The Dismantling of ObamaCare - Ongoing Updates.

[scagnt83]

It looks like the "Replace" option is actually, "Let States Do Whatever The Hell They Want"

“The power is best held by individuals and the states,” said Cassidy, a physician.

“California and New York, you love Obamacare, you can keep it,” the Louisiana Republican said, but states that want to try something different can choose among the other two options.

But the Senate’s top Democrat, Charles Schumer of New York, blasted the GOP plan as unworkable and an “empty façade” that would create chaos in the marketplace.

GOP senators outline first Obamacare replacement plan


I actually agree with Chuck Shumer for once. If they dont derail this its going to be a clusterf*ck.

 

[goillini52]

It looks like the "Replace" option is actually, "Let States Do Whatever The Hell They Want"



GOP senators outline first Obamacare replacement plan


I actually agree with Chuck Shumer for once. If they dont derail this its going to be a clusterf*ck.

"Let's Make America Sick Again" Shumer.


"The proposal unveiled on Monday, sponsored by Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, could provide a starting point for the O'bamacare replacement debate."

They have to start somewhere.

 

[somarco]

8 million people in the land of chocolate, cheese and trains that run on time.

That's about the same number of people living in Virginia.

 

[kgmom219]

It looks like the "Replace" option is actually, "Let States Do Whatever The Hell They Want"

GOP senators outline first Obamacare replacement plan

I actually agree with Chuck Shumer for once. If they dont derail this its going to be a clusterf*ck.

Rates aren't going down with this one, either.

NEXT.

 

[scagnt83]

They have to start somewhere.

Only 1 possible direction to go with that kind of start... that idea would implode faster than Ocare did.

 

[nylife11023]

Your post was very rude, and you claimed you were "not trying to stir up a beehive or flame war". That's exactly what you were doing, so man up and admit it.

I'm sorry you feel that way Ann. You are usually the 'voice of reason' in this section, along with Somarco and a few others.

But this time you are simply off base. It was not my intention to anger anyone. I merely asked questions, but obviously the questions themselves stirred up the beehive I was hoping to avoid. I'm not sure what that says about the health agent community, but I'm sure I will hear about it from you and others.

I'm sure every agent laughed when they read that, because clearly you don't know that selling Medicare supplements is a good business.

I don't understand why you would make that hypothesis since you have no basis for that assertion, much less proving it.

If your job didn't pay you would you work there? If your cushy job, where you have Cadillac insurance with no premium and low deductibles was taken away, would you work there?

Now who is being rude? I assure you that my job is not by any stretch of the imagination 'cushy.' I work in M&A for a large Wall Street organization. I spend 150 nights on the road, and about a third of that at airports and on airplanes. Most days are twelve hours, half of the work is in detailed research and analysis (often mind-numbing,) and the other half in making presentation from that research. Because M&A is so competitive with many good firms chasing the same deals, it's a one-shot, one kill business. You don't get a second round. You (with your team) bring in the deal and make good comp... or you are all let go.

Because lots of us do that, dude, while you work a cushy job, come to a forum where you "have no dog in this fight" and make rude, provoking comments.

The anger you express sounds real, but I do not quite understand its source. If you are happy doing what you do, and given that no one has put a gun to your head saying you have to do it, and you know up front what the political and economic realities of your business sector are, what is your problem, babe! (Yeah, I can call names too... and having served in the military I know as many as you do, if not more.)

As for the sector I work in, the compensation is very good... you can see from the links below. While the average comp (via bonus) is dropping, for those in high profit centers, the pay and benefits are still available and with the new administration coupled with Brexit it looks to continue that way (I hope!)

Wall Street compensation: associates and VPs at big U.S. banks

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...bonus-for-wall-street/?utm_term=.13fb6fe93e72

No one here questioned your loyalty or your dedication to your clients. But you do understand that a lot of carriers do not value your contributions to the sector. If they did they would pay you what you have claimed you are worth. It is called capitalism in the private sector... you are paid according to your value (perceived or otherwise) in the food chain.

It seems to this outsider that tens of millions of people were able to sign up for Obamacare online without an agent and without issue. Maybe whatever replaces O-care will reinstate your compensation and for your sake I hope they do.

But I think you and others in your sector (as well as NAHU) need to be more proactive in presenting the 'value added' that you claim you bring to the industry because when analysts look at the economics of insurance carriers (i.e. Humana and Aetna merger... which I'm not involved in) they see agents as a cost-center, one that is expendable.

You (i.e. your industry) have your work cut out for you and being rather overly defensive (and borderline obnoxious) to those who simply ask you a few simple questions is not going to "win the day" for you.

