last week after the News & Observer ran an article with the misleading headline “NC Insurance Commissioner blames ACA for industry woes.” The headline is misleading because Goodwin doesn’t blame the law for the woes. He blames Republicans in the legislature and Congress. Failure to expand Medicaid and establish a state insurance exchange at the state level and inadequately funding “risk corridors” at the federal level have caused insurance companies to lose money. Some of those companies have stopped offering individual policies.
The story was about a letter that Goodwin sent to U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia Burwell. He wrote the letter at her request after a conversation they had last fall. Goodwin’s concern is that insurers are leaving the federal exchange and giving consumers no where to turn for health insurance.
Goodwin is also concerned about large losses that insurers face because of the large number of unhealthy people entering the market. Blue Cross Blue Shield is the only insurance provider in many counties in the state. They took a $123 million operating loss in 2014 and will likely lose money again in 2015. If they decide to stop offering individual policies, many people would be unable to purchase insurance at all.
The Affordable Care Act established something called “risk corridors” to help insurance companies transition to the new system. These risk corridors would protect the companies that lose money because of a large influx of people with health problems, i.e., victims of the pre-existing condition clauses, into the market. The companies would receive compensation for these more expensive customers. The ACA envisioned many of these people being picked up by Medicaid, but so many Republican controlled states refused to expand Medicaid that the risk corridor program was underfunded, leaving the insurance companies stuck with the bill. And in their zeal to oppose everything to do with Obamacare, Republicans in Congress refused to adequately fund the risk corridors.
The ACA was designed to work in a coordinated fashion. Medicaid would provide coverage to lower income people who have not been able to afford insurance, often because of pre-existing conditions. State exchanges would provide competition to keep prices low. And risk corridors would temporarily provide protections to insurers against big losses while they transitioned to the new system.
As Goodwin points out, North Carolina would not be facing any of these problems if Republicans in the legislature would expand Medicaid and set up state exchanges. Insurers wouldn’t be facing such large shortfalls if Republicans in Congress would adequately fund risk corridors. There’s plenty more that could be done to make the system better, but Republicans aren’t interested in fixing anything. They just want to use it as a political football.
The ACA is working. It was designed to provide health care to the 15% or so of the American people who couldn’t afford it or were denied access to it. Republicans hate it but even they admit that it’s successful. As critic Chris Conover says, “The only thing that’s positive is that we’ve covered a bunch of uninsured people.” That would be more than 16 million people, more than the populations of North Carolina and South Carolina combined. And it’s the largest drop in uninsured Americans in more than 40 years. If you’re one of those 16 million people, it’s a big deal.
Thomas Mills is the founder and publisher of PoliticsNC.com. Before beginning PoliticsNC, Thomas spent twenty years as a political and public affairs consultant. Learn more >
D.g., Another partisan rant does not enhance your credibility.
LOL. Spoken by someone who is all about partisan rants and has zero credibility…………
Yes, you are right that Goodwin blamed Republicans for the ACA’s failure when asks by the NC media. But he didn’t claim that in his letter to Sylvia Burwell, which was my earlier point. He sounds like the Commissioner of Insurance when writing to the Secretary of HHS, but like a Democrat candidate for re election when talking to the local press.
And you probably shouldn’t link to my URLs if you’re in a bad mood. They will just make you feel worse.
Oh, and try to spin this one, too. Can’t wait for your other-worldly attempt.
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/business/article59773521.html
A good description of some of the problems created by the ACA. But Goodwin, a Democrat running for re election, criticized Republicans for the ACA’s problems.
Really? A Democrat running for re election as state Insurance Commissioner is criticizing Republicans for the ACA’s problems? What a surprise!
Wonder why he didn’t mention to Sylvia Burwell that all those problems with the ACA were caused by those nasty Republicans.
Yup. As I expected, that one’s from outer space. Thanks so much!
