Upcoming ObamaCare Biblical Battles

If the trumpet gives an uncertain sound, who shall prepare for the battle.

The First Epistle of Paul

The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor yet to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to the men of skill, but time and chance happenth to them all.

Ecclesiastes

The battles for ObamaCare have reached biblical proportion because of its implications for Americans with two upcoming November events.

• On November 4, the battle for the Senate will end, and current odds favor a 52-47 GOP win.

• On November 15, the 30 day battle to sign up 8 to 10 million more on the health exchanges and Medicaidm before February 15, 2015, will begin.

The First Battle

The chief reason for uncertainty of these battles' outcomes is continuing uncertainty about ObamaCare – its intrinsic worth, its hard truths, its failed promises.

Uncertainty revolves around impending health plan cancellations, reversal of subsidies for those enrolled in exchanges, costs in terms of individual penalties and general rises in taxes, impact on full-time employment with benefits, fear of rising premiums and sky-rocketing deductibles, and apprehension about more broken promises and legal challenges.

People were promised a $2500 drop in premiums for a family of four. Instead they got an increase of $5000, from $18, 074 to $23, 215.

People were promised a decrease in costs and the federal debt. Instead they have received an increase of $73 billion so far - $2 billion for the bungled website.

They were promised a decrease in premiums. The ObamaCare administrations says increases have been a modest 3%. But there are catches. For those in individual markets, premium increases have averaged 41%, And for those re-enrolling premiums are projected to go up an average of 30%, sometimes up to 100%.

Before the elections, employer-based plans, even though government has told them they do not have drop them, for business reasons, heal plans will begin to cancel plans that do more meet ObamaCare’s 10 benefit standards.

Perhaps 500,000 who enrolled the first time around may have to pay back their subsidies because they are unable to document their income or citizenship.

In year 2 of ObamaCare, penalties for being non-insured and for not enrolling in health exchanges, will increase to $325 or 2% of income, to be automatically deducted from tax credits.

Patients are complaining they cannot pay the co-payments and deductibles, which now average $6078.

As a result of these various changes or fears they will materialize, people worry about higher premiums, sky-high deductibles, tax penalties, loss of health plans or doctors, or inability to find an affordable plan or a doctor.

In the eyes of the ObamaCare administration, the enrolling of 15.3 million who signed up the first year ( 7.3 million on exchanges and 8 million in Medicaid) is an unqualified success. After all, enrolling the uninsured was the health law’s intent.

The Second Battle

But the goals of the second battle – signing up 8 to 10 million more in 30 days in exchanges or Medicaid starting November 15 will not be easy. The first sign-up period lasted 60 days.

Signing up 8 to 10 million more uninsured to become insured may be an illusion. Those who did not sign up will be harder to reach, will include many who do not understand health insurance language or English for that matter , the young and healthy who resent paying for older and sicker, and will depend on personal contact by committed but sometimes ill-trained ObamaCare navigators at communities events, hair dressing salons, ethnic groceries, and faith-based institutions rather than on online-contact or broad TV marketing campaigns.

Of the federal battle to sign up 8 to 10 million more uninsured in 30 days, the Administration's Holy Grail, perhaps after losing the first battle, Robert Laszewski, a health industry consultants say, “Holy Smokes!” By that he must have meant ObamaCare officials are smoking something, Laszewskin might also have exclaimed, “Holy Mackerel!” or “Holy Moses!”, for reaching that goal may require a biblical miracle.