May 30, 2012
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http://ak.podcast.foxnewsradio.com/talk/FNCTS/newscomment-3p0530.mp3
Curtis Johnson got the shock of his life yesterday when he opened a letter from Clearwater Christian College and discovered that his student health insurance fee was going to more than double – thanks to President Obama’s healthcare reform law.
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Last year, the 19-year-old from Hutchinson, Kan. paid $600 for health insurance coverage. But in the fall, Johnson will have to pay $1,330 – an amount he said is “becoming unaffordable.”
“It’s a lot of money for a college kid,” he told Fox News Radio. “This law has not only raised the cost to me, it’s become unbearable for many financially strapped college students.”
Curtis Johnson/Facebook
Clearwater Christian College, a non-denominational school, on Tampa Bay, placed the blame squarely on ObamaCare.
“Due to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA – commonly known as health care reform), the cost of student health insurance has doubled,” read the letter from the college’s human resources department. “In addition, most insurance carriers are hesitant to provide contracts for this insurance due to the unpredictability of the cost of the claims.
Clearwater requires all students to have insurance – either through the college’s plan or a private plan. It’s unclear how many of the school’s 500 students will be impacted by the price hike.
But the price will certainly hurt students like Johnson – who only paid $465 a year for health insurance when he was a freshman.
“The President and the Democratic leaders in Congress championed this bill and they said it was going to lower the cost of healthcare,” Johnson told Fox News Radio. “It’s not only raised my cost, it doubled the cost of my healthcare.”
Johnson said he will have to look at alternatives, pointing out that he also has to pay for tuition, books and room & board.
“I remember when Nancy Pelosi said earlier that they had to pass the law to find out what was in it,” he said. “I’m sure finding out for myself what’s in this law. I really never thought it would directly affect me.”
At least two Catholic universities have decided to drop student health plans over ObamaCare concerns.
Franciscan University in Ohio and Ave Maria University in Florida voiced strong objections to the so-called contraceptive coverage mandate.
Ave Maria University president James Towey told FoxNews.com they were also facing a premium increase ranging from 65 percent to 82 percent.
Clearwater Christian College is in Rep. Bill Young’s congressional district. He said he was very disturbed by the impact ObamaCare will have on the religious school.
“This is a very good institution of learning – as well as a religious institution,” Young told Fox News Radio. “It is a positive factor in our district and it’s such a shame they are beginning to feel this.”
Young isn’t one to say ‘I told you so,’ – but he was one of only a handful of lawmakers to actually read the 2,700 page healthcare bill.
“Despite our warnings and telling our colleagues this was bad legislation – they passed the bill – and now we’re finding out that all of the things we told them are coming true,” he said. “The predictions of how bad it was going to be are coming true.”
The Dept. of Health & Human Services said more than a million students are covered through student health plans. A spokesperson declined to comment on the specifics of the Clearwater Christian College plan.
HHS also declined to explain why some students are being forced to pay higher prices when they were under the impression the new law would lower their costs.
HHS did say that students will have added benefits under the law – including a rule that prevents insurance companies from putting an annual limit on student health plans. Health insurance companies are also required to spend 80 percent of premium dollars on health benefits rather than overhead.
Clearwater Christian College
HHS pointed out that the Affordable Care Act ensures that students can count on being covered by their health plan if they get sick.
But what about students like Curtis Johnson – who may not be able to afford to actually buy the coverage?
HHS declined to answer that question.
The college said even though students will pay a higher price, they will also get better benefits. The letter to students explained that the $115 per month charge is “particularly inexpensive compared to the cost of most plans (usually at $400 per month for an individual).”
“Compare that to the average cost of an emergency room visit reported at $1,318 (by the American Hospital Association) and it reveals the importance of coverage,” the college wrote.
Johnson, who is a conservative Republican, does have a sympathetic ear in Congress.
Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-KS) represents the 19-year-old’s congressional district. He said it’s not surprising that Americans are discovering the true price tag of “ObamaCare.”
“ObamaCare is bad medicine for everyone,” Huelskamp said in a statement to Fox News Radio. “Though some young adults were smart enough not to fall under Obama’s spell, all will suffer because of his health care law.”
“Future college graduates face a weak job market because ObamaCare will make it too expensive to hire new workers,” he added. “It’s a rude welcome to adulthood.”
FOX News Talk
I read the whole article and they never explain how obamacare caused the increase. I really like to understand how things work so please explain.