I'm not your enemy. I've done my best above to convince you of that, but my guess is it will fall on deaf ears. I find that agents in all insurance sectors seem to prefer to fight each other than to form a united front and take on their real opponents... which are the carriers and their lobby.

I wish you (all) well in the coming political battles.

 

[Ann H]

I'm sorry you feel that way Ann. You are usually the 'voice of reason' in this section, along with Somarco and a few others.

But this time you are simply off base. It was not my intention to anger anyone. I merely asked questions, but obviously the questions themselves stirred up the beehive I was hoping to avoid. I'm not sure what that says about the health agent community, but I'm sure I will hear about it from you and others.



I don't understand why you would make that hypothesis since you have no basis for that assertion, much less proving it.



Now who is being rude? I assure you that my job is not by any stretch of the imagination 'cushy.' I work in M&A for a large Wall Street organization. I spend 150 nights on the road, and about a third of that at airports and on airplanes. Most days are twelve hours, half of the work is in detailed research and analysis (often mind-numbing,) and the other half in making presentation from that research. Because M&A is so competitive with many good firms chasing the same deals, it's a one-shot, one kill business. You don't get a second round. You (with your team) bring in the deal and make good comp... or you are all let go.



The anger you express sounds real, but I do not quite understand its source. If you are happy doing what you do, and given that no one has put a gun to your head saying you have to do it, and you know up front what the political and economic realities of your business sector are, what is your problem, babe! (Yeah, I can call names too... and having served in the military I know as many as you do, if not more.)

As for the sector I work in, the compensation is very good... you can see from the links below. While the average comp (via bonus) is dropping, for those in high profit centers, the pay and benefits are still available and with the new administration coupled with Brexit it looks to continue that way (I hope!)

Wall Street compensation: associates and VPs at big U.S. banks

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...bonus-for-wall-street/?utm_term=.13fb6fe93e72

No one here questioned your loyalty or your dedication to your clients. But you do understand that a lot of carriers do not value your contributions to the sector. If they did they would pay you what you have claimed you are worth. It is called capitalism in the private sector... you are paid according to your value (perceived or otherwise) in the food chain.

It seems to this outsider that tens of millions of people were able to sign up for Obamacare online without an agent and without issue. Maybe whatever replaces O-care will reinstate your compensation and for your sake I hope they do.

But I think you and others in your sector (as well as NAHU) need to be more proactive in presenting the 'value added' that you claim you bring to the industry because when analysts look at the economics of insurance carriers (i.e. Humana and Aetna merger... which I'm not involved in) they see agents as a cost-center, one that is expendable.

You (i.e. your industry) have your work cut out for you and being rather overly defensive (and borderline obnoxious) to those who simply ask you a few simple questions is not going to "win the day" for you.

I'm not your enemy. I've done my best above to convince you of that, but my guess is it will fall on deaf ears. I find that agents in all insurance sectors seem to prefer to fight each other than to form a united front and take on their real opponents... which are the carriers and their lobby.

I wish you (all) well in the coming political battles.

Alright, very good. If the government came in and took over your industry, did a poor job, made huge government bureaucracies that duplicated you, swung business their way using heavy handed tactics that competed unfairly against private enterprise, ran rates up by huge percentages, caused huge entities (like hospitals, insurers, and doctors) to bleed red, turned your industry into a shambles much worse than it was before, caused your industry to wither (like having 1 insurer in 1/3 of all counties of the US, for instance), and offered as a solution a "single govt controlled plan" to do even more of the same, then would you be for it? Or is the reason that you would be against it only your income and not the fact that government controlled enterprise over private enterprise is not a direction you can agree with?

For me personally, this has reinforced the idea that government takeover of private industry creates very bad results, which is a concept many have touted for decades or centuries, including our founding fathers. I don't want more of the same. Not in my industry, not in any industry.

 

[somarco]

government takeover of private industry creates very bad results, which is a concept many have touted for decades

Government's view of the economy can be summed up in a few short phrases. If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. If it stops moving, subsidize it.

Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.

The most terrifying words in the English language are, "I'm from the government and I am here to help.".

In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. From time to time we've been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. Well, if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else?

 

[Yagents]

MN handing out tax credits to OFF exchange policies:

Minnesota Legislature ties up deal for health insurance help - Washington Times

 

[FLM2]

MN handing out tax credits to OFF exchange policies:

Minnesota Legislature ties up deal for health insurance help - Washington Times

Thanks for finding this-I don't offer plans in MN but checked rates and they are pretty comparable to my states (Florida, Georgia). The article says that people on the Off Exchange plans will save about 25% on their premiums as early as April, maybe this is a path other states will take as well.

One of the encouraging signs is that this seems to be a bipartisan effort, that's what is really needed to fix this mess.