Obamacare’s Insurance Exchanges Are Already Turning Into A Disaster

Obamacare’s Insurance Exchanges Are Already Turning Into A Disaster – Investors Business Daily

Devoted users of Internet radio apps like Pandora may soon hear unexpected sound bites on their favorite music channels – ads touting ObamaCare.

That’s right. In an attempt to drum up support for the law’s health insurance exchanges, some states are planning advertising campaigns that could include everything from pro-ObamaCare coffee-cup sleeves to spots on popular music-streaming sites.

But no amount of advertising spin can obscure the fact that ObamaCare’s insurance exchanges are shaping up to be disasters – saddling some consumers with higher premiums and state taxpayers with significant new spending obligations.

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ObamaCare calls for the creation of state-administered health insurance exchanges, where Americans without employer-provided coverage can shop for government-approved policies. Enrollment is scheduled to begin Oct. 1, and coverage will take effect in 2014.

Those with incomes between 133% and 400% of the federal poverty level – up to $92,200 for a family of four as of 2012 – will qualify for federal subsidies.

States were given the choice of setting up their own exchanges, partnering with the federal government, or letting the feds handle things entirely.

Nineteen have opted for the first choice, and seven have signed on for a partnership.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is among the 25 governors who have refused to set up a state-based exchange. As Walker noted, “No matter which option is chosen, Wisconsin taxpayers will not have meaningful control over the health care policies and services sold to Wisconsin residents.”

Walker is right. The federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) dictates that all policies sold on the exchanges must meet one of four classifications: platinum, gold, silver or bronze. These categories indicate the percentage of health costs a plan covers for the average person: 90% for a platinum policy, 80% for gold, and so on.

Deductibles for all plans will be capped at $5,950 for individuals and $11,900 for families, with the limits adjusted over time for inflation. Such mandates prevent insurers from offering low-cost products that may best fit a family’s budget.

ObamaCare doesn’t just set the rules – it also tasks states with enforcing them.

Running an exchange could therefore get pricey. Indeed, the law indicates that states with their own exchanges must devise a source of revenue for running them independently beginning in 2015.

That’s one reason New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has opted not to set up an exchange, arguing that “the federal government cannot tell us what it will cost.”

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Daily Benefactor News – Explosion At Second Japanese Nuclear Power Plant

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Explosion At Second Japanese Nuclear Power Plant – BBC News

A second explosion has hit a Japanese nuclear plant that was damaged in Friday’s earthquake, but officials said the reactor core was still intact.

A huge column of smoke billowed from Fukushima Daiichi’s reactor 3, two days after a blast hit reactor 1.

The latest explosion, said to have been caused by a hydrogen build-up, injured 11 people, one of them seriously.

Soon afterwards, the government said a third reactor at the plant had lost its cooling system.

Water levels were now falling at reactor 2, which is to be doused with sea water, said government spokesman Yukio Edano.

A similar cooling system breakdown preceded the explosions at reactors 1 and 3.

Japanese officials are playing down any health risk, but the US said it had moved one of its aircraft carriers from the area after detecting low-level radiation 100 miles (160km) offshore.

Technicians have been battling to cool reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant since Friday, following the quake and tsunami.

In other developments:

* Two thousand bodies have been found on the shores of Miyagi prefecture, Japanese media are reporting

* The government said it would pump 15 trillion yen ($182bn) into the economy to prop up markets, but the Nikkei slumped more than 6%

* Prime Minister Naoto Kan postponed planned rolling powercuts, saying they may not be needed if householders could conserve energy

The BBC’s Rachel Harvey in the port town of Minamisanriku says everything has been flattened until about 2km inland.

It looks unlikely that many survivors will be found, she adds.

Japanese police have so far confirmed 1,597 deaths, but the final toll is expected to be much higher.

Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from the area around Fukushima Daiichi plant.

At least 22 people were said to be undergoing treatment for radiation exposure.

The government said radiation levels were below legal limits after Monday’s explosion. Tokyo Electric Power, which runs the plant, said the reactor’s containment vessel had resisted the impact.

The operators say the thick containment walls shielding the reactor cores have so far remained intact.

Even if the fuel rods do go into meltdown there should not be a release of radioactive clouds, they say.