Simple, many Health Insurance Policies have cost savings provisions, like a cap on the risk exposure of the Health Insurance Policy, co-pays for certain Medical procedures, etc. Under Obamacare many routine medical procedures are no longer allowed a co-pay, and there is no allowed cap on the total exposure of the Insurance Company's risk. Both of these increase the cost of your Insurance Policy. (There is no free in Health Care or Health Insurance.)
ObamaCare = ObamaDoesNotCare.
bull crap. the actual important parts of the law haven't even started yet. basic economics. if you know how obamacare works you would know it will bring the cost down. supply and demand, people. we are also the only civilized nation on this earth that doesn't have a form of universal healthcare, even india with a population of a billion has a system of universal healthcare. if we had a single payer system this kid wouldn't have to worry about it, until he pays his taxes, but that is better than knowing college students are struggling to afford health care. not to mention it also allows young adults to stay under their parents insurance until they are 26, which has given millions of young adults insurance already. "christian nation" ha. can't even take care of the sick.
WOW….enough said
First of all, Pat not every parent doesnt have health insurance coverage. If the Prez had a brain, He should have put in a plan to help low income people who wanted to buy insurance. Most people under the age of 50 spend far more on preimiums than if for the first thirty years of their adult lives, they had paid cash for medical services. And think about this, if you get hurt at work, in your car or on public transportation, you are already covered….
but paying cash is also why health care is so expensive. lets just get a single payer system and we don't have to worry about it anymore.
"At least 2.5 million young people now can stay on their parents’ health insurance until age 26."
his parents may not have health insurance, but 2.5 million young adults do and are now covered thanks to obama care. at least obamacare has given us that. it's better than nothing.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/03/28/5-reasons-obamacare-is-already-good-for/#ixzz1wQnCWuoG
The cost of Health Care is forced up by Obamacare, not down.
1. A tax on Medical Appliances.
2. Additional administrative overhead.
3. Cost sharing increase from the decrease in the reimbursement schedule for Medicare patients. (Much bigger component than cost sharing from those that refuse to pay their bills.)
4. Cost sharing increase from reduced reimbursement rate for Medicaid.
5. Increase in the Medicaid roles, to include forcing people onto Medicaid when they had better alternatives.
And that is just the Health Care side of it, not the Health Insurance side.
I work in administration at this college and the story is an absolute lie.the costs of insurance will be going up 4 1/2 percent.whoever said otherwise is lying for political gain..i should know I work in this department..sick.
Interesting, your FB says different dude. You graduated from a Dubai high school, went to Harvard if that's true and work for IBM and to top it off you live in Eygpt. Try again!
Barb Goss , the fact that you actually investigated his obviously tongue in cheek comments speaks volumes about your complete lack of intelligence!
Were you in this study?
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100224132655.htm
similar thing just happened to my son. He has insurance through our policy, but his school offered a supplemental plan that covered our deductible and the in-school clinic. Cost was $250 per year. Got a letter a couple of weeks ago that informed us the school could no longer offer the plan because of new government regulations brought about by the affordable care act. Its just beginning folks.
Hope the Supreme Court has some sense.
First of all, this student can stay on his parent's health insurance (given that he's been paying for his own and going to college, that his parents have health care coverage) until he is TWENTY-SIX. That would most certainly get him through college. OR, *gasp* he could shop around in our continued Free Market of health insurance.
HOW IS THIS LEGAL?
"HHS did say that…insurance companies are also required to spend 80 percent of premium dollars on health benefits rather than overhead…"
If 80% is for health benefits, than the other 20% (overhead) must be profit, employee compensation, advertising, etc. How can the federal government tell any company what their profit margin will be? What they can spend on advertising? What they can spend on employees?
Let's equate this to other price fixing opportunities that the federal government should definitely get involved in. We will call this the Passenger Protection and Affordable Flight Act – aka 0bamaAir.:
Now, all airlines must spend 80% of ticket pricing dollars on fuel rather than overhead. The remaining 20% will be divided amongst investor profit, upper and lower management compensation, advertising, pilots, gate agents, flight attendants, crew scheduling, ramp agents, phone agents, websites, mechanics, de-icing fluid, sodas, bottled water, gate leases, maintenance, etc., etc…
DO YOU GET IT YET?
Oh it is much worse than that. Insurance Companies are regulated by each state they are licensed to do business in. Thanks to the NAIC these regulations are pretty standard, but one of the regulations is that Insurance Companies have to have a Liquid reserve in case of a catastrophic situation. The bigger a company is hte bigger the reserve needs to be.
You add 30 million people to the Insurance pool and the companies have to increase their reserves, but that isn't payment for Health Services so it has to come out of the 20%. A New Insurance Company has to meet these reserve requirements, yet they can only use their 20% to fund this reserve?