D.g, you’re blinded by partisanship. You keep posting the same tired Democrat party talking points over and over. Hey, it wasn’t me who said the ACA was driving up insurance costs. It was the Democrat state Insurance Commissioner along with a multitude of other independent reporters and analysts.
The former Democrat Governor in Kentucky took the state into Obamacare lock, stock and barrel. Matt Bevin ran on a platform to eliminate or substantially scale back the state’s participation in the ACA. He won the election and is now attempting keep his campaign promise despite intense opposition from Democrats and the´federal government. It’s too early to tell if Bevin will make good on his campaign promises or will back off in the face of opposition from Washington and from special interests groups like health insurers and big hospitals.
You’d be correct except that Goodwin’s points were that the NCGA’s failure to expand Medicaid and establish a health care insurance exchange under ACA were the reasons for insurer issues and higher premiums–not ACA itself if fully implemented as the law allows. So you are wrong.
You’d also be correct, except that while Bevins’ campaign pledge to eliminate state participation in ACA helped him win the election, the clueless Tea Partier is now walking it back, realizing that doing so will leave 300,000 KY citizens without insurance, and that he has no alternative. He–himself– is trying his damnedest to wiggle out of the BS he peddled during his campaign. So you are wrong again.
And please don’t bother giving me URLs that support you view, as I can give you many more that support mine, and I am no longer in the mood to play URL tennis with someone whose political world view is so distorted.
After looking a little deeper into the Medicaid situation in Kentucky, it seems you neglected to report some key facts, TbeT. I am sure that was inadvertent, so I’ll complete the rest of the story for those who might be interested.
In Kentucky, Medicaid enrollments more than doubled initial estimates, from $33 million to $74 million in the first year. By 2021, it is estimated that the expansion will cost the state $321 million in NEW spending. And keep in mind, these new enrollees are childless adults under age 65.
As was the case in NC, Medicaid cost overruns were threatening to create huge budget shortfalls in Kentucky. The new Governor promised to address these higher Medicaid costs. He is now negotiating with HHS and the state legislature to bring down the projected cost overruns. It’s too soon to know how successful he will be in this endeavor.
Finally, after being challenged by many here for so long, you admit the truth: “Yes, you are right that Goodwin blamed Republicans for the ACA’s failure.” As you have done in the past, when cornered by facts you finally own up to the fallacy of your earlier positions. Thanks.
Your version of the Kentucky situation is a fairy tale. Bevin’s campaign claim was that he would end the Medicaid expansion under ACA. End it. Period. Now, Bevin’s administration seeks not to end it but to simply refine it, asking the feds for 1332 waiver, which actually is a component of the ACA that allows states to craft their own healthcare programs as long as the number of covered people remains the same or greater. States can apply for a 1332 waiver starting Jan. 1, 2017. So more spin on your part.
And the “Medicaid cost overruns threatening to create huge budget shortfalls in Kentucky,” were not the doing of Medicaid expansion. Rather, they were the same sort of overruns suffered in NC under traditional Medicaid, i.e., near-poor needing care but poor management and budget allocation/planning by the state. So more deception on your part.
And you say “By 2021, it is estimated that the expansion will cost the state $321 million in NEW spending, ” but fail to mention this reality: The federal government has paid 100 percent of the costs —BILLIONS—of those added to Medicaid through this year. After that, the federal share —MORE BILLIONS—-gradually decreases to 90 percent by 2020 and thereafter. So it’s BILLIONS paid by the feds and millions paid for by the state. So you mislead.
You imply that somehow it’s all a bad deal for KY. But this state saw the sharpest drop of uninsured residents in the nation. The rate of Kentuckians with no insurance has dropped to 7.5 percent from 20 percent since ACA and Medicaid expansion started. Nearly 100,000 people have purchased health plans through ACA-based kynect and another 425,000 have enrolled in Medicaid. And a national study found Kentucky, under the federal health law, has cut by 20,000 the number of children with no health coverage, down to 49,000 in 2014 from 69,000 the year before. But you begrudge this many people and kids their medical care, and lament a state’s positive actions to fix/address such medical needs. So you are what you are: a callous conservative Republican.
