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Trump Ramps Up Obamacare Sabotage With Huge Cuts To Enrollment Programs

Rogue Valley

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Trump Ramps Up Obamacare Sabotage With Huge Cuts To Enrollment Programs


By Jeffrey Young
August 31, 2017

President Donald Trump’s administration has taken more steps to undermine the Obamacare marketplaces it’s responsible for managing. The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced Thursday that it’s making drastic cuts in spending on advertising for the 2018 open enrollment period on the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance exchanges, as well as significant cutbacks in funding for local organizations that help consumers navigate the buying process. Weakening the two most important tools the federal government has to promote enrollment on the state-based exchanges ― 39 of which are run wholly or mainly by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services ― is the latest signal that the Trump administration isn’t committed to serving exchange customers and bolstering the marketplaces during the first open enrollment it will oversee from start to finish. In addition, these moves could worsen the financial state of the exchanges, as sicker and costlier consumers are more likely to seek out coverage than healthier people, who may be unaware that the sign-up season is taking place.

Trump himself repeatedly has said he wants to let or make the health insurance exchanges collapse, and his administration has taken a number of actions to destabilize them. That’s above and beyond his advocacy for the Affordable Care Act’s repeal. Chief among the destabilizing steps has been Trump threatening to withhold billions owed to health insurance companies serving poor enrollees, which has contributed to large rate hikes for next year. The Department of Health and Human Services also has used its websites and social media channels to criticize the Affordable Care Act at taxpayer expense. First, the promotional budget for the upcoming sign-up campaign is being cut from $100 million to $10 million. Moreover, a bulletin the agency released indicates that the ad campaign will include no television or radio, and be limited to digital media, email and text messages. Second, organizations with federal contracts to help consumers shop for coverage ― known as “navigators” ― will get far less money. Navigator organizations received $62.5 million from the federal government last year, but will get just $36.8 million this year, a 39 percent cut, according to a fact sheet from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Trump is the healthcare arsonist who pours kerosene on a healthcare program then says; "See, I told you it was a fire hazard."


Related: Trump officials slash advertising, grants to help Americans get Affordable Care Act insurance

Trump administration slashes funds to promote signing up for Obamacare
 

Obamacare is collapsing, anyway. The sooner it collapses, the sooner we can get rid of it.
 
Typical GOP governance. Take a program, gut it until it doesn't function anymore, then point at it and say "see, government doesn't work! Please shovel cash into the private sector so THEY can hoard it."
 
Obamacare is collapsing, anyway. The sooner it collapses, the sooner we can get rid of it.

The republicans tried to get rid of it and failed because they're too damn lazy and stupid to come up with a better alternative that can get GOP votes. Now out of spite, and because Trump's similarly stupid and lazy and doesn't have an actual ALTERNATIVE to champion, Trump's doing this crap that does nothing but hurt those remaining in the program by driving up their insurance rates. The sick people WILL sign up, so those the education efforts target are those who are not at the moment ill and requiring expensive treatments.

We have a stupid, bitter troll in the WH. It's unbelievable.
 
Typical GOP governance. Take a program, gut it until it doesn't function anymore, then point at it and say "see, government doesn't work! Please shovel cash into the private sector so THEY can hoard it."
Well yes. When "government can't do anything right" is part of your core platform you are obligated to make sure that's true when you're elected.
 
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Why would one advertise for a monopoly?

There is no monopoly. Everyone getting insurance on the exchange gets it through a private insurer, and there are many of them.

This money was to publicize the enrollment options and deadlines and hopefully increase those signing up and getting insured. The other piece cut goes to groups helping people navigate the signup process, answer questions, help them select a good plan for them, etc. The sorry result of this will almost surely be higher premiums for all those on the exchanges (the more people who enroll that are NOT currently very sick, the better because a bigger pool lowers premiums), and I'm sure that's the point. The WH can then point to higher premiums thanks in part to their efforts for the past year as another indication that we need to repeal the ACA and replace it.....with who the hell knows what because neither the WH nor the GOP has a damn clue.

They got the "repeal" part down well enough - it's the "better plan than Obama and the Dems came up with" that's left those morons stumped for going on 8 years now. All they know now to do is deliberately sabotage the ACA which will hurt millions on the exchanges, but they can't be bothered to give a damn about them or anyone else. It's pathetic. It'd be one thing if they had a plan that didn't do a WORSE job than the ACA but they don't.
 
The republicans tried to get rid of it and failed because they're too damn lazy and stupid to come up with a better alternative that can get GOP votes. Now out of spite, and because Trump's similarly stupid and lazy and doesn't have an actual ALTERNATIVE to champion, Trump's doing this crap that does nothing but hurt those remaining in the program by driving up their insurance rates. The sick people WILL sign up, so those the education efforts target are those who are not at the moment ill and requiring expensive treatments.