C n&n isn't commenting on this at all.
How to pay for Obam Care…Just audit Medicare payments from 4 years ago. Some how you go from not knowing that Medicare would not cover the treatment to you absolutely that you knew that Medicare would not pay and failed to notify the hospital that Medicare would not pay all this while you are sedated for the procedure. Now you have to pay back Medicare. $9,000 times multiple thousands of denials add up to a lot of money. Thanks big O. What other hidden secrets are in O Care?
I'd like to know if Rep. Bill Young has been on Clearwater's campus because to say “This is a very good institution of learning – as well as a religious institution,” is the farthest statement from the truth. I attended this school for a year and all I learned was if you don't fit the 100% perfect mold of a "christian" you are unwanted. It's more of a cult. The education isn't worth the price, half of your credits won't transfer to another school due to the fact that all the bible classes you are required to take. You're only paying $20,000 + a year so you can shelter adults from any resemblance of what the real world is like. A "rude welcome to adulthood" will occur when these kids graduate and realize that women in public don't dress modestly to help the men have a "pure thought life".
I read on one review that this 19 year old could go on his parents plans. If they bore him at a late age or he could be adopted when his parents were older, if so, medicare will not cover him. Because your insurance is covered under your parents, doesn't mean it applies to everyone. My son in law is 53 years old and my daughter is 47 and they have a 2 year old chilld. They will be on medicare, if it is still around, and I doubt if my grandson will get health insurance through his parents.
I'm so excited! I can't wait to re-elect Obama! Woot!
I had health insurance until December of this past year, then I received a letter outlining a premium increase..an increase attributed to the costs of the "act" championed by our wonderful (emphasized sarcastically) president and his minions. I can no longer afford to have it, college tuition has went up for me yet again making it very difficult to even attend this fall. Keep it up Obama..your doing such a great job of insuring all Americans!
The end game is to push out private insurance from the market.
Please show me a government program that does not end up severely in the red.
There is a very good explanation why the govt needs to stay out of the private sector.
The govt works on a VOTE model, not a BUSINESS model.
It is impossible to keep costs down.
Like your new photo..looks like you need a shave!!
Please stay on topic, lmao.
hey Obama and your stupid democrats folk, did you heard this complain from student, that you are demagogic talk to, Curtis Johnson got the shock of his life yesterday when he opened a letter from Clearwater Christian College and discovered that his student health insurance fee was going to more than double – thanks to President Obama’s healthcare reform law.All of you dumb just want created the communist system here by control every thing in our life.get out here and back to Kenya.
We saw today on tv news that President of Poland asked Obama have to have make an apology to there country by stupid dumb comment of their country about Nazi before, No surprise of this guy when making some comment to other foreign country, or people.He 's just one negro at africa, have lucky to get up here by dumb/stupid american voted up, no education, Harward graduted? funny, just cheating
Obamacare allows this student to either remain on his parents policy or get subsidized help from The Feds.
This article is biased and one sided.
Your assuming his parents have insurance, they could be on Medicare already. You don't have all the facts. That's the flaw in the article, and their isn't any subsidized help yet except him biting the bullet and getting his own policy to the cost of?????? This article is just what it is…the fact that insurance rates keep going up. Kinda hard when your trying to get a degree and have to pay for a lot of extras.
It's called 'investing in your future'… If one does not like the costs, one can skip college, just like one can skip driving if they don't want to pay for gas and insurance….
But the kid is just a whiner, and probably a liar as well… just as you are, Babs….
Before Obamacare Students could already remain on their parents' plan. And before Obamacare there was already SHIP for subsidies. Obamacare does nothing for this student but raise the price.
I don't see how anyone can criticize the Obama health care plan unless they have an alternative comprehensive solution. The current system is seriously screwed up – seriously screwed. We must have a short memory because just 5 years ago we were screaming bloody murder about the costs and the lack of accessibility for many tens of millions of Americans.
The fault lies with successive administrations and a congress that over the last 4 decades refused to secure meaningful restrictions and then enforce immigration law.
The larger part of this influx of immigrants simply didn't contribute enough to offset the liabilty they created.
I'm not sure what it is today but the birth rate in this country when I was growing up was about 2.1 children per (more often than not) married couple. This means that the population increase I've observed from 175 million to 305 million is mostly due to immigration. However, looser societal norms over this period also likely had some impact.
This has over-extended not only our health care system but our schools, roads and other elements of our infrastructure. This focus on health care ignores the fact that changes or upgrades to these other elements will cost us dearly as well.