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The Medicaid expansion covers childless adults, not families with children. And you think it’s wonderful that 425,000 were added to the Medicaid rolls in KY? These are the folks that receive free or virtually free health care. Childless adults with incomes up to 138% of the federal poverty level? Many more sign up for the free care in KY that buy policies on the ACA exchange. And you applaud this new entitlement?
It just confirms the old adage that if one thought health care was expensive before Obamacare, just see how much more it costs now that it’s “free.” And all of us pay for this fraud ridden entitlement. We all are affected by the federal deficit through higher taxes that are part of the ACA and through the deleterious impacts the national debt has on our economy. And the real Medicaid needy also suffer from the increasing demand for free or highly subsidized medical care as the number of providers taking Medicaid patients continues to decline.
And studies have shown that in those states that have expanded Medicaid, use of emergency room care has increased among Medicaid enrollees. And why wouldn’t it? There is no incentive for a childless adult to try to find a Medicaid provider when they can get free or very low cost (to them) emergency room care on an as needed basis.
I think that KY’s actions under the previous governor shows that at least some human beings, unlike you, want to make sure basic healthcare is affordable and accessible to all in our society. I also believe that the US being the only developed nation not providing such care—as a matter of national public law and policy—is a shame.
And keep trying to deceive in your posts. You keep saying KY’s Medicaid expansion only covers childless adults, when under ACA’s associated CHIP program, it covers kids, too. And since when does helping a childless adult with medical expenses not help that adult’s nuclear or extended family cover their medical costs? Or don’t you believe in families helping families?
And once again, true to form, you ignore counterpoints that spoil your narrative. Bevins is reneging on his pledge to end Medicaid expansion, a pledge his spouted to get elected. He’s callous and a lair, but I’m being redundant, as he is a Tea Party Republican.
Your arguments are deceptive. CHIP was passed well before the ACA. States that refuse to accept the ACA’s Medicaid expansion still administer the CHIP program. CHIP has nothing to do with Medicaid expansion under the ACA, which applies only to childless adults between the ages of 19 and 65.
And, BTW, I am not at all ashamed of the U.S. or our health care system. The U.S. has arguably the best health care in the world, despite claims from liberals that socialized medicine in other countries is superior. Try to get an MRI scan in Canada or a knee or hip replacement in the UK and one will come to appreciate medical care in America.
I’ll reserve judgement on what Bevins ends up doing. But you avoid counterpoints that don’t support your position, particularly the increased costs of “free” medical care and the failure of Medicaid to reduce emergency room visits among enrollees.
And, once again, our radical rightist ignores counterpoint when he has no answer to it. How transparent can one be?
And, of course, despite what a poster on this thread opines, and seemingly on cue, Goodwin was on WRAL TV news tonite, saying that the NCGA’s failure to expand Medicaid and set up a healthcare insurance exchange under ACA were two decisions “now bearing bad fruit” for those needing coverage and for BC/BS.
It’s not ACA causing the problem as much as it’s the plainly ill-advised, partisan, short-sighted and spiteful decision-making by the NCGOP.
In the eyes of a Progressive, every social problem is caused by those evil Republicans. How myopic can one be?
See how he dances his little minuet, folks?
He –not Goodwin– stated that ACA “is a bad deal for the 85 percent who are paying the higher costs through increased premiums, deductibles and co-pay costs,” But when challenged on that point by someone in the 85% who has not experienced such higher costs, he won’t even stand by his assertion. So he twists, turns, and deflects the discourse.
Consummate trolling behavior…..
BY JOHN MURAWSKI
jmurawski@newsobserver.com
RALEIGH
N.C. Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin this week became the latest public official to warn of the harms wreaked by the Affordable Care Act, saying the federal insurance law has destabilized the state’s insurance market and now threatens to leave some residents without options for health insurance.