The BBC’s Chris Hogg in Tokyo says radiation has been detected outside the plant, but at low concentrations.

At one point it rose to a level similar to that one is exposed to during an X-ray, our correspondent says.

Experts say a disaster on the scale of Chernobyl in the 1980s is highly unlikely because the reactors are built to a much higher standard and have much more rigorous safety measures.

Earlier, the prime minister said the situation at the nuclear plant was alarming, and the earthquake had thrown Japan into “the most severe crisis since World War II”.

The government advised people not to go to work or school on Monday because the transport network would not be able to cope with demand.

The capital Tokyo is also still experiencing regular aftershocks, amid warnings that another powerful earthquake is likely to strike very soon.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of relief workers, soldiers and police have been deployed to the disaster zone.

Preliminary estimates put repair costs from the earthquake and tsunami in the tens of billions of dollars.

The disaster is a huge blow for the Japanese economy (the world’s third largest), which has been ailing for two decades.

The Foreign Office has updated its travel advice to warn against all non-essential travel to Tokyo and north-eastern Japan.

British nationals and friends and relatives of those in Japan can contact the Foreign Office on +44(0) 20 7008 0000.

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*VIDEOS* Haiti Earthquake Devastation

Haiti Earthquake: Bodies Piled Up On The Streets As Disaster Leaves ‘Thousands’ Dead – Daily Mail

* Red Cross fears around three million people affected by 7.2 quake
* Up to 100 UN staff believed dead after headquarters collapse
* Charities launch emergency appeals to help stricken survivors
* Presidential palace crumbles, hospital collapses and houses swept away
* Britain sends emergency team as Obama vows ‘unwavering’ support

Bloodstained bodies are piled high in the streets of the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince today amid fears that thousands have died in a catastrophic earthquake.

Rescuers have been forced to dig through rubble with their bare hands to free trapped survivors as the Red Cross said up to three million people may have been affected.

British and international aid agencies are rushing to assist today as the full horror of the disaster began to emerge.

It is still unclear how many have been killed in the earthquake, which measured 7.2 on the Richter scale, but aid agencies fear thousands are dead.

Haitian president Rene Preval described the scene in Port-au Prince as ‘unimaginable.’

‘Parliament has collapsed. The tax office has collapsed. Schools have collapsed. Hospitals have collapsed,’ he said.

Among the fatalities were up to 100 UN staff, including Hedi Annabi, the Secretary General’s special envoy, who were working inside its five-storey headquarters when it collapsed.

The Roman Catholic Arcbishop of Port-au-Prince Monsignor Joseph Serge Miot also died. His body was found in the ruins of the archdiocese office.

Around 200 people are also feared dead after a hotel crumbled to dust, the National Palace is in ruins and a major hospital also destroyed.

The destruction is said to be staggering, even in an impoverished nation accustomed to tragedy and disaster.

Eyewitnesses said gravely injured Haitians were crying out from the rubble, pleading for doctors as night fell.

With the country in chaos and facing still more damage from a series of 30 aftershocks, their cries went mostly unheard.

The quake, the most powerful in the region for 200 years, was centred about ten miles west of the Haitian capital, a city of two million people, many of them living in flimsy shanty slums.

It struck at 4.53pm yesterday and was followed by as many as 30 aftershocks, one of them as strong as 5.9 on the Richter scale, a sizeable earthquake in its own right.

The centre was also relatively shallow, less than ten miles below ground, raising the risk of damage.

Survivors held hands and sung hymns as they waited for help to come. But many people spent the night fighting for their lives.

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UPDATE: Haitian Official: Death Toll May Reach 500,000 – Delaware News Journal

Officials say thousands of people — and perhaps many, many more — are dead after Tuesday’s major earthquake. A leading Haitian senator says the death toll may reach 500,000 based on the amount of the destruction, but there are no firm figures.

The prime minister told CNN that hundreds of thousands of people died.

Haitians piled bodies along the devastated streets of their capital today after the quake flattened the president’s palace, the cathedral, hospitals, schools, the main prison and thousands of homes.

The bodies of the dead were everywhere in Port-au-Prince. Bodies of tiny children were piled next to schools. Bodies of women lay with stunned expressions frozen on the street as flies began to gather. Bodies of men were covered with plastic tarps or cotton sheets.

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