Any reform should include more careful immigration policies.
Future college graduates may face a weaker job market for a number of reasons – the reform of our health care system being less significant than others.
Really? But the Obama "health care plan" doesn't even address Health Care, except to raise the price of Health Care, much less provide a comprehensive solution.
Three things this article overlooks:
(1) The student health insurance referred to has a premium of $600 PER YEAR — in other words, its cost is DIRT CHEAP for health insurance, even if its cost doubles.
(2) Student health plans of this sort are notoriously substandard insurance. And what else would you expect for $600 per year? Any reasonable regulation that sets even the most minimal standards for the insurance to meet would force an increase in premium. Why is that shocking or even unreasonable.
(3) And the most important point of all — Thanks to the health care reform law, most students can now opt out of the student health plan (and have better insurance for less) because "ObamaCare" allows them to stay on their parent's policy.
Far from doing harm to students, the health care reform law is making student health plans of this sort unnecessary for most students and providing them with a better way to be insured while in college.
The Catholic franciscan college referred to for example, as the article also neglects to mention, already had only 200 out of 2,000 students stilll in its student health plan when it shut it down to avoid having to provide contraceptives — despite the fact that it had been requiring health insurance — so that 90% of its students had in fact opted out.
The parallel
I was born in one country, raised in another.
My father was born in another country.
I was not his only child.
He fathered several children with numerous women.
I became very close to my mother, as my father showed.
no interest in me.
My mother died at an early age from cancer.
Although my father deserted me and my mother raised me,
I later wrote a book idolizing my father not my mother.
Later in life, questions arose over my real name.
My birth records were sketchy.
No one was able to produce a legitimate, reliable birth.
certificate.
I grew up practicing one faith but converted to.
Christianity, as it was widely accepted in my new country, but I.
practiced non-traditional beliefs and didn't follow Christianity, except in.
the public eye under scrutiny.
I worked and lived among lower-class people as a young.
adult, disguising myself as someone who really cared about them.
That was before I decided it was time to get serious.
about my life and embarked on a new career.
I wrote a book about my struggles growing up.
It was clear to those who read my memoirs, that I had.
difficulties accepting that my father abandoned me as a child.
I became active in local politics in my 30's then, with.
help behind the scenes, I literally burst onto the scene as a candidate.
for national office in my 40s.
They said I had a golden tongue and could talk anyone.
into anything.
I had a virtually non-existent resume, little work history, and no.
experience in leading a single organization.
Yet I was a powerful speaker and citizens were drawn to.
me, as though I were a magnet and they were small roofing tacks.
I drew incredibly large crowds during my public appearances.
This bolstered my ego.
At first, my political campaign focused on my country's foreign policy…
I was very critical of my country in the last war, and seized every.
opportunity to bash my country.
But what launched my rise to national prominence were.
my views on the country's economy.
I pretended to have a really good plan on how we could.
do better, and every poor person would be fed and housed for free.
I knew which group was responsible for getting us into this mess.
It was the free market, banks and corporations.
I decided to start making citizens hate them and, if they became envious of.
others who did well, the plan was clinched tight.
I called mine "A People's Campaign".
That sounded good to all people.
I was the surprise candidate because I emerged from.
outside the traditional path of politics and was able to gain.
widespread popular support.
I knew that, if I merely offered the people 'hope', together we could "change".
ADOLPH H.
If you were thinking of SOMEONE ELSE, you should be scared, very scared!
This is a far right/Christian/Republican/Tea Bagger College.
What did you expect? Did you expect them to agree with Obamacare?
Please!
This story is a joke.
This article has nothing to do with the fact that this is a Christian college.
How many of your parents have health insurance that you are now able to be added to? This kid has alternatives and his parents can place him on their policies to cover his health care while he is in college. The insurance companies and colleges have for years preyed on this vulnerable demographic to make a profit. They are now raising rates to offset any possible revenue losses because of the Affordable Care Act. YES, THANK YOU PRESIDENT OBAMA!
Now able to be added to? Before Obamacare the age was 25 as long as you were enrolled in college in most states (some were already up to 26 others only 24). The parents have had alternatives long before this law was in effect, yet the kid was enrolled in the School provided group plan. You really think if the putting the kid on the parents' plan was a cheaper alternative that they still would have enrolled the kid on the School plan?
This isn't any more vulnerable demographic than their parents, after all, in most cases, it is their money.