Goodwin expressed his concerns in a letter sent Tuesday to Sylvia Burwell, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, as a follow-up to a personal conversation he had with the Obama administration official in November. Goodwin, a Democrat up for re-election this year, warned that the ACA is driving up insurance costs, reducing consumer options and generating unsustainable financial losses for the insurers, with the potential risk that insurers will withdraw from the state altogether.
Supporters of the federal health care law said Goodwin is overstating the problems and noted that his three-page letter had nothing positive to say about the ACA, despite the law’s significant reduction of the uninsured in North Carolina
Instead, Goodwin presented a bleak analysis of what he sees as a deteriorating situation in need of urgent attention. His most recent concern: All three insurers on the federal insurance exchange have eliminated agent commissions for selling individual policies under the ACA in North Carolina.
“Insurers cannot continue to have annual losses in the hundreds of millions and be expected to continue ‘business as usual,’ ” Goodwin wrote to Burwell. “I am highly concerned insurers may withdraw from the individual market in North Carolina altogether.”
Ah, another good example of how certain minds manipulate discourse here.
A poster asserts “So while the ACA may be a “big deal” for the 15 percent who receive free or subsidized health care, it’s a bad deal for the 85 percent who are paying the higher costs through increased premiums, deductibles and co-pay costs…”
He is then braced by another poster, who states “I am in the 85%, and my premiums, deductibles and co-pays haven’t gone up significantly since 2009. How can that be?”
But in reply, that point/question is totally ignored, and instead a classic diversionary tactic is applied. The first poster replies by saying “if your health insurance costs haven’t increased, you should let Wayne Goodwin know. Maybe you can persuade our Democrat State Insurance Commissioner that he’s “spouting BS.”
It’s what posters of this ilk do.
The NC state Insurance Commissioner writes a letter to Secretary of HHS complaining that the ACA is driving up health insurance costs. A poster claims that his insurance costs have not gone up, so those who claim otherwise are “spouting BS.” Another poster points out that it was the state’s Insurance Commissioner himself who wrote that health insurance costs in NC are increasing under the ACA.
Who might one think was a more credible source? A poster who claims his insurance costs haven’t gone up so those who claim otherwise are “spouting BS,” or the state Insurance Commissioner who tells the Secretary of HHS that the ACA is driving up health insurance costs in NC?
You obviously didn’t read the VERY FIRST PARAGRAPH on this page!!! Here, I’ll save you the trouble of having to scroll up: Commissioner of Insurance Wayne Goodwin found himself in a firestorm last week after the News & Observer ran an article with the misleading headline “NC Insurance Commissioner blames ACA for industry woes.” The headline is misleading because Goodwin doesn’t blame the law for the woes. He blames Republicans in the legislature and Congress. Failure to expand Medicaid and establish a state insurance exchange at the state level and inadequately funding “risk corridors” at the federal level have caused insurance companies to lose money.”
The problem is two-fold: BCBSNC wants to have its cake and eat it, too (its profits), and then, of course, the absolutely pompous and bombastic Republican-led government in NC stubbornly refusing to expand Medicaid in our state, because they want to cut off their noses to spite their faces. I’m SICK of the crap this party hands out. Thanks, NC Legislature, for putting NC at 50/51 (includes DC) in the COUNTRY in teacher pay!
https://wallethub.com/edu/best-and-worst-states-for-teachers/7159/. This report is also cited by Forbes magazine, so no bullshit about “liberal blah blah” allowed http://www.forbes.com/sites/kathryndill/2015/09/30/the-best-and-worst-states-for-teachers/#514ae742cbf7).
If teachers really believe those phony, biased surveys, why is there not a mass exodus from here. Fact is, more teachers from other states come to NC to teach than NC teachers that leave here to teach in other states.
Goodwin’s letter to Sylvia Burwell did not blame or even mention that “Republicans in the legislature and Congress” are the reason for the ACA’s problems. Apparently he was wearing his Insurance Commissioner’s hat when he wrote to the HHS Secretary. He then puts on his political candidate’s hat when talking to local media.
We should have warned you, Cat, that when he’s given facts and surveys that undermine his narrative, he just claims that they are phony and biased–even if they are the most accepted and respected sets of data nationally. It’s what his ilk does……
Thanks, AL. I could tell that just by the short-sighted and narrow minded answers he’s given so far ;-). He’s like SO many Repugs I know – unless what someone else says is in lock-step with him, then they have no validity. Absolutely blind to reality. I, too, am in the situation where my insurance costs actually went DOWN!! Gasp! Holy premium reduction, Bat Man!! My daughter and her family’s premiums ALSO went down!!
I’m going to post a couple more links about teacher attrition (oh, I’m one, too, who has left the teaching profession!).
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/10/14/teacher-attrition-continues-to-plague-north-carolina.htmlhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/logan-smith/north-carolinas-education_b_8288300.htmlhttp://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article57047603.html
“Repugs”? You wouldn’t be a partisan Democrat, now would ya? You know, one of those broad minded and insightful types. LOL
The TROLLS sure come out to play once you throw you hat in the ring. And just to be clear, the insurance commissioner said that the cause of the problem was not the ACA but a failure of the NC government to expand Medicaid and properly fund risk corridors.
If I were a Republican I might be careful in my hopes that the ACA will be a disaster since it IS after all a Republican plan, first put forth by the Heritage Foundation, supported by Richard Nixon, being the plan Republicans offered as an alternative to the Clinton plan and first enacted by a Republican governor who was the party’s nominee for president in 2012. If such a market based plan fails then that could put us closer to a single payer system. Republicans might want to make peace with THEIR plan.
You are kind to try and re-interpret this article for us. I have read it 3 times now. What a mess! Although much of the ‘good’ information about the ACA was within the article, it still made Goodwin out to be an alarmist warning “of the harms WREAKED BY THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT”. I hope he has had a ‘come to Jesus’ meeting with N&O’s John Murawski!
It is my understanding that BCBS of NC has been less than honest in reporting their actual profit margins since the ACA was enacted, which has allowed the insurance company to obscenely raise its premiums across the board to make purported adjustments for its loses in profit. BCBS’s slight of hand is basically not reporting the federal subsidies it has collected to offset the added costs incurred to insure those under the ACA who have pre-existing conditions that rendered them uninsurable. When these subsidies BCBS of NC has received from the federal government are figured into the insurer’s claim of lost profit, it turns out that the insurer’s profits are greater than ever, with the added benefit that BCBS of NC has had an excuse for raising premium costs astronomically. What is actually needed is tighter oversight and accountability of the Insurance industry.
More useless rhetoric from our resident conservatives here.
I am in the 85%, and my premiums, deductibles and co-pays haven’t gone up significantly since 2009. But how can that be? The gasbags here state unequivocally that, as part of the 85%, my costs have gone up, but they haven’t. Let you what. Please hang on a second while I go check my insurance billings/premium notices again…….nope, my costs have seen no substantive rise, so someone must be spouting BS here.
If many Americans “lost their former health coverage and can no longer obtain care from their preferred or previous medical providers, clinics and hospitals,” where is the great national revolt? Why is ACA becoming a non-issue outside of radical right circles? Why does a majority of Americans want ACA fixed, not repealed?
Thomas is right. Because the NCGOP didn’t expand Medicaid and didn’t set up a state health insurance exchange, and because the GOP’ers in Congress continue to avoid proposing alternatives to ACA, or to refine ACA’s rougher points, or to fund risk corridors, insurers are getting hit hard and now passing on more costs to those needing coverage.
ACA was a first step/try to bring affordable care to American without healthcare but in need of it. Since it’s passage and implementation, Republicans have done NOTHING to take a second step toward that end. 16 million more Americans now have some or better coverage, and the only thing conservatives are doing about that reality is begrudging it. They are a sad, selfish and callous bunch.
Wow, A.L., if your health insurance costs haven’t increased, you should let Wayne Goodwin know. Maybe you can persuade our Democrat State Insurance Commissioner that he’s “spouting BS” when he writes to the Secretary of HHS that insurance costs are increasing dramatically.
And, BTW, most middle class Americans are not into “revolts.” However, many of us do vote and many of those Democrats in Congress who helped push through Obamacare against united Republican opposition have been voted out of office. Democrats controlled the U.S. House and Senate by substantial majorities when the ACA passed. Now Republicans control the U.S, House of Representatives by a historic margin and have also won control of the Senate.
And there is little doubt that when the next Republican President is elected (hopefully this year), Obamacare will be substantially diminished if not totally repealed.
Just remember, like Mills, AL has the right to lie at will here on the internets…
What you actually know about this subject is clear by how many words it took you to say nothing. Keep up the good work.
Anytime D.g. pontificates for more than four or five paragraphs in response to a comment, you know the original commenter has hit a nerve. And BTW, the reference to”double speak” was directed to Mr. Mills’ essay, not Commissioner’s Goodwin’s letter to Secretary Burwell.
Of course I knew that was an email address. It’s how to get in touch with the reporter who wrote the story. Feel free to contact her if you want.
As I pointed in my original comment on this thread, Mills’ lists the major problems caused by the ACA, then asserts it’s “working.” To me, this is classic double speak.
It seemed obvious to me that some commenters here were not familiar with what Goodwin wrote to Secretary Burwell. So some accurate information was needed to bring them up to speed.
And finally, I am not at all worried about the status of Charter schools in NC. They are here to stay and will no doubt be increasing for the foreseeable future. Democrats are smart enough to know not to make this a campaign issue. The public supports alternatives to traditional public schools and Democrats will just have to grin and bare it and shut up.
D.g., don’t act the fool. The article I posted was from the Raleigh News and Observer. It apparently is the policy of that newspaper that when they publish a story online with one of their reporter’s bylines, they include the reporter’s email address so a reader can ask a follow up question or seek more information. It’s not my decision to link to the reporter’s address, it’s the newspaper’s policy.
But if you want to stay informed, it might behoove you to take advantage of such an informational resource.
Talk about liberal double speak. This piece has enough contradictions to embarrass George Orwell. After telling us all the problems created by the ACA, Mr. Mills then asserts that Obamacare is working.
Yeah, right, it’s working. As Wayne Goodwin pointed out in his letter to Sylvia Burwell, it’s working to drive up insurance costs, especially for those middle class families that don’t qualify for a federal subsidy. Yeah, it’s working to reduce consumer options, or what some might call competition. Yeah, it’s working to generate unsustainable losses for insurers.
And, of course, this is all the fault of those evil Republicans who warned from the beginning that this was an unworkable ponsi scheme that would increase the national debt while at the same time driving up the cost of premiums, deductibles and co-pays for the vast majority of middle class Americans, not to mention vasty increasing Medicaid costs that were already creating draconian impacts on many states’ budgets.
And the term “risk corridors” is another Orwellian-like deception that was designed to allow the federal government to reimburse insurance companies for their losses under this ill-advised national insurance program that they (the greedy insurers) so eagerly supported after being assured that any losses incurred would be covered by a federal bailout.
So while the ACA may be a “big deal” for the 15 percent who receive free or subsidized health care, it’s a bad deal for the 85 percent who are paying the higher costs through increased premiums, deductibles and co-pay costs, not to mention that many Americans lost their former health coverage and can no longer obtain care from their preferred or previous medical providers, clinics and hospitals.
LOL….is there anyone left on the Left in NC you have NOT apologized for? LOLOL