We have a stupid, bitter troll in the WH. It's unbelievable.

With even stupider, more bitter supporters like the asshats here on DP who act like everything Trump does is amazeballs. The guy is a boob, a solid gold asshole who has no priorities other than appeasing his pig-ignorant base that represents the absolute worst America has to offer.
 

It's been out for awhile, why do they need to keep "advertising "? $100 million to advertise!! I think there could be a better way to spend that much money. IMO if Obama care was so great they wouldn't need spend THAT amount of money to push it. Good business move.
 
There is no monopoly. Everyone getting insurance on the exchange gets it through a private insurer, and there are many of them.

This money was to publicize the enrollment options and deadlines and hopefully increase those signing up and getting insured. The other piece cut goes to groups helping people navigate the signup process, answer questions, help them select a good plan for them, etc. The sorry result of this will almost surely be higher premiums for all those on the exchanges (the more people who enroll that are NOT currently very sick, the better because a bigger pool lowers premiums), and I'm sure that's the point. The WH can then point to higher premiums thanks in part to their efforts for the past year as another indication that we need to repeal the ACA and replace it.....with who the hell knows what because neither the WH nor the GOP has a damn clue.

They got the "repeal" part down well enough - it's the "better plan than Obama and the Dems came up with" that's left those morons stumped for going on 8 years now. All they know now to do is deliberately sabotage the ACA which will hurt millions on the exchanges, but they can't be bothered to give a damn about them or anyone else. It's pathetic. It'd be one thing if they had a plan that didn't do a WORSE job than the ACA but they don't.

It is a monopoly. Try to buy insurance that isn't Obamacare. No can do.

I'm sincerely curious. How many Democratic bills were put before Congress in Obama's last few years in office? These problems didn't just begin to occur seven months ago. Did the Dems do anything to fix this mess? And how did the Repubs sabotage the ACA during Obama's reign?
 
Obamacare is collapsing, anyway.

It's not collapsing.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/study-obamacare-not-collapsing-n781486
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/13/opinion/obamacare-collapsing-imploding-trumpcare.html
https://pilotonline.com/news/local/...cle_5d6b2126-91b5-526f-a6e4-813acc14333d.html

The sooner it collapses, the sooner we can get rid of it.

Judging from the success rate of previous attempts, openly torpedoing the ACA by defunding it might be the only way Republicans can get rid of it. It would be political suicide, but it might sink the ACA for good! It doesn't matter how many losses you have to weather, it only takes 1 victory!
 
Typical GOP governance. Take a program, gut it until it doesn't function anymore, then point at it and say "see, government doesn't work! Please shovel cash into the private sector so THEY can hoard it."

Come on Kobie, you're better than that. The GOP Base hates the program, that's why the GOP controls the House, the Senate, the WH and most State Legislatures. The big issue here is how many GOP elites like the idea of Big Government because they believe it can rope voters into being beholden to them (like the Dem's have done for years). The kicker is, the GOP Elite are idiots in thinking they can appease both sides of the issue. It's gonna blow up in their faces.
 

It is such a pity that Obama didn't go for a bipartisan system. Now we are paying the price for his arrogance.
 
It is such a pity that Obama didn't go for a bipartisan system. Now we are paying the price for his arrogance.

He tried to, until it became readily apparent the GOP was never going to work with him.
 
He tried to, until it became readily apparent the GOP was never going to work with him.

As I remember it Obama did not want to compromise.
 
It is a monopoly. Try to buy insurance that isn't Obamacare. No can do.

Well, actually, you can't buy insurance that is "Obamacare." You can buy a policy from BCBS or Cigna, or the dozens of other health insurers out there, ON and OFF the exchanges, with premiums and plan details set by those companies etc. but there is no policy anywhere called Obamacare, and there is no monopoly.

I'm sincerely curious. How many Democratic bills were put before Congress in Obama's last few years in office? These problems didn't just begin to occur seven months ago. Did the Dems do anything to fix this mess? And how did the Repubs sabotage the ACA during Obama's reign?

You know that the GOP took the House in 2010, and spent the next 6 years taking about 87 repeal votes, right?

And I don't really know what your point is here. What Trump is doing is deliberately harming those on the exchanges, trying to increase the premiums they pay, make their lives worse off. They did it first by shortening the sign up period by about half, then by almost eliminating advertising and cutting funds groups that help people get into a good plan. The only end point can be fewer people with insurance, and higher premiums for those who are insured. So because that's the inevitable result, we have to assume that is what Trump WANTS.