The difference in adding a "child" onto an existing health care plan is insignificant. It might have been a little cheaper using a college based limited healthcare plan before. If that's no longer an affordable option, then the parents plan is. As you've also stated "enrolled in college in most states", that is the problem: there is no consistency among the states so a level playing field had to be put in place to offer the same healthcare opportunities to ALL students.
Tony Schlim Insignificant? For a single parent, it costs a whole extra person, which may or may not be covered in whole or in part by your employer. For a couple with only one child, it is again a whole extra person. The cost is only insignificant if you already have at least three people on your policy, in most states. There is NO FREE in HEALTH INSURANCE or HEALTH CARE. Obamacare didn't change any of this, this has been the case for decades. Obamacare doesn't apply to the vast majority of College students, they were already allowed on the parent's policy. It only gives new coverage options to those children that are not in college.
But I'll go a little further.
For those on Medicare, (ie. have a child later in life as many Americans are doing) there is no Child coverage option. And, thanks to Obamacare, there is no longer a Child Only Policy to cover your kid. And of course you are presuming the parents have a Health Insurance Policy in the first place.
Your vision of America is very sad.No sense of community,no sense that we are one nation.With you guys it's all about me,me ,me or me myself and I.This attitude will end up destroying our country
Which comment was all me, me me? And how does Obozocare imporve or change that?
Bruce, why don't you give us an educated estimate of how many Americans are waiting until their mid to late 40's to have children, lol…..
That's how old you would have to be to be on Medicare when they enter college….
Regulation and state sanctioned monopolies in health care, as well a government defining cookie cutter benefits to apply unilaterally to insurance companies, compounded by medicaid over payments, illegals receiving free health care cause insurance rates to rise. As technology advances, so too will the costs of insurance, however you are entitled to receive the standard of care of yesterday at a discount. "The government is not the answer to the problem, the government is the problem."
Has anyone actually read the Affordable Health Care Act?
Couple points to consider…
1. 500 million dollars to Nebraska's medicaid (I wonder which way the representatives from that state voted).
2. additional tax on medical equipment and another one against perscription medicine.
3. Graduated income tax that the gov't bases off a income percentage and that they have the right to change every 2 years.
4. Tax on any business with 25 employees or less.
5. Unfunded mandate to force states to cover individuals with pre-existing illness, which wiill then force the states to raise taxes to cover it.
6. Raises the amount of insured individuals in our country from 86% to 93%.
7. Allows Illegal immagrants to register for healthcare.
8. Fines and penalization for any business that has illegals hired that does not register them for healthcare.
9. Federal mandated "Programs" to help show you how to raise your child "Correctly".
The list goes on and on…
What every liberal and conservative needs to understand about this debate is that 90% of the people on both sides agree that we need regulation on healthcare. This bill was not about healthcare, it was dressed up that way so you would buy it. This bill is about power and governmental control. This bill is designed to lessen every United States Citizen Liberal or Conservative and make them more dependent on the state. It is designed to destroy the middle class and the small business owner, that in any society throughout history has been the class that thwarts socialism becuase of our practicality, belief in hard work, and independence. It is also designed to lessen the individual state powers so the central gov't has more control.
Read it for yourself, I did, all 2700 pages with 2 additions of 300 pages each at the time. I couldn't sleep for weeks after that.
This is socialism….but not to worry the important people will continue to have FREE healthcare for life.
Absolute bullcrap.You clearly have not educated yourself about what Obama's plan is really all about.You cannot believe all the lies and misinformation on FAUX NEWS.
It isn't about Health Care, it is about forcing the Health Insurance Industry out of business. Government taking over 18% of our economy? That is Socialism.
Medicare and Social Security are socialism. Should we get rid of them?
Medicare Parts A&B are PArts C&D are not. I say yes, replace A&B with C.
Thanks President Obama. Medical insurance costs doubling, tuition costs shooting to the moon, and the economy running along on fumes. You're an economic genius.
ObamaCare…. I have a friend who pays $850. a month under his plan. Who the heck can afford that?
The only reason his cost of health insurance would have gone up is because he is receiving less aid. He would be receiving less aid because he CAN AFFORD to pay a larger share of his own insurance. Thus the statement- "But what about students like Curtis Johnson – who may not be able to afford to actually buy the coverage?" is rubbish. Fox news why you lie?
Wow, superb weblog structure! How lengthy have you ever been running a blog for? you make running a blog glance easy. The overall glance of your site is excellent, let alone the content!
The same thing happened to my insurance at work for next year: the coverage dropped by 30%, the cost increased by 20%, and the out of pocket max almost tripled…THANK YOU ADOLF OBAMA.
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