And the reason that's the strategy is the GOP and Trump can't say, "repeal the ACA because our plan is BETTER!" No one believes that. Their plan after 8 years of promises we all knew were BS was a plan that as I recall polled about 14% and was opposed by every major group with an interest in the legislation, including the healthcare industry, insurers, their own GOP governors, and conservative groups. So the only option now is to intentionally burn down the ACA, so we can replace it with "Who the hell knows what these lazy morons will come up with?"

If you want to defend that, be my guest. I think it's pathetic, and a perfect illustration of where the Republican party is in 2017. They can't sell their ideas, not even to their own governors, so they'll burn the system down and leave us with no choice.
 
It is a monopoly. Try to buy insurance that isn't Obamacare. No can do.

I'm sincerely curious. How many Democratic bills were put before Congress in Obama's last few years in office? These problems didn't just begin to occur seven months ago. Did the Dems do anything to fix this mess? And how did the Repubs sabotage the ACA during Obama's reign?

Well, I would start off with pointing out "Obamacare" isn't an insurance plan. You probably shouldn't talk about supposed problems in a bill you don't understand the basics of.

Which problems are you referring to?
 
It's been out for awhile, why do they need to keep "advertising "? $100 million to advertise!! I think there could be a better way to spend that much money. IMO if Obama care was so great they wouldn't need spend THAT amount of money to push it. Good business move.

Yes, sounds like you're a PR expert. :roll:
 
Well, actually, you can't buy insurance that is "Obamacare." You can buy a policy from BCBS or Cigna, or the dozens of other health insurers out there, ON and OFF the exchanges, with premiums and plan details set by those companies etc. but there is no policy anywhere called Obamacare, and there is no monopoly.



You know that the GOP took the House in 2010, and spent the next 6 years taking about 87 repeal votes, right?

And I don't really know what your point is here. What Trump is doing is deliberately harming those on the exchanges, trying to increase the premiums they pay, make their lives worse off. They did it first by shortening the sign up period by about half, then by almost eliminating advertising and cutting funds groups that help people get into a good plan. The only end point can be fewer people with insurance, and higher premiums for those who are insured. So because that's the inevitable result, we have to assume that is what Trump WANTS.

And the reason that's the strategy is the GOP and Trump can't say, "repeal the ACA because our plan is BETTER!" No one believes that. Their plan after 8 years of promises we all knew were BS was a plan that as I recall polled about 14% and was opposed by every major group with an interest in the legislation, including the healthcare industry, insurers, their own GOP governors, and conservative groups. So the only option now is to intentionally burn down the ACA, so we can replace it with "Who the hell knows what these lazy morons will come up with?"

If you want to defend that, be my guest. I think it's pathetic, and a perfect illustration of where the Republican party is in 2017. They can't sell their ideas, not even to their own governors, so they'll burn the system down and leave us with no choice.

You make some excellent points.

The reason I call it a monopoly is because the gvmt has set the standards. Insurance companies are not free to offer lesser coverage in order to save insurers money. Minimal deductibles, etc. You want insurance? You're buying into the ACA.

As to your saying no one likes the idea of an alternative, the vote was only shy by a few. So I'm doubting that's true.
 
Why would one advertise for a monopoly?
You do realize that the government doesn't provide the insurance, right?

The advertising is there to remind Americans that there is a deadline for signing up. Advertising to give the public notice is what a responsible government would do. This is sabotage with no goal other than spite. It won't cause ACA collapse, but it will drive up premiums, which have already spiked because of GOP threats of sabotage.
 
You do realize that the government doesn't provide the insurance, right?

The advertising is there to remind Americans that there is a deadline for signing up. Advertising to give the public notice is what a responsible government would do. This is sabotage with no goal other than spite. It won't cause ACA collapse, but it will drive up premiums, which have already spiked because of GOP threats of sabotage.

Yes, I understand that. It just mandates the coverage. And if the free market were at work, as it is with Medicare supplement plans, for instance? There would be PLENTY of marketing being done by that free market. The Federal government doesn't promote Medicare supplements. The insurance companies, the free market, INUNDATES consumers with enrollment deadlines. It's not the government's job to promote. If insurance companies were incentivized? They'd be hustling up a storm.
 
You make some excellent points.

The reason I call it a monopoly is because the gvmt has set the standards. Insurance companies are not free to offer lesser coverage in order to save insurers money. Minimal deductibles, etc. You want insurance? You're buying into the ACA.

As to your saying no one likes the idea of an alternative, the vote was only shy by a few. So I'm doubting that's true.
Then I guess by that reasoning the automobile manufacturing business is a government monopoly too -- since the government sets standards. You are not "free" to buy a car that does not have the equipment to meet government air quality standards; one that lacks seat belts; one that doesn't have padded dashboards, airbags, safety glass, and about 1,000 other mandated items.
